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umbran6 · 3 years ago

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The Argument Against Caleo

Spoilers up to Blood of Olympus and beyond. Beware! (Or not, the book series has been out for a few years, get over it). I wrote this after seeing a user wondering why people didn’t like Caleo, or in some cases, hated it. Here, I want to explain the answer as much as possible while doling out my own points.

One of the main grievances I have as a fan of Leo Valdez would be the ship Caleo, or Leo x Calypso. It’s a complicated ship, to say the least, with multiple issues that make me question why people like the ship. And I admit it, they initially had some chemistry, but there’s multiple issues that Uncle Rick produced through making such a relationship that makes it extremely open to criticism, criticism which I will explain through this post.

One of my main points against them is that the ship was created on a very limited time scale. Although we aren’t given an exact date to date of when Leo and Calypso met to when they fell in love, we can safely estimate it to be a week at best. Such a limited amount of time from going through the multiple stages of a relationship already stresses the limits of the suspension of disbelief.

A counterexample would be Percabeth, or Percy x Annabeth. Throughout the series, we aren’t introduced to them being romantically involved until the Titan’s Curse, which was two years after they met. Specifically, this is brought up by Aphrodite, the goddess of love herself. Admittedly, Percy and Annabeth were twelve years old when they first met, when romance was definitely out of the picture, especially with a quest to get the Master Bolt.

However, from there we get to see multiple examples of their character depth, ranging from their respective fatal flaws to their ambitions, hopes and dreams, and their friendship. We get to see the slow build up of their chemistry, which was a really good writing move on Uncle Rick’s part. These characters took their sweet time to get to where they wanted to go, and despite the false romantic lead of Rachel, they still got together.

On the other hand, we don’t see enough of this between Leo and Calypso — we only see one book where they interacted with each other in The House of Hades, and that was only for a handful of chapters. While they are definitely older so they can jump straight to romance (some may say too old, but I’ll get to that) its still a pretty huge gap to jump through without making it stick. This makes it hard to root for a ship when it is built on a rather faulty foundation from the ‘they just met’ to ‘they get together’, especially when they don’t have a lot of events to show their chemistry.

Which brings me to Ogygia, which has raised a few red flags for me when looking at it from a retrospective point of view. Now, we know what the main issue of the island is that the hero who landed on said island can’t leave until Calypso falls in love with them. And we’ve seen this with Percy during the Battle of the Labyrinth, where he lands in the island and Calypso falls in love with him while tending to his wounds from, you know, being erupted from freaking Mt. St. Helens. Needless to say, this falling in love with each other montage happened quickly to the point of suspicion, which sets up the complication that Calypso and Leo might have fallen in love due to magical intervention.

And hear me out, because although this might be a pretty big pill to swallow, we have evidence for this through Percy. It only takes one chapter for Calypso and Percy to meet, and the next he’s willing to consider leaving Camp Half-Blood and Annabeth behind to live on the island when Hephaestus gives him the choice to leave Ogygia or stay. We don’t even get an explanation on why Percy considered giving it all up just so he can be with her. All we know is, girl meets boy, now they want to live on an isolated island forever. It’s especially absurd considering Percy’s hamartia (fatal flaw) is freaking loyalty to those he loves. Needless to say, It’s a huge YIKES, especially when we apply it to Leo and Calypso.

It also raises the possibility that the romantic relationship between them is doomed to failure. And if you guys want to fight me on this, let’s look at Jason and Piper, a couple whose relationship started with a similar foundation. Piper had romantic memories implanted into her brain by Hera through the use of the Mist, while Jason was reduced to a Tabula Rasa (a blank slate for those who lack culture) by said goddess. They broke up before the Trials of Apollo because it was clear that when the dust settled, Piper had been aware that their romance was a lie and that their intentions to stay together was a mix of delusion and pressure from freaking Aphrodite. Leo and Calypso get together under what is arguably a very similar set of conditions if Ogygia’s magic had any influence on their relationship, and that this magic could wear off if given enough time.

Third, and here’s a pretty big one for me, would be Calypso’s character, mainly because there are a lot of unfortunate implications attached to it. In The Blood of Olympus, she was turned into the divine equivalent of Princess Peach, with Leo being her Mario (except he saves her with a badass metal dragon). Its extremely unnecessary to make a character, especially as one such as Calypso, get turned into the typical reward of a B-Class action movie. It’s insulting and puts her up as a trophy, a narrative that is definitely not ok by any means necessary.

In another direction, Calypso is also really, really worrying when things don’t go get her way. First, let’s look at The Odyssey, the first myth she pops up. Calypso had imprisoned Odysseus for ten years on her island until Hermes said to let him go, and although it gives them plenty of time to fall in love, it also raises the implications of stockholm syndrome. Then we’ve got the fact that Calypso cursed Annabeth out of spite, implicitly saying that she wished the daughter of Athena would suffer the same isolation that she did, which came to reality when Percy and Annabeth met the Arai in Tartarus. And Annabeth wasn’t even aware that she was still in Ogygia, much less intentionally intervened in the matter. When Percy left Ogygia, rather than be angry at Percy, Calypso cursed Annabeth out of all people to suffer the same loneliness and misery she went through. That’s some Hera at her worst levels of spite.

Through such evidence we can see that Calypso is extremely wrathful towards those who break her heart even though they don’t want to. It certainly implies that Calypso isn’t in a good state of mind, and could easily repeat said actions if provoked. We could almost compare it to Medea and the original Jason, but at least in that case, Medea has every right to be pissed off at Jason and take her revenge. Calypso’s curse and how she handles things certainly implies a level of immaturity that would end in disaster if they broke up.

One issue that, I’ll admit is more from my personal point of view is that the ship took a lot of Leo’s character and threw it in the garbage in Blood of Olympus. Though we see him do a lot of stuff behind the scenes, the fact that its all for the goal of reaching Calypso just reduced him to someone who is more focused on love than, you know, fighting the evil goddess that was responsible for killing his mom and getting sweet sweet revenge. While the revenge plot can be cliched sometimes, it can be played well, while romance and the typical ‘always save the girl’ trope is just overdone. If Leo had been allowed to, you know, be more focused on other things rather than Calypso, we could have seen a lot more variety in his character.

For example as one of the possible character arcs he could’ve gone through, Leo has always been alone among the couples, often being isolated. Heck, Nemesis herself stated that he would always be the seventh wheel, and that he would never find a place among his brethren. Though some fellow tumblr users have taken this in multiple ways, either saying that he should learn to be happy by himself or that he is socially isolated in the Argo II because of these romantic relationships (I prefer a mix of both). Uncle Rick just giving him a girlfriend seems like taking the easy way out of solving such an issue and abandoning what could’ve been a rather interesting character arc. The relationship isn’t a bad thing if we remove some of the unfortunate implications, but it is a bad way to end what is a complex and realistic problem for a character and in some cases maybe possible in real life.

One more minor but still yikes worthy point is that there’s a huge age gap between them. We’re not talking about the ‘Hazel is 15 and Frank is 17 and in one year that’ll be a problem because then Hazel will be jailbait’ age gap. And even then, we can argue that Hazel is older since she is chronologically ninety-one years old. No, Calypso is older by millennia in terms of mindset and body due to the perks of being a goddess, while Leo is sixteen.

God-to-Mortal relationships are already complicated, even with emotionally and socially well-functioning adults. The fact that Leo is underage, inexperienced with romance (despite his flirting, Calypso was his first kiss), and has been through a freaking ton of trauma in his youth, does not make this okay. At best, they’re both mutually interested in each other but may have different expectations when it comes to a relationship. At worst, Calypso is taking advantage of a boy just so she can get out of Ogygia and possibly dumping him later on like the wrapping of a candy bar. Even though Calypso lost her immortality during The Trials of Apollo, that doesn’t even compensate for the immense age gap alongside Leo’s guilt at the possibility that he might’ve been responsible for her losing said immortality.

Oh, and about Leo... I’m a fan of him, but I can admit that he is in a bad spot both mentally and emotionally throughout the series. He’s lost his mom due to a mix of his own powers and Gaea’s trickery, and never had the chance to fully process that event and come to terms with it. The foster home system alongside his own trauma has forced him to hide his emotions through a façade of happiness and jokes when it’s quite clear to me he needs a therapist, stat. He's also run away from several foster homes, implying this means he was and still is being affected by the event. His mask is still on during The Blood of Olympus considering he hid a lot of things from Piper and Jason.

Speaking about them, not helping this matter is the fact that he’s rather isolated in terms of friendships since Jason and Piper, his supposed best friends are more interested in locking lip rather than, you know, actually hanging out with each other. He doesn’t have good friendships with the rest of the Seven, and the closest ones he does have is with Hazel and Frank. And even then they start off in the wrong spot since Frank is very insecure about possibly losing Hazel to him during Mark of Athena while Hazel in the meantime, is also dealing with the fact that he is the descendant of her possible boyfriend Sammy Valdez.

This could indirectly have made him desperate for affection since he has nobody else to confide in during the rest of the series, which is a bad mental state to be in when one lands on Ogygia, the island that we’ve seen could possibly force two people to fall in love with each other. A romantic relationship is not something that he needs or something that will help him in the future. He needs more than that, and having him in one that could end in disaster is the last thing he needs.

And that does not make him a bad person, much less a bad character. While some who are similarly emotionally and socially isolated may turn to violence or creepy behavior on those they want affection from, Leo does not do that to the other characters. It just means that he as a character needs more time to recover and develop before we go giving him romantic relationships, much less one with Calypso.

That’s not to say that they don’t have some things in common. Both are starved for love and affection, with Calypso being constantly rejected by heroes while Leo was rejected by foster homes and his own family. It’s a trait that they have in common, but it shouldn’t be the only thing that they have in common, especially since it is laced with a trauma that is clear they haven’t had help processing. They need to develop more as characters and as friends before they should be paired together.

So… yeah. The Caleo relationship is, in my eyes, doomed to failure, or at least heavily flawed after taking the above points into account. Uncle Rick, as if seemingly aware of these criticisms, has put the relationship in a rocky place by The Tower of Nero, giving them the possibility of overcoming the above criticisms and their own flaws, or giving fanfic writers an out and pairing Leo with another character or have him single, but happy. Either way, in my opinion Caleo is a bad ship when it comes to how it was created, alongside the flaws and unfortunate implications it has.

While I can see some of the chemistry the ship has, you can’t just use a couple of moments where they get along as evidence that they belong together, especially with the above reasons. That’s like using a band-aid to cover a bullet hole without removing the bullet, stopping the bleeding, and preventing infection. If both characters and their relationship had been given more time to develop, I would understand how they would get together.

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aiyaar · 4 years ago

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Demigods x Future

Annabeth became a famous architect. She works all around the world, which means that she and Percy travel a lot. They don't stay long in one place.

Percy is insta-bloger and surf instructor. This is why they try to find projects for Annabeth in places near water. Percy loves their life. Currently they live in Brazil

Piper had some troubles with her higher education. Due to her father's bankruptcy, she needed too work. She understood that peaceful and quiet life fits her. She decided to stay in Oklahoma. She works as a barista

Jason (yes I'm doing Jason he has future fuck you). It took long enough for him to find himself. He went to a university in London, cause he didn't want to stay in America. He studied philosophy there but soon understood that he doesn't like it. Pretty soon he decided to try a casting in one British movie. He becomes a famous actor and moved to L.A.

Leo becomes a mechanical engineer (duh). His inventions were a breakthrough. Unfortunately, he and Calypso broke up soon after he went to college. It was a bad break up, so they don't communicate. Leo used to live in America, then in Mexico. He found very good investors in Japan and after one year of distant working he moved to Tokyo

Frank moved back to Canada. He's veterinarian. He also was in Canadian army. He went to college in Vancouver.

Hazel got her higher education also in Vancouver. They moved together, leaving praetorian places too the younger demigods. She becomes a primary school teacher. They lived in Vancouver for three years but when they started working they understood that it's too big and loud city for them. They moved to one small and neat city in the north of Canada. They live peaceful life and planning to have kids.

Reyna decided to stay with Hunters. She doesn't grow up.

Will becomes a doctor of course. But not just a regular one. He's a very talented neurosurgeon. He went to college in L.A. after school. He is one year older than Nico, so the first year after graduation they were fine. But then Nico graduated and went to college in Venice. It was hard time for their relationship. Currently he lives in L.A and sometimes volunteers helping in orphanage.

Nico studied journalism in Venice. He left America soon after graduating school. He and Will thought that it'll be okay but it started to be complicated. Once when Nico visited for Christmas holidays they had a big fight. They decided to take a break in their relationship for a while. It lasted for a year. During this break up Nico started to write his novel. It was his first book about Percy Jackson. After publishing he came back to America and moved to L.A. He and Will got back together soon after. He continued to write novels about demigods journeys. His book becomes a bestseller. Right now he lives in L.A. with Will. They thinking about adopting a child

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thefandom-casserole · 4 years ago

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alright but remember: Couch Hedge and Frank had to be on a boat with around 7 (Nico, Piper, Percy, Leo, Annabeth, Hazel, And Jason) who all have ADHD...I have so many headcanons for this though...

• Leo getting really frusturated with one of his machine things and getting really emotional and sad and annoyed and stuff

• bonus points if it’s Frank who goes and talks to him about it

• Jason who’s hurt so often and can’t stop moving which agrivates Piper so much

• “Jason you’ll reopen your wounds!“

• “but I need to do /something/ Pipes!”

• Annabeth hyperfixating on something random and then everyone getting really into it

• Then they all have little copatitions and Hedge gets really into it too and Frank has to be the voice of reason.

• Percy getting these midnight thoughts and refusing to go back to sleep until he’s told every person on the ship his ideas or awful thoughts

• Hazel asking “huh” 15 times in a row until she gets distracted

• Nico needing to drink a whole pack of Mountain Dew before he falls asleep

• later when he and Will are together they both do it

• Piper hyperfixating on sword training

• Hazel almost not being able to keep up because Piper works best at night for some reason

• Piper sorry she’s my favorite needing to figure out how her cornucopia works

• Frank telling Hazel to come down for breakfast and then coming back an hour later to find her in the same position shaking her leg or something

• Hedge or Frank talking to one of them and then being interrupted because “look a squid” or “that reminds me”

• Annabeth trying to write or draw something but her mind going to fast so she accidentally skips some words or some things and her growling and having to start over again

• Percy taking watch but then completely forgetting to sleep but bombards Annabeth with random facts the next day

• Nico trying to tell someone something but his minds going so fast and he sees everything and then he forgets to say something. oh no now he has to restart, wait what’s that?

• Plus he mumbles

• Frank: “Hey Jason what time is it?”

• Jason: “What?”

