#he waited as long as he could to talk to percy but hermes used the lotus casino to try and keep lukes fate at bay

[hamletshoeratio]

"Ares is a moran. Perhaps you noticed?" 1, not that there was any doubt but yep he is definitely Percy's dad lmao and 2, Ares and Hermes are so in Poseidon's bad books for messing with his kid...

[queer-little-demigod]

i like me better when i’m with you - luke castellan

summary when a new kid comes to camp, luke gets a bit more stressed than usual, and he goes to his safe space—you.

fic type fluff

pairing luke castellan x fem!Apollo!reader

word count 1.2k

warnings stressed!luke, very much fluff

masterlist

dividers from this post of @cafekitsune ! credits to them and do go check out their posts <3

When people thought of the best swordsman in camp, their first thought was Luke Castellan. The calm Hermes cabin counselor, the one who took every unclaimed camper under his wing. It also meant he was thought of as the only one to beat Clarisse in a fight, the one who had better technique than the others by light years.

But for you, Luke was the sweet boy who brought you flowers every other day, the boy who called you ‘sunshine’ to play around, the boy who held you so gently and kissed you so sweet. To you, Luke was just a soft sweetheart who loved you to the ends of the earth.

But ‘only for you’ as a statement held fast and true with him.

He never acted the same way around other campers the way he acted with you. Not only did they never receive even the slightest easy praise as you did, but they never got that blind trust, that unwavering faith he had in you. Maybe the trust bit was a bit exclusive to Annabeth, but even then that was because they were close. Family.

So it did come to you as a shock when Percy came to camp and that side came out in Luke.

After poor Percy’s unfortunately encounter with Clarisse, you had spotted Luke with him and decided to come over. As the counselor of the Apollo cabin, you additionally decided to help your boyfriend and his new little stray.

“Hey Luke,” you smiled, approaching them both as they talked under the shade of the trees. You leaned your arm against his shoulder, smiling at Percy in a friendly way.

Luke took a second to just look at you. He took in the way the dampened sun kissed your hair, making it shine ever so slightly, the way the shadows fell cleanly on your face to highlight the contours of your face, the way you were so at ease around him and the new camper.

He was so used to seeing you that he only had to take a second to appreciate your features and presence.

“Oh, Percy, meet Y/n, Apollo cabin counselor,” Luke said with a slight smile as he looked at the boy.

You put a hand out to Percy. He did really look like a sweet boy with his soft-looking face, blue-green eyes, and curly gold hair.

“Hey Percy, welcome to camp half-blood,” you smiled. “I’m Y/n, Luke’s girlfriend,”

You could practically hear Luke roll his eyes beside you, his hand resting sneakily against the small of your back as it always did.

“Nice to meet you, Y/n,” said Percy with a small smile.

“Aw, he’s so sweet for a kid on his first day,” you said, looking at Luke, who laughed a bit and looked down, running a hand through his dark curly hair. “What’re you two up to?”

“Nothing much, sunshine, just trying to find out who’s this guy’s godly parent,” Luke shrugged, looking back at you.

“Nice,” you laughed, leaning up to kiss his cheek. “I won’t hold you guys up for too long, though. Don’t worry,”

However, once you left, as usual Luke felt your absence instantly. It wasn’t the literal absence, obviously, which everyone felt, but he always felt like a part of him was missing when he wasn’t around you. As if part of his happiness wasn’t there because in truth, it wasn’t.

It also meant his safe space was not around instantly. It meant that his confidant was too many steps away to be immediate, to be accessible.

So he waited, as always.

He waited for the sun to go down, for the time for responsibilities to go down with it. He waited for the moon to rise, for the sky to turn from cornflower to depthless midnight blue.

The camp was quiet, deathly so, with the distant call of owls from the woods and the rustle of leaves when the scarce wind blew. The night was a mask which cloaked his sounds, his footsteps, his presence, as he walked down the mossy stone pathway into the trees, towards the mirroring lake.

There you sat, the daughter of the sun, looking ever-radiant in the moon’s soft glow. Your body was a silhouette against the silver of the ethereal light, your calculating eyes cast towards the lake, where there seemed another world to mirror this.

Lost in your own thoughts, thoughts which were kept at bay during the sun’s time, you didn’t hear the quiet footsteps, the shift of the pebbles on the lakeside, come up behind you and rest his hands on your shoulders.

“Luke, you scared the hell out of me!” You exclaimed, laughing softly, looking up at him with shining eyes.

He shrugged and sat beside you, leaning back on his palms as his long legs stretched out before him, feet a good way away from the water.

“It wasn’t intentional,” he smiled, looking at you.

Your brows quirked up, amused. “Oh, is that right?”

“Yup,”

“Don’t pop the ‘p’ like that you sound ridiculous,”

“I can never sound ridiculous, I’m too good looking for that,”

“Can’t say I agree,”

He looked at you with mock offence and grabbed you around your shoulders, pulling you closer to him as he ruffled your hair, ignoring your hushed protests and struggles.

You finally squirmed out of his grip, laughing softly.

“You’re such an ass!” You laughed, shoving him by the shoulder.

He winked at you, smiling in that same mischievous way that reminded you that despite his responsibilities, he wasn’t quite the adult he portrayed himself as. He was just 19, not even at legal drinking age, for gods’ sake.

But he had to admit that your laugh was the sweetest, most beautiful thing he’d ever heard in his life. It felt like the spring’s first sun—warm, gentle, and comforting. Perhaps even familiar, he would say.

“Now tell me what’s wrong, love,” you said, your e/c falling to rest on his own, holding what looked like concern.

Was he being concerning? At least he must be, for you to look at him as if his puppy just got run over…

‘Safe space, Luke,’ he reminded himself. ‘She knows you too well, she gets you,’

He sighed and nodded, “Well, for starters, Percy’s still unclaimed and will not let the whole ‘where is my dad’ thing go,”

“Baby, he’s 12, of course he’s in shock, he can’t just let things go,” you said.

Of course, Y/n L/n, the voice of straightforward reason.

“I know but…” he sharply let out a breath, trying to find the words which were on the tip of his tongue but were stuck in his throat. “He’s just…he’s not accepting things the way they are. He’s so damn persistent, constantly questioning the way things work.”

You moved closer to him, moving such that you could sit behind him and pull him close to you, letting his back rest against you while your legs stayed on either side. He felt your hands start to play with his curls, fingertips running over his scalp gently.

His whole body tingled, his skin warmed from your touch. Not only was it because you kept your own skin a little warm on cold nights like this but because of how soft you were with him, because of how gentle your touch was. Because he felt a blush creep along his cheeks at the familiarity of the gesture, at how affectionate you were.

“But look, it means that I’m answering questions that no other camper’s asked me before, and I don’t know how I feel about that…unpredictability,” he explained, staring out at the lake. “Plus with day after’s capture the flag and with my training schedule being booked up back to back, I cannot handle those questions because they need time to be thought over and I don’t have that kind of time,”

Your hands in his hair paused as an amused tone came with your words, “…is Luke Castellan admitting to me, Y/n L/n, that he’s stressed? You stressed, baby, is that it?”

He laughed at the way you talked, like he was a child, with that sweet tone, higher pitch, and general air of playfulness.

“No, I’m not,” he protested, looking up at you, a small smile dancing on his lips as he laughed softly.

Gods, his laugh was everything. You enjoyed the rise and fall of it, his deep voice vibrating through your body with how close he was. It wasn’t explosive, nor was it polite. It was just him being a kid, him being himself, unrestrained by the image of a calm and reserved counselor that he had on most of the time.

“That’s a lie,” you smirked, giggling softly, tilting his head back so he could look at you properly.

He smiled a bit, as your finger traced up the line of his scar, and he stuck his tongue out at you jokingly.

“Fine, tell me more. Get it all of your chest,” you winked, leaning down to kiss his forehead softly.

So he talked all his worries away, till the moon rose high and the water stopped rippling. He talked till his throat ran dry and his eyes started to droop as sleep’s staying caress enveloped you both.

“We should get back,” you yawned, feeling him sit up and out of your arms.

He nodded, rubbing at his eyes with his knuckles. “Yeah, we should…”

He, as a gentleman, stood up first and helped you up, smiling at you as you dusted yourself off and followed him back through the quiet woods and to the cabins. You looped your hand through the crook of his elbow, resting your head against his shoulder affectionately every now and then, smiling up at him.

The trees weren’t as quiet as the night, nor was the grass, as the crickets chirped softly amidst the foliage, and the leaves rustled with the slightest bit of wind that danced through them.

“Can I bother you for a little kiss before we go back to our cabins?” You asked, standing in front of him at the split in the road which led to the Apollo cabin and Hermes cabin.

Luke thought about it for a moment just to tease you, earning a whack on the arm from your end and a laugh.

“Obviously,” he chuckled, pulling you closer by your wrist, his other arm coming up to encircle your waist, as your head tilted up for your lips to meet his in a soft kiss.

His hand left your wrist to cup your cheek while your arms rested around his neck, holding him such that he stayed down a bit to your level. Your lips moved in sync, the action already a habit with the number of times you both had kissed in the past two years of you both dating.

Despite that, butterflies erupted in your stomach at the way his lips felt against yours, the way he held you so tenderly.

Once air became a problem you both had to pull away, and a light blush dusted your cheeks.

“I’ll see you tomorrow morning then,” you smiled, winking at him.

“No doubt, sunshine,” he smiled back, ruffling your hair gently, earning a sound of protest from your end as well.

“You know I hate that nickname,”

“Too bad, sunshine,”

All you could do was roll your eyes and press a soft kiss to his cheek before turning back and heading back to the Apollo cabin on soft cat feet, making little noise as you fell into your covers, giggling softly at the ghost feeling of his lips back on yours.

Stuff was better when he was with you.

Hi! I t’s me, Lea! I hope you liked this imagine, feel free to request <3 the ending is a bit eh but otherwise I hope you liked it <3

[jnkgrnde]

— no time to die, clarisse la rue, pjo

summary — in which, in place of silena, it’s you who dies from the drakon.

pairings — clarisse la rue x black!fem!reader (daughter of poseidon)

content includes — mc death dont jump me 🙁, clarisse pushing percy, also percy crying, angst sawry again, clarisse + sadness don’t jump me, gets a lil graphic

authors note — got inspired while i was editing ep 8 im sorry 🙏🏾

it was during the battle of manhattan when it happened.

you and clarisse got into an argument over her refusing to help the camp, all because her pride overshadowed her morals, her humanity.

the conflict escalated, eventually ending in her telling you she didn’t care if you stood with her or against her, you could go and die in the war and she wouldn’t care.

a harsh, burning slap and the slamming of the cabins doors came soon after that.

it was the next morning. all of camp, except for the ares cabin, were getting final things situated. you and percy were inside the poseidon cabin, saying goodbye to your second home for what could be the last time.

percy could see the anxiety and stress on your face. you knew clarisse didn’t mean what she said, but she still hasn’t apologized. “we’ll make it.” percy told you. if there was one person who could read you other than clarisse, it was percy.

you looked up at him. tears were welling up. you knew you were one of the last people who needed to be weak, especially in a time like this; you and percy were the main ones leading the camp into this.

“i’m scared, percy.” you told him. “what if i don’t make it back to her—“ “you will. we will make it back, or i’ll haunt the gods for as long as they live. so, forever.” you laughed at him. you loved him, fully biological or not.

the conch blew, signaling that it was time to go. you looked at each other with knowing; today could be your last day, whether you liked it or not.

“come on.” you grabbed all that you needed before heading out and shutting the doors to the old cabin. outside, there stood waiting the entire camp. it was silent, a deathly wave of uneasiness washed over the crowd.

you surveyed the crowd. annabeth, silena, and more. people you’ve spent a majority of your life with so far. you shouted out a word of command, and soon the footsteps of soon to be soldiers echoed through the camp and into the fields, soon off to manhattan. clarisse and the ares cabin were in the back, standing their ground.

you pressed your lips together firmly. you let your eyes show it — you still loved her no matter what, and she knew that.

clarisse let you walk into your own death, cemented in stone by her herself.

the air electrified when the drakon was unleashed.

dust was kicked up in the air. bodies of sleeping civilians were slowly clearing out from the campers getting them to safety. the hotel where everyone was residing was getting full to burst, injured campers everywhere.

you were tending a younger child of hermes wounds when you heard the roar of the creature. a sickening silence fell over the room. “oh, gods.” you whispered.

it had to be you.

there was barely anyone left; half of the campers were injured. the other half were off fighting kronos’ soldiers.

it just had to be you.

you looked at the hermes child you were tending to. you wrapped them up as quickly as you could before ascending up the stairs. you saw percy squatting next to annabeth. “y/n?” annabeth whispered out.

“what’s wrong?” percy turned around when he heard her say your name. “percy,” you rushed forward to grip his shoulders. “i’m so, so proud of you. everyone’s proud of you.” the drakon’s wings flapped loudly.

“what are you talking about?” he furrowed his eyebrows. he was so confused, not realizing what was happening. your panicked eyes looked frantically at the sky. “i love you. more than you know. always remember that, okay? you’re going to lead us to victory, and i’ll be right there beside you.”

percy’s gears started turning. “no. no, what are you doing?” he shot up, his face morphing into pain and desperation. “percy i’m sorry. i’m so sorry.” you unsheathed your sword. “y/n, we promised!” you ran to the dood you came through, not being able to deal with the pain of looking at your brother for one last time.

“we promised you’d make it back to her!”

you could your heart squeezing. squeezing so hard that it broke into a million pieces.

“she’ll.. we’ll be okay.”

you said anything, just to not have to face reality of how clarisse would feel.

clarisse felt like something was off. maybe it was the look in your eye before you left, or maybe it was the way the clouds were starting to form, indicating a storm was coming. her heartbeat pumped a little faster when the sun wasn’t shining and thunder started to clap.

she didn’t feel good.

“we’re leaving, let’s go.” she threw a bag at michael yew. “what?” “you heard me.” he was confused. clarisse was usually never one to back down from a standoff. “why?” clarisse sighed out frustratingly. “i just have a feeling. round up the chariot and everyone else. be at the front of the camp in five minutes.”

michael wanted to be defiant but there was a look in clarisse’s eye, telling him all he needed to know.

“dad, if you’re going to be a good father to me one last time, let it be this time.” you whispered out. you felt a tug in your stomach, and a fire hydrant beside you exploded. you forced the water to lift you into the air and follow the drakon.

the golden creature wasn’t hard to spot, although it was much bigger than you imagined. the sound of thunder boomed above you. “that’s probably not good.” the drakon started to head towards the main group of fighters who were attacking kronos’ army. you yelled at a curse before speeding towards it. you came below it, cutting it off.

you slashed your sword against it’s neck. the creature roared in anger, and soon fluids fell onto your face. you groaned in disgust but the drakon just roared at you.

“man, i heard you.” you willed the water to bring you on top of the drakon. the drakon roared as you gripped it’s horns. “come on!” and you reared the drakon back. the drakon turned and flapped around, kicking up dust.

its greenish-yellowish eyes glowed throughout the sky. you kicked around it’s body, trying to find a soft spot before finally finding one around its ribs. “there you go.” you stabbed your sword into its ribcage, and fluid fell onto your leg. you wailed in pain at the burning sensation. the drakon bellowed in anger and pain at the stab.

the acid was quickly burning it’s way down to the bone of your leg, and you knew you had to move fast. the drakon start moving faster, and you started to lose your balance. you spotted the roof of a building, and gripped the horns as hard as you could to steer it towards the rooftop.

you landed and tumbled off of the back of the drakon. “oh my gods.” you cursed out, finally feeling the acid burn. muscle was starting to show, soon to be bone. the drakon hissed out, hot air reaching you. you were quick to try and stand up, struggling with your leg.

you used your sword as crutch, before lifting it and tightening your grip. you stared the drakon down, accepting what was about to happen. you started walking towards the drakon, picking up speed.

you let out a war cry, knowing it would be your last.

the ares cabin rode into the city on the chariot with clarisse leading. she knew something was off when it slowly started to rain.

“where is she?” she scanned to find you below, not thinking to look further. “oh, gods. clarisse!” one of her siblings called. clarisse looked up, and her heart dropped. there stood you, facing off against the drakon.

“no, no, no!” she steered the chariot towards you. she watched as the drakon slashed it’s claws deep into your stomach. blood was starting to dribble out of your mouth, but you didn’t dare stop. you couldn’t.

the fate of the world depended on it.

you were tired. so, so tired.

you were losing your life force. your face paled, your blood seeped out of you in multiple places, but you refused to give up. you refused to let percy, clarisse and the others live in a world that was dominated by kronos, so you pushed.

it was almost over. the drakon was almost done with you, yet you kept fighting.

‘please..’

suddenly, you felt your body vibrate. there was a pull in your stomach, and everything fell quiet. the fighting below you stopped.

you panted, looking at the drakon. “i’m not letting you go until i win.” hydrants exploded, and ocean water met you on top of the building. “so if i have to die to save them, you’re going with me.”

water circled around you, and you ran forward, launching yourself onto the drakon. a familiar voice yelled out, but before you could realize who it was, you stabbed the drakon in the neck. you willed the water to bring you to the hudson river, and you hung on as tight as possible.

you guided the water back into the ocean, and soon, you were submerged in the dirty hudson river.

there was silence for a moment, before you were launched out of the river. the drakon was killed and submerged, the water spirits making sure of it.

the water guided you onto the streets of manhattan, close to the hotel. you were in pain, and you knew the ocean couldn’t help you this time. campers sped out of the hotel, and percy pushed through them. he ran towards you, cradling your head.

“no, please— why aren’t you healing?!” before he could get an answer, clarisse reached the street. she jumped out of the chariot before it could fully land and sprinted towards you. “y/n!” she moved percy out of the way before taking you.

“‘m sorry.” you didn’t know who you were apologizing to at that point. clarisse, percy, both of them, the camp? it was all a blur. “don’t be sorry, sweet girl, please.”

“percy..” you whispered out. “is she okay? is annabeth okay?” you asked. annabeth was like the little sister you never had. she was one of the people you loved most, and it pained you even more to leave her too. “she is, she’s healing. if you can just- just pull through, just live, you can see her— we can see her.”

tears welled up. you looked back at clarisse. tears were streaming down her cheeks, her lips trembling. “i shouldn’t have said all those things to you, y/n, i’m so sorry.” she sobbed. “this is my fault-“

you brought a hand up to her face to wipe her tears. “clar, it’s okay. it’s over.” your breathing started to get wheezy. “it was my time anyways. it’s okay.” you repeatedly told her. “i love you. always will.” you told her. your breathing evened out, eventually coming to a stop. “no, gods, please!” she usually never prays to the gods, but just this once she wished your father would be useful and bring you back, but nothing.

soon, a glow surrounded your body. it was like they were holograms, the sea creatures. there were fish, stingrays, sharks. they formed a circle, eventually rotating up towards the sky.

the ocean had come to say goodbye.

everyone watched as the creatures left, and the glow around you soon dissipated. it was silent, before it started raining, announcing the death of a child of poseidon.

rain fell on clarisse as she watched you. the rain fell onto your face, blending in with your tears that slid down your cheeks right before, clearing the path of dust on them.

she held you tighter as she let out a loud, blood curdling scream. a scream of anguish, a shout of pain, as she realized that you were truly gone.

[rayssion]

I'm torn because in a sense I'm tired of reading pjo, don't get me wrong like it's about time these kids had some rest, found some peace and lived their lives without the constant danger, I'm feeling tired for them feeling tense all the time, only waiting for worst to happen and it keeps on happening. I want it to stop, I want all of this to stop, these demigods to live, to just lead a normal life.

