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iatethepomegranate · 3 years ago

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We are not alone in the dark with our demons, Chapter 16

In which Caleb buys a house in Rexxentrum with Beau and Yasha, becomes a professor, learns to be a person separate from the trauma that shaped his life for so long, and begins the arduous process of preventing what happened to him from happening to anyone else. It gets far more personal than even he could have anticipated.

Chapter summary: Jester accidentally strikes a nerve and makes amends, and Caleb receives an unexpected message that is both welcome and frightening.

Chapter notes: Chapter title is from La Vita by Beverly Glenn-Copeland

***

Chapter 16: And the body says "Remember you gotta breathe"

Caleb and Essek finally emerged for lunch, and the Nein (minus Beau and Yasha) broke into raucous applause as they stepped into the main chamber of the Chateau. The place was empty at this time, and Essek dropped his disguise. Yeza and Luc were, mercifully, not present. But Marion was.

“I will fireball this entire building and scatter your ashes in the sea,” Caleb said mildly, dragging Essek, cheeks plum-toned with a blush, to the two remaining seats at the Nein’s table.

“That’s a very cool line, Lebby,” said Veth. “You should save it for the bad guys.”

“These assholes are good practice,” Caleb replied.

Jester leaned over the table to grab Caleb’s hand, waggling her eyebrows. “Did you have a good time? You sounded really weird on the Sending. Omigod were you guys having sex?”

Essek was incapable of retaining his composure around the Nein, and the plum tone of his usual blush was turning redder by the second. “Shut up, Jester,” he said weakly.

Caleb stepped in before this got out of hand. “All right, that’s enough. We will accept your congratulations in the form of food, if you don’t mind.”

The conversation moved on, and the colour had faded from Essek’s cheeks by the time lunch arrived. Caleb wanted to scour the shops for all the paper and ink he could find before heading back to Rexxentrum. He would need to visit Felix tomorrow, and figure out whether his parents would let him go back to school. Essek was stretching his safety a bit to stay around Caleb for a little longer, with the intention of sticking around until they found Nico. They would need to think of a more permanent solution than disguise spells eventually. So they made plans to pick up all manner of random components that were easier to source in a port city than the Empire. Just in case inspiration struck and they needed a piece of sea glass or a really cool seashell for some reason.

The seashell was Jester’s idea. She dragged Caleb to the beach to find one, just the two of them. Caleb was fairly certain there were no spells that required seashells as a component, but he generally did not say no to Jester if he could help it.

“Hey, Cay-leb.” She had been holding his hand since they left the Chateau, and she swung it as they walked among the damp sand.

Ja?”

“Fjord and Mama said I made Essek really uncomfortable at lunch.” She had an eye out for shells, scanning their surroundings, but her mouth was downturned at the corners. “I’m sorry. I was trying to be, like, funny about it? Because I think I really freaked him out this morning.”

“Ja, you caught us at an… inopportune moment.” That was putting it mildly. Caleb had worked very hard to get Essek back in the mood after that, suspecting that it would have spiralled into a long-term problem if he’d let that ruin things. “Essek is a private person. He’s coming out of his shell a bit, but it needs to be on his terms. Thank you for not trying to touch him.”

“Yeah.” Jester stepped into the shallows and plucked a shell from the sand. “Ooh, this one’s pretty.” She tucked it into her pink haversack. “Should I apologise to Essek? I don’t know if he’ll want me to.”

“He will appreciate the attempt.”

“You sound like Fjord when he doesn’t like my ideas.”

Caleb snorted. “Your ideas are wonderful, Jester, and he knows that. They can simply have… unexpected consequences. An apology sounds good. Just don’t… ask for details of what you interrupted this morning.”

“Can I ask you?” A cheeky eyebrow quirk.

“Bathtub sex,” Caleb said flatly. Because if she heard it from him, at least she wouldn’t be bursting to know anymore, and that would make this whole thing easier.

“Ooh. Very sexy.”

Caleb busied himself looking for a shell while blood flowed to his face.

“You know Fjord and I tried that once? He slipped and broke his tailbone, so I had to take very good care of him.”

Caleb sighed, and resigned himself to the fact his blush would not die down any time soon. “You are a caring person, Jester.” Caleb, personally, did not mind her teasing or oversharing; it was a sign of their friendship.

“Thank you, Caleb! You know I was bullshitting you about the seashells, right?”

“Ja, I know.”

“Help me find a weird one so I can scare Fjord later.”

***

Caleb gave Jester the space to talk to Essek upon their return, this time to Veth’s place. He set up in the kitchen/dining room to sort through what he and Essek had found at the market. Luc practiced shooting old bottles behind the house under Veth’s supervision while Yeza worked in the lab. Kingsey was watching Caleb work, asking questions about all the components he had picked up.

As Caleb sorted, he found a quiet moment to send a quick message to Beauregard to inform her of their plans. “Hallo, Beauregard. Essek and I will return home tomorrow. Is everything all right? Can I get you anything?”

Beauregard’s reply was a little delayed, stretching the limits of the spell. “Uh, yeah. We’re cool. Um, Nico snuck in when Yasha and I were out. Ate some bread, took his stuff, left a thank you note.”

Caleb dropped the pouch of pearls he had been counting. Kingsley dropped to his knees to pick them up.

“Careful, Magic Man,” he said, passing the pouch back, holding onto Caleb’s hand. He pocketed one pearl with his free hand, but Caleb couldn’t bring himself to care. “Are you good?”

Caleb took a breath. “Ja. I think so.” He cast another Sending. “How long ago? Could he still be in Rexxentrum? What did the letter say? Have you told the Soul?”

“Breathe, dude. I told Yudala. Haven’t seen the letter yet. Yasha just told me about it. This was maybe three hours ago. Can’t be far.”

Nico was either in, or close to, Rexxentrum. He’d chosen to come back. He’d taken up Caleb’s offer to go to the house. He’d eaten. He had his spellbook. His coat and shoes.

“Hey.” Kingsley was still holding his hand. “Breathe.”

“Ja, I’m getting that a lot,” Caleb said faintly. He took a breath.

Kingsley guided him to the nearest chair, pushing him into it. “Sit. I’ll find your boy.”

As he left, Caleb said, “I know you take that pearl, by the way. You need practice.”

“Yeah, fuck you, too.”

In the few minutes Kingsley was away, Caleb set the pouch of pearls on the table, put his hands on his knees, and breathed. Willed himself to stay calm. This was good news. It didn’t need to panic him. Nico wasn’t talking, but he was listening. That was a good thing.

It was also a lot of pressure, now that getting him back genuinely seemed possible. He would wait until he knew the contents of that note before he did anything. Then, depending on what the letter said, another Sending was probably in order. To let him know that he was welcome back any time.

Kingsley came back with every member of the Nein who was still in Nicodranas, which did include the one he had been looking for, just not exclusively. Essek crouched in front of Caleb, a new shell necklace swinging from his neck that must have been an apology gift from Jester.

“Are you all right?” He took both of Caleb’s hands.

Caleb managed to smile, just a little bit. “I’m fine. It was good news.”

“What happened?” asked Veth.

“Nico has been to the house, while Beau and Yasha were out. He left a note.”

Jester butted in. “What did it say? What did it say?”

“I don’t know. Beauregard could only tell me what Yasha told her. She is still at work.” Caleb’s brain was whirling, not quite clicking as neatly as he would have liked. “I… may need to leave early.”

“Or you could send Yasha a message,” said Fjord. Thank the Wildmother for his voice of reason, because Caleb was apparently incapable of thinking clearly.

“The spell only lasts a moment. If she does not have the letter in front of her…”

“I’ll tell her you’re going to message her so she can find the letter,” said Jester. “Then you message her and she reads it for you.” She was casting the spell before Caleb had a chance to reply; Fjord scrambled to count her words. “Hey, Yasha! Caleb’s gonna ask you to read the letter to him. Can you grab it now? He’s, like, kinda freaking out about it. Bye!” She listened, while Caleb gave her a look that he hoped indicated both his gratitude and also his barely-there annoyance that she used up so many words just to tell Yasha he was panicking.

Veth latched onto Caleb’s arm, pressing her cheek against his bicep. Caduceus began to heat water for tea, his go-to whenever shit went down. Caleb felt a little ridiculous for reacting so strongly to something good, to the point that all his friends were doing damage control on him.

“Okay, Caleb,” said Jester. “Yasha’s gonna grab the letter and read it to you.”

“Danke. I will give her a moment.” Caleb tugged on Essek’s hands. “Get up before your knees give out, for fuck��s sake.”

Essek floated upward, sitting criss-cross applesauce in the air so he remained only slightly above Caleb’s eye level. “Better?” he said, entirely teasing him for fixating on random trivial bullshit. Not that Caleb thought the condition of Essek’s joints was trivial. But Essek probably did.

Caleb ignored the teasing; enough time had probably passed for Yasha to find the note. “Hallo, Yasha. If the note is twenty-five words or fewer, could you please read it to me? Otherwise, give me a summary. Danke.”

Yasha wasted no words. “Dear Caleb. In brackets: Bren, question mark? Thank you for the hospitality. Sincerely, N. That’s all it says. Beau told the Soul. Not Astrid, though.”

Another spell. “Thank you, Yasha. I’ll tell Astrid. I will be home tomorrow.”

“See you!”

The spell faded away. Caleb had two more Sendings to cast, and then he could process all of this.

“Astrid, it’s Bren.” Using his old name was never comfortable, but Astrid was one of the few people he allowed that privilege. “Nico took up my offer to visit the house. He ate and took his things. Three hours ago.”

“He will not be far,” Astrid replied. “I will adjust the search orders, but you and Felix remain our best options. Enjoy Nicodranas.”

Caleb let out a long breath. “Okay, one more spell.” He cast. “Hallo, Nico. I hear you visited my home today. I will return to Rexxentrum tomorrow. You are welcome any time.” He held his breath, waiting for a response, cursing the word economy of the spell for forcing him into somewhat stilted language. He hoped it was good enough.

This time, Nico answered. “Hallo… Caleb? I’m not… I don't want to talk. But thank you.” That was it.

And that was a lot. Caleb found himself slumped in his seat, one more knot in his gut finally unravelling.

“He spoke to you?” asked Essek.

“Briefly,” Caleb said, barely getting the word out through a lump in his throat.

“That’s very good,” Caduceus said quietly, preparing herbs for the teapot. “You’re doing a good job, Caleb.”

A weak laugh. “I’m trying.”

“Keep doing what you’re doing,” said Fjord.

“We’re all very proud of you,” Veth added. Caleb dragged her into a tight hug.

***

One last evening in Nicodranas. Caleb and Essek stayed with the Brenattos again, during which time Nugget blinked in for a visit. Covered in mud.

“We’ve stopped trying to tell him where he can and can’t go,” Yeza said tiredly as Jester cheerfully hosed the dog down with her control water spell. “As long as he doesn’t destroy the neighbour’s yard again, he seems fine.”

“At least he comes back,” Caleb said. “Beauregard is still bitter about Professor Thaddeus.”

Essek sighed deeply; he had been on the receiving end of far too many rants from Beauregard, even though he himself had never met the owl. “Do not speak his name. She will reach across time and space to yell about him.”

“Who the fuck is Professor Thaddeus?” asked Kingsley.

“Beau’s asshole pet owl,” Veth explained. “He abandoned us the first time we boarded a ship, which we accidentally stole, and she curses his name to this day.”

Kingsley, who knew everything there was to know about the Nein’s bullshit at sea, simply nodded. “That tracks.”