• Frank: “What time is-“

• Jason: “12:31”

• Leo fidgeting so much he breaks things

• Leo feeling really, really bad about Calypso and he can’t stop feeling like I’ve abandoned her like everyone’s abandoned me and oh no oh no oh no

• Even though I don’t ship them

• M U S I C

• Everyone bouncing while they talk during meetings

• Frank at first thinks they aren’t listening but Hedge explains about ADHD to the best he can

• Even more h y p e r f i x a t i o n s

• Them not taking their medicines because they have a whacked sleep schedule

• Hedge having to remind them in his own way to take them

• Nico also feeling really bad about letting Percy fall

• Jason kinda not talking to Piper for a while because he’s having a really bad day and Piper absolutely freaking out like “he doesn’t like me anymore oh no oh no oh oh oh”

• and Frank having to assure that yes Jason loves her still and it’s alright

• Leo having a great idea for an invention and then forgetting it the next second

• Annabeth too ^

• Hedge being lenient about his bed time rules and whatnot

• Nico suddenly having a hyperfixation and he starts acting kinda how he was before the Bianca incident until he realizes and goes back into his shell

• Everyone being so surprised

• Hazel grinning from ear to ear after it and trying to reassure him it’s okay

• Nico not buying it

• Annabeth laughing And having a good time but then having a melt down about Luke and Tartarus the next

• Frank and Hedge just being completely supportive and patient for the entire thing

#Headcanons #percy jackson #Jason grace #piper mclean #hazel levesque #frank zhang #leo valdez #annabeth chase #nico di Angelo #will solace #pjo #hoo

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firerose · 3 years ago

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Dark Leo -Dark seven au part2

@reading0mens Hope you enjoy it, I put a bit under read more because it’s kinda long XD

Leo‘s world is shattered after Jason‘s death

He knows it was a storm or fire

He knows that his cheating death caused the fates to take Jason away

At Jason‘s funereal he cries into Piper‘s shoulder

The boy that told him he was important, that made him believe he was worth something was gone

His sorrow makes him burst into flames and as Piper lets go he sinks over his friends grave

Things only got worse from there

He can‘t look at Calypso anymore

She was the reason he cheated death after all

He thinks about how she always complains about him, never truly helped him as Jason did

He goes back to Camp half-blood not caring that there is a battle coming for the Romans

He couldn‘t help them anyway

He locks himself in Bunker 9 building machines to distract himself from the cruel reality

Jason Grace was dead and he was alive

Calypso tries to get through to him but he yells at her that he regrets having saved her

He doesn‘t mean because of her of course but it is still her that he cheated death for

Calypso leaves in tears

Leo continues building and as his hands work on inventions his mind goes to Hera

Why didn‘t she save Jason?

He was her hero, wasn‘t he?

The bridge between greeks and Romans

So what kept her from saving him?

Anger begins to rage in him

Maybe Jason was just a tool for her

A weapon she could use and then forget

A scream breaks out of him and flames start floating over everything

He begins to despise the queen of Olympus just like he once hated Gea

At least Gea never acted like she wanted to protect them

He feels a desire to make Hera pay, to play with her just like she did with him

He knows that he can't take revenge on Hera all by himself Isn't there an emperor in new york

A plan starts to form in his head

Nyssa brings him the news

Camp Jupiter beat Caligula and Commodus now only Nero is left

The only change for Leo to take revenge on Hera

He leaves in the early morning

He is not nervous only strangely excited

Finding the emperor was not hard he could oversee the whole city on his metal dragon

„What do you want demigod?“, Nero asks coldly sitting on his throne arrogant as always

Leo only smiles darkly „I want to treat Hera just like she treated me and my friends.“

Nero has picked up many demigods from the streets but this one is special

He has an almost feral look in his eyes like he would be ready to burn the world

„And how exactly do plan to do that? Nero asks his voice full of curiosity

After hearing the plan Nero allows Leo to stay

He has a big room full of machines, engines automatons

Leo loves it

He builds robots small ones at first but his anger makes his talents grow

Somehow he manages to equip them with laser eyes ten arms that shoot fire canons, their fingers made of blades

He makes other inventions to ones that he prays to one day use on a certain goddess

A part of him is terrified of his work but another screams justice for Jason so he continues

Two weeks later Leo gives Hazel and Frank a surprise visit

They are happy to see him, they are his friends after all

Leo laughs with them, jokes as if everything was normal

One night he and Frank even mourn Jason together

When he feels real tears form in his eyes he is grateful for Franks hug

He can tell that Frank wants him to feel loved just like Jason once did

He is thankful and when Frank leaves his firewood feels heavy in Leo‘s hand

The next day horns are blowing, demigods scream in terror

A huge robot army is threatening to enter new Rome

The Legion is horrified but they swore to protect the city so they get ready for battle

None of them is showing their fear when they stand between the robots and their city

Reyna and Frank stand before their cohorts but Frank is not too worried

Those robots are made of metal and he sees in Hazel‘s smile that she knows this too

The daughter of Pluto raises her hand to save those she loves

But then a voice close to her speaks up coldly

„Hazel stop “, She almost did not recognize it

Leo stands a few feet away eyes gleaming darkly, Franks stick lays in his hand

Franks feels a cold dread in his stomach

„Leo…...what are you doing? Frank asks unable to hide his fear

Leo lets out a pained humourless laugh, I‘m destroying the god's ego by crashing their glorious temples.“ he explains and Hazel feels her heartbreak at his words

How is this the same boy who made her smile with his jokes

Reyna curses“ How dare you betray us? After Jason-“

Leo interrupts her with a mad shout

„That's exactly my point! Jason died because Hera for some reason refused to save him. We are all just puppets for the gods don‘t you see that!“I'm trying to save us from them but if you don‘t surrender now I will be forced to let you suffer for the god's crimes.“, Leo explains his tone almost hysteric

There is silence for a moment

The robots stand like dead status, new Rome's citizens glance towards them from behind the barrier, the roman soldiers are glaring at Leo

„Romans don‘t surrender.“, Frank finally responds his voice brave, his eyes full of pain

Leo smirks like he expected that answer

His whole body bursts into flame

Frank falls to the ground as his stick is swallowed by fire

Pain ignites in his heart, he hears Hazel‘s scream

He looks at his girlfriend a hand stretched towards her as if to hold her one last time

She stretches her hand towards him as well, her mouth moving as she sobs

A weak scream leaves his lips when a Robots blade impales her neck the blade coming out bloody at her throat

Her hand sinks, her body collapses into a puddle of her blood and Frank‘s world goes black

Leo stares at their unmoving bodies

The stick in his hands is now only ashes

He knows he should feel something

He should feel remorse

Instead, he just feels empty

The gods could have saved them but they didn‘t

If the gods would just be better he would not have done this

The gods are to blame not him

So he joins the massager

The demigods are fighting bravely but nothing prepared them to fight eight feet high machines

Blades are piercing through their bodies, the fire burns their flesh, dozens get trampled

Leo is in the middle of it all shooting fireballs burning everyone who gets too close

A fireball hits Reyna‘s hair and the Praetor is doomed to a firey cruel death

Soon the city falls, Terminus barrier is not strong enough to hold the metal beasts off

New Romes citizens are slaughtered in their streets, their buildings, temples destroyed

Their screams ring in Leo‘s ears but he continues to fight

This is for Jason. This is for Jason

He keeps using this excuse even though a part of him tells him that Jason wouldn‘t have wanted this

When Leo the last screams finally have died new Rome is in ruins

On Olympus, the gods are raging

Their pride has never been attacked like this

Hera looks at Leo wandering through the dead city with worry

He was her hero once just like Jason but now he seems …..changed

Maybe somehow she could convince him to come back to her

She is his grandmother after all

So she goes down to him in the form of his old babysitter

Leo growls when he sees he sees her

„Now you decide to show up? After I slaughtered thousands of People? Wow you are a horrible patron goddess!“, He snarls

Hera looks at him in pity

„Leo I know you are angry but this is madness. Jasons death was in the hand of the fates and I couldn‘t do anything sometimes even we gods are powerless. Don‘t go down this road my hero it will only bring you to suffering.“ Hera warns but that only makes Leo more furious.

They are standing in the smouldering ruins of her city and yet all she can do is makeup excuses

„You ……..you are so arrogant Hera! First, you act like my protector, my babysitter for years and then you don‘t even save my mother, then you give me fake memories about my best friend and then when I‘m finally growing closer to him you watch him die too. I bet if I hadn‘t killed Frank today you would have done it! Jason Frank and I were just pawns whose lives you controlled and that you now don‘t need anymore!“, Leo yells his hands balled into fists.

Hera listens to her face showing guilty embarrassment

She is too lost in thought, that is why she sees the net that Leo throws over her too late

The strings are made of celestial bronze but when she tries to escape the net only grows tighter cutting into her skin

Leo smiles at her in amusement.

„I hope you enjoy your new home your high majesty., He mocks

Hera realized that this was all part of his plan

Destroying new Rome to get her attention, louring her here so he could capture her

„Let me go immediately demigod or my wrath-“. She is cut off when Leo gags her

He has enough to listen of listening to her

He just wants to visit Jason's grave one last time

Leo returns to Nero with his army and with Hera

She is carried by one of the Robots trapped in metal strings

Nero welcome Leo with open arms

This child is a blessing even better than Meg Mc Caffrey

He tells Leo that he wants to wait with his attack on the greeks

He wants the news about camp Jupiter to reach them first

Leo agrees and grins at Hera

The goddess tries to change from even her real one but the strings only golden

„They drain your godly essence. The emperors are no strangers to dark magic Hera. You won‘t get out of here unless I allow it.“, Leo mocks once he has taken her to his room

The image of Her lying helpless and restrained on the ground gives him chills of joy

He picks out a knife from his toolbelt, Heras's eyes widen

„Now let's see how you like being hurt without someone there to help.“ Leo muses and drives the blade into the goddess's arm.

He smiles at the golden blood and Heras agonized groan

He is going to have so much fun with her

Leo almost feels disappointed when Nero tells him that it‘s time for the attack

By now all demigods know what happened

Chiron evacuated Camp half-blood taking the younger Campers to safety

Nero knows it‘s only a matter of time until the rest disappears to

So Leo and the emperor fly to Long island alone with Festus who hold Hera in his claws

The robots are deactivated until Leo's command, Nero wants to give his enemies hope of winning

A handful of Campers is already waiting for them at the top of Half-blood hill

Leo winces when he sees Percy and Nico

He had forgotten the people close to Frank and Hazel

„Surrender or face the same end as your roman friends!“, Nero demands

Percy spits to the ground

Nico gets out his sword his eyes piercing into Leo soul

„Do you think Jason still loves you after what you did Leo?“, Nico asks coldly

Leo‘s heart feels like it‘s torn apart

Nico‘s words are the truth in the back of his mind. The truth that his lust for revenge drowned out

Jason, sweet kind Jason would never love someone who killed his friends

Leo feels panic, he has to move forward he has to distract himself from his thoughts

„Let that be my concern.“, Leo spats and drops Hera to the ground

Her body is covered in deep cuts, golden blood covers the strings

The attack begins

Leo decides to take out Percy first

He shoots fire but Percy uses the lake to his advantage

Water and fire clash together in the air squishing as they meet

Leo gets more furious

He creates big flames that lit the threes next to Percy on fire, tiny flames to grasp Percy‘s hair

Percy seems to be prepared for everything

He protects himself with shields of water and creates tentacles in an attempt to drag Leo to the ground

Their fight is hard, full of hatred and so none of them notices Nico‘s fight against Nero

Until the emperor screams while he's being sucked into the earth

Neros household, all young brainwashed demigods panic and run

Leo yells in frustration

Why did he choose such bad allies?

Nico collapses from the uses of his underworld powers, the grass around him black

Leo wants to take his chance and flames flicker from his hand#

But then a big hand of water grabs him and lifts him off his dragon

Leo is taken by surprise but soon blind rage follows

„Now!“, He hears Percx yell and when he turns his head he sees Annabeth cutting Heras net with Nico‘s stygian sword

Desperation and fear will Leo

„No please!“, He Beggs but Percy drops him on the ground without mercy

Hera although wounded immediately grows to full size her eyes blazing with fury

„I WARNED YOU MY HERO NOW FACE THE CONSEQUENCES OF YOUR ACTIONS.“Hera yells her form glowing

„No wait!“, Percy says his eyes widened in shock

Leo knows what is coming, he has seen it once before

Tears of sorrow, of fear, of anger stream down his cheeks

He wonders if Hades will let him see Jason again after he murdered his daughter

In a last attempt to turn his fate he reaches for his toolbelt

But then he stops

How can he destroy the greeks after they took him in after they tried to make him belong somewhere?

His thoughts wander to Piper and his heart is split by deep guilt

Leo Valdez opens his eyes and stares right into the godly flames that even he can‘t survive

His last thought is a prayer of forgiveness to all he has killed in his path for revenge

Leo is buried at Camp half-blood

There are a lot of discussions about it but no one can think of a better place

Hera assures the Campers that in a few years there will be new roman demigods

This does not help the losses though

Percy and Annabeth spend many nights crying with each other about their lost friends, their lost future

Will has to hold Nico for countless nights too, Has to remind him that he always will be there for him

Apollo becomes a god again

And in California Piper Mclean cries out her prayers to the gods

She prays for them to free her out of these new fake mist reality

She prays for them to let her wake up in a world where her best friends are still alive

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Honestly I wished Hoo went more into the fact that frank Jasons and Leos lives were all controlled by Hera! That would have been such an interesting dynamic!

#percy jackson #heroes of olympus #dark!leo #dark seven #valgrace #leo valdez #jason grace #piper mclean #annabeth chase #hazel levesque #frank zhang #trials of apollo #the burning maze

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ethannku · 4 years ago

Note

“you make me feel alive. for the first time ever, i feel like i can breathe”

prompt for valgrace!

sorry for the long wait!

word count: 785

some clarifications: this is set right after the end of boo. piper and jason are not dating. leo is not dead, so he doesn’t go back for calypso. also caleo isn’t real. okay i hope you like this!!

read on ao3

It’s quiet in the Zeus cabin. Jason doesn’t remember a time it was ever this quiet. The Romans have just left camp, and Jason hasn’t had a moment to just be like this since… well, his whole life, really. It was always moving from one thing to the next.

Jason looks around the cabin. The giant statue of Zeus glares down at him. The air is cold, the floor of the cabin is solid underneath him, not rocking the way he’s grown used to on the Argo II. He half expects someone to run in screaming something like “Percy burst the pipes again!” but he’s not on the boat anymore. He’s alone.

He can’t take it.

He leaves his cabin, giving it a final cursory look before stepping outside. The difference is palpable. People are rushing around camp, even though the sun has set in the sky and there’s barely any light, save for the greek-fire patches that haven’t been put out yet. Jason sees Annabeth and Percy by the dining pavilion, and Piper flits by him with a smile and a wave as she goes to the Aphrodite cabin. He looks around for Hazel and Frank before he remembers.

He winds up at the lake. Someone else is already there, their curls managing to reflect the little light that’s around them. Leo’s sitting on the edge of the dock, his feet dangling over, his hands fiddling with something. Other than him, nothing else is moving. The naiads still haven’t emerged after the battle.

Leo looks up as Jason sets foot on the dock, twisting over his shoulder. His hands don’t stop moving.

“Hey, Jas.”

“Hey,” Jason says, but it’s almost inaudible. He feels like if he speaks loud he might disturb the water.

