#i was going to have this end with Nico going home and Jason is actually still alive and the grave is just there as a reminder

[jankwritten]

JASICO WEEK DAY 3: Angst/Comfort

CW: major character death, grief

Nico runs his brush over the lettering on the face of the headstone, delicate despite the dirt worked into the cracks. He should be harder with it, he knows -  it’s not like he’ll be able to break it. The headstone is too new for that, not worn down with age like the others in the cemetery. The dirt around the grave is so fresh, weeds haven’t even begun to grow over it, not that Nico would let them. He’s gotten good at weeding. Pruning flowers. Anything, to take care of this spot. 

Jason Grace, the headstone reads. Beneath that, his rank, and years of service. The date he died. 

Nico brushes his thumb over the curves which mark Jason as seventeen on his day of death. One of the eldest in the graveyard. 

Back when he first heard, when Nico first felt the impact of Jason’s death like a saw blade through his gut, Nico couldn’t come visit the grave at all. Every reminder of Jason being gone was too much, the weight of loss sitting in him in a way Nico hadn’t felt since he was ten years old. He didn’t know what to do with himself, with his grief, except to cry, and cry, and cry. 

He’s glad to be past that stage. His heart still aches, every day is still hard, but Nico can breathe through it, now. He can clean the gravestone, and talk to Jason even if Jason doesn’t talk back. He can make sure this site is as respected as the man it honors. 

Nico adjusts the flowers Hazel brought last night, a bouquet of blue and purple and white. Jason would think they’re pretty. The smell would make him sneeze. 

His favorite color was yellow, though. Nobody ever brings Jason yellow flowers. Always blue, like his eyes, like the sky, like his father. 

Daffodils. Nico will have to bring him some daffodils tomorrow. And irises, and carnations. Maybe Persephone will help him put together a bouquet. She always had a soft spot for Jason, not that she’d ever admit to liking one of Nico’s friends. Whenever Nico would talk about Jason with her, she would listen with this look on her face, like Nico was saying the most interesting things. It felt good to know someone appreciated Jason in the same way Nico did. 

Maybe not the same way. But as close as someone else could get. 

“It’s been a good day today,” Nico says. He runs the brush over the crown of the stone again, gentle as before. “Things have been slow. Father hasn’t given me as many jobs this week, and there’s finally been a lull in attacks near the borders. Hazel and Frank are introducing a new bill to the senate tomorrow, which…well, I’ll tell you how it goes, then. I don’t want to jinx it for them.” 

A breeze blows through the valley. Nico leans back, tilts his chin up into it. 

He closes his eyes. He can almost imagine the wind in his hair is Jason’s hand, ruffling in a way nobody else has ever been brave enough. Easily affectionate, despite all the ways Nico threatened him, kept him at a distance. Jason was just like that, always eager to be there, to hold, to comfort. 

Gods, Nico wishes he could’ve accepted one more hug. Had one more conversation. 

It’s starting to rain. The temperature drops and the sky darkens and Nico can smell it, the dampness in the air. The first drops splatter across his cheeks and his nose, his lips. He doesn’t flinch. He’s used to sitting out in storms, now. 

“I love you,” he tells the sky. 

In return, the rain pelts harder, quickly turning from a drizzle to an outright downpour, soaking Nico’s hair to the root in seconds. His clothes stick to his skin. 

He still doesn’t move. 

“Don’t cry with me.” It’s silly, to act like the rain is Jason’s doing. Still. It helps Nico cope. Sometimes, if he imagines hard enough, he can still see memories of Jason’s grin, that scar on his lip, the tilt of his nose while the skies opened up around them, a display of power, a force of nature.

Nico never saw Jason cry. He supposes Jason never saw him cry, either. Just another thing they’ll never get to share. Another thing they missed. “You’re going to drown your flowers, at this rate.” 

The deluge does not die down. 

It’s enough to almost make him laugh, the sudden mental image of Jason scowling down at the flowers he doesn’t really like at all, the ones that make him sneeze and itch. Jason Grace, mighty son of Jupiter, champion of Hera, using all of his power to destroy a few flowers that have wronged him. 

Nico didn’t get to know that side of Jason very long, the side of him that was a young boy, the side of him who was a person. But gods, of everything they did get together, that is what he’s happiest to have had. The truth. Not the son of Jupiter, not the champion, not the praetor. Just the boy. 

Nico smiles, even as he cries, leaning back in a graveyard during a near-biblical rain storm. Nico smiles. 

Every day, it gets a little easier to. Every day, he hopes Jason is smiling back, from wherever he is. 

[dollycxre]

req: Hi I really liked your fic with Athena and I would like the same fic with Hades if you don't mind. Thanks in advance!

yandere PJO! Hades x demigod! darling 💀🐺👑 - general hcs

I would like to start off by establishing that I truly and firmly believe that Hades would NEVER hurt you or torture you like some of the other gods and goddesses *agressive coughing* Athena, Ares and Hera *more aggresive coughing*

Well and truly he is too in love with you to even THINK about that

I mean have you seen how he reacted to Persephone hating him at the start of their relationship???

Anyways, I believe that the way you would meet is if you were a mother figure to Nico

Nico was immediately drawn to you, an older camper who had stayed back to help Chiron as a counsellor

You weren't afraid of him like most other councellors, rather, like Percy and Annabeth, you saw him as more of what he was; a child who just needed love and affection, a neglected and abandoned child who had to grow up too soon

He's rightfully suspicious and offstanding to you at first but if you act the correct way around him, he definitely takes to you

He starts opening up to you about different things, how he felt about his sister's death, how he felt about Jason's death and how he was struggling to see the point in anything

Comforting him at any time late in the night because he's anxious and depressed and being the one to introduce him to Will also helps :)

I think after he starts dating Will is when he takes you to introduce you to his dad because he finally feels like he has a mother

And that is when you, unfortunately, catch the attention of the Lord of the Dead himself

It's very very hard to gain Nico's trust, considering what he's been through, Hades knew you must have a heart of gold or atleast cared about Nico to have one around him

He finds you intriguing, the way you stand tall to him and only give him a stiff bow, how you roam about and talk to his ghoul servants with ease and of course, how well you're able to take care of and calm down Nico

So his inner stalker starts acting up and he starts sending his servants to spy on you, following you around in the darkness, watching you in the shadows, showing up in your dreams, resulting in them melting into nightmares

Waking up trembling and sweating because of the horrifying creatures and distant memories tormenting you :(

Hades hates tormenting (traumatizing) you but he can't really help it since he needs to know your routine to kidnap you

Actually, I don't know why I censored that, he does kidnap you

He basically sets his furies on your ass which sucks for you but he had no choice

Like imagine just having a quiet, comfortable time in your cabin, all alone with just a nice book and your favourite drink

And then screeching she-demons descend on you and literally drag you all the way to the underworld

Of course, you were having absolutely NONE of that, kicking and screaming

But he gets you eventually

As soon as they deposited you in your bedroom, the man himself comes to see you

Hades confesses to you immediately and tells you he loves you

You immediately remember the story of Persephone and shove him away in horror

From then on, it's just a never ending cycle of him trying to win you over with his wealth and confessions of undying love

Visiting your bedroom everyday with flowers from Persephone's garden

They're beautiful of course but that doesn't mean you'll forgive him

Chucking things from your incredibly expensive bedroom at him while he just stands there and stares at you sadly before leaving

Yelling at him and begging for him to take you back home but he just shakes his head no and apologizes to you over and over

This could go either of two ways, depending on the kind of person you are

1. You keep fighting against him until you finally give in, accepting your situation and deciding to make the most of it

2. You accept his love, thinking that it's better to have undying love than mortal love

He'll be delighted when you finally storm out of your room and go to his throne room, calmly informing him that you accept his proposal

He ADORES you

He's very clingy and he wants you in the throne room with him at all times

He's the kind of person to stare at you for hours and get completely distracted from his job

Like most of the times, you're gonna have to be the one to interview the souls who come to meet him because he's too busy gazing at you

He loves being romantic and will wake you up every day with flowers

He isn't very touchy-feely, he's more of a gift giver kind of person

I mean, he's the god of wealth for god's sake

He will literally get you ANYTHING you want

Even if it's sold out EVERYWHERE, he will personally commission Hephaestus to make it for you

Literally dream of anything, anything that you could possibly want and boom, the next morning, you wake up with it on your bedside table

All he wants in return is a little kiss every day and you telling him you love him

He's one of the gods who will let you roam the above world

He knows that he treats you so well, you'll come back to him anyways

He loves taking you on romantic dates to literally any place you want

Renting out the Eiffel tower just for the two of you is quite the common occurrence, it's his favourite place for a date <3

Complete gentleman, notices everything about you and will literally just chuck money at people, gods, ghosts and monsters alike to make whatever you want happen

Even the slightest show of affection from you is enough to make this poor god pass OUT

Like imagine picking a pretty flower from the above world for him and presenting it to him in the throne room??

He almost fainted of happiness and immediately ordered it to be planted in the royal garden so he could go and gaze at it for eternity

He's in the seventh heaven when you tell him you love him

For everyone wondering what's going on on the Persephone aspect of things, I think she'd be pretty damn pissed at first

Not only because he kidnapped ANOTHER girl

But also because that's her husband??

But unlike Minthe, he actually defends you and refuses to let her hurt you or turn you into a plant and crush you

Eventually, depending on your behaviour and attitude towards her, Persephone will either hate you but not do anything about it, learn to tolerate you OR she'll love you <3

Maybe a little too much....

I mean, you caught her husband's eye....so surely there's something about you that intrigues her too....

But that's a good thing!.....right?

Good luck to you if she ends up turning yandere for you because she is definitely not as soft-hearted and non-violent as Hades

Either way, living in the underworld turns out not to be so bad, especially when you can wander around in your choice of clothes all day, throw money around on things you want, living in a gigantic palace decorated to your design and basically do whatever you like in return for loving an actually really sweet god

Y'know, even if it IS completely filled with spirits and zombies

But that's just minor details in exchange for literally anything in the world....right?