Caleb was at risk of overthinking everything going down in Rexxentrum again, so he transformed himself into a golden retriever as soon as Nugget was clean and chased the blink dog around the Brenattos’ small back garden. And then Luc chased both of them, mercifully without his crossbow because Yeza had preemptively confiscated it.

Once all three of them were exhausted, dog-Caleb collapsed in a heap in front of the couch, resting his chin on Jester’s knee while she used one hand to give him scritches and the other hand to give Nugget scritches on her other side. Luc draped himself over Caleb’s back and fell asleep.

When Caleb turned back at the end of the hour, the boy didn’t react, so he resigned himself to lying on the floor with his now-human head in Jester lap. She kept giving him head scritches anyway.

“I wish I was watching,” Jester whispered. “This would be a very cute picture.”

Essek, smirking, hovered to sit in front of the four of them, and produced an illusion replicating what he saw. Caleb hid his face in Jester’s skirt instead of looking at himself, because he would want to kiss Essek if he examined the way the man looked at him. And he was trapped by obligation beneath a sleeping child. You did not move for sleeping animals or children (or Beauregards), unless you absolutely had no choice (or Mollymauk dragged you away to examine magic shit, but that was covered under the no choice category).

“Aw, are you shy, Caleb?” Jester said. “Could someone get my--oh, thanks, Fjord.” A soft scratching of pencil on paper.

“Would you do me a favour, Jester?” asked Essek.

Caleb laughed against the fabric of Jester’s skirt; he was already doing her a favour with the illusion.

“I’ll do you all the favours, Essek! What do you need?”

“Could I have a copy of that, when you’re finished?”

“Of course! I’ll hide some extra dicks in yours.”

Essek sighed. “Thank you, Jester.”

Caleb fell asleep for a time. He woke up on the couch with a blanket and Nugget draped over him. The smell of something cooking was in the air; the spices were somewhat familiar but he couldn’t quite place them. Probably something local. He listened to the clattering of the kitchen for a while, sleepily scratching Nugget’s head, until he finally found the energy to open his eyes. He was dimly aware there were others in the room, but Essek drew his attention. And held it.

Essek hovered by the arm of the couch closest to Caleb’s head, making notes in one of his old Aeor field journals. Caleb let nostalgia wash over him; he remembered that book. It was one of the last before they had finally ended their weeks-long expedition and turned to face the rest of the world and all its complicated bullshit. Caleb had been popping in and out with risk teleports for supplies and Trent’s trial (and turning down the job offer from Ludinus). Getting away from it all and unravelling secrets with Essek had kept him sane through all of it.

It had taken them a while to speak plainly about their feelings for each other. Longer than the rest of the Nein probably knew. But, ultimately, the main difference before and after Aeor was the amount of physical touch they shared, and occasionally its nature. But only occasionally.

And some of those changes had happened before they spoke of it.

Essek, not looking up from the book, reached out to lay his arm on the couch, fingers barely making contact with Caleb’s hair. He lifted the book into the air and let it hover, continuing to make notes. Caleb knew enough about Essek’s floating cantrip at this point to know he could float and cast a concentration spell at the same time, at least when he wasn’t under duress. And Caleb still found that very cool. Or maybe Essek was just extending his floating cantrip to the book. Still cool, either way.

Jester was cackling softly, drawing his attention. She had her sketchbook out again and kept shooting glances in their direction with a cheeky raised eyebrow. Caleb, trapped beneath a sleeping dog, resigned himself to his fate as Jester’s model once again. She and the rest of the Nein were coming to Rexxentrum shortly for his speech (oh fuck he had a speech in mere days at the Academy), so there would be ample opportunity for her to get this out of her system.

Oh, who was he kidding? Jester would never get this out of her system and that was one of many reasons he loved her. And maybe he would pull her aside later and ask for copies of her sketches as well. Essek would have to leave eventually, and it would be nice to have something to look at in his absence. Even if Caleb’s memory was good enough to keep an image in his mind, he liked having tangible things to remember his loved ones by.

The loss of the letters still ached sometimes, even if he had needed to let them go. The quilt the Nein had bought for him helped when he was at home. Maybe he could collect happier memories now. Yasha used to press flowers in a book for Zuala, and he had a bare spot in his book holsters now. Both of them could use some happier momentos. Caleb had purchased a pair of nice leather-bound journals from a bookstore earlier today; maybe he would give one to Yasha and see what she did with it. It would feel less weird than doing this alone. And Yasha would understand the need for it.

At some point during Caleb’s mind journey, Essek had begun to stroke his hair. Caleb closed his eyes and tried to stay in the moment. Treasure it. He buried his fingers in Nugget’s fur. The dog huffed in his sleep.

Kingsley had evidently started watching Jester draw at some point and whispered advice for where she could hide dicks in the drawing. Fjord sighed but didn’t stop him. Caleb couldn’t hear Caduceus, Veth, Luc or Yeza in the immediate vicinity. Caduceus was probably helping with dinner, and maybe Luc had been tucked into bed upstairs. Or was off playing outside again.

A louder clatter of plates caught Nugget’s attention and he blinked away, earning startled yells from Veth and Caduceus in the kitchen. Caleb sat up and stretched. His spine cracked a bit; he was getting too old to sleep on floors and couches comfortably. He dug his thumbs into the back of his neck, working the stiffness out of the muscle.

“You get that too, huh?” said Fjord. Numerically, Fjord was a few years younger than him at most, and half-orcs aged a little quicker than humans. Functionally, they were probably close to the same age. It was hard to tell, given Fjord had started to go a bit grey on account of seeing some serious shit.

Caleb grumbled a bit, the edges of sleep clinging to his consciousness enough that he was still a bit cranky. “Sometimes I forget I’m thirty-fucking-four.”

“Don’t you remember everything?” asked Kingsley.

“Ah.” He chuckled ruefully. “Not quite.” He did not bring up the fact he had only spent twenty-three of his years with the expected level of awareness for his age (more awareness, actually, in the case of his toddlerhood). Eleven years of little-to-no memory continued to fuck with his head, even years after the fact.

Even without saying it, he had managed to bring down the mood of the room. He was good at that. Jester had even stopped sketching. She had lost five years of her own, but at least she knew where they had gone. Not that Caleb would ever say that to her; it would sound crueller than he meant. And he knew she wasn’t sombre for her own sake, but for his, because she knew why Caleb was missing eleven years. And she was the kind of loving person who would freak out when she found out stepping on grass hurt it (because she had found that out). Even Kingsley caught the drop in the mood; Caleb wasn’t sure exactly how much he knew of Caleb’s experiences, but he did know bits and pieces. Which bits and pieces, however, was unclear.

Then Fjord stretched his arms upwards, a dull crack in his shoulders. “There we go. Can’t let you have all the fun, Caleb.”

Essek grimaced. “Agh, will you two stop that?”

Jester laughed, a little wetter than Caleb would have liked. “We should start a grumpy old people club. Essek isn’t invited because he’s, like, a toddler in elf years.”

“I beg your pardon!”

“He will sulk if we keep him out,” said Caleb. “Very childish behaviour, I know, but you know the fair folk are basically children until they’re five hundred.”

“Please! I am most definitely an adult.”

“Barely.”

Essek scowled at him, because Caleb was technically right. Essek had been an adult for about twenty years. For an elf? That was barely anything.

“And Jester, I’m sorry, but you are not eligible either. You are neither old nor grumpy.”

“But I gave away five years!”

“I lost eleven and have moderate joint pain,” Caleb replied mildly. “I even found a grey hair the other day.”

“Ooh, where was it?” Jester set her sketchbook aside, propping her chin up on hands braced on her knees. “In your dick hair?” Fjord coughed suspiciously like he had found his own fair share of grey hairs in that region himself.

“Ja, actually. Not where I had expected to find one, but here we are.” It wasn’t Caleb’s first grey hair; he’d found a few here and there before. But that one had been rather memorable.

Kingsley’s tail swished around the way it did when he was thinking something probably not appropriate for polite company. “Oh? How’d you find it?”

Essek sighed and opened his field journal. He was awful at lying to friends. Made sense, since he’d never needed that skill until a few months ago.

“Oh, Essek found it,” Caleb said, because the game was up anyway.

Kingsley smirked. “I thought so.” He didn’t push further; Kingsley was actually quite good at poking boundaries without breaking them. Most of the time. By now, he knew Caleb was very open to teasing of a sexual nature while Essek’s threshold was much lower. Jester, still chastened after whatever Fjord and her mother had said to her about making Essek uncomfortable, snickered a bit but said something.

Caduceus emerged to gather everyone for dinner.

#shadowgast #caleb widogast #essek thelyss #critical role #cr2 #fanfiction #my fics #the pomegranate's professor widogast fic

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vidimillion · 5 years ago

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“You're gonna have to get through me first, and you won't."

hi. i wrote a Jasico AU based off this quote. spent an hour and a half busting this thing out lol. might be part one? of me writing AUs based off quotes? idk yet. enjoy.

let's say it's a highschool mortal au

everyone knows jason grace as the ever-perfect golden boy, who never got less than an A on his tests and never lost a touchdown in a game of football (plus, gets every vote in student council elections)

and far less people know nico di angelo. everyone has heard of the psycho quiet kid who's still goth in 2020 and prone to starting fights. everyone's heard of that kid, but no one's heard of nico

everyone has also been viciously told to stay away from the guy. including jason.

so get this. one day during history class (one of jason's favourites, second only to art class), jason gets a phone call and excuses himself to answer it. no one knows what it was, but everyone in class was silently baffled when the bell rung and he still hadn't come back

meanwhile, nico's skipping class for whatever reason

surprise surprise they bump into each other in the halls. nico notices that something's off about jason's behavior. he seemed jumpy, made up two different excuses about what he was doing or where he was going. nico didn't know shit about jason except for his reputation, but something in his gut told him jason isn't all good right now.

nico thinks it may be related to how jason's sky blue eyes seem too grey to be perfectly fine

one of jason's excuses is that he just wanted to get a snack. nico lets him go but jason heads the opposite way, towards the exit doors instead of the vending machine

nico asks if he's gonna get a snack and jason yells back that he changed his mind

nico calls out to him, heads over to the vending machine and hits it's side. the glass face pops right up, exposing the snacks within

nico says offhandedly that percy once mentioned that jason likes twix bars. nico asks if that's true and before jason can confirm it nico grabs a twix and closes the face again

"don't rat me out for this, okay?" nico says, shoving the bar into jason's arms, "this is my one allotted good deed per day, and something's off about you."

nico begins to walk off, yelling at himself in his brain and shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. he doesn't see jason's ears go red or hear jason stutter out a "t-thanks."

the next day percy, a mutual friend of both jason and nico's, hands nico a twix bar and tells him jason told him to give it to him "as a thanks for yesterday"

wondering what nico did yesterday, percy bothers him about it all day but nico doesn't answer

it's a little while later when nico sees jason in the art room after school and stares a little. he'd never say it out loud but he thinks it's a little endearing to watch-- someone so tall and built hunched over a pad of paper, sketching away as he sticks his tongue out in concentration.

he thinks it's a little endearing, watching someone like jason, all tall and scary and serious-looking, look kind of cute

he doesn't realize he's no longer lingering in the hall until he trips over something nearly falls through the door of the art room

he catches jason's shocked eyes and sputters out an apology before moving to leave, but jason stops him

jason suddenly realizes that he doesn't have anything to say exactly. except, he knows he still wants the sweet but scary-looking mystery boy to stay. so that's what he asks him to do.