Leo smiles, but it’s not his normal grin. It’s tinged with something else. Loneliness.

“Couldn’t handle it?”

Jason nods and settles himself down next to Leo. He sees that he’s fiddling with a piece of string, tying and untying knots in it.

They sit in silence for a while, the only sound being the occasional shout from camp. Jason doesn’t know how this is different from sitting in the Zeus cabin except he does and the answer is sitting next to him and warming him even though they aren’t touching. Jason lets his eyes drift over the water, tracing the rare ripples in its surface.

“I feel useless,” Leo says, suddenly.

Jason turns to him. Leo’s eyes flick to him, then back to his hands. He ties another knot.

“I keep panicking when I realized I haven’t set the course for our next stop and then I realize–” Leo trails off and waves his hand. It can’t possibly capture what’s happened today.

Jason hums and draws his knees up to hug him. He imagines he looks as small as he feels. “I can’t believe we’ve… done it. We’ve won.”

Jason looks up at the stars. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Leo do the same. Something rises in him, like bile in the back of his throat, threatening to break free as he stares at the great expansive flecks of light across the navy sky.

“It’s like there isn’t any reason for us. For me,” Jason whispers.

A hand closes around his where it’s wrapped against his legs.

“Jason,” Leo says, but Jason continues to look at the sky. The heaviness at the back of his throat only grows even though he’s said it.

“Jason, there are reasons for you. You’re the ambassador between camps. You’re the Pontifex Maximus,” Leo says, and tugs Jason until he’s forced to look at him.

“You make me feel alive, Jas. For the first time–” Leo’s voice breaks, and it’s now that Jason notices that his eyes are glossy.

“For the first time ever, I feel like I can breathe,” Leo finishes. And then Jason is in a crushing hug, his nose pressed into Leo’s shoulder. His frame fits just right around Jason’s, although the angle is a little uncomfortable. Jason doesn’t mind, though, not when his mind is focused on the smell of gasoline and the feel of Leo’s curls against his face. The both of them are shaking and someone whimpers and Jason realizes it was him and oh god he’s staining Leo’s shirt now, isn’t he?

“Not more than it’s already stained, Sparky,” Leo exhales shakily, and Jason huffs a laugh that’s caught by Leo’s shirt. When they separate, Jason’s face feels hot for a reason that is probably not due to Leo’s parentage.

“Thanks, man,” Jason says. Leo smirks knowingly. He reaches out and pushes a nonexistent lock of hair past Jason’s ear. Jason’s face burns.

“Anytime, bro.”

#sorry if this isnt the best haha #i wrote it in one go #valgrace #jason grace #leo valdez #heroes of olympus #ethan writes #ethan answers #prompt #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #toa #hoo #pjo #creativename5 #asks

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shiroscorner · 4 years ago

Photo

Okay! I Finished The Tower of Nero all the way back in October, but I got lazy and I recently re-read the whole ToA books again. I’m really glad I did because there where things I would have missed on first reading.

Before I give my final thoughts on the Book series as a whole I will be giving my thoughts on events, Themes, and other miscellaneous things that happened in the books.

In the first chapter of the Hidden Oracle, Apollo talks about hanging over the Abyss of Chaos in Tartarus Which was a nice piece of Foreshadowing for the ending of ToA.

Rachael sassing Apollo over the other oracles like a bitter girlfriend is great.

I like how the books shows that Nico has been improving (Has friends, isn’t living with dead people, smiles, and participating in group activities), but that he still has a long way to go with his mental health. Rick works really hard at showing that a significant other isn’t going to fix all your problems and that its going to take a long time for Nico to get to a really good place mentally. Mental health is an uphill battle your whole life for people who suffer from mental health conditions no matter how much your life improves.

This series is the most inclusive LGBTQ+ children’s series ever written (Regardless of medium). Its makes me happy to see such a inclusive and well round LGBTQ+ characters. Including the main character which is huge for a children’s series.

Frank going out on his own terms to avenge Jason makes me cry every time even knowing that Frank survives on a second reading.

I like to imagine that all the Jason hate is a vocal minority because of how many people were sad by Jason’s death (It couldn’t possibly be that they all suddenly love Jason now that he’s dead or anything like that).

Jason and Piper’s relationship. I’m really glad that though they broke up the still are friends and care about each other. They went on multiple quests together post break up. Most books, shows, and movies show that people can’t be friends after a break-up and it bothers me because people absolutely can be. Its nice to see that.

Apollo is thirsty for literally everyone. I wanna re-read these books an catalog a full list of people Apollo thirsts for and has dated.

I don’t think I have ever mentioned it on here before, but I work a job that allows you to where headphones and ear buds so I listen to the audio books while at work. The narrator for the ToA books is Robbie Daymond. His performance is so amazing. Probably because he is a professional actor. If you haven’t listened to the audio books I highly recommend it.

Lavinia is my QUEEN! MORE LAVINA PLEASE!

Jason is amazing and selfless and we stan him here!

I like that Calypso and Leo still have a lot of working to do to make the relationship work. Most authors would be like “He saved her from a 4,000 year imprisonment so now everything is perfect” All relationships need work regardless of the history.

Crest was okay, but I wish we had known him a little longer before he died.

I love Emmie, Jo, and Georgie.

Apollo forgetting how to God because of how long he’s been mortal is so funny.

Am I sad that my fan theory didn’t happen? Yeah, but it still ended in a really good way. I still think Apollo will take over duty of Camp Director once Mr. D’s punishment is over. It will be a really good full circle moment for him because it will not only bring him down to earth, but also Apollo was the one who made Camp Half Blood / was the original Camp Director. I actually have a lot of fan theories about what everyone will be doing when they get older and in the future.

Okay so my final thought on The Trials of Apollo.

The Trials of Apollo is one the the most well planned and written series in the Riordanverse. While Apollo’s literal trails were about reclaiming the five oracles the actual point of the trails were about Apollo taking accountability for the awful things he’s done. While each books is about a specific Oracle they are also about a particular part of his life that he ruined with his self destructive behavior.

The Hidden Oracle was about Apollo taking responsibility for the death’s of his two greatest loves Daphne and Hyacinthus.

The Dark Prophecy was about how Apollo has failed and ignored his children.

The Burning Maze is about Apollo’s treatment of demigod heroes and the part he played in sending them to their deaths

The Tyrants Tomb is about Apollo coming to terms with and taking accountability for the absolute worst things he ever did and discovering how he can move forward from them.

The Tower of Nero is About Apollo bringing all the lessons he’s learned together.

As the books go on Apollo slowly becomes less self centered and more humble. His inner monologues are were the change is most noticeable. At the beginning of the series in the Hidden Oracle Apollo’s inner monologue is so obnoxious its almost intolerable. However, slowly over the course of the books he becomes less obnoxious and more down to earth. His thoughts over time shift toward the people he loves and cares about instead of himself.

Meg and Apollo’s Abuse stories were so profound and honest about how Abuse happens. How Nero and Zeus trained Meg and Apollo to see them as the good guys when they were actually being abused, how the victim blaming worked, and how they came to the conclusion that they were abused. All of it so realistic and honest. Books like these may help real people see how they are being abused and to seek help.

These books were so great and I am excited for the stand alone books (WE KNOW YOU WRITING A NICO BOOK UNCLE RICK DON’T TRY TO HIDE IT) and the Celtic series he teased during The Tower of Nero.

Interested in hearing what you guys have to say. Tell me! Please be nice and respectful to everyone who comments!

(Note I am dyslexic like many other demigods and any constructive criticism about grammar and spelling mistakes are welcomed)

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thebigqueer · 3 years ago

Text

"Together" - Leo Valdez & Piper McLean

Summary: Leo confesses to Piper that he loves Jason.

Word Count: 2294

Read on AO3

The wind brushes through Piper’s hair as she and Leo descend down to her new house. They’ve been running through the sky the past few days trying to move equipment around since she’s moved, and so far it’s been pretty good. Leo promised to stay a few days before heading back to his new place at the Waystation, and Piper’s found that she’s grateful for his presence.

It’s just been one new change after another. First the announcement of her move, then Jason’s death, and now suddenly Leo’s alive.

It’s almost funny, to say the least. Leo’s life for Jason’s. It makes her think about the prophecy of the seven…

No, she thinks. You’ve already thought too much about Jason. Just enjoy this time with Leo. He’s going to leave tomorrow and it’s better to let him have your attention.

Piper rocks back and forth as Festus touches the ground. A rumble echoes across the grass as he does. For a few moments, she and Leo simply sit there, her arms wrapped around his warm torso and his curls brushing against the tip of her nose as a soft breeze flows between them.

The sun spills in gold and orange rays across Piper’s new backyard. Green grass burns in the light. A sweet smell surrounds the two as they balance over Festus’ back.

Then Leo shudders. It’s a quick and sudden motion that takes Piper by surprise. He shakes against her, his shoulders shivering in the warm spring air, and he jumps to the ground. His body crumples in on itself as he thuds to the green expanse below them.

“Leo?” Piper asks with surprise. She jumps off the back of the dragon and lands gently by her friend’s side. “Oh, gods, are you alright?”

But Leo barely hears her over his own intrusive voices.

It’s too much. It’s all too much.

How can he be here just as everything is turning to shit? How can he be here, with Jason’s ex-girlfriend, and help her move in like nothing’s wrong in the world?

How can they just forget about Jason so easily?

Sobs rack Leo’s body as he cripples into himself. Tears prickle in his eyes and force shimmering cracks across his face. Painful anguish presses against his chest, billows up to his throat, and sob after sob, tear after tear, he’s letting himself go a little more, letting himself drown in his sorrow.

He barely acknowledges Piper’s gentle hand on his back, barely acknowledges her presence. The world around him swirls and spins, twists under his feet, and he’s hanging on by a bare thread.

He should never have left. He shouldn’t have run away like that.

He shouldn’t have turned from his fears of rejection just to save some girl.

On the inside, Leo knows Calypso isn’t just “some girl.” He knows he helped her achieve a life she never could have had on Ogygia. But nonetheless, a large part of him wonders “what if.” What if he’d never left? What if he’d stayed? What if he’d… he’d confessed to Jason what he really felt?

But now it’s too late, isn’t it? He let Jason slip away. He let all his courage build up for nothing.

He came back in the hopes that he could finally tell Jason what he’d been feeling for so long. Only to find that, in the end, Jason wasn’t even here.

He was dead.

Leo’s body continues thundering with grief and sorrow. He’s cracking from within, letting his emotions spill out, and there’s no mending him. Not after all that he’s gone through.

Distantly, Piper’s voice hums in his ears. Her gentle fingers glide over his back in a comforting manner, but Leo can barely register her caress and kindness. He’s lost. He’s never coming back.

“Leo,” Piper murmurs, her voice as soft as her touch, “it’s alright. You can let it out.”

At her words, a flame bursts in Leo. Rage and jealousy, irritation and frustration crawl up his throat and he turns on Piper, eyes burning with something desperate and vulnerable. Tears continue trailing across his face, and for once, Piper notices how broken and cracked he looks.

He’s not the same Leo she remembers him being. He’s something else.

“No,” he croaks, voice choked with tears and desperation. “No, I can’t let it out. Not anymore.”

Piper frowns. “What does that mean?”

Leo crawls away from her as another burst of raging flames erupts in his core. How can she be so oblivious? How can she be so dumb? How can she see him breaking like this and not understand what it’s about?

When he speaks, Leo’s voice carries through the warm spring air like icicles; they pierce Piper’s bare arms like shrapnel.

“I can’t say anything anymore,” he mutters, his voice as sharp as shards of glass against the daughter of Aphrodite’s ears. “He’s dead. And I wasn’t here for it. He’s never going to know.” Leo’s chest heaves as he takes each cold, sharp breath in. “He’s never going to know now.”

Dread pools in Piper’s blood as she stares at Leo, at this new monster appearing before her. Leo’s turning to the darkness; he’s standing on the brink of insanity. His eyes shimmer with tears and madness, with secrets and desperation.

“Know what?” she whispers. She tries to lean in, to offer support to Leo in the darkness, but he pulls away and stumbles to his feet, his chest still expanding with each breath he takes.

Leo watches Piper. Confusion flickers across her face, and at the sight of her, his heart skips a beat. Piper is beautiful. She’s perfect.

She’s everything Jason would love.

She’s everything Leo could never be.

He knows it’s not fair. He knows he shouldn’t be angry at her. But even then, as he stares at her, watches her eyes flicker with sympathy, glances at her trembling mouth, gazes at her deep, kind dark eyes, only rage consumes him. It billows hotly from his core and flows up to his throat, expands through his body, and he’s turning to fire, turning to rage, turning to anguish and guilt and pain.

He needs to tell her. He can’t hold this parasite in himself anymore.

A sob breaks loose from his chest, cracks in the air, and he tilts his head to Piper. “Tell me,” he whispers, “how… how did you feel about him?”

“About Jason?” she asks. “I… I cared a lot about him, Leo. We all did. He was one of my bestest friends.” A tear glimmers against her eye like crystal, and again a hot fire of rage blooms in Leo’s chest. It doesn’t matter what Piper does; she’s always so beautiful, always so desirable.

Why couldn’t he ever be that desirable?

“What is this?” she asks desperately. “What’s wrong, Leo? You can tell me.”

The world around him turns red and angry. The ground beneath his feet trembles with rage, and he has to press his nails to his palms to stop himself from combusting on the spot. “No,” he mutters. “No, Piper, you need to tell me. Did you… How much did you love him? I can’t tell you anything before you tell me the truth.”

Piper’s lips press tightly together. Between the two of them, the grass burns brightly. Coldness encompasses them in vulnerability. Tension seizes the air, grips their throats, squeezes the truth into existence.

“I loved him as we all did,” she murmurs. “If you mean romantically, though… We broke up.” Piper tilts her head away timidly, almost as if in shame. “We weren’t working out. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”

Leo blinks in surprise. Suddenly all the rage dissipates; the angry fire in his chest simmers to a low sizzle. Tears cloud his vision, but they don’t feel as hot or angry as they were just moments ago.

His fingers loosen at his sides. His muscles lose their grip.

“You… you broke up?” he whispers.

Piper offers a firm nod. “I don’t think we ever felt anything for each other, honestly. I think it was just more of a… a mutual desire for something. You know? We wanted something in the heat of the moment. I think we had something when the world around us was going to chaos, but when it wasn’t burning in flames… suddenly our own relationship wasn’t burning anymore. It got boring. I lost myself. He didn’t know who he was outside of insanity. We broke up.”

Guilt seizes Leo’s heart like a vice. Two shameful tears trickle from his dark eyes and burst against the ground, glimmering in the sunlight. “Piper,” he mutters. “I- I’m sorry. I had no idea.”

She shakes her head and offers a small, sad, knowing smile. “It’s okay, Leo. It was better for both of us. I wasn’t satisfied and neither was he. I’m just glad he… he went happier than he was when he was with me.”

And that’s all it takes for Leo to crumble again. A single sob explodes from his chest, then another sob, and another, until he’s choking on his own tears, until he’s hissing at the salt against his cuts, until he’s crumbling, breaking, slipping through his own hands.

