#just annabeth and rachel becoming the best of friends

[demigods-posts]

in my head, percy and annabeth and rachel are in a polyamorous relationship, and percy sometimes cries at how cute his girlfriend and best friend are together.

[cynthiav06]

I can Almost imagine how Impressive you have to be To Pull THE percy Jackson. Like pulling any Demi-God is great but PERCY?!? The son of posiden?!? THE SAVIOR of Olympus?!?

I headcanon that Percy is really just out of Anyone's League And You gotta be Pretty damn Special to be able to Pull him

Like imagine Fumbling him or breaking his heart

THIS IS HOW IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN.

Like come on Rick you are telling me Percy the greatest demigod of all time Jackson has to be paired up with someone who has nothing in common with him, frequently condescends him, literally forces her own views on him, hates his father, has a mother who tried to kill Percy, is controlling and toxically possessive of him and most importantly someone who has completely different life goals than him?? It doesn't even make sense when you look at it rationally.

I think Rick himself was trying to put Percy down in post Son of Neptune books by making his personality all about Annabeth.

We are talking about the Savior of Olympus, the bearer of Achilles Curse, the strongest demigod, the man who denied immortality from the King of Gods, Poseidon's favorite son, the only demigod to have been approached by other Pantheons first and well respected among their demigod equivalents, the only male demigod to have respect of Artemis, only one to be favored by so many Gods on the Olympian Council and that's only pre-Heroes of Olympus.

The Survivor of Tartarus, the demigod whose blood even Gaia wanted to wake to due to his power, the first and only Greek to be made a Praetor and now two times savior of Olympus. This is all without mentioning his singular and unique feats, and he has many.

AND THIS IS WHAT RICK DOES WITH HIS CHARACTER ARC????

Had Rick not been so obsessed with shoving Percabeth down our throats, he could have totally made Seafam Arc, and all our fics would have not been fics. We wouldn't even have needed headcanons for seafam cause Amphitrite and Triton and all of Atlantis would have absolutely loved him cause come on, it's Percy. It's impossible not to love him. So let's assume that's exactly what happened.

So the whole of Atlantis, Seafam, and most of the Olympian Gods love Percy and not to mention Sally and Paul, who are also very protective of Percy.

The new Lord of the Wild is his best friend, The Lieutenant of Artemis is his other best friend and cousin, both the children of Hades/Pluto are his best friends/cousins, the only other demigod to be blessed by Poseidon with a rare gift is also his very close friend not to mention other members of the Seven also respect him greatly and owe him quite a bit.

Hestia, Apollo, Hermes, Aphrodite, Artemis,Hades, Hepheastus, and even Dionysus and River gods either openly favor him or have much respect for him. (Poseidon and the Seafam are implied, Bob and Damasen as well).

This isn't even taking into account all the pegasi and nymphs and sea creatures who love him and that he has a literal hell hound.

Percy not only has friends in high places and the favor of literal gods on top of being Poseidon's favorite son as told by Poseidon himself, all the people with special abilities are all close friends with him.

In Riordanverse, Percy is like the only person you don't want to cross like ever.

So you know logically if anyone needs an explanation as to why Annabeth isn't a good match for him and someone like Rachel would have fit much better. A mortal blessed with sight much like his Mother later turned Oracle of Delphi, the girl who saved his life in literally the very first two encounters they have, a girl under protection of Olympians and blessed by Apollo?

Apollo could have definitely waived the celibacy rule as there have been mentions of married women later becoming oracles in Greek mythology( May Castellan too if you count the books) and that the rule is only to prove devotion to the God nothing more. And if Apollo can't, then Delphi, who is a spirit older than Gods themselves, could just change allegiances. She once belonged to Poseidons' domain, so there's that.

But since I am biased in favor of Rachel, literally any other ship but Percabeth would have been logical and fitting and better off compatibility wise.

[modawg]

random things that happened in my mind or what i like to call the MPJU (the Mo Percy Jackson Universe)

percy was pulled out of t-town (tartarus) by gaea or was in someway taken by her like how nico was except she actually used him as a pawn like she kept saying he was and made him fight against the demigods in the war (probably had him possessed again)

^power of love and friendship saved him and he got off with only killing a couple ppl and probably forever changed as a person

the seven become actual fr friends/found family post war and put in real effort into becoming bffs

nico and percy talk it out (emotional)

annabeth has a full range of emotions and uses them !!

rachel calls/called percy “blue” while percy called her “red”

charlie and selina read out their college acceptance letters to camp at the campfire or read the emails out loud to a big ass group of kids all crammed into that small computer room (many tears were shed)

chb has many MANY cabin parties

chb = stoners cj = alcoholics

percabeth are the biggest simps for eachother (this is cannon) but i like to think/write from annabeths pov and i like to think she’s the FATTEST percy simp in the most conscious and accepted way possible “damn, there goes percy setting the bar even higher. god he’s so gorgeous.”

piper and jason either never dated or it was a mutual break up and are besties 4 life bc jason is literally out there living his best life \ (^o^) /

idk why the only way women can live is by devoting themselves to a goddess and becoming immortal or whatever but reyna didn’t do that and is also just besties with nico and her sister living her best life bc how did nico’s only other older woman in his life also join the huntresses CRAZY

ok these are all the ones i can think of rn i’ll add more later if i have any

[alnair-jpg]

Olympics AU Info dump!

First, I am blown away by how much love the series is getting, thank you all so much! I do really enjoy all the comments and reactions in the tags. Know that they all delight me and the only reason I don’t reply to everything is because there are so many! But I read them all 💕

General questions:

Can you draw the designs or concepts? Write fanfic in this AU?

Yes of course! I’d love for you to tag me if you post them so I can see

Do they all know each other?

At first, I would say no- with the exception of Nico and Will (they’re developing a whole backstory in my head that I cannot and will not stop.). But they all meet in the Olympic Village after the opening ceremonies and quickly become friends. They all try their best to attend each other’s events. (Someone please tell me how Percabeth becomes a thing. Please. 🙏 )

Why didn’t Percy win gold?

Percy was an Olympic medalist in swimming before moving to diving. After competing in several swimming events and feeling like they were all just small variations of the same thing, he wanted more of a challenge. He chose diving to stay rooted in to the water, but to add a new dimension to his bodily awareness and control.

What’s Annabeth and Luke’s rivalry?

They most definitely trained together, and it was Luke’s skill that motivated Annabeth to aim for the Olympics. But, she wanted to compete for her home country, Greece, which Luke thought was just a shortcut since there was a clearer path to an Olympic team in a smaller country. Annabeth is constantly trying to prove to him that she would have made it to the top of the sport either way.

Also, apologies to the IRL fencers out there for the inconsistency. I know fencing is a gendered sport, and Annabeth’s gear/style are inconsistent, please forgive the oversight ☺️🫶

Volleyball?

The whole Hunters of Artemis are a volleyball team (that apparently has no country 😅). Thalia ends up the captain. When Reyna moves on from tennis they welcome her with open arms.

Rejected sports

Will as a runner. Canonically, he’s super fast, but just having him as a sprinter didn’t fit with his personality.

Will as a pole vaulter. Specifically the guy that lost because he was ‘blessed a little too much’ and knocked down the bar. I will not explain further.

Will as a gymnast. He was this || close to being a gymnast essentially modeled after Steven Nedoroscik, I had the sketch and everything. (I shared it here!) But when an anyonomous ask clued me into the sick medical team uniforms it all fell into place from there. (Thank you no-longer-anon @helyeahmangocheese !)

Percy in anything equestrian related. I see him not having the patience for all the formality of it all, but he definitely crashes Hazel’s shows and chats up all the competition (the horses.)

Annabeth on a sailing team. Also, related to that, Reyna on a sailing team. It was a fun idea, especially for Reyna and her history with pirates but ultimately it was really hard to capture in a few illustrations.

Nico in several winter sports. For consistency mostly. He could fit for a lot of winter sports - ice skating and snowboarding are my personal favorites.

Leo as a shooter. He would most definitely build his own gear and make tweaks to his weapon. Which would get him immediately disqualified.

Jason in discus. Jason as a basketball player. Golf is just… fitting. 😂

Other Characters I’ve been thinking about

(that may have art in the works… and may not actually be athletes!)

Clarisse

Meg

Grover

Rachel

Lester / Apollo

Mr. D

Chiron

[thaliagracesgf]

i hail a cab with a goat, and make some questionable decisions at a party

next

author’s note: i want to make it, like, really, really, clear that this is not a fic glorifying sa or being a victim. what the reader goes through here is a horrible experience, one that’s happened to me and countless other women (and other people!!). this fic is for anyone who, in the words of rachel sennot in bottoms, has been “gray-area-d,” and felt completely lost afterwards, not knowing how to feel or what to think. this is one example of how you deserved to have been treated, and i’m sorry if this or something similar wasn’t your experience. 

content warnings: sexual assault (not graphic and not by luke! r is sort of tied down and has their shorts undone), violence (luke is not happy about this situation), alcohol (r is drunk), talking about it afterwards?, talking about monsters (on a regular pjo level), swearing. 

word count: 6.6k. i had a lot to say. so sorry.

this is the first fic i have written in a while, i hope you enjoy it!

⭑

seven a.m. in the camp half-blood dining pavilion saw the same faces every morning. you, silena beauregard, clarisse larue, and annabeth chase. your little group of friends spanned six years, at seventeen, fourteen, thirteen, and eleven, and your best friend, who had been off at college all year, made it eight. 

you didn’t remember becoming friends with silena and clarisse, although you figured hannah, your best friend and silena’s older half-sister, must have introduced you, and clarisse came along with her. 

you had met annabeth and hannah when you were just thirteen, when you had followed a friend to connecticut in the middle of pre-algebra. 

“do you understand any of this?” you whispered to grover. he gave you a look as if he had never seen a fraction before last week, and you sighed. your teacher, a kind old woman named ms. lucy, gave you a look. when she gave the class a new problem to work through, she came and knelt by your desk, looking over your shoulder at what you had managed so far. which was a whole lot of nothing, unless you included a sketch of grover that would make picasso proud. you shrunk sheepishly in your chair. 

you looked to your right, as if trying to see how bad it really was compared to your model, but he was gone. you turned back to ms. lucy. 

“did you see grover leave?” 

“hmm?”

“grover. did he go to the bathroom?”

“i assume so, dear. if you convert the decimal—" but grover’s things were gone. you felt terrible. you knew you were a terrible student, and ms. lucy was so kind to you anyways, but it wasn’t like grover to walk out of class like that. he was terrified of authority.

“i have to go,” you mumbled to ms. lucy, throwing your things in your bag and slinging it over your shoulder. “stomachache.” 

she looked genuinely concerned. “would you like me to let the nurses know you’re coming?”

“no… no. that’s okay.” and you ran out the door. 

it wasn’t too hard to find grover. he was sitting in an empty classroom just a few doors down, but what was weirder was that he was watching a video on the projector. weirder still, he was talking to it. you knew it was rude to eavesdrop. it didn’t stop you from doing it. 

“chiron, i can’t just leave. she’s here, and she’s in danger. she needs a protector. anything could come for her at any moment—" was he talking about you? 

a deep voice over the projector, whose face you could hardly make out through the low-quality image, answered: “i will inform her mother and she will go home. she will stay there until we can send gleeson to collect her and—"

“why can’t you send gleeson for these kids?” 

“he’s too far, it would take him a day at least to reach them. i already told you, this was a request from hermes himself. he wants his son and his friends collected as soon as possible, and—" 

who the hell was gleeson? and hermes… who names their kid after a greek god? at least choose one with a better name than hermes. it sounded like a disease. your mother had named your brother after some greek hero, but he didn’t go by it. and at least it was, like, a human name. 

“he’s the god of travelers.” you were starting to worry that grover might be on drugs. what on earth had they put in those enchiladas at lunch? “can’t he get him, like, a car? a day could be too long for—"

“grover.” the voice boomed. that shut him up. “you will go. you will escort the son of hermes, the daughter of athena, and the daughter of zeus to camp, and then you may return to the city. this is not up for discussion.” you were really starting to think that the booming voice might have been two booming voices, but the door was closed and the audio was already crackly, so you decided it didn’t really matter. 

you heard grover’s voice say, “alright,” defeated and almost mournful, and then the message cut off. your eyes widened as you realized that grover would probably step outside any second, and you would have no excuse as to what you were doing with your ear to the wall. you turned slowly, and winced as your shoe squeaked on the linoleum floor. you started speedwalking. no sense in trying to hide anymore, you were just interested in getting as far away as possible before-

“oh, gods.” grover’s voice echoed between cinder block walls and metal lockers. “how much did you hear?”

you turned, your fingers nervously twisting the straps of your backpack. “i mean. not everything. just. you know.”