But on the other hand I'm not ready to leave them yet, I want Rick to write more so I can read more, so I can know more about them, so I can live with them. I want more books and I want more series.

At this point honestly, if Rick just wrote a whole series of the demigods just living their lives normally without anything ever happening to them, a boring life were you just follow a routine, I will fucking dig it up.

Why can't we just read about them without them being in constant danger?? Don't you guys feel bad for Percy? Boy spent years going on quests and doing missions, he deserves a real rest.

So this dilemma lead me to the idea of next generation/s, I'd like to read about something in the future of the same timeline/universe setup of pjo hoo toa, it could be their kids or their grandchildren, just imagine how lovely would it be?

It's like watching the legend of Korra after watching the last airbender lol, you'll see Katara and hear all of them talking about Aang and all of that, and you'll feel the nostalgia because you've been their, you lived with them.

Imagine percabeth's great grandchildren going to camps to train and learn and they hear all these stories about their ancestors and how they saved the world, imagine them accidentally stumbling across solangelo's great grandchildren and they befriend each other without knowing that their families go way back.

And then these kids will have their own adventures (they'll suffer now that they're our new squad lol) and how fun it'll be for us as readers if let's say, one time they go on a quest to retrieve something we're familiar with, like Riptide maybe? Idk.

And a huge bonus!! That they'll at some point seek the huntres and I know they'll spend the long nights hearing stories about the great demigods from Thalia and Reyna. They'll tell them every big and small story, even the time Percy arranged with Hermes for his and Annabeth's anniversary in exchange for looking for his staff. They'll tell them about the cocoa puffs and how Nico always slept with them, and I just know one of them will be determined to descend to the underworld to meet them (because Nico is now dead and in the underworld with Hades and his cocoa puffs and possibly Will).

And at some point they'll have to cross Boston for some reason and oh my god they'll meet Magnus and Alex and they'll stay at the Chase house for a while also hearing some stories from Magnus and shopping from Blitzen.

Rick this's my petition to have mercy on Percy and our lovely demigods and let them live in peace but please don't quit writing, I breath your books more than oxygen at this point<3

[aryxchse]

hi beauty. I was going through your blog and I saw you asking for them to ask for Leo. hajs, I don't have specifications, work your magic. 🩵

turkish delight. | leo valdez x turkish! daughter of poseidon! reader

a / n : i'll use this ask to gain myself another excuse for literally writing self ship here lMAO and i know ya'll at least heard the song m. AND IF I HAVE ANY TURKISH READERS HELLO BABIESSSS

warnings : cursing in turkish really

it all started when you started saying.. probably mean things in another language at argo ii.

"sikeyim yapacağın işi leo!" he heard one time, and he was sure that it wasn't something nice. when he rushed upstairs, he saw that festus throw a grease on your face. and a very angry you.

they say that turks are ares' favorite people, and he could see why at the moment.

the next time was at the sword practice, you having an intense fight with percy. leo, as a supporter best friend he is, watched you from afar and cheered you once in a while.

it was only a minute later, you were on the ground. "hay amına koyayım ya!" you yelled, standing on your foot with percy's help. "hile yapıyorsun göt."

no one understanded of course, so you sighed and said "you're cheating perce!". now percy was on attack mode. "what? no i'm not! you're just not good."

they were about to hear another mean -that's what they guessed- word from you, but leo rushed and picked you up from your back. "alright, that's enough sibling fight!" he said before running to the lake with you. because of how hot you felt, you shushed.

but these weren't the reasons why leo wanted to know about your language.

it was because whenever you and leo were alone, you would always say "seni seviyorum." and he was going crazy because you never told what that meant.

you guys were sitting at bunker 9 as usual, you, pulling a chair next to leo and watching him with awe as he did his magic. it wasn't very long before he heard the same sentence again. "seni seviyorum, leo."

leo, who was getting use to this, "whatever you're saying, me too." he answered always. and it made you have more and more delusions. but you chuckled it away. "what if i'm saying that you're stupid?"

he only smiled, still looking at his work. "then you too!" he joked. you only giggled, still watching him with so much love.

next day, before meeting with you, leo went to hermes cabin to find connor. hermes was a traveler, so he knew all of the languages. thankfully, his children did too. leo only prayed to his dad that his accent would be enough for connor to understand.

"connor, connor, dude!" leo yelled, making connor stop in his tracks. "what's up lee?" connor said, making a quick handshake with him.

"good good, i was gonna ask you to translate me something." he said. hermes kids were the best friends of foreign people, because they would help you learn english and they would speak your mother language easly.

"sure man, what is it?" connor said. leo took a deep breath which made connor giggle. "s-seni, seviyorum?" leo said, with a bad accent that connor understanded only a after a few time leo repeated.

"ohh! seni seviyorum!" connor said, with the same accent you had. leo nodded quickly. "yes, yes!"

"it means 'i love you.' in turkish. you could say 'i'm in love with you' too." he translated, and leo went blank.

connor nudged his arms a few time to pull him back together. "dude you good?" he asked. leo, like it was a muscle memory, nodded. "yeah, yeah.. thank you so much man, i owe you one."

after one last handshake, leo went to the lake were you waited for him.

"finally, burnt brain." you joked, smiling at him brightly. leo, even he was still shocked, returned the smile. "hi, i was busy sorry." he lied.

you guys started chatting again, like you do always. when leo started to talk about something very excited, you smiled at his childish behavior. "seni seviyorum." the words slipped from your mouth so casually, and you thought he didn't heard you.

"and then i said- i love you too pretty - and so i said-" you sitting straight too quickly made him stop too. "what?" he asked.

"w-what did you just say?" you asked, cheeks red as the sunset. leo smiled. "i love you too." he repeated. "i learned it didn't meant stupid."

you hide your face in your palms. "you asked connor, didn't you?" leo only chuckled as he pulled you in his arms.

"i did, and i'm proud."

senin yapacağın işi sikeyim : i don't really know how to translate this but it's like cursing the job you did. like 'you had one fucking job!'

hile yapıyorsun göt : you're cheating asshole.

hay amına koyayım ya : man, fuck this

i guess hehe

[she-posts-nerdy-stuff]

I’ve taken a night to get my emotions and my brain in order so now let’s talk: Percy Jackson and The Olympians Season One Finale. And oh my goodness you guys, I loved it so much. I cried, I screamed, and I drank blue cocktails. (we tried to make blue cookies as well but they just came out beige with the tiniest hint of kinda green, but they still tasted good)

BOOK AND SHOW SPOILERS AHEAD!

I have been a fan of Charlie Bushnell's Luke all season but I was really waiting for this episode to truly see his interpretation of the character and OH MY GOD HE DID NOT DISAPPOINT. I cried. He can freaking ACT and he was absolutely incredible (tbc I'm not saying no-one else has been acting to the same incredible standards because they absolutely have but I'm particularly praising him because this is really the first opportunity he's had to truly show us what he can do). The fact that the show managed to surprise me (as someone who was first read the books when I was six and has loved and reread them over and over again since) with the interpretation of Luke it presented completely blew me away, and I LOVE this interpretation of him so let's talk about it. I firmly believe that Percy and Luke are literary foils and each represent everything the other had the potential to become, so to see the set up of a potentially far more emotional arc for Luke was really beautiful to me and I think it was really well done; the fight scene in the forest so perfectly exemplified everything between them that is so similar and so distinctly different. The pain we saw in Luke in this scene was so genuinely moving and it I think it sets up a really interesting implication for his arc towards being willing to kill other demigods as either being slower or as being partly influenced by the pain he feels from losing Annabeth - when he looked at her I could hear I'm on her side, always. She's my little sister. and it was heart-breaking. At first I wasn't sure about the absence of the pit scorpion but I think it makes a lot of sense for this adaptation since if he was emotional and didn't want to kill Percy but had taken the scorpion out there with him it just wouldn't add up - however, I do think that Percy should have been injured in the fight. It didn't have to be anything that stopped the series from being PG because that would be unnecessary and as teens and adults who enjoyed the books a long time ago we know that this show isn't made for our age group so we shouldn't be expecting any gore or anything, but I do think that the show hasn't consistently represented the stakes as being as high as they were in the books. That being said, I adored this scene and the fight, I think it was absolutely the correct choice for this interpretation of Luke and maybe this is an unpopular opinion I don't know, but I am really glad that Annabeth was there because I think it's so important for her to be able to see this first hand instead of having the news passed on to her and it potentially gives us a really interesting set up to explore her emotional response to his betrayal in a slightly different way. It's also incredible to me to note that Luke's demeanour changed when Annabeth revealed herself; he is a different person in her absence because of the façade he puts up for her and this for me was really reflective of the way when Annabeth describes them first travelling to camp she idolises the way he fought off so many monsters to protect them but Thalia describes it as him picking unnecessary fights and endangering them.

This is maybe an inconsequential detail, but for me it was massive: the change in lighting at the betrayal reveal emphasised Luke's scar far more noticeably than before and in this moment, reminding book readers of the pain he went through and of Hermes' failures, Percy is literally seeing Luke in a new light. Incredible. Now maybe I'm just misremembering but I was convinced that it was in the first book that Luke told Percy how he got his scar, but I remember it being quite a brief retelling and Luke skating over the details quite quickly. I think that's because we only get it from Percy's perspective in the books and Luke is unable to fully articulate his experiences because of the pain it causes him, so I'm wondering whether not telling us about his quest thus far is because not having a limited POV is going to give us the opportunity to truly understand Luke's pain, and maybe even show us flashbacks, later on, which I think has brilliant potential and could be utterly heart-breaking and amazing if it's done well. I'm really glad that there's already been reference to May Castellan (the way I want to cry just thinking about herrrrrrr. I am not emotionally prepared to see May Castellan on screen anyway, but the prospect of seeing her during a far more emotional character arc for Luke is terrifying and so exciting and I can't wait it's gonna destroy me) and I although at first it struck me as strange that they'd included Hermes in season 1, I think I now understand that it was quite important for us to have a better understanding of Hermes attitude towards Luke and the fact that Annabeth had met him before very obviously explaining that there's more to understand about their relationship, but ALSO because it added so so much to the Percy/Luke parallels by showing us Hermes' failures and Poseidon's successes. I think that the presentation of Poseidon was so brilliantly done, I cannot explain to you the scream that I screamed when the camera panned round to reveal that Poseidon was standing in between Zeus and Percy; they so perfectly showed the awkwardness and discomfort of their relationship in synchronicity with Poseidon genuinely wanting to care for and protect Percy, and I think that it did such a good job of highlighting the difference between Hermes and Poseidon and the subsequent impact on Luke and Percy respectively. The first I heard that my sister had started watching the episode (tbc she knew I'd already finished it) was an all caps text message saying" HE SURRENDERED". Because that means SO MUCH to us as the viewer! It was massive!!!!!!!! It was incredible!!!! It also made so much sense as to why they had let the solstice pass, because we needed to see this and so much more importantly PERCY needed to see this. I hope I'm getting my point across this feels kind of like rambling nonsense, but when we have this more sympathetic image of Luke it is therefore so important to understand why we so confidently believe he's in the wrong and for me that came most prominently from the way Poseidon did enough for Percy to show him that he cared the only way he knew how to, and in Luke using Percy's own fatal flaw against him in their final sword fight. Percy's fatal flaw is his loyalty and in that fight the moment he thought he'd hurt Luke he stopped and apologised, only for Luke to exploit his feelings of friendship and use them against him to keep fighting. Again, I think this could have been more effective if Percy was actually injured but I understand why they didn't and I wouldn't have suggested they cut anything else to have enough time to include that.

And whilst we're on parallels as well, I don't think there are any words to explain what I felt when we heard "You didn't ask to be a half-blood". Like... yeah, literally nothing, I can't explain it, it was incredible.

I was going to talk about Annabeth being allowed to be a kid but I actually saw a post about that yesterday by @mydairpercabeth so I'll link it here.

Okay if you bothered to read this far thank you very much, let me know what you thought of the show and the finale too!! And also I've been avoiding talking about this too much up until now, I made a post when the first two episodes came out but I've been quiet since because I wanted to watch the whole season first, so if anyone wants more of this/wants thoughts on any of the other episodes let me know! Thanks for reading I hope it made some semblance of sense :)

[alloutofgoddesses]

Percy Jackson TV Thoughts

Episode 5

(There will be book spoilers you have been warned)

I KNEW THE FATES WOULD BE HERE OMG

Him climbing over the railing lol

OUT THE GATE OKAY

Just a reminder Grover can read emotions. I wonder what the fuck he just read lol

Percy for four episodes: Fuck my dad he’s a piece of shit Percy immediately after being saved by his dad: My dads gonna help us uwu

Oh Percy. I don’t blame you you’re new to this thing

Oh nooo Percy your dad dies love you in his strange immortal way

Bike you say

Not the teasing ☠️ Percy that’s your future wife

Well not exactly… it is a warning but it doesn’t mean you’re going to die Annabeth

Hell yeah Percy keep up that spirit

HE’S HEREEEEEEE

Their little heads popping up over the barrier

Oh my gods he’s amazing

RIP Twitter we’ll always love you

That’s absolutely what Ares would be doing in the modern age too

GABE! THERE HE IS

…you’re not Percy. Your mother however-

Annabeth what happened to your healthy fear of the gods

Kronos mention

Flight of stairs AGAIN… what kind of theme are we setting up here

Sassy power couple

That’s such a Percy face Walker Scobell you will always be famous

You got this Grover!

Oh fuck that

PERCY WANTING TO SHOW ANNABETH MOVIES? OH IT’S SO OVER

Percy it is funny

Annabeth now is not the time to nerd out over mechanical engineering

As always they’re so perfect

SOLSTICE TIME

Wait what?

Ooooh Grover is playing the long game I see

None of y’all can ever say Oercy is stupid again I swear to god(s)

It lit up? Oh boy oh boy

MEME WARNING OH MY

Vibes though Hephaestus

Omg the Hera animation

~baby don’t hurt me~

Annabeth recognizing Sally wanted Percy to be different… don’t touch me

HE SAVED HER! AGAIN!!

Can’t wait to see screen grabs of the mosaics

“I hate my own kids” AAAAHHHHH

Is Grover on to Ares?

ATHENA TALKS TO AN OWL I CANNOT

Grover has to be on to Ares

Every single person in this trio is so smart

SEAWEED BRAIN

I am. Inconsolable.

I’m about to start doing zoomies around my dorm like my cat

I could rip apart a car with my bare hands rn

SHE WANTS TO SAVE HIS MOM I’M JSHDJSKSKA

“You think you had to ask” “Just making sure” how will I EVER survive more seasons of this

“It’s okay. I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m-“ THE WAY HE’S REASSURING HER OH THEY’RE TAKING IT

SHE’S TRYING TI FIGURE OUT THE GEARS IM GINNA EXPLODE

HEPHAESTUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE FLUTE OMG

As a cane user I love how prominent Hephaestus’ cane is displayed it makes me feel warm inside

HE’S HER FRIEND! SHE’S DISREPECTING GODS TO SAVE HIM!

Oh Hephaestus you’re my second favorite Olympian (Hestia 4evr)

ANNABETH!!!!!

“He isn’t that way. He’s better than that…” THE SOULMATISM

YEAH BABEY

The tears in her eyes I CAN’T

He’s gonna talk to Athena I love Hephaestus so much

Ares I see that disappointed look

Okay got Hermes hanging out in the Lotus Casino… don’t ask me how but that does feel right like it makes sense

Who needs to summon Hermes he’s right here (My cat is named Hermes and he’s sitting right next me)

Oh yeah Percy get in that God’s face and threaten him it certainly won’t have any repercussions

“The emotional abuse” GROVER UNDERWOOD

There’s creatures in there

Wait. Are they setting up Clarisse as a red herring? THE WRITERS MINDS

Teaser

IRIS MESSAGE

Wait there’s so many adults in the Lotus… what are they all doing in there

I have heard the rumours that ep. 6 will be a musical (simply because LMM is there and it’s the mostly likely one to do that) and while I don’t think they would it would be funny

[justabooknerdposts]

You are the best pjo writer! the way you capture their voices is the best and it always makes my day to read a new fic by you! i've always loved the quick mentions of the girl talks hazel piper and annabeth would have, especially when it mentioned that annabeth would try to calm hazel by telling her of percy's finest seaweed brain moments.

*Thank you for your kind words! This prompt was fun to do.  There’s also a chapter in my missing moments story The In-Between Times on Fanfiction and Ao3 called Girl Talk that dives a little more into Piper, Hazel, and Annabeth hanging out on the Argo II.*

After Percy, Frank, and Hedge left for downtown Atlanta, Annabeth helped Leo with some repairs, then, after hesitating for a moment, knocked on Hazel’s closed door.  “Can I come in?”  She was almost worried Hazel would say no, for several reasons, but after a moment, Hazel’s voice said, “Yes.”

When Annabeth opened the door, Hazel was sitting on her bed.  Annabeth sat down beside her, but before she could say anything, Hazel said, “I’m sorry I ran out of the crew mess like that.”

Annabeth shook her head.  “You had every right to be upset.  This is about your brother.”  She kept to herself that she could understand the boys’ point—it was logical, even if it was cold.  That was something she had to watch out for herself.  One of the reasons she was drawn to Percy was the way he led with his heart and almost always did the right thing, even if it wasn’t always the wise thing.

Which reminded her…

“By the way, I’m sorry about this morning,” Annabeth said.  “We weren’t trying to embarrass anyone or anything—”

Hazel cut her off with a wave of her hand.  “I know that things in this time period are different.  It just surprised me.”

“For the record, we just kissed a couple of times,” Annabeth said, echoing Percy’s words to Frank.

To her relief, Hazel gave a small laugh.  “It’s all right.  Percy talked about you a lot on our quest to Alaska.  I know he missed you.”

“Really?”  Annabeth knew Percy had said he remembered her name, but she didn’t know much more than that.  “How much did he remember?  Did he say?”

“Not much at first,” Hazel said.  “But apparently it started getting better after he drank the gorgon’s blood in Portland.”

“He did what?”

Hazel told her the story about their encounter with Phineas the seer in Portland and Percy’s gamble with the gorgon’s blood.

Annabeth groaned.  “Gods, of course he did.  That’s exactly the kind of crazy move that somehow works out for him.”

“So that happens a lot?” Hazel asked.  “Because there was also a thing with a Hyperborean giant and some frozen gryphons.”

After Hazel explained what that was about, Annabeth told her about some of Percy’s other impulsive ideas that had somehow been successful, including entangling Antaeus in chains, flying on a pig during the battle of Manhattan, leaping from the St. Louis Arch to get away from Echidna and her chimera—

“So that’s why he said he’d fallen farther from the Arch!” Hazel said.

“Wait, where else did he fall off?” Annabeth asked with a frown.

“From a glacier,” Hazel said matter-of-factly.  “He drowned an army of ghosts.”

Annabeth closed her eyes.  “That would only happen to Percy.”

“So does it ever not work out for him?”  Hazel asked.

Annabeth smirked.  “Well, there was the time he got himself turned into a guinea pig.”

“What?”

So Annabeth got to tell the story of Circe’s island, including how they had actually met Reyna there, though long before she’d been praetor.  And how she herself had nearly been persuaded to stay, until she realized that Circe had turned Percy into a fluffy rodent.  “He did make a pretty cute guinea pig.  But it was also terrifying, when I realized what had happened,” she admitted.  “Luckily, Hermes had given us some multivitamins, so I took one, which protected me from Circe’s magic, and dumped the rest in the guinea pig cage.  Percy turned back into himself, and so did a bunch of pirates who’d also been in the cage.”