Also, Cerberus ADORES you

Even if you have dog allergies, since he isn't technically a real dog, his 'fur' doesn't affect you

Will follow you around everywhere, begging for pets with all 6 of those cute puppy eyes

Also loves playing fetch :3

Once Nico found out that his father kidnapped you, his reaction was something along the lines of silent, shocked staring

"Nico...I can expla-"

"What. The. Fu-"

He gets used to it pretty fast, he's used to his father's weird, obsessive antics by now

And besides, it just means he gets to spend more time with you <3

I have this irrelevant hc that he likes dragging you with him to his father's throne room and giving him a forceful makeover, just to embarrass him

Hades puts up with it, mostly because he's a softie

In terms of punishments and such, the only time he'd really get pissed is if you tried cheating on him

Like he is so whipped for you that he is willing to let anything slide...except for disloyalty

Even then, the most he'll do is isolate you

He really can't keep himself away from you either

Mostly, he'll just send his minions to guard you a lot more

Which is just more inconvenient and annoying than anything mentally damaging

Overall, he's one of the tamest yanderes in terms of Greek gods

He really doesn't want to hurt you, he just wants you to stay with him forever

He's just clingy :)

[clownzaf]

I know that people love to headcanon Tim as a child of Athena, I personally like to headcanon him as child of Hades due to his similarities with Nico and the fact that dead seems to follow that kid like a motherfucker but never actually reach HIM.

But hear me out.

Tim as a child of Dionysus. And he gets claimed during the Bruce-quest.

When he was in Gotham monsters were a usual thing. You never knew that they were there for your godly blood, you just thought that they were things created by pollution or something like that. And when he became Robin fighting things that wanted to kill you while saying weird things was more usual than a hug (not that that was a hug standard for Tim).

But then everyone started dying. His parents, Kon, Bart, Steph, BRUCE. Everyone. Every. One.

And Tim…Tim couldn’t seem to reach madness. I mean YEAH he wasn’t doing great by any standard, but he knew madness, he grew up in madness, and he wasn’t going mad.

The cloning was just a treat.

And during the Bruce-quest, everyone thought he was crazy, he was casted away because everyone thought he was crazy CRAZY Tim can’t he crazy! He knows that! He knows that in his blood that going crazy isn’t a chance for him. He made everyone crazy when they were around him (hence Jason. He knew that Jason was mad at him from the start, but going near Tim lighted a flame inside him that Tim is sure isn’t completely Jason’s) but Tim couldn’t go crazy. He could ACT crazy. But never too serious.

And then, in the depths of Greece, he met his dad. His real dad.

He always knew that Jake wasn’t his dad. The blonde hair his mother forced him to dye since he was 5 and the purple eyes his father forced him to hide with contacts told him that. But Tim grew up looking up at Jack, even if Jack didn’t love him, he was the dad that decided to (figuratively) stay. And Tim loved him till death.

But when that man appeared, Tim knew, with only a moment of stares, that that man was his father. They talked a bit, too. The man knew about everything Tim was doing, and that creeped Tim out, but when the man made appear a glass of wine for Tim (and one side for himself) and Tim drank it, he knew what he was.

Something on the flavor, on the feeling. It was Tim. It was home. Something he hadn’t feel in a long time.

He spent the rest of the quest feeling sure that he would make it, because somewhere on the heavens his dad was looking out for him, he promised he was. And this time it wasn’t a figuratively sentimental bullshit. His dad was really helping on the heavens. And Tim was gonna make it.

He saw him again when the quest ended. He appeared in all of his godly glory while Tim was living in the nest. He opened a can of soda and sat on his couch like he wasn’t a man Tim has only met twice, but that was ok, because that was his dad, and he was choosing to visit him. (Also, he wasn’t going to say no to a literal GOD) .

He yapped for two hours about the kids at the camp his dad forced him to work at ( “HE IS SUCH AN A-HOLE SOMETIMES TIM YOU DONT UNDERSTAND-“) and the more he talked about that camp, the more invested Tim got. At the end of it the man, his dad, just looked at him in the eye and said “y’know if you were there we could do this more often. Yer a better listener than that centaur. Also, I think your brothers would like having you there”

He leaves immediately for camp after that. The family thinks Tim decided to leave them for not believing in him, so it’s a shock when he comes back after the summer being great with a sword and with a Tan his skin haven’t known before, not even after fighting crime during the hottest days on San Francisco, and he was happy, like actually happy. A kind of happy he never was with them.

Tim made friends there. He was friends with Annabeth, a girl from the Athena cabin, who honestly thought that Tim was one of them after they had a talk about strategies on the field and all that, and was about to fist fight Dionysus for claiming one of her brothers. She still called him brother, but now she understood that Tim was a Dionysus kid. And her boyfriend Percy. They talked all night about the weight of being a leader and having your people die without you being able to do anything. Percy talked about a boy named Ethan and two girls named Zoe and Bianca. Tim talked about Steph, Kon and Bart.

Tim told him about the Bruce-quest, and Percy told him about the time he was ready to fist fight a good to get his mother back from the underworld.

He also fully loved his brother. Pollux was great and made him feel welcomed to camp. They talked during lunch and Pollux showed him every single thing that made camp especial. He also teached him how to make fun of their dad without turning into a dolphin, so yeah. They got along like a house on fire.

He also made friends with a girl from the Aphrodite cabin. Her name is Drew. She was kind of an asshole and tried flirting with him, and THEY DID GET TOGETHER FOR A BIT, but after some time they decided they were better as friends. And friends they were. Best friend even.

He never told the Batfam any of this.

So after some months in Gotham there’s a cult going around calling themselves “Children of Dionysus” and doing atrocious things.

Duke walked in on Tim trashing the training room of the cave, and later on Jason walked in on Tim having his fourth bottle of wine.

Tim was FURIOUS. Not only that was disrespectful to his dad, but to his brother and himself too. He was going to pick every part of that little cult and trash it.

There he meets Bernard. Then they get on a relationship.

When a sathyr comes to take Bernard to camp Tim goes with him, excited to have his dad meeting his boyfriend.

Dionysus has never been more uncomfortable than when he had to claim his son’s boyfriend in front of him. It wasn’t that hard before! But now they had those things against incest on the human world and he knew this wouldn’t be pleasant to any of his sons.

[ilikepjo24]

Octavian is not the villain all of you make him out to be.

He's annoying. He slices open teddy bears to supposedly see the future. He's a rich boy (although we never actually see him brag about that). Out of context, he sounds like a demonic toddler. He's a blackmailer. He's a fucking asshole. But that's all.

Not trusting Percy? Perfectly normal. If all your life you were told that there's this group of people that you've been in war with ever since before the Roman Empire was a thing, that this group of people hates you with a burning passion and wants nothing more than to see your doom, that you've hurt and humiliated them and they've hurt you and humiliated you back, that they inferior to you in every way, and then a person from that group showed up at your doorstep, chased by monsters and started making friends with a suspicious looking guy that turned out being a spy and an undead person, would you trust them?

Personally, I wouldn't. Remember, the audience knows and loves Percy, but to a stranger Percy is a random, aggressive, powerful dude that causes chaos everywhere he goes and is the main suspect in multiple cases of terrorism. To Octavian, a person he knew and had worked with and might have enjoyed the presence of suddenly went missing, and then this troublesome, forbidden kid shows up and hangs out with a spy and a zombie. What reason could he possibly have to like Percy? How is he a villain for not trusting Percy? He's just being a freaking sane person dude.

Not go mention that Percy was also a forbidden child, one that typically everyone is wary of. And what does the greek forbidden child that causes chaos and develops friendships with spies and zombies do? He goes in one quest and is immediately granted the position that Octavian has wanted and has been working for for years, which happens to be the same position that Octavian's... Friend (?) had before he literally went missing. Doesn't it sound a bit suspicious when your powerful friend disappears, and a powerful potential enemy with questionable company shows up and steals your friend's job?

What luck, am I right? For a powerful enemy to show up as soon as there's a position of power open that needs to be filled by somebody who has power? Who's to say that Nico, who was later on proven to be a spy, wasn't send there by Percy? Who's to say Percy wasn't the one to kidnap and maybe even kill Jason, so that the position of the praetor would be open for him to take, and then allow Greeks into the camp so that they can destroy it and win this endless, centuries old war between Romans and Greeks?

And isn't that exactly what Percy ended up doing? He was granted praetorship, allowed Greeks into that camp on a heavily weaponed, flying warship, and they ended up blowing up part of the camp!

And what excuse do they give him for that? "This dude you don't know and don't trust and has built this warship got possessed by a ghost who we claim is rising but have no real, solid proof to support this claim. But she is rising and she did posses Leo, he didn't want to do it, he's a good guy that just happened to walk into your property with a huge weapon and blew up your house by accident. Despite all you've ever been taught about Greeks and despite that all the history books have told you about how much they hate you, and despite the extremely suspicious circumstances surrounding the situation, and despite blowing up your home, Greeks actually love you and want to work with you. Trust me bro." And this was coming from the dude that was friends with a literal spy that lied and kept secrets from everyone.

You know guys, you're right, I'm starting to see why all of you hate Octavian so much. He's being so unreasonable and overreacting over such small things. 😐 /sarcasm.

And then you were all upset that he gathered an army to go to war against the people that threw bombs in his house to defend himself.

Octavian was a dick, that's out of the question. He manipulated and blackmailed people. But the only thing he did that crossed the line of "dick" and entered "villain" territory was being the primary suspect for Gwen's murder. And she didn't even stay dead, so even that is not that bad.

This proven.

And for scientific reasons, I want to see if I actually convinced anyone.

[xixovart]

assigning my favorite pjo characters songs based on vibes :))

ignore the lyrics in these. it’s vibes. all vibes. rythm, melody, motifs, instruments

this somehow (unsurprisingly, because it’s me) ended up becoming a psychoanalysis of certain characters but the motif is essentially the same so enjoy!!

NICO DI ANGELO

my all time fav. love him so much.

there’s somehing so gentle but real about the melody in this. the way it feels like early winter at dusk. the way it feels like gentle solo dancing in the kitchen to a melody stuck in your head. the way it feels like braiding a loved one’s hair and talking.

WILL SOLACE

my beloved underrated child

now this one feels like a summer in the suburbs. like puzzles and cheap juice from the market. like the sun blazing on your skin and you’re laughinh and running. like playing that game on the road with chalk. it feels like nostalgia, like longing for an infantile giddiness that is long gone.

ANNABETH CHASE

the woman you are 💗💗💗💥💥😍😍

there are probably better options, but this one can be interpreted as either calm and nostalgic or melancholy and painful. “everything reminds me of you” but do the memories hurt or heal?

HAZEL LEVESQUE

please show this woman some love. she really deserves it

i have no idea why. maybe it’s the way it’s so upbeat? not saying that hazel is a “sunshine character” as the fandom usually puts it, cause she isn’t, it just reminds me of how much she overcame and how much happier she is now than before. she got her happy ending despite literally every single odd. ugh i love her so much.