Piper stands suddenly, her comforting arms reaching out. “Leo,” she mutters, almost like a promise. All of a sudden, the son of Hephaestus overwhelmed with the scent of roses, with the warm embrace of Piper’s arms, with the tickle of her hair against his face. His sobs only echo louder and louder against her and he has to wrap his own arms around her waist to get a grip on the world.

“I’m such a fool, Piper,” he mutters through sobs. “I… I…”

Her warm arms press against his back supportingly. “You can tell me,” she whispers. “I’m not going to judge you.”

Leo dips his head against her neck, if only to look for refuge from the impending shame.

“Piper,” he whispers. “Piper, I’m so stupid. I… I loved him, okay? I loved him a lot. I loved him more than I could ever say.”

Piper stills underneath his weight, and for a second Leo considers if he’s royally fucked everything up. What if he’s just lost the one friend he’s got left?

“Love…,” she murmurs. “As in… more than a friend.”

Leo loosens his grip against her waist in an anxious haste. “Yes,” he agrees. His heart swells as he admits it.

He’s kept that in for too long. He’s spent too much time watching Jason in all his glory, spent too much time being jealous over Piper.

Admitting this to himself… it feels like a promise. It feels like a relief.

Piper moves her arms from Leo’s back and presses them against his shoulders. She tilts her head away and stares him in the eyes, her own dark ones absorbing themselves into Leo’s. His breath hitches as he stares at her, trying to gauge her reaction.

“Leo…,” she murmurs. “Oh, gods, I had no idea. I- I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you felt that way about him.”

Leo’s lip trembles as another quake of sobs threaten to break loose. “It’s okay,” he mutters through a thick voice. “You didn’t know. I could barely understand it myself when… when we were on the ship. It’s not your fault, Piper.”

Piper shakes her head and, to Leo’s surprise, a few tears glimmer in her eyes and slip down her own cheeks. She presses her fingers to Leo’s cheek and holds her face against his neck. “No, Leo, I’m so sorry. I just… I can’t imagine it must have been easy for you to… to see us like that. I just… I don’t… I’m sorry, okay? I’m so sorry I had to make you see that.”

“Piper, it’s not your fault,” Leo promises. “I was just struggling with internal things and… and I didn’t know how to cope. You didn’t know, either. It’s not your fault for being happy during that time. Don’t blame yourself.”

Piper pulls her face away from Leo’s and shakes her head. Her nose twitches as she sniffs and her mouth trembles as she tries to hold back another sob. “No,” she murmurs. “It’s just… I don’t blame myself for that. But you… you deserved to see him one more time. You deserved to let him know. And you didn’t get that. Leo, I’m so, so sorry.” Her thumb grazes the side of his face, tangles into his curls. Leo leans into her touch.

“But, Leo,” she continues, “just know… I’m so glad you told me. Jason may not be alive anymore, but just know that… he’s just as proud of you. We both love you so much, okay? Telling me something like this… it has to be one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen.” She presses a kiss to his forehead. “I love you. I wish… I wish you could have seen him one last time, Leo. You deserve that much.”

“Piper…,” he whispers, but his voice is stolen as another sob takes a hold of him. Before he can say much more, Piper throws herself into his embrace; they’re holding one another as the world around them continues moving, continues glowing, continues living. They crumble to the ground and hold each other as the pain moves through their bodies, as the sorrow spills out into the world and turns the air to ice, as the truth embraces them in its truest form.

“I missed you,” she whispers. “Jason may be dead, but I’m glad you aren’t, Leo. We’ll get through this together, okay? We always have. I won’t stop now.”

“Together,” he promises, his voice ringing in Piper’s ears. “We’ll get through this together.”

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bird-likes-to-fandom · 3 years ago

Text

Leo Valdez Headcanons

Leo is the shortest out of the seven

he’s pretty sure he’s done growing at this point, though he’ll deny that if anyone asks about it and just say he hasn’t gotten his growth spurt yet

Percy: Leo, you’re shorter than Hazel and she’s like two whole years younger than you!

Leo: No! I just haven’t gone through puberty yet!

Leo’s shorter than Hazel

Only by like an inch tho

He’s still mad over it, so he’s made an effort to only wear shoes with small platforms, just enough so that he’s taller than Hazel but not tall enough to the point where he looks ridiculous/can’t walk

Piper, Reyna, and Thalia wear platform boots all the time, so the four of them bond over platformed footwear (though Reyna also likes wearing heels. She actually exclusively wears shoes that could kill a man)

For the longest time after he and Calypso broke up and she joined the hunters, he had a crush on Jason who never died shut up

He finally got over it after like a year

But that’s only because he developed a crush on this one demigod Jason had to help rescue from his boarding school who actually liked him back

The kid’s name is Jonathan and he’s a son of Hermes

He’s always advising Leo on his machines, always reminding Leo to put locks on things (and helping Leo build locks that are too difficult for even a son of Hermes to break through)

Jonathan is nothing like Luke or Travis or Connor, to everyone’s surprise

He’s quiet and shy, but unashamed of his powers

Eventually, he and Leo break up.

Leo doesn’t take it as well as he took the whole Calypso thing, he just loves Jonathan so much

It’s not really a messy breakup, but the aftermath is (leo’s very good at hiding his real feelings)

Jonathan wanted to live full time at Camp Half-Blood and Leo just can’t do that. Also Jonathan has been in and out of schools and it’s just not worth it to keep moving around. It’s tiring.

Emmie and Jo try and partially succeed to help him through the breakup, but ultimately there’s only one thing that can really console him

He visits Piper and Shel in Oklahoma for a week and just cries into Piper’s shoulder.

They convince a Braum’s worker to let them steal a vat each of strawberry and chocolate toffee (Piper’s and Leo’s favorites respectively)

Tristan McLean accepts that he has a new adopted son now

I’ve got more headcanons in mind but this seemed kind of long.

You can let me know if you wanna see more but I’ll probably give you more anyways.

#leo valdez #percy jackson #hazel levesque #Piper McLean #jason grace #calypso pjo #bird likes to write

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winryofresembool · 3 years ago

Text

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 32

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: At Waystation (again) and a bit elsewhere too

A/N: We're (finally) getting closer to the end of the 'Waystation arc'. I don't think I have that much to say about this chapter, but I'd like to dedicate it to Cecid as a late birthday present, because she has really kicked my butt to continue this story!

Enjoy, and let me know what you think!! It's super important (<- Lizzie Bennet Diaries reference)

(Ps. Fellow Europeans, vote for Finland in ESC!!!)

Words: 2950

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / AO3

...

The silence that fell into the room after Leo stormed out got more and more overwhelming until finally, Calypso couldn’t take it anymore. She could feel the two women and their daughter stare at her, but they were too astounded to say anything.

“I… I don’t understand what I did wrong,” Calypso mumbled eventually. “They were just matches. I didn’t mean that he should use them immediately; it was just my way of trying to tell him that I believe he can get over his fear one day.”

The women exchanged dark looks.

“Georgie, could you play with Festus outside for a moment? He looked like he needed to burn some energy,” Emmie suggested, wanting to get the girl out of the hearing distance.

“Ugh, fine,” Georgie pouted because she would have preferred admiring her gifts, but left anyway.

Once she was gone, Jo sighed. “About what just happened… you did nothing wrong, Calypso. It’s just…” She stopped to contemplate her next words. “Christmas is always a hard time for Leo. He tries his best to participate and make his jokes and all that, but his eyes betray him. He’s just… not there.”

“I want to understand…” Calypso stepped closer to Leo’s mothers. “Did something happen to him on some Christmas?”

“Yes, you could say that,” Emmie replied sadly. “Leo’s mother died on Christmas day several years ago.”

Calypso’s eyes widened as she understood what Emmie was trying to say.

“Oh gods… And she died in a fire, right? He did mention it once… No wonder he didn’t want to touch the matches, especially today.”

“Yes,” Emmie confirmed. “She did die in a fire. But there’s more to it. Leo probably wouldn’t want me to tell you this but in this situation it might be better that you know: he blames himself for the fire.”

“I probably shouldn’t ask, but… why?” Calypso asked, feeling more sickened every moment as she pictured a young boy mourning his mother and his home. “What happened?”

“We have only gotten some bits and pieces from here and there, but it seems the fire most likely started from some papers he had left near a fireplace. Accidentally, of course, but he doesn’t see it that way,” Jo sniffed. Suddenly Calypso realized that Leo’s pain must have hurt his family more than he probably even realized. They really cared about him a lot… She couldn’t help but feel just a tiny bit jealous because at least Leo had people supporting him. But she quickly pushed that unnecessary thought aside.

“That’s awful… I guess he’s afraid that he might accidentally make something like that happen again and that’s why he doesn’t want fire near him.” Calypso knew the fear of hurting someone she cared about and the guilt all too well. She would never forget the flashing lights and the loud crash that followed. Her nightmares made sure of that.

“Yes, it’s likely he feels that way. Since he moved here, he’s been seeing a therapist every once in a while but it’s clear he’s still a work in progress. He doesn’t talk about his mother a lot to us either. Just when we ask something general, and even then the answers are usually quite short.”

Bitterly, Calypso thought that was how she acted when someone brought up her family.

“I realize now that the matches were a big mistake,” she finally said. “I wish there was something I could do… I hate just watching helplessly when someone I… um...” She stopped mid sentence when she realized what she was about to reveal too much.

“Just be there for him,” Emmie suggested, luckily ignoring Calypso’s stuttering. “Despite everything, I think he’s still shown good progress the past few months. Sometimes time and patience and care can do amazing things.”

“Yeah. I think you are right there.” Calypso agreed. She herself had asked her friends, including Leo, to be patient with her as well. It was only fair she’d do the same with him.

“And Calypso?” Emmie eyed her worriedly. “Remember to take care of yourself as well.”

Calypso didn’t understand how the woman had seen through her that well. There was no way she could know what was going on in her mind because she hadn’t told even Leo everything. And Emmie and she had only known each other for a couple of days so far.

“I… sure. I will try my best!” she promised, instead of questioning Emmie’s comment.

“Good. I can’t say I know you all that well yet but know that people who are important to Leo are important to us.”

For a moment Calypso imagined what it would be like to have a mother like that. For some reason the thought made her emotional. “Thank you. You are so kind.”

“No, just doing what’s necessary. Now, I suggest you go and get dressed for the day and do what else you need to do; we might need some help with lunch soon. Besides, Georgie might need some supervision because she gets hyper when she eats too much chocolate. Funny how she and Leo are not biologically related but they still have a lot in common,” Emmie ended with a slightly amused remark.

Calypso did notice that she didn’t say anything about trying to find Leo, but she understood. He probably wanted to be on his own for a moment, and she’d respect that. Hopefully she’d get to talk to him eventually, but until then it was better to try to do something helpful rather than spend the whole day worrying. But even while she was doing her morning chores, she could still see Leo’s angry eyes when he saw her gift in her mind.

…

Leo didn’t know where he should go so he just followed his instinct. He didn’t want to hide inside; the pictures from his nightmare were still too fresh in his mind and he needed to be somewhere where he could breathe fresh air. As he was crossing the yard, Festus tried to follow him, and he wagged his tail cheerfully to make his favorite human happier, but this one time Leo didn’t want his company. He apologized to the dog and told him that he’d take him for a walk after getting his thoughts cleared.

He kept walking until finally, he reached a certain park where he and Jason used to jog often. Seeing a log bench on the side, he decided to sit down for a moment. Someone had made a campfire nearby earlier and Leo glared at the remaining ashes like they were the reason for all his troubles. He could feel the panic rise up his throat as he was reminded of the fire again, but he challenged himself to stay there for at least a moment. Finally, he sighed.

He knew he had totally overreacted to Calypso’s gift. Surely she had meant good but she didn’t know why fire and Christmas were not a good combination when it came to Leo. If he had just ignored the matches, nothing would have happened. Now he’d have to explain to her why he had freaked out like that and that wouldn’t be easy.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been staring into nothing when he suddenly felt a knock on his shoulder. Having not heard anyone arrive, he startled at the touch, but quickly recovered when he recognized the newcomer.

“Pipes! What brings you here?” he exclaimed, briefly noticing that her brown hair was now shorter than it had used to be and somehow her whole demeanor seemed a bit different. He attempted to put on a smile for her but he knew he was probably failing.

“Funny, I was gonna ask you the same question,” Piper noted, sitting down next to Leo. “I thought you would be at Waystation with your family. It’s Christmas day, after all.”

“Oh, yeah, I was there.” Piper raised her eyebrow so he quickly added: “You know me; this holiday and I don’t exactly walk hand in hand so I needed to get out for a moment.” Leo hoped that would be a sufficient explanation. She did know what had happened to his mother, even if not to the full extent.

“But Calypso was there with you. I thought that would cheer you up,” Piper pointed out.

“Funny you should say that,” Leo chuckled, although there was nothing amusing about the situation. “If you wanna know the truth, I’m kind of trying to escape from her right now.”

“You’re trying to escape…” Piper repeated with confusion. “Why? What happened? I thought things were going fine between you two. Especially after what happened after the party…”

“Not everything is how it looks to outsiders, Pipes,” Leo stopped her. “Things haven’t been amazing lately. I mean, in many ways. Yeah, I like her and somehow she also likes me, apparently. Yeah, I know, pretty unbelievable.”

Piper gave him her best ‘wow, you’re really breaking the news there, Leo’ look. He didn’t get disheartened, though, instead continuing: “But we have, um, decided that we shouldn’t get together for various reasons so we’ve been trying to find some kind of a golden mean where we can still continue being friends but it hasn’t been working out that well. One sec we are at each other's' throats for whatever stupid reason, and the next we’re acting all flirty and ignoring the rules we set. I was hoping that this Waystation visit would give us a chance to get to know each other better in an environment where we have others around us… And I think it was actually working for a while. I feel more comfortable there, and I think she was feeling more comfortable too… But today I went and messed things up again.”

“What did you do?” Piper sighed disapprovingly.

“I may or may not have gotten mad about her Christmas present,” Leo confessed finally, cringing because he realized how bad it sounded.

“Oh, Leo…” Piper shook her head. “Why would you get mad about something like that? You’re not usually someone who’d get mad that easily.”

“Yeah… I know I’m not, but… I had a pretty rough day to begin with. Not that that’s anything new to me, but…”

“But what?” Piper inquired.

“I saw a nightmare about my mom’s death right before I woke up. I was still kinda on the edge when we were opening the presents so when I saw the matches…”

“She gave you matches?” Piper tilted her head slightly as she was trying to figure out what Leo was saying.

“Yeah,” Leo shrugged. “To be clear, though, they were only a part of the present. She had made me a real nice tool belt, probably way better than any of those that they sell in some stores. The matches were in one of the pockets. And now I can see you’re gonna say: ‘well, maybe she just wanted you to try to get over your fear’, and maybe you’re right, but the timing…”

“You have not told her about the anniversary,” Piper concluded. “I’m sure you have figured out by now that you can’t blame her for something she didn’t know about. That’s not fair.”