“almost everything?”

“yeah.”

“this is not good. this is really not good.” grover wasn’t talking to you anymore. he was pacing the short ways of the corridor, head in his hands, muttering to himself. “my first mission and i’ve already messed it up completely.” 

“how could you have messed it up completely? you haven’t even met these kids yet.”

“oh, gods,” grover groaned.

“woah, dude. are you like, hindu or something?”

“what?”

“you said gods. plural. i read this book—"

“okay,” grover interrupted. “you need to go home.” 

“okay. that was rude. also, it’s like the middle of the day. my mom’s at work and my stepdad will kill me if i come home early.”

“your stepfather. perfect. just climb in the back window of your room, and when your mom gets home, tell her that chiron says you need to go to camp immediately.”

“what? what the hell are you talking about? who— is that who you were talking to on the phone?”

“what?”

“the phone call. the one you were mad at me for overhearing…”

“okay. first of all, that was not overhearing, that was eavesdropping. second of all, i’m not mad. this just complicates things slightly. third of all—"

“dude, you need to—" grover glared at me, and i shut up. 

“third of all,” he repeated, “that wasn’t a phone call. it was an iris message.”

“a what?”

“nevermind. not important. ask about it at camp.”

“why do you keep talking about a camp? i haven’t been to camp since music camp in second grade, and they don’t want me back. i was really, really, bad at the recorder.”

“you played the recorder?” grover looked suddenly very interested. “nevermind. you need to go home.”

“dude. i’m telling you, i. can’t.” 

“you have to—"

“take me to connecticut,” you suggested. 

“what?”

“isn’t that where you’re running off to?”

“you can’t come to connecticut with me—"

“why not? you seemed pretty adamant on the phone—"

“iris message”

“that you needed to be with ‘her’. based on how insanely you have freaked out, i’m guessing that was me. so take me with you.”

“i know you have no idea what is going on right now—"

“thank you for finally acknowledging that important part of this conversation.”

“- but taking you to connecticut would be an astronomically bad idea. like i-would-get-fired kind of bad idea.”

“you’re twelve. how on earth would you get fired? child labor laws are—"

“i’m nineteen.” 

you laughed at that one. “yeah, sure.” 

grover rolled his eyes. “look, i really, really, wish i could explain more, but i need to go. and i really, really need you to go home.”

“ok.”

“like really, really need you to listen—" he paused. “okay? great!”

“if it means that much to you, i’ll go home.” grover sighed with relief. 

he was eating his words. and a tin can he had picked up off the street. you had followed him out of the building, watched him call a cab, and then, at the last second, jumped in after him, slammed the door, and told the driver to drive before grover could figure out what was going on. 

after your initial panic, when you realized you were hurtling up fifth avenue at three-hundred miles per hour with three old ladies behind the wheel, you had straightened yourself out, and made grover explain everything. he had, reluctantly, when he came to terms with the fact that you were in too deep to back out now.  

he explained camp, the greek (not hindu) gods, and the ladies in the front (who had one eye between them) were very helpful about filling in the details. so, so many details. he explained that he didn’t know who your parent was, just that you were powerful, and that he was planning on asking your mom before everything went up in flames.  

he explained that he was going to connecticut to escort three (now four) demigods to camp half-blood, and that they would likely be tailed by monsters the entire way back. four demigods as powerful as you, and one forbidden child — a child of zeus, poseidon, or hades, as he had mentioned — would attract a lot of attention. 

and you did. it took you a month to get to camp after you found thalia, luke, and annabeth, constantly being thrown off course by monsters, over which you got to know them better than any friends you’d had in your life (with the exception of maybe grover and your little brother). your mother was worried sick, but you iris-messaged her (grover finally got through on that one) every so often, letting her know you were okay. she was surprisingly understanding about camp. she apologized that she hadn’t been the one to take you herself, and that she had been forced to hide the truth from you for so long. the calls always ended though, when she tried to tell you who your father was. the water would shut off suddenly, the rainbow disappearing along with your mother, so you learned to avoid the topic if you wanted to continue talking. 

when thalia died, you were in shock. you sat at the edge of long island sound at camp for three days, staring into the ocean. you didn’t speak, even when you were claimed, as you sat, by your father, poseidon, and shuffled your things from the hermes cabin into cabin three. it was just another loss — you could no longer sleep in the bed next to luke’s. there were no familiar faces in cabin three — no faces at all. you were completely alone. 

eventually, an older aphrodite girl came by the cabin. she introduced herself as hannah, and she showed you around camp, forced you to sit with her and her siblings at dinner, dealing with chiron and mr. d’s disgruntlement herself, and at the campfire. she dragged you to the center of the amphitheater, dancing slowly at first, and then faster, until you were laughing and finding luke and annabeth in the crowd and dragging them to dance as well. 

you missed hannah so much. she wasn’t that far, a first year at barnard this fall, where you would hopefully be in a couple of years. you weren’t ready for college yet, you thought, so you would take a gap year (though you hadn’t been in school for years) and stay at camp, while chiron would help you convince the admissions committee (using the mist) that you had a perfect gpa, excellent extracurricular activities, and a stellar recommendation letter from a highly admired ancient greek scholar by the name of professor c. brunner.  

sitting at breakfast with you was probably miserable, you could admit. you were counting down the days until hannah came back, and your friends were definitely tired of it. but for some reason, this morning silena was practically jumping up and down with something. 

“will you stop?” you asked. “you’re shaking the entire table.” 

“i can’t, i’m sorry.” she seemed sincere in her apology. “i just— oh, you’ll see.”

you didn’t see, in fact, as someone jumped out from behind you and wrapped their arms around your head, their sweatshirt covering your eyes. “who—" you started, before you got a whiff of lavender-vanilla perfume and jumped up from the table. 

hannah. you shrieked, probably waking up half the camp. you spun around and tackled her to the ground, hugging her so tightly you would probably cut off her circulation. 

she pushed you off, laughing, and got to her feet. “it’s good to see you too, babe. what’s up with all of you? you never call, i feel like i’ve been completely cut off.” (you had iris-messaged her last week for five hours). 

“your sister is still absolutely obsessed with beckendorf,” you said, sitting down.

“hey!” silena protested.

“but of course he has no idea that he likes her.” silena turned pink. “no one here is good enough for annabeth, obviously—"

“i never said that, clarisse doesn’t let any boys near me.” you stick your tongue out at her. 

“i don’t know what you’re talking about,” clarisse said, feigning obliviousness. “you hang out with luke all the time.”

“he’s always hanging out with that new kid.” she grumbled. “or—"

“speaking of, clarisse definitely thinks this hermes boy is so cute— you haven’t met him, he got here a few months ago, but his name is chris, and i think they would be so cute together. she’s out of everyone’s league, obviously, but if anyone would be good for her—" 

“gods, you would think you’re the aphrodite kid, listening to you.” hannah smiled. she stole a bite of your french toast. 

“i’m just excited to see you,” you said, laying your head on her shoulder. silena and clarisse smirked. 

“she’s leaving somebody out here,” silena said, smiling. 

“i know, it’s weird, she never shuts up about him otherwise,” clarisse added, narrowing her eyes at you teasingly. 

“oh, who could you possibly be talking about?” hannah twirled a piece of hair. she hasn’t even been here, but one doesn’t forget their best friend’s crush of four years in a few months. 

“i do not,” you protested meekly. 

“you knew who we were talking about, though” 

“i spend a lot of time with him, that’s all. there would be a gaping hole if i told you about my day and didn’t bring him up.”

“would you stop pretending as if you aren’t in love with each other, please?” annabeth interrupted. “you’re worse than them, at least they can admit it.” she gestured at clarisse and silena. 

“i am not in love with him, annabeth.”

“you’re always starting at him.”

“i’m in conversation.”

“with your eyes. that is literally textbook romance.” 

“i could so admit if i was into him,” you say, cutting her off. “i admit things like that all the time. i told you i thought jack was cute. you know that kid from demeter?”

“we all know you made that up,” annabeth said, crossing her arms over her chest. silena gave her a light push. 

“don’t be so quick to accuse, annie.” only you and silena ever called her that. “i don’t think she made it up. i just don’t think she’s as into him as she is into him.”

“would you drop it, about luke, please?”

“hey, you said his name, not me,” silena smiled. “but sure. i don’t believe that you’re not into him, but i’ll drop it if you can prove that he isn’t into you.”

your heart sank. you weren’t sure why, but you suddenly felt nauseous at the thought. hannah’s hand rested on your knee, as if she could sense it. 

“how am i supposed to do that? i can’t read minds.” 

“hook up with jack at the campfire.”

“what?”

“flirt with him! you were just talking the other day about how you’re eighteen and you haven’t even had sex yet.” hannah covered annabeth’s ears, to which she shoved her off and glared. “jack’s, like, really hot. i saw you staring the other day.”

“when luke wasn’t around,” annabeth added, one eyebrow raised.

“you want me to have sex with jack?” 

“i’m not saying that. just flirt with him. see what happens. we’ll— she gestured between herself, clarisse, annabeth and hannah— see how luke is doing.” 

“okay, he isn’t going to be doing anything,” you said. “i don’t see what this accomplishes.” but even as you were saying it, your mind betrayed you. you thought for a second and conjured an image of strong arms holding you, soft lips kissing yours with the bonfire light in the background. maybe you were near the beach.

“we’ll see,” silena smiled. 

you didn’t want to go all the way, or anything. you knew that. but… jack was really hot. and sweet. he was always catching little kids falling off of obstacle courses with soft bushes, and growing them flower crowns. it couldn’t hurt to talk to him, see what happened. maybe he’d ask you out, or something. bring you flowers on a date. and you guessed you wouldn’t mind making out with him. 

the campfire roared in the middle of the amphitheater. the only people there were the older campers, and some counselors trickling back in from tucking kids into bed. you had helped luke with the hermes cabin, because he had so many kids to take care of, and you had none. 

you pulled the covers over katie, a girl a little younger than annabeth, who had gotten to camp a few months ago. she was still unclaimed, but with the way she spent all day in the strawberry fields, and the plants tended to shoot up around her, you were fairly sure where she belonged. 

you kissed the top of her head, and stood up, looking around the dark cabin for luke, seeing him kneeling beside a little boy, probably about the same age as katie. the boy sounded like he was crying. 

 “hey, connor,” luke whispered, rubbing circles on the kid’s back. “it’s okay. it’s okay. i get them too.” you realized that the boy must have been afraid to fall asleep. “travis is right above you, he’ll protect you, okay? nothing bad can happen to you here.”

he looked over at you, before turning back to connor. “and we can play poker tomorrow, you’re getting pretty good.”

“are you leaving?” the boy whispered, choking a bit on his tears.

“just for a little bit, kid. i’ll be back soon, i promise. i’ll be here when you wake up. i’m not going to leave you anytime soon.”

“okay,” the boy mumbled. luke pulled the covers over his shoulders, and ruffled his hair before turning to you. 

“let’s go,” he mouthed, gesturing at the door. the two of you crept outside, luke much more stealthily than you, closing the door silently. “god of thieves,” he shrugged, but he didn’t grin as he usually did when he bragged. you didn’t have to ask why, but you played along. 

“yeah, yeah, i know,” you said, rolling your eyes. “can we go now?”

“yeah, ‘course,” he said. he slung his arm over your shoulder, pulling you into him as you walked, and you couldn’t help but think of silena’s words as you rested your head on his chest.

arriving back at the campfire, you pulled yourself away from luke, walking over to hannah. she smirked at you, pulling you in for a hug. 

“you don’t have to do this, you know,” she said. 

“i know,” you replied. “i want to. he’s cute.” 

and he was, you thought, as he led you away from the campfire. you’d sat for an hour, letting the flames dance over your skin as you talked with him. he made you laugh, even blush when he grew a flower out of the stone to tuck behind your ear. when he grabbed your hand and pulled you to your feet, you felt dizzy, though that might have been the alcohol. 

as you walked further away from the amphitheater, you spun around in the grass, laughing, and he laughed with you. or at you? you couldn’t really tell, and you didn’t really care. you just wanted to kiss him. you didn’t notice that you weren’t heading near the cabins until he stopped in a little cove at the edge of the forest. 