JASON GRACE

stupid little amnesiac. gotta love him.

again, i dont know why??? maybe it’s the instruments. it’s probabl6 the instruments. but jason is just such a beautiful and kindhearted soul and i think this song embodies that. this song reminds me of every time jason told leo he was important. every time he somehow made reyna laugh before everything happened. makes me think of how he was the first person to unconditionally support nico and the first to make him feel like he’s not the person he’s made out to be. makes me think of how he and leo were the first to actually see and recognize piper. how he made temples for every minor god(dess) he could think of because he understood what it’s like to be forgotten. im not sorry that this turned into a jason grace appreciation post btw.

KAYLA KNOWLES

pls talk about her more plsplsplsplspls

you know im right. you know im right. i dont think i even have to elaborate. this song was written for her. the beat? the instruments??all her

REYNA RAMIREZ-ARELLANO

she. 😍

the feeling of letting something—maybe a person, an era, maybe your whole life in her case it’s all—pass you by because you took it for granted. a melancholy and quiet regret and longing something that is burned and can never be rebuilt, no matter how much you try. it won’t feel the same.

ALEX FIERRO

el mapache humanizado

i have no idea why i said that in spanish but alex is latino so it stays

it’s so? alex?? pls tell me i make sense. becuase like some parts of the song are like just pure teenage dirtbag shenanigans and the prime of your life, but others feel like screaming underwater and pleading for help. ykwim?

anyways yes i never shut up and i love all these songs and i really should go to sleep now because it’s 12:15 but i’m gonna continue reading the odyssey because time is an illusion. see ya losers. love ya.

[r3pairb0y]

☆ EVERYBODY LOVES ME !

☆ LEO VALDEZ at your service !!

- hiya ! my name's leo valdez ! son of hephaestus and go to camp half-blood !

i use he/him and am bi (“superman” was my gay awakening 🫦😋) i was the main builder for the argos 2 ! (if u heard abt my attack on new rome, I SWEAR IT WAS THE SPIRITS TALKING)

my mom sadly passed in a fire and i’ve gone through a lot of foster homes since. my best friend (and basically sister) piper and i met at wilderness school ! i also met my bf there 😋

also i killed my tia (who was actually the earth?)

also i died once but its okay yall 🤪

some people i know:

@your-local-glowstick - will ! son of apollo, the camp medic and nico’s bf . i end up having to visit him every week 🤭 (sorry will, i guess accidents are also attracted to mcshizzle)

@lightning-boi-superman - jason ! son of jupiter and one of my best friends ! (aka my boyfriend 🤭😋) he has zappy powers and i had to bring him back from the dead 😔

@glammerqueen - PIPES ! MY BFF SISTER FROM ANOTHER MISTER OML !! ILY SM (like a sister) AND I HOPE THE BEST FOR U POOKS :3 (we r both gay together) 😋😋 daughter of aphrodite (obv 😋)

@annie-beth - annabeth! smartest girl ik ! (sorry pipes) dating water boy (he doesnt like when i call him that 😔) and daughter of athena !! kinda like a girl ver of jason… anyways. very coolio :3

@victory-of-the-angels - nico ! son of hades and bf of will !! dudes a little scary, but hella cool. like, he went to tartarus TWICE !! fweaky !! and he can summon skeletons, which is pwetty sigma 😋😋 !

@s0n-of-the-sea - PERCY !! son of poseidon , water boy , and bbg of annabeth :3 he is pwetty kewl… *remembers how he yelled at me after the new rome firing*… eh hes still ok. hes js silly. 🤭

@undxrwxxd - grover ? sorry man, don’t know much abt u . all ik is ur percy’s best man. oh, also that you’re MUCH calmer than coach hedge, that’s for sure.

@the-daughter-of-bellona reyna ! roman and daughter of bellona ! she’s a little scary, and sorta like annabeth, but overall cool. thankfully she didnt kill me or smth 🤭

ooc : hiya ! my main blog is @thatonestarkid/@erosjournal ! thats where i'm mostly online but u can dm me here too !! pls dm if u wanna join the group :D

credits to @strangergraphics for dividers

[freddie-77-ao3]

Gonna use the ask box for this 🙃 ask 1/? (I have so many questions, though you have answered so many already)

What are your thoughts on Trials of Apollo, and the characters?

go ahead and keep asking!!! i love your questions!!

ANYWAY

gonna start smaller with characters:

lavinia: the jewish thing wasn't handled completely correctly (just a couple of small things there) but overall 10/10 character. i think she's hilarious and her official artwork ROCKS.

meg: i love her. she seems a little immature for twelve years old TO ME but i also had a... rather abnormal upbringing so that might explain the differences. overall she was a great character and i LOVE the demeter rep (my thoughts on how riordan treated demeter take five pages to clarify so-- basically) love seeing it-- demeter was a kronide and her kids should be treated as such! great character development. peaches was also hilarious (as was crotch-kicker mccaffrey)

lester: calling him lester to separate between godly apollo and post toa apollo. again, fantastic character development. he's so fucking funny. like he does some really dumb stuff at the start of the series (swearing to not use a musical instrument and stuff?? LESTER MAN CMON) his and meg's relationship is so sweet-- and kayla and austin with him? chefs kiss. love apollo kids getting some time with their dad.

jason: absolutely got fridged. i've already touched on my suicide theory so i won't go into that here but basically i think we shoulda seen jason similar to percy (very minor, doing his own thing behind the scenes) but alas.

piper: the shel thing was a bit sudden. don't get me wrong, i'm ALL for queer rep (i think there should be more of it in the books actually) but-- going straight from breaking up with jason to jason sacrificing himself for her to a relationship seems really unhealthy. i think she should have a chance to grow outside of a relationship.

reyna: joining the hunt was a bad end for her. since when was that an ambition of hers? she seemed genuinely happy in new rome and called it her home multiple times in HoO and going from that to the hunt? idk seems like rick doesn't know how to write characters NOT be in a relationship (piper, reyna, leo... they all get squared away)

leo: oh leo baby he didn't get to see jason before he died??? so heartbreaking. didn't belong in a relationship with calypso. the punching thing was weird when he came back to camp-- esp with a character who has a history of physical abuse

frank: i love the frank deciding his own fate thing but also idk seems like a cop out.

hazel: shouldn't have just become praetor i mean cmon. i love her but she's what, 14 now? no way.

Nico: FINALLY ONE OF THE CHARACTERS CANONICALLY GETS THERAPY. the doctors note is--

will: solangelo flirting is hilarious 10/10. "do you want to be my buddy?" "significant annoyance" i can't breathe. also poor will for putting up with apollo in the hidden oracle because i could not help my dad learn how to use the toilet i'm sorry but that shit is crazy.

malcolm: why is malcolm going to battle without pants on so funny to me i just-- 10/10 i love him.

connor: such a dumbass. the hair grafts 😭. i feel bad that travis isn't there and then communication lines go down like oh buddy :(

cecil: see me RUNNING with the knowledge cecil can cook

other small stuff:

love the waystation, always been my personal hc that there's more than just that one but that's for another post.

percabeth finally making it to college!!!

speaking of which AT WHAT TIME DID TRAVIS AND CLARISSE FILL OUT COLLEGE APPS THEY WERE AT WAR???? WHAT DO THEIR OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPTS LOOK LIKE???

the jackson-blofis family warms my heart <3

thoughts on the series as a whole?

i love it. definitely top three riordan series (tied with pjo and mcga)

i like that (like mcga) toa was more mature? like we finally see demigods with ptsd, we get queer characters, just... everything

[maccreadysbaby]

A Hundred Ways to Become a Wayne

batfamily + oc insert

tw: mentions of death/su**ide

wanna read more? here’s the table of contents!

want to read the first fic in the hundred days series so you understand what’s going on here? here it is!

this took forever but i’m getting back in the groove! I got a little ahead of myself so I had to restart my whole timeline so it made sense. also yes asten is really determined to do this, you’ll learn why later

part sixteen

❝ WITHOUT A TRACE ❞

SATURDAY — AUGUST 8 — 10:04PM

SURPRISINGLY TO NO ONE, SLEEP WAS AVOIDED LIKE THE BLACK PLAGUE THAT NIGHT. Bentley, Nico, and Asten took to conversing quietly instead, all spread out on various parts of Bentley’s king sized bed. Nico was laying on his back across the foot of the mattress, bickering with Asten a little, but staring at the ceiling, mostly. He’d been jumping at shadows and flinching at the faintest of sounds for hours now. Bentley wasn’t even sure he’d seen him smile since they got to the Manor. Asten was posted up near the left edge of the bed, scouring the internet on Tim’s old laptop with a big bag of chips Jason had insisted they take up with them. He, as opposed to Nico, was taking their terrible circumstances in his stride, acting completely normal. Bentley was against the headboard, fiddling with his phone, trying his best not to be awkward.

Before they’d come up to Bentley’s bedroom, they’d been cooped up in the den, watching random movies on a quiet volume with Dick and Jason for company. It was the first time Bentley had seen Dick out of the hospital bed. Outwardly, he was just Dick Grayson. Charming, outgoing, fun-loving and even able to put Bentley’s jittery friends at ease; but Bentley could see the glimmer in his eyes that was dimmer than usual, the brief moments that he took to breathe and gather himself before he put the never-ending smile back on.

Jason had to have been seeing it, too. He was off to the side reading a book, but Bentley saw him react to things ever so slightly, like his finger twitching the slightest bit when Dick would shift uncomfortably, or the way his eyes flicked up for a split second when Asten’s Crime Alley drawl made a unmistakable appearance. 

After they successfully spent nine solid hours in the den, and skipped lunch, Dick practically begged them to eat something. (Bentley realized just then that he and Asten hadn’t eaten at all that day.) Dinner was quiet.

Bruce had let them know Damian had gone to a friend’s house — a family called the Kents — and Bentley was ninety-nine percent sure it was because of him, Asten, and Nico. Why else would Damian spontaneously up and leave? Duke was working on a school project at a classmate’s, Steph was swamped with college, Babs was staying late at the library, Tim was working over (which really meant he was in the cave.), and Cass was… well… doing whatever Cass did. (No one could really keep tabs on her, could they?) Bentley assumed it had to do with her upcoming dance recital next week.

Bentley didn’t mind. The meal was quick and quiet, and Alfred made some really good pasta stuff, that was so good Asten got a second helping. (Which Bentley considered really good, because he was Brazilian and Brazilians were very good cooks.)

And that pretty much led to now, ten at night, sitting in Bentley’s  bedroom that was pitch silent apart from Asten’s occasional crunching.