“I know that!” Leo exclaimed. “I’m not really blaming her; I just overreacted! But how will I explain that to her? ‘Sorry I yelled at you; I just happened to burn my entire house 11 years ago today so I’m not exactly fond of fire right now?’”

“You know what I’m thinking?” Piper interrupted Leo’s unhealthy thought process. He didn’t answer. “I think you two have some serious communication issues. I know that Calypso isn’t good at opening about her past, and she has also admitted to me she has a tendency to push people back if she’s afraid they’re getting too close to her. But guess what, Leo? You’re the same. I’ve noticed that even though you’re kind of loud sometimes and you like to tell bad jokes…”

“Hey!” Leo protested.

“Shh, let me finish. My point is, you don’t often tell us what you’re really thinking. When you’re having one of your rougher periods, you withdraw into your workshop for days. All I’m trying to say here is that please talk to us. Specifically, talk to her. When she notices that you trust her enough to talk about something that personal, she might open up to you more as well. If she really likes you, she’ll understand.”

“Beauty Queen, I hate it when you see through me that well,” Leo muttered. “I dunno. I guess I’ll have to talk to her when I go back. If my moms don’t murder me first.”

“Nah. They wouldn’t. I mean, you may not get any presents next Christmas but that’s a small price to pay when you stormed out like that,” Piper teased him.

“You sure know how to make a man regret his bad deeds.” Leo rolled his eyes. “Anyway, we’ve established why I’m here right now but what about you? Shouldn’t you be with Jason or something?” Suddenly Piper didn’t seem as determined to scold Leo anymore.

“I… Jason and I are having a break.”

“A break? As in…?” Leo asked with confusion.

“As in a break,” Piper repeated more firmly. “What part of it you don’t understand? He and I are seeing if we are happier apart.”

Leo spent a moment taking the information in. “But I don’t get it. You guys have always been the most stable couple I’ve known. Why this kind of a decision all of a sudden?” He couldn’t say that he was entirely surprised by this piece of news after his talk with Jason before Christmas, but it still felt different to hear it from Piper. More final.

“I don’t think it’s all of a sudden. It’s been coming for a while now,” Piper confessed.

“Really? And you’re telling me only now?” Leo raised his eyebrow.

“It was something I needed to figure out on my own. Now, please don’t think I’ve just been playing with him, or something. I do love Jason. He’s my best friend. But… I’m starting to feel we’ve progressed too fast. That there’s a whole world out there for me to see that I missed because I was so busy getting together with Jason. I want to get to know who I am and where I really belong.”

“But… you have a house and everything together…” Leo said, suddenly feeling like a child whose parents were telling him they were breaking up, forgetting his own problems for a moment. “How are you gonna deal with that?”

“The plan is for now that we both keep living in our house until we make our final decision. I don’t want to go back to my dad and Jason would want to live with his dad even less. Of course it’s possible that we decide to continue our relationship, but if not, then we’re going to sell the house. But we are not rushing that. For now, we’re just trying to be friends, and not… exclusive.”

Leo was slightly relieved to hear that at least his best friends were still on speaking terms.

“Alright… if that’s what both of you want, then I’ll support it,” he said. “It’d suck to lose touch with either of you because of this.”

“Don’t worry,” Piper reassured him. “You won’t.” She ruffled his hair a little as if he was her little brother. “Everyone needs a Super-sized McShizzle in their lives, don’t they? It’d be pretty empty otherwise.”

Leo gave her a lopsided smile. “Glad you admitted that.”

“Anyway, enough about my boring relationship issues!” Piper decided to change the topic. “So, you told me Cal got you a tool belt and matches, but what did you give to her? It’s important, Leo.”

“You really think I’m gonna reveal it to you, Beauty Queen? I’m smarter than that,” Leo pointed out.

“I know what you did at our uni’s freshman party and I’m not afraid to tell it to Cal if I need to.” Piper winked at him in response.

Leo rolled his eyes. “Pshhh, that was freshman year. That excuses everything.”

“Alright, don’t tell me then.” Piper turned to leave.

“If you really must know,” Leo said before Piper got too far, “it was a jewelry box. With a bracelet in it. But it was not new so it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Not a big deal?” Piper asked with amusement. “You know things get serious when you give a girl a piece of jewelry.”

“Wait, what? For real?” Leo was shocked for a moment until he noticed Piper had a hard time not bursting into laughter. She was just messing with him. “OK, remind me to never tell you anything serious ever again.”

“You know you can’t resist my charm,” Piper chuckled. “Once you have forgotten what you just said, please tell me what really has happened at Waystation recently.”

Leo couldn’t help but shake his head at Piper’s enthusiasm but eventually started to tell her the whole story. He noticed that it helped him to forget about the negative thoughts for a moment so he didn’t really mind even though Piper had a tendency to be a bit pushy when it came to his feelings towards Calypso. And he assumed that Piper welcomed the distraction happily as well, because she must have felt conflicted about the whole Jason situation. When did things get so complicated, he wondered briefly before chuckling at his thoughts ironically. His life had never been simple. But even so, he would keep fighting. Because that’s what his mom would want, and that's what his family and friends would want.

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #my fics #caleo uni au

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demigodsanswer · 4 years ago

Note

valgrace fic request for something with a confession?

((Set in a canon-divergent timeline where Jason doesn’t die, but still gets stabbed. Also Jason and Piper, in this, know that Leo is alive. There isn’t actually a confession in here, really, because the story got away from me, so, sorry about that.

TW/CW for mentions of blood, injury, and vomiting))

~*~*~*~

When Jason woke up, all he felt was the overwhelming pain and pressure emanating from his chest. He tried to open his eyes, but the lights in his room nearly blinded him, sending sharp shooting pains back into his head. All he could do was groan and close his eyes again. The top half of his body felt like it was on fire. He couldn’t feel the lower half.

He felt someone squeeze his hand. It took most of his strength, but he managed to squeeze back. Jason tried to open his mouth to ask who was there, but his throat swallowed the sound. All he could do was lay there, and hope whoever was holding his hand recognized how thirsty he was.

“You alive, Sparky?”

Leo. Jason would have smiled if he had the energy. He would have jumped on his best friend if he could. He and Piper had gotten word of Leo’s survival a few weeks ago, but they hadn’t seen him yet. Now, he was in Jason’s hospital room, holding his hand. Jason wanted to smile and hug his friend, but his body wouldn’t let him. Instead, he settled for squeezing Leo’s hand again.

Leo made a noise that sounded like a laugh mixed with a yelp, before he dropped Jason’s hand. Jason heard his footsteps moving around the room, before returning to his bedside. Jason felt one of Leo’s hands, unnaturally but not uncomfortably warm and calloused slip behind his neck to prop him up just a bit.

“Here,” Leo offered him a spoon. The warm nectar tasted like vegan tacos. While it gave him enough energy to move his head a bit more, it didn’t do much to quench his thirst.

“Water?” Jason managed to choke out.

“I’m on it,” Leo promised. He returned a minute later with a toddler cup with handles and a plastic straw. After Jason had swallowed down as much as his stomach could handle, he finally managed to ask Leo to dim the lights.

Once Leo assured him that the lights were basically off, Jason managed to slowly open his eyes, taking a look at his best friend since his near-death experience.

“It’s good to see you,” Jason said. “I can’t believe you’re alive.”

“I could say the same thing about you,” Leo said.

“What -?”

Leo held up a hand to cut Jason off, before explaining the story. Jason remembered being stabbed (even if he didn’t, he was well aware of it now), but he didn’t remember much else. Piper had used charmspeak to get his blood flow to slow way, way down. Apollo called on Zeus to help, but they still can’t tell if Zeus did anything. Probably not, Jason thought, or I’d be a tree right now.

“Calypso and I came as soon as we heard,” Leo said, “you’ve been out for days.”

“Piper?” Jason asked.

“She had to go to Oklahoma, but she was here, dude, everyday with me. She left you a card to read when you have the strength.” Leo paused. “She wants you to know that she’s sorry, and that she did everything she could to try and save you.”

Jason nodded. “When do they think I’ll be able to get out of this bed?”

Leo looked at Jason confused, his eyes scanning Jason’s busted body. “Dude, you can barely open your eyes. You still have a lot of healing to do.”

Jason leaned back and closed his eyes again, but not because he felt like he had to. “I figured. Everything hurts.”

“A spear went right through your chest. You’re lucky it didn’t hit your lungs or your heart. You’re lucky Piper -”

“Yeah, she’s the best.” He tried to keep his voice happy, but he could tell he didn’t succeed.

“She told me what happened between you two. Sorry.” Leo said. He picked up the sippy cup and headed to the sink to refill it. Jason noticed it was shaped like Mikey Mouse, big round black ears decorated the top where the straw poked out, the body was dressed like Mickey’s shorts. Jason briefly laughed at the idea that he was drinking Mickey’s insides, but the macabre image reminded him of his own injury. He suddenly remembered what it looked like to see a spear poking out of his own body, what it felt like. He was suddenly too aware of the pain in his chest and the blood on it. He felt overwhelmingly nauseated. He tried to lean over the bed, hoping to find a trashcan, but there was nothing. The twisting only worsened his pain, and his eyes flashed with white light, before he gagged on himself. There wasn’t enough food in his stomach to produce anything other than water and bile, though.

When the pain subsided, he realized that Leo was gently rubbing his head, his body close to Jason’s. He had quickly held up a clean bedpan to Jason’s chin, keeping him clean.

Jason’s throat burned, but he felt okay enough to lay back down. Leo offered him some sips of water and nectar, which Jason accepted, hoping he’d keep them down.

“You’re bleeding,” Leo said, “let me go get the medic.” Before Jason could say anything, Leo was out the door, and Jason was asleep again.

When he woke up hours later, Leo was still there, asleep in the chair next to the bed. Jason sat up slightly, careful not to distress the wound dressings, the IV, or any of the other vital tubes keeping him alive.

He still couldn’t feel much of his lower body when he shifted. He tried moving his legs, but they felt somehow too heavy and too light, like they were asleep from being still for too long.

“Leo?” Jason said, his voice barely a whisper. “Leo?” He managed a little louder.

Leo stirred, waking up slowly at first, and then all at once when he saw Jason moving.

“Do you need anything?” Leo asked, quick to help him.

“No, I’m okay. You don’t need to stay here all night, though.”

Leo smiled sadly, “’Course I do. I don’t want you to be alone here.”

Jason nearly blushed. “Come on, I’m sure Calypso misses you.”

“Might want to hedge your bets on that one. That little love story didn’t exist so well outside the magic love island.”

Jason furrowed his brow. “You guys broke up?”

Leo nodded. “It’s uh .... well ... she wasn’t right for me.” Leo’s ears were pink, so Jason decided not to push the question too much. “Anyway,” Leo said, perking up again, “I want to show you something.”

Leo pulled out a clipboard with some sketches on it. Jason wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at; Leo had drawn out a few different models of legs, some realistically human, some bionic. “They’re just some ideas. I’ll improve them once I can get to some real blueprints.”

“What are they for?” Jason asked. Leo’s ears went red again.

“What?”

“Are you writing a comic or something?”

Leo looked at Jason, confused and concerned. He looked around the room, like he was hoping to find someone else who knew what was going on.

After a moment he took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck before saying, “I guess you didn’t know yet? Sorry, I shouldn’t have ... I mean ... not like ...”

“Leo?”

He took a deep breath. “It’s like I told you. Piper had to slow your blood flow way, way down, and keep most of it going to your vital parts until they could get you help. That meant taking the blood from somewhere else and, well, they figured you needed your hands more, so ...” He trailed off, but Jason understood.

He tried to sit up and pull the blankets down off his lap, but he couldn’t move that far.

“Here, I’ve got it,” Leo said, pulling them down for him. Jason rested back, finally understanding why he couldn’t feel his legs. They were both gone. The left one was off at the hip, the right one was off at the knee. Jason ran his fingers over the bandages, trying to understand it. When he pressed down on what was left, he could swear he felt it in a foot that wasn’t there.

“But don’t worry, I’m gonna fix you up. You’re gonna be like Robo Cop or some shit,” Leo said, forcing a laugh to try and break the tension. Then. his voice got soft again. “You’re going to be okay. We’re all here to help you. We’re just so happy you’re alive.” He wrapped his arms around Jason’s shoulders, and pulled him in close, trying to be as gentle as he could be. Jason grabbed onto Leo’s arm, and pulled him in closer. Jason buried his face in his friend’s arm, and started to cry, which only made the pain in his chest worse, which only made him want to cry harder.

Leo didn’t say anything, he just held him for a while.

Finally, Jason felt himself starting to calm down. He pulled away from Leo, who pulled the blanket back up over Jason’s lap.

“I wish Piper was here,” Leo said, sitting down in the chair, “she’s always been better at this kind of stuff.”

Jason reached his hand out to Leo, who took it, scooting his seat closer. “I’m so happy you’re here.” Leo blushed again, and Jason felt himself blush too, but he didn’t know why. “You are enough. Thanks for being here for me.” Leo smiled. “Plus, I’m super lucky. Who else has a friend who can make them Robo Cop?”

Leo’s smile widened. “You know, I was wondering: do you want to be taller? Because I can make you taller.”

“Taller than Frank or Percy?”

“I can do that,” Leo promised.

Jason squeezed his hand. “Maybe. I’ll think about it.”

“Well you let me know. I can do anything.”

“I know you can.”

Jason’s head started to feel heavy again, and he could feel himself starting to drift. Leo offered him another spoon-full of nectar to help him sleep and heal, which he took gratefully.

“You need to get some rest too,” Jason said.

“I will,” Leo promised, settling into his chair, “I’ll just also be here when you wake up again.”

Jason smiled, closed his eyes, a drifted back to sleep.

