#nico and drew are friends and get along well and also maybe both in love with will

[marbleheavy]

messy au where nico and will are Something but Nico is friends with Drew and Drew and Will are also maybe kind of Something still

[rosyredlipstick]

guess who watched high school musical 2 and got caught up in the ryan/chad of it all: a conchell AU

this is pure 100% cheese. thats ur warning. also unbeta-ed.

Spending the entire summer at their mother’s golf resort had sounded like a dream for exactly 3 seconds, until Mitchell remembered the…. Everything about his siblings. 

When he wasn’t pulling Sebastian away from flirting with all their guests and the entire staff, he was lecturing Scarlett and Drew about taking advantage of the concierge service, making sure Stefan and Valentina weren’t spending too much time in the sun and were definitely drinking virgin cocktails, reigning in Lacey and Sophia’s pranks, and making sure Sabrina was happy in her first summer enrolled in the youth program. Oh, and he was choreographing a major number for the end of summer talent show. So. Full plate. 

Still, it was nice he had convinced Will to come along for the summer. While he was one of Mitchell’s official guests, he had quickly befriended the entire young staff in the kitchens and by the poolside. More than often, when they were on their walks around the resort, Will would no doubt be called out to or greeted by grinning teens in red and white polos. 

Mitchell, used to his friend’s sunflower attraction toward attention, smiled knowingly and let it happen without a complaint. At least Will was enjoying himself--he’d been way too stressed about his pre-med program the last few months and, with Mitchell spending most of his time at the resort trying to rein in his power-drunk sibling, he was glad his friend wasn’t spending the summer alone at the poolside. 

Of course, with all his new acquaintances, that also meant that Will’s tendency to interfere with Mitchell’s personal relationships appeared. 

“I’m telling you, you need to hang out with friends more, you’ve been busy all summer!” Will was smiling brightly. “This is the perfect opportunity!” 

“Yes, the perfect opportunity to intrude on a social gathering!” Mitchell protested, “It’ll be weird if I go. You should just go and have fun, don’t worry about me.” Mitchell sighed, “I don’t want them to be uncomfortable! This is their down time, I don’t want to ruin it by being the boss’s kid.” 

Will rolled his eyes, “It’s a baseball game, Mitchell.” 

Mitchell shook his head, final. “Sorry. But I don’t think so. Text me afterward, okay? We can grab ice cream.” Will said nothing. He peeked a look back to the other boy, “Unless there’s something else?” 

Will sighed and looked off to the side as his cheeks colored. “Okay, listen, of course I really want you there because you’re my best friend and everything but also -” 

“There’s a guy.” Mitchell guessed, bored. Will found the love of his life at least once a week. “Who is he?”

Will didn’t even put up a fight. “I’m not sure if you know him. He works in the coffee shop? Pale, dark hair, sharpest cheekbones I’ve ever seen?”

Mitchell thought for a second, “Nico?” He guessed. Nico, for the past few months, has consistently served him the best caramel macchiato he’d ever had every morning. Mitchell dreamt about that drink, on especially good nights.  

Will melted into a dreamy mess. “Yeah. Nico.” 

Mitchell blew a puff of hair up into the hair around his face, “I mean…” He grimaced, “If you need a wingman or something -”

“Yes!” Will was already celebrating, “Thank the gods, thank you! I mean, I think you’ll enjoy yourself at the game and everyone’s really cool, but yes! Okay, if you could just like, set up a really good opportunity for me and Nico to be together like, alone, I’d so appreciate it -” 

Will continued to ramble about the perfect situation Mitchell could set up, including the ideal mood lighting, when Mitchell interrupted him.

"Is Percy okay?" Percy had just rushed by, looking upset, and hopped in his mother’s car without a word to either of them--odd, as he usually offered at least a hey guys! If not a full on conversation that left Mitchell feeling like a better person for having it. It was kind of his thing. 

"Oh, he's in turmoil because he feels like he has to choose between swimming or singing with Annabeth at the talent show and he doesn’t know which to choose." 