“why are we here?” you asked, a little dazed. 

“come on,” he said. “you know why.” 

and then he was kissing you. it was messy, and made you kind of uncomfortable, but you told yourself to get over it. you couldn’t expect it to live up to the time luke had kissed you, on a dare, when you were thirteen. nothing would ever live up to that, because you couldn’t have him. he hadn’t even cared when you had left him at the party, talking up some girl you couldn’t really see on the other side of the fire.

you blinked, pulling away from jack. you hadn’t realized as you were thinking it, but you had admitted to yourself for the first time that yes: you did want luke. really, really, wanted him. you pushed back on jack lightly. 

“i’m sorry, i don’t think i can do this right now,” you mumbled, wiping your mouth on the sleeve of your hoodie — luke’s hoodie, that he had given you that night after he kissed you, when you were shivering outside, staring into space because you couldn’t understand what you were feeling. 

“come on, it’s fine,” jack replied, pulling you back into his arms. they weren’t like the arms you were picturing earlier. no, you could admit to yourself new that those had been luke’s. your mind was reeling— you knew that you couldn’t have him, that he would never like you like you liked him, but kissing jack felt wrong. not that you had really been kissing him back. 

“i want to go home,” you said, and you weren’t sure where you meant. back to the campfire, to luke and hannah, back to your cabin? maybe even back to your mom on the upper east side, who you missed every day but couldn’t live with during the year for the sake of your little brother, who was too young to know that he, too, was a son of poseidon. 

“really? you were flirting with me all night,” jack mumbled into your lips. “stay a little longer.” it was true, you had been flirting with him. you figured you could at least make out with him for a bit. you resigned, letting him lower you onto the grass, and reluctantly letting him run his hands along the hem of your shirt. 

hannah was getting worried, and luke could tell. he had forced himself off when you were clearly interested in that demeter guy, who luke knew and was friends with but suddenly hated with all his guts. he had forced himself to be interested in getting the details on silena and beckendorf, which he didn’t really realize he was getting to share with you later, resigning to glancing too often through the flames of the fire at your face, and the way the flames made you look like a goddess. no, he thought. you always looked like a goddess. 

but hannah, who had just arrived back at camp for the summer that morning, was biting her lip, and looking around with a bothered expression on her face, and luke had a horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach, that he needed to know you were safe immediately. 

he walked over to hannah, probably too quickly, and didn’t waste time asking how she was, or how college had been. “where is she?” he demanded, too forcefully. he would have to apologize to hannah later, but he only had one thing on his mind.“what’s wrong?”

“oh. hey, luke,” she said, still in a sort of trance. he snapped his finger away from her face, shaking his head.

“hannah? where is she?” 

she shook her head and widened her eyes. it was clear to luke that you had picked up that habit of staring out at nothing when you were deep in thought, usually not about pleasant things. “she’s with jack,” she said. “they left a little while ago. i just… i don’t know. i should go check that she’s back at her cabin by now.” 

“yeah, yeah we should,” luke grumbled, and started taking the steps out of the theater two at a time in an effort to get out. hannah followed— you had told him that his stress could be contagious. 

you weren’t in your cabin. you weren’t in the demeter cabin either, and the pair of them woke up a bunch of kids as you barged in, which he was sure mr. d would have a lot to say about in the morning, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. 

he ran across the basketball court, hannah close behind. 

“i have an idea of where they might be,” hannah said, pointing in the direction of the woods.

“how do you know?” 

“because i showed jack that spot when we were fourteen,” she said, grumbling. luke clearly wasn’t the only one who cared about you. 

“i thought you were gay?” luke questioned, not slowing down. 

“yeah. like i said, fourteen. people explore things, figure themselves out.” gods, she thought, men could be so incredibly stupid. 

they ran faster than ever to the edge of the woods, where sure enough, they found you, lying on a mossy stone with jack hovering over you. luke wanted to run to you immediately, but hannah held him back — no easy feat, but she managed. 

“hold on, romeo,” she strained. “you can’t just barge in there and—” then she heard it— the unmistakable sound of your voice, and the word stop.

“jack…” you mumbled. you were so drunk. you weren’t sure where you were anymore, and you didn’t really remember walking over here, though you knew you had. “jack, we can do this later, i’m tired—” 

“you’re fine, it’s fine,” he said quietly, starting to undo the zipper of your shorts. you reached down to stop him, but he pushed your hand away, and as it hit the stone, moss started growing over it, holding it there. 

“jack, stop it,” you said, more forcefully this time. you realized that he didn’t even know what he was doing, and for some reason that scared you more. he wasn’t doing it on purpose, but he wanted it— he wanted you held down, and he didn’t care that you didn’t. 

he shushed you, but looked up at a rustling in the trees, and a familiar grunt. 

luke broke out of hannah’s arms, but it didn’t really matter, because she had been letting him go anyways. he stormed across the clearing, and while you were still dazed and confused, you couldn’t miss the entirety of jack’s weight being ripped from on top of you, and you thought you saw a fist collide with his face. 

hannah, however, rushed to your side. she didn’t particularly want to see luke end up bloody and beaten in the infirmary, but she had bigger fish to fry right now: namely, you. she tore up the moss, no longer strong as jack’s focus was elsewhere, and redid your shorts for you. there were tears on your face as she pulled you to your feet. 

there was so much noise. jack was shouting at luke, but you couldn’t make out the words. you could hear the music and the gleeful sounds of counselors from the amphitheater, but it seemed worlds away from you. 

as hannah led you out of the woods, much faster than you could really manage, your head began to pound behind your eyes. a splitting pain hit your forehead, and your vision went black and spotty. you stumbled forward, relying entirely on hannah to keep you upright, but one stray tree root took you down. you swam between consciousness and a dark, dark sleep. there was screaming, it was hannah, and then the familiar deep voice of clarisse, barking orders. you thought you heard annabeth’s name, and then two strong sets of arms lifting you up, and carrying you away. 

you woke up at the bottom of the sea. no. that wasn’t right. the bottom of the sea was soft, covered in mud and sand. you tried to stretch your body, hitting plastic walls. as your eyes focused, you could make out cartoon fish swimming entirely too close to your face, and you sat up with a start, splashing water all over a corner of the infirmary. 

a kiddie pool. they had filled a kiddie pool with salt water, and left you in it overnight to soak, like one of those colorful dinosaur toys that grew in water. and the worst part was that it seemed to have worked. you felt brand new, like you had slept for a hundred years, and at the same time followed a very strict workout regimen, taken a juice cleanse and eaten like a king. you groaned, and slipped back under the water. 

you stared at the ceiling, watching wooden beams ripple with the surface of your personal ocean. you wondered if your father ever felt like this is in the pacific, if he could be that big if he wanted to. your camp necklace floated up before your face, crossing a familiar face lurking over you. 

you sat up. cara fletcher, hannah’s friend, held out some nectar. you shook your head. 

“i’m okay.”

she raised an eyebrow. 

“fine,” you sighed, taking the flask and drinking. it did help. you felt like you could take on the minotaur. 

“your friends were here all night,” she said. i kicked them out around ten because they were falling asleep on each other, and i didn’t need any more cracked skulls when they fell off the stools. 

“more?” you asked. she sighed, looking over her shoulder. 

“your boyfriend beat that kid up pretty bad last night,” she said. you didn’t see jack lying on any of the cots, but a head of dark curls lay a few beds down, and the body attached to it did not look to be in great shape.

“he’s not my boyfriend.” you answered quickly, not taking your eyes off of luke. “is he okay?”

cara seemed to make out which he’s you were referring to. “i wasn’t talking about him,” she said. “hannah told me what happened. if you ask me, luke didn’t do nearly enough damage.” 

“don’t tell him that,” you said. “and he’s also not my boyfriend,” you added as you processed her words fully. 

“not yet, he’s not.” hannah said, strolling in with three bagels in hand.

“i thought i told you to go to bed,” cara scolded, taking her bagel. “you’re going to drop dead one of these days.” hannah smiled, ignoring her as he sat down next to her and put her arm around her shoulders.

you glance between them, ideas churning in your mind, but they were quickly interrupted by the bagel being shoved in your face. you had always thought that the harpies must have spent some time in the city— they made a dam good bagel.  

“so.” hannah started. “you are going to tell us everything you’re thinking right now, because i see you looking over at him every two seconds, and don’t think you’re getting out of any of it.”

“i’m eating,” you grumbled. hannah reached to snatch the bagel away, but cara swatted her hand back. 

“she’s recovering.” you stuck your tongue out at hannah. 

“i don’t care,” hannah said. “spill.” 

“look, i don’t even know what happened last night—” 

“because you were really, really, drunk,” she interrupted. 

“do you want me to speak or not?” you demanded. 

“okay. fine. but just so you’re aware, he swooped in and defended you, and beat the shit out of that little asshole, who, just between us, mr. d is fucking fuming with.” trust hannah to get distracted two seconds in. demigod adhd was no joke. “he dragged him to the big house this morning himself, severe concussion and all, and according to lee, chewed him out for about an hour. something about the sanctity of drunkenness and how it is not to be weaponized… even chiron was surprised.” she paused for breath. 

“anyways, the point stands— he,” she nodded her head at luke, “was quite literally your knight in shining armor, and if you still don’t think he is absolutely enamored with you—” and you were pretty sure you heard a cot creak— “then i swear on my mother i will call her down and force her to do something about this because i cannot take it any longer.” 

“he was just being a good person, hannah,” you muttered. “he’s just like that.” 

hannah looked as though she were about to scream, but cara rubbed her hand along her thigh, calming her before she spoke herself. 

“there’s something more than that, isn’t there?” she asked softly, and you thought she was staring directly into your soul. “there’s a reason you don’t think he likes you.”

you hesitated, splashing the water around in your pool and making eye contact with a cartoon fish as you worked up the courage to say what it was you knew you had to get off your chest.

“before last night,” you started, your voice cracking as you spoke, “it was just me thinking i wasn’t pretty enough, or good enough for him. that he wouldn’t look at me because there are so many other girls at this camp who are obsessed with him. and i don't think i realized that i liked him either. but now…” a sob came from the back of your throat, and you looked up at hannah, tears streaking your red face. 

“why would he want me now?” you sobbed.

“hey. stop that,” hannah started. “what jack did to you wasn’t your fault, and everyone knows that.” she was trying to make you feel better, but the news that your pathetic love life was the talk of camp wasn’t exactly reassuring.

“it was, though,” you said quietly. “i led him on. i never told him no that strongly, and i was flirting with him all night. what reason did he have not to think… not to…” you were hyperventilating now, your words coming out in broken syllables. 

“i’m a fucking slut, and now everyone knows it,” you managed. you sank back into the water to slow your breathing, but tears still streamed down your face. 

“that’s bullshit,” came a voice from elsewhere in the infirmary. you could have thrown up then and there. you pulled yourself up by the walls of the kiddie pool, looking down the aisle as luke castellan limped towards you. his scarred eye was bruised and bloodshot, and he had a massive scrape running up his left arm, and that was just what you could see. the tears began to fall faster. 

“luke…” 

you were thirteen years old again, at the top of half-blood hill, holding grover upright. you were watching desperately as he stumbled upward, through the pouring rain, carrying a screaming little girl who was trying with all her might to run back and help her friend. all four of you were sobbing, exhausted and beaten. seeing them all like that was ten times more painful than the gash in your side. 

“that’s bullshit,” luke repeated. you got up from the pool and held his face in your hand, inspecting the bruise. you took the rest of the nectar cara had given you, holding it to his lips, but he pushed it away. “you’re not a slut,” he said. suddenly everything about your conversation came rushing back to you, and it hit you that you had just admitted to him that you were in love with him. 

you turned your head. hannah and cara were gone, slipped out the back door. you turned back to face luke, face red and tears pouring over your skin.

“that wasn’t your fault. you didn’t owe him anything. he‘s disgusting, and deserves to have his fucking dick cut off.” you laugh, despite everything. 

“i think mr. d may have actually taken care of that,” you whispered. 

“good.” you looked at him for a while. his eyes were so beautiful, a deep, deep, brown that reminds you of the otters that hung mysteriously around your upper east side apartment when you lived in the city.   

“why did you have to fight him?” you asked, reaching up to his face again. 

“you were in trouble,” he said. 