miraculously, nico ends up agreeing and now he's sat next to jason fucking grace. jason fuckin grace who does his best to continue his drawing but finds that nothing can expel the awkward air between them. not even his favourite activity

normally nico wouldn't give a fuck, just in general. normally, he wouldn't have even said yes to staying. but nico fuckin said yes and now he's gotta pay for that, apparently.

so, hesitantly, nico asks what jason's drawing

jason's face falls and nico scrambles to tell him that he doesn't have to answer that. that since they don't know each other nico isn't entitled to an answer, but even if they did know each other nobody is entitled to share something they may not wanna share, and now nico is rambling and saying that he should probably leave--

jason doesn't let him. jason wants him to stay and tells him that.

jason doesn't know why he wants nico to stay so bad. nico doesn't know what about jason is making him turn into a wreck.

except he does know, even a little

so nico stays and jason tells him that he's drawing a portrait of a cat. his cat, his beautiful cat named tempest who he's had since he was a kid. a gorgeous black turkish angora with brilliant blue eyes.

jason explains how, on the day he and nico had bumped into each other, jason had just gotten a call from his older sister that tempest had died.

and jason finds himself growing sad without his permission, and the feeling of the air around them has changed. nico is the only one around, and he can't comfort a person for shit.

he has to try though, because no one likes being stuck with a sad guy as their only company. and maybe nico feels weird at leaving a sad jason grace to stay sad

the grey returns to jason's sky-coloured eyes and nico doesn't really like it

so he can't comfort people for shit but he finds himself trying. somehow, something he says works.

unconsciously, things start to become a schedule. it starts slowly, bumping into each other in the halls and sometimes nico catches jason still drawing things

and it keeps going like that until they seem to be seeing each other every day. talking every day.

they talk about how nico doesn't like starting fights, but people start them with him and he's always the one to finish them. they talk about how the school activities jason's parents forced him into take more out of him then he lets on.

they didn't intend to get close. they didn't intend to become friends. but neither of them regret it

and additionally, they are always alone. with only each other for company. they didn't quite realize they liked it that way until they came to the art room once and there were still people there, hanging around after the events of rachel dare's school-sponsored art auction. so they move to the roof, and they like it better there.

(though nico will always complain about the heat of the sun, but jason knows nico doesn't mean it)

and one day jason gets there early. or either he's early or nico's late, because there never seems to be an exact time for... this. jason decides to wait and nico still isn't there. he waits a little longer, and then a little longer, until the sun has beaten down on him so hard jason thinks he might've gotten a sunburn

begrudgingly, he decides to return downstairs. before he can decide whether or not he should just leave or look for nico, he hears a commotion down the hall.

jason rounds the corner and doesn't know what he expected. though he didn't expect the group of boys, crowding around someone. and without knowing who it is, jason's blood already begins to boil as he hears the words they're saying

"you're such a fucking freak." one says. "what are you, a fucking faggot?" another spits. and then one goes to shove the boy in the middle, and as the smaller figure topples to the ground, jason sees familiar black hair and black eyes.

jason's vision goes red.

before he even realizes, he'd stalked over and pushed the boys out of the way. he turned his back to nico, doing his best to cover him as he growls at them.

"If you want to fuck with him, you're gonna have to get through me first, and you won't."

#jasico #nico di angelo #jason grace #percy jackson #percy jackson and the heroes of olympus #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #percy jackson au #artist jason #high school au #mortal au #my writing

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etlunainmorte · 5 years ago

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🏝 I See My Future Before Me 🏝

***

"Ahem!" Patty cleared her throat, making the two of you look at her. "Get a room, whatever?"

V chuckled as he let you go for a while. With a sheepish smile, he, then helped you sit and wrapped his arms around you once more. He was really glad with how things turned out. He couldn't explain it, himself, but, who cares about it now?! What's important was that -

All of a sudden, you heard some strange noises just outside the door.

V let you go and nodded at Patty as he stood up, his eyes darting cautiously on the door. He slowly walked towards it, grabbed the brass door knob, and flung open the door - !

"WHAT THE F - ?!"

You heard a voice as V drew back, wide - eyed, from the door.

And lo and behold, Nico, and a strange - looking boy with sharp features came scrambling on the floor at the poet's feet!

"Who are you, people?!" Patty demanded, unable to believe that some strangers managed to infiltrate the villa, yet again. Well, V was one thing but, these people?

"I can explain,... everything!" Nico retorted as she stood up, rubbing her hip. "Oh, and I was definitely not listening,..." She, then, looked at the mystery boy, who was still on the floor, and practically smacked him on the head with much force. "Hey! About time you get up!"

"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR?!" The boy screamed as he scrambled to his feet and hid behind V, completely frightened of the crazy Artisan. "I can't believe this woman, V! She dragged me and the housecat out of the house all of a sudden! She even blackmailed that pimple kid Nero and the others to come with her here!"

"Nero,... and the others?" The poet asked, and even before he, or the strange boy, could say or do anything else, all of you heard an impatient tapping on the glass door. All of you turned and saw none other than Nero, himself, wearing nothing but his navy - blue swimming trunks. He was carrying a surf board, and gesturing something really weird at you. Other than that, he looked really annoyed, or pissed, that you almost felt relieved that you couldn't hear him or understand what he's saying through that thick glass door.

"Where is the bathroom here, anyway? This place is humongous!" You heard a distinct and familiar voice from the doorway, and, surely enough, when you turned back, you saw the Legendary Devil Hunter wandering about the hallway like he was lost. And what's more, he was carrying a huge hiking bag on his back and at least two bulky luggage on each hand, like he was going on a vacation or something.

"DANTE?!" Patty practically screamed at the top of her lungs as she angrily strode towards him. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE AFTER GHOSTING ON ME FOR THREE MONTHS?! I INVITED YOU FOR MY BIRTHDAY PARTY BUT, YOU DIDN'T COME! AND NOW, YOU HAVE THE GUTS TO SHOW UP HERE?! WHAT THE HELL, DANTE?!"

"WHOA! WHOA! WHOA! Wait a second here, señorita!" Dante drew back in terror upon witnessing the girl's pure and utter rage. "I can explain! A lot of things happened, and - "

"SHUT UP! YOU'RE IN MY HOUSE! YOU'RE NOT ALLOWED TO SPEAK UNTIL I SAY SO! AARRGGHH!"

You were trying to suppress your laughter at Patty's outrage ( no one could blame her, after all, he did ditch her on her birthday party ) when something suddenly threw itself at you and hugged you tightly. You looked down and to your surprise, you saw a pale, little girl with long, black hair that seemed sentient. She was even giving you a weird look with her pair of huge, red eyes, like a lost child who just found her mother.

"Oh, ah,... hello!" You awkwardly greeted but, she didn't say anything. She just went on staring at you with those huge eyes of hers, and that weird, and yet funny, expression that made her look like she has committed some kind of unspeakable crime.

You looked up at V and noticed his features clearly contorting with stress due to the sudden visitors around him. And who could blame him? You totally had no idea how much he wanted to be by your side. He wanted to be alone with you for a change! And if he's being honest with himself, he wanted to do more than just talk with you!

But, now, it seemed that his plans, and his patience, were really getting pushed to their utmost limit,...

You gulped nervously as you saw the poet knitting his eyebrows in suppressed anger, bowing down low and reaching for his nose bridge to pinch it.

***

♡♡♡

***

" ... it was like I was dreaming. Like, I was drowning, and suddenly, someone took my hand and pulled me out of the water!"

" ... uhu,..."

"And when I was back on the surface, I heard his voice. He said, my love."

" ... yeah, and,... ?"

"You see, I thought Dracula was playing on the background, so I answered, and my life, always! And when I opened my eyes, I saw him! And he's looking down at me!"

" ... okay."

"And when we kissed and embraced, I felt this kind of energy surging throughout my body! It's like,... AARRGGHH! It's really hard to explain! Like, I was this,... are you even listening to me?!"

"GOD, SWEET PEA! CAN'T YOU SEE I'M TRYIN' TO COOK THIS THING?!" Griffon howled as he pointed at the raw chicken on the grill before him. "I'VE BEEN STARIN' AT THIS CHICKEN FOR THIRTY FUCKIN' MINUTES, AND NOTHIN'S HAPPENIN', AT ALL!"

"Stupid!" Nico, who was already wearing a yellow two - piece bikini, mocked as she placed her hands on her hips. "Ye're supposed to set the charcoal on fire! And fan the flames! God!"

And with a shrug of her shoulders and a shake of her head, the Artisan walked away from them and joined the others for a game of beach volleyball.

You stared at the familiar, whose bald head began sweating hard, if it's even possible.

"Err, is that right? Y - ya set the charcoal on fire?" He stuttered as he stared at the weird cooking device.

"Well, yeah." You answered as the side of your lips went up in a visible smirk. "You know, you might be bipedal right now, but - "

"DON'T ya dare say I'm still a fuckin' BIRD BRAIN!" The familiar yelled at your face as he accidentally burned and almost reduced the raw chicken to ashes with the power of electricity that came out of his fingers. Startled and shocked upon realizing and seeing what he's done to the whole crew's lunch, he quickly took the grill grates, threw the burnt chicken, and buried it beneath the sand underneath his feet. He slowly and nervously looked at you with huge eyes and raised eyebrows. Then, he gulped. "Umm,... you didn't see anythin', 'kay?"

You covered your mouth to suppress the laughter.

Ever since waking up in V's arms three days ago, you've been thrown to such unexpected experiences that you honestly never imagined yourself being a part of. For one, you were so surprised upon seeing Griffon's new and cleansed form ( according to him ) after his supposed demise at Shadow's hands. You even had to admit to yourself that you're still having a hard time adjusting to him looking as normal as any human can be. You also found out that, during those three days of adjustment, his wings occasionally sprout from his back from time to time, and his striking golden eyes looked clearly sharper than ever before when he was still a demonic bird, not to mention those pointed ears that caught your attention the moment he finally re - introduced himself to you. But, what caught your attention the most was the fact that you were, somehow, no longer contracted to him in any way, shape, or form. It must be because you no longer hold the authority to command the Sisters of Fate, thus, making you a simple and ordinary human being without the power to command a demonic familiar.

You could say the same thing for Shadow. Well, who could blame you, anyway? Not now when she looked like someone's adorable little sister. That very obvious fact aside, those familiar streaks of red light still manifested on her skin when she's startled. That long, dark hair of hers took on a life of its own when someone angered her. She even hissed at anyone who made the huge mistake of taking away her toys ( the Elmo plushie in particular ). Other than that, she still hasn't outgrown her habit of purring and rubbing against you occasionally. You found this very endearing, actually, despite the fact that this female familiar gave you a lot of problems three months ago. She was, in fact, very guilty and apologetic and sweet that you forgave her quite easily. Well, she did nothing wrong in the first place. She only did those horrible things because she was only commanded to do so. She has nothing to apologize for in the first place. And now, Shadow refused to leave your side, she even has this habit of climbing on the bed with you in the middle of the night for some snuggles.

Those two familiars aside, you were very surprised upon hearing the good news from Nero, himself. Who would've guessed that he and his lady love, Kyrie, were eagerly awaiting their own bundle of joy? Nico was the same as ever. If anything, she bullied Griffon even more now that the familiar has turned into a human. She dotes on Shadow a lot, she even provided the familiar a closet - full of clothes for her to wear. She was also spoiling her rotten with treats. And Dante? Seriously, the poor guy, you decided, was a real masochist, letting himself be completely bossed around by both Lady and Trish, who made him carry their things around the beach. You were not sure whether this was the result of him being deeply indebted to these two ladies but, the sight of him going after them like a scruffy - looking butler in red leather really put a smile on your face.