“Oh.” 

Will wrinkled his nose, “Yeah, he’s kinda got his own thing going on right now. I saw him dancing by himself in the golf course earlier, but I thought I’d just give him some space.”

“Smart,” Mitchell commented, growing a bit uneasy as they approached the field. There was a crowd already assembled there with a smaller circle throwing a baseball back and forth. As they approached, a few people called out to Will in excitement but it wasn’t until they were faced with a smaller inner group of people that Mitchell was addressed. 

A tall, smirking guy with wild curls was the first to greet him, lightly tossing a baseball into his own mit as he spoke. “Brought a friend, Will?” 

Will smiled brightly. “Yeah! This is Mitchell.”

“Trust me, I know who Mitchell is.” His humor-filled gaze flickered to Mitchell himself. “Nice to finally meet you.” 

Mitchell’s cheeks heated. “You know me?” 

Travis let out a small disbelieving laugh. “Yeah. Yeah, I do.” Travis elbowed the guy at his side, who shared similar curls and features. “And this is my brother, Connor.” 

“Hello, I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced.” Mitchell held out his hand with a smile. “I’m Mitchell. You’re on the staff, here?” 

Despite the incredibly stupid question Mitchell just asked considering Connor’s bright red LIFEGUARD tank top he still wore, Connor was kind enough to nod along with Mitchell’s obvious question, his eyes wide. Mitchell’s hand, still extended out to him, wobbled in the air. 

He was a second away from dropping his arm and shaking it off completely when Connor seemed to realize that he was waiting for a handshake in the first place and nearly dived for it. In his haste, he almost completely tripped over himself and onto Mitchell. 

“Oh, well,” Mitchell caught him before he could take them both down on the dirt field. “Are you okay? Is it too hot or something?” Connor’s face was strangely pale compared to his brother’s, despite the mid-afternoon summer sun. Mitchell resisted the urge to reach out and touch his skin for sun stroke. 

“So hot,” Connor whispered, in his arms. Mitchell stared down at him in concern.

A girl--Katie, maybe--came up beside him and physically took Connor out of his arms, a tight smile on her lips. “This is nothing, he’s just dehydrated.”

“More like thirsty.” A girl across from them muttered.

Katie continued on like no one said anything. “Let’s get some water in you, dude.” 

Will was smiling on like this interaction was completely normal. “So anyway I was wondering if Mitchell could join our game?” 

“Hmm, well this is an employee-only game.” Despite his words, the light tease in Travis’s voice kept Mitchell from getting nervous about the whole situation. “But it does raise the stakes.” 

That Mitchell could work with. His lips stretched out into a wide grin. “Yeah? What were you thinking?” 

Travis clicked his tongue, “How do you feel about being Captain? I take one team, you take the other.”

He thought it over then nodded. “That sounds fair. What’s the prize?” 

Travis shrugged, messing with the baseball in his mit as he spoke. “Any ideas?” 

Mitchell pretended to think, already knowing what he wanted. With a group this size, his choreo could really expand into something great. “If you lose, you guys have to join my dance group for the talent show.” 

“Hmm,” Travis looked to the girl at his side--Phoebe, he thought, another lifeguard. She once helped him with Sabrina’s floaties. “We’ll consider that. Guys?” The circle of employees gathered a bit closer to talk it over. Will shot him an excited look. 

Suddenly, in the midst of their talking it over, Connor burst from the huddle and pushed his way over to Mitchell. “I’ll give you fifty dollars if you let me on your dance team.” 

“Wait, no -” Travis grabbed his shoulders from behind to push him back, “Connor, we’re trying to negotiate with him!” 

“Oh,” Connor nodded seriously and turned back to where Mitchell was waiting, amused. “I’ll pay two hundred -” 

Katie slapped a hand over his mouth and dragged him back to the crowd, him protesting all the way. Travis looked back to Mitchell, tired. “Just ignore him, please.”