Bentley had exhausted all the games on his phone throughout the day, so now he was just kind of playing with his phone case. Nico’s phone kept going off repeatedly. (Bruce had called his parents to let them know what was going on, and they were coming back early, but their plane didn’t leave until morning so Nico had to stay with the Waynes until they got home.) Asten had said he called his uncle, but Bentley didn’t actually think so — he’d been near the bathroom door the whole time and never heard him say anything. But maybe he texted him. Either way, Asten was staying the night again, too. (As if Bruce would even consider letting him go home alone — He’d been checking on them nonstop, once every fifteen minutes at least. No one would know he was the calm and collected Batman based on the way he acted with his kids. Which was probably a good thing.)

“Bentley?”

It was the first time he’d heard Nico’s voice in quite a while, so both he and Asten perked up, glancing over at the blonde. His ocean blue eyes were locked on the ceiling. He was tugging on the strings of his light gray hoodie in a repetitive, rhythmic pattern, staring at nothing but deep in thought.

“Yeah?” Bentley questioned, picking at the edge of his clear phone case.

“What was your dream like? About her?” 

Bentley blinked. They hadn’t talked about the Secret Keeper since they got home, and he really hadn’t expected Nico to be the one to bring it up. He tapped on his phone lightly, exhaling.

“Uh… well… it was really realistic,” Was how he started, gaze focusing on the dark comforter he had over his legs. “I thought I was awake, and I started hearing her. Talking to me.”

He tried to hide the little shiver that shook him when he imagined the warped, strange mixture of her voice and Damian’s, but he wasn’t sure he hid it very well. “I tried to run but she was everywhere, taking peoples faces, their voices, just for me to look up and realize it was her and not them. I...” He looked down a bit farther. “I threw up when I finally woke up.”

Nico glanced over at him, blue eyes bouncing across his face for a few seconds. “Mine was really realistic, too. I woke up when my baby sister was crying, and I went to get her, but when I opened her bedroom door it was…” He trailed off, focusing back on the ceiling. “She, uh… started chasing me around my house. And none of the doors went to the right rooms, everywhere was a dead end, and I couldn’t find my parents or my sister, and I…”

Bentley glanced over at him, watching him blink the tiniest hint of glassy-ness out of his eyes. “Don’t be embarrassed,” Nico finally continued. “I threw up, too. Like four times. It always happens when I get really scared.”

A moment of silence passed.

“Was yours weird like that, Asten?” He questioned, glancing over at him.

Asten shrugged, not looking up from the screen that was lighting up his face and hair. “It… uh…”

Bentley watched his green irises move from the screen, to the keyboard, down to his lap, bouncing around there for a few moments. “I don’t… really want to talk about it.”

Nico blinked, looking back at the ceiling. “…Sorry.”

“S’fine,”

The room fell quiet, and Bentley kept fiddling with his phone. Maybe Asten’s dream had something to do with his parents or Brazil — that would make sense why he didn’t want to talk about it. Or maybe he was just terrified and didn’t want to think about it. Justifiably.

Bentley breathed in and out. “How’s your research going?” He said after a few moments, glancing over at Asten.

The blue-haired-boy shrugged. “I’ve pretty much dead-ended on my missing persons list. It totals up to forty-nine in the past four months, in and around Gotham. A lot of them are already… dead.”

Asten picked up the laptop and moved next to Bentley, adjusting the screen so he could see it. He had a spreadsheet open with a list of names and links to the articles where he’d found them. The whole thing looked freakishly similar to Tim’s — Asten wasn’t kidding around with his research, apparently.

“Research for what?” Nico questioned, sitting up on his elbows to gaze at them.

“I’m making a list of all the potential Secret Keeper targets. Trying to find something to go off of. To find her boss,” Asten explained, nonchalantly.

Nico wasted no time sitting up with a high-pitched: “To find her what?!”

Asten shrugged. “I dunno! Her boss, her leader, her dad, whoever branded her head.”

“Branded her head?”

“Yes, branded her head,” Asten clarified with a sigh. Nico pushed himself upright and shimmied up to the headboard, on the other side of Asten to look at the computer.

“Why in the world are you trying to find her boss?” He murmured, scanning the spreadsheet quickly.

“Because I want to destroy her,” Asten said, with a completely blank, serious expression on his face. Nico stared at him for a solid ten seconds before he frowned.

“What’re you gonna do? She’s killed people!”

Asten scoffed. “I’m going to make her life a living hell, thank you very much. Bentley said he’s in.”

Nico’s panicky blue eyes flicked over to Bentley. “For real?”

He shrugged lightly. Chasing down murdery metahuman supervillains wasn’t exactly his idea of fun, but if it would convince Damian he deserved to live with them, he’d do that five times over. After all, it’s what his whole family did, every single night. 

“Yeah,” He muttered quietly.

“If they harass you, harass them back,” Asten chimed, like it was some sort of nursery rhyme he learned when he was little. Nico gaped at him. “Fight fire with fire, they hit you, you hit them harder, all that jazz.”

“That’s illegal and immoral,” Nico murmured. “And I’m pretty sure fire plus fire just equals more fire.”

Bentley glanced up at Asten, who snickered: “Nothings illegal if you don’t get caught!”

Nico blinked a few times, in silence. “No,” He deadpanned. “How are her supposed victims going to help you find her boss, anyway?”

Asten shrugged. “I’m not actually sure yet. Just working with what I’ve got. Which isn’t much.”

None of them said anything for a solid ten seconds, all just glancing between each other and the computer.

“You guys can help me, actually. I’m trying to find anything besides being missing or dead that might link all these people together. If you want to see what you can find on some of them, that would be very helpful,” Asten explained.

“Helpful in finding a boss that might not even exist, of a lady who can kill you from four states away, that’s been personally attacking us. Sounds safe to me,” Nico muttered, and Asten elbowed him with a pointed glare. 

“Shut up,”

“Why are you so obsessed with destroying her? Gotham has police and superheroes for that,” Nico continued.

Asten stared at the screen in silence for a moment, something grim swirling in the back of his eyes before he pushed it away with a sharp inhale. “Because she’s been stalking us like a freaking psycho. If she’s gonna mess with us, she’s gonna know who she’s messing with.”

Bentley blinked. “If she can read our minds, I guess she already does.”

Asten glanced over at him for a moment, their eyes locking for a solid five seconds before he looked away again.

“True,”

“You think she can just always read our minds? Whenever she wants?” Nico interjected, glancing between them worriedly. “Because I don’t think a supervillain that knows we’re trying to catch them is going to be very easy to catch. Not to mention she’ll probably kill us.”

Asten shrugged. “I mean, if she can, she already knows. There’s no point in stopping now.”

“Uh, yeah, there is. It’s called not dying,” Nico sassed.

“Would you just help me?” Asten finally muttered, gesturing to the computer. “Just pick anyone on the list and see what you can find. It’d take me forever to do all these.”

Bentley obeyed, turning his phone the right way and choosing a name from the very top of the list: Titus Lancaster. 

He navigated to the internet and typed the name in, and immediately, several different results popped up.

The first one was on a website called Gotham’s Coldest Cases, and when he clicked on it, a picture of a boy with shiny, grayish-brown eyes was the first thing he saw. He was holding a guitar and sitting on the floor in front of a distant Christmas tree, wearing a red hoodie and gray sweatpants, smiling brightly up at the camera with dimples the size of craters. There was a red and black beanie pulled over his head, his deep brown hair only peeking out slightly from the front and back.

The headline beneath it was: New Jersey Couple Awakes to their Twelve Year Old Son Gone Without a Trace.

Bentley continued to scroll, watching the body of the article appear as he did.

Isabelle and Jonathan Lancaster awoke the morning of May 6 like it was any other day… little did they know, it wasn’t. When Isabelle Lancaster went to wake up her pre-teen son for school, he wasn’t there.

‘There was nothing in his room or in the rest of the house that would suggest he ran away. Even his cellphone was still charging on his nightstand.’ Says Eugenia Carlomile, head detective on the case. ‘No signs of forced entry or forced exit, no sightings of him or any suspicious persons anywhere outside of their house. We’re waiting for further evidence to continue our search.’

Titus Lancaster was last seen on May 5, when he and his parents parted ways for bed around 10:45pm. He was reportedly wearing a black hoodie with his last name and the number 16 on the back, and the Gotham City Middle School basketball logo on the front, with light gray sweatpants and a black and red beanie on his head. 

As of today, July 17, there are still no sightings of Titus. His family is holding an empty, closed casket funeral that is open to the public for anyone who wishes to grieve with them on July 27.

If you have seen or believe you have seen Titus Lancaster, or have heard any additional information regarding his disappearance, please contact the Gotham City Police Department at (856)-916-GCPD.

Bentley scrolled back to the top and saved the website to his favorites folder, before tapping his way back to the initial search results.

The second website that came up was Gotham News Network (GNN). When he opened it, there was a button at the top that said About the Disappearance of Titus Lancaster, but below that stood the large headline: Isabelle and Jonathan Lancaster Found Dead.

He took a deep breath, in and out, then scrolled down.

Isabelle and Jonathan Lancaster were found dead in their garage due to asphyxiation on July 28, caused by the trapped fumes of two running vehicles. Detective Eugenia Carlomile suggests this was a direct response to their missing twelve-year-old son, Titus Lancaster’s closed casket funeral the day before.

Bentley opted out of reading the rest of the article, saving it to his file with the other instead.

He couldn’t even imagine going missing, only to come back and learn your parents were dead.

The rest of the articles were repeats of those two, the only other relevant website being one called Gotham Areopagus. Bentley clicked on it, but it just ended up being a congratulations on their website for a group graduating from a children’s physics course there early in the year. Titus was among the list of names.

“I didn’t find anything about Titus, other than what happened to him and his parents,” Bentley said quietly, glancing over at Asten. “And that he took some class at a place called the… Areopagus?”

Asten nodded lightly, typing something next to Titus’s name. “It’s some rich kid's extracurricular class thing. I think people go there to just… take more classes? Nico’s been there.”

Bentley glanced over at the blonde, who shrugged. “It’s like, hands on STEM class stuff. I only went to a birthday party there, but there are year-long courses and stuff you can take.”

Bentley nodded lightly. He wasn’t going to ask what STEM meant.

“I’m surprised you didn’t know about it, nosebleed,” Asten taunted, nudging Bentley with his elbow. “Y’know, being the kid of the richest man, like, ever, and everything.”

Bentley shrugged. “I’m not from here, remember? I’m from Drew.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Asten continued. “You can look up someone else, then. It’s fine if you can’t find much.”

Bentley moved onto another random name, in the middle of the list: Davis Henderson.

Why did he recognize that name?