#leo valdez #jason grace #valgrace #implied gay leo #piper mclean #Anonymous

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theolympusfiles · 3 years ago

Text

RED - but make it PJO

state of grace - percy & annabeth

"You come around and the armor falls Pierce the room like a cannon ball Now all we know is don't let go We are alone, just you and me Up in your room and our slates are clean Just twin fire signs, four blue eyes

So you were never a saint And I've loved in shades of wrong We learn to live with the pain Mosaic broken hearts But this love is brave and wild”

red - piper to jason

“Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly Loving him is like trying to change your mind once you're already flying through the free fall Like the colors in autumn, so bright just before they lose it all Losing him was blue like I'd never known Missing him was dark grey all alone Forgetting him was like trying to know somebody you never met But loving him was red Loving him was red”

treacherous - may castellan

“I can't decide if it's a choice Getting swept away I hear the sound of my own voice Asking you to stay And all we are is skin and bone Trained to get along Forever going with the flow But you're friction

This slope is treacherous This path is reckless This slope is treacherous I, I, I like it”

i knew you were trouble - silena to luke

“Once upon a time, a few mistakes ago I was in your sights, you got me alone You found me, you found me, you found me I guess you didn't care, and I guess I liked that And when I fell hard you took a step back Without me, without me, without me And he's long gone when he's next to me And I realize the blame is on me”

all too well - rachel to percy

“ Oh, your sweet disposition and my wide-eyed gaze We're singing in the car, getting lost Upstate Autumn leaves falling down like pieces into place And I can picture it after all these days And I know it's long gone And that magic's not here no more And I might be okay But I'm not fine at all ”

22 - greek demigods

“Yeah, We're happy, free, confused, and lonely at the same time It's miserable and magical. Oh, yeah Tonight's the night when we forget about the deadlines It's time”

stay stay stay - calypso to leo

“You took the time to memorize me: My fears, my hopes, and dreams. I just like hangin' out with you all the time. All those times that you didn't leave; It's been occurring to me I'd like to hang out with you for my whole life. Stay. And I'll be loving you for quite some time. No one else is gonna love me, when I get mad, mad, mad. So I think that it's best if we both stay, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay.”

the last time - luke to annabeth

“I find myself at your door Just like all those times before I'm not sure how I got there All roads—they lead me here I imagine you are home In your room, all alone And you open your eyes into mine And everything feels better”

holy ground - hazel to sammy

“Spinning like a girl in a brand new dress, We had this big wide city all to ourselves. We blocked the noise with the sound of ‘I need you’, And for the first time I had something to lose, And I guess we fell apart in the usual way. And the story’s got dust on every page, But sometimes I wonder how you think about it now. And I see your face in every crowd. Cause darling, it was good never looking down. And right there where we stood was holy ground. Tonight I’m gonna dance for all that we’ve been through. But I don’t wanna dance if I’m not dancing with you. Tonight I’m gonna dance like you were in this room. But I don’t wanna dance if I’m not dancing with you”

sad beautiful tragic - sally to poseidon

“Long handwritten note deep in your pocket Words, how little they mean when you're a little too late I stood right by the tracks, your face in a locket Good girls, hopeful they'll be and long they will wait We had a beautiful magic love there What a sad beautiful tragic love affair In dreams I meet you in warm conversation We both wake in lonely beds, different cities And time is taking its sweet time erasing you And you've got your demons, and, darling, they all look like me”

the lucky one - percy jackson

“And they tell you that you’re lucky. But you’re so confused, 'Cause you don’t feel pretty, you just feel used. And all the young things line up to take your place. Another name goes up in lights. You wonder if you’ll make it out alive. And they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one. Yeah, they’ll tell you now, you’re the lucky one. Can you tell me now, you’re the lucky one, oh, oh, oh.”

everything has changed - jason & reyna

'Cause all I know is we said, "Hello" And your eyes look like coming home All I know is a simple name Everything has changed All I know is you held the door And you'll be mine and I'll be yours All I know since yesterday is everything has changed Come back and tell me why I'm feeling like I've missed you all this time, oh, oh, oh And meet me there tonight And let me know that it's not all in my mind”

starlight - frank & hazel

He said, "Look at you: worrying too much about things you can't change. You'll spend your whole life singing the blues if you keep thinking that way." He was tryna skip rocks on the ocean, saying to me, "Don't you see the starlight, starlight? Don't you dream impossible things?" Like "Oh my, what a marvelous tune." It was the best night, never would forget how we moved The whole place was dressed to the nines, And we were dancing, dancing Like we're made of starlight, starlight Like we're made of starlight, starlight

begin again - nico & will

“You said you never met someone Who had as many James Taylor records as you But I do We tell stories and you don't know why I'm coming off a little shy But I do But you throw your head back laughing like a little kid I think it's strange that you think I'm funny 'cause he never did I've been spending the last eight months Thinking all love ever does is break and burn and end But on a Wednesday in a cafe I watched it begin again”

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cartoonfantic8 · 4 years ago

Text

Friendships in PJO (Part 1)

I know a lot of people talk about headcannons of the couples or ships and sometimes people forget some pretty great friendships in the books. These are headcannons of friendship that didn’t really happen but I think these would be pretty good friendships.

Trials of Apollo Spoilers

Also I’m ignoring Jason’s death because I don’t consider that cannon.

Percy and Piper

A lot of people talk about this pair and honestly these two would be such a good duo.

One night, Piper wakes up from a nightmare from the war. Jason was at Camp Jupiter so she went to go the Posiden Cabin. She knocks on the door and Percy answers. They both couldn’t sleep and start talking about there nightmares and they really bonded after that.

They would be such a sassy duo. Like both of them would not really listen to authority and pretty much piss of the Gods a lot.

They like to go skateboarding together and make stupid vlogs about all the tricks they would do or something stupid stuff like either of them falling. Afterwords they would get their nails done and this was mostly Percy’s idea, and sometimes when they go to a mortal salon, someone might give Percy a dirty look. Saying some excuse like “Oh he’s a boy, boy’s shouldn’t get there nails done that’s for girls”. Piper curses that person and is like “Bitch no!” Otherwise they go to the Aphordite cabin and those guys are chill and really don’t care, they like to make people feel beautiful or handsome.

They both go surfing togther too. Piper misses the beaches in California and Percy takes her to the closest beach near Camp Haft-Blood. They like surf and collect seashells by the beach. Percy likes to take Piper underwater using his water bubble thing and they see all the sea life and coral under there.

They watch “Dance Moms” or any drama show, and get so invested in all the drama.

Piper and Percy cuff there jeans and listen to Sweater Weather togther. They would blast it at full volume in the Posiden Cabin at 3:00am, singing it at the top of their lungs. Sometimes Leo joins them (those three are all bisexual, no one can convice me otherwise). They like to go to Pride together with other LGBTQ+ campers and they both paint small bi flags on there cheeks.

They also help each other set up dates for Jason or Annabeth, during anniversary’s or just dates in general.

They both would really support each other in anything and have a very chaotic friendship full of teasing and so much sass.

Jason and Frank

At first Frank never really knew Jason. Jason was missing for a while and let’s face it, at Camp Jupiter, Jason was talked about like a hero. To Frank he was important and once he met Jason, he was a normal guy. During Argo ll, they never really got to know each other since they were saving the world from LITERAL MOTHER EARTH

After the war, the Romans were going back to there Camp meaning Reyna, Frank, and Hazel were leaving soon. Jason had to go, to bring his stuff and move to Camp Haft-Blood and teach Frank about being a Praetor. During there few lessons, they became close and got to know each other.

Anytime Jason gets stressed, Frank turns into a kitten and calms him down. When Frank gets stress from being a praetor, Jason tells him to rest and take a break.

They love to watch cheesy Rom-coms and Disney Channel Original movie and either laugh about stupid it is or cry of how sincere it is.

They like to train together and honestly they are both the moms of the demigod friend group (The Seven + Nico and Reyna) They plan hangouts for there friends.

There really just a nice, chill duo who hangs out and just have fun.

Rachel and Hazel

Hazel and Rachel never properly met. Mostly because Hazel is Roman and at this point Rachel is just Greek like everyone just considers her a Greek. One day, Hazel came to visit CBH, to see her friends and Nico.

Chrion asks if she would like to help Rachel out repainting the Camp’s van and making it more different and less boring. She agrees and properly meets Rachel. At first Hazel is sort of scared because Rachel is the Oracle but once she gets to know her, she’s really just a goofy, fun-loving person and they really hit it off.

They like to paint or draw together and just talk. Sometimes Hazel would be Rachel’s muse or Rachel would be Hazel’s muse. Rachel would also go on art rants and Hazel’s a pretty good listener, so she listen’s even though sometimes she has no idea what Rachel’s talking about.

Rachel introduces Hazel to Disney which she got hooked on. They like to have Disney marathons in Rachel’s cave and will spend hours watching Disney.

Rachel also helps Hazel navigate the mordern world and technogly. Hazel also taught Rachel how to ride a horse.

Rachel is pretty adventurous which Hazel loves and they try new things every time they visit each other.

They were overall a very fun loving pair of friends who are artisy and obsessed with Disney.

Nico and Leo

I know a lot of people ship Valangelo, I love these two but I personally see them as a really great friendship. Sorry to Valangelo shippers but here’s there friendship.

At first Nico and Leo hate each other. Nico just finds Leo annoying and Leo just thinks of Nico as the creepy Hades kid. After hanging out a lot more since there in the same group of friends, they become closer.

If Nico ever feels sad, Leo would always cheer him up with a dumb joke which surprisingly makes him laugh. Anytime Leo is sad, Nico will attempt to make a joke and Leo would look surprised and yell across the room “Hey guys, Nico made a joke!”

When Leo overworks himself, Nico will go to Bunker Nine and brings him a Happy Meal. Leo takes a break and they both play Mythomagic, which Nico got back into.

Leo built them motorcycles and they like to race around the woods with them, Calypso and Will would be cheering on the sidelines being supportive.

Leo introduces him to Pop Culture a lot more and even gives him (and Hazel) lessons on what’s been going on in the world and how it’s changed since the 40s

During the days when Bianca and Esperanza died, most of there friends and campers would leave them alone execpt there significant others (or annoyance in Will’s case) and each other. Nico and Leo both empathize with each other because Esperanza and Bianca were there rocks and there only family (besides the gods but there not really around)

Overall, they would be the Keith and Lance duo. Leo being the more jokey one and Nico being the more tough and cynical one. Its one of the more unexpected friendships.

Reyna and Annabeth

Reyna and Annabeth never were really friends at first because of the whole Greek and Roman war going on and once Reyna helped them, the seven had to go stop Gaea and she had to go deliver the statue to Camp Haft-Blood.

After the war, the Romans and Greeks became friends, Reyna and Annabeth made a peace treaty/alliance togther. They became pretty good friends after that.

Annabeth helps Reyna make renovations to New Rome and Camp Jupiter. Reyna helps with a few new battle plans for Camp Haft-Blood so there a lot more prepared for another war or battle.

If either of them are stressed, they will play Minecraft or Animal Crossing online. Like they both have those gaming headsets and will go online for each other.

When they visit each other, they go to a small, quiet coffee shop and get coffee or pastries and just chill and catch up with each other. Afterwords, they go to Centeral Park or a park in California and have a walk.

Annabeth introduced Reyna to Harry Potter. They both finished the movies in like a week and the books take them longer because of there dyslexia but Reyna fell in love. Reyna takes the Pottermore quiz and gets Gryffindor. Annabeth and Reyna are that iconic Slytherin and Gryffindor team.

Once Reyna becomes a hunter, Annabeth, Reyna, and Thalia all go hunting together. I feel like all three of them have completions of who can hunt the most. Sometimes Annabeth will tag along with the hunters and go camping. Artemis is fine with it because she likes Annabeth.

They would be that badass duo that you don’t mess with or else they won’t hesitate to snap your neck.

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depressedacadamia · 4 years ago

Text

De Humani Corporis Fabrica

Chapter II: Experience

Word count: 6.9K

Summary: Pjo dancer AU! Drama, drama and more drama. Old relationships and new ones continue to bear the weight of the upcoming auditions all while a special person makes a guest appearance.

A/N: I didn’t mention it before but they are aged up in this series! I picture them to be in their pretty early 20s but I like to think that they’ve known each other for a long time and other characters joined during their teen years. Make sure you enjoy, comment, like, share, reblog- yall know the drill. <3 from moi!

Taglist: no one :( [send a message and get on my taglissstt]

Read Chapter One here!

Le Studio Royal Jupiter was becoming competitive again. The members were still getting used to hearing that. To Nico, it was like a miracle; he had trained since the petit age of 2, waiting for this moment and now he was finally getting it. He wished his sister was here to celebrate such a moment but he knew that if she was here, the studio would have never stopped competing in the first place. The tragic incident had occured at the studio years ago and it had forced them to temporarily stop competing.

Everything seemed better- the sky (which was always a depressing sight) seemed brighter, the studio mirrors were cleaner and Dionysus was less lazy and more salsa-y. Studio 2 was empty on a Monday afternoon- as always because Dionysus would never schedule his lessons on a Monday as he saw it to be ’too drab’. Hazel and Leo however, who were dedicated to the studio, were almost always in on a Monday.

Hazel- in her De Luca heels- was practising a spin that she hadn’t been able to get down for ages while Leo was practising his ballet technique. While he was normally a salsa dancer, every dancer in LSRJ, including himself, was relatively well versed in ballet; Leo knew that working with Calypso would mean a lot of technical work. He was trying to get at least 3 turns in a row without feeling like he was going to fall- one more thing, Leo hated pointe shoes.

“Leo, what on earth are you doing?” Hazel's voice cut through Leo’s thoughts.

“I’m working with Satan, take a wild guess.”

“Yikes,” Hazel cringed. “How’s that going for you?”

“She walks out at the beginning of rehearsal, refuses to talk or work cooperatively and insults me as well as Salsa itself at every chance she gets- so Hazel, you tell me. How do you think it’s going?”

“Leo I’m sor-”

“-And it’s not even the fact that she insults me, it’s the way she treats me and salsa. Like all of a sudden, I’m inferior because salsa has no ‘proper technique’. Like wow, ballet is so sophisticated and you’re so cool. Congratulations, you and your pretty arms and pretty legs and fancy, snazzy vocabulary!” Leo ranted. Hazel, who was more used to the more creative and funnier side of her partner, frowned; she was slightly worried about him.

“Maybe consider dropping out on her?” Hazel offered.

“What will I do though? We both know that I can’t get on the team with a solo. Salsa works best with a partner. Besides, sure Calypso is the devil spawn, but that does not mean I don’t appreciate good technique.”

Hazel raised her eyebrow. “Didn’t you say that Luke, Annabeth and Nico all had better technique than she did?”

Leo, who was smiling smugly and had both his eyes closed, cracked one open and let his smile grow across his face.

“A small lie never hurt her nor anybody else.”

Hazel, who seemed quite unconvinced, nodded as Leo continued.

“What about you?” Leo asked. “How’s things coming up with the B-boy?”

Immediately, Hazel lit up. “It’s pretty good actually. I think Frank and I actually have a good chance of making the team!”

Leo noticed how Hazel had seemed so keen to talk about Frank and took this as an opportunity to tease her.

“So does that mean you won’t need me to fake being your boyfriend again?”

“What?” Hazel took a glance at Leo’s smirk. “No! No, we’re just friends. Friends, yes, yes. Just friends. He’s just a friend.”

“Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself more than me.”

“I’m. Not. Crushing. On. Frank,” She gritted out with her fists clenched.

“Okay,” Leo said in a sing-song sort of tune.

“I’m not!” She shouted before lowering her voice to a small whisper. “ Not after Sammy.”

Leo’s features immediately softened at the mention of his older brother. Hazel talking about Sammy had opened up old wounds that Leo thought had healed- he thought he was over this!

“After all this time Hazel? Still Sammy?”

Leo half expected her to say ‘always’ as if they were re-enacting Harry Potter. Secretly, he hoped that she didn’t. What had happened with Sammy was long ago and Leo never wanted to see Hazel in such pain again. They weren’t just dancer partners like himself and Calypso, they were friends. Hazel, to Leo’s avail did not respond; they remained silent the entire rehearsal.

In Studio A... Nico had never wanted to punch someone in the face as much as he wanted to punch Jason in this very moment. Afterall, it was Jason’s fault that Nico was partnering with Will. It wasn’t that Nico didn’t like Will, it was just that working with someone who was annoyingly attractive (Nico’s exact words were a hot piece of ass) often resulted in not working as well as one should.