Hazel gaped at her for a moment, then slowly shook her head.  “Wow.  No wonder he seemed so calm about some of the weird things that happened on our quest.”

Annabeth laughed.  She was enjoying hanging out with Hazel.  And it was kind of fun talking about Percy, especially when she knew (hoped) he would be coming back to the boat soon.  It had been hard to talk about him while he’d been gone; it hurt too much.  The fact that he’d talked about her to his new friends sent butterflies ricocheting around her stomach.  She shouldn’t have been surprised, but it was still nice.  For months, she hadn’t known if he’d even remember her at all.  So it made her really happy to hear that he had. 

She was a little less happy to hear about the risky things he’d done, but that was just Percy.  She’d known what she was getting into.  And she probably wasn’t much less crazy anyway. She asked Hazel some more about her own experiences and they had a good time going back and forth sharing stories—right up until Frank burst into the room, shouting about starting the engines and someone named Porky.  Which pretty well ended their conversation for the moment as they rushed on deck to figure out what the heck was going on.  But, hopefully, they would get a chance to hang out again.  After all, there was still plenty of quest left to go before they reached the Ancient Lands.

[ghostwriter-of-silly-things]

An Offer I Could Definitely Refuse, Yet Here I Am

Word Count: 1,204

Warnings: there's one joke about cracking your head open, typical emo teenager type grumpiness ig, injury mentions

Annabeth had decided to put me on tour guide duty. She had stormed into the infirmary, where I was busy recovering from a concussion after passing out again. She got her broken arm healed, took one look at me and told me I was going to help her with the new campers once she made it back from the Grand Canyon.

  Talking to new people had never been my strong suit. Ever. Given my whole deal you'd think that she would have thought it through more, but apparently the kid that brains himself at breakfast due to some narcoleptic tendency was a great choice. 

  I was hanging around the arts and crafts cabin, just wasting time until Annabeth finally returned, when I heard it. 

  "The lake!" Annabeth yelled. "Aim for the lake!"

  I looked up from the ground, staring at the grass waiting for the new kids to arrive, and saw a flaming chariot crash-land into the lake below. An actual, on fire, chariot. Well. Better than some other entrances, if only by a small margin. 

  Some other campers blasted them with hot air, and I pushed to the front of the crowd to see who I just had to tour. I cocked an unimpressed eyebrow at the scene, and Will Solace also made his way to the lake. 

  'Annabeth! I said you could borrow the chariot, not destroy it!" He still had his bow and quiver on his back, panting like he'd just run over from skewering some monsters. Unlikely. He was... not the best at archery. I had the puncture scar to prove it. Been awake for four days and I still managed to break my arm in three places and get shot. Fortunately, Will's good at healing people.

  "Will, I'm sorry," Annabeth sighed. "I'll get it fixed, I promise."

  Will scowled at the broken chariot. Then he sized up the three unknown demigods. "These are the ones? Way older than thirteen. Why haven't they been claimed already?"

  "Claimed?" A short boy piped up. He had messy, dark curls, and a mischievous glint in his eye. He was kind of okay looking, if you liked that sort of thing, and he was fidgeting with something from his pocket, and at a guess, I would say either Hermes or maybe Hephaestus at a stretch. Something about the way he fiddles with those bolts just screams he likes to cause trouble. He looked like an elf as well -- slightly pointed ears. 

  Will cut in with another question, "Any sign of Percy?"

  "No," Annabeth said defeatedly. The campers muttered, some eyes trained on me, as if I knew something about the lost camper. I'd never even met the guy. The only thing that we even had in common is that we were good with swords. Apart from that, we weren't similar. I deliberately avoided water and as far as anyone could tell disliked people. Intensely. Which was true. Also, I had glasses. And long hair. Long-ish hair. It was kind of long, except not really. Long for me -- it scrunched over the top of my glasses and curled around my face, something I hadn't remembered it doing for a while.

  A girl stepped forward - tall, dark hair in ringlets, plenty of jewellery and perfect makeup. ​​​​​​Oh goodie, it's Drew. She made a passing glance at the short kid and fixed her gaze on the other guy in the group. Tall, strong, vaguely dazed yet stoic expression... Typical hero type. She sneered at a brown haired girl. She was pretty, but in a way that showed she was majorly uncomfortable about it. Choppy brown hair, and eyes you couldn't really tell the colour of. Fifty bucks says she was Aphrodite. I made a sound of disgust at Drew's appearance. She glared at me, before turning back to the others. 

  "Well," she said. "I hope they're worth the trouble."

  Elf kid snorted. "Gee, thanks. What are we, your new pets?"

  "No kidding," said . "How about some answers before you start judging us -- like, what is this place, why are we here, how long do we have to stay?"

  I almost felt sorry for him. I remembered my first time coming to camp, fighting off some bloodthirsty thing, totally unprepared for it. But I forced the feeling down as far as it would go. I was not about to give some guy sympathy points. 

  "Jason," Annabeth said, "I promise we'll answer your questions. And, Drew -" she frowned at the glamour girl - "all demigods are worth saving. But I'll admit the trip didn't accomplish what I'd hoped."

  "Hey," the other girl said, "we didn't ask to be brought here."

  "And nobody wants you, hon. Does your hair always look like a dead badger?" 

  "Piper, stop," Annabeth urged. "We need to make our new arrivals feel welcome. We'll assign a tour guide, give them a tour of the camp. Hopefully by the camp fire tonight they'll be claimed."

  "Would somebody tell me what claimed means?" Piper asked.

  A collective gasp echoed around the campers. Well, well. Floating over Leo's head was a fiery hammer - Hephaestus.

  "That," Annabeth said, "is claiming."

  "What'd I do?" Leo backed towards the lake. Then he glanced up and yelped. "Is my hair on fire?" He tried to get away from it, ducking and weaving - to no avail. I sniggered at the sight. 

  "This can't be good," Butch muttered. "The curse -"

  "Butch, shut up," Annabeth said. "Leo, you've just been claimed -"

  "By a god," Jason interrupted. "That's the symbol of Vulcan, isn't it?"

  All eyes turned to him. 'Pretty' boy knows a thing or two. And the Roman versions of the gods, no less. Should be interesting. 

  "Jason," Annabeth said carefully, "how did you know that?"

  "I'm not sure."

  "Vulcan?" Leo demanded. "I don't even LIKE Star Trek. What are you talking about?" Oh you sweet summer child. 

  "Vulcan is the Roman name for Hephaestus," Annabeth said, "the god of blacksmiths and fire." 

  The fiery hammer chose that moment to fade, but Leo kept swatting the air above him, like he was afraid it was following him. What was with this kid? "The god of what? Who?"

  Annabeth turned to me. Before she could get a word in, I voiced my misgivings. 

  "No. Absolutely not," I protested, but Annabeth just glared and said:

  "Benjamin, give Leo a tour around camp. Introduce him to his bunk mates in Cabin Nine." The way she said it made me realise I definitely did not have a choice. I'm not sure I could face Chiron's condescending as all hell disappointed face again. For the second time in two days. But Connor really had deserved that. 

  "What's Cabin Nine?" Leo asked. "And I'm not a Vulcan!"

  I rolled my eyes and started walking towards the cabins. When I realised Leo wasn't behind me, I called back.

  "Aren't you coming Mr Spock?"​​​​​​

  "Oh, right." He said sheepishly. "Hey, wait up! You walk too fast."

  Ugh. I thought to myself. This is going to be one long tour. 

prev chapter • series m.list • next chapter

[tortoise-bearing-cups]

I have so many and they all require ridiculously long explanations, except I guess the one where Percy enjoys Divination partially because he knows a smell-blocking spell so this is the class where he can just drink tea and relax.

I headcanon he had a time turner, and that Bill had one previously and instructed him on how to use it without harming himself. Very "Those are the rules they tell you to scare you into not abusing it, but these are the REAL RULES. Homework and eating and sleeping count." And once he knows he can get away with it, especially after the first year of it, Percy abuses the hell out of it which is why he never seems stressed.

Which leads to my most controversial opinion: Percy is not in love with the rules, he loves knowing what people expect from him and he's strict when it's his job to enforce rules because that's what's expected of him.

Other random stuff ... since owls have been bred to want to deliver mail, they get upset if they don't get to do this. It's enrichment. They switch the owls between the pet shop and the post for this reason. Hermes got sick of waiting around and flew off and bonded to Percy, which is why he didn't get something more practical. The Weasleys were able to get him cheap for this reason, and Percy picked up a bunch of pen pals to keep Hermes happy.

Though I also headcanon that Percy loves animals and bonded with Charlie over this when he was younger, which is why he picked up Scabbers. (Related headcanon: magical rats can do tricks and live longer, so upon finding a wounded, obviously magical rat, Percy brought it home so his parents could find its owner. I could swear rats doing tricks was canon but it honestly might've been from a fanfic. Possibly my own fanfic.) When he grew up, Percy's concerns about appearing put-together and dislike of getting messy made this much less obvious, although he still liked Care.

Since he had a muggleborn girlfriend (and possibly a muggle wife??) I headcanon that Percy likes some muggle stuff but not gadgets like his father, which is very frustrating to him. He hoped they'd be able to bond but they just talk past each other, because what he picks up is more cultural stuff (books and music they give him) which his father doesn't care about.

Oliver one: Oliver is ADHD and would get too in his head about Quidditch, so Percy would just arms with him and walk him to class. Oliver eventually realized he had to do homework alongside Percy or he'd forget, which means he always gets homework done first thing.

A recent one: every Gryffindor in Percy's year is an insane overachiever so they all think they're normal.

Tell me the most random Percy head canon you have

Actually no it can even be one about someone in his little circle that he gets written with alot

(so like Penny/Oliver/Marcus/Audrey/Cedric)

What do you think was the first thing Percy spent like decent money on after getting his first check?

Do you think Oliver has a secondary hobby?

What do you think would make Marcus cry?

Who is Audrey to you?

How do you think Cedric felt about his father?

What do you think is Penny's favorite piece of media (so book/album/show) is?

What do you think are their favorite colors? Favorite classes? War death that hurt the most for them other then like the obvious?

oh speaking of other then Cedric Oliver and Percy's fates being confirmed do you think Marcus and Penny even survived the war?

[eternally--mortal]

There’s no way Annabeth hasn’t been learning Egyptian magic spells in her free time.

Seriously. She and Percy have been suffering through close calls for so long. And Annabeth knows that she’s been at a physical disadvantage. She’s seen other demigods. Children of Athena are amazing and intelligent, but Annabeth can never face a problem head-on; she always has to work around it. In situations where the best way out is to brute force it, Annabeth has to work twice as hard to find a solution.

Well, guess what, Annabeth’s finally found a way to match Percy’s power.

And it’s through studying.

A whole new language of possibilities that she can mix and match when a powerful enemy shows up (because, from where I’m sitting, only two categories of monsters are chasing after Percy nowadays: One (1): idiots. And Two (2): major powerhouses who barge in, confident that they can take him out).

And let’s not forget Annabeth’s Norse heritage and the potential for Rune knowledge.

I promise you this. In the future of demigod history, Annabeth is going to be in bold print in the history books, not because she was Percy’s girlfriend/wife who tagged along on all his adventures with the power of friendship and spunky smarts, but because she was a master study of an amalgamation of pantheons to the point that she’s considered more dangerous than witches like Medea.

Annabeth may not be studying under the traditional title of ‘witch’ like Hazel is, but this girl is using magic to weaponize her brain.

There is nothing that this woman would not do to more conveniently protect her family —to put a stop to the absolute shit that she and Percy have been through.

I give you example A:

Sadie: This is our secret mansion which you can totally probably see with your holy voodoo magic god blood. Carter can show you the library, because Annabeth you’ll probably love that for some reason. The entrance is right—

Carter: Sadie, no, wait!

Carter: We have to invite them in.

Sadie: Wat? No, that’s only for—

Carter: *gesturing at Percy and Annabeth* Demigods

Sadie: Ooh. Right. Sorry. That could have been painful.

Percy: I’m sorry, but what?

Carter: We have a security system.

Annabeth: And it keeps out gods?

Carter: Only until you invite them in.

Annabeth: *eyeing Percy*

Annabeth: And could you, say, teach this spell to us?

Annabeth: Would it keep out Greek gods?

Annabeth: Even just one god, specifically.

Annabeth: Let’s say, a marriage goddess?

Percy: . . .

Percy: That would be great, actually

Percy: Now can we talk about how your house treats us like Vampires.

Annabeth is suddenly using magic everywhere, and it’s not just to protect them against monsters. It’s also to protect Percy from himself.

And I don’t just mean she makes him learn some hieroglyphs (which she does. He literally carries a pen with him. He might as well use it to write once in a while. Maybe the pen is as mighty as the sword).

Percy doesn’t have to use explodey-mountain powers when his girlfriend can speak just the right word and level a street. He won’t need to blood-bend against hostile gods, because Annabeth designs fortifications and pendants to keep the gods far away unless they have the proper permission.

Which totally spazzes Zeus out, by the way. All of a sudden, Annabeth isn’t just an inconvenient enabler for her Threat boyfriend. Annabeth is the Threat.

Zeus: I though you gave a prophecy to the Jackson kid.

Dionysus: Which Johnson kid?

Hermes: The new one. Charlie.

Dionysus: Ugh, the tiny one.

Apollo: I did. I mean, I tried. But the oracle doesn’t work around him.

Zeus: And why not?

Athena: Annabeth gave him a pendant.

Zeus: Well tell him to take it off!

Apollo: We, uh. We suggested that.

Zeus: And?

Apollo: *pulls up an IM screen recording. A twelve-year-old boy appears. He has Percy’s nose. . . Annabeth ears . . .*

Charlie: No. I am strictly grounded from quests. Forever. You have a prophecy for me, right? What’s Zeus gonna do? Kill me? Not if you want your prophecy fulfilled.

It’s also a great path for further developing Annabeth’s empathy for Percy’s frustrations with his own powers. We talk a lot as a fandom about Dark!Percy, but what about Annabeth’s side of things. She’s been terrified of her boyfriend, and he knows, and she knows he knows. Annabeth has seen Percy in his wrath, but she’s also seen how negatively her own fears affect him. There’s no way she would look at that and not search to the ends of the earth for some way to reassure him, or at least to support him.

Annabeth’s all calculated plans and building architecture and trying to make things last. She believed for years that Percy was going to die from the prophecy, and she attached herself to the idea of ignoring what would happen to him and instead trying to preserve Luke, because, by the gods, there was no way she was going to lose both of them. But look at how much Annabeth was ready to tear into Hera. More than ever, right now Annabeth has the motivation to throw out preservation and flip the script. I want Annabeth to experience what being destructive feels like. I want her to succeed and an want it to be beautiful and terrible. I want her to make mistakes. I want her to underestimate herself and overdo it. I want her to begin to understand her power to the point where she walks into situations with the weight of knowledge, debating whether it’s worth it to let a potential enemy live, or if she should just kill them now and save herself the trouble later. And I want Percy to step in and balance her out again.

In the end, I want Annabeth to realize that it’s not the power that’s scary, but learning to use it the right way and at the right time. Learning to lean on people, and to find people that will help you to balance it instead of just being afraid of you. Annabeth’s new magic—her knowledge—isn’t evil, and Percy’s power isn’t either.

[friendlyneighborhoodcapricorn]

Here it is luv!

I'm an Asian who uses she/they pronouns and an Aquarius and INTJ. My sexuality is bi demiromantic. I'm 5'0 with tan skin, black hair, brown eyes and glasses.I'm bilingual. People say I look intimidating and unapproachable since I don't smile or talk much around strangers but I try my best to be polite and nice.I'm very introverted and shy. I'll need to warm up to people but when I do, I will surprisingly be energetic.

I consider myself a fair, open minded and laid back person. I like to seek out my friends' company when bored. I either ask them to do something wholesome or something they are afraid of with me. I'm down to do anything with my friends. I'm hardworking if its something that interests me. I'm very creative but can't seem to make my ideas into reality. If I'm not good at something, I tend to put it on hold until I get motivated again. I'm kind of a pacifist but I will fight if pushed too far or my loved ones are endangered.

My friends describe my  sense of humor as dark and cursed. I can be mischievous and chaotic but still reliable and smart.My hobbies are baking,gaming,art, true crime and supernatural stuff. I express my love with gifts and quality time more than physical affection but I'm ok with PDA. I'm gonna be emotionally unavailable at 1st. My fav kind of date is a picnic.A negative trait of mine would be barely taking initiative at 1st due to fear of rejection. My ideal type is someone who I can trust with my life,someone I've known for a long time, very respectful of my boundaries and protective. Like I said in my previous ask- I'm a Hades kid

Okay, this is going to be a long one, so get comfortable lol

You’ve been at Camp Half-Blood since you were six, and mostly stayed in a room in the Big House: the Hermes kids were too afraid of you to have you in their Cabin.

For a long time, it was expected that you’d be the one to fulfil the prophecy, but turns out you were just a few months younger than Percy.

You and Annabeth are pretty close, because the two of you were kind of the only ones around the same age for a long time.

In fact, you were probably the one to tell her and Luke that Thalia's spirit was still in the tree, being able to sense her with your powers.

As a child of Hades, you totally wield one of those Stygian iron swords.

So now that we have established a bit of background, let’s get to how the series progresses with you there.

When Percy is claimed, you kinda take him under your wing. The two of you bond over being kids of one of the Big Three, and it doesn’t take long to become friends.

You were very much against letting Percy, an inexperienced son of Poseidon, go on a quest already. He attracts every monster in a five mile radius and there’s no way he’s already had enough practice to be able to take them all. Also, he’s literally 12.

But there isn’t much that can be done about that, so you sit back and anxiously wait for him, Grover, and Annabeth to return.

The fact that Annabeth is there with him, is at least some consolation. She’s smart enough to keep the three of them alive.

While you stay at camp, you start getting a weird sense every night, like a constant chill running down your spine. You can tell there's some dark entity in the camp, but also... It's not really there?

You’ve felt it before, but never as strong as this. Naturally, your curiosity urges you to find out what it is. It could be a threat, after all.

But as you sneak through the shadows of the camp, dodging harpies along the way, you can feel the darkness start to fade. The night seems a little brighter now, and you are none the wiser as to what that presence was.

You feel it almost every night, but it fades away whenever you go looking for it.

Maybe you’re looking in the wrong place.

You figure it out by accident, when you suddenly sense it while you’re dreaming.

It is so much stronger now.

That’s when it all clicks together: someone in this camp is being haunted by some dark entity in their dreams.

We know children of Hades can walk in others’ dreams, but it takes time to figure this out.

You don’t even know whose dream you need to invade.

So during the day, you start paying close attention to see if anyone looks more tired than usual.

Clarissa looks tired, but she was up teaching a spear-fighting class all day yesterday, so that’s not surprising.

Luke doesn’t look much better, but he’s the head of Cabin 11 and he’s probably stressed about Annabeth being on her first quest, so no surprises there either.

There’s Chiron, but he’s running a camp full of teenage kids with strange powers. If anyone’s allowed to be tired, it would be him.

So your search mainly remains fruitless.

You do get better at dreamwalking: it’s surprisingly easy once you get the hang of it.

When you feel the presence again while you’re asleep, you let yourself be pulled towards its energy. The closer you get, the more you get the feeling you’re about to fall.

Whatever entity this is, it’s ancient.

In the end, you don’t get to see it, but you hear a familiar voice whisper a name.

Kronos.

You try to warn Chiron and Mr. D, but they both pretty much dismiss your concerns. They say they’ll look into it, but you have a feeling it’s only to get you to go back to bed.

Everyone is surprised about Luke’s betrayal, but you least of all. You already knew someone was having very, very dark dreams. You just didn’t know they were having them voluntarily.