He typed it into his browser, scanning the results that popped up. The first one was on a news site called Right Now New Jersey, and when he clicked on it, the headline read: New Jersey College Student Assaulted at Work.

When he opened it, a photograph of an eerily familiar, blonde-haired-green-eyed guy came up. He was wearing a blue button up and a little waist apron, with a notepad and pen in his hands, smiling down at the camera. Behind him was a bar.

The bar Bentley went into when he was running from his father last year. It was that Davis, the waiter that tried to keep Bentley away from his father’s men, to protect him, only to get the butt of a pistol to his head.

21-year-old Davis Henderson was assaulted by an unknown assailant in the back room of the bar he works at. He was found unconscious with a blow to the head by coworker, Madison Langford, who called the police. ‘All I saw was blood, a lot of it, and I immediately called the cops,’ Said Langford, Henderson’s coworker in training. ‘I was so afraid he might’ve been dead.’

Henderson woke up confused and unable to give the police any description of his assailant or the incident in question. The camera system in the bar seemed to have been tampered with, as the exact time of the assault was cut out of the footage. More on this story as it develops.

Bentley quickly clicked off of that article. He could still remember the way the gun cracked as it collided with the waiter’s head. The way he dropped like a rag doll. The fact that it was all his fault.

He silently scrolled down to the next article instead, on the same website as Titus’s: Gotham’s Coldest Cases. The headline was: Star Princeton University Student Missing?

He opened it up and scrolled past the exact picture of Davis that was on the other website.

21-year-old Princeton University student Davis Henderson was declared missing on August 2nd, after not showing up to work or classes for 24 hours. 

He was last seen on surveillance walking between his home and work on August 1st at approximately 3:27am on 9th street, near Whitehouse Library and The Gotham Areopagus. He was wearing a blue button-up, black slacks, and black tennis-shoes. He didn’t make contact with anyone on or around the time of his disappearance, and there is no surveillance footage of him returning to his apartment complex that night or the following 48 hours.

‘I assumed he was sick when he didn’t come to class,’ Said Ethan Hunt, Davis’s classmate at Princeton University. ‘But he didn’t respond all day. I drove all the way to his apartment complex in Gotham, to make sure he hadn’t fallen seriously ill, but it was still locked and he wasn’t home.’

If you have seen or believe you have seen Davis Henderson, or have heard any additional information regarding his disappearance, please contact the Gotham City Police Department at (856)-916-GCPD.

Bentley sighed lightly and closed the website. Davis was so nice to him, and now he was… gone. Disappeared off the street.

And wasn’t Whitehouse Library the same place where The Secret Keeper chased Asten?

When he went through more of the search results, they were just repeats of those two stories, plus a few social media posts where Davis was tagged. Bentley scoured four different accounts of his, even going back as far as when he was a young teenager, but there was nothing that aided his search or seemed suspicious in the slightest. 

Bentley sighed heavily, glancing at the list Asten had made. “This guy was last seen in the same area where the Secret Keeper chased you.” 

Asten glanced over at him, then at his phone. “Who?”

“Davis Henderson,” Bentley stated, and Asten nodded, finding Davis’s column and typing a few things next to his name.

“I’m not finding anything on this Olivia girl but her dream and the reports of her going missing,” Nico stated. “She saw the Secret Keeper in her yard.”

“That’s fine,” Asten muttered.

Well, three down. Forty-six to go.

—

dedicated to @sassenashsworld 💚

—

tag list! (If you want me to remove or add you, ask in comments!)

@fleur-alise @sarcopterygiian @cademygod

[aroaceleovaldez]

i need to know everything about your pjo voltron au

okay so basic plot premise: Thalia, Luke, Jason, Percy, Maria di Angelo, and Bianca all work at the Garrison and get sent on 3 separate missions (Thalia & Luke, Jason & ??? or maybe he's just by himself, then Percy & Maria & Bianca) which are all "lost" and they're declared dead by the Garrison.

Of course they were actually all abducted by aliens. Maria probably dies pretty early on in that whole situation. Thalia gets separated from Luke and ends up escaping and becoming a rebel. Luke, Jason, and Percy & Bianca all separately (except for Percy & Bianca) end up gladiators. Luke becomes The Champion and basically ends up a Kuron/Sendak-type character situation. Is he being mind-controlled? Unclear. He has a giant alien scythe-sword though. Bianca probably dies buying Percy time in the arena. At some point Percy and Jason find each other and decide to try and stick together.

Hazel is a human raised by her galra dad in space with the Blade of Marmora. She knows she has a half-brother through her dad out there somewhere but not anything else about him. She ends up running into Jason and Percy on a mission and helps them escape cause they're humans too.

Back on Earth, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth are all Garrison students. Or Annabeth is possibly in a Keith-type situation where she used to be a student but got Kinda Pissed Off about all her loved ones disappearing into space and ended up getting kicked out. Nico is in a Pidge-type situation where he snuck in as a student under a false name to figure out what happened to his family's mission. Percy and Jason crash on earth, the gang finds them, they find the Blue Lion, and Percy pilots it to the Altean castleship where they meet Reyna and Frank. Reyna is the Altean Princess, because her sister Hylla was queen. Frank is the son of a high-ranking general or something and he and Reyna are a duo.

Rest going under a cut cause this got long -

Lion adventures happen - Annabeth pilots the Green Lion, Jason pilots the Black Lion. Nico finds the Red Lion and meets Hazel when he does and brings her back to the castle. Hazel pilots the Yellow Lion. Nico very quickly realizes he's half-Galra and Hazel's brother and joins the Blade of Marmora. Percy swaps from Blue to the Red Lion. Piper starts piloting the Blue Lion. Leo, Frank, Reyna, and Nico end up the home-base support team. Percy probably keeps the blue paladin armor and Piper gets the spare pink armor for color association reasons and also cause that's usually the format for every iteration of Voltron anyways. It works out nicely. Everybody has extra lion compatibilities too/every Lion has a back-up basically cause I'm still mad vld canon dropped the lion lore/sentience plotlines and we never got cool dynamic lion swapping instead of just the usual single switch. We're having fun here.

Then everything else I don't have much for other than Annabeth and Nico basically swap Keith and Pidge roles once they join Voltron so Nico goes and has his galra identity crisis adventures and Annabeth reunites with Thalia at some point, who is basically in a Matt-type role. And Luke functions as the Sendak-level antagonist who Annabeth probably gets to fight with a swap back to Keith's role in a whole Keith & Kuron emotional situation. Kronos and Gaea are probably analogous to Zarkon and Haggar/Honerva here but not necessarily in that order, and obviously it's more of an either "Emperor and his advisor mom" or "Empress and her prince son" but in either one somebody's doing magic and people are probably getting possessed. Hades, Persephone, Iaepatus/Bob, and Damasen are all with the BoM. The Titans/Giants are probably all Empire generals. Who's Lotor? Octavian? Calypso? I don't know. Who are all the gods? I dunno. We'll workshop it.

[pls-let-me-out]

Nico has spent his whole life in the New York Academy of Dance. He was enrolled before he could take his first breath, when he was still in his mother’s womb. But his mother loved ballet dearly, and so there was never a choice. After she died, it was his way - and Bianca’s - to honour Maria. When Bianca passed, too, it was just the logical thing to do. It was all he’d ever known, and he’d just lost everything, he couldn’t lose himself, too. Plus, where would he even go? Back home with his father? That would have been torture.

It’s on a Wednesday that Nico turns eighteen. Drew and Rachel bring him a chocolate croissant, which he forces himself to eat. Then he just goes on with his day.

“We are totally celebrating this weekend,” Drew tells him, once they’re having dinner.

Nico plays with the tomatoes in his salad. “I don’t know. I don’t really feel like it.”

Drew groans, and Rachel elbows her in the ribs.

“We’ve already told your cousins we would bring you to the club,” Drew says. “So act surprised when it happens.”

Nico snorts.

“Drew!” Rachel exclaims. “It was supposed to be a surprise!”

“A surprise he’s going to hate,” Drew replies. “At least now he’ll hate it so much now that he’ll forget about it later.”

Nico shrugs. “That might actually work.”

Rachel shakes her head. “I hate the two of you.”

“Who else is coming?” Nico asks. “Us, Percy and Jason?”

“Jackson said he’ll bring this girl he’s seeing. Leo confirmed earlier, and there’s also Piper, I think.”

“Hazel?” Nico asks hopeful. His half-sister lives in LA with their father, so Nico knows it’s a no before Rachel and Drew shake their heads.

“She couldn’t make it,” Rachel says in a soft voice. Of the three of them, she’s always been the most tactful. “But she sent you a gift.”

“Yeah, I got it.” Nico sighs. “I’ll go to my room, now. I’m full.”

And he goes to his room, but he can’t fall asleep. He keeps remembering his birthdays with Bianca, and how happy she made him. She used to sneak out and get him waffles from the place down the road, and now he can’t stop thinking about waffles. So he puts on pants and a jumper and does the same: he sneaks out.

It’s cold outside. The snow falls heavy, and he can’t help but shiver. He should have brought a jacket, but it’s too late to go back. And too risky. He hasn’t even brought his phone.

He takes a deep breath when he finally gets to the diner. It’s still open. There are only two costumers: a woman sitting at the counter and a man in a booth. Nico sits at the opposite end of the counter from the woman, just under the television. It’s on a news channel, but the remote control is placed on the counter. Nico takes it in his hands, but he finds he doesn’t know many channels. There is no television at the Academy.

“What can I get you?”

Nico jumps out of his skin. He hadn’t heard the waiter coming. And then he blushes furiously. The waiter is a guy with tan, freckled skin, beach blonde hair and blue eyes. The tag he wears on the chest says Will.

“Waffles,” Nico replies slowly. “With milk chocolate.”

The waiter, Will, smiles. “Sure thing.”

It doesn’t take long for the waffles to be ready. Will places them on the counter, then puts there his crossed arms, too. He leans forward with a smirk.

“So, it’s late for waffles,” Will says.

Nico hums around a mouthful of said waffles. “I guess so.”

“What are you doing around so late?”

Nico doesn’t raise his eyes from the place. “I’m getting waffles.”

Will laughs. “Sounds about right. Are you celebrating something? Or are you sad about something?”

“I didn’t know waiters talked so much,” Nico says. “I’m celebrating, I think.”

“Not all waiters. And you don’t sound sure about what you’re doing.”

Nico sighs. “I’m celebrating my birthday.”

Will claps, attracting attention from both other costumers. “Happy birthday, man!”

Nico gives a small smile. “Thanks.”

“How old are you turning?”