“luke.” the tears were threatening to fall again. “you could have seriously hurt yourself. i just… why? why not just pull him off of me?” you needed an answer. you needed to know why, why on earth he had put so much of himself in front of you, in front of jack’s fists.

he looked down at you, a pained expression on his face. “you know why,” he whispered. 

he looked down at your lips, and you shook your head softly. you looked down at your feet. you were so afraid, afraid that he wouldn’t be interested now that you didn’t want… that. from him. yet— that you considered looking up and letting him kiss you.

he shocked you when he wrapped his arms around you and held you close to him, holding the back of your head into the space between his chest and his shoulder. 

“okay,” he whispered. “that’s okay.” then, softer. “i love you.”

you couldn’t say it back. not yet, not now. but you held him tighter, holding on to him like he was the only thing stopping you from falling into tartarus. 

“i’ll be here forever,” he spoke into your hair. and you believed him. 

the hermes cabin hosted a movie night that night. you were watching the incredibles two, at a request from connor stoll, who was currently involved in an intense argument with annabeth over which installment was better.  

“i think i’m going to start calling you that,” luke whispered in your ear. “jack-jack.” you glared at him. “‘cause, you know, your last name’s jackson-” 

“yeah, dude, i got the joke,” you said. you rolled your eyes, nuzzling your head into his chest. you could stay like this for a while, you thought, and as you closed your eyes, you felt him press a kiss to your head — something you had told him was okay. you couldn’t wait to bring him home for a weekend. maybe annabeth, too. you couldn’t help but think she would get along great with your brother.

⭑

a/n: hello loves! i hope you enjoyed this, please please leave any feedback or anything, and let me know if you would like me to continue this story/write more of luke and the reader's past. i hope people enjoyed the little hints at percy! so excited for this reader and to explore all her relationships.

[1percychase]

Unpopular opinion: Nico's trauma is over rated

Okay so I'm not saying that it's not validated or anything, there's a reason it's over rated, but so many fans act like he's the only one and that no one else's trauma matters because Nico has it the worst. When did we start comparing literal trauma?? I think somebody we should look into more is honestly.. Percy. He's the main character and all, but it's almost like all the fans forgot how much he's gone through, which is CRAZY to me. Anyways I have a list cause I love making list and yeah.

1. Getting abused by his step dad, which made him feel worthless and like he didn't matter.

2. Everyone bullying him.

3. The only person who ever seemed to care about him, his mom, disappeared.

4. Getting punished bc of his father.

5. Getting accused of stealing something and getting sent on a quest at TWELVE.

6. His first friend at camp betrayed him, which gave him trust issues.

7. His best friend getting kidnapped.

8. Getting turned into a guinea pig, which actually gave him a phobia over.

9. Having suicidal thoughts while only being THIRTEEN.

10. Never thinking he is enough.

11. His other best friend being kidnapped.

12. Watching Bianica sacrifice herself after he tried to stop her.

13. Holding up the literal sky while also being injured.

14. Being blamed for Bianica's death (and believing it.)

15. Finding out Nico is a child of Hades and deciding to protect him against the Prophecy even if he hated him.

16. Annabeth mad at him bc Rachel likes him, even though he can't control that.

17. Getting lost and separated in the Labyrinth.

18. Watching Pan fade out of existence.

19. Watching Bekendorf explode on a boat.

20. Being the Demigod of the Prophecy.

21. Fighting a war on his birthday, the battle of Manhattan.

22. Watching so many people die in front of his eyes, knowing he couldn't save them.

23. Silena betraying him and the camp (I don't think she was a bad guy at the end but yea.)

24. Feeling guilty that Luke committed suicide and blaming himself when it isn't his fault (idk how true this one is but I've seen it so..)

25. Being kidnapped and all his memory taken away.

26. (This one is kinda a joke) Watching Octavian kill his pillow pet.. rip perry the panda pillow pet.

27. Being in another Prophecy of the seven.

28. Being afraid of drowning, while also being a child of Poseidian.

29. Falling into Tarturus with Annabeth.

30. Going completely psycho and mad.

31. Leaving Bob it Tarturus and feeling super guilty about it.

32. Making Gaia rise with a nosebleed.

33. Fighting in the battle of camp half blood.

34. Thinking Leo died.

35. Finally thinking he has a break and getting asked to help Apollo.

36. Becoming an older brother. (it's not like physical trauma but I'll explain it later)*

37. Jason's death.

38. Going on more quest to get college recommendation letters.

*okay so becoming an older brother was on this list because even if he was so happy to get a half sibling, he's been an only child for a long time and it's hard to accept new people in your life. Also older brother duties. Even if he was just leaving the house when she was a couple months old, I still put it on there bc many people can count it as one. Also I'm the oldest out of 6 kids growing up so I would count it lol*

And people still have the audacity to say percy was too much of a jerk in heroes of olympus, please. I would act the same way.

Anyways I actually have a list of a lot of different characters traumas cause I got bored one night so I might post them <3

[freddie-77-ao3]

Riordanverse Characters As EPIC Lyrics

"I no longer dream, only nightmares of those who've died" is Clarisse after manhattan

"Whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from the heart" is Silena in general

"No matter the place, we can light up the world" is Lee and Luke, when they're dreaming of college right before Luke betrays them

"Time... I've unlocked it, I see past and future running free" is Rachel before manhattan, she sees all sorts of visions and doesn't know what's going on, just knows that it isn't happening now

"There is a world where I help you get home, but that's not a world I know" is Leo to Jason. If only he'd made it back just a bit sooner-- maybe jason wouldn't be dead

"A man who gets to make it home alive, but it's no longer you" is drew returning to camp after manhattan, and at the start of this war she was happy and bright, and now she's unrecognizable.

"I'm the only one who's line I haven't crossed"

"What if I'm the one who killed you, every time I caved to guilt"

"What if I've been far to kind to foes but a monster to ourselves"

"Learn to be colder when she got older, and now she saves them the pain" Drew refusing to let aphrodite kids fight. if people don't remember they CAN fight, they won't make them fight. if they're kept out of the worst of the battles... well. drew will have protected them in the way she can.

"Does he throw away his remorse and save more lives with guile"

"Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves" that's a general drew and malcolm idea that connor is opposed to but can't get through to them on

"i must become the monster, and then we'll make it home" percy in house of hades (especially with ahklys)

"I have something that I must confess, something that I must get off my chest, until it is said I cannot rest" silena, trying to tell clarisse she's the spy, before she resorts to the drastic pulling a patroclus

"No, i'm not a player, I'm a puppeteer" Drew Tanaka in general. like she won't fight. she'll watch from the sidelines, manipulate people into doing things, but she doesn't want to get her hands dirty again.

"Of course I'd like to leave now, of course I'd like to run, but I can hardly sleep now, knowing everything we've done" Connor, refusing to run away with Malcolm and Drew the night before a big battle (you choose if it's manhattan, the BOO, or a trials of apollo battle)

"Wouldn't you like a taste of the power, wouldn't you like to use more than words?" some new camper trying to convince drew to fight (and then promptly getting stabbed, because drew CAN fight, she just prefers charmspeak)

"I've got people to protect... so I'm not taking chances" silena on why she chose to join luke. like yeah she was groomed but she also honestly thought it would protect those closest to her.

"i still believe in goodness, I still believe that we could be kind" connor, trying to reason with malcolm, drew, or clarisse in war counsel (about the romans specifically)

"you are reckless, sentimental at best" ares to clarisse about her fighting in manhattan (her loved ones' deaths were the things motivating her and she told kronos to fight her so)

"I know what I'm fighting for, while you're fighting to be known" malcolm to annabeth in an argument early on.

"what good would killing do, when mercy is a skill, more of this world could learn to use?" connor again, probably about the romans.

"the blood we shed, it never dries, is this what it means to be a warrior" sherman praying to his father, (he was so paralyzed by guilt after the battle of manhattan he would have nightmares about being covered in blood again and just throw up), (this is when he loses faith)

"this life is amazing when you greet it with open arms, whatever we face, we'll be fine if we're leading from the heart"

"i'd like to show my friend that kindness is brave" silena about clarisse

"Have you forgotten to turn off your heart?" clarisse to silena

bolded are chb in general

[posallys]

okay so i'm in the process of rereading pjo and i just got to botl and i want to talk about my girl annabeth. i feel like a good majority of the fandom mischaracterization of annabeth comes from botl, specifically because she was rude to rachel throughout the book, and then everyone just assumed that because she wasn't nice to rachel she must be a bitch inherently, on top of being this fucking emotionless shell of a person, which is wild to me because i don't know how her being rude to one (1) girl automatically discredits everything she's done in the past three books. i feel like it stems from a complete misunderstanding of why she was rude to rachel. let's make this clear: she wasn't rude to rachel because rachel was a potential love interest; she was rude to rachel because she was scared.

everyone she's ever loved has been taken from her in some way: her mom being absent because she's a goddess and not really wanting anything to do with annabeth; her feeling like her dad and stepmom didn't want her around (losing her real family); thalia, her found sister, sacrificing her life to save annabeth, and then leaving her again to join the hunters; luke betraying the camp, but more importantly betraying annabeth on a much deeper level because he was her only family. he promised her that he would be there for her, no matter what, and then he leaves her, just like everyone else. even grover left her, in a way, because he went out to search for pan and wasn't around. the only close person who hasn't left her at the point of botl? percy.

but she knows about the prophecy at that point, so she's spent the better part of three years resigning herself to the fact that her best friend is going to die when he turns sixteen and there's absolutely nothing she can do to stop that. she's spent the better part of three years trying not to fall in love with him because it would only hurt worse when the time comes. if i had to bet on it, the reason she was thinking about joining the hunters in ttc is because if she isn't around him (and also can't because she's a hunter), she won't become more attached to him than she already is. if she separated herself from him, it would hurt less. except here's the thing: by that point, she couldn't make herself do that. she couldn't make herself willingly give up percy yet, because it might not have been him. if i had to guess, when thalia came back, annabeth stopped worrying about percy dying---just for a little while---because she thought that thalia was going to be the child of the prophecy after all. so when thalia became a hunter, she was mentally prepared to lose thalia again. but that means that every fear she had about percy being the prophecy kid before thalia came back to life resurfaced full force, and now suddenly annabeth has a year and a half left with him when she thought that she might have longer. so despite the thought of her joining the hunters to prevent herself from getting too attached, she hadn't metnally come to the point where she was ready to give up the small hope that he would live.

which bring us now to botl. like i said, i'm just now rereading the book (and i'm only on chapter 1 but i started thinking about annabeth and here i am). annabeth is mean to rachel because she's terrified of losing percy too soon. sure, at this point she knows the prophecy is his, she knows come next summer she probably won't have him anymore---but that's just it: next summer. she's preparing herself to lose him in a year, not immediately. so when someone comes along that presents a way for her to lose percy, of course she gets scared, and she gets defensive about it. it's not even the fact that rachel was a potential love interest, it's more so the fact that rachel was a mortal, and not part of their world. if percy was with rachel, there's a good chance he'd try to leave the magical world behind, and, more importantly, leave annabeth behind, which she wasn't ready for yet.

hell, that's exactly what ended up happening in the beginning of tlo! annabeth wasn't upset because he was spending time with rachel, she was upset because he was spending time in the mortal world rather than her world and, in her mind because of all of her past experiences being abandoned, that translates to "percy is leaving her," and it was way earlier than she thought, and she wasn't ready. so what does she do? she tries to protect herself. she puts walls up and tries to act cold and distant because she's coming to terms with the fact that she's already lost him. she's already lost him.

and like, was she jealous of the fact that rachel was a love interest? probably, yeah. but i think it's also just important to know that there's something way deeper to it. annabeth isn't being a bitch for the sake of being a bitch, and she's not just jealous of rachel because she was a girl that liked percy. she was upset because he was getting further and further away right in front of her. he was leaving way quicker than she was prepared for, so a lot of the stuff she said to rachel came from a place of fear of losing percy, and anger at rachel for trying to pull him into the mortal world, effectively leaving her behind and adding another person to the list of people she loves that have left her.

[starlightshadowsworld]

I'm honestly suprised Thalia doesn't get the same amount of hate Jason does.

Because people always made it seem like Jason was like a replacement Percy.

The Luigi to his Mario as it were.

When he isn't, both of them are their own characters.

But when Thalia first showed up, she actually replaced Percy.

Everyone prior to that who was in the know assumed Percy was the prophecy child.