Chiron apologises to you for not listening, but ultimately, you both know it wouldn’t have mattered.

And that’s it for Lightning Thief! Let’s move on now.

Because children of Hades kan pick up on spirits, you’re the first person to know that Thalia’s tree is poisoned, because you can feel her spirit fading.

You once again stay back from the quest because, you know, child of Hades on the big open sea just isn’t a stellar idea. You doubt Poseidon is going to do anything that might risk Percy’s life, but there’s no need to take risks.

But it’s not like you’re not doing anything. The barrier is gone, and monsters can freely come and go as they please. All those demigods in one place… Camp Half-Blood had practically become a beacon.

You take a lot of night shifts on guard duty, as monsters -at least the more intelligent ones- turn around the second they see your sword.

At the same time, Chiron teaches you how you can use your powers to keep Thalia’s spirit from fading as long as possible.

And, whenever you manage to get some sleep, you use your dreams to try and locate your friends and see if they’re doing alright.

All in all, it’s a very tiring time.

Somehow, despite having taken an airplane home, everyone comes home safely.

And then the Golden Fleece resurrects Thalia.

You’re there when it happens, having resigned yourself to watching over her tree to see if it’s working (and to catch up with Annabeth, who tells you and Thalia all about her quest).

Obviously, you mercilessly tease her about Percy. That’s what friends do lol.

But then you suddenly feel a spike in Thalia’s life force.

And before you know it, she’s actually there. In the flesh.

And then there’s three kids of the Big Three.

But little do you know, things are about to get a hell of a lot more chaotic.

That one was a little shorter, but now comes the Titan’s Curse, and with that… well, you know who makes his entrance now ;)

You join Percy, Thalia, and Annabeth when they go to Westover Hall. You can’t explain it, but you have a feeling you need to be there.

Which means you get to meet Sally Jackson, who practically adopts you the way she’s already adopted Annabeth and Thalia.

Speaking of Thalia, you and her have become pretty close since she came back to life. Thalia seems like she’d enjoy true crime and she’s probably interested in the supernatural as well, so you bond over that.

You, Thalia, and Annabeth have basically become a chaotic trio. Sparring matches with the three of you are a frequent occurrence.

But anyway. At Westover Hall, you’re the one who uses the Mist to manipulate the teacher. You’ve been training to use it ever since you first came to camp, and even though Thalia is skilled with it already, all of you agree that it’s better to be safe than sorry.

While you’re at the party, Grover pulls you aside and quietly tells you that the aura of the kids he saw, is scarily similar to yours.

He asks if there’s a chance Hades had any other kids after you, but you doubt it. Breaking the agreement once is tricky, doing it twice? Hades is smarter than that.

Of course that’s when shit hits the fan.

During the battle by the cliffs, you mostly focus on keeping the two kids you came here for safe. Maybe Grover was right about them being related to you.

And then shit somehow manages to hit the fan even harder, because the Hunters of Artemis just had to interfere and chase the Manticore off the cliff -and Annabeth with it.

None of you know what to do, then. You, Thalia, and Percy are all devastated and full of guilt. Kids of the Big Three, and none of you were able to save her -your best friend, the girl Thalia practically raised, the girl Percy loves.

You’re grateful for the Hunters giving you shelter for the time being. Artemis herself offers both you and Thalia a position in the hunt, but you both decline. You’re a child of the god of the Underworld: you understand better than anyone that death is a vital part of the natural order.

Bianca Di Angelo, however, immediately says yes. Both you and Nico are hurt by her decision; by now you’re fairly certain the Do Angelo’s are your siblings, and for Bianca to ditch both of you so quickly, without even getting to know you… well, it stings.

You, Thalia, Percy, and Nico return to Camp with the Hunters, while Artemis goes her own way. The atmosphere at camp is horribly depressing.

Everyone at least knew Annabeth, and most people cared about her, or even loved her.

When Grover, Zoe Nightshade, Bianca, and Thalia embark on their quest, you are up all night. That’s how you catch Percy sneaking off after him.

You tell him to take you along, and he agrees before you can even try and convince him.

It would be a good time, you know, if you weren’t trying to find a missing goddess and your presumed dead best friend.

Percy explains his dream to you, about Annabeth being forced to take the weight of the sky. You try your best to reassure him by saying that if anyone can take it, it’s Annabeth.

When the two of you are caught, you have a shouting match with Zoe. She claims you’re endangering the mission; you accuse her of not giving a shit about Annabeth, and saying that Artemis would be disappointed to be the focus of this quest when there was a young woman who needed help.

It’s a mess, but Percy and Thalia have your back. Bianca admits that she, too, believes that Artemis would want them to rescue Annabeth first. Even Grover, who honestly just wants to stay as far away from the argument as possible, quietly agrees.

Apollo helps you guys get to the Junkyard of the Gods…

But Bianca is not lost in a land without rain, like she would normally be.

Because you are still the most powerful child of Hades present.

So when Talos activates? You create a fissure in the ground with your sword, one so broad and deep that even Talos can’t cross it.

Not without falling in and breaking down for once and for all.

When you get to Mount Othrys, tensions are at an all time high. Thalia, Percy, and you are all anxious to find Annabeth, but also dreading the prospect of having to see Luke again.

Zoe gets poisoned, but rather than Percy, you’re the one who takes the weight of the sky from Artemis so she can fight Atlas and make him take your place again.

It’s just in time to see Luke go ever the edge of a cliff. You can feel the moment his body hits the ground, but you don’t feel him die.

When the Olympians suggest to kill Percy to keep him from becoming the next child of the prophecy, after Thalia accepts Artemis’ offer, you’re the first to rush to his defence.

“What are you going to do, kill all of us? First Perce, then me, and eventually Nico?”

Luckily, Artemis stands in your corner as well, and she takes no shit from her fellow Olympians.

Important to note: since Bianca is alive and with the Hunters, Nico never runs away from Camp…

I feel like these are only getting longer and longer lol. Onto the Battle of the Labyrinth.

So obviously things go very different: Nico is still at Camp Half-Blood, and is quickly progressing in skill under your training.

The two of you have become close, especially now that Bianca is away with the Hunters -though she frequently writes to you both.

Still, Nico desires answers for why he can’t remember anything from the past.

He strays into the Underworld with unnerving ease, and he even manages shadow travel, something even you aren’t capable of yet. You can’t help but be a little jealous.

So while Nico is off finding his answers, you perfect your sword-fighting skills. It doesn’t take long before you meet Quintus, but you don’t like him. Granted, you don’t instantly like people most of the time, but something about the guy feels off.

You already know about the entrance to the Labyrinth: you worked with Clarisse and Annabeth to try and figure out how Luke and the Titan Army might use this to their advantage.

Naturally, when Annabeth embarks on her quest, she asks you along: even your geokinetic abilities aren’t fully able to find a way through the Labyrinth, but you at least can sense where exits and entrances are.

The Labyrinth makes you feel like you’re walking on the edge of a knife: one wrong step and you’ll spiral into madness forever.

You can sense the madness around you: of the man who created it, of those who perished here.

Certain parts are so full of spirits that walking through them makes you feel like you’re suffocating.

You don’t make a pitstop at the Triple G Ranch because there is nothing there for you to find.

Instead, you go straight to Hephaestus’ workshop.

Which leads to the incident with the volcano.

After Percy’s apparent death, you’re the one who leads everyone back to Camp.

That’s when Nico contacts you through a dream, asking for help. The contact is cut off before you can ask what’s wrong, but you caught a glimpse of his environment.

You head straight back to the Labyrinth, and focus on your powers like you never have before. You can feel your half-brother’s spirit if you try hard enough, and it leads to Antaeus’ arena.

That’s where you run into Nico -and Luke and his forces. Nico, not hardened by the loss of Bianca, still had the innocence to trust Luke. Until, you know, he got captured.

You put up a fight, but you’ve been wandering the Labyrinth for days with little to no rest while drawing on a great deal of your powers.

You’re embarrassed by how quickly they capture you to.

But thankfully, most of the Titan Army is none too clever. They let you rest and keep you fed, in the hope that you might change your mind and join their side.

So when you’re called upon to fight and see Percy in the arena… we’ll, Antaeus never stood a chance. You make your escape with Percy, Nico, Annabeth, ands mortal girl named Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

You yell at Percy for, like, 20 minutes straight for making you think he was dead.

When you meet Daedalus, everything makes sense. Of course Daedalus and Quintus are the same person.

You all arrive just in time to see Kronos rise, and from there it’s just a mad dash back to Camp to warm them of what’s coming.

Well. With one small interruption when you discover Pan’s last resting place.

You can’t explain it, but you feel as if Pan has a connection to you. Maybe it has something to do with the wilderness dying. Maybe it’s just because death is a vital part of life.

Whatever the case, it feels as if he’s trying to tell you something.

You arrive back at Camp just before all hell breaks loose.

Things seem to go your way at first, the monsters slowed by the narrow entrance, and with Daedalus, Briares, and Mrs. O’Leary on your side.

But then there’s Kampê.

Grover manages to summon panic and send the monsters scrambling back to the Labyrinth, but they’ll come back soon enough.

That’s when Daedalus asks you to release his spirit, as it will destroy the Labyrinth and everything in it.

So you do.

You’ve never actually set a spirit free, but it’s not hard.

And when you do, you become the Ghost Ruler.

Nevertheless, despite winning the battle, the losses are devastating. You can feel dead all around you…

… but you also feel life.

This was what Pan was trying to tell you. Children of Hades do not just sense death, but also the absence of it.

You start to wonder if it might be possible for you to reverse the dying process, or at least slow it down. After all, you also kept Thalia’s spirit from fading when her tree was poisoned.

There is power over life in the power over death.

Alright, onto the grand finale!

You know the battle is approaching fast, so you spent almost the entire year in the Underworld, perfecting your powers.

Nico is with you, trying to force some answers out of your dad.

You try to convince Hades to fight in the upcoming war, but he’s stubborn over how the Olympians rejected him, despite him being one of the most powerful gods. He reminds you that you and Nico don’t even have a cabin at camp.

And for a moment, you understand his bitterness, and with it, you understand what drove Luke and so many others to this.

But just because you don’t have your own cabin, doesn’t mean you don’t have a place at camp.

You return to camp not long after Annabeth sends you an Iris message about the disaster on the Princess Andromeda.

You arrive just in time to learn that the gods are trying to slow down Typhon.

Unbeknownst to you, Nico low-key kidnaps Percy.

You’re just trying to keep roughly 100 stressed and scared teenagers with free access to weapons from killing each other.

When you finally all go to the Empire State Building to defend the city and Mount Olympus, you run into Percy.

“Your brother kidnapped me.”

“Why do you have an aura of invincibility?”

“Shit, is it that obvious?”

You also reunite with Bianca and Thalia when the Hunters arrive.

“Bianca, your brother kidnapped me.”

Bianca, who has taken over Thalia’s sense of humor: “Good for him.”

The battle is in full swing, and while you’re not outnumbered, you’d feel a hell of a lot better if there were some Underwordly reinforcements.

There’s the disaster on the bridge, and Annabeth getting stabbed, and then some Titan tries to convince Percy to open Pandora’s Box and release hope.

When Percy refuses, it becomes clear how this is going to end: in victory or in death.

The battles go and on, and you’re not sure how much longer you can keep doing this.

But just when all hope seems lost, Hades arrives with Demeter, Persephone, Nico, and an army of undead warriors.

You are so happy you weren’t there for that awkward family gathering.

You’re with Percy, Annabeth, Grover, and Thalia when they follow Kronos and Ethan Nakamura up to Olympus.

When the statue of Hera falls, you hold it back with your powers until everyone has safely passed underneath.

The battle in the throne room is a brutal one, but then Ethan suddenly switches sides after Percy talks to him.

Of course Kronos tries to kill him for it, but you manage to stop him from forming the fissure.

Still, all of you are incapacitated: Ethan is bleeding from a bad wound, Annabeth got flung against a throne with a sickening crack, and you and Thalia could only fight for so long after days of tiring battles.

In the end, it’s Annabeth who gets through to Luke.

In the end, Luke is the hero of the prophecy.

When Percy calls the gods out on their bullshit, you can barely refrain from laughing.

The Olympians put you in charge of working with the minor deities to give them the representation they want and deserve.

At the same time, you work closely with Annabeth and Ethan on new cabins for the camp.

Honestly, life is good.

And then Percy goes missing.

I feel like I should apologise for how long this got omg. I hope you enjoy it, though, and if you ever want a Heroes of Olympus continuation, let me know!

Anyway, thank you so much for the request, I had such fun writing this <3

[theunholygrails]

Foolish Games Part 2

Masterlist

A/N: Introducing new characters and some drama! Percy is still sexy as ever :'(.

Warnings: BJ

I woke up to a door slamming so hard it joined the symphony of my pounding headache. I groaned, hoisting myself over the back of the couch to investigate to intrusion. A brunette head of long sweeping hair rushed through the foyer, barreling towards the kitchen. A familiar mop of black hair hurried after.

Reyna was speaking so fast in Spanish my brain scrambled to keep up. I noted lots of curse words followed by a series of sentences too fast I was surprised she even knew what she was saying. Percy was answering in slow measured words, probably fighting a hangover of equal measure. I ducked behind the back of the couch, reaching for my phone plugged in on the coffee table.

It was noon. 2% battery and a couple messages from friends. Nothing from my ex thank gods. Five from Annabeth being nosey. I opened my uber app, squinting in the sunlight breaking through the cream curtains. I managed to get my driver secured.

A door slammed and I winced, peaking to check that they were in another room. I did not immediately spot my dress in the chaotic. I grimaced remembering the midnight swim. When I sat up I finally noticed the white tshirt I wore and the basketball shorts. And then I went rigid remembering what happened after the swim.

“Motherfucker,” I whispered.

Now I really had to get out of this house. I checked the arrival time of my driver. Three minutes away. Great. I made my way on shaky knees to the large wooden front door. My keys were still in the collection dish. I grabbed them quietly and turned the door handle a fraction of an inch before another door slammed open and Reyna came barreling back into the foyer, brown eyes landing promptly on my guilty ass. Behind her, Percy pursed his lips into a thin line and raised both of his hands to lay on top of his head. His biceps strained nicely against the thin t shirt.

“The fuck is this?” Reyna whispered.

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” I babbled.

“It’s just Noa, Rey. Gods,” Percy said.

“I can see that, Percy!” She snapped. I was glad her spear was not strapped across her back this morning. “Why is she sneaking out of my house in your clothes?”

“People were swimming last night. Her clothes got wet.”

“I’m sure the fuck they did.”

“Zeus, Rey! You ended it with me. Why does it even matter?”

“Because I still fucking love you! I’m sorry, okay?” She burst out crying and Percy instantly pulled her against his chest. The memory of being in those arms drove me out the door like a nest of hornets.

~~~~

“I’m just saying. You have nothing to feel sorry for,” Annabeth paused to sip her iced coffee. “Unless they get back together and then you sleep with him. But as of right now, you’re good. Trust me. Been on the Percy train. We’re still friends. You’ll get over it. Just a harmless rebound for both of you.”

I groaned, laying my chin on the cool metal table parked outside our favorite coffee shop positioned between our New York apartments. Just two Manhattan women enjoying their Sunday afternoon. The air was cooling as fall neared. I pulled my baseball cap closer to the top of my sunglasses.

“Should I call him?”

“Maybe tomorrow. Let him deal with his relationship drama. Reyna is a lot to deal with. Still nothing from fuckface?”

“Nope and that’s fine.”

“Good for you. We will hydrate you, get you a good dinner, hit the gym before work in the morning and then get back on our bad bitch mental track. Agreed?”

~~~~

“Good Monday, yogis,” I chirped from my desk at the corner of my studio.

The third class was beginning to trickle in and I was settling into my rhythm. Hot yoga was next and hopefully I would sweat out all the negativity I’d allowed lately. I was in the middle of emailing back a potential client when someone rapped at the wood of my desk. I glanced up to a blonde male who waved gently.

“Heya, sansei Noa,” he said.

“That’s karate. Can I help you?”

“Do you do trial classes?”

I hit send on my email and closed my laptop. The guy was built like a poser with the defined muscles and chiseled jaw but his voice was soft and tempered. He was clean shaven and dressed like a basic gym bro.

“Normally you have to schedule them beforehand because of class size,” I gave my standard answer.

“Right, my bad. Sorry. I was just passing by the front and it looked like the kind of place I needed right now. Can I go ahead and pick a date then?”

I was staring too long into his pale blue eyes, honed in on the polite response. A nice change from the daily demanding consumers. “You know what? Ive got space right now if you like? Have you ever done hot yoga?”

A brilliant white smile showcasing sharp canines. “My favorite.”

“Perfect. I just need a name, number and email to get you a file started.”

He leaned large hands on my desk. “It’s Luke Castellan.”

Before he could give the contact information, I cut him off. “Wait. I know you.” His tanned skin paled significantly.

“I…”

“You’re supposed to be dead!” I blurted out.

His eyes skated around the room and he leaned in closer. “That’s not supposed to be public knowledge. I assume you’re a demigod?”

“Luke, you trained me. We took fucking sculpting together. The Apollo table was right next to the Hermes one for fuck’s sake.”

He winced. I heard a murmuring from the rest of my class I was disturbing with my volume. I collected my shock finally. “Take a seat if you want. We should talk after class. I need to start.”

“Okay. Thank you. I’m sorry Noa.”

I waved him off and walked over to my yoga mat. I sat cross legged and drew in an even breath to smooth out my emotions.

It was a slow 30 minute class. Each pose and movement dragged on. Finally, I dismissed the group and nodded Luke outside. He was waiting on the bench outside of the studio I split renting with a few other instructors. I sat next to him, wiping sweat from my face with the towel slung over my pink sports bra.

“Alright, talk,” I said.

“Not much to say. I was given a second chance at my hearing. Here I am. Starting over.” A shrug of well-defined shoulders. The muscles flexed beneath his gleaming sweat. His red tank top stuck to his chest and stomach. “I wish I remembered you, truly. That time is such a blur in my life.”

“It’s ok. You were a lot older than me and to be honest I had a massive crush on you so I probably hid most of the time.”

A surprised smile slipped across his lips. “I’m assuming the betrayal helped you get over that?”

I laughed outloud, slapping his knee. “No shit! So where are you staying these days?”

“Just around the corner actually. Got a job at the local gym.”

“Yeah I bet the fuck you did.” I squeezed his forearm between both of my hands. I wanted to roll my eyes at me falling back into my school girl giddy at him. Betrayal of the gods aside. He was even more gorgeous than ever. The scar down his face gave him a dark sexy vibe. Like a bad boy even though he claimed he was rehabbing himself now.

“So how, did you feel about the class?”

“I mean, I’d like to sign up for it a couple times a week, that’s for sure. And I’d like to take you out to dinner to make up for not remembering a beauty like you.”

I almost bit my cheek biting out the response of “Yes!”

“You’ve got my number,” he said, chuckling quietly. “I’ve got to get to work.” He shouldered his gym bag and excused himself.

The bike back to my apartment was spent reliving my tween fantasies about bad boy Luke. I opened my apartment door and screeched seeing a man sitting at my kitchen counter. Percy turned to face me.

“You know you live in New York? You should really lock that.”

“It was!” I snapped.

A quick grin. “Yeah. But it was easy to break into.”

I dropped my bag onto the floor and brushed past him to get a protein shake from the fridge. “I have to shower and get prepared for my night classes.” I told him.

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t call earlier.”

I shrugged. “I didn’t either.”

He paused, studying my face in the shitty lighting of the single bulb hanging between us over the counter. “Are we good, Noa?”