It also meant Nico had to wear his tap shoes.

“Will, do I have to wear these?” Nico complained.

“We’re testing out ideas. We start with tap and then we’ll do ballet.”

“So that means I will see you in pointe shoes then?” Nico inquired, his voice suspiciously innocent and his eyes battering too fast. Will, in response, grimaced and nodded reluctantly.

“Perfect!” Nico hummed happily. The pain of tap shoes was nothing compared to pointe shoes. As Will laughed slightly at Nico’s taunting, they began going over the basics. Nico watched as naturally the corners of Will’s lips twitched upwards as he danced and taught. His smile was perfect, his moves in sync with the music blaring in the background- practically flawless.

Nico however, struggled a bit with certain parts that Will taught- not that he was surprised; he expected tap to be overly energetic. While they both took their break, Nico began spinning round and round on his tap shoes. He couldn’t really help it- they were so easy to spin on- it was like they were just begging him to turn.

“Nico, stop spinning like that, you’ll fall and get hurt,” Will warned as he sat in a corner, sipping at his water bottle. Nico ignored him and continued mucking about- only stopping to stick his tongue out at Will who on countless occasions, continued to attempt to warn Nico. Will could feel his own heart fluttering at the thought of an injury.

“Fuck!”

Will’s head snapped in towards Nico who lay on his butt, clutching his ankle. The ballet dancer was hunched over his foot, cradling his ankle with both hands.

“Shit! Nico I warned you! Where does it hurt?” Will asked with a thick layer of concern in his voice as he ran over. Slowly, Nico began shuddering, his body almost shivering as he made whimper-like noises. He refused to meet Will’s eyes as he continued shaking.

‘Shit, he probably injured himself really badly if he’s crying’ was the first thought to cross Will’s mind.

“Oh my God,” Nico said shakily. Will gently rested his hand on Nico’s shoulder comfortingly.

“Nico, it’s going to be okay. It’s probably a minor fracture at the most. You will be fine.”

Unexpectedly and out of nowhere, Nico threw his head back and began laughing.

“Holy moly, I can’t believe you actually fell for it!” Nico wheezed as he clutched his stomach. “And your face!”

Will in utter disbelief, took about 30 seconds to fully understand the situation and yet these were the first 5 words.

“You were lying to me?”

“It was a joke! I was just trying to prove that Ballet dancer’s aren’t as uptight as everyone thinks we are!” Nico laughed. Will could not believe this. He should have never partnered with Nico especially considering he was friends with Percy and Jason of all people. He started packing up, aggressively shoving his stuff into his sports bag. Nico’s laughter died down as he turned to Will, confusion growing on his face.

“Hey, where are you going?”

Viciously, Will turned on him. “I’m going to go dance. I’m not going to hang about with an immature and undedicated dancer.”

“Surely a small prank doesn’t change anything. I mean, there’s a reason you chose me-”

“- I chose you because I wanted a hardworking and professional partner, not some bumbling idiot who walks around like they own the place and does what they want!” With that, Will left and Nico sat on the floor.

Welp, Nico was never socialising with Will again.

In Rehearsal room 4... “Turn, turn, push back and drop!” Piper yelled over the loud music. Jason and Piper had been working hard- taking turns in choreographing different parts of the routine. They held their freeze for 5 seconds before relaxing and agreeing to take a break.

“So what was that earlier with Nico, huh?” Piper started.

“What d’ya mean?” Jason innocently responded. “ He needed a partner.”

“So I was imagining the look you guys had?”

“What look?” Jason sounded shocked.

“You guys had a look.”

“Like you and Annabeth?”

Piper could feel the immediate blush rising to her cheeks. She couldn’t help the way she felt- was it her fault that he best friend had gorgeous curly blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes? She turned her head slightly away so Jason couldn’t see her face.

“Nico and I go way back- we trust each other,” Jason chose his wording very carefully.

“Well… So do Annabeth and I…”

“Good… wanna go over the Hip hip section again?” Jason offered, desperate to change the awkward tension that had suddenly appeared in the air. Piper eagerly nodded.

In the Cafe... “What do you mean she’s with Leo? Frank, they’re just dance partners, nothing more,” Annabeth re-assured. She sat in the elegant armchair opposite Frank with Percy on her left. They were in the cafe that was underneath the studio- it was custom for the dancers to meet up here during lunch.

“But… are you sure?” Frank asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

“I give you my word Frank- they’re just good friends.”

At these words, Frank relaxed. That was until Leo and Hazel both walked in silently; their bodies close to each other but their faces catatonic. As they came to sit down, they both moved towards the same seat and exchanged a series of bumps, ‘ouches’ and ‘errms’ until they managed to sit down. Annabeth and Percy exchanged a wary look as the awkward silence between the two stretched out.

Nico stormed in, his face scrunched up as he ordered a coffee and plopped himself on the armrest of the chair that his ballet partner, Annabeth, was sitting in. He had a dark, raging and violent aura around him and carried on sulking until Annabeth spoke up.

“Nico, is that coffee?” Her voice had a hint of worry.

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “What’s up with you two? Lovers quarrel?” Nico pointed to Leo and Hazel who both immediately froze up. Leo, who was mid- sip, choked and began wheezing for air while Hazel gently patted him on the back. Frank, subconsciously, flinched.

“Dancers quarrel,” Hazel sighed after Leo had stopped choking before turning towards her brother.

“Wait, you’re drinking coffee? Again?” Hazel raised her eyebrows at Nico. The last time she recalled him drinking coffee… Well family tensions had been higher than ever, Nico was a literal caffeine addict and Hazel had been helping the ‘love of her life’. Nico had gotten over the caffeine addiction, well at least, she hadn’t seen him touch the substance in years so the sudden appearance of it alarmed her- What had happened to him that drove him back to coffee? Nico on the other hand, simply batted his hand signalling ‘later’.

“Does anybody want to break the awkward silence?” Percy murmured out of the corner of his mouth, looking down at his fidgeting hands.

“I heard an awkward silence needs breaking?” Jason appeared before them. “ Guess what?”

Almost immediately, the entire crowd perked up and asked ‘what?’

“Nu uh, I actually want you guys to guess.”

“Did your new pointe shoes break in?” Annabeth suggested.

“Please get to the pointe,” Leo tutted. Jason shot his roommate, a playful scowl, as he was used to the terrible jokes. Everyone else (except Percy) groaned, throwing their heads back and Hazel face palmed at the terrible jokes- sometimes she asked herself why they were friends.

“You guys are pathetic,” Jason hummed, his arms folded smugly.

“Bro, just tell us!” Percy pleaded, sick of the timely wait.

Jason took a deep breath, holding the tension out for as long as possible. “Well… Chiron’s returning!”

“Like returning returning or just visiting returning?” Annabeth immediately cut in, stopping all the whoops that had erupted from the happy news. Well mainly happy. After the incident, Chiron was left without half a leg which stopped his dance career. It had been hard for him and the dancers around him- tensions had never been worse within the studio and so for the sake of the dancers, Chiron had left to teach dance theory. He had visited every once in a while but if he was ever going to come back- since he was the owner of the studio- no one really knew.

“He didn’t really specify…”

“On the plus side, he’s probably gotten like what 14 new stories about the wheelchair?” Annabeth exclaimed. Percy, who knew about the wheelchair, threw his head back laughing as he remembered the previous stories of it. As they fell into a conversation recalling all the previous stories about the wheelchair, Leo had to clutch his stomach while laughing.

“I love that dude- he’s the only one who doesn’t take Calypso’s bullshit.”

A piercing voice came out from behind them. “Well, Calypso had been looking for you this past week. Where have you been?”

Outraged, Leo retorted, “Where have I been, where have you been?”

As the two started shouting their heads off at each other, the group of people fell silent and everyone agreed to leave them to it. Before Hazel left, she noticed the darker undertones of Calypso’s normally flawless skin as well as her red rimmed eyes.

“So, where have you been?” Leo repeated, almost drawling. Calypso ignored the question and instead told Leo to meet her in Studio A (Leo rolled his eyes at the choice of studio) in a half hour. Leo had to clench his hands to stop himself from making some sort of witty smart- alec response; he wanted to try his best to get along with Calypso because the sooner they finished the routine, the quicker he’d be able to get on the team and avoid her.

Back in Rehearsal room 4... Jason was very lucky to have Piper as a partner- mainly due to her great ability to adapt to new styles. Having a famous father who could easily (and would happily) pay for anything she asked, Piper was gifted. From her good looks, her various talents and her sparkling personality, one could say that Piper Mclean had it all.

Oh, how wrong one could be.

They had agreed to perform a musical theatre routine focusing on hip hop and tap- the styles which moulded together best. They were doing well with their choreography and had finished their routine and were now going over it- making sure everything was clean and worked.

“Hey, let's take a break here,” Piper panted lightly with her hands resting on her thighs. Jason nodded with a brief smile on his face- could you blame him? He had managed to improve his tap by miles compared to the small amount of improvement he would have made with any other person. He jogged towards their bags and pulled out both of their water bottles;he threw Piper’s bottle at her. Perfectly, she caught it .

“Our routine is great, we totally have a chance at making the team,” Piper told Jason as she took a sip of water and plopped herself on the bean bag in the corner of the room by their bags.

“Percy and Annabeth’s chemistry may blow everyone out of the water,” Jason said mindlessly as he sipped water. Piper visibly flinched at the statement- it was small but noticeable for Jason.

“What? What’s wrong? If it’s those two, trust me- they’ll be too busy fooling around to perfect their routine.”

Again, Piper seemed a tad uncomfortable. She had tried to not cringe at the mention of Annabeth but it was quite hard when Jason kept on mentioning it like it was simply nothing. Her face had momentarily scrunched up before she quickly attempted to smooth it out. Jason frowned with an expression that simply read ‘What’s wrong?’

“Well… uh, Annie,” Piper hesitantly started, trying to find an easier way to explain. “I have really short nails.”

“Okay…?” Jason, utterly confused by the random fact, frowned again. Piper sighed at his innocent persona and tried to emphasize what she was implying.

“There’s a reason I have short nails…”

“Because you don’t like long nails?”

Piper, impatient, facepalmed and decided to find a better explanation. She turned to his sister as an easier topic.

“Why does your sister have short nails?”

Jason’s face scrunched up for a few seconds, looking up towards the ceiling before his eyes bugged a bit and his lips pursed into an ‘o’ shape.

“Oh! Oh… so like lesbian or-”

“Bi.”

Jason took a deep breath. “ Well, I'm happy you felt comfortable enough to tell me and I’m proud of you...and I hope you’re happy Pipes.”

She nodded, more confident and happy that Jason hadn’t made too much a deal of it- he was a dear friend whose opinion she cared about dearly. She felt she could truly trust him.

“Soo… Annabeth huh?” Jason wiggled his eyebrows. Piper smacked his arm before retorting back.

“I’ve seen how you look at Percy- looks like a budding bromance to me.”

Jason choked on his water, sputtering everywhere and was left absolutely speechless.

In Rehearsal room 1... “5, 6, 7, 8!” Calypso calles as they started the sectioned choreography again. Leo internally groaned as they started again with practically no enthusiasm behind his moves. While the dance wasn’t bad, Leo wasn’t afraid to call out the dance so far was bland. It was all classical ballet and no spice. It was too boring for him and if he were an audience member he would take away points for lack of creativity. After what seemed like 4 days but was actually 40 seconds, they finished.

“Make sure your turns are in time with mine,” Calypso pointed out as she paused the music. Leo had to physically hold in the urge to make a remark. He glanced at his watch and his eyes almost bugged out of his skull. It was 4pm? Already? He knew he had to leave now or else he was going to be late. He grabbed his bag and started changing his shoes ino more suitable footwear. He snacthed his jacket, slipped it on in a rush and almost walked into the door due to the rush he was in.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Calypso’s voice coming from behind made Leo freeze. Shit. What was he going to say? Where were his excuses?

Breathe Leo, make a simple lie- can’t be too hard.

“Uh.. just grabbing something from the cafe. I think I left something there.” He jutted his thumb towards the door before slipping out to avoid Calypso’s questions. He had one more stop to make before he left.

In Studio B... Frank was learning a lot from working with Hazel. Other than the obvious (like her beauty being even greater up close), he also learnt more about salsa than he ever had in his entire life. Their routine was finally complete but they were trying to find the perfect place to insert a lift. The timing for it had to be perfect. Too slow and Frank gets injured. Too fast and Hazel falls.

As they rehearsed the routine and approached the final move, Hazel slipped- effectively pushing Frank on his back and Hazel falling right on top with her body pressed against him; practically straddling him. Frank’s head made a loud ‘thud’ sound on making contact with the solid floor- clearly it had won this battle between head and floor.

“Oh my goodness! Are you okay?” Hazel rushed out, still unaware of the compromising position. Frank nodded meekly, not wanting to further aggravate the pain in his head and reached his hand to rub the back of his head. It was only then did their eyes meet, Hazel’s eyes widening at the realisation of the position. Just as she was going to scramble off, Leo busted through the door. Frantically, Leo sputtered,

“Oh, sorry… er am I interrupting something?” Hazel almost flew off Frank and quickly made her way to Leo who now bore a small smile on his face,

“Just friends huh?” Leo mumbled. Hazel ignored the comment and instead asked what Leo was doing here.

“I gotta leave for work and Calypso is on my ass. Do me a favour- if she asks where I went say I had an appointment or something,” he whispered, his mood changing rapidly. Hazel nodded, loyal to her friend and ran to her sports bag. She whipped out her purse before waddling back to Leo, her fingers mindlessly rifling through the notes in her purse as if it was worth nothing more than paper.

“How much do you need for the bus fare?”

Leo’s hand immediately pushed back at Hazel’s purse, who again, ignored it. He was not about to take her money- not again at least, not until he paid her back for the previous times. It was hard though, because Hazel always insisted everything be on her and refused to allow him to pay her back in any way.

“Hazel, I’ve told you. I don’t want to take your money,” Leo pleaded, his face seemingly uncomfortable. Sure, he didn’t want Hazel’s money but he did want money.

“Ridiculous.” Hazel shook her head as if the mere idea of her caring whether he paid her back or not was utter ludicrous. She pulled out a thick wad of cash. “I don’t care. Here. Should be enough for the bus fares, lunch and other stuff.”

Leo hesitated. He needed this money. Bus fares, food expenses, new dance clothes and his share of the rent along with other things. But the idea of taking Hazel’s money always left a bitter taste afterwards- he hated feeling guilty over her money. Hazel on the other hand, was not going to let Leo refuse and shoved the cash into Leo’s pocket before pulling him in a tight and surprising hug. Her arms were wrapped around Leo’s back and in return, he closed his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. She smelt like flowers- no doubt from the expensive products she could easily afford along with the fact that her step-mother, Persophone, owned a fragrance line among other things.

“Gracias,” he muttered, squeezing her shoulder in an affectionate manner.

With the short knowledge of spanish she knew from her best friend, Hazel replied, “De nada.”