The child of the oldest God's who would reach 16 against all odds.

But when Thalia stopped being a tree, she was seen as the next prophecy child.

Being a child of the oldest God's, albeit the youngest of said God's, who is 15.

While Percy was only 14 at the time.

It wasn't on purpose but for the time until she became a huntress, she did take his place.

Both as seemingly the prophecy child.

And as Annabeth's best friend.

Thalia's even seen as more advanced in her powers and stronger than Percy, being able to weild the mist.

And of course she becomes a Huntresses so Percy's back in the running.

But man, I'm just suprised she's so beloved.

And also poor Percy because he genuinely feels bad for being left out.

And than feels bad for feeling bad.

Thalia doesn't even like him at the beginning.

And suddenly she's calling the shots, she's in charge and Percy doesn't know where he fits in to all of this.

He's even expected to stay back when Annabeth goes missing.

And of course this resolved itself but man I'd feel bad if I was Percy that I could be replaced so easily.

And that's in the middle of the whole Bianca thing... Man had a lot on his plate.

And than bam, I'm suddenly the chosen one? And it's like nothing ever happened.

But it did.

And this isn't to say I hate Thalia, far from it I love Thalia.

But it's really interesting to see how she's accepted for things that had characters like Jason and Rachel demonised.

Because people saw Jason as a replacement Percy.

Because people saw Rachel as trying to replace Annabeth.

And the character who actually did replace Percy, for some time is a beloved fav.

Hell on the Jason thing, it was Percy who replaced him.

Just makes you wonder.

[flower1622]

I was listening to some songs and i had an ideia to write a perachel fanfic with Peter Pan.

Percy and Rachel would find an old book of fairytales in the Hecate's cabin and they would open it in a specific one about a boy that never wanted to grow up. But, there is something written under it, a question "Would you want to live many adventures and stay forever young?". Rachel would answer yes animated because of the heat of the moment. It was not totally serious, just a little part since she always wanted to experience the same thing Percy and the demigods had. So, the book shines a bright light around the camp.

Both are sent to Peter Pan's world with no memories of themselves. They are Peter and Wendy. My story will have some things from Peter Pan's, but i'll try to change many things maybe (or not. I don't know. I usually don't plan my stories, so i don't know how they will go)

Will (Michael) and Jason (John) would be Rachel's brothers. Luke (Felix) would be Percy's right hand or best friend maybe, the second in command. There could be some original lost boys, the ones from Peter Pan's story and other characters from PJO like Leo and Nico (All the characters from PJO would have different names in the story). Will likes Nico when he arrives in neverland. Clarisse could be a friend of Rachel at school. They would be considered the excluded or weird ones. Annabeth and Piper would be.... i can't say here to not get people mad. Sorry.

Almost in the end or in the middle of my story, Percy and Rachel would have that kiss and they would remember about themselves. But, they are still stuck in the story and have to think a way to get out. Hazel, Frank and Reyna weren't affected since they were in Jupiter Camp. They are trying to think about how they can help their friends. Will they be able to find a survivor from Camp Half Blood like a daughter of Hecate maybe? Or will they be able to do this by themselves? 🤔🤔

Obs: Luke is still dead, so the one in the story is a fake one. If or when Percy and his friends are saved, Percy would remember the Luke he met in the story as Peter. The one who never betrayed them. Percy knows that the friendship he had with the fake Luke could be almost the same he would have had with the real Luke.

I gave some spoilers? Yes. But, who cares? Only few people read my stories, so i'm good. This is just a note of my ideias for my next story. I got inspired by the live actions of Peter Pan. I already said that movies and songs inspire me...literally! The characters from PJO could also be deaged inside Peter Pan's story since many of them are adults. If or when they return back, they would come back to normal with their real ages and everything. Chiron could be Captain Hook and Dionysus... Mr.Smee 😅😊. After getting her memories back, Rachel would feel bad since it all happened because of her and Percy would comfort Rachel and show her that she doesn't need to have adventures in her life to be someone special. The fake Luke would be created by the island because it saw that deep down in "Peter's heart", he missed the friendship he could have had with "Felix (Luke)."

Unfortunately, Percy and Annabeth are still dating. So, i don't know if i make the couple break up since both liked Rachel and Piper in the story a little bit. Or Percabeth could still be together and Percy and Rachel stare at each other, knowing that something happened between them in the story. They understand that everything that happened in the story, it stays there. Both didn't know this would be their last time together. Percy and Annabeth come back to their college. Percy and Rachel never forgot what happened to them. Percy and Annabeth get killed months later by monsters. They could have a last moment together smiling at each other or maybe holding hands(I don't know. Not a big fan of the couple. Percabeth's death would have something very significative behind it). Rachel gets sad and moves on with her life as an oracle. Percy becomes a memory of a boy Rachel met once...a boy that wanted to grow up. She kept drawing all her times together with Percy that happened real life and in Peter Pan's story. She would also tell her stories about the boy that wanted to grow up for the new kids of the camp.

[keladeinos]

Rachel Elizabeth Dare Headcanons

- these are definitely fictive influenced sorry

- gender-fluid for sure but sexuality wise she’s unlabeled but on the aroace spectrum so the whole percy thing was entirely platonic but flirting and making girls and boys flustered is something she thought was funny as a teen

- loves all forms of media she can find the beauty in anything she looks at

- her blue plastic hairbrush was a gift from her dad it was a big pack because she likes certain everyday items to be the same incase they break she can replace them she’s got 5 more at home.

- is really good friends with annabeth!! none of that fighting really happened and they never hated each other.

- she’s got a huge soft spot for piper who helped her decorate her cave in little ways

- honestly her closest friends are leo, piper, butch, lou ellen and clarisse which nobody was really expecting but clarisse and rachel just have such a special bond

- loves when the hunters swing by she loves to have dinner with them and talk to artemis who always wanted her to join but respects her decisions and rachel’s an honorary huntress in artemis’ eyes

- also also speaking of cave decorations she has a few favorites: the aphrodite cabin made her one way mirror curtains so that she gets in a lot of natural light. her rugs are kaleidoscopic made by the iris cabin, the demeter cabin always gives her the best strawberry saplings so she can always have fresh fruit around. the hypnos cabin with the help of the hephaestus cabin built her a canopy over bed to help her her sleep

- since her bed makes her pass out she’s got every kind of seat beanbags chairs futons etc to lay on! everyone’s got a comfy seat when they come visit her

- the cabins love her esp now that the oracle is a real walking person and they’re always willing to hang out or spend time with her, she found her family

- all of her clothes are either handmade, or patched up (usually decorative embroidery) and all of her clothing items are covered in doodles and paints

- MAJOR mythos obsessions as a kid, big into norse and egyptian

- dnd buff, she loves to DM and she plays wizards, sorcerers or artificers because she thinks they’re cute

- she gets nightmares and developed some sleepwalking habits after becoming the oracle, sometimes she’ll be found in the forest near the river and all the naiads and nymphs around her in a big pile

- rachel changed her name to a more english sounding one because people would always pronounce raquel weirdly. her name was originally elisa raquel but rachel elizabeth sounded more professional. her closest friends call her RED nonetheless because it’s her favorite name

- rachel had a horrible nightmare that happened when percy annabeth and nico fell to tartarus. she was found huddled in the corner of her cave, everyrhing turned upside down and a painting on the floor that essentially looked like scribbles until you realized what you were looking at. she had a breakdown afterwards, chiron trying his best to comfort her.

- to help some campers with their discomfort in their scars and appearance she learned how to tattoo over them and will have flash sales where you just bring her food and she’ll tattoo you. the first person to get a tattoo was clarisse who brought her a homemade family dish

[echoing-gravity]

Blind Earthshaker Au

I wanna see a series rewrite where everything is the same except Percy is blind but can see better than everyone around him and has Katara's ice bending and toph beifong's Seismic Vibration Senses.

Like his dad is called the earth SHAKER so I don't think he can bend the earth too well but Percy is like feeling and making tiny vibrations/Earthquakes with his feet to see. He's super weak to air based projectiles think arrows. Or like literally anything a wind spirit picks up and throws in his general direction.

(He will tap his foot like an angry rabbit when hes stressed or caught off guard. I'm thinking wind spirits since they don't touch the ground OR have any water inside their bodies)

He can also "see" like where all the water is around him in a certain distance. Like mentally he has a 3d map of where things are. He doesn't like going places where theirs not a lot of water/or gorund. he can like tell when people are nervous by the speed of their blood flow/ the rhythm of their hearts. And is super precise with his ice bending be cuz of it.

Maybe Sally dies early or something and like we've got like 7 year old blind Percy wandering the streets but like since he can see where all the monsters are with his vibration earthy senses he can avoid them really well. Like "oh huh that guy has Hoooves? Nope. Percy outta here. Noo thanks." Since the mist is mostly sight based, and stuff, I feel like Percy would have a HUGE advantage.

In cannon it's shown that Percy is like really clairvoyant, what with all his dreams and stuff. So in my au he knows about the big three pact, and is just bullshiting people into thinking he's related to Khione goddess of snow and ice. And desperately trying not to let into the fact that he's blind.

(Luke/or/annabeth/or/Leo/or/Rachel/or Whoever he ends up being best friends with figures it out eventually be cuz theyve been friends for so long.)

At some point he runs into an 11yr old Luke pre- Luke meeting Thalia&Annabeth. And then we have them having the dynamic of Percy being a manic feral little shit and Luke trying to be responsible and protect him but ends up being the one protected all the time. I think it'd be funny.

Or maybe he runs into 7 year old annabeth and they become badass -cant be beat- besties. Percy snipe murdering every spider in a quarter mile radius, after he finds out annabeth is afraid of them.

I'm more partial to the meets Luke one cuz then when Percy and annabeth go on their first quest we'd get this fucking glorious scene:

Annabeth: no don't look Percy! You'll die!

Unhinged feral blind Percy: hahaha bitch u thought!!! *He says as he uncaps riptide witch was hidden in his hand.*

Medusa: *gurgling noise be cuz there is now a sword in her neck.*

Or in book two:

Circe standing with Percy Infront of enchanted mirror: isn't there Something u wish u could change about ur appearance? Drink this magic smoothie!

Unhinged feral blind Percy: haha bitch YOU THOUGHT.

Circe is now being held at knife point. (Or.. smootie- icicle point?)

Or if a pissed off god flashes their true form.

Hera: how... how are you alive?!

*Percy with his head tilted/angled so it looks like he's looking at them.*

Percy: *sing-songy voice* I know something yoooouuu doooonnntt! :)

Or if he gets hit by cupids arrow.

Cupid: the next person u look at with direct eye contact you will fall helplessly in love with them.

unhinged feral blind Percy: HAHAHA BITCH GUESS WHAT!

I'm sure there's more areas in the books or just Greek mythos in general where being blind is actually an advantage, but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

Or oooor -this is the one that I see being most likely to happen- hear me out: he runs into LEO. Since Hera was using the mist like crazy to hide him, but Percy is unaffected/immune to the most because He. Can't. See. It.

They steal/hijack an RV to live in. That could be cool. Leo has trama based on like burning people, right? Percy in canon Swam in LAVA, boy is fire-fucking-PROOF!! Fire and ice friends!

('oh my gods, they were roommates' perleo shipping intensifies)

Leo probably: you're nickname shall be Snowflake. Becuz ice powers.

Leo mentally: "wow! this person is really pretty, and funny and is like me, AND THEIR FUCKING FIREPROOF?"

Leo mentally: lets get fucking married.

Or maybe Sally doesn't die and Percy's blindness is known. He goes to school and guess who volunteered to help read his paperwork to him. That's right our favorite eco-rights activist: Rachel Elizabeth Dare!

Since Percy is blind he doesn't? Have dyslexia? I'm not entirely sure about how to explain this one. But like he's blind. People read things for him. (so he isnt effected by having dyslexia, becuase someone else is reading things for him.) He'd have good grades. Percy is sooo fucking smart. But like no one remembers cuz annabeth is always putting him down with all that doubt in canon. "Seaweed Brain!" I hate that nickname. Fuck canon annabeth. U don't have to put others down to have confidence in yourself omfg.

someone who isnt me write it. this is a writing prompt go! fanfic writers gooo!

[cynthiav06]

As toxic as Percabeth is, they’re still teenagers and there’s a chance that they could grow past that and Annabeth would overcome it. Heroes of Olympus makes that feel unlikely though.