“Of course. What’s a little head between friends?”

“Okay…I can’t read you. Can you not play tough just for a minute?”

I chugged the shake and set the bottle down between us. I leaned my arms on the chilled counter, bun knocking against the light. “Honestly, Percy. I’m fine. We are good.”

“Reyna moved back in.”

“You’re engaged again?”

I drank from the empty bottle to give myself something to do. He watched me with those green eyes. He’d known me for far too long. He was nearly impossible to deceive, but I was determined today. The fact that I had dreamt of fucking him two consecutive nights was irrelevant if he was off the table. Even if his lips did look incredibly juicy tonight. Even if they had done near illicit things to me just nights ago.

“I don’t know. She said she wanted to work on things. And it’s her dad’s house, so I can’t ask her to go and I don’t want to go to my mom’s and admit defeat.”

“You know you could stay here, Perc.”

He worked his jaw silently, then rubbed his hands over his face. “Thanks. I do know. Even if we aren’t officially back together, I think we should work on it…” he trailed off.

“And not tell her about you eating me out?” I leaned closer because I was mean to both him and myself. Because I knew this top combined with this angle gave him a simple opportunity. And he took it.

His tongue slid out between his lips as his eyes flicked down, stayed, then dragged deliberately back up. “Probably not,” he agreed.

For a long moment neither of us said anything. He had more to lose now than me. We were no longer on equal playing fields. So, I left the ball in his court. “I’m going to go shower.”

I was done washing in the first ten minutes. The second ten was giving him a little wiggle room to decide. I had my hand on the faucet to cut off the water that was beginning to go cold when I heard the door creak open. I watched through the fogged glass, catching a hold of my breath. I watched as he tugged his shirt off. My stomach flipped over itself when he reached for his jeans. What had I done?

The opening door let in a rush of cool air, perking my skin to attention. My eyes raked unapologetically over his naked, aroused body. His dark hair quickly slicked against his stubble covered jaw. His eyes were no longer the sea green but murky like the deep water of the ocean.

“Hey,” he said quietly, cautiously.

“Hey,” I giggled, reaching out to touch his rough jaw. He winced, catching my hand with his. “We probably shouldn’t kiss again.”

“Sure, whatever you want, Percy. What can I do to you?”

He groaned, turning his mouth into my palm, scraping teeth against the vulnerable skin. “Touch me,” he said.

My free hand instantly planted against his chest, scraping at the muscle. His eyes fluttered closed, head tilting back to expose his throat. I slid my other hand into his thick hair, tugging it tightly between my fingers and pulling to grant myself more access to the strong column of his neck. I bit it first, backing him into the tiled wall when he shuddered. I kissed over the reddening skin and moved my hands to his flat stomach, feeling the shuddered breaths beneath my touch.

“Like this?” I asked.

His reply was unintelligible. I kissed down his chest, moving my hand lower still as I went. When my fingers brushed over the v-line of his hips, I shifted my route away from the center and to his thighs. An annoyed grunt escaped his lips. “Hush,” I scolded, getting my knees under me. The now cold water was hitting the back of my neck and flowing down my body. I placed my hands on the inside of both his thighs, trailing them upwards and upwards until he nearly contorted when I gripped him. He let out a scandalous string of curses that quickly turned to moaning silence when I took him into my mouth.

He unraveled in minutes and I let him cum all over the breasts I had teased him with earlier. I rose in front of him, my own rosy cheeks mirroring his. “Now we’re even.”

[chasingpj]

𝐔𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐑𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐳𝐯𝐨𝐮𝐬

"I might spread a rumor about you and Percy rendezvousing at midnight. The Aphrodite cabin will have a hoot with that one."

pairing: percy jackson x child of hecate!reader

words: 4,931

warnings: none

timeline: post sea of monsters

if you want to be tagged every time I update this story, click here

a/n: hi hi! this is part one of a self-insert series I'm working on. in this story, y/n is a child of hecate, and this storyline follows the books. the current timeline here is post sea of monsters and will continue through the Heroes of Olympus books. though it follows the original plot, y/n has her own storyline and quests. i tried to make y/n gender-neutral but as I continued to work on the timeline for this project, i had decided that this fic is for a fem reader. guys, this is really just me projecting my fantasy into fanfiction lol. i feel like this is a slow start?? and there is a lot of info dumped in this so bear with me. it'll get better and I'll be working to improve my writing as the series continues. I was on a writing hiatus for a really long time and I'm out of practice so this is my way to get back and hopefully, exceed the skills I had when I was a consistent writer. anyways, if you have any feedback, let me know! I'd love to hear what you think. as i get deeper into the series, i might ask for some suggestions on what to do with the fic. anyways, i'll stop rambling and i hope you like it!

Part One Part Two

You ignore the aching in your neck as your focus is fixed on the herbology book in front of you. You’ve been seated at your desk for Zeus knows how long reading and taking notes in your Book of Shadows, determined to finish reading it as fast as possible. Your half-brother, Alabaster, insisted that you need to memorize all the herbs and their properties before he can properly teach you how to use them in potions. Even though you understand its importance, you hated introductory work. You are itching to get to the real stuff, resulting in you glued to your chair, studying through the night as your cabin mates were fast asleep in their beds. But as determined as you are, Ambrose, your familiar, wasn’t much help. Ambrose whines as he rubs his head against your legs like a needy kitten, making it difficult to ignore him.

“What is it, Ambrose?” You whisper, sitting back in your chair in defeat. You take a second to massage the back of your sore neck before turning to face the translucent hound sitting attentively at your side. His tail sweeps the floor as it wags excitedly, and a short huff leaves his snout as if he was proud to have finally gotten your attention.

Your eyes meet his, racking your mind to figure out what Ambrose needs to tell you. At first, you thought he wanted to play, but you didn’t have time for that, so you decided to ignore him. Usually, after being ignored for a while, Ambrose will give up, finding something else to occupy him. But tonight, he was particularly persistent, and he’s only like this when he needs to tell you something.

Before you can ask what he wanted again, Ambrose gets up from his seated position, running over to the small table that stands beside your bed. You furrow your eyebrows, the first thing you notice when you walk over are your crystals neatly placed in front of your spell books as usual. Seeing them made you suddenly remember what you had planned to do.

You had told Ambrose to remind you to charge your crystals and collect water from the lake since there is a full moon tonight and of course, Ambrose being your loyal companion, did exactly that. Before looking down at the hound, who now is breathing heavily, his tail somehow wagging faster than before, you smile to yourself.

“I told you to remind me earlier, didn’t I?” Ambrose snorts and runs around your feet enthusiastically. You couldn’t help but giggle at his excitement as you reached down to pat his head. “Good boy. What would I do without you?” You continue to praise him, grabbing a black pouch and carefully placing the crystals in it. You put your index finger to your lips, signaling Ambrose to be a little quieter despite his excitement. If he accidentally wakes anyone up, then you definitely weren’t going to be able to fulfill your plans.

You bite your bottom lip as you tiptoe out of the aisle between the bunks. You look around the notoriously cramped Hermes Cabin to make sure your assumption that everyone was asleep by now was correct. It wasn’t hard to make out the faces of your cabin mates since seeing clearly in the dark was one of your many gifts, so you carefully walked along the bunks, being as quiet as you could. You are especially cautious as you approach the front where your cabin leaders, the Stoll brothers, slept. You study them for a second, knowing for sure Travis was asleep since he was snoring and loudly at that. Before you can check if Connor is asleep, you hear him shifting in his bed. You stand frozen in your spot, hesitantly looking over and you were expecting to be met with the usual mischievous grin. Instead, his back was towards you now. You have a feeling in your gut that he wasn't asleep, the timing of his moving was much too convenient. You really didn't want to wait any longer though so you decide that you might as well leave before he could stop you.

You turn on your heels, walking over to the window before you push it open. You cringe softly as the hinges creak, and you look back at the cabin to double-check if anyone has woken up from the sound. You sigh in relief when you see no one has moved, and you turn back to the window, carefully crawling out of it. This wasn’t unusual for you. You’ve done this so many times that using windows as a mode of exiting and entering a room was as natural to you as walking in and out of a door, and soon you were hopping down onto the grass. Your back is pressed against the cabin as you walk the side of it. You look up at the trees and the sky, eyes scoping around for any harpies hanging around. After deeming that you were alone, you begin making your way to the lake, Ambrose walking by your side attentively and cautiously to make sure you are safe.

The night was clear; the stars and especially the moon shone brightly in the sky. You sigh softly, taking in the stillness of the night, admiring the glistening lake reflecting the full moon placed above it. You’ve always enjoyed how quiet and cool the nights were, preferring it more than the daytime.

Unfortunately, you couldn’t avoid it as much as you wish to. Most of your siblings can agree with you that they’d prefer to sleep in most days so that they can study and practice their magic at night. However, that wasn’t the schedule of the Hermes Cabin. It was pretty impossible to sleep in since the mornings were always hectic. In fact, the cabin was just hectic, period. There was always something going on, whether it was an elaborate prank or the guys arguing over who gets to shower first after coming back from training which usually resulted in an intense game of rock, paper, scissors. You can’t say that you didn’t like it; at least you were entertained.

You also always had someone to talk to, and because there were often new campers coming in and out of there, you have easily familiarized yourself with a lot of the kids at camp. However, like your mother, you did enjoy and yearn for the occasional periods of solitude. As fun as living with the Hermes kids was, you and your siblings did find yourselves getting a little irritable at their shenanigans. It was at those times, you did wish that your mother, Hecate, had a designated cabin.

You and your siblings had always said if they ever got a cabin of their own, they would make sure everyone had separate rooms and would have designated spaces to socialize and practice their magic so that it was quiet for the most part. Alabaster, especially, was really passionate about this topic. He complained how it didn’t make sense that your mother wasn't recognized since you and your siblings were a powerful little bunch. You all needed a space to practice your magic and practice preferably at night since you were the most powerful at that time of day; you were also less prone to making mistakes in your spell casting at night. You agreed with him and would get upset about it sometimes, but the Hermes Cabin was a place you considered to be a second home. The communal feel of the space was something you enjoyed, it was one of the few places where you felt fully accepted which was rare to find being a demi-god with abilities like yours. In return to the Hermes Cabin welcoming you with open arms, you accept the inconveniently loud environment as an admirable quirk and went on with your days.

Then to compensate for the lack of silence and solitude, you would often stay up late, taking advantage of the quiet to focus on your studies. Even if you had to sacrifice the amount of sleep you got, you felt like it was worth it.

It doesn’t take you long to arrive at the dock, sitting down close to the end with your legs folded under you. You first collect lake water in a jar before carefully taking out the pouch's crystals. Assuming you had only a few left in the pouch after laying most of them on the dock, you tilt it with your hand under it, only for the crystals to come out all at once. You fumble, hands trying to bring them to your chest, but with your luck, one of your crystals falls right into the water with a plop.

“Dammit!” You peer over the edge and groan, Ambrose whining at your misfortune as he stands beside you. You look down at the water, noticing Ambrose’s and your dim reflection in it. There was no way you could get that crystal now because you didn't know how to swim, and you consider that maybe tomorrow you can convince your twin brother, Atticus, to look for it or Alabaster if Atticus refused, which you were expecting him to.

Your breath hitches at the back of your throat, jumping back as a head of dark hair abruptly pops up from right where you were staring. Ambrose barks loudly next to you, equally as startled, and your eyes widen. You stand up hastily at the realization that Ambrose's loud barks in the dead of night will catch the attention of the harpies, and right now, that was more important to you than the mysterious person that just sprouted up in the water like a zombie coming out of a grave.

“Shush! Ambrose, quiet!” Your frantic command was enough to make him stop with a whine, and you sigh shakily, turning towards the camp to check if there were any harpies.

“I think you dropped something.” Ambrose moves in front of you protectively, a low growl coming from his chest as he cautiously studies the person. You look back where the voice came from and to your surprise and your relief, you find that the mysterious person in the lake was no other than Percy Jackson. You never had a conversation with him before, but you definitely knew about him. It was kind of hard not to know who he is since he’s been the talk of the camp since he’s arrived. Your thoughts about him weren’t any different from most of the camp. You’ve seen him fight and use his powers during capture the flag, and you were just as impressed as everyone else. You did have to admit that you found him to be pretty cute too. His eyes were gorgeous, clear, and bright like a shallow, cyanic sea. You also found it adorable how his hair always looked a little disheveled.

Your (e/c) eyes met Percy’s green ones before looking at your rose quartz in his hand. You smile sheepishly, noticing the amused look on his face.

“Ah, yeah, that’s mine.” You walk over to him, but as you get closer, so does Ambrose, and his growls get louder. "Ambrose, heel. It's okay," you say softly, and he stops in his place, but his stance is still at alert, his eyes watching Percy cautiously. You pat Ambrose's head before walking past him and over to Percy. "Thanks," you smile, taking your rose quartz from his hand.

"No problem… I don't think your ghost dog likes me," Percy jokes, moving to look past your legs at Ambrose, who’s standing tall on your left side.

"Yeah, well, you kinda scared the crap out of us," you point out, amused. You take in Percy's goofy smile as he pulls himself up from the water, and you notice that he’s completely dry as he settles on the edge before turning his body to look at you.

“It’s y/n, right?” He asks, and you nod, figuring he’s probably heard about you in passing from Connor and Travis since he was friends with them too. “What are you doing out here so late?"

"I could ask you the same thing," you retort playfully, making him smile. You move to sit down where you were standing. You spread the crystals neatly on the wood, making a mental note to get them before you go to bed.

"I couldn't sleep, so I came out here to hang out, but then a hippocampus swam up. One of its friends got stuck in a fisher's net not too far from here, so I went to help," he explains, and you nod. "I told you my excuse, so what's yours?"

You hum, "It's a full moon out tonight, so I thought I should take my crystals out. I also needed moon water for a potion, so I collected some for that," you point over at the big mason jar full of lake water. "It’s not as cool as your excuse,” you say playfully.

A short laugh comes from Percy, and when you look up from your crystals, you notice he was looking at Ambrose again, who was still in his tense stance. Ambrose was especially protective of you and Atticus, and it wasn’t unusual for him to be cautious of the new people you come across. You assumed that Ambrose was particularly tense with Percy since he had successfully caught you both by surprise.

"Ambrose, relax.” You pat the top of his head to soothe him. "Lay down." Ambrose whines, licking your hand affectionately for a little, and you can tell he was still uneasy about the other. He was hesitant, but he follows your command anyway, laying down with his head on your lap.

"You can touch him?" Percy asks, his eyes wide and curious as he watches you pet Ambrose.

"Yeah, I can touch ghosts in general. My mother is Hecate, goddess of necromancy, along with magic, the night and the moon," you tell him. "This is Ambrose. My mother gifted him to me to be my familiar, kinda like a guardian." You look down at the hound, smiling softly as you scratch behind his ear softly.

Ambrose is a burly Molossian Hound who lived in the time of Alexander The Great. From what your father told you, his breed was well valued in Ancient Greek and Roman times and was often used in war. It is easy to understand why the breed was used in war. Ambrose is huge and muscular, about 6 feet tall when he stands on his hind legs, and he weighs around 200 pounds. At first, Ambrose can come off as a little intimidating. You remember how your siblings had avoided him when you first arrived at camp before they realized that he was the clearest definition of a gentle giant. Even though he was trained to fight when he was alive, he was still as gentle as a well-trained house dog unless he was given a reason not to be.

"When did you get him?" Percy asks, his eyes focusing on Ambrose’s translucent body that looked like it is made up of this gray swirling vapor. He couldn’t exactly wrap his head around how Ambrose’s head was comfortably propped up on your thigh.

"We met on the night I was on my way to Camp so about 2 years ago. Without him, my brother and I probably would have never made it to the borders.” You look up at Percy, meeting his eyes again; you watch as his face softens as he shifts to lean back on his hand.

"Really?" You hum and nod, ready to drop the conversation there, thinking you shouldn’t bore him with the details. You didn’t really like talking about it much, but the way he was looking at you made you feel like he was inviting you to continue talking.

"We got separated from our father at the gas station a couple of miles away from here. He went inside the convenience store to get us snacks, and while he was in there, a cyclops had found us, tried to grab us out of his car. We jumped out and ran into the woods nearby," you explain as you look out at the dark horizon.

You remember the sound of your father yelling after you and Atticus and how it broke your heart hearing, for the first time, such despair in his voice. You knew your dad didn’t want to bring you guys to camp, but he knew it was in Atticus’s and your best interest to come here and be with other people like you guys.

When you and Atticus started developing your powers, your father had simply told you guys that you were special and to refrain from using your telekinesis anywhere else but home. He didn’t say anything more until one night, you and Atticus had gotten in a screaming match about a reason you don’t even remember. However, in your screaming match, the both of you were so angry that a green aura had formed around you both, and books, magazines, even cutlery were being flown across the room because of the sheer energy you were admitting as a unit. It was then your father had decided to take you and Atticus to the camp to control and learn about your powers before you guys destroyed the house over a dumb argument like who’s turn is it to have the TV remote.

"We were more concerned about the monster hurting our dad, so we decided on a whim to run in the forest. My brother and I have telekinesis powers, and I aimed well enough to send a rock right at the cyclops eye. We lost him a little after that, but we didn't know where we were. We made too many twists and turns; we had no idea what direction we came from. And then, this buddy appeared out of nowhere from a distance. I saw him glowing from far away and couldn’t make out what he was, but I felt that I had to follow him. So we did, and he got us to camp with no detours for any other monsters. He's been with me ever since," you say, and a low whine comes from Ambrose’s mouth as he nuzzles the side of his face on your thigh contentedly.

Percy nods, and he huffs softly, "You guys got lucky. How old were you and your brother when you got to camp?"

"12, we're twins. We actually got here a couple of weeks after you did,” you mention. You watch Percy’s mouth curve into a half-smirk.

“Wow," he says, amused, and shakes his head. “So you have a twin and a dead dog, no fair," he jokes. You giggle, rolling your eyes playfully,

"Oh please, and you have crazy water powers. You’re completely dry after swimming! I think that's pretty envy-worthy."

"Hey-,” he shrugs, taking a second as if to form a protest. “I guess you're right,” he admits and laughs. You laugh with him, opening your mouth to say something else but unfortunately, you were interrupted by a screech echoing in the distance.

Both you and Percy stand up quickly, trying to figure out which direction it came from. “The harpies,” you both mutter in unison. You bend down to grab your things, and you look at Ambrose.

"Go distract them, bud," you tell him, and Ambrose jumps up to his feet, and you watch as he runs away, barking to get their attention. Just then, you see the wings of the Harpies coming up from the trees of the forest. You turn to Percy, grabbing his hand quick,

“Incantare: Transpectus!" You exclaim confidently, closing your eyes to envision you and Percy becoming transparent on the dock. You've never tried doing this spell before, but you've gotten better at visualizing and setting intentions, so you had some hope in yourself. You open your eyes, not feeling any different, and you hoped that you just didn't make a fool of yourself in front of Percy. But when you look down at your hand hesitantly and notice it was hard to make out since you were see-through like glass, you sigh in relief. You smile to yourself, more than satisfied that you were able to pull that off.

"Woah, are we invisible?" You look over at Percy, able to see him just fine since he was under the spell with you. Percy looks down at himself, eyes widened as he processes he can’t see his body anymore. You observe him for a second, finding it cute how he looked surprised and obviously entertained at the fact that he was completely see-through. You feel yourself growing a little flustered, trying not to focus too much on the fact that you were holding hands with him.