All of these changes and familiar faces you embraced so well. However, there was one particular face that changed a lot within those three months of your absence.

Jet black hair now as white as snow, dark, swirling demonic contract tattoos now barely visible on pale skin, and soft, emerald eyes gentler than ever before, you never expected V to look so,... changed,... after those past three months that you didn't see him. It was like,... he went through a lot, suffering, trials, growth,...

But, whatever happened to him during those days, it surely changed him a lot as a person. He has,... somehow become even more thoughtful, and careful,... he has become even more caring and protective towards you if that's even possible. The way he moved changed a lot, as well. Before, nothing could make him move even a single finger unless he has deduced it was safe to do so. Now, he seemed more,... careless,... towards you and only you. Open, even. Like, he was totally letting his guard down for you to let you in on his thoughts, and his heart.

And not only that. He seemed,... closer,... towards you. Like, not even a few feet away. He was really close. You sit, he will sit. You stand, he will stand. You walk, he will most definitely walk, too. There were even times when you accidentally bumped into him when you turned too quickly. When you wake up in the morning, you would find yourself completely surprised to see not only Shadow sleeping next to you but, the poet, as well. Heck, you even have a hard time shooing the guy off whenever you need to go to the bathroom! He always seemed to follow you wherever you go. And him being so attached to you like that? Of course, you honestly felt both shy, confused, and really bashful at the same time!

And that,... was only two days ago.

Because now, V seemed,... different. Well, not the scary or the off type of different, no. It seemed like there was a sense of,... urgency,... with the way he moved. The way he looked at you, the way he reached for your hand, the way he touched you, the way he whispered to your ear, not to mention that spine - tingling effect his low and deep voice has on you,...

You knew he was up to something! You knew,... you felt it. And honestly? You felt a mixture of both fright and excitement with the way he's acting towards you lately. You were fully aware of where you stand with regards to things such as intimacy in a relationship. And you being, well,... you? You couldn't help but be both scared and giddy. A lot of things were going through your mind: how would it feel like? Would it hurt? Would there be a lot of blood, like what they said? Would you get sick the next day? But most important of all, would he really be gentle towards you?

These thoughts were still on your mind when you walked out of the villa to join the others on the beach, and when he saw you, he almost immediately dropped whatever he's doing to rush over to your side, only to be stopped by both Dante and Nero.

"Hey, man, we need another one for the team." Dante told him, grabbing the poor poet by the shoulder.

"Come on, V. They're gonna destroy us!" Nero pleaded as he pointed at the three women, Nico, Lady, and Trish, all in their swim suits, waiting for the men to join them for another round of beach volleyball.

You smiled and nodded at V, who glanced helplessly at you as the men dragged him. You were about to watch the spectacle when someone tapped you on the shoulder. You turned around and noticed it was Patty, together with Kyrie, who chose to stay out of the beach due to her delicate state. And both women were smiling mischievously at you.

V and the others were still playing ( albeit it with much difficulty on the poet's part ) a few moments later when you, Patty, and Kyrie came out of the house. And when V saw you, he -

"V, WATCH OUT!" The warning from Nero and Dante came too late as the ball that was hit by Lady came speeding towards him and hit him in the face.

"Youch! That must really hurt!" Griffon, who was still roasting another batch of almost burnt chicken for lunch, flinched as he watched you run towards V, now with a bleeding nose.

Everything went peaceful for a while after that: Shadow, who was really not fond of swimming or getting wet entirely, minding her own business as she built her own sand castle, Kyrie and Nero playing with the orphans on the shore, Nico appraising Griffon's grilled chicken with a keen eye, Griffon hiding several burnt chicken on the sand beneath his feet with a nervous smile, Trish, Lady, and now Patty, bullying Dante to buy ice cream for them,...

... and you taking care of V as you two sat on a towel he borrowed from Patty a while ago.

"You should have been more careful." You told him as you gently wiped the blood off his face.

"I'm fine." He answered quietly as he let himself be pampered by you. "Don't think too much about it."

"Are you sure nothing's broken?"

"I' am perfectly sure."

V glanced at you with such gentle and thoughtful eyes.

For three days since being back together again, V has tried multiple ways of getting close to you, with each attempt ending in miserable failure due to the interference of the people around him. And it has led to him feeling both annoyed and frustrated. While you were absolutely correct that he, indeed, wanted to be intimate with you, he also had another, more vital, reason behind his actions for the last few days. He has found out the reason you were brought back ( or, one might even argue that you really didn't die back then ), and that was partly due to you finally accepting that you need him, and mostly because V practically, and unknowingly, shared his energy, or life force, with you. He couldn't really explain how this happened ( or maybe Cassandra or Andromeda knew, he just didn't bother to ask any of them ), but when he touched, embraced, and kissed you ( albeit briefly due to those interfering people ), he knew that some form of power left his body, surging through every fiber, every nerve, and every vein in his body, and made its way towards you, giving you strength, health, vitality,...

... giving you life.

He was fully aware of what he has done to you in the past - of robbing you of your only life source - that has led to him regaining what he almost lost - life. And him giving back to you that power of life and vitality in some other form or way by being as close to you as he can,...

... it was the ultimate equivalent exchange.

He wanted to share every last bit, every last drop, and every last ounce of this unknown and unexplored power with you by being close, by always being there for you, and by always being with you in every sense of the word.

And he's more than willing to do this for the rest of his life.

And now, as his gaze landed once more on the scars on your stomach and on your thighs, he couldn't help but feel guilty and hurt all over again. You noticed how this made him uneasy and immediately zipped the pink hoodie ( that was given to you by Sister Christina for your birthday ) close so that he would not be able to see the scars, even by accident.

"Patty and Kyrie thought I would look, ah, you know, hot, by wearing this two - piece bikini they lent me but," You lamely made an excuse as you laughed nervously, hoping to get the poet's attention away from your ugly scars. " ... I look dreadful in it, after all. I mean! My feet aren't the only things that are ugly in me. Now, I look like an overused pin cushion, or some - "

"Don't!" V cut you off as both of his hands flew to your face to gently cup your cheeks. And right then and there, he immediately felt that same power leaving his fingers and making its way towards your skin, giving you a noticeable glow that made his heart do multiple flips. "Say such things, my love. You are beautiful, and perfect."

You smiled nervously as you felt your skin getting warmer and warmer by the second under his loving gaze. It really did feel both scary and exciting being with him in this kind of situation.

And then, you felt it: your breathing getting heavier and heavier with his caress, your heartbeat frantically rising with the way he looked at you, and your thighs instinctively rubbing against each other as you felt the warmth of his skin.

For a few seconds, you remained like this, looking into each other's eyes as if nothing else in the world mattered. And when his face inched closer to yours, feeling his hot breath fan your already radiant and sensitive skin, you -

"Hey, want some?"

You were sure you heard V let out a curse in utter frustration as he slowly looked at Dante, who was offering the two of you some strawberry - flavored popsicles. Your eyes widened in fear as you noticed the poet clearly giving Dante a glare that sent shivers down your spine.

"Oh! Thanks, Dante, but - " you stuttered as you tried to break through the tense atmosphere but, you were interrupted as Patty, who seemingly appeared out of nowhere, practically jumped at the tall Devil Hunter, hugging him from behind and startling him, effectively breaking the already heavy situation between the two men.

"Dante!" Patty literally screamed at him, looking very excited.

"Damn, woman!" Dante turned, still unable to believe that the once little girl, who used to pester him only a few years ago, has now fully grown into a very matured and attractive lady. "What is it now? I have bought you your ice cream already, didn't I?"

"Hey! We're still celebrating my birthday!"

"Am I still not forgiven?"

"Of course, not! Unless,..."

"Unless what?"

Patty let go of Dante as she gave him a truly mischievous smirk, one that made you smile inwardly. She truly is making her move,...

"Unless you go on an overnight cruise with me."

"Are you joking?! Only the two of us?!" Dante panicked, clearly picking up on what he thought Patty was planning. And he was definitely not ready and not up for that. "Are you out of - ?!"

"Are you silly?! Of course, the others are invited!" Patty laughed as she turned and waved at Nero, Kyrie, and the orphans, who were excitedly boarding the yacht she rented for the special overnight cruise.

"Come on, Dante! We'll have so much fun!" Patty lured the Devil Hunter once more.

"Y - you don't understand! You and I - "

"Are what?" Trish, who also seemingly came out of nowhere, cut him off as she grabbed his arm and began leading him towards the yacht. "Are you thinking something dirty in there, Dante?"

"How inappropriate!" Lady butted in as she also took the man's arm. "How naughty could you really get, hmm?"

You stifled your laughter as you watched the three women drag the unwilling Dante towards the yacht like a human sacrifice of some sort. Then, you noticed Lady as she turned towards you for the last time before leaving, mouthing something like, good luck, cherry pie with a wink and a wide smile. Patty also turned, but she didn't look at you. She deliberately looked at V and gave him a wink and a thumbs up for a reason you still don’t know.

"How annoyingly human is that?" Griffon, who somehow made his way towards you without being seen or heard, spoke upon watching the said humans get on the yacht. "Hey, V, why don't we - ?”

"Didn't ya hear what the girls said?!" Nico, who was pulling along Shadow, who clearly looked annoyed for being disturbed, interrupted. She, then, took Griffon's arm and started dragging him towards the yacht. "Move yer ass!"

V couldn't help but smirk as he watched Griffon being helplessly dragged by the woman, leaving only the two of you alone on the beach.

Leaving you two alone until the next morning,...

Did Patty read his mind? After all, it was she who made a move to basically get rid of the others for him,...

If so, then,...

"They're just leaving us here?" V heard you next to him.

"Seems like it." He answered, listening to Griffon and Dante's screams in the distance until he could no longer hear them.

"Where are they going?"

"I,... don’t know."

"Oh."

"Hmm."

You two looked at each other, both realizing what the others' absence meant for the two of you.

"Want to go for a dive?" V politely and graciously offered.

"Not really,..." you hesitated, feeling hot, excited and nervous all at the same time at the prospect of spending time alone with your lover. V smiled. Of course, he knew you wouldn't agree to - "O - on second thought, sure! Why not?" You stuttered awkwardly as you finally agreed, making the poet’s lips curl up in a smile.

It could simply be described as the most relaxing day you've had in many years. You and him diving in the ocean and swimming towards that beautiful rock formation, the two of you walking hand in hand as you picked up pretty sea shells in the sand along the way, you describing the lovely things you've seen in your travels, and him tenderly telling you that he wanted to see such things with you,...

It was,... so beautiful, and perfect. In fact, the two of enjoyed this alone time too much that you didn't even notice the setting sun. It was then that he suggested to take a rest for a while and watch the breathtaking sunset with you, making sure you still have that towel to sit on for later. And as you watched the soft glow of the twilight sky with him, you couldn't help but sigh in relief and contentment. The poet raised an eyebrow, urging you to tell him whatever made you react in such a way. You smiled and simply shook your head.

"Thank you so much, V." You whispered, making the poet hum in question. "You were giving me life, weren't you?"

V smiled as he wrapped an arm around your waist and kissed your temple. "And what made you say that, my love?"

"It's exactly that. Your gentle touch, your tender kisses, your warm embrace. Every time you do this, I feel this strange kind of power coming from you, and this gives me energy, somehow. Like, ah, how do I even explain this? Hmm,..."