I hold that belief because my relationship with my spouse started out unhealthy- I was extremely codependent due to not having many friends growing up and never quite getting the emotional support I needed from my family. But we grew past that and 11 years later, we’re approaching our 7 year marriage anniversary with our biggest goals as a couple (besides raising our kids) is to always communicate and it’s working well for us.

Annabeth in particular never maturing and growing past it doesn’t have to be what happens. They’re still teenagers, she could grow past it.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t seem like she’s going to grow and so many people act like the toxic relationship they have is normal and I’m just like…. No. Never mind, I don’t want to read Percabeth. Maybe I’ll ship Percy with Apollo or no one then.

I also thought of it that way. Annabeth would mature and come to understand the error of her ways, and since Percy means so much to her, she would reflect on all the things she says and does and change her ways in order to pursue a more healthier and long lasting relationship.

Then I read the Chalice of God and Read.Riordan. entries, and lost all hope. Annabeth is a character that you think cannot devolve more, and she surprises you in the worst possible way.

I have completely given up on Percabeth, and I will be reading any incoming books just for Percy as I always do.

Perpollo is a new but great ship that has so much potential but I am not really too in it yet but at least due to Apollo, Percy might ascend to godhood which is something I think is inevitable for someone of Percy's stature and power.

Right now, I think I am all for Perachel only. It's the best possible ship for Percy and for Rachel, and if you are interested, you should check out those posts.

But seriously, between their shared prophetic abilities, creative quick thinking minds, fun and easy going personality, and a deep care and affection for each other, Percy and Rachel are literally meant to be.

The Spirit of Delphi is extremely ancient and free and given Oracle of Delphi was once in Poseidon's domain, she could change alliances and freely date Percy, but my favorite headcanon is that Percy becomes a God and Rachel decides to swear allegiance to him instead.

Also, if you have any Perpollo recommendations or posts to share, please do.

[lilislegacy]

Ignoring the whole romantic love thing, I think a lot of Annabeth’s actions in regards to Luke make more sense if you look at it through a lens of grief. ‘Cause it has all the hallmarks: anger, denial, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. She loses Luke before he even dies and it takes 5 books for her to come to terms with it.

Also, I get where Percy is coming from, but at times I found him unnecessarily unsympathetic towards Annabeth and why she might be struggling with the whole Luke thing. He is really mean/dismissive to Annabeth in BoTL once Luke shows up again. (Actually, he’s bit mean to her in general in that book, but it’s more noticeable after Luke gets there). And, of course, he doesn’t know that Luke had given her a really cruel choice between “saving” him or war. But you’d think, after she watches someone she obviously cares deeply for get possessed by the Big Bad and she collapses sobbing from the pain of it, that Percy would, I dunno, run to comfort her. But instead he talks to both Nico and Rachel first. And then he and Annabeth end up fighting over Luke anyways.

And half of the time Percy’s animosity isn’t even that Luke has hurt him and his friends, it’s just straight jealousy and he admits as much in text.

I dunno, the whole thing is messy. Understandable from both sides, but messy nonetheless.

yeah the whole annabeth and luke thing is definitely messy.

and i completely agree that annabeth started going through the stages of grief the minute she lost luke and then didn’t really come to acceptance until right before he died. that’s exactly what happened.

but i have a hard time being mad at percy for being unsympathetic towards her feelings for luke. i’m not saying it was good how he acted, but if i was in the same situation, where my best friend was constantly defending the person who is trying to kill me, betrayed me and my camp, is trying to start a war, and is perfectly fine killing people - mortal or not - i’m not confident that i’d feel any differently than him.

i think a lot of people forget that percy was betrayed by luke, too. i mean obviously he didn’t have the history with luke like annabeth did, but luke was percy’s first real demigod friend. he made percy feel comfortable and like he belonged. he taught him how to swordfight, which became percy’s defining skill. he was a mentor to percy. and then luke tried to kill him. he literally had the scorpion sting little 12 year old percy and then left him to die. so yeah percy admits being jealous, but i think it goes deeper than that. percy says it himself that him and luke are always being compared - “People always compared me to Luke.” (SoM) - but the thing is: luke is a traitor. and percy’s defining trait is loyalty. so how would you feel if your best friend, who you have feelings for, has feelings for someone who’s actions go against everything you stand for? if you were being compared to, and competing with, someone who you never want become like? and that’s who your love interest wants. that’s such a punch to the gut.

annabeth’s feelings are so valid. if i was in her situation, i probably would be the same. i have tendency to see the best in people who don’t deserve it

but if i was in percy’s situation, i would probably be the exact same as him, you know?

i have no issues with percy and annabeth’s feelings and actions. it’s just luke’s romantic attraction towards annabeth that i have an issue with, and that’s what makes the whole situation icky in my mind. but annabeth’s feelings are so understandable, and so are percy’s.

[demigodsanswer]

(An AU of an AU -- how Annabeth's life could have gone differently if there were just a few changes)

In the middle of September, Annabeth missed pas de deux class .

Percy and Annabeth had danced together for the first three weeks of the year, practicing until her weight and balance were completely familiar to him. 

Annabeth was the best one in their class without a doubt. During the final workshop performance at the end of last term, she’d been cast as the Russian Girl in Serenade. She’d done such an amazing job that everyone thought she might be pulled into the company at fifteen. But Chiron had asked her to come back this year. 

And Percy was glad he did. He finally got to dance with her. She was so strong, and so smart; she really helped Percy improve his partnering work. 

Before dancing with her, Percy thought she was as serious as she was pretty, which is to say … very. But Percy was sure he could make her laugh. 

He spotted Pride and Prejudice in her dance bag. 

“English class?” He asked, pointing to it. “Or just for fun?” 

“English class, but I know the story. My dad showed me the BBC version when I was little, and it was my favorite,” she said, her eyes wide and sparkling, the same way they looked when she danced. 

“You’re a bit old fashioned, then?” Percy asked. 

She shrugged. “Maybe a little, but besides the ballet and the Jane Austin, not really. I like having basic human rights, and stuff.” 

 “My last girlfriend left me because she said I was too old fashioned,” Annabeth raised an eyebrow. Percy said the next part of his joke with a phooey British accent, somewhere between Lady Diana and Burt from Mary Poppins. “But I bet you one shilling she returns by nightfall.” 

Annabeth blurted out a laugh that got some heads to turn their way. She covered her mouth with her hands, but kept giggling behind them. 

“Oh, I don’t know what was worse, the joke or your accent,” she said. 

“Made you laugh, though,” Percy said with a smug smile. 

“Where did you hear that joke?” She asked. 

“My step-dad. He and my mom just had a baby, so, as step-son I’ve become his unwilling dad joke test subject,” Percy explained. “Got to find the good ones before she can form memories.” 

Annabeth gave him a look of obviously faux-annoyance. “Well, and now you’ve gone and roped me into it.” 

“Sorry,” Percy said, “is there anything I can do to make it up to you?” 

Annabeth thought for a minute and then said, “Just tell your stepdad that the old fashioned joke is very funny.” 

“Oh, don’t encourage him,” Percy said. Annabeth laughed again, and Percy realized he’d do just about anything to keep making her laugh. 

That had been two weeks ago. He’d made her laugh maybe half a dozen times since then, no thanks to Paul’s other dad jokes. He was pretty sure they were actually friends. 

Still, he tried to push any thoughts of a crush on her out of his mind; he didn’t have time for that, and she’d never be interested in him. 

But he couldn’t help but look forward to every pas class. 

“Percy, you’ll be with Rachel today,” the teacher told him. Rachel walked over to him. 

“Where’s Annabeth?” He asked after class. 

"She crunched her foot during petit allegro this morning," Rachel said.

"She's out?" Percy asked. 

"Probably. Something tore. You could hear it across the room."

Percy shivered at the thought. He hoped she was okay.

~

The next day, Annabeth was sitting at the back of the class, her foot in a boot. Being injured didn't give you an excuse to miss class. You still needed to sit there and watch. Percy had a minor foot injury last year that kept him out for three weeks. It had been hell. And he could see it on Annabeth's face: she wasn't happy.

After class, Percy snuck to the back of the room.

"Hey," he said to her, picking up her bag as she maneuvered her crutches, "how are you doing?"

She shrugged. "Tore some ligaments," was her only answer. They headed out the door, her bag over Percy’s shoulder as they headed to her next class. 

"How long do they think ..." Percy started. 

"Over a month at least,” he could hear the sadness in her voice, “but they don't think it needs surgery," she said.

"That's good!" He said, trying to make his voice sound cheery so she might look on the bright side with him. 

"Yeah," she agreed half-heartedly as they hobbled to their next class.

~

Annabeth was still stuck in her chair a month later. Percy had started texting her a new dad joke every day, and while only 20% made her laugh, 100% of them made her smile. She was worried he’d stop talking to her once they weren’t dancing, but she’d summoned her courage to give him her number once she was injured, hoping that he might text her. 

He had, almost right away. Her heart fluttered every time he messaged her, and it almost made her forget about her stupid ankle. 

PERCY:

orion's belt is a huge waist of space

get it? like a waist?

ANNABETH

It's not a great joke.

I'll give it three stars

She was doing her best to pay attention in class, but being confined to a chair made her ADHD act up. She could pick up choreography and technique quickly when she was on her feet. But being on her feet was prohibited right now. 

And then, Chiron rolled into class and sat next to her. Annabeth's heart raced. He was always around the school, scoping out new apprentices, but she hadn't spent much time with him one-on-one. She tried to be casual, mature, and professional.

"How long have you been out?" He asked her after a minute of silence. 

"A month," Annabeth said.

She could see the frustrated disappointment clear on Chiron's face.

"Well you rest up, okay?" He said. That was all he said to her. He sat and watched for a few more minutes, before leaving without another word to her or anyone else..

The next day, word went around that four girls and one boy had been taken into the company for Nutcracker. Annabeth wasn’t one of them. 

~

There was a spot at the top of a stairwell that purported to have roof access, but that door was always locked. So someone could sit at the top of the stairs on the landing by the door to the roof, and cry without anyone ever finding them. It was one of Annabeth's favorite spots.

Annabeth struggled up the stairs, grateful to finally sit down and sob when she reached the top. Chiron wanted to put her in the company, that's why he was interested in her injury. And she missed it. All because of her stupid, stupid ankle.

She heard the door to the stairwell open, and she tried to quiet her crying while whoever it was made their way down the stairs. But the footsteps were coming up. She wiped her eyes, but she knew it was hopeless. If someone found her, there'd be no excuse for what she'd been doing except I was crying my eyes out and throwing a pity party.

A familiar mop of black hair came up the stairs, and Annabeth felt herself relax. Percy was nice, so much nicer than most of the boys she knew. When he said: "Annabeth? Are you alright?" She knew he really cared about the answer. And when she shook her head and started to cry again, he just sat next to her on the stairs and gave her a hug.

When Annabeth was starting to feel all cried out, she pulled back.

"Thanks," she said, "I'm sorry, it's just," she gestured at her ankle.

"That's gotta be tough," he said.

"I think Chiron wanted me for Nutcracker, but I can't do it," she said, tears starting again.

"It's alright," he said, taking her hand. "You're going to have so many Nutcrackers in your life."

"But what if I missed my chance completely?" She asked.

"I doubt it. You're the best dancer here," Percy said.

Annabeth smiled. "Thanks."

"Want to get pizza or something? I'm starving." 

Annabeth rarely got to eat pizza. Especially now that she was injured, she shouldn’t eat something so fattening when she couldn’t work it off. But she was pretty sure Percy was asking her out on a date. And so, before she could count calories or anything she just nodded. 

"Sure."

~

Percy bought her a few slices of pizza, and they both reveled in the chance to indulge like regular teenagers. Percy peeled back the paper from his straw, leaving most of the wrapper still on the other end. He put the straw to his mouth and blew, sending the paper sleeve right for Annabeth's face.

It landed in her blonde curls, and she laughed in disbelief. "Oh, it's on," she said, picking up her own straw. She managed to nail Percy right in the eye.

"Alright, uncle, uncle, you win," Percy conceded. 

They talked for two hours, long past when their pizza was gone, and long enough for the guy behind the counter to give them the stink eye. Percy just gave it right back.

“Wow, Virginia? How come you don’t have a Southern accent?” Percy asked. 