"Something like that. C'mon, it won’t last too long," you whisper, and your grip around his hand tightens as you guys begin running to his cabin. You hear the harpies screeching in frustration as they swoop down to try and grab Ambrose, only for their claws to go right through him. While the harpies were growing more annoyed, Ambrose, on the other hand, was having way too much fun, running in circles and barking at them as if he’s teasing.

"Man, I wish I had a ghost dog," you hear Percy mutter behind you as you arrive at the steps of his cabin.

"Yeah, Ambrose is pretty great," you admit, watching him play with the harpies before shifting your gaze over to Percy. "Thanks for getting the crystal for me." As much as you wanted to stay talking to him, you knew you couldn't stay too long. You were still eager to finish studying, and Ambrose can only hold off the harpies for so long.

"It was no problem. It was on my way up anyways," he shrugs, and you smile, trying to ignore the fluttering feeling in your stomach. You look down, the two of you still holding hands even though the spell wore off already. You awkwardly let go of his hand, shifting on your feet.

"Well, I'll see you around," you say sheepishly, fiddling with your fingers.

"Yeah, I'll see you.” His hand comes up in an awkward wave. You nod, returning the wave. Your eyes meet Percy’s green ones one more time before turning on your heels and walking down the steps of his cabin. You notice that Ambrose is now long gone into the forest, taking the harpies with him to give you time to rush to the other side where your cabin is.

As you hurry back to your cabin, you couldn’t help but smile to yourself as you replayed the interaction you just had with Percy, and you couldn't help but wonder when would be the next time you could talk to him.

You carefully hoist yourself up, climb back into the cabin through the window, sighing softly once you get in. You slowly close the window, your face scrunching at the creaking sound, but you successfully get it closed before turning around, only to be faced with Connor Stoll standing a few feet away with his arms crossed over his chest. You gasp loudly, almost dropping the mason jar in your hand, being startled for the second time tonight.

“Oh, look who’s back,” he says, his lips pulled in his usual mischievous smirk, his right eyebrow raised as if he's suspicious of you. You shift, giggling nervously under his graze,

"Hey, Con.” Shit. You knew he wasn’t asleep, and a part of you wasn’t surprised that he had caught you sneaking out again. You weren’t too worried since Connor wasn’t one to be strict or easily angered, neither was Travis, but you can understand if he did get a little upset with you since the cabin could also get in trouble, and he worried about you getting hurt.

"You leave so often, I'm starting to think you're seeing someone," he teases, and you furrow your eyebrows, not really sure what he was trying to get at.

"I'm not seeing anyone. You know what I do when I sneak out," you tell him, putting your hand out to show him the jar full of water. After being caught the first couple of times, you had explained to Connor why you occasionally needed to head out at night. He was understanding of your reasons, telling you to try and not sneak out as often. When he did catch you, he always kept your outings secret. It came with a price, though. You were sometimes stuck doing extra chores, especially anything that had to do with cleaning, since he hated doing anything that had to do with mopping or sweeping.

"So that wasn't you and Percy on the dock?" Your eyes widen, and you feel your face get hot again. You shake your head, stumbling over your words for a second.

"Uh… n- that was a coincidence!" You hear him snort, laughing quietly as if he didn't believe you. Even though he couldn't see your facial expression very well in this lighting, he can still tell how flustered you were at his sudden question.

"Yeah, sure," he says sarcastically, and he hums, "Anyways, what are you going to do for me so that I don't tell on you?" He asks, and your mouth drops open. Usually, he wasn't so forward, and he never threatened to tell on you. "I might spread a rumor about you and Percy rendezvousing at midnight. The Aphrodite cabin will have a hoot with that one."

You gasp, "Connor, are you blackmailing me right now?" You narrow your eyes at him, and he shrugs,

"I guess you can say I am." You shake your head, walking over to your desk to put down your moon water before turning toward him and crossing your arms in front of your chest.

"... what do you want?" You ask, expecting him to make you take up one of his chores. But from the way he was smiling at you, you can tell that there was something more he wanted, and you were beginning to worry.

"Help me turn the Ares Cabin into bunnies," he says, and you shake your head frantically,

"No way! Clarisse will kill me," you whisper. Connor smiles,

"No, she won't. She can't kill you if she's a bunny," he points out, and your face falls flat,

"They're not gonna stay bunnies forever," you say, and you fiddle with your fingers nervously at the idea of the outrage you'd get from the Ares Cabin after shifting back from being bunnies. "I don't know, Con. I don't even know if I can turn all of them into bunnies at once."

Connor waves his hand at you, dismissing your concern. "I don't care for the logistics now. We can work on that later, but you have to agree to at least help me," he says. "Or I'm telling everyone I saw you smooching Percy on the dock."

"What!? We didn't even kiss. We talked for like 5 minutes!" You whisper-yell, your reactions much too entertaining for him, and he was having a hard time holding in his laugh.

"Your decision, y/n."

You sigh, throwing your head back. You look at the ceiling for a second as you consider your two choices. And you decide that getting your head potentially put on a stick by Clarisse was better than the burning embarrassment of Percy thinking you're spreading rumors about kissing him. "Fine, whatever. I'll help you do the bunny thing," you mumble, your shoulders slouched.

Connor nods with a proud smile on his face for trapping you into helping him. "Good choice. I will be going back to sleep now. Good night… again," he announces, turning on his heels and walking over to his bed. You frown a little as you walk back to your desk to study. Plopping down onto your chair, you decide that you’ll worry about Connor’s little plan later so you can focus on your studying. After a while, Ambrose comes trotting in, joining you by the desk as usual. You smile at him, praising the other for distracting the harpies for you before he lays down, his head laying on your foot.

As you study, you find that you couldn’t help your mind drifting back to Percy once and a while. You deem that there was no way that you could have a crush on him since you guys have only spoken once. In the midst of your internal debate to decide what you felt for him, you suddenly remember the crystal that was retrieved for you. You remember how Percy presented it to you, holding it out for you with his fingertips. It was your rose quartz. What a coincidence. You smile, rolling your eyes as you tell yourself that you’re thinking too much into it. You look over, noticing the dim illuminating light of the beginning sunrise shining through the curtains. You sigh, deciding that you should probably get to sleep and take advantage of the maybe, four hours of sleep you’ll get tonight. You close your herbology book before making your way to your bed, and with a soft sigh, you retreat under the covers, and finally, you surrender to your drowsiness.

masterlist

[thejudgingtrash]

11. “...did you just sniff me?” for percabeth pretty please 🙏🤍🤍🤍

Heya! I’m finally here to come back to this request 😄😄 It took me only a little bit in comparison to other requests, but I'm here!

Also since @percyheartsannabeth, @skaterannabeth and @not-optimistic-petrol-biscuit had asked about fluff. Here you go... Kinda? 😬 Anyway. Here's a monster sneak peek into may I introduce you to my beloved wife? 😋

It took me all day yesterday, but I managed to pump out 11k words. That's a record for a single session in one day (with like two breaks). And yes, that is still not the entire chapter. Here are roughly 9,2k for you to consume!

TW: alcohol, overbearing relatives not minding their own business, a tiny section talking about domestic abuse and Athena and Frederick Chase ain't shit but that's nothing new. Poseidon too, for once. Enjoy!

may I introduce you to my beloved wife?

(*absolutely not proof-read, my bad)

Annabeth sighed. You can do this. You can do this. You’ve already finished the week. Think about the money. Think about the move to California. Push through this day and next week, think about the money and the minute you’ll hand your termination in. She wanted to splash some water up her face, but the makeup that tinted her lips in a luscious rose and added some bronze to her high cheekbones was too expensive to be washed off and hastily reapplied.

It was pre-Dionysus Day, which meant it was merely the calm before the storm. The first sparkling sip of an impending disaster waiting to rollover the roomy Greek villa Percy forced her to stay in. Well not really forced. Forced and bribed her to stay in. That made it sound slightly better. Just think of the one-hundred seventy-five dollars he’s going to transfer into your bank account for your new start in California. I should renegotiate. California is also expensive. Make it two-hundred fifty thousand.

The tall blonde looked at her reflection in the mirror. A young woman full of life was the first thing she had seen in the morning but now she looked tired and annoyed, just how she felt. Something crashed in one of the dozens of rooms next to her and people laughed. Annabeth sighed again. It was the only thing she could do, otherwise she would scream like a banshee, making sure that at least Hermes and Prometheus would check her, if it wasn’t for Percy stuffing socks into her mouth to make her shut up before they got to her. The majority of his Greek relatives had been lovely if not terribly nosy and overbearing. It was the opposite of her family. His was warm and chaotic and for the most part welcoming. Hers? Cold, apathetic, disapproving of everything she did. She had no family in comparison, and neither would she want to compare this wholesome messy bunch to the cold-hearted Athena Pallas and the monster that was Friedrich Chase.

Annabeth respected Hera and Hestia, she definitely side-eyed Aphrodite who was cheating on her husband and she would definitely stay away from Zeus. Crossing paths with him occasionally in the New York office of Atlantic INC. was terrible, seeing him openly be flirty and loosen up during a forced trip was way worse.

This was a bad idea and I have a terrible feeling about this. The burgundy wrap dress that hugged her skin was soft and light but in the Thessalian heat it felt like a sticky cocoon caging her. She wasn’t a beautiful butterfly, ready to burst out and wow everyone. Neither was she a moth drawn to a flame. She was a bug that had been sprayed by Percy with a pesticide, wrapped in toxic chemicals which were slowly dissolving her body, piece by piece.

A knock shoved the horrendous image inside of her head aside. “Yes?” she asked with a firm voice. Too firm with a hint of annoyance, but she was not a professional actress and could not switch her emotions off as she pleased. She was a junior marketing manager for Christ’s sake. Not for much longer. Only two more months…

Percy opened the door. “Are you ready?“ he asked with his usual pleasant baritone reaching her ear.

He wore light linen pants that hugged his legs loosely and a light blue shirt with the first buttons opened up. She could see his defined chest and the swirls of black hair peeking through. The hair was styled into a disheveled curly mess which suited him way better than the gelled back corporate look and he forgot to trim his beard like the day before. Annabeth couldn’t deny what she saw – her tormentor was a very attractive man.

“Do you want to bail?” His sea-green eyes darkened a shade. Worry flashed through them.

Annabeth exhaled sharply for the last time. “I wish I could but then I’d leave you without a fiancé,” she smiled through the pain.

Her glance found her reflection again. The topknot was still intact, and a few strands carefully framed her heart-shaped face. She looked perfect on the outside and she wanted to commit manslaughter in the inside.

“Let’s get over with it,” Percy sighed and stretched his hand out. It seemed like Percy was the one that would rather bail.

Annabeth took it without any complaint. She was the happy girlfriend soon-to-be-wife and holding hands was way better than being forced into kissing him during Sports Day. The Theodoropoulos family truly had planned activity after activity during those two weeks in winter.

“Oh!” Sally peeked into the bathroom and saw her son holding Annabeth’s hand.

“There you are! Is everything okay, mija?” she asked with her sweet Dominican accent and looked at Annabeth.

Annabeth automatically smiled back. Sally was the mother she never had, and it broke her heart crumble by crumble by the sheer charade Percy and she were forced to display for the next six days. Sally Jackson deserved the best. She certainly didn’t deserve being deceived and lied to by her terrible son and his tag-a-long coworker.

“Yes, Percy was just making sure we’re arriving on time.” Annabeth got on her toes and placed a soft kiss on Percy’s stubbled cheek. It tickled but by now she had gotten used to it.

He rolled his eyes, smiled at his mother, nonetheless. Sally’s eyes sparkled and she clapped, clutching her hands tightly. “You don’t know how proud you’re making me, mijo,” she then said teary-eyed.

“You finally found a great girl and she is standing next to you.” Sally wiped a tear away and the awful feeling that sat on Annabeth’s chest and made everything heavier, amplified by a thousand times.

This was way worse than being referred to as the woman that would bear him three to five children presuming with the first one sired on this current vacation by Ares. Yes, Annabeth wanted two children at max, but not definitely now. She was twenty-eight and in the prime of her life! Note: Percy would certainly not be the father of said two children. Unruly blond waves and a mischievous grin blitzed through her head. Pale blue eyes came back from the deepest pit of her memory. Luke. Fuck no, that was even worse than Percy. His betrayal… Annabeth tried to shake the memory off and focused on the ongoing situation in front of her.

Sally truly hoped her son found love and not a quick fling. Oh shit, Annabeth thought and looked up to Percy whose face expressed similar thoughts. His conscience nibbled and guilt flooded his body.

“Mamá,” Percy began and released Annabeth’s hand in order to grasp the older woman’s shoulder.

Sally brushed his large hands off. “No, no! Off you go! You younglings should be downstairs celebrating your reunion with the entire side of Poseidon’s family.”

Annabeth appreciated the fact that Sally was invited and flown out each winter holiday by the Theodoropoulos’. Despite having been divorced from Poseidon for over twenty years, she was still a popular and welcomed guest, not just because of her son’s attachment to the Greek side and his tied division of the Greek family company.

Sally gave each of them a last smile before entering the women’s bathroom. Percy exhaled and pinched his nose. After ten seconds he released the nose and looked back at Annabeth. “Ready?” he asked a final time. Annabeth nodded.

The loud singing, yelling and talking that had been muffled by the bathroom hit her by a tenfold. The place had all the Mamma Mia vibes without the fun singing four days ago. Not anymore, as drunk relatives hit up the shore with loud music and talked loudly in their Pontic Greek dialect.

As the couple descended the stairs and walked through the parlor, a new wave of guests arrived at the same time. Three people that have just entered early adulthood looked up to them. Two men, one blond with a stoic face and bronzed skin, the other was shorter with spiky black hair and a beautiful grin on his lips. The woman next to him was the tallest out of the trio and possessed a high ponytail that would leave Ariana Grande dying out of envy. The dyed lilac hair swung around and nearly reached the middle of her thighs, meaning the hair was even longer without its tight prison on top.

“Thanatos, Zagreus, Megaera!” greeted Percy and gave each one of them a rib crushing bear hug. They looked pleasantly surprised at seeing Percy being accompanied by a pretty woman his age. It seems like the proposal didn’t reach all of the ends of the Greek world.

They fell into a short conversation in Greek and Annabeth smiled politely next to Percy as she fell entirely out of place. The evil Duolingo owl didn’t prepare her for this experience. Neither did her mother bother teaching her at least their Athenian dialect properly. She could introduce herself in Greek, order a beer, say goodbye and that was it. Thank you, Athena. For nothing again.

“Oh, you must be Annabeth,” Megaera eyed her carefully and Annabeth had the feeling that she could split her open with her hands. Weirdly enough, Annabeth was kind of into it. Megaera wasn’t only as tall as Percy but she was clearly the one with the toughest workout regimen as she displayed her muscular legs and defined arms with a short cocktail dress only a few shades darker than her hair.

“Yes,” Annabeth squeaked. She nearly added a ma’am towards the end. Megaera cocked her dark eyebrow. She had an aura that demanded respect.

“Interesting to see the woman who captured Perseus’ heart. It seems that he did develop a good taste after all. Calypso was as pretty as the crescent moon flower but sadly as dull as his corny jokes are.” Megaera’s deep smirk was a stamp of approval as her eyes roamed all over Annabeth.

“Hey!” Percy interrupted and placed a firm hand on Annabeth’s waist, as if he was trying to mark his territory.

“You have your own toys right to your right,” he then added with a playful tone.

Megaera actually laughed and waved dismissively. “That doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more.” A clear offer which left Annabeth’s face turn into a fiery tomato red.

“Anyway, we have some catching up to do,” Thanatos proposed as Zagreus and he silently watched the conversation blossom. He sounded as reserved as he looked.

“Indeed,” Zagreus agreed, surprising Annabeth with a posh English accent. “Father will murder me if we miss out on his moussaka. It’s to die for you need to try it, Annabeth, at least before Hephaestus gets ahead of himself.”

Annabeth laughed. The Theodoropoulos did have their positives. “I will, Zagreus,” she nodded.

“Oh please, if aunt Sally gave her go for you to stay here, you’re as good as family. We’re Than, Zag and Meg for you,” Zagreus offered.

“Annabeth is already my nickname but thank you for the kind offer!”

The three new guests went on to join relatives and friends at the party which seemed to get more chaotic by each passing minute as the volume seemed to increase.

“My cousin Zagreus from my uncle Hades’ side,” Percy explained as the three went out of his sight.

“Are they friends? Or…”

“Pretty sure they’re polyamorous. You know, I don’t know, and I honestly don’t really care, I see Zag once every twelve months at max. Just don’t stick to Meg’s side for too long otherwise she’ll turn you into her fiancé.” Percy’s tone suggested that he was not joking.

“Oh.” Annabeth didn’t know what to think of it.

Percy closed his eyes as if he was making a silent prayer, before his sea-green met Annabeth’s light gray ones. She smelled like lemon with a hint of lavender, instead of roses like normally. Delicious. If it weren’t for the fact that it was Annabeth.

“So, listen. You know I’ve talked about Dionysus Day and how his birthday brings out the worst side of everyone.”

Annabeth nodded as Percy went on to explain.

“Pre-Dionysus Day is basically same with the only exception that my great-grandmother’s house is filled with the entire family. Yes, we’re expected to eat, drink, laugh, drink, dance, drink, reminisce on our past, drink, make fools out of ourselves in order for them to take blackmail pictures and drink some more, but no matter how much they want you to open up… try to control yourself. Everything you say can and will be used against you.”

Annabeth’s stomach started to churn, and her knees slightly gave in. “Look, I’m truly sorry for the mess that I’ve caused,” Percy looked directly into her eyes and tried to ignore the rosy streaks across her flushed cheeks. “And my relatives can be overbearing. But if we manage to stick through this night and the next one tomorrow, we’re as good as done with playing games.”

“Fine,” Annabeth gritted through her teeth. She had agreed to the terms and condition. She didn’t need a reminder of the stupid decision she made two months ago.

“Let’s go.”

She placed her hand on the doorknob that separated the parlor from the huge living room. Percy followed her as she opened the door. A wave of laughter, wine, ouzo, discovered secrets, cigarettes, sweat and fun hit them.

“Oh wow, someone should open a window.” Percy suggested as he coughed. Luckily cousin Metis had the same idea. No, aunt Metis. Or was it Thetis? Why did Percy need to have so many relatives with similar names again?

“Oh, Annabeth, look at you!” Aphrodite had snuck up behind them and surprised the fake couple by hugging each of them and nearly spilling the expensive Greek vintage in her hand on Percy’s shirt. The red alcoholic liquid carelessly swirled in her glass and more than often seemed to want to escape from her clutch.

“Aphrodite, be careful!” Percy reminded her as she dug her fingers into his arm. Her nails were as fake and bought as was the bond between Annabeth and Percy.

“Oh, please cousin, you should learn how to loosen up!” She laughed, but it sounded more like the shrill sound a bird made when it got nearly hit by a car. The high pitch made Annabeth slightly frown.

“Take your girl upstairs and show her all the Zorbas moves you got!” She wiggled her badly overdrawn eyebrows.

Aphrodite had always been the poster child of perfection. She knew how to dress her curvaceous body the right way, she knew how to apply the perfect touches of makeup on her face and she was the most graceful being Annabeth had ever met. Seeing her so disheveled left the blonde American content. It showed that Aphrodite wasn’t one of the gods, she was a mortal mess like they all were. That, and it was kind of funny seeing the abrupt transition from oozing perfection to looking like a rough mess after a couple of glasses of wine.

“If you know what I mean, you two know what I mean, right?”

“Yes,” Annabeth and Percy answered. Unfortunately, they did.