"Like,... this?" V whispered in that low, almost moan - like, voice as he held you even closer, wrapping both of his arms around you, giving you no chance to think of a proper explanation. You were drowned in his overwhelming presence even more as he began kissing you, letting his lips move against yours in an intoxicating manner, letting your own passion guide you as you shyly reciprocated,...

... and even before you could go any further, he broke the kiss, smiling bashfully as he heard you whimper with disappointment.

"Tell me, darling," V whispered once more, sending your senses straight to Heaven. " ... did you feel,... something?"

You pouted, feeling a bit embarrassed that he was teasing you now of all times when you suddenly realized that you desperately needed him now. But, yes! You did feel something!

You nodded, simply because you couldn't trust your own voice. This scenery, the atmosphere, the man you loved above all else,...

Everything was just too perfect, and you were afraid that this was only like one of those vivid dreams you don't want to wake up from,...

"But, you're not dreaming. I'm here. With you."

You bit your lip, realizing that you've said your thoughts out loud, and looked up at him, only to see tenderness, and warmth, and something else in those beautiful green eyes of his.

"And I want to give you more." He said as his face went down close to yours again. "I need to give you more. More and everything you deserved. I need you,..." You closed your eyes, feeling his lips descend upon yours once more,...

***

🏝 A huge surprise is coming your way, courtesy of @bettybattaglia and @la-vita . Please, look forward to it. 🏝

🏝 @micaelagua , @vergils-daughter , @shadowrosess , @gothghoulfrend , @beyond-the-mirror , @cantcopewithlosingv , @lessy86 , @ceruleanworld , @yepps , @heaven-on-a-landslide , and @krazy06 . 🏝

***

🏝🏝🏝

***

#devil may cry 5 #vitale sparda #i see my future before me #v x reader #v x you #special chapter #part 1

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cabinofimagines · 6 years ago

Text

You Die...

Summary:

The death of a beloved is something excruciatingly painful to go through, how will the 7 + Nico react to it?

Fluff/Smut/Angst

Warnings: Death, obviouslily. And gore

Annabeth:

How you ended up stumbling towards the overturned car for cover and holding your sliced stomach with your left arm, weapon dangling from your right you didn’t know. It was all so fast, the car yourself, Annie, and one of your half siblings suddenly being tossed to the side of the road as if it was meant for flying instead of driving. You remember pain, something cold going through your abdomen and twisting repeatedly the more the car moved.

You couldn’t recall how, but your sibling and Annie had remained unscathed, your sibling shaking from the adrenaline in the backseat, crawling out and gripping their weapon tightly as they went to face the reason for the accident. You remember Annabeth screaming at your sibling, telling them to get out of the way before you faintly saw her scramble out of the car.

What you don’t remember is how you got out of the vehicle. You were stuck last time you checked, something sharp running through you. You hadn’t realized that somehow your sword had transformed from its hidden appearance and lodging itself through you during the flips and turns you went through.

Your insides screamed at you, your instincts wanting to move faster and fight back against your offender, it you couldn’t. It took all you had in you to make it back behind cover. You knew your two accomplices were fighting the monster just behind the burning metal that protected you, you longed to help them but you could no longer move, you couldn’t even feel most of your limbs, the burning pain in your abdomen fading out suddenly along with your vision.

You cried out, scared of dying on a mission like this. It wasn’t even something important, it was a simple quest of returning a few items to Apollo and Aphrodite. It was nearly finished too, just coming back from an interesting visit to the Love goddess and on the way back to camp when you were attacked.

Aphrodite saw through your cover up, knowing immediately that your feelings towards the daughter of Athena were anything but friendly. She smiled and decided to speak to you alone after returning the item she had been missing, which honestly sent chills down your spine.

She was blunt about your feelings much to your surprise, you started to doubt how well you hid it. Did everyone know? You started to freak out before she reassured you that it was purely because she was the goddess of love she saw through your front. She told you that you should confess to Annabeth, that you both would make a “hella cute couple”. You smiled at her words and promised yourself to confess once your quest was complete.

But now you’ll never get to tell her how pretty her golden blonde hair looked when she let it down from her usual ponytail. Or how cute she looked when she was focusing on a puzzle, brows furrowed and lips pursed as her gray eyes took in every detail. You’ll never get to admit that you actually love it when she came into your cabin to wake you up, even if you were late to something important, you wanted her to be the first thing you woke up to.

You’ll never get to tell her you loved her with every part of you.

Even as your consciousness faded away with each dying breath you could still faintly feel her grip your shirt and cry out, tears hitting your pale and unresponsive face. You wanted to reach out and tell her that it’ll be fine, that you’ll always be with her even if it’s not physical. But you took your last breath, chest heaving as you tried to make it last, then you were gone.

Annabeth cried out in frustration, angry tears falling as she cradled your head to her chest, the blood from your mouth soaking into her gray tee but she didn’t care. Your sibling came back moments later covered in golden dust from the monster they killed, tears streaming down their face silently as they discovered their younger sibling unmoving and in the arms of the person they knew you loved most.

The trip back to camp was silent. Your sibling had quickly found another car and was now the one driving extremely cautiously now, heart and mind broken and a mess as they tried not to look at the backseat where you Annabeth resided. Annie had refused to leave you there, wanting to give you a proper burial like you deserved, she hadn’t let go of you since you passed.

Her heart in pieces when she rounded the car to check on you only to find you nearly dead. She’ll never get the image of your expression as you left this world, almost content, blood dripping from your mouth as your lips upturned into a small grin.

She’d never get to tell you how much she loved you.

Percy:

It’s been a week since your death in the camp infirmary and percy hadn’t left his navy blue sheets once. Your death had broke him mentally and emotionally, his motivation had completely dissipated once he heard the words leave Nicos lips, “I’m so sorry, Percy… they’re- they’re gone.”

Coming back home to camp wasn’t as happy as it usually was ror the son of Poseidon. He was immediately swarmed with multiple campers pitiful looks and apologetic greetings, making him question what exactly had happened while he was away visiting his mom and Paul. It was only when Nico had start3 apologizing when he asked what he was talking about.

Nicos face dawned with shocked realization, only shoving his hands in his pockets and mumbling a “Follow me” before he started towards the big house.

He started to worry, the worst scenarios coming to mind, everything but this.

Coming through the doors of the infirmary he noticed a familiar shade of (h/c) laying sprawled across one of the beds. His heart broke, stopping in his tracks with eyes wide and mouth agape as he took your form in. You looked broken and beat up, face covered him marks and cuts along with the rest of your body.

Will had come over to Percy sheepishly, his heart breaking when he noticed how the sea boys bottom lip quivered, sea green eyes now raging with emotions instead of their usual playfulness. Clearing his throat and crossing his arms over his chest he caught the son of Poseidon’s attention.

“We tried to contact you, but Chiron didn’t think it was this serious… It got really bad yesterday. You should go see them yourself…” He said quietly, emotions getting to the best of him. You were his friend too.

Percy’s feet began to control themselves, instinctively going over to your broken frame and delicately tracing your face with his fingertips. His heart rate picked up when he noticed had still you really were, he could barely see your chest moving as you struggled to breath. The question on his mind had finally left his lips,not looking away from you.

“What happened?” His voice raw with emotion, mixed with authority and sadness. Will could tell he was barely holding it together by the way his voice cracked. Will felt ashamed to tell him the answer, knowing that he should’ve been able to fix them but wasn’t able.

“There were some returning campers, they were being heavily attacked. Gorgans, Manticore, a few Empousai, it was bad.” He paused, letting the situation sink in, “Y/n was one of the few and only responders to the scene. They fought hard but in the end.. in the end they jumped in front of Emma when the manticore lunged.”

Will tried to keep his composure, knowing that if he broke down, so would Percy.

“From then on out it only got worse, they wouldn’t stop fighting and lost a lot of blood in the process. The empousai were not merciful once they found out who they were to you. They… took their time beating and torturing until Leo and Nico killed them. It’s touch and go from here.”

Percy’s eyes swam with tears, a few falling and dripping across your cold face. He bit his lip and took a seat on the ledge of the bed, now gripping your hand in his own as he silently declared he wasn’t leaving anytime soon.

Nico carefully made his way over to Will, placing a hand on his arm and giving a sorrowful look, “They don't have long left, I can feel them slipping away.” His attention turned to Percy who was trying so hard to keep it together, to remain strong for Y/n.

Percy smiled bitterly and scoffed at the tears that escaped. His voice wavered with sadness, “You’re going to be okay, I know you will be. You’re going to get better and we’re going to leave this place, this lifestyle, so you’ll be safe.”

He was losing his grip on his emotions, voice raw and breaking as he confessed his future plans with you.

“We’ll go to New Rome, we’ll finish school and we can move in together, I wanna put a ring on those pretty fingers of yours,” he admitted quietly, thumb trailing over your ring finger as he spoke. “I want us to raise kids together, I want to deal with them getting boyfriends and girlfriends and complain to you how they’re growing up too fast. I want to grow old with you and make jokes about old people stuff, like dentures.”

He laughed at his words, struggling to keep his smile happy as he looked over your face once more. His hands gripping your own tightly as if he was your lifeline.

But it didn’t seem to work.

Nico silently approached and rested his hand on Percy’s shoulder, reminding him of their presence in the room. Percy looked up at Nico, he looked so calm that the only giveaway he was sad was the tear tracks down his olive cheeks and his bloodshot eyes. He struggled to form the words needed to be said,

“I’m sorry, Percy… they’re- they’re gone.”

Frank:

You wanted nothing more than to reach out and grab onto Frank, stroke his soft cheeks and tell him that everything would be alright. But your body wouldn't allow it, the fates deeming it too merciful to grant you a proper goodbye to your loved ones.

Frank had spotted you amidst the chaos, breathing raggedly and unmoving. He felt his heartbeat quicken and his fingers aching to wrap around your frail body, to pull you close and help you back onto your feet. Before he even processed fully what was going on, he was sprinting full force at the scene, dodging various monster attacks and other elemental objects being thrown his way, his focus purely on getting to you.

Seeing an empousai limping itself toward you with hungry eyes he stood still and readied his bow, loading an arrow and aiming it straight for the monster. He released the shot, taking off as the creature burst into a puff of golden dust only a few feet away from you.

He dropped to his knees almost immediately, cradling your head in his hands as if you were made of glass. The fact that you weren’t moving, staring up blankly at him with a permanent look of horror across your cold face. The look from what he could only guess was the given reaction you had of the thing that put you in this state.

His large hand trailed up to your cheek, dragging his fingertips carefully across your features, committing them to his memory knowing it was most likely one of the last times he’ll get to see you. His forehead came down to rest against your own blood smeared one, whether it was your own or someone else’s he didn’t know and didn’t care.

His tears began falling, the fight surrounding you both faded away as his heart broke into pieces. He waited 2 years to tell you about his feelings only to find out you felt the same way this whole time, all that time wasted… now you we’re gone. You’d only been an official couple for three weeks now, he’d never get to go through milestones with you, never get to celebrate your anniversary, never get to make you feel like you were the only person on earth.

Percy had stumbled upon the heart wrenching scene while searching for the rest of his team. Seeing Franks broken state and a motionless you on the ground pull3d at his heartstrings, knowing how long Frank had kept his feelings for you secret. He couldn’t imagine the pain he was going through right now, though you were still breathing faintly, he knew you didn’t have long left.