Confused, Frank watched the entire interaction.

Back in Studio A... Annabeth and Percy were not practising. While every dancer, perhaps excluding Nico, were nervously practicing every beat of a move they performed, Annabeth and Percy were not really stressing. In fact, they hadn’t worked much on their routine in general. Annabeth was lying on her stomach with her face in her hands and her legs dangling back and forth. Percy sat next to her, with his arms around his legs. They were both listening to their ex-mentor who was in a wheelchair. Chiron was simply talking about something that had recently happened with his two favourite students.

“He did what!” Percy and Annabeth shouted in sync.

“I told him that if he performed, he would have been scouted, but alas- Luke refused. He came with me but it was a true shame I didn’t get to see him perform. He’s been with the studio for so long now, I do find it odd that he has yet to move to a professional career,” Chiron sighed- slumping slightly in his wheelchair.

“How’s the leg doing?” Annabeth asked, hoping the subject was no longer sore.

“Which one?” Chiron smiled mischievously as he pulled the blanket off his legs- showing both legs seemed present. Normally, the bottom half of the left leg would seem empty unlike what they were seeing now. Percy looked a bit confused for a few seconds.

“But… but Chiron, you only have one leg.”

Annabeth slapped her head before breaking into fits of laughter. Both her and Chiron were laughing their heads off until Annabeth kindly explained.

“Prosthetics Percy! Prosthetics!”

Chiron flexed his left foot, showing off his new leg. The dancers were awe-struck. As far as they had known- Chiron had refused prosthetics since the accident. They felt an insurmountable amount of pride swell inside of them- This was good right? Chiron was moving on! He wasn’t being stuck in the past anymore. It wasn’t that fact that he got a prosthetic, it was the reason he used to refuse it. Annabeth and Percy knew that he didn’t want a prosthetic at first because if he couldn’t dance using it, he’d consider himself a failure and after the accident, he did not want to face any more failure than he had to- he wanted to protect himself.

And for a while, that was okay! The studio was supportive- they truly wanted him to heal. But Chiron was stubborn. He was -what one may dare even say- traumatised. But no one could truly blame him- Nico, someone who was barely conscious during the accident, suffered. No one could blame Chiron for what had happened but there looks. People who weren’t even relatively involved whatsoever casted glances. Gave their fair share of judgemental looks- despite not even knowing the truth. However, Chiron learnt better than to acknowledge said glances.

“Woah, Chiron, when did you get it fitted?” Percy asked in awe.

“A while ago. I wanted to manage a few steps in it before showing you all.”

Annabeth and Percy looked at eachother, the same thoughts, concerns and hopes crossing their minds.

“Can you take a few steps in it?” Annabeth said tentatively. Much to the students' hopes, Chiron nodded and both dancers ran to his side to help him stand. He held both of them as he heaved himself up and momentarily wobbled. He then pushed away their arms as he slowly made a few steps across the dance floor. He made his way towards the ballet bar, his hand stretching towards it. At this moment, Nico walked in, his jaw dropping before immediately resuming to a neutral facade.

“Nice leg,” Nico commented before making his way to the bar. Percy and Annabeth, once again, made eye contact thinking ‘what's up with him?’.

“ You ask him,” Annabeth hissed.

“No you ask him,”Percy mouthed as he nodded his head towards Nico.

“No, you!”

“I’m not asking him. Besides, he’s your dance partner,” Percy whispered. At this, Annabeth knew that Percy made a valid point. If there was anybody Nico trusted, besides Hazel for some apparent reason, it was Annabeth. The two danced together their entire lives, Nico couldn’t hide anything from her- not even his crush on Percy which many other people had seen as a crush on Annabeth herself. Annabeth on the other hand, could clearly tell the difference between jealousy and having a crush. Other than Annabeth and Jason, Nico refused for anyone else to know.

Annabeth sighed, shooting daggers at Percy as she got up and walked towards Nico. For the next 5 minutes, Nico and Annabeth stretched side by side in silence while Chiron and Percy chatted on the other side of the room.

“Soo.. how are things going with your routine?” Annabeth started as she leaned over her leg at the bar. Nico grunted something incomprehensible as he tried to avoid her by doing a plié. Annabeth joined him, asking him to speak up.

“Will walked out.”

“Why?”

“I played a dumb prank on him about getting injured.” Annabeth had to pinch herself to prevent herself from gasping. Nico? Her lifelong dance partner made… a joke? Pranked someone? Was this actually Nico?

“Well, why did you do it?”

“I was tryin to prove that Ballet dancers aren’t so uptight.”

“What exactly did you do?” Annabeth’s tone dipped and sounded slightly suspicious but either way, Nico did not notice.

“...Pretended to get injured… but that isn’t even the problem. My problem is that my chicken of a partner called me a bumbling, incompetent, priveleged idiot and then, then… they just bailed on me!”

Later, when Annabeth, Percy and Jason were in the cafe, Annabeth retold Percy and Jason about her earlier conversation with Nico- not sparing a single detail about the clear distress the situation was causing him.

“Happy now Jason? Paired Nico up with a damned jerk,” Percy said aggressively.

“I didn’t think he was such a big a bitch as you did!” Jason argued. Annabeth could sense the tension between the two men and decided to push them apart. She stood between them with her hands resting on her hips.

“I told you two so we could help fix what happened; not just argue over it and point fingers.”

“I never liked the damned sunflower anway,” Percy huffed. Annabeth resisted a giggle from Percy’s terrible insult.

“Anyway, someone needs to talk to him- see his point of view, try and get them over the petty argument.”

“Petty? Will insulted him over nothing!” Jason almost shouted, his aggressive and protective side shining through.

“Which we can all agree was wrong. But.” She glared at the men. “We also know that Nico can and will hold grudges over anything as long as time lasts.”

In agreement, they decided to all visit Will because there was no way in hell that Annabeth was letting Percy and Jason talk to Will alone.

Somewhere in the Dance studio... Calypso was pissed. It seemed that most days, she was thinking more about Leo than she’d prefer to. Sure, he was gorgeous- naturally gifted in the looks (and don’t tell him this but also the personality department) with his lucious brown curls that framed his face perfectly and the beautiful glint he’d have in his eye when he danced and they way his teeth would glimmer when he smiled like the true definition of pearly whites. But, she was also wondering about his whereabouts, more and more frequently.

She had checked the cafe, Studio 2 and Dionysus’s office (she did not know what to think of him) with no sign of Leo whatsoever. She knew that there would be only one person who would know where Leo was- Hazel. However, it seemed that Leo and Hazel both had something in common- the inability to be found anywhere.

Finally, she found her about to head out for the day entirely.

“Hey, Hazel.” Calypso tapped her on the shoulder, pulling her away from her conversation with Frank. “Have you seen Leo anywhere?”

With no tact whatsoever, Hazel stuttered out a ‘no’ that had Calypso raising her eyebrow in suspicion at her- clearly not believing the lie. Internally, Hazel forced herself to calm down and think. What had Leo mentioned, what could she use, what could she lie about?

Think Hazel, think!

Leo had mentioned saying something about an appointment- yes! Hazel mentally prepared herself and the words came magically stumbling out of her mouth- rolling off her tongue as if she lied on a daily basis.

“Well… you can’t tell anyone okay?” Hazel whispered convincingly, drawing Calypso's attention in. “ You can’t let Leo know that I told you this but he’s at an appointment, for his knee. He injured some time ago when we attempted a lift badly and well, you know…”

Calypso immediately felt regretful. It was like she was truly the villain half of the dancers here thought her to be. No wonder he was barely putting any effort into the dance! Not only was he injured but he was injured and doing ballet- a style he wasn’t so regularly familiar with. And she had been treating him like shit about it as well! She could feel the guilt slowly creeping into her.

“Oh my, Hazel.... I’m so, so sorry,” she managed to say. Hazel, also overwhelmed with guilt, wanted to take back the lie and just say the truth. Leo was at work to pay for his dance fees- why was he so ashamed of it! Hazel offered to pay for him but he would refuse everytime. She wished that he’d let her pay for him- her father had more money than he cared for and oftentimes, Nico and Hazel found themselves paying for everything they and their friends could truly desire- not that they minded. This was the one thing she could do for Sammy but not Leo and for it, her thoughts taunted her.

At least Sammy accepted her money, her help. Gods, don’t think like that Hazel. Money can’t save everyone, you know that Hazel.

Hazel glanced back up to see Frank waving at her and could only manage a small sullen smile.

On the way to Studio A... Calypso needed to get back to Studio A and perhaps find some edits for their routine- maybe lighten the ballet on Leo. Maybe Leo preferred Salsa because it was easier on his knee? It didn’t make sense to Calypso but despite not wanting to admit it, she had seen how happy it had made him. She’d have to ask Hazel or Dionysus about the technique of it but she had taken a few classes in it before and so she tried a few steps she’d seen Leo do before.

She soon realised that he made it look a lot easier than it actually was- she remembered how she had insulted salsa and it’s supposed ‘lack of technique’. But then, she also remembered how he’d insulted her by saying she wasn’t the ‘best ballet dancer’. What did that even mean? Her- not the best? Impossible. She had worked too hard her entire life for that to be possible.

For the sake of Leo and his knee (and reliving some of her guilt), Calypso persevered and tried to teach herself some basic salsa moves. The basics weren’t too hard, it was simply that trying to com[pletely abandon her ballet technique wasn’t very easy and subsequently, she found herself looking very stiff.

“What are you… doing?” a seemingly alarmed voice, that belonged to none other than her rival, called out. Flawless teeth, truffles of soft hair and glass like eyes- Luke Castellan walked in, his lips pulled into a smug smile that truly tempted Calypso to smack him.

“None of your business, Castellan,” Calypso quickly snapped.

“Castellan?” He turned towards her with an innocent look that quickly turned malicious. “That’s not what you were moaning under me whe-”

“-Shut up. That’s over, we’re over. We were over ages ago. It’s not happening again. Not after you lied to me.”

Luke frowned, his features seemingly cute but Calypso knew better than to trust what he portrayed on his face. When it came to Luke, the quote ‘there is no art to find the mind's construction in face’ should really be taken seriously. He moved himself so that he was working at the bar that was in front of the very mirror that Calypso was using. Calypso ignored him, going over the routine over and over again. However, Luke seemed determined to get in her way so he continued to stretch in front of the mirror until Calypso completely snapped.

“What?” Her hands were on her hips in a threating manner and face looked like she was ready to commit murder.

“Oh nothing.” Luke shrugged before quickly speaking again. “It’s just, I’d never imagine you’d actually partner with such… scum I guess.”

“A, why do you care who I partner with? B, Leo isn’t that bad,” Calypso reluctantly defended him. Leo to her definitely was that bad, but she sure as hell was not letting Luke know that.

“It’s a bit sad how you really downgraded after me… and I doubt that your nachos boy will be able to guarantee you a spot on the team…” Luke trailed.

Calypso had to admit that the name ‘nachos boy’ was hilarious and she definitely intended on calling Leo that some time.

“Are you okay?” Calypso’s concerned voice immediately threw off Luke. “Or have you just not seen a mirror in a while? Because anything could be considered an upgrade after you. Leo? That’s like what? A Triple upgrade in the least- Let it be known, when it comes to how good looking people at this studio are, you are like basically the last person.”

“And yet, you dated me. No, you pursued me even,” Luke teased, his voice with undertones of malice like a poison laced apple- sweet talking with a bitter aftertaste.

“People make mistakes.”Calypso shrugged casually as she grabbed her bag and left the room.

In the musical theatre office... “We just… wanted to make sure you and Nico were doing well with your routine,” Annabeth urged Will who refused to talk to Percy or Jason.

“So Nico sends other dancers to talk for him now?” Will frowned, relatively upset that Nico didn’t come to him. Sure, he had been really harsh and Nico did deserve an apology from him but he was hoping that Nico would come to him, not his three older and more experienced friends who seemed very threatening.

“He um, well Nico didn’t send us..” Jason said, slowly realising their mistake.

“So you decided to come and talk to me about our problem on his behalf without his permission or his acknowledgement? Did he even directly tell any of you what happened?”

“He told Annabeth!” Percy defended.

“And you wonder why we don’t get along,” Will sighed and facepalmed. “ Well, if it makes you feel any better, me and Nico are perfectly fine.”

“You guys… have talked?” Annabeth asked warily.

“We will.” And with that, Will waved them off.

9PM- Rehearsal room A Nico’s turns were consistent and his warm breath was forced out of his chest and he heavily breathed. The lights of the studio were all turned off except for the rehearsal room he was occupying. He could feel his leg muscles burning, telling him to stop but he ignored it, forcing his body into a state of pure divinity- his arms spread like a black swan, ethereal and elegant. His olive skin was shiny, a thin layer of sweat across his body and beads of perspiration forming on his forehead as he carried on moving. His feet pranced, hopped, turned, kicked, swept and jumped. In the lighting he looked like a god with his onyx eyes, framed by his dark eyelashes and messy hair that moved with his every step.

Click clack. Click Clack.

Immediately, Nico stopped, recognising the sound. He turned down the classical music and took a few bows, the sarcasm in his movement clear.

“Thank you, thank you,” Nico drawled, clearly slightly pissed.

“I didn’t even get to clap.” Will pouted. “Did my shoes give a good reminder?”

Nico nodded but refused to continue speaking to him. He refused to speak to Will until he felt like talking to him again- he wanted a decent apology which should include Mcdonalds and wine. Speaking of wine, Nico definitely wanted some after the day he’d had. He knew Hazel always had something delicious but she lived near their parents and that always presented the possibility of his father popping in- not that he really hated his father, it was his wife, Persephone (who had given Nico a perfume that had a flower that he was allergic to).

“Are you not gonna talk to me?” Will asked, his hands in his pocket and with a slightly disappointed tone.

“Okay. I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I overreacted to something that was seemingly innocent and I shouldn’t have been such a…”

“Bitch?” Nico filled in.

Will let out a whole hearted laugh. “ Yeah, I guess bitch is the right word. Anyway, I’m really sorry that I called you that…I shouldn’t have judged you based on your friends.”

“Being forgiven will not be so easy.”

“Do you need a Happy meal?” Will teased until Nico’s silence filled the room. “Wait, seriously, just a happy meal? Deal.”

“Well, now that you mention it, some wine would be nice. Maybe a day away from the studio,” Nico mused as he stuffed his stuff into his bag carelessly. He’d hate himslef when he had to organise it at home but it was really late and Nico was hungry as fuck.

“I hear that Chiron is taking out some students to the beach this week. I’m pretty sure Calypso is coming, she’ll let me tag along and I’m sure Annabeth will drag you there anyway. We can have our… reunion then,” Will decided as they walked out of the studio. Nico stopped as he fished out the studio keys and locked up the font doors. Nico wasn’t truly fond of the beach but it was free food and a chance to hang around his friends.

“Sure.” Nico nodded. “It’s a date.”

Will watched as Nico got into his car. For some reason, Will felt himself blush at those very words- It’s a date.

Those words ended up replaying in Will’s head until they met again on Saturday.

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