“My dad is from Boston, and Richmond is pretty urban. Most people don’t actually have that classic Southern accent where I’m from,” Annabeth explained. And then, she put on her Southern accent. “But my dance teacher was from Alabama, so I can pretend.” The accent made Percy smile, so she kept it up. “This was how I learned ballet. Tombe pas de bourree, and Roll Tide!” Percy laughed. The French sounded ridiculous in the accent. “I had no idea what steps people were talking about when I got here,” Annabeth joked. It wasn’t true. Mostly. 

“It’s better than my British accent,” Percy said. 

“Well, that’s a really low bar,” Annabeth said. 

“I’ll have to watch that fancy Pride and Prejudice show and take notes,” he said. 

“Or count your blessings that you’re in a career where no one has to hear you speak,” she said back. 

“Hey!” He protested with a smile. “I’m stealing your crust for that,” he said, reaching towards her plate. She let him take it, but not without a fight. 

When they were done, he walked her back to her dorm. "Where's yours?" Annabeth asked.

"Oh, I'm from New York, I live a few blocks away with my family," he said.

"That's nice," she said.

"Is your family still in Virginia?" He asked. Annabeth looked sad again.

"For now. But they're moving to San Francisco over Winter break. They're so busy doing that that I'm not even going home. Kind of hoped I might have Nutcrackers to do, but ..."

"I'm sorry," Percy said, before pulling her into a hug. 

Annabeth let her crutches drop to the ground as she wrapped her arms around him. He was warm. When they pulled away, Percy picked up her crutches for her. 

"It's okay, I'll just go see Nutcracker one hundred times," she tried to joke, "and will my foot to heal."

"I believe in you," Percy said.

~

When Percy got home, he asked his mom about inviting a friend for Christmas.

"Would he stay over?" Sally asked.

"She," Percy clarified, "it’s Annabeth."

His mom looked surprised. He was sure he’d talked about Annabeth before. Or maybe that was the surprise, that his crush was coming to Christmas. 

"Oh, would she stay over?"

"I don't know. She lives in the dorms. I don't know what kind of rules they have," Percy said, trying to be chill. 

"Well, the more the merrier. She's always welcome, just let me know," Sally said. “She’d have to stay on the air mattress in the living room,” Sally added. 

“No worries,” Percy said. Sure, he was horny pretty much all the time like any other sixteen year old, but the idea of Annabeth staying in his room made his palms sweat in a bad way. 

Percy went back to his room and gave Annabeth a call. All of their text conversations had mostly been dad jokes, so calling her out of the blue was strange. 

" Percy?" He heard her voice on the other end. " What's up?"

"Hey, I hope this isn't weird. And you don't need to say yes or anything, but you mentioned staying in New York for Christmas. Would you ... want to spend it with my family? Instead of being stuck in the dorms?" He said. 

"... Really?" She sounded hopeful.

"Yeah, my mom said you're totally welcome. You could stay over on Christmas Eve if you're allowed to. Or my step-dad can pick you up. Whatever," he said, trying to sound casual about it.

" Percy that really means so much to me," she sounded like she was going to cry again. " I would love to. "

Percy waited for a "but," but there wasn't one. Percy strutted out into the living room and announced that Annabeth was coming for Christmas.

~

Pizza might have been a date. But taking her to the MoMA to see Starry Night had definitely been a date. The MoMA was free Friday afternoons, so it was perfect for two sixteen year olds, but Percy had paid for their subway ride, and his mom gave him $40 to buy something warm to eat. 

Annabeth was still in her boot, but she was able to actually put weight on her foot now, so she could go around without crutches. Even booted up, she’d kept up with Percy, overtaking him at some points. She pointed out famous paintings and rattled off facts about them. And then she kept going, giving him facts about the building itself, the area, and Rockefeller Center. Percy just listened; his ADHD usually didn’t let him focus for that long, but when Annabeth talked, he wanted to listen. 

Her gray eyes went so wide when she saw Starry Night, and Percy wasn’t afraid to push them both through the crowd of tourists to get to the front. She took out her phone -- a fancy iPhone -- and snapped a picture, while Percy took out his phone -- not a Smart Phone -- and took a picture of her. 

“Did you take a picture of me?” She asked as they moved out of the way. 

“Yeah,” he said sheepishly. “You’re …” really pretty, he almost said. “You look really happy.” 

She nodded. “I am,” she promised. 

~

"That was so cool!" She said as they stepped out into the cold New York winter. There was a week left before break. Annabeth's dad had sent her presents to Percy's house, and Sally had even bought her Christmas pajamas to open on Christmas Eve with everyone else so she would match the family.

"Want to go see the tree?" Percy asked.

"The native New Yorker is willing to brave the tourists for me?" Annabeth asked. Percy shrugged; he'd maybe complained about tourists a little too much.

"Yeah," he said, stepping in front of her. "Hop on?"

She followed his lead and jumped on his back. He carried her the whole five minute walk to the tree.

~

Percy was nervous about something, she could tell. When they got to Rockefeller Center he kept leaning in, then pulling away, grabbing her hand, and then letting it go. Annabeth had a strong suspicion about what he was trying to get the courage to do.

"What's up?" She asked finally. Percy had pulled her to a less crowded spot. It didn't have a great view of the tree, but its rainbow lights were still visible behind him.

Percy ran a hand through his hair, making his dark mop all the messier. Annabeth’s heart raced. 

"I ... uh …” he started, trying not to look at her, “brought you over here to kiss you, and --"

Annabeth didn't let him finish before she leaned in and kissed him first. It was mostly just a peck, but she let it linger for a few seconds. She didn’t know what else she was supposed to do. She’d never kissed anyone before. She hoped it had been okay. When she pulled back they were both smiling like fools.

~ 

Percy had never kissed anyone before, but he was pretty sure that was perfect.

~

Annabeth started back at barre after Christmas break. She still had a few weeks of PT and retraining before she would be back in her pointe shoes, but she was determined not to let her chance in the company pass her by again.

Christmas break had been completely perfect, and had included way more kisses from Percy. They were really going out now. She’d taken him to the movies over break, and back at his apartment, he’d made her cookies and hot chocolate. In between ballet classes, they were attached at the hip. 

But in class, Annabeth worked with a fierce determination, drinking in every word from her coaches, and trying to prove that she wasn’t going to just give up. 

After a few days in class, her ballet masters pulled her aside. Annabeth's heart raced, worried about whatever bad news they were about to give her.

"We want you to know," they started, "at the end of the year, you are going to get your apprenticeship." 

Annabeth's eyes went wide, and her heart beat fast the way it did when Percy kissed her. It had to be a dream, she thought. That wasn't how they gave out apprenticeships in her experience. Students were told at the end of the year, usually all at once. Her heart beat faster as they continued. "Don't tell anyone, but Chiron wants you to know that he is taking you. So just ..." the ballet master gestured down towards her foot, "take it easy. Don't hurt yourself."

Annabeth nodded. "Can I tell my dad?" She asked.

The ballet master smiled. "Yes, of course." 

~

Annabeth asked her roommates for some time alone so she could call her dad. They agreed; Annabeth hardly ever called home. They must have thought something terrible had happened. 

“ Annie ?” Her dad said. “ Is everything okay? ” 

“Yes Daddy,” she promised. And then she choked up. “I --” 

“ Is it your boyfriend? Are you okay?” 

“It’s not Percy,” she promised. Percy had only ever made her cry from laughing. “I got news from Chiron Bruner today,” she said. “He’s going to give me my apprenticeship,” she said, her smile wide, but her voice low in case her roommates were listening at the door. 

“ Really? Annie! That’s wonderful! Are you starting right away?” He asked. 

“No, no. They aren’t making it official until the end of the year. He just wanted me to know so that I didn’t hurt my ankle more,” she said. 

“ He must really want you in the company, then ,” her dad said. 

“I guess so,” she confirmed. 

“ You let me know when your first performance is, sweetheart, and I’ll be there,” he promised. 

“Are you sure?” She asked. “I know it’s a long way from San Francisco.” 

“ Nothing is too far for my favorite girl, ” he said. 

“I’m your only girl,” she reminded him.  

“Still my favorite, ” he promised. “ I love you Annie. Get some good rest, okay?” 

“Love you too, Daddy. I’ll … I’ll call you soon?” She offered. Percy had been encouraging her to reach out to her dad a little more. She’d been trying. Every time they talked, it got a little easier. He only answered the phone with what’s wrong about half the time. And saying “I love you” to him felt more normal than it had in years. 

“ I’d love that. Any time, sweetie .” 

“Bye.” 

“ Bye bye. ” 

~

Annabeth made it two weeks before she told Percy. "You can't tell anyone," she said.

He was hugging her so tight. "I won't, I promise! But once it's official, I'm going to tell everyone in New York."

"Goofball," she said.

"And proud of it!” He let her go, and crawled out onto his fire escape. “My girlfriend is gonna be in the New York City Ballet," he yelled into the air. Annabeth just laughed. So much for waiting until it was official. Not like anyone in New York cared though. 

A moment later, his door opened. Sally was there, wide eyed. “What did he say?” 

So, she’d told a few more people than she was supposed to. But her secret was as safe with the Jackson-Blofis family as it was with the Chase family, she was sure of it.   

~

When Sally learned Annabeth would have to move out of the SAB dorms and into an apartment of her own, she asked: "Will you have a roommate? Another apprentice girl?"

Annabeth shook her head. "My dad is looking for a studio for me, close to the theater."

"You can't live alone in New York at your age," Sally said.

"I'll be alright," Annabeth promised.

Sally took her hand. "Let me talk to your dad, okay?" 

"Sure," Annabeth said, giving Sally his phone number. Annabeth snuck into Percy's room while Sally called her dad. Percy loaded up Mario Kart, she got ready to kick his ass.

Sally was on the phone for a long time, nearly an hour. Finally, there was a knock on Percy's door, a quick come in confirmation, and then Sally was handing Annabeth the phone. Percy paused the game, and she could hear her dad's voice on the other end, still saying things like " I really appreciate it, thank you."

"Hi Daddy," she said.

" Annie ! I talked to Ms. Jackson, she's so nice. She's your boyfriend's mom?"

"Yeah," Annabeth said.

" We agree that you living alone is risky. She's offered to let you stay at her place."

Annabeth looked at Percy, who had his ear close to the phone to hear. "Really?" Annabeth said, excitedly grabbing Percy's knee.

" They are your host family. So you'll have to live there even if you and Percy break up, okay?” Annabeth looked at Percy as if to say like that would happen.  “You won't be in your boyfriend's room either. And there will be rules."

"Okay, okay," Annabeth said.

" But I think this is for the best, if you're comfortable with it."

"I am," she promised.

~

Annabeth's contract didn't start until the Fall, but she moved out of the dorm at the end of the year. She and Percy were doing the SAB summer program together, and in between, they were helping Sally and Paul rearrange the apartment. Annabeth was staying with Estelle, Percy's adorable two-year-old sister, but that meant Percy had to give up his bigger room for Estelle and Annabeth to share. There was a lot of stuff to move.

Fall season was already a dream. Annabeth lived for performing, far preferring long rehearsal days to days in class at SAB. She was in the corps of so many great ballets, and Chiron even had her learning soloist roles as a backup already. Two weeks in and she was giddy.

Her dad had come down for the first week of performances. She had been in the corps of Serenade, one of her favorite ballets, and in the corps of “Emeralds” and “Diamonds” in Jewels. (“Those are some of my favorite ballets,” Percy said, as if Annabeth didn’t know. She was excited to be in them in part because of Percy). 

Percy had managed to charm her dad. He was a perfect gentleman, a little goofy, but just enough to make Annabeth laugh without being over the top. 

“It was great to meet you Percy,” her dad said, as he left for the night. He’d be flying back in the morning. 

“Great to meet you too, Dr. Chase.” 

“Keep Annabeth out of trouble,” her dad said. 

“I’m doing my best,” Percy promised. 

New York City Ballet had a huge repertory, so there was always something new to learn. They were rehearsing Walpurgisnacht now, a ballet with two dozen women and one man. 

 "Are you one of our new apprentices?" A blonde man asked her one day. He was the lead in Walpurgisnacht, she realized.

"I am," she said. "Annabeth," she held out her hand.

"Luke," he said. After rehearsal, he introduced her to a few people, and gave her his phone number in case she ever needed anything.

When she texted him to make sure he had her number in return, he rested a hand on her shoulder. "You're doing a great job," he said. The leotard she was wearing had spaghetti straps, so his hand was against her bare skin, and his thumb rubbed gentle circles on her collarbone.