Frank lifted his tired red eyes towards your own, reading the emotions they conveyed as your breathing became more ragged. His breath hitched, not wanting to believe you’ll soon be gone, gone from this world and gone from his touch. He traced your features once more, fingers trailing over your chapped lips.

He leaned down with an unsure mission, to show one last act of his love. Brushing his lips across yours and leaving a soft kiss as a parting gift, “I love you Y/n L/n, I’ll see you again soon.”

And with that you took your last breath, leaving your love and your friends behind you.

Hazel:

She hated it. She hated ice cream.

She hated the sweet taste, how much it made her brain freeze and bring her sorrow instead of happiness. She hated how it revive old memories, ones she tried to bury deep beneath all the happy ones. She had lost someone she loved, all because of that damn frozen treat.

You were both out on the town, the Argo II having just taken port whilst Leo made repairs and refueled the ship before the next sail. You wanted to take Hazel out for ice cream being the amazing and thoughtful partner you are, but a sweet tooth trip didn’t end with melted cones and sticky hands.

Making your way out of the small shop and into the dark outside world with ice cream cones in both of your hands you felt a bit uneasy. Something was nagging at you, telling you to be careful of your surroundings, to stop thinking about how cute the cinnamon haired girl was when she ate the creamy strawberry cone too quickly.

But of course you did the opposite, now throwing your head back in laughter at the brain freeze she’d gotten from her previous actions. That was when it happened, when one of the worlds most joyful noises went silent.

An arrow straight through your neck, ripping your vocal cords and halting your laugh. You sputtered and choked, hands coming up to the unfamiliar steel object that remained embedded in your neck. Hazel screamed as she went to hold you up with one arm, the other coming up to pry your hands away from the wound, knowing it’ll only make it worse if you try to remove it.

Tears streamed down her dark cheeks, golden hues glistening with confusion and fear as she realized how hopeless she was in this moment. She searched around for the culprit but found nothing or no one in sight, so she shouted loudly, asking anyone nearby by for help, but no one was really walking the streets this late at night.

The ice cream owner scrambled outside, the old man's face dropping as he noticed what the commotion was about. He struggled to find his phone, searching his pockets frantically before finding a flip phone and dialing emergency contacts, stuttering his way through the phone call before he rushed over to check your condition.

It hurt to talk, you couldn’t talk, or breathe even. Your inability to swallow caused drool and blood to flow freely from your lips onto the pavement below you, you felt disgusting. Now laying back against the brick wall of the shop you felt Hazels tears dropping on your skin, her lips moving in an attempt to speak but no words would come. You smiled weakly, reaching up to brush her cinnamon strands from her face, trailing your fingers down her jawline until your palm rested against her tear stained face, “It’s okay.” You tried to say, only to end up wincing when only more blood dribbled out instead of your voice.

You could hear the sirens coming down the street, but by the time they get here it’ll be too late. You could feel your life force slipping away from you with each second that passes. Your lungs burned from the lack of oxygen, the lack of blood in your body causing your body to grow weak, and your eyelids struggling to stay. You were fading fast, but you wanted let her know it was okay.

She leaned into your palm, crying silently, pleading for you to hold on and that help was on the way. But you couldn’t stay, it was too late.

The old man reached out and rested his hand on her shaking shoulder. Tears built up in his old and drooping eyes from the sight of someone so young having their life stolen from them. Hazel felt you slipping away, your hand growing limp and your body heat growing cold. Just like ice cream.

Leo:

He promised he wouldn’t cry. He told you that when you both decided to be together. You made him promise you that, and he did, with a goofy smile and shining eyes that he’d never shed tears again. Guess he’d have to apologize for that too.

Visiting yours and his mother’s grave every year on October 31st has become a tradition. Telling the others he’d rather not go celebrating Halloween because he had work to do and then ending up sleeping in the graveyard had also become apart of it too. He’d specifically asked for you to be buried near his mother, begging your m/p to allow it with tears in his puppy like eyes that you adored so much. Eventually you had your own little spot across from Esperanza Valdez.

He stared at your picture that rested above your grave, the candles illuminating the name and date etched onto your grave making it all the more real to him. He’d already lost one of the most important people in his life and now he’s lost another, and here he is, sat in front of their graves trying accept the fact that they’ve moved on.

He began apologizing, trying to finish what was left unfinished the day of your death. The two of you had been arguing over the fact that he had voted against your capabilities to take on an important quest during a counselors meeting. You just wanted him to look at you like everyone else did, not as someone helpless and unable to take on a quest such as the one at hand.

He’d said some pretty hurtful things in the heat of the moment, bringing up the few times he had to save your life because you were being too reckless and risky in your actions. You recoiled from him, taking up the quest anyways to prove him wrong, that you could in fact take care of yourself. The one time you actually couldn’t.

When your quest mates came back without you, eyes glistening with tears and gaze fearful when they noticed a searching Leo coming towards them, craning his head to see a familiar mop of hair amongst the welcoming party. With a heavy heart and sad electric hues, Jason wrapped a strong arm around his best friends shaking shoulders.

Leo’s chocolate gaze raised to look up at the tall male in denial, whispering “No...no no no” to himself and shaking his head harshly. Angry tears fell from his closed eyes, thinking that if he doesn’t look it won’t be true, it’s all just some fucked up nightmare and he’d wake up with you in his arms.

The discovery of your death had been pushed away from his thoughts, refusing to look or do anything that reminded him of you in the slightest way. Your cabin on the Argo II had been blocked off, the door sealed shut and never to be opened again, your belongings still locked inside. The items littered about in his room were still there along with the few items you left in the bunker as well, yet they were soon to be moved to a little box he built so he’d no longer feel the ache in his heart every time he searched for a shirt or went grab a tool.

However, no matter how much he wished to forget, he always ended up here, in tears and pleading for you to come back to him. For hours on end he’d sob, his body shaking with each breath he struggled to take, choking from the lack of air his cries wouldn’t allow him to take.

He always ended up here, sleeping on your grave, curled up in a fetal position. He’d always end up apologizing for the things he did and for breaking his promise to you, saying sorry for not being there to protect you, and saying sorry for not showing how much he loved you while you were still around to see it.

Nico:

The fields of asphodel was a horrendously bland place. It was overpopulated, boring, and scary in the sense that you don’t know where you are or who you are. The fields were filled with those who hadn’t done enough evil to be sent to the fields of punishment but hadn’t done enough good to achieve elysium either. You often wondered what kind of person you were while you were among the living, obviously not too good or too bad considering you ended up here in a wheat field to spend the rest of your days.

The old and lost souls that wandered about weren’t of much company, though when they were company, they weren’t the best of company, always dreading every new day in this field and spreading even more negative energy.

You often thought of being reborn, maybe just recycling your soul out for someone else would be worth it after all. You wondered what the body would look like, an old soul inside of a entirely new and different body than it was used to. Then again who’s to say that your soul wasn’t already an old one? One that had been wandering around for years.

Those thoughts stopped when a boy with a messy mop of ink black hair and onyx black eyes to match had come to visit. New and old inhabitants of the fields swarmed him, begging and pleading with the olive toned boy to release them from this endless loop of blandness. He merely sneered at them, threatening to set them free into the fields of punishment instead.

It had been such a long time since you saw a new face around here and the first time you saw a living one at that. You admired him silently for his next few visits, sensing that he was searching for someone each time he came, his neck stretching over the sulking souls that stumbled about. So you built up your courage, seeking the darkly dressed boy out before he had the chance to leave once more.

Though your meeting went a little differently than anticipated. His pale face somehow had gotten even paler when you tapp3 him on the shoulder to gain his attention. His dark eyes that were surrounded by equally dark circles underneath eyes seemed to widen in shock, his mouth failing to form words. You frowned and cocked your head at this. There may not be any mirrors down here but you were sure you weren’t that ugly.

His chapped lips uttered a name you were unfamiliar with, “Y-Y/n?”

You shook your head and looked around you, “Who…? I’m sorry I don’t know anyone by that name..” you apologize whilst casting your eyes to the wheat below you, “Is that who you’re searching for?” His expression turned into a cocktail of emotions, anger and sadness mixed with a little bit of regret.

“Fuck… fuck!” He shouted, tugging at his hair harshly as tears appeared in the corners of his eyes. He stared at your confused expression in heartbreak, you really didn’t remember a thing. He reached forwards and cupped your face in his hands, dark hues boring into your own e/c ones, still searching for something.

You should’ve pulled back from this stranger, curious or not you still didn’t know him. But then again his touch felt so familiar, this felt so right, like it was a normal thing to happen. That feeling alone was intoxicating enough to make you stay still, letting his roam over your face with tears falling freely now.

His head went your neck, hair tickling your neck as he sobbed quietly, arms curling around your waist like a scared child. You remained still however, a hand hesitantly coming up to his locks and patting them gently.

He began apologizing profusely, spouting promises of your escape quietly in your ear, promises of his return.

Never once did he break a promise, showing his face everyday with a sad smile and more plans to share with you underneath the poplar tree. He had since then introduced himself as Nico and told you that your name was Y/n, but he would never answer you when you asked how you knew each other, changing the subject before you could further investigate.

Though you didn’t care these days. You were perfectly content with spreading your days in this bland paradise if that meant seeing Nico each and every day. He spouted promises and plans of taking you with him to the surface, but you didn’t care. Seeing him here, knowing there was something more between you both whilst you were among the living, and him taking his time to come visit you amongst the dead, that meant so much more to you than anytime you could imagine on the surface.

Jason:

He knew how dangerous dating a mortal was. He’d been warned multiple times by his friends when he talked about them and the urge he had to protect the, from anything. He couldn’t help but adore your cute habits and the way your face scrunched up at his cringe worthy stories of him and his best friends acting like idiots.

One serious downside to dating a mortal was not being able to see them each day like Percy can see Annabeth or how Frank can see Hazel. Jason would have to travel on his own spare time to go see them, sometimes taking a break at your house when a quest was close by. There were some incidents however where he’d be on a quest with other campers causing them to meet you and question your eagerness to accept strangers inside.

Of course, during a quest with Leo and another camper named Michelle they had to travel through y/h/t and Jason took the chance to stop by and visit. Leo of course had questioned the whole ordeal, wondering what Jason’s relationship to you was and why he stalled so much during the journey through town. They could have easily made it into the next town before sundown but it’s as if Jason didn’t want to move on this fast.

So three demigods had ended up at your door, being welcomed inside a bit too quickly for Michelle’s taste. She had already been a little more anxious than she usually is, almost like she had been itching for a fight to break out. She’d been like that ever since the encounter with Enchida back in Brooklyn, on edge and her hand permanently residing on her sheathed dagger.

You smiled widely at Jason before toning it down, knowing that none of his friends know who you are or what you are to Jason. You gave each of them warm smiles and leaned against the door asking what you could do to help and quickly agreeing to be their shelter.

Bed arrangements were more than puzzling to Leo. You had insisted on Jason taking the bed while you lay on the couch but he had also refused, claiming it was your bed and your home and he couldn’t take that away from you, even for one night. He watched with analytical eyes, though in his mind he kept wondering where he would end up resting his head.

Finally thee was a compromise on Michelle and you both taking the bed and Jason and Leo remaining in the living room on the couches. You were a bit uneasy around Michelle, not only because of the fact she was a stranger but also because she had become tense, not speaking and religiously gripping onto her weapon which she didn’t even take off while sleeping.