“Eighteen.”

“Cool! Just a year younger than me.”

Nico’s lips stretch in another smile. He only ever smiles this much during ballet recitals, it’s weird that his smile isn’t forced but natural.

“How else will you be celebrating?”

Nico shrugs. “My friends are bringing me to a club. I don’t really want to go.”

“Clubs are boring after a while. Unless you like dancing, I guess.”

“I like dancing!” Nico blushes at his outburst. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to yell.”

“It’s cool. So, you go to that fancy ballet school?”

Nico feels small under Will’s eyes. “How did you tell?”

“First, you’re here late, so that means you live around here. Secondly, you have its logo on your jumper.”

Nico blushes again. “Right.”

Will’s lips stretch in a smile. “It wasn’t hard for Sherlock Holmes.”

“You would be Sherlock?”

“That makes you Watson, by the way.”

Nico is laughing before he realises. “There’s actually this friend of mine, who calls me Watson, too. She says I look like him.”

Will smiles. “See? I’m very clever. I’m Sherlock.”

Nico shakes his head. “You’re not as clever as you think you are.”

“How can you tell? I was trying to hide it.”

God, Will really makes Nico smile so easily. They continue talking, and Nico learns a lot of things about Will. He learns that Will is studying biology at college, that he has two older brothers, two younger ones and a younger sister, and he’s from Texas. He also tells Will a lot of things about himself, and he only returns at the Academy at two am, climbing in through the window of his bedroom.

[rosesradio]

Vandangelo prompt.

"I love you"

"I'll pass"

thanks for the prompt ! likes & reblogs are appreciated, & my inbox is open for drabble prompts :-)

word count: 705

It was late into the night when he said it, one of those nights where you get pulled in two different directions.

On one side, there was conforming this sphere to the control panel. If Leo showed his crew mates in the morning, he imagined they would think it was pretty cool. Or, rather, they’d say it was cool while not really caring.

On the other side, there was the sleep Leo so desperately needed. Sleep deprivation weighed him down so heavily, he could cry—but he always avoided sleep. With sleep came letting his guard down, and dreams about monsters and cities burning to the ground. When he was awake, at least he could somewhat control what haunted him.

The mechanic’s bay, Leo’s little home, was big enough for two cots. Leo had made a room for himself, but he worked in here so often and so late, he ended up moving a cot into the tiny room.

The second cot was for Nico.

When he first joined their amateur crew, Leo offered him his room. Nico didn’t accept—some weird noble reason, he imagined. He started staying in the mechanic’s bay, in Leo’s sacred space, much to Leo’s vexation. He even had the nerve to tell Leo that if he tried anything—such as an innocent ‘hand in a bowl of warm water’ trick—he would melt Leo’s bones into shadows. Leo didn’t even know if he could do that, but he didn’t want to find out.

So the company was nice.

It actually was—once they got past their initial sleepover squabbles, they actually had some nice conversations. Nico would ask Leo what he was working on and even laugh at his jokes. It was a little more difficult to get Nico to open up, but when he did, Leo could really understand him.

Looking at him now, Nico’s head resting against the pillow as his hair splayed out, Leo felt none of the disdain he had when first meeting him. There was just…affection. He really liked him, cared for him…even loved him. He wasn’t even entirely sure in what way—romantic, platonic, whatever; he knew as sure and sound as the air in his lungs that he loved Nico di Angelo.

Leo smiled at the sight of him—the guy needed a haircut when they got out of this. He brushed a stray lock of hair from Nico’s face, his touch lingering for a moment.

“Love you, Nico…”

Leo honestly wasn’t sure how he’d explain himself if confronted on it; he hadn’t even said that type of thing to Piper or Jason, though he loved them, too. Love was a powerful and intimidating feeling, especially to demigods, but it was also the only thing that kept them going.

Nico rustled a bit, swatting fruitlessly in the air as if Leo’s hand had been an annoying bug.

“Mm…I’ll pass…” he managed with a yawn.

Leo felt his face flush, embarrassment and pain filling his chest like concrete. He heard himself laugh, though he knew he didn’t mean it. “You’ll…you’ll pass?”

Nico nodded faintly, clearly still half asleep. “Too many people…too much…stuff going on…I can’t be responsible…for you…”

Leo’s heart thudded off-beat in his chest. “You don’t have to worry about being responsible for me, Nico. I’m covered.”

Nico nodded again, eyes still closed. “Maybe some other time…okay? I’ll love you tomorrow…”

The bittersweet cage around Leo’s heart seemed to loosen, ready to break. He laughed again, this one more genuine. Nico was, after all, really cute when he was half-asleep. “Okay. I’ll love you tomorrow, too. Goodnight, Nico.”

Nico was silent, and Leo knew he was fully asleep now. Leo’s tired eyes gazed along every character of text across the sphere, then over to Nico. He seemed younger when he slept, and Leo found it hard to believe that he was one of the youngest on the crew due to his shadowy disposition. Leo knew that sleep was a luxury they couldn’t always afford aboard the Argo II, though he hoped no one would barge in and wake either of them anytime soon. With a sigh, Leo put the sphere down and went over to his cot, feeling comfortable to fall asleep for the first time in a while.

[happyk44]

I love the sweet and thoughtful responses I've gotten on my "the seven but with minor demigods" post and I'm gonna reblog it very soon with a couple people's additions that caught my eye, but I did also want to say (and I just woke up so lmao ignore me if this turns out weird), but TLO set up so many different avenues for what a future series would be like. In fact, just based on what I'm gonna say further, I'd like to argue that the whole PJO series was leading up to the point I'm gonna make.

Underworld vs Olympus.

I have a few original works that are kind of in this mindset of a Pantheon with two separate factions and one faction is belittled by the other because it's dark and people don't like it, whatever, whatever, but from the first book where for whatever reason because I can't quite remember why but they automatically assumed that somehow Hades got the lightning bolt and went there to steal it back, from the Titans curse where Bianca f****** died and Percy realized that Nico was a son of Hades as well as the fact that at some point in the book they realize that Nico and Bianca are not from this time. And then in the battle of the labyrinth where they find pan and pan excludes Niko when he's talking to him and you know the fact that at the end of the other book

(sorry I'm just I've been so tired and I just woke up so this is going to get weird and then I'm going to do some brief editing and send it out and you guys are going to get what you see and maybe I'll make sense later)

But anyway, basically you know remember Percy also said that he didn't want to tell anyone that Nico was a son of Hades because he knew that it would drop unnecessary attention and even then he still looked for him and the next book he still knows that it's better for Nico to go home to his dad and train in the Underworld than it is for him to stay at camp.

An in the book after that, he finds out Nico's whole sad past and why his brain got washed and you have Morpheus who is a child of the underworld who is on the Titan's side and in the Sword of Hades short story you have the exact same thing where Hades's daughter is on the Titan side, or at least she doesn't stop them from trying to escape with the sword, and I think there was also the thing with Hecate, and she's not necessarily a child of the underworld but she does live there.

We also have Ethan who is the son of Nemesis who is the daughter of Nyxx who guess again lives in the Underworld, specifically Tartarus (which is just the underworld's basement, but also used to be an area of punishment not just for Titans but also for really really bad people before the fields of punishment became a thing it used to be Elysium asphidos Tartarus and when you play the Hades game it shows you this exact same thing I don't remember when the fields of punishment came into a thing it might have just been another term for Tartarus? and Rick wrote around that for some reason, I don't really know, but you get my point).

In the Sword of Hades as well you have Persephone stating that outside of Kronos, they have other enemies to protect themselves against, and it's never actually stated what those enemies are or who those enemies are but just based on everything up until that point (plus, you know, my own personal headcanons about Hades relationship with his Olympian family), you kind of get the sense that it's the people living on that mountain that are causing some problems.

And then the end of The last Olympian is great Hades comes into the final battle his Wi-Fi side his sister by his side he's proud of Nico he gets the recognition he deserves from Zeus but it's very fleeting. And it's really weird because based on everything that we know about what has happened between Hades and Zeus whenever I remember that scene I always remember him being the one that pushes Zeus to say a compliment rather than Poseidon and when I rewrote that scene recently for My Underworld Jason fanfic it actually took me a little bit by surprise because I didn't remember it playing out that way.

It actually is kind of another show and tell about how Rick will take the most upsetting traumatizing thing to occur and then very quietly and neatly packaged it up into two sentences and then act like it never happened.

The way that scene should have gone was Zeus very quickly pushing past the fact that out of all the other gods, Hades was the one who is actually on the front lines helping their children fight against the enemy. Percy should have noticed, Hades should have been disgruntled but I think Persephone or the fact that Nico was in the room should have kept him from responding to the very quick blow off of his efforts but Percy should have noticed that there was a difference between the way Zeus treated his older brother versus the way he treated everyone else

Also Nico doesn't receive a gift even though everyone else does despite everything he had done up until that point (literally being the only reason Percy didn't die during the final battle because no one else suggested jumping into the Styx), and despite being the fact that he is the reason his father ended up helping them in the first place and I would have loved in Percy's quest to get them to acknowledge their kids and acknowledge the minor gods point that out. Something in his occasional seaweed brain "I spoke too much without thinking" fashion like "oh also Nico probably should have gotten something too and I think that just goes into blah blah whatever" like just using it as an example of kind of ticking off his uncle a bit more, but again showing the clear divide especially if Zeus sort of hand waves the thing and gives Nico like a sword or something and it's just sort of like a pity gift.

Also be really funny if in that scene where he's pointing out how Nico was overlooked as a side eye to how his father was overlooked if he also kind of alluded to the fact that he knows that it was Zeus's fault that Maria died and Nico and Bianca ended up in the Lotus casino and that it was technically Zeus's fault that the Oracle was cursed by Hades in the first place (because if he didn't try to kill Hades' kids, Hades wouldn't have been so angry about the prophecy).

And then that unspoken tension would have been a really nice way to segue into a sequel series.

Anyway okay I'm still really tired but I have to get ready for work so I'm just going to, like ,make sure these paragraphs are broken up properly and that there are punctuation marks so that it's not just a rambling blah blah blah and I will maybe write a better version of this after work. Or during lunch, idk.

[randomkposts]

Among family, PJO

K:-I want the AU, where upon running away from home, Thalia, Luke and Annabeth ended up at the roman camp.

E:-Okay that would be interesting

K:-Jason gets to grow up more with his sibling!

(Spoilers ahead)

…I haven't read the newer Rick Riordan series, but was reading the Wiki and apparently Jipper broke up, cause Piper worried about how real It was (and how involved her mom was in it or something) and now Piper is dating a native girl, and she and her dad are reconnecting with their heritage. 