“That reminds me, this is such a pretty dress that you got!” Aphrodite’s eyes widened and she tugged at Annabeth’s sleeve that went slightly over her elbows. “Percy needs to bring me a couple of those the next time he visits. Oh wait! You’re about to marry, Annabeth can take me shopping. I want to visit New York next summer. When was your wedding again?”

Panic filled Annabeth she tried to stutter a lame excuse like they had done the entirety of the stay. Aphrodite’s brown eyes found something else to focus on in the meantime. Her hand went out to poke the tall blonde’s chest as she went on to pull on the thin fabric.

“You should show the men what you got! Free the girls!” Aphrodite yelled over the loud music, pushing Annabeth’s C cup to its limits. “Let Percy stand in the corner with that stupid frown, all jealous and depressed while you’re out on the hunt!”

Percy did not look amused especially since he tried to pull Annabeth away.

“Yeah, just like that!” Aphrodite’s glass pointed directly at his face as Annabeth tried to shove Aphrodite’s fickle fingers aside. “Oh, if I were just a little bit younger and not tied to your cousin…”

“You mean cousins,” Percy corrected and made a step backwards as Aphrodite’s dreamy and drunk dazed focus shifted from Annabeth to him.

“Aphrodite, leave Percy and his future wife alone,” Hera arrived to save the stressed couple and rolled her eyes. “Go harass Hephaestus and try to be a faithful wife for once in your life.”

She still looked like she had a massive stick shoved up her ass by the way she stood entirely straight next to them, but Annabeth appreciated the gesture. If Hera didn’t like Aphrodite much, Annabeth would rather join Team Hera than stand alone by the bleachers and under Aphrodite’s charmspeak. Aphrodite pouted and stomped with her feet twice as if she were a toddler and not a grown woman marching towards her forties. Then she stormed off and ran into the arms of her lover, nother husband to spite her mother-in-law and embarrass her even further.

“Malàka,” Hera cursed and lost her cool for one second, before clearing her throat and focusing on the already tired fake engaged couple in front of her. Not even Hera seemed to be averse from drinking a glass of wine or two. “You two definitely need a drink.”

Annabeth agreed with her for once.

She pointed at the bar behind her, which was managed by Dionysus and his wife Ariadne. The number of relatives ganging up on them and demanding new drinks was frightening. Surprisingly Dionysus kept his cool and shoved drinks in people’s hands at an impressive speed.

“Yeah, let’s get over with it,” Percy sighed and took Annabeth’s hand again.

“Are you okay?” Annabeth asked him. She knew from Thalia that Percy rarely ever drank and that his family was to blame for most of it. Percy seemed stiffer and graver than usual as well. As much as she disliked his jokey nature and easy-going demeanor he displayed at work, she’d much rather have that Percy by her side right now. Dionysus Day and the day before seemed like it was hell on earth for him and walking through it each year must take a toll on him.

“Yeah, let’s just each grab a glass of wine. Let them be happy about me shoving this disgusting stuff down my throat.” He thanked Ariadne as she prepared two glasses of the same vintage Aphrodite seemed to have inhaled earlier.

“Thank you.” Annabeth took her glass and sniffed. The wine smelled sickly sweet with a hint of the bitterness that the fermentation process had left. The glass in her hand weighed surprisingly heavy, not because of the wine itself but because of the golden swirls decorating it. The glass transitioned from the crystal-clear transparency into a deep black. A lyre surrounded by a bigger laurel wreath decorated the middle section and a golden snake was wrapped around the stem. The golden rim gave it a nice finish.

“Into a fruitful night,” Percy darkly mumbled over the music. He was really not looking forward to it, which confused Annabeth immensely. She didn’t understand why he pushed himself through this if he really didn’t like the drinking activities. He surely had his reasons, hence her not starting a fight with him over it. It was his family and their tradition after all.

“Into a fruitful night,” Annabeth instead repeated.

Issuing a weird toast as well. Percy Jackson was clearly not a drinker. Their glasses clinked and each of them took a sip. Thankfully grandma Rhea made sure they were well-fed before the festivities began.

“Fuck,” Annabeth muttered. A fine vintage as well. Not as sweet as she thought, it left a hint of sweet cumin as the lingering aftertaste. Her lipstick left a mark on the glass, but she didn’t bother to care as she took another gulp. The wine was nearly finished. She slowly started to understand why ancient civilizations went crazy after this stuff.

As she looked at her so-called fiancé, she saw that his glass was already empty. A grimace rested on his face as well.

“Err, Percy?”

“What?” The dark brooding look on his face was no more.

“Shouldn’t you take it easy?” Annabeth carefully asked. His eyes narrowed.

“I am,” he stated and cocked his head towards his cousin who was still busy playing the barkeeper but kept an overall watchful glimpse on the guests that flooded the gates.

“Dionysus saw me drink. Most importantly he saw us have a drink. That should be enough for me, but if you want some more, be my guest.” He shrugged.

Annabeth felt that she should probably drag his mopey ass out of the party, but it was way too early to leave. “Fine,” she said and asked Ariadne for a refill. Annabeth went in for another long sip. She should definitely stock her wine cabinet once she was back at her shitty apartment. Before the glass reached her lips again, Hermes snatched it away and chugged the remaining wine.

“Hermes, what the hell?!” Ariadne grabbed the glass and pushed her husband’s cousin away. The bored postman was back with his shenanigans.

“My bad, dear wifey, but I’m on a mission here to abduct sweet Annabeth,” Hermes winked and placed his hands around Annabeth’s shoulders.

“What are you up to?” Out of all of the relatives she’s met so far, Annabeth was convinced that everything Zeus had ever sired was a mistake. Zeus himself was a mistake.

“Can you stop being German and boring for once?” he joked. Annabeth’s eyes narrowed. She did not like this one bit. She turned her head around and saw that Percy had been pulled into a conversation by Hypnos and Morpheus. He had completely forgotten about her. Great.

Hermes guided her through the crowd, towards the middle of the room. They had to dodge chairs, drunk relatives, a sofa, chatty relatives, the coffee table and dancing relatives before they made it.

“There she is!” greeted Achilles the confused marketing manager.

Paris, Helen, Patroclus, Hermes and Achilles stood in a circle around a table. Dozens of shots of all sorts of colors were displayed. Annabeth had a terrible feeling about this.

“What is this and why are you pulling me into this?” Annabeth asked and did not like the mischievous grin they all shared. She wanted to go back home and cuddle with Daedalus on her sofa and push his cat ass out of the way before the next steamy Outlander scene hit the screen. Yes, Annabeth was that much of a single that seeing some on-screen action was the best she could get. She hoped that the mangy cat didn’t bother Thalia all too much while she was staying in Greece. She owed her so much already.

“Well, I stayed in your country,” Paris started. “And they have a weird tradition with ouzo. They don’t drink it the way we do, watered down and slowly at lunch and what not…”

Annabeth was still American for the most part and had nothing to do with Germany. The last time she stayed there was nearly thirteen years ago. She didn’t want to have anything to do with Germany. Friedrich Chase lived in Germany. And she fucking hated Friedrich Chase. Therefore, she hated Germany. Things that would never change. Okay, Hamburg was a cool city and she was glad her father moved to Cologne. Should she feel the urge to travel back to Germany for a week or less, she’d go to Hamburg, take ten thousand pictures, and post them on Instagram the minute before she was boarding her flight back to New York. Helping her to enrage her stupid father was all Germany had to offer.

“Germans do ouzo shots,” Patroclus cut to the chase. “And since you’re the newest member of our family…”

“And German!” Paris and Hermes added simultaneously.

“We’ve decided to play this little game,” Achilles added.

“What’s the name of the game?” Annabeth asked. She was only slightly curious. Emphasis on slightly.

“Last man standing. Oh sorry, ladies. Last person standing,” Hermes corrected himself as he placed four shots in front of each person. That was way too much hard liquor to handle. But if she did Jägermeister bombs in her sophomore year of college without any issues, this should be fairly easy.

“What are the rules?” They all looked at her in silence. No rules. No prize. Just drink.

“Oh wow.” The urge to roll her eyes and walk off came back with a force.

“I think I’m going to pass,” Annabeth said and already turned to her right.

“Why?” Helen asked innocently. “Need your man to look after you? The one who’s having an amazing time back there with his third glass of wine?”

Foul game. Annabeth’s head shot to the right. Helen was right. Percy was laughing and looked like he was having a great time chatting with Oceanus and his wife Tethys. Tethys refilled his glass as her husband and Percy broke into laughter once again.

If that’s the case…

“Fuck it, I’m in,” Annabeth agreed. She swallowed the bait and she knew it. There was no reason why she should feel upset about Percy opening up all of a sudden. He desperately needed it. Why she wished to be a part of that, Annabeth did not know.

“Great!” Helen threw her brown mane over her shoulders and grabbed the first glass.

“Για μας!” they all yelled and chugged the liquor. Gia mas, the Greek toast, was repeated every time and it seemed to brighten the mood, despite resting heavily on Annabeth’s stomach. Her college days were over, but she was glad she resisted coughing repeatedly.

Patroclus clutched his stomach after the second shot, Helen ran out after the third, Paris and Achilles were laughing maniacally after the fourth and Hermes mysteriously disappeared after the first one. Annabeth was the last person standing. She placed the crystalized shot glass back on the table and examined the messes around her. The only thing that had happened to her, were that more golden locks escaped from her bun and her lipstick needed some reapplying as she left marks on each glass.

Annabeth tried to take a step away from the table and felt how the world slightly shifted around her. The fact that she would curse and hate herself for her behavior in just six hours, was something drunk Annabeth gladly put aside. The headaches that definitely would haunt her for the rest of the trip didn’t matter, she won and that was all she cared about.

“Hell yeah!” she yelled as all inhibition faded away, leaving pure and raw life force behind. Unbeknownst to her, Annabeth had moved right into the circle of dancers.

“Perseus, get your bride before she breaks her legs!” someone laughed. Was it Iapetus? Or was it Hyperion? Who even cared at that point?

The next two hours were a blurred mess. A blackout slowly crept through her mind, leaving foggy memories behind. Annabeth felt how she was dancing with people and how people were laughing. Were they laughing at her or with her? Did it really matter? Why was her hair repeatedly slapping her face, didn’t she tie it up?

She danced with different people, men and women. She really hoped that the guy that looked like a naked Danny DeVito with longer black hair was not Zeus who had lost his shirt and pants. Who was the guy with the sea-green eyes again? Why was he clapping and laughing whenever she was busting a move next to Hermes? Was he important? Why did he remind her of work? The shots might have been a short-sighted idea after one and a half glasses of wine. She probably overestimated the amount of food she had consumed at dinner prior. Wasn’t she supposed to try someone’s moussaka?

“There you are! Ares, stop dancing with her for once. We’re about to leave.”

Ugh. Ares. Not Zeus, but still yucky.

Sea-green eyes. Percy, of course. How could she have forgotten the asshole that brought her into this whole mess? He seemed fairly sober, didn’t he have a glass or three of wine? Annabeth was certain, she’d be able to drink him under the table. His height and his build might put him at an advantage, but if he wasn’t used to drinking, she might have a fair shot.

A rock song was the next song that appeared. Percy wanted to drag Annabeth off the dance floor.

“Oh no!” Aphrodite intervened with a shrill screech. “Give the two lovers some room to show each other affection!”

Hera actually raised her glass for once to show that she actually agreed with one of Aphrodite’s wild ideas. Someone fumbled with the playlist and a Greek slow jam roared through the old speakers.

“Are you guys fucking serious?” Percy muttered under his breath. But roughly eighty pairs of eyes were all but watching the soon-to-be betrothed and waited for a romantic dance which reminded Percy more of the horrors that the eight-grade dance was.

Annabeth drunkenly hiccupped and looked at him in surprise as she felt one of his hands around her waist and the other one taking her hand. They rocked as if it was the final dance at prom. Annabeth barely remembered prom. Oh right. Her mother had forbidden her from going. She never attended prom.

A casual glimpse through the crowd showed her that people were actually filming this nonsense and some women were actually cooing. Did… did they seriously think this back and forth with sweaty clothes on was romantic? Her eyes found Percy’s again.

“So…” he began.

“So…” she repeated.

“Careful!” he warned her before twirling her through the tight circle. People screamed and applauded. A camera flash blitzed through the darkness twice.

“Oof,” Annabeth groaned. Her stomach and equilibrium did not appreciate that sudden movement.

“I’m sorry, I won’t do that again,” Percy swore. The rocking motion made both of them sleepy. Annabeth suppressed a yawn, rested her head on his shoulder. Percy could make the perfect comfy bed, if he wanted to.

Percy, sensing that people were awaiting some action from either of them, placed a finger under her chin and lifted her face up. Annabeth’s eyes widened. Is he going to kiss me in front of them? Again? her panicked brain asked. She was turned into stone, not by Percy’s distant cousin Medusa who had eaten most of the truffles, but by the tenderness of his actions. He was one solid actor.

Percy placed a soft kiss on her forehead, before moving on to a temple. Annabeth blushed and buried her heated face in his chest as he released her. Intimate, soft and sweet. The screaming relatives disrupted their comfortable silence yet again. The slow song came to an end and the next upbeat one invited everyone back to the dance floor. Annabeth released herself from Percy’s tight embrace and just bolted. Damned be nausea. A wave of coldness hit her. She felt something she didn’t like the minute Percy had softly kissed and soberness woke her at a start. What was it? Anger? Disappointment? Longing? She didn’t know and she didn’t want to know.

“Annabeth!” Percy shouted, but the amount of people standing in his way made it more difficult for him to keep up with her. His hand brushed over his own lips.

Annabeth opened and closed doors left and right. The kitchen, the dining room, the smoking room. She hasted through the first floor until she found another lost soul in the fireplace room. Why the villa had a fireplace room in the first place, she did not know. It had been super-hot the entire time but what Annabeth understood as heat and what native Greeks deemed as hot temperatures didn’t have to correlate.

Great-grandmother Gaia’s humming faded away. The eldest of the Theodoropoulos looked up from the pair of socks she was knitting. When she came to find out the intruder was Annabeth, joy spread over her face.

“Come, come!” The broken English that she softly spoke reminded Annabeth of her own grandmother. She hadn’t seen Elsbeth Lilienthal-Chase since she had left Germany. And since her mother didn’t give her a chance to say goodbye, she didn’t have a phone number to reach her with. The only way would be through that asshole Friedrich Chase, and the only time she’d willingly let someone contact that man was if she had been six feet under and he would be forced to show up for one important family event for once.

“I was unable to sleep. Parties aren’t something for me. I’m too old and boring for my children and their children,” Gaia sighed as Annabeth took a seat on the green sofa next to the light blue armchair. All of the cushioning seemed to have been made by Gaia as the socks had the same pattern as the pillow that Annabeth leaned against. Balls of wool surrounded the older woman as if she sat on a field of fresh tulips.

“Drink, drink! You need water. I’m pretty sure you danced a lot.”

Annabeth kindly took the offer, grabbed the carafe and poured herself a little bit of water into a small glass. The water was surprisingly cold and refreshing.

“My children deem me crazy,” Gaia continued. “The war with the ottomans. Deportation. Fleeing and seeing death everywhere. Losing my father in the chaos. Then the big world war after that twenty years later. They don’t want to listen to the same stories. They only want to have fun. So, they sent me away.”

Annabeth felt terrible for the old lady. It looked like she had been through hell and back in her youth. She didn’t look like she needed much, only someone to listen to her.

“I won’t bore you much,” promised Gaia.

Gaia’s tanned leathery hands continued working on the little socks. “Don’t worry about tomorrow, dearie. We have plenty of acetaminophen and other hangover remedies. Tomorrow will be even worse, because Dionysus wants to celebrate his birthday with even more wine,” the old woman laughed, and her green eyes twinkled full of life.

“I also was young once…”

The two sat in comfortable silence, only interrupted by Gaia’s humming or Annabeth refilling her glass of water.

“So,” Gaia began.

“So?” repeated Annabeth.

“You are the woman that tamed my little Perseus,” the older woman grinned.

Oh no.

Annabeth had a lump in her throat and drinking water to solve it, didn’t work. She wasn’t just lying to Zeus and his wife. She was lying to an entire clan, from the youngest to the oldest members. What Percy and she were doing wasn’t right, neither was it fair. Sure, Percy’s shitty uncle didn’t help much by forcing him to marry the next person, but did the rest of the family deserve to be deceived as well? No, they didn’t, and that truth rested heavily on Annabeth’s narrow shoulders.

The fact that Gaia looked so much like her great-grandson was crazy. They possessed the exact same shade of sea-green. It was passed onto Rhea, Percy’s grandmother, and then Poseidon, Percy’s fucked up father. Always full of intelligence and calculation. Shifting easily from delighted and full of life to the crashing anger of a storm. Power and knowledge were key features of Gaia’s eyes.

“How did you meet my sweet Perseus again?” Gaia innocently asked but Annabeth knew that there was some sort of ulterior motive behind her question.

“At work,” she honestly answered, and Gaia smiled. The old lady was able to sense the truth.

“He’s not my direct boss, but we run into each other a lot. And we hated each other from the moment we saw each other.” Annabeth remembered how she accidentally spilled her hot coffee all over his shirt. She had been public enemy number one from then on.

“He’s an excellent boss, as much as I hate to admit it. He knows his ways around and is passionate about the ocean and its inhabitants. Definitely more passionate than me, I’m just there for the money. He actually wants to make a difference. And he’s extremely annoying, might I add.”

Gaia burst into laughter and needed a minute to calm down. Annabeth cracked a toothy grin. “Ah yes, I can see how you fell in love with him.”

Doom. Uneasiness. Discomfort. The lump in Annabeth’s throat grew bigger and bigger. Why was her vision so blurry all of a sudden? She looked down at her dress. Dark dots appeared. More sprinkled across her lap as Annabeth realized she was crying.

“I’m so sorry,” Annabeth sniffled. “I… Percy… I…”

Gaia put her knitting utensils aside and set herself upright in the armchair. “Oh no, what is going on, Annabeth?”

The calming hand on her back did not help the young professional at all. No, Gaia’s honesty and curiosity made it way worse.

“Percy and I… we’re not engaged. We did it because Zeus-” Annabeth tried to confess, but Gaia brushed her off.

“It’s okay, Annabeth. I know,” the old woman smiled.

The tears that smeared her foundation or rather what was left of it ceased to fall. “You what?!”

Shock widened Annabeth’s light gray eyes.

“I knew from the minute you stepped into my house. I’m pretty sure Rhea knows as well.”

Annabeth’s jaw fell open. “B-but how?!” she stuttered and felt like an utter and complete idiot. The first few days had been rough and difficult, but now she thought that Percy and she conveyed the illusion of being a happy couple.

“You were scared of everything including him the minute you arrived,” Gaia warmly smiled. The infectious warm smile of a grandma looking out for her little chicks. Was Annabeth now one of them?

“I knew something was off with that sudden engagement of yours with the way you two behaved. Either you were pregnant, or it was a ruse. Since you are heavily drinking and paper thin, it was clear that there was no pregnancy. You young people truly don’t eat enough anymore,” Gaia shrugged, patted Annabeth’s knee and went back to knitting the sock.

“But now… it all makes sense. You do feel something for each other. Even if you are blind to it for now.” She continued to hum. “I just hope that my dear Perseus will be the young and carefree boy he was all those years ago one day again. And I do believe that you are the key in finding him hidden underneath all those layers and walls he had put up due to his father.”

Annabeth didn’t even close her mouth during the elder’s monologue. Did Gaia seriously connote that she… that Annabeth Chase… might feel something for her soon-to-be boss? Madness. Absolute madness. She took everything she had thought of the friendly old woman in front of her back. Maybe her relatives did have a point, when they decided to brush Gaia off due to her old age.