You kept the door open a crack, slightly scared of the black haired girl next to you. You told yourself repeat not to fall asleep, to not trust this girl that gave a bad vibe, you even thought about going in there with Jason and Leo instead. But your body was so tired.. your eyelids drooping low… and before you knew it, you were sleeping.

The next morning was quiet. Almost too quiet, Jason thought to himself when he sat upright on the leather couch. He nibbled his bottom lip, looking over at Leo was still knocked out, fast asleep with drool escaping his mouth. He didn’t think Michelle would notice if he snuck into the room and woke up you up for a chance to watch the sunrise before he left.

So he crept towards your cracked door, tiptoeing over so he wouldn’t wake the others. Though as he approaches he hears sobs, soft and ugly sobs coming from your room and they didn’t sound like they were coming from you, that was not you. His heart picked up a little, wondering why someone was awake and sobbing like this so early in the morning.

Upon opening the door he understood why.

Michelle sat there on the bed, narrow eyes red and full of tears as her hands were frantically moving over an open wound. But not on her, no. The open wound was on you, multiple stab wounds to the chest area, seemingly in a panicked way. Though you were no longer living that much was obvious,your eyes had glazed over, mouth unmoving and dripping blood, and your chest unmoving with any breath.

Jason froze, eyes wide and heart shattering at the sight of his beloved dead on the bed they had sometimes shared. He whimpered involuntarily, “Y/n…” this had caught Michelle’s attention, her panicked gaze landing on his pain ridden face.

“I-I didn’t mean to,” she stammered, “I thought th-that… I wouldn’t have- Jason please…” He raised his hand, biting his lip and turning his face away. He dropped his hand like it was dead weight, reluctantly shuffling over to your cold figure and cradling your face in his shaking hands.

“Get out.” He spoke lowly, voice quiet as to not startle Leo. Michelle removed her hands from your bloody abdomen, shaking at his demand as she struggled to get out of the stained sheets. She lingered by the edge of the bed, hesitating only to be yelled at. She scrambled out of the room and ran out of the house in tears.

Not too long after all the commotion had begun Leo had woken from his sleep. Sleepily he entered the bedroom, rubbing his eyes and complaining about the noise, that’s when he opened his nut brown eyes and saw a weeping Jason holding you closely to his chest. He knew then and there that you were much more than a kind stranger to Jason, much more.

Piper:

To say that you were the favorite child of G/p was a serious understatement. Any of the other Olympian gods got sick of hearing them going on on rants about your accomplishments since they had claimed you, saying things like, “Wow can you imagine the things they would have done had I claimed them sooner?”

Honestly, they were so sick of it, but found it enduring at times, the influence making them sweeter to their own kids in return. Any chance to make a appearance at camp was needed or acceptable, they would be there at the snap of their fingers, demanding to know where their children were.

So when the dreadful news of your passing had reached mount Olympus, it was chaos not only there but also here on earth. Camp half blood was in mourning, one of their strongest being struck down was heartbreaking and nerve wracking. Because if it can happen to you, it could just as easily happen to them.

G/p didn’t take too long on figuring out who or what was the cause of your painful death, of course that meant the cause of it all had hell to pay. However, they were more than shocked to find out that your significant other Piper McLean, daughter of Aphrodite, had been a part of it all.

Camp Half Blood had never seen worse days, having an angry god/goddess rampaging on your home wasn’t an ideal average day. But having a an angry god/goddess being pissed at you, that was a whole other level of scary.

Piper and g/p were at each other’s throats constantly, g/p whisking them away to some secluded place or on top mount Olympus just to scream at her some more. Though Piper wouldn’t take it, screaming in frustration right back at them until her voice broke and the tears started pouring down.

G/p scoffed and rolled their eyes, “My child is dead and you’re crying. You’re the reason they’re gone in the first place!” They screamed, throwing their arms around in angry gestures, not caring how angry Aphrodite will be with them later on. When Piper didn’t answer back with yet another witty comment they continued.

“You think just because you can worm yourself in to others hearts so easily that you can just break my child’s in two?!” They were fuming now, fists clenched and pounding into the pillar that stood beside them. “They should still be here and not in a damn grave!”

Piper glared back at them, hot tears lining her kaleidoscope eyes, “I loved them too!” They went silent, staring at the sobbing daughter of Aphrodite shocked. Piper continued with a shaky voice, tears still streaming down her face, “I think about it everyday, wishing it were me instead of them. I wish I had died instead of them, because I died the minute they left this world.”

Do you know how much I begged and pleaded with the fates to take my life instead? I wish I died instead, I wish that everyday.” Piper confessed, showing how much self hatred she had dealt with since your passing. Every night she cried herself to sleep, curled up with your pillow snuggled up beside her. Sometimes she’d be half asleep, hugging your pillow and believe that your death was just a nightmare.

But reality hit her all at once when she realized how cold the other side of the need was.

G/p was speechless, they didn’t know how much it affected them, they didn’t think of the countless times they saw Aphrodite cooing over the twos not so secretive glances towards one another, nor did they think of the time they caught you two cuddled up in together in your bed, pipers arms wrapped around you securely and your arms hanging over her waist, lips pressed to her forehead.

Guilt flooded over g/p instantly, anger residing when their soft gaze washed over the broken beauty queen. They were speechless, not knowing what to say except, “I’m sorry…” before snapping their fingers quietly and disappearing like they were never even there.

The Nico one was my favorite to write tbh

-Day

#pjo #Nico di Angelo #Leo Valdez #jason grace #jason grace imagine #x reader #leo x reader #percy jackson #hoo imagine #Piper McLean #annabeth #gender neutral #percy jackson x reader #preferences #Hazel Levesque #frank zhang #pjo xreader

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rippedjeansandloudmusic · 7 years ago

Text

capitolo cinque

ayeeeeee Chapter Four you want to read this is a better format you should go to my Ao3, where i actually proofread because copy/pasting on tumblr sucks.

Will wasn’t sure if shaking was a good sign.

As Lou and he ran down the packed sidewalks and crossed packed streets the paper seemed to grow heavy in his pocket, just begging for Will to stop whatever he was doing and read it.

But, he didn’t.

He couldn’t give Lou Ellen the satisfaction.

So, they made their way home. Evading the homeless, street-corner-bands, and as many humans, as possible they turned down the roads. Eventually, they made it to the subway, squeezed onto a trapped car and made their way. Will had to stand beside Lou, holding onto the metal handles above their heads for both him and her. Lou was too short to reach the bar and had to resort to holding the sleeves of his flannel. They got looks from tons of different people, most of which were probably thinking they were soulmates, and Lou just rolled her eyes. Will had to apologize when, at one point, Lou flipped off one of the people who was staring. Will didn’t care for the attention, honestly, but Lou seemed dead set on not allowing people to think they were in a relationship.

When they got off the car Lou grabbed his wrist, dragging him across the cemented floor and out, once again, onto the crowded street.

When they got back to the small apartment it was a little past midnight. The place wasn’t very big, barely having two bedrooms, and almost everything was pushed into the wall. Will wasn’t sure how Hecate could live in this small apartment, even on her own. It was too crowded for Will’s liking, and he was glad to be out and about most of the time. The floors were polished wood, though underneath a small couch it was a gray carpet. The chairs for the dining room and the table itself were all folded up, pressed against the wall to let some more room into the small place. There were only five windows throughout the apartment; two in the living/dining room, one in the bathroom and one in each bedroom.

Lou didn’t even stop to grab something from the fridge, unlike most days back in Kansas where she would raid the fridge every single time they walked into a house and pulled Will back into their shared room.

Hecate didn’t find it mandatory to find a second bed, since they were childhood friends and weren’t soulmates, so they just crashed in the same twin sized bed. It had a large white comforter on top and a carpet in front of it. The room in itself was pretty small as well, only having one dresser that they had to share (aka: Lou took the dresser and Will just didn’t unpack) and a small hamper for their dirty clothing.

Lou sat on the side of the bed, pulling Will down, and hit him upside the head.

Will winced, rubbing the back of his head while glaring at Lou.

“What the hell, Lou?”

“I suggest you, Will Solace,” she poked him in the side, “read that damned letter and read it fast.”

Will raised a brow at her, though caved in, reaching into his back pocket and grabbing the letter. Though he hesitated before unfolding it.

“Why are you so adamant on me opening this, anyway?”

Lou just rolled her eyes, getting up and hitting him on the shoulder for a moment before going to exit the room. Will watched as she opened the door, almost out of the room, but she stopped before shutting it.

“Why don’t you read it and find out?”

Then she shut the door, leaving Will in almost complete darkness except for a small light fixture on the other side of the room.

Will read the logo on the front side of the napkin - Hecate’s Brewery and Coffee - before unfolding it, careful to not rip it, and the first thing he noticed was the way it was written.

The words were carefully spaced, as though the writer was scared that Will wouldn’t be able to read their handwriting. Though every letter curved into one another, making it look more like cursive than simple printed writing. The way the words were written made it seem like his hand was too slow for his brain, having to write quickly in order to get his thoughts onto paper. Though maybe this time they wrote slower because it seemed purposely thought out more, slowing it down. He could still see the places where their pen was to close to the paper while moving to another letter, leaving faint marks of ink in between the words.

Will grabbed the lamp from the dresser and dragged it into the middle of the floor where he could sit and read the note, not wanting to harm the cord since it was too short.

Uhm, hey, I guess.

Now I don’t know how you got this letter, or if you even got it at all. Either way, it’s giving me a freaking heart attack, knowing that you’ll probably be reading this.

My name is Nico di Angelo. I’m 18, not from America, and just happen to be your soulmate.

God, this sounds like a shitty movie cliche.

But I am. As weird as it sounds.

And I know what you’re probably thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, this guy is the biggest chicken I’ve ever met.’ And, yeah, you would be right. I’m scared shitless. Most people could approach their soulmate no problem. Maybe throw out a witty one-liner and get the guy/girl. But, I’m not your average Joe. In fact, I’m about far from it.

And I don’t know if you’re against soulmates. Some people are, I hear, and I would literally fucking die if I approached you and you called me out or something.

And you are probably also thinking about how I could be lying. That’s understandable since I would be thinking the same thing. Well, I do have some proof, though I could tell you without showing you as well.

I guess I could give a small description of one of my marks, perhaps?

One of them is of a baseball mitt with a name seemingly embroidered on the palm. Naomi.

Also, you happen to have my sister’s face on your arm. The girl, the absolutely magnificent stained glass tattoo? Yeah, she’s my sister. Hard to believe, I know better than you, but true. She recently turned sixteen, actually, and is going to a Catholic school ways downtown.

And I know that you’re putting blind trust in a man you don’t even know. Hell, I don’t even know your name! But, I am hoping that you’re willing to give me a chance. And, if you don’t, at least let me know that you did.

Those other tattoos… I’d love to share the story.

Though only if you let me.

515-808-2362

-di Angelo

Now you understand why the famous Will Solace was shaking.

While reading the letter, though, he noticed how there were small rips every so often. At the very end, where Nico signed his last name, the ‘l’ almost ripped the entire bottom half of the page off. Will could see where he had to tape the page back together.

This is a shitty cliche, Will thought to himself. But you added your own flare.

It was amazing to think that he had actually met his soulmate that day. Sure, he had an odd vibe about the knockoff-hipster the entire night, though he thought that was normal.

Obviously, it wasn’t.

Remember earlier, where Will said he didn’t feel the need to want to know everything about Nico di Angelo? Yeah, he now had that gut feeling.

He didn’t want to call him, though. Who knows where he could be? Possibly even asleep.

Would you sleep, Will thought, If you just made such a big step towards your soulmate? Probably not.