Can't believe that's how I found out Piper was bi!

E:-Piper is omg!

K:-Anyway, good that she and her dad moved and are connecting to their heritage. 

E:-Thats great!!

I shipped Jason and Percy for a while when I was younger! Dunno why. Bromance!

K:- why not? Jason x rock is a thing.

E:-Does my irrational crackships ever need to be justified?

K:-I toyed with the idea of ghost Luke x Jason

E:-Oh yeah!! Hehe ghost ships.A very light relationship! Jason can see right through Luke!

K:-Luke shows up from the dead mad that the gods are not upholding their promise to Percy. And also that Percy is missing, and meets this confused amnesic. 

E:-Omg! He's so mad he escaped the underworld for this bullshit! 

K:-What's Hades going to do? Send Nico? He's not here! Also the solstice is distracting. He would know.

E:-Hades calling Hermes while sunbathing under the burning flames. "So your kid decided to bust out since none of us are responsible."

"Apollo is missing"

"This isn't about him and his own absent parenting."

K:- burn. Luke ends up on the quest. No one can disadude him, since he's a ghost. What's  it going to do, kill him?

E:-Self burn are rare. 

What they're gonna do? Burn sage in front of him?

K:-Exactly! Luke gets to be the funny one on this quest, since none of the newbs brought their funny ADHD game with them. 

E:-He'll be the clown on this quest. 

He raised most of those kids at camp he has experience. 

K:- He has to be

E:-The actual father figure jk jk

K:-Piper:- no mom I don't need a mom, I have two dad's now. Human dad and ghost dad. Sure I had a crush on ghost dad's boyfriend, but I have embraced the unconventional family unit. 

E:-A family can be made up of a girl and her dad and her adopted ghost dad with his boyfriend. 

K:- Annabeth should have gone on the quest so she could tell off at Hera at the end.

Luke and Annabeth team up with the newbs to throw shade. 

E:-Oh she totally should have. "Oh man fixing a thankless gods mistake again? Must be a tuesday "

[icouldntthinkofabetternamesook]

let's see.....

I generally think that if just Percy and Jason had switched camps Jason would have ended up the host of Kronos instead of Luke and we would be looking at the darkest timeline but that kinda depends on Luke, Thalia and Annabeth still all being at Camp. If there's no Thalia and no Luke, I think Jason might just grow into an even more neurotic version of Annabeth without the Athena cabin, Luke or even the concept of an outside family as support. Desperate to prove himself, near Stockholm, the best at everything with no real world experience.

If Hazel comes into the narrative when Nico does she wouldn't have her own cabin and would be left with the Hermes Cabin which might actually be good for her, especially if she's staying year round and can get some space for the summer rush. If she has Arion she might go on the run like Nico did and navigating the Labyrinth would be child play though she would probably meet Pasiphea's rather than Minos. Being on the run probably wouldn't mess her up as bad as it would Nico as she would be older but it still wouldn't be fun. If Hazel enters the narrative when she usually does then she would only have a few months alone in her cabin before the Quest of the 7 gets started but it still wouldn't be fun, primarily because I think she was using all the constant training and people to distract from having to think so hard about her death quest martyrdom situation and having to much time alone would mess her up.

If Frank keeps the same timeline, then he's only in the Hermes cabin for about six months, during the off season when its not as crowded. that would still be long enough to get people antsy after the gods promised to claim faster. other folks in the cabin remember when it took years and I feel he'd be in good hands with the Stoll's making sure he doesn't feel to out of place.

Okay Luke. Luke is in and interesting place because his trauma is not a flat line. A lot of the issues that make him into Kronos host come from the fact that his mom went insane when learning he becomes Kronos host. if he doesn't do that, he won't have any reason to do that in the first place. Rome doesn't have the Pythia for May to fail to become but if she was part of Camp Jupiters system she very well could have come in contact with some other oracle energy to mess with her head, which then leads to would she be kept in new Rome or sent back to her home to make endless koolaid and cookies. Luke would resent the fuck out of camp for messing with his mom and he's right next to mount Othrys to meet the titan's. his rebellion would be swift and possibly more brutal. I think he might bide his time to become Praetor and then turn all of Camp Jupiter against the gods to march on mount Olympus. If he got Annabeth on his side I think he could do it.

of course if his mom has no contact with the oracle, Luke gets to be the best version of himself, grins and bears his way through camp service, tries to make things softer for the next generation while praetor and retires to New Rome University to major in economic theory.

Leo is another timeline question. If he shows up wheneverI think he would try to runaway and get killed or tortured for deserting, unless he really quickly found someone to latch on and relate to. if he shows up with a swapped Jason, immediately gets a quest, and has to start preparing as a prophecy kid for Juno's great plan, then he gets leeway and special treatment to as a weapon-smith and would be fine if not slightly resentful of the larger structure he's in, plus separated from the rest of the camp as one of the specials.

Reyna really couldn't be greek as Bellona has no greek counterpart. If Jason does the sea of monsters quest and personally takes her and Hylla from Circe's spa I think Hylla would try to raise Reyna in the mortal world for a bit before leaving to join the Amazons. Reyna either joins the Amazons or stays at camp with Jason out of personal loyalty. she'd be over crowded in the Hermes cabin but have no responsibilities and I think it might be really good for her and then she could be really good for Jason. If Percy and Annabeth still do the sea of monsters quest and Reyna winds up at camp after Blackbeard, and Hello joining the Amazons, I still think she would be in a pretty good spot if harder to trust and it would take her and Jason going on a quest together to forge them into friends. As Jason takes on Annabeth position as Camp Half bloods perfect child, Reyna takes on Percy's role as the outside force that breaks complacency.

Camp Half blood doesn't do legacy's Octavian is going to high school somewhere. probably a bully but no where near as bad as he could be.

Annabeth is another tricky one as Minerva doesn't have children and if she did it would be radically taboo. If she gets claimed she gets shunned and abused and joins Luke to destroy Olympus. I also think there's an option where she doesn't get claimed and is just taken for a legacy or child of Mercury. Her and Luke are already siblings. If not immediately thrown out of the game for her taboo birth I think she would just be an even more neurotic version of Jason utterly consumed with proving herself not because the expectations are high but because she has to prove the right to even exist. If she gets a Percy to help break her out of this mindset she might not join Luke and I think she would make praetor out of pure spite and will. If Luke is his best self it would do miles to help her self-esteem and I kinda like the idea of her befriending Grover as the weird overly passionate outcasts.

I don't think Thalia would become a tree, but she would not vibe with camp and would join the Hunters of Diana as soon as possible. She would beg Annabeth to come with her to save herself, but Annabeth would be so indoctrinated I don't think she could barring a miracle in Thalia and Luke raising her right.

Percy would only be even remotely okay at Camp Jupiter if they let his mom move to New Rome, and even then Sally would be so horrified they would probably jump ship as soon as possible. Percy would be made into the worst version of himself and join Luke and Annabeth to march on Olympus. The Gods are going down in the version. While Jason and Reyna would be alright as greeks, Percy and Annabeth would be destroyed as romans.

Grover is the only hope for the timeline if he manages to help Annabeth and Percy into a slightly better state of mind as outcast together. He might not have the same drive or purpose to find Pan but I think he would still care for the wild and be his deeply empathetic self and might move the dial enough that Percy would still choose to give Luke the dagger to self terminate at the last moment.

I think Piper might actually do pretty well as a daughter of Venus, especially if she shows up with Jason and Leo. I don't think Bianca would be able to join the hunt as soon from camp Jupiter leaving a much happier Nico. Will would be fine, not great but fine. Tyson could get a job in New Rome and be pretty happy, provided Percy doesn't go off the rails.

At least that's my thoughts

I know this definitely isn’t a new concept, but what if the Greek demigods were Roman and vice versa?

How would Jason’s life, and his very self, be different if he wasn’t basically raised in the army, but in a comparatively chill camp? Not always having to prove himself, not having to always be perfectly behaved or else face horrific punishment. But also, how would he feel having the identity of “forbidden child” for his entire life? Not expected to be a powerful leader just because of his parentage, but always seen as a mistake and an omen of doom? Maybe he would still feel the need to always be perfect and special, just to make up for existing.

How would Jason and Hazel feel, all alone in their respective cabins? How would Frank feel, living with the Hermes kids, in a place where knowing your parent is even more important than at Camp Jupiter? Would Luke feel less abandoned at Camp Jupiter, where you’re not restricted by who your parent is?

Would Leo’s creativity and hyperactivity be stifled at the militaristic Camp Jupiter? Would he be utterly miserable? Maybe he’d gain renown as a master weaponsmith and onager maker, and be allowed to be a little strange and a little disobedient because of the creations he brings to the table. Or maybe he’d get sewn in a sack of weasels before the first week is over. It’s a toss-up.

What would it be like for Reyna, not having to deal with the responsibilities of leading the camp, but merely with looking after her cabin? Would Octavian be a less awful person if he didn’t have his position as augur and all the power going to his head?

Annabeth would be a Praetor, no question. What would that be like for her? What would Thalia think of Camp Jupiter? It doesn’t seem like her style. What would Camp Jupiter think of Percy and his sass and rulebreaking? Would he get the weasel sack? For sneaking off on quests he’s not part of, definitely, if not something else first.

I know I’ve considered the concept of Grover at Camp Jupiter already, but how different would he be if he had lived there with the other fauns his whole life? How different would his very personality be, growing up expected to amount to nothing? Would he still care so deeply about the Wild, or Pan, or his friends? What would he learn to be like?

What about Piper and Nico and Will and Tyson and everybody else???

I have no answers, only questions.

[marbleheavy]

here are some of my Nico headcanons that nobody asked for!!