Annabeth pulled away, a little warry. "Thanks," she said. "But I should go. I have Stars and Stripes. " Luke gave her a mock salute, and Annabeth took off down the hall. That was odd.

~

When Annabeth got home, she and Percy did a second shift of ballet. He told her the things she'd missed in class. She'd never made it to the highest level at SAB, where he was now, so there were still things she had to figure out on her own. But he was able to help her. And she told him things she'd learned in company rehearsals. There were so many little details, tips and tricks they didn't get in the classroom.

Annabeth had watched the Walpurgisnacht pas de deux so many times that day that she and Percy were able to piece together the choreography themselves, practicing in the small ballet studio Paul and Sally had made for Percy (and now Annabeth) in the living room.

On the kitchen table, Annabeth's phone kept buzzing.

"Sweetheart," Sally called, "someone really wants your attention."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Ugh, it's just some guy from the company. He keeps trying to talk to me. I told him I have a boyfriend," she said. Percy kissed the side of her head.

"A company guy?" Sally asked. "Another apprentice?"

Annabeth shook her head. "No, he's a principal. He just got promoted."

"A principal, " Sally asked, horror clear in her voice. "What does he want from you?"

"Who knows," Annabeth shrugged.

Sally handed her the phone. "You don't need to show me, but ... could I see what he's sending you?"

Sally seemed genuinely concerned, so Annabeth unlocked the phone and handed it to her. "You should stay away from him," Sally told her.

"Trust me, I'm trying," Annabeth said.

"If he's making you uncomfortable, you should tell Chiron, or one of the ballet masters," Percy suggested.

Annabeth nodded. "That's a good idea."

Sally was typing something. She handed the phone back to Annabeth before she hit send: This is Annabeth's guardian in New York. She is seventeen . Please leave her alone.

Annabeth hit send. Luke didn't bother her any more after that.

~

An apprentice's first Nutcracker was meant to be 46 shoes of Snow and Flowers. And Annabeth was ready to do that, even though it meant she’d be dancing on her and Percy’s first anniversary. 

But, a few weeks into rehearsal, Chase started to show up in Dew Drop and Sugar Plum rehearsal spaces.

"What does that mean?" She asked Charles Beckendorf. He had a few months on her in the company; he was pulled in last Nutcracker season while she was injured. Chiron had rehearsed them as partners in a few things in the Fall. They never did any of them on stage, but she liked him. He was nice, and they were solid dance partners.

"It means you're learning some Principal roles," he said with a smile.

"Oh my god," Annabeth said.

It was one thing to be a back up during the season when plenty of Principals and Soloists were around. Nutcracker was another thing entirely. It was all hands on deck, and dancers dropped like flies.

She didn't need to learn the choreography. She'd watched the PBS recording of Nutcracker so many times in her life she could dance it in her sleep. And Lee Fletcher was a really experienced partner. ("And how old is this one?" Sally asked. "Twenty-nine, but he's gay, and just really nice, I think.")

They hadn't rehearsed it much. Annabeth didn't expect to actually go on, but --

"Annabeth we need you for Sugarplum tomorrow afternoon," Chiron said. She was still in the big Flower skirt, having just bowed after the night's show.

"What?!" Annabeth said.

"Head to costumes first thing tomorrow morning to get situated. You'll have one more rehearsal with Lee, and then go on at two," he said. "You're going to be fine," he promised. She could see his total trust in her written on his face. Annabeth nodded. She had this.

Chiron was able to find four extra tickets for that show, totally comped so the Jackson-Blofis family could be there, even little Estelle. It would be her first Nutcracker. Annabeth was determined to make it a good show for Stella. A girl’s first Nutcracker was a special thing. 

Annabeth swore she could hear Percy's cheers the loudest when she stepped out in the pink costume.

"If you forget the steps, just make it up," Lee said, comforting her before she took to the stage. "If you forget them in the pas, make it up, and I'll follow you."

But she hadn't forgotten it. She'd been just about perfect. Every muscle in her body knew exactly what to do without thinking about it. The cheers were loud from the audience after her variation, and when she stepped back into the wings, there were congratulations from the other dancers, the stage hands, and the ballet masters. 

Her pas de deux went just about perfect too. Lee was a completely reliable partner. He was good at anticipating her needs, and he knew the ballet inside and out after eleven years of doing it. Even as her lungs burned and her legs ached to get through the coda, Annabeth couldn’t help but smile. Something told her it wouldn’t be her last Sugar Plum or even her last Principal role. 

"Amazing, my dear," Chiron said to her when it was over. "Can you bring the costume back downstairs? We need you on for Snow and Flowers tonight." Annabeth smiled and nodded. 

~

She didn't get home until eleven. Paul picked her up from the theater and gave her a big hug. "We're so proud of you. Don't tell anyone, but I got a video of it. I sent it to your dad. He's devastated he couldn't be here."

"I'll call him tomorrow," Annabeth promised. "Thanks Paul."

There was a short, quiet celebration. Sally and Paul promised something bigger once Nutcracker season was actually over. Annabeth just smiled the whole time.

Annabeth was feeling a little brave. She had too much energy to go to sleep, and she’d hardly gotten to see Percy at all this past month. She missed him. 

Once everyone was asleep, she snuck out of her room and into Percy's. He was still awake too. She wasn't exactly sure what she was planning. They'd done plenty of stuff before, but never ... but she knew Sally kept condoms in his drawer. And Annabeth had started birth control that Fall to keep her periods light and regular now that she was a professional. The two of them had talked about this step a lot, but they hadn’t planned when it would happen. With their schedules, and sharing a space with his whole family, finding time was basically impossible. She didn’t know why they hadn’t considered just waiting until everyone was asleep. 

It didn't last long. But it didn't hurt either. She didn't bleed -- weren't you supposed to bleed? she thought. It felt right . They whispered “I love you,” over and over, until it became a refrain and the words stopped sounding real. When it was over, they were both so tired, especially her, that all they could manage was to fall asleep wrapped up in each other.

Sally caught her leaving his room early the next morning, but she didn't say anything about Annabeth breaking her rules. Sally just rolled her eyes and smiled. 

~

In the Winter, Annabeth and Beckendorf were cast to do the Romeo and Juliet Balcony Scene. First cast. Annabeth beamed, even as other company girls gave her the stink eye. But they couldn't deny that her reviews were immaculate. 

“You two are the perfect Romeo and Juliet,” he told them when the run was over. “Keep it up, and we might just need to stage a full run,” he said. “You know, I’ve always wanted to choreograph my own version …” and then he wheeled off, leaving Annabeth and Beckendorf to stare at each other and wonder: is he going to choreograph something for us? 

~

In the Spring, Chiron called Percy in for his annual meeting. Percy sat nervously, but Chiron and his ballet masters just gave him some things to work on. They told him his partnering skills had really improved, but still needed some work. Percy didn't tell them he'd improved so much because Annabeth was teaching him choreography at night. They also told him that he could be a little more confident. Use his length more. His jumps were good, but work on hitting fifth when you land. And that was it. No word of auditions or apprenticeships. They asked him to do the Summer course again, but nothing else.

He told Annabeth the conversation beat by beat, still dazed, but she was smiling.

"They didn't tell you to audition anywhere else?" She asked.

"No," he said.

"Did they ask you to do another year at the school?"

"Just the Summer course."

"Percy ..."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

One of these days, he'd learn that his girlfriend was literally never wrong. Four days later, he was one of the group of eight of students, six girls, two boys, to be brought into a studio and told they'd been chosen as apprentices for the New York City Ballet.

As happy as she was for him, Annabeth could help but say "I told you so!" first thing.

[happyk44]

Percy watching Nico and Annabeth grind up on each other in a dark club. Rachel wanted to go out for her 21st - get drunk, have some fun, push the limits of what it means to be a forever-virgin Oracle. Piper and Leo are there. Jason hates crowded spaces and loud noises, so he didn't come, but he send her fifty dollars for her first few legal drinks on him.

Percy gets it. He doesn't like crowded spaces either. It feels too... Containing. Grinds on his senses. He's not a good dancer either, and the music is deafening. He can feel it in his blood.

But Annabeth's enjoying herself so he's happy. She pulled Nico onto the dance floor with him. It's almost amusing. In between the writhing mass of bodies, Nico looks confused, trying to dance the way he grew up, but quickly realizing that 40's jazz and hard club music don't really lend themselves the same moves.

Still, he picks it up easily, copying the swaying hips and bumping bodies of the people around him. Distantly Percy remembers Nico telling him his mom was a ballet dancer. He and Bianca would practice alongside her when they were little. Percy wonders what she would think of her son now, ignoring pretty turns on pointed toes for slow sexual body rolls.

Based on what Percy knows about her, he thinks she'd be amused.

Annabeth helps guide Nico away from the more touchy people. She glares with stern eyes that has the cowering off, and becomes his primary partner. She draws his hips against hers. They twist and turn in unison, sliding up and down one another to the beat of the pounding music.

Percy sips a watery beer and watches with eager eyes. Leo and Rachel are dancing nearby - less sensual than the other two, more wild and fun, creating a wide berth around them by people who don't want to get knocked out by flailing hands and feet.

Piper siddles up to Percy's side with a fancy pink cocktail. She's got her eyes on her enthusiastic best friend and his equally enthused dance partner, but slowly draws her attention to Percy's main focus of the evening. Her shoulders draw up. Her eyes flicker to his face, concerned for a space moment, then relaxes.

Whatever she was searching for, she doesn't find.

"They look good," she calls out over the screaming sound.

"Yeah," Percy murmurs. A hunger burns in his stomach.

He sips at his beer again, never looking away from the two dancing in front of him. Nico's got his ass against Annabeth's crotch, her hands on his hips. One of his hands tangles in her curls. She pulls her head down to ear, to his throat.

Piper's brows furrow. "Huh," she says, just slightly audible as the music quiets just before another bass drop that Annabeth punctuates with a forceful thrust of her hips.

Undeterred, Nico grinds back.

"Um." Piper cocks her head. "Are you-" She stops. Restarts. "Nico looks like he's having a lot of fun, huh?"

"Yeah," Percy agrees. Nico turns into Annabeth's grip, pulling her in close like a promise. She's got a couple inches on him, but the manic grin splits across his face makes him seem bigger than he is. "He does."

Annabeth laughs at something he says, and slides her hands into the back pocket of his jeans. She yanks him in close. They're staring at each other like they're the only people in the room.

Piper chews her bottom lip. "Is- Did-" She stares at her cocktail for a moment, then shakes her head. "It's nice that they're such good friends!"

No response pulls from Percy's throat.

Piper deflates a bit.

It's kind of cruel, he gets it, but it's not any of her business and he doesn't feel like explaining anything right now. He just licks his lips and drinks his beer, trying not to explode when Nico pulls his hands off Annabeth's waist and drags her into the wettest kiss Percy has seen from the two of them so far.

Piper squeaks. "Oh!"

Nico tilts his head back as Annabeth mouths down his throat. One of hands teases at the edge of his pants, thumb slipping past the fabric. His eyes are closed.

They're still fucking grinding on each other.

Percy swallows thickly and chugs back the rest of his beer. "I think we're gonna head out," he says, still not paying Piper much mind.

"Oh- okay. Uh." Piper slides back at bit as Percy turns to drop his empty glass against the bar counter. Her eyes twist for a half a second, ruminating, but before Percy can dive into the dance floor and drag the other two off it, she finally stops pussyfooting around. "I thought Nico was gay!"

"He is!" Percy says, glancing back at two of his favourite people in the world.

She tilts her head back. Frustration is drawn up in her shoulders and lips. "Then why..."

"Sometimes things just happen," Percy says. He bumps her shoulder with his fist. Then he starts walking off to the crowd. "Have fun! Don't let anyone spike your drinks!"

He can't hear her over the music and the crowd anymore, but she raises her glass in a faux goodbye, and he turns fully into the crowd. One of Nico's obsidian eyes crack open as he nears. He grins when Percy presses up into them both.

"We're leaving!" Percy shouts.

Annabeth withdraws her mouth from where it's leaving a trail of hickeys across Nico's throat. "We are?"

Percy grabs both of them by the arms. "Yeah!" He tugs them towards the door, grinning wild. "We are!"

Nico laughs, but tucks himself into Percy's side and lets himself be dragged off. Annabeth rolls her eyes but follows diligently, pausing once to wish Rachel a happy birthday, before she heads out the door to the two boys waiting for her with open arms.