Annabeth? And feeling something for Percy? If that something was hatred and the utmost rage, absolutely yes. But… anything else? She would receive a hefty sum on her bank account and would put in her two weeks the minute she found a better job in California.

“You know… there is a tale I’d like to tell about men.”

And Annabeth would prefer to place the glass back on the table, throw the heels away, storm out and run to the next airport.

“They are stupid vapid creatures,” Gaia carried on.

Annabeth snorted behind her glass. “That is certainly true,” she agreed and earned an honest grin from Gaia.

“My dear husband Ouranos with whom I had all of my dear children decided one day that one woman was not enough. And that twelve children were not enough.”

Twelve children?! Annabeth's womb just twisted and turned in protest. The shocked expression on Annabeth’s face made Gaia chortle loudly.

“Oh yes, back in my day we were all very fruitful,” Gaia affirmed.

“That sounds horrible,” Annabeth interjected.

“Oh, only the birth part and the eighteen years after it,” the older woman dismissed her which made Annabeth in turn laugh again.

“My father was a farmer and he had one piece of advice: never let someone toy with you. You are not a doll; you are a person with morals and dignity, a person with feelings and dignity. Let no one, especially not a man, treat you like a commodity or something to kick around. Well… when dear Ouranos left me and sought our neighbor with bigger breasts… I taught him that lesson. And I did so with my father’s trusted knife that I hung on the wall afterwards.”

There was no knife displayed on the wall. It was a fucking scythe. Large, frightening, brutal. A golden great long sickle with jagged teeth rested on the wall as if it were ready to cut you up into one thousand pieces. Was there really dried blood stuck on the teeth or was Annabeth’s drunken mind making things up?

“The minute our youngest turned eighteen he took off and was never seen again. And now, should a person, in that case my Perseus, not know how to treat you properly, you know what to do,” Gaia advised and took a sip out of her own glass.

“Uh… you mean threaten to cut his genitals off with a large and sharp family heirloom?” Annabeth’s eyes widened again.

“No, dearie…” Gaia gave it some thought. “Well maybe so, dearie,” she then went on. That made Annabeth chuckle again.

“But demand absolute respect from him. Don’t ask him for it. Demand it. I don’t know how but he has dragged you into our family and expects you to play the perfect fiancé. This will eventually blow up in his face and he will drag you along with him. Teach him a lesson, however.”

“You know what? I will!” With Gaia’s official blessing, Annabeth was all smiles and scheming new plots. If the head of the family gave her the approval of kicking Percy’s ass, she definitely would.

Steps echoed in the fireplace room and Annabeth and Gaia’s heads turned to greet the intruder. They didn’t even realize the door opened and closed again.

Gaia’s younger twin who still had some black streaks in the braids marched into the hall, curious about what the two women in front of her were previously talking about. Gaia’s youngest daughter Rhea had joined them. The large blue floral dress made her seem like she never left the late 1960s and the two long braids only added to that sentiment.

“Mamá, what is going on? By the way Percy is looking for you, Annabeth,” Rhea informed her grandson’s alleged fiancé before taking a seat in front of her and grabbing one of the many balls of yarn in front of her mother. Rhea then went on to play with it as if she was a six-year old.

“Oh no, Rhea, Annabeth and I were just chatting about love and life,” Gaia batted her eyelashes.

“You see, I gave Rhea the same advice about her disgraceful husband when he went out to seek another woman.”

Rhea rolled her eyes behind the large pentagonally glasses. “You and your stories about the scythe, mother,” she sighed.

“I have to make sure the younger generation knows!” Gaia huffed. “I won’t be here for much longer and then-”

“We'll regret all the things we’ve said and done to you, I know mamá, you have been telling me this since I was four years old and spilled my apple juice,” Rhea completed her mother’s sentence.

Rhea’s attention shifted to the smiling blonde in front of her. She grew to like Percy’s fiancé. She had a fire within herself and a backbone, all great things to handle a Theodoropoulos man.

“But my mother is right when she says that the scythe is a trusted tool. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades did scare Kronos with it after he tried some foul things with their sisters. Treated them worse. Did overall horrible things. He never wanted daughters, only sons. Didn’t seem to accept the fact that it was out of my hand.” Rhea squished the ball of light blue yarn in her hand.

“My children were always looking out for me and I will be forever grateful for them. I do hope that you will have the same feelings and love for your children.” It was clear who their father was supposed to be.

“Yes, I hope so as well,” Annabeth squeaked. Did it get hotter in here all of a sudden?

The door opened, and a worried Percy stepped into the fireplace room. “Oh, there you are,” he sighed as he immediately sighted Annabeth’s blonde unruly curls. He had been running from the basement all the way to the roof searching for her. Relief washed over his face like some shower gel from a cheap commercial. Only then did he realize that Annabeth had been cornered by both his nosy grandmother and his even nosier great-grandmother.

“Whatever they’ve been telling you, it’s a lie, it’s wrong and it never happened!” he warned her as he took a seat right next to her.

“Oh please, relax,” Rhea rolled her eyes and threw the wool at her grandson. “We have been talking about mamá’s scythe.”

“Hey!” both Percy and Gaia complained. At least they hadn’t dished out embarrassing stories of him taking off in diapers at night.

“This is expensive! You young people show no respect towards others' belongings,” Gaia cursed.

Annabeth took the blue yarn and placed it back on top of the pyramid of other colors.

“Thank you!” Gaia smiled before she focused on finishing the sock.

“You’ve found your fiancé, Perseus. Now go off back to celebrate and let us old people reminisce about the past and talk.” Rhea lazily waved at them whilst Gaia didn’t even look up from her craft.

“We will,” Percy said while getting up and casually dragging Annabeth along. He kissed both Gaia and Rhea on the cheek, Annabeth threw a hasty “See you in the morning!” over her shoulder before the couple left.

“Are you okay?” Percy asked as he pulled Annabeth aside for a small breather.

She nodded. “It’s just a bit overwhelming with the amount of people that either want to take pictures of us, hope I remember when their youngest kid’s birthday is, or they tell me they hope we have our first baby preferably in less than a year.”

Percy blushed. He didn’t think it was that bad, but then again, men are mostly left out of the baby talk until their mother’s saw that their best friend’s children had their first grandbaby. He truly didn’t have any intention of having a child before the age of forty. He had to save a business from his damned uncle, run and manage said business and preferably find a woman he tolerated enough to marry before he could even think of children.

Percy apologized again. “One week,” he promised her.

“One week,” Annabeth repeated and nodded.

“We’re going in, you’ve missed the high of the party with your talk with my yai yai, but that’s perfectly fine. The first have already left, let’s just mingle for ten minutes or so before we can-”

The door flung open. “There they are!” yelled Hermes who was followed by Zephyrus and Hercules.

None of them had any intention of letting the party stop before five in the morning. It was merely two. The minute Hermes had his sights on Annabeth, he knew that he had found his best drinking buddy aside from Dionysus himself. Oh no, Annabeth thought and rightfully so.

The minutes of calmness and rest next to Gaia did their wonders because Percy and she were thrust back into the party at full force. She didn’t exactly remember when the blackout happened, but it was roughly thirty minutes later. She was drinking, she was dancing, she was completely making a fool out of herself. The hair? A mess. Annabeth herself? Don’t even think about it. She had been dancing with Hermes and Patroclus, Aphrodite accidentally stepped on her foot one time when Ares approached her.

Percy broke his own promise and accepted a fourth glass of wine from Dionysus who insisted on it. That glass was his doom. The last droplet touched his tongue and his world turned into a flashy mist, his consciousness was broken into pieces, fragmented and sprinkled across the floor. Where he was, when he was and who he was were things he couldn’t remember. The only thing that popped up in his mind were waves of solid gold. Was it hair? Could hair truly move like that and possess that texture? And a whiff of lemon with a hint of lavender crawled up his nose. It was an odd combination, but it felt safe and like home. He liked this smell. Where did he smell this before?

Percy didn’t care, he had other matters to attend to. The first thing on the docket was finding the bathroom, he had drunk way too much. The house had weird rules in regard to bathrooms. Was it the left side or the right side that the young men could use? Why did his uncle Hades have to break two sinks in a span of a week when he was sixteen again? Why were women and others allowed to do whatever they wanted? His great-grandma and her weird plans were always set to make him fail somehow. Things that she had thought of decades ago still bore fruit today.

Percy stumbled upstairs and turned right and prayed the doors he was opening were empty bathrooms and not relatives making out. That was just what he needed. The first door he opened was of his great-uncle Oceanus and Tethys who had a face mask on her face and pink curlers up her hair. At least the old people still knew how to behave. He hoped his mother had left the party hours ago. He apologized and closed the door. The next one was an empty bedroom, his even maybe. No, his bedroom was on an entirely different floor. Or was it?

The next bedroom was closed off thank god, but from the sounds on the inside it seemed like cousin Eos and her newest catch Orion had some fun. Disgusting, Percy thought before he moved on. The next door was what he was looking for. A bathroom. Lit up, clean and empty. Empty if it wasn’t for this one woman who was clutching the brims of the polished sink. She was tall, the golden hair equaled a rat nest and her red dress seemed to have witnessed a lot.

“Ugh,” she muttered and looked into the mirror. Her eyes found his immediately.

“Percy?” she turned around.

Oh right. He was Percy Jackson, thirty-one, single, hopefully the new CEO of Atlantic INC., he had a fantastic apartment in the Upper East Side with an amazing view and he was in Greece to impress his family with his fake fiancé in order to secure his father’s legacy. His fake fiancé being Annabeth Chase, a woman he loathed, had to pay a little hush money and hoped would leave the company fairly soon after.

“You’re in the men’s restroom,” Percy then stated.

Annabeth looked around. No, it was not the same bathroom she used in the morning. Oh yeah, Gaia’s weird bathroom rules.

“Honestly who cares?” the junior marketing manager complained. “A toilet’s a toilet, no matter who uses it.”

Percy shrugged. Annabeth had a point but it wasn’t their house so they couldn’t dictate the rules.

“I wanted to retouch my makeup, but I didn’t find my makeup bag.” She walked steadily to Percy, but it was clear to both of them that she had her fair amount of shots in her system.

“Yeah, it’s probably in the other bathroom. Wait, let me use the bathroom for a second and then we can head back to our room and you can look for your makeup.”

Annabeth nodded and waited on the outside while Percy was tending his business. After drying his hands, he opened the door and found Annabeth yawning in front of one of his yai yai’s paintings. It showed the scythe from the fireplace.

“In all honesty, your great-grandmother is an amazing woman. I admire her. Showing kindness and strength each day. How old is she?”

“Turning 106 next October,” Percy smiled at her. “She always said she wanted to live long enough to see her favorite descendants find their own happiness, whatever it may be.”

The softness in his voice made Annabeth’s heart ache. She turned her head back to the painting. She was a nobody. She had no family, no traditions she could upkeep. She didn’t even have a steady relationship in the past five years. Fucking Luke Castellan. He also had to take that from her as well. Make her suffer. That’s what Athena, Friedrich and Luke all thought at the same time. And they all had nearly reached their wicked goal if it hadn’t been for her stubbornness and will to eventually blossom into something else. The first step towards that something else resided within her move to California. She wanted to leave everything and everyone behind and start a new life, somewhere where no one knew her.

A thumb brushed over her cheek. Annabeth looked up to Percy. She hadn’t even realized she was sobbing again.

“Whatever it is, it’s going to be okay,” Percy assured her. His hands found her sides, pulling her into a soft hug.

A true fiancé level hug. Annabeth had never felt that comfortable within a man’s reach. Percy might have been an awful and annoying coworker, but he truly cared about his fellow people. The way they slowly rocked and kept hugging each other reminded her of the school dance work they had put on the floor earlier. But this time it was real. This time there was no one taking pictures or yelling into their ears, or the demand to see a kiss.

Annabeth rested her face in his chest and Percy leaned his head on hers. It was like they had been made for each other. A welcoming scent greeted Percy. Lemon and lavender. The person stuck in Percy’s crumbled mind had been Annabeth. She was his anchor in the havoc his relatives had created in such a short time. He took a deeper breath. It felt reassuring.

“Did you just sniff me?” Annabeth laughed as she pulled away from him.

“You do smell good!” he defended himself with a stupid grin on his mouth.

“Oh, wait you’re super drunk,” she giggled again as she saw his widened pupils that had pushed the darkened sea-green iris away.

“Well, look at you,” he retorted.

They looked at each other. Aside from the bumping music and the noises people made downstairs it had been completely silent. He missed her warmth; she missed his comfort. Neither would have guessed that a simple embrace could offer so much. Neither would have thought they would take it to the next step within a split second.

One last look. A last time sea-green and light-gray met before each set of eyes closed and their lips met with a brutal force in the middle. Their teeth clacked but it didn’t matter to them. What mattered now, was the moment. Forgotten was the alcohol, forgotten were the troubles of past, present and future. Forgotten were the friends and relatives in the building and back in New York.

So... what do you think? 😄 Like I said, this is not the entire chapter 🤷🏾‍♀️ I honestly feel bad for cutting the chapter off because it's really getting more interesting from that point on 💁🏾‍♀️ I'll probably continue working on this once I've published the next act of The Fool 🥳

Also Greek people, if something seems off with this (aside from random English at times lol) hit me up, I definitely have to do more research!

[justonemorechapternicercy]

In my defense- it's not my fault! It's the numerous incorrect quotes' fault! I can't be blamed for writing it! 😔

Percy was distracted. Well, that wasn't new, as he was distracted most of the time when he was in school, as his ADHD made it difficult to concentrate and his dyslexia made it extra hard to even keep up with the mandatory readings.

But that time, he was even more distracted than he was in any other lesson. No matter what he tried, he couldn't focus on anything else other than him.

His soothing voice, his soft, mortal body, his handsome face, his salt and pepper hair, his enthusiastic gestures…

He was hot for his English teacher.

While he met with literal Greek gods and powerful demigods, something about the extraordinary ordinary looks of his teacher made him hot all over.

For Percy, he was perfect.

While Mr. Blofis was not the most popular teacher in terms of good looks, for Percy, there was no competition. He was flirted by the sun god, Apollo, he regularly saw the messenger god, Hermes, he sparred with half naked, sculptured bodied demigods-

And all he wanted was a middle aged mortal man, who had a thing with his mother.

He sighed in frustration, both because of his thoughts, and because he could feel himself getting harder and harder the longer he stared dreamily at his teacher.

To his frustration, nothing could change his predicament. He was getting a boner in the middle of his English class, which was not fun, to say the least. So, when Mr. Blofis asked them to start reading the next chapter of their current reading material, he snapped.

"Isn't it your job to teach this stuff? Why are we reading this in class, why don't you teach something more useful?" he snarked. The whole class boo-ed, gleefully waiting for the teacher's response. While he was a pretty bad student, he never started the conflicts. He answered them, of course, he sassed with everybody, even with the teachers, but he never started one, so this was an interesting moment for everybody.

Even for him, as he didn't even think that he was going to say something.

"Mr. Jackson, you stay here after school," was the teacher's simple answer. He didn't even look annoyed or angry at him, just… disappointed.

Fuck.

Percy huffed in frustration, but gathering the last of his survival instinct - which was called Annabeth Will Maim Me If I Keep Doing This -, he just nodded, and stayed quiet.

After his classes, he walked towards the English classroom, ready to waste even more time in the school he hated. His mind was a mess, his body was full of repressed energy. He just wanted to end his day.

He knocked on the door, and when he heard a confident "come in," he stepped into the room, eyes locking with his teacher, who sat on his table, relaxed.

At the sight, Percy's mouth watered.

"Mr. Jackson, please, close the door," the teacher waved. Percy did so, but hesitantly shuffled his feet in front of it, wondering whether he should just run, or try to survive the next hour. "Now," Mr. Blofis smiled, and he motioned Percy closer, "we should talk about your behavior."

Percy gulped.

"And what if we just… didn't?" He asked with a weak grin, already knowing the answer.

"Mr. Jackson… Percy," the teacher sighed in disappointment. "You are a good kid. You would be capable of so much more! I know that you don't like to cause problems, that the problems find you, so what happened today?" Mr. Blofis' caring, soft voice, compassionate speech left him breathless. Percy was unused to this. Gods and demigods expected him to do extraordinary things, but nobody told him that they believed in him. They just told him to do it, or else.

"I…" he started, throat dry.

"Come on," the older man patted the desk next to him, showing the green-eyed demigod that he should sit there. Hesitantly, he did, secretly enjoying the warmth of the body next to him. "What happened today?" Mr. Blofis asked again.

"I… I wanted… I was frustrated," Percy stammered, trying to find the right words.

"You were frustrated by…?" The man sitting next to him prompted.

"By you," the young man blurred out.

The teacher blinked.

And blinked.

And blinked, while Percy was silently freaking out.

A strange kind of tense silence fell over the room. The demigod was avoiding eye contact, hoping that his teacher would misunderstand what he said, and would not take his words the way he meant them, but. Paul knew Percy didn't hate him - so the only logical conclusion was that he liked him.

"So you caused a scene in the classroom because you were distracted by me?" The man sounded amused. Percy glanced towards him from the corner of his eyes, but when he saw the strangely flustered sight of his teacher, he snapped his head towards him. He didn't look disgusted, or angry-

He looked flattered.

Maybe even hot and bothered.

Percy grinned, his confidence returning. "I can't stop thinking about you in class," he confessed his tamer thoughts, waiting for a reaction. He got what he wanted.

Mr. Blofis' lips parted to wet his dry mouth, his pupils widened. Jackpot.

"When you stand in front of us, so confident and hot, I can't take my eyes off of you. I want you all over me. Touching me, kissing me… fucking me," Percy whispered into his teacher's ear. He waited, and he wasn't let down: as he breathed out the last few vowels, a big hand grabbed his tight, so deliciously close to his crotch. "I want you to kiss me, Mr. Blofis'."

The young man didn't have to wait for too long; he was immediately silenced by foreign lips pressing against his. Even he was surprised by the needy whimper he gave out as his deepest desires came true. His surprisingly strong teacher pulled him from his place, closer to the older man, and he immediately melted against him.

He felt as big hands traveled down on his body, exploring everything through his clothes, and finally finding their place on his round ass, grabbing him, pulling him closer.

"You are going to kill me," Mr. Blofis' whispered into his mouth.

"Yes, I am," Percy answered in a confident grin, and instead of getting his fill with passionate kisses, he smirked, and went down on his knees.

The older man's eyes widened, reflexively snapping his head towards the door in fear of somebody seeing them in this compromising position, but didn't resist. In fact, he spread his legs wider, letting his student fit better between them. Percy bit into his bottom lip, as he unbuckled the belt and freed the mouthwateringly hard cock from his pants.

"Such a good boy," the teacher purred, as Percy wrapped his lips around his head. The older man's groans encouraged Percy, who vigorously bobbed his head up and down on the erect cock. The thick pre-cum filled his mouth, and he couldn't hold back his moan at the taste. He wanted to taste the real deal, so bad!

Before he knew it, his head was held down, his teacher's cock deep in his mouth, cum spurting down on his throat. He couldn't breathe, his mind was foggy, and black spots danced in front of his eyes, but it was so worth it. Absolutely worth it.

Letting the flaccid cock out of his mouth, he slumped against the man's legs, gasping for air. The closeness of the other man relaxed him, even if he didn't cum, he felt floaty, happy, a feeling that wasn't familiar to him, not even after masturbating.

It was something else entirely - and he wanted more of it.

"You were so good for me, Percy. So good for your teacher," the man whispered as he gently stroked the boy's fluffy black hair. Percy smiled contently against his legs, and said,

"We should do this again. Soon."