He collects things. Not just Mythomagic stuff like he did as a kid, but cool shells, and rocks, and weird glass figurines that everyone else thinks are terrifying, and books. He’s got them in jars or lined up on shelves and he just has so many things (Because for so long he had so few things that actually belonged to him that didn’t have to serve a very clear purpose, so now he just wants to keep whatever he’d like)

He reads SO much as an adult. A lot of it is nonfiction because he’s trying to catch up on what happened in the world while he was pulled out of it, but a lot of fiction too (not really fantasy though, that’s too close to home) and a lot of poetry. He can recite poems from memory and will just randomly quote them sometimes and it should be pretentious but it isn’t and his friends think it’s amazing (cue dramatically saying "till love and fame to nothingness do sink" anytime he's told he has to wait) (Also, he will rant about why Ted Hughes sucks at any point in time)

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again!! He is a Dungeon Master! He’s got a binder for all the notes for his current campaign and a notebook for ideas and special highlighters and pens that he only uses for D&D. Also, dice are definitely one of the things he collects and he keeps them in those clear, plastic bead containers with dividers and they’re sorted by number of faces and also ~vibes~ (for example, do a backflip D20 and life or death D20)

leather jacket Nico di Angelo? seen, respected, and appreciated. CARDIGAN Nico di Angelo? underrated! He has a couple oversized cardigans with buttons and big pockets that he adores. The first one he ever had he definitely stole from Will but now, whenever he comes across another similar one, he buys it. The pockets are filled with rocks and worn, mass-market paperbacks and pens. (Basically, I’m leaning hard into English Major Nico with his annotated books and glasses and cardigans) (Also, cardigan Nico and flannel Will but sometimes they swap)

He definitely cuts his own hair in the bathroom and he's gotten very good at it. He's had a range of haircuts, from long hair to a mullet to the shaved sides and fluffy top, but he always ends up back with a shaggy mop that Hazel likes to put little braids in (or sometimes pull the very back of it into two little pigtails) and with bangs that always end up in his eyes.

Sorry to reiterate the same point that's been made forever, but his wardrobe is pretty dark-toned. Obviously black, but he does like a good jewel tone, perhaps a maroon or an emerald. Anything really bright was either a gift or belongs to Will someone else. Also, gendered clothing means nothing to him. He wears what he wants to wear and he thinks it's cool as hell when he's wearing a skirt while sparring and it flares out dramatically as he twirls.

He's kind of picked up modern slang but he also uses a lot of slang from pretty much every decade he missed. It's also a 50/50 chance he's using it incorrectly. (examples include: 1) Leo says something that is definitely supposed to be funny and Nico stares at him, utterly emotionless, and says "Gag me with a spoon" in an alarmingly monotone voice, and 2) Anytime he says something snarky to Jason or Percy he starts it with "hey bestie..." and honestly, they're both just touched Nico called them "bestie" at all)

He adores Studio Ghibli movies and can be found humming the Ponyo theme song anytime he goes swimming (Will standing on the shore, looking around for Nico and he eventually spots him in the water. He wades out to Nico, all sunglasses that shouldn't look so cool and golden hair and chest, and just greets him with "Hey there, Neeks, how's my fishie in the sea?" and Nico can't decide if he wants to drown himself or kiss Will on his stupid mouth)

Speaking of movies, shortly after the Giant War, all of his friends (the Seven, Reyna, Will, probably Lou Ellen and Cecil, too) showed up at his cabin with blankets and snacks. They each brought their favorite movie or movies they think he needs to see to catch him up on the modern age. At first, he acts disgruntled that they're all there but he very quickly settles into the blanket fort Annabeth constructs and is quietly very grateful and excited that they cared enough to do this for him. They're all holed up in his cabin for a full day until they've finished every movie. (Percy brought Finding Nemo, Annabeth brought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Piper brought Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Jason brought Captain America: The First Avenger (and Nico definitely says "that's gay" when Steve and Bucky say there "Until the end of the line" shit and everybody absolutely loses their minds), Hazel also is behind on movies but she brought either a very scary movie or Moana, Frank brought A New Hope (though he considered Brother Bear), Will brought Spirited Away, Cecil brought Back to the Future, and Lou Ellen brought The Princess Bride)

He can play the piano! He gets a piano for the Hades cabin and on nights where he can't sleep and the nightmares are really bad, he plays piano.

He will cry if he hears I Will by Mitski or Wasteland, Baby by Hozier, for different reasons but also kind of not (he wants to be loved)

Also, Nico and Dionysus being buddies! Nico jokingly says he'll host a bacchanal if Dionysus excuses him from certain camp activities and that's how Nico and friends end up wearing togas around a campfire, all very hesitantly holding cups of wine they aren't actually going to drink. It is definitely not a bacchanal, it's just a bad toga party (barely) but Dionysus accepts it and decides Nico is a Good One.

(Yes I did very badly make this stupid meme that somebody has definitely made a variation of before)

This is definitely not a complete list of headcanons but it's what I've got so far!

[phantaloon-books]

Things about Tower of Nero that I want to highlight to remember them forever:

Lu being an absolute badass woman, I just love her too much

Piper McClean being canon wlw, she was actually kissing another girl, we really fell in love in october

Chaos being canonically female (just chaos being mentioned as a deity rather than what's below tartarus)

nobody DIED, like no one on the good side at least?? yes plenty of beings have died throughout TOA, but nobody died in TON?? so many died in TLO and BOO, I expected to mourn someone and I didn't have too??! it made me so happy

solangelo. that's it. solangelo makes me happy.

will being incredibly supportive of nico, and instead of stopping him, going with him on dangerous adventures because he doesn't want to leave him alone. also them treating Nico's PTSD for what it is

WILL SOLACE CANONICALLY GLOWS IN THE DARK. HE'S A GLOWSTICK BABY.

also will just appearing at the gates of the throne room, glowing in rage because someone touched his boyfriend (and tried to kill his dad), and him just marching through everyone (everyone else letting him), just to pick up his hurt precious boyfriend and take care of him.

meg McCaffrey got her happy ending. she's baby, she deserves her family and her happy ending. also Lu being the mother and the 12 children being siblings?? that's one hell of a way to tell nero to fuck off and right his mistakes. we love meg.

dionysus being the best olympian after apollo. the duo content we needed, and now will never get

nico mentioning bob and how he wants to go look for him, because he can still be in tartarus

rachel still being a Total badass and hitting people in the eye with her blue hairbrush thus being iconic

meg acting as lester's anchor and only reason why he didn't let go of the ledge, not falling into chaos, is top tier 'reasons why I cried reading', because if you think about it, Meg is the first ever friend apollo ever had, and them being best friends is everything to me

also apollo choosing to go looking as lester rather than apollo because lester feels like home is on top tier 'reasons why I cried reading' too

again, the only thing apollo did in the end (once he was god again) that could be described as 'godly' was be in several places at once, fly his chariot, and get meg her unicorn

but apollo shooting fucking fire out of his hands is crazy asf, it was so cool. he really got amazing godly powers this book.

rick being bold enough to showcase abusive parenting knowing that a huge porcentage of his readers are minors, helping many realize that they could be in abusive households, and giving them a tool to reach out for help

apollo defeating nero was so satisfactory, because you realize in the end, that nero wasn't really a monster, he was monstrous, but still very much human (if only with some godly power), and pretty useless once he couldn't hide behind props and weapons, his being wasn't powerful, he was just under layers of protection

the jackson/blofis scene was so warm and loving, they really are willing to put their family in danger, baby estelle in danger, to help 'percy's friends' even tho she knew percy didn't like apollo, but she still takes in everyone who needs help, and paul being a loving and accepting husband

sally working on her SECOND novel, she really is having her best life

none of the big heroes from other series having protagonism, besides nico and will, instead giving the other kids from camp halfblood their chance to show they're just as worthy as the "heroes of olympus"

(still I would have loved to see a scene with everyone else, like the heroes of olympus guys, fighting together one last time, just for nostalgia's sake - I legit hoped to see percy and annabeth arriving with chiron in triumvirate tower, but yeah)

the arrow of dodona may have been a dumb, cringey, and slightly ridiculous thing at first, and I personally rolled my eyes everytime it said anything, but it knew what would happen from the start, and without its sacrifice, apollo would have achieved nothing. we stan one arrow

nico wearing a white cowboy hat. idky but it makes my heart swell with joy. he a gay cowboy

y'all know I love Apollo's arch, and I just gotta point this out. his trials, his time as lester, started with him falling to earth, and ended with him getting up after purposely throwing himself off the earth, towards tartarus, almost falling to chaos. that's really clever writing.

the olympians watching over him, and some actually being concerned for him rather than his progress.

poseidon not really giving a fuck about the world or council meetings anymore because percy's not there anymore

athena being the only one apart from artemis who trusted apollo could do it makes me warm fsr

lester deciding that the best way to retell his adventures is by singing is hilarious to me, he really thinks it'll solve everything

Grover not telling percy and annabeth jason died seems so funny to me, he really said "nah it doesn't matter much, field trip, yes"

"hey man" my heart broke in twenty million pieces. like I don't know where I expected to see jason. but that wasn't it. and it hurt me as much as it hurt apollo man.

(also I kinda hoped we would see nico summon his spirit or smth, but I'm actually happy nico realized that jason went by his own choice, and he was in peace, so he decided not to summon him, because it was alright. that hurt too)

kinda love how lester passes out after literally every battle. it reminds you that even tho he's apollo, his body isn't. I'm sure we all would pass out too if we did a quarter of what lester did in the span of 4 days. his body isn't made to endure that, it doesn't even have a halfblood endurance, it's a weak mortal body

the trogs were fucking hilarious. their screeches and grrs, idk there's something ridiculous and so childish about them, it's so fun

really happy that apollo never had a /real/ love interest (reyna doesn't count), cause that wasn't what his story was about. instead he got to make so many friends, and have quality time with them and his children, it's amazing

apollo being thankful people were telling him he'd grown, and was more human, because he realized that was the best thing he could have learned from his time as a mortal

also him saying fuck you man to zeus and his speech, like "no asshole dad, I did learn, I'm not going to see this as punishment, it was a great time in which bad things happened but I enjoyed it." yes, we love apollo not letting zeus win

getting to see what everyone will do now. nico and will figuring out rachel's prophecy, probs saving bob. rachel living her best life away from her parents. leo doing what leo does, always helping those who have no one else. the hunters' open storyline about this fox, possibly hinting at content? piper settling down in a quiet life is what she deserves tbh, she's earned quiet life with a cute gf, wish her the best. Frank and hazel being the best praetors, and I bet they will continue to be so. And annabeth and percy, who chose their happiness over all, at last

kinda wish we got to see someone still really miss jason after apollo becomes god again tho lmao like apollo missed jason more than the others, nico and piper being the exception. I mean, leo is fine and dandy, hazel and frank are okay, percy and annabeth are done mourning... I just we got to see any of them really mourning, rather than reading they mourned. it would have made it feel more emotional

the last conversation and the last words in general. "the sun always comes back" and "we're friends now. call on me. I'll be there for you" that shit got me sobbing my heart out. rick really managed to do right by the books and end it like he should have, unlike BOO. he took what made TLO good and used a similar formula. it's very different from "and for once I didn't look back", but it still fills you with warmth and the feeling that even though it's over, it's okay.

I'm just really emotional, this is all I can think about, but you bet I'm gonna add more when I remember