So Will picked up his phone and dialed the number on the paper.

Nico was shaking.

He knew exactly why he was shaking, though. He was crawling with nerves. His arm had goosebumps and his teeth were chattering, though that could’ve easily been from the cold of the night. It was almost never this cold. While walking down the streets of New York City you would almost always get heat from the many bodies you would pass by. One time he was knocked back and forth by the same two people all down Broadway with Hazel after seeing a show. Most of the time he would sweat from the constant brushing up against people.

Now he probably could’ve been in an oven and still been colder than a popsicle.

Hazel was blowing up his phone with How could you! -s and What happened to sticking to the plan?! -s almost all the way home. He didn’t reply, though, until he was back in his bed, staring up at the ceiling of Bianca and Maria.

“What the fuck, di Angelo?” Hazel’s voice shot at him. “What happened to keeping them apart until they were about to die?”

Nico thought for a moment before replying.

“Plans changed,” he replied, as bland as ever, his voice shockingly monotone considering the circumstances.

“Of course, Nico, that’s blatantly obvious.”

Nico didn’t respond. He could hear Hazel’s heavy breathing through the speaker of his phone. Speaking of his phone it was thrown across his bed, at the foot to be exact, while on speaker.

Hazel seemed to realize his ill response and said something more.

“Neeks, what’s wrong?”

Nico winced, thinking about the nickname.

“You know,” he responded, sure his voice sounded muffled because of his phone being face down. “Bianca called me that for a while.”

Nico could hear Hazel stop walking.

“Huh? Nico, I know that. You’ve already told me.”

“I did?” he wondered aloud, not remembering the occasion.

“Yeah,” she responded, resuming her walking. “Nico, what’s wrong?”

Nico huffed, sending a piece of hair that was in front of his face flying.

“I met my soulmate.”

Hazel stopped walking (again).

“What!” She said so loud it was more of a scream. Nico could hear her yelling in glee from the other side of the line. He felt a smile break through his features, and found himself biting back a laugh to avoid waking Sally.

“That’s great, Neeks! So why are you upset?”

Nico’s smile dissipated. He didn’t respond, which of course sent Hazel’s mind spinning out of control. “Wait,” she said after a moment of deliberation. “Did you not talk to him?”

He didn’t respond.

“NICO DI ANGELO! What the hell!”

“I’m sorry!” he said, scrambling to grab his phone. He eventually took it off the speaker to keep Hazel’s voice from getting too loud.

“I just - I - I panicked!”

“Well, Nico, I’m panicking too!”

“Now can you imagine my pain?”

Hazel hesitated.

“Slightly.”

“Okay then.”

They were silent for a few seconds.

“I’m coming over.”

Nico blinked a few times, taking his phone from his ear to glance at the time for a second. “Hazel, it’s past midnight. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Though he knew he didn’t have a say in the matter.

“Too late. Buzz me in.”

“What the fuck? How did you get here so quickly?” He jumped down from his upper bunk, grabbing his black hoodie from the floor and throwing it on.

“I was going to come over anyway,” Nico could hear her feet hitting against the steps outside through the phone. “You just gave me a valid reason to.”

“Won’t the school want you back?”

“The school can suck it. My brother was an idiot and now needs my emotional support during this hard time. Buzz me in.”

Nico got up, whispering obscenities at Hazel as he walked over to their front door and buzzed Hazel in. She was up in a new record time and flung the door open, almost killing Nico when she ran in.

“Nico di Angelo!” She yelled, and Nico yelped. Flying forward and slamming a hand over her mouth.

“Shhh!” He muttered, sparing a glance to Sally’s room. A few seconds later when the door didn’t open he sighed, removing his hand from her mouth.

“Ew,” he muttered, wiping the palm of his hands on his boxers. “Why the hell did you lick me?”

“Don’t put your hand over my mouth, Neeks, and I won’t lick you.”

Hazel shoved past him, marching towards his bedroom. He followed quickly, shutting the door behind him. Hazel threw her bag onto the bottom bunk, taking off her shoes and her jean jacket.

“Where’s Percy?” She asked, throwing her jacket at Nico. Nico rolled his eyes, tossing the jacket onto the back of his office chair and collapsing next to her on the bed.

“Probably out with Annabeth. He said he’d probably be back at around two, so don’t be scared when four people stumble in here drunk off their ass.”

“Four?”

“Piper.”

“Oh… you’re right. Though, aren’t they all underage?”

Nico shook his head, waving a hand towards the light at the front of the room, motioning for Hazel to turn it off. She rolled her eyes but obliged, flickering the light off before collapsing next to him again.

“Percy and Jason turned twenty one a few months ago. Annabeth, she’s underage, so she won’t drink. But we both know Piper could talk anyone into getting her a drink.”

“It’s sad how true that is.”

Nico nodded, leaving the room in silence for a moment. Eventually Hazel got up, discarding her jeans and pulling on a pair of Nico’s old sweatpants he had grown out of a few years prior. Why he had those he wasn’t sure. She also stole a hair tie from his floor (he needed to clean the room) and pulled her hair back.

“Okay, let’s get to business.”

She sat beside him, heaving him to his ass and pushing him back to the wall of the room.

“Soulmate. Details. Spill.”

Nico groaned, though didn’t object, and began talking.

He wasn’t sure how long he was talking for, probably about ten minutes, though when she wanted details she wanted details. Some of her, might he say bizarre, questions were, quote:

Hair color: “A bright blonde. It was really shaggy like he hadn’t cut it in months which I didn’t really understand but it didn’t matter because holy shit he was hot.”

Eye color: “The brightest blue you’ve ever seen. Hazel, it was ridiculous. Like, fucking, uh, like the fucking Pacific Ocean blue. Oh my god, he was hot.”

Clothing: “A flannel with a freaking amazing graphic t-shirt under it that had the word Sarcasm on it.”

Height: “How the fuck am I supposed to know that?”

Where he was from: “Somewhere south. He had a slight southern accent.”

Best friend: “I don’t fucking know. Uh, maybe the girl he was working with? Lou, I think.”

And a bunch of different ones he didn’t remember.

When they were finished Hazel whistled, remarking how impressive it was that he got all that information via stalking someone and a two minute conversation. Normally, Nico would’ve retorted, saying how he knew she was staring at one at some guy for a solid ten minutes while they were at McDonald’s, though instead he just nodded solemnly.

“Holy shit,” Hazel whispered, poking his face as though he’d turned into an alien. Nico batted her hand away, though Hazel still smiled. “You look dead inside.”

“I am dead inside, Hazel.”

“And angsty, too.”

“Please, just shut up.”

Hazel snorted, grabbing her phone from his nightstand and getting the time.

“It’s almost three. They should be here sometime soon.”

“Wait, I blabbered on about a stranger for three hours and you didn't stop me?”

Hazel shrugged, not even bothering to hide the smile growing on her face. “You looked star struck. It was cute.”

Nico scowled, burying his face in the pillow he was resting against and groaning. Hazel just laughed.

“So, how are we going to find our Mystery Man, huh?”

Nico flopped over, now biting his lip at the boards above him.

“Hopefully he calls…”

Hazel froze.

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN ��HOPEFULLY HE CALLS’?”

Nico shot upward, covering her mouth again, though she just pushed him off and dove for his phone.

“You gave him your number?” She asked, though it was more of a scream, and jumped up from her spot on the bed. Nico followed her, jumping to get his phone, which he eventually got back, though Hazel still almost killed him in the process. Before much more damage could be done, though, the front door to the apartment opened and one drunk teen and three adults came streaming in.

Hazel looked at Nico with a fire beneath her eyes. “This conversation isn’t over.” Were her last words before she opened the bedroom door and disappeared into the next room.

“Let’s hope this night ends better than I anticipated…” Nico murmured, following his sister into the next room.

Will was shaking.

It’s been an eternity since Will had last laid eyes on the letter, (three hours to be exact but who's keeping track?) and he was still panicking. His mind was racing with what he should say versus what he was probably going to say. How he could approach the situation and how he would inevitably. How he wanted it to end and how it probably would.

God, I’m fucked.

Lou was still out the room, probably passed out on the couch at this point, though Will couldn’t find himself to care. He was kind of glad she never came back in - thank her girly intuition about guys - so he could have time to plan. Honest to god he almost got out a cork board and started fucking planning out his response.

God, I’m a nerd.

Eventually he got to the roof

He wasn’t sure how he got there exactly. Probably via the fire escape, though he floated up with wings that magically appeared on his shoes.

The sky was beautiful. He couldn’t see the blue or the white clouds, but he could see the stars. He couldn’t point out many constellations since he was never the type for astronomy, but now he wishes he had. It was almost completely clear, giving him the view of different shapes in the atmosphere.

He knew the basic ones. Orion’s Belt, the Big Dipper, and maybe another, but nothing major. He didn’t know Aries or Cassiopeia or the Northern Star. Only of the ones his mother would point out to him. The only ones she knew.

His bare feet hit against the cold of the apartment roof, his head cast upward and mouth open in awe.

“This is beautiful…” Will thought to himself. How had he not done this before? Just escaped outside his room back in Kansas and watched the sky?

Well, he probably has. It’s just, up here in New York, the sky is almost perpetually polluted. You almost never got a clear sky.

Which made this all that much better.

He knew the sun was going to come up any time now, so he wasn’t going to have long here. Who knew how long it would be until he got to see this sight again? Days? Weeks? Months? Years? He didn’t know. So he knew he had to make the most of it.

He unlocked his phone, typing the number he memorized into the keypad and held it to his ear.

God, I’m so going to regret this in the morning…

The phone was ringing in his ear, almost sounding deafening despite the sound of busing cars below.

He stayed like that for a moment, only just then the reality of what he was doing settling in.

I’m calling my soulmate. At three in the morning. On the roof of a random apartment building.

He suddenly wanted to hang up.

But…

The inevitability of what the night could bring…

How this was his second day, only his second day in New York and he’d already met his soulmate?

Well, it’s technically the third day since he got there, but same thing.

As Will was having his internal monolog the person on the other end picked up, yelling at other people surrounding them and eventually leaving the apartment to get some clearing.

“Hello?” Nico’s voice came through, a bit annoyed, though Will decided to ignore that.

“Uh, hey,” He replied, and he could barely hear the person on the other end’s breathing stop.

“Uh, uhm, holy shit, uh, hi?”

Will laughed, almost doubling over for a second, but instead deciding to lay down.

On the ground.

Of the roof of his apartment.

At three in the morning.

Was he going crazy?

Will took a minute before responding, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“I honestly have no idea what I’m doing,” He said honestly, laughing breathlessly. “Calling you at three in the morning.”

Nico laughed as well, something thumping on his end.

“I would say the same, though I’m babysitting some drunks. What’s your excuse?”

Will sighed, though couldn’t help the bubble of laughter that formed in his chest. They were having a normal conversation. This wasn’t going as bad as he thought it would be.

“Don’t have one.”

“That’s nice,”

“Not really, when you think about it.”

It took a minute for anyone to continue the conversation.

“So, uh, why did you call me?”

Will shrugged, though soon realized Nico couldn’t see him through the phone.

“I don’t have a reason. I know it’s stupid, calling at three in the morning, but… guess I decided there’s no better time than now. Oh,” Will sat up. “My name’s Will, by the way. Will Solace.”

He could hear the wisp of breath coming from the other end.

“Nico. Nico di Angelo.”

#nico di angeo #nico di angelo #will solace #solangelo #fanfiction #elysian/solangelo

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