Mitchell watched him sink back into the crowd, something small curled at his lips. “I don’t think I can.”

“Anyway,” Katie was the one to speak now. “We talked it over, that sounds fine. If we lose, we’ll be in your show.” 

Mitchell had to resist punching the air in excitement. “Great.” 

Travis leaned back with his arms crossed, looking him over. “And what do we get if we win?” 

“Well, what do you want?” 

“Dinner and a movie,” Connor choked out, almost like he didn’t mean to.

Mitchell raised an eyebrow, “An catered employee afternoon in the movie theatre?” He thought it over, then shrugged. “I could probably arrange that.” 

Travis rubbed at his forehead, “I - sure. Yeah, that sounds fun.” 

“Alright,” Mitchell smiled with a small shrug of his shoulders. “I guess it’s game on, then.” 

...

Of course, against a batch of peers who had been playing baseball all summer, Mitchell was bound to lose. However, they didn’t lose as hard as he expected. 

After the match, when Mitchell was left aching from the game and loss but proud despite it, Will sunk down next to him at the picnic table. “Good game. I didn’t think you’d get so into it.” 

At the last moment, Mitchell had ended up diving for a ball, completely dirting up his outfit. He had caught it, and it had counted, but two players had already made it home in the meantime. Still, it was a close loss. 

Mitchell smiled slightly. “Me neither. But it was worth a shot at a full dance group.”

Will laughed softly, “Still. Great catch.” 

“It really was.” They both looked up at the new voice--Katie, from before. She’d been on Travis’s team with Connor, Jason, Leo, Annabeth and a few others. The rest of the group was mostly dispersed by now, most of them arranging rides home or plans to grab food. “We haven’t had a game that fun in a while.” 

At her arrival, Will stood and offered her his seat. Which was kind, but also definitely just a ploy to escape and run off wherever Nico was lurking. Mitchell waved him off with a roll of his eyes before returning back to the conversation. Katie took his place without a word. 

“Well, I’m happy to help. It was a good time, you guys work well together.” Mitchell shot her a knowing grin. “I’ll start working out the theatre rental. Any movie requests?” 

She shrugged, “We can take a vote on it. But we’ve also been talking.” Katie had an amused twinkle in her eye. “We’re in. We’ll still do your show, it sounds fun.” 

Mitchell sat up completely, a bolt of excitement hitting him. “Wait, really?” At her nod, he absolutely lit up. “Oh my god, it’s gonna be such a fun show, I promise!” He got to his feet in excitement and threw his arms around her shoulders in a hug, pulling away promptly. “Oh my god, wait, I’m covered in dirt I’m so sorry -” 

She waved it off but stood herself. She, too, was covered in dirt from the game so didn’t seem to care much at any additional. 

He couldn’t help but babble on. “It’s going to be so much fun. You won’t regret it.”

She smiled at him, looking like she was indulging him. “I know. Anyway, just a moment,” She disappeared for a few moments only to return, dragging Connor by the wrist. She pushed him toward Mitchell, almost bumping them into each other. “Connor will be your contact point for organizing this. Trade numbers, will you? For planning.”

“Oh, sure!” Mitchell fumbled to get his phone out and hand it over. Connor’s phone appeared under his hand faster than he thought possible. 

Katie left them alone as he punched in his own phone and name, drifting back to where Travis and a few others were waiting. He handed back Connor’s phone, suddenly closer to the other boy than he had realized. He paused. 

“You have grass in your hair.” Connor breathed out. 

“Oh,” Mitchell dipped his head in embarrassment and rubbed at his head. “Oops.” 

“I -” Connor gestured to his own temple. “Other side?” 

He tried but Connor only stepped forward slightly into his space, reaching out slowly. “Let me -” Mitchell felt a slight pull on his hair, not painful. Connor pulled away with a blade of grass in between two fingers. 

“Got it,” Connor said weakly, staring down at him. 

“My hero,” Mitchell teased. Connor nodded gravely at that, like he was accepting a mission.

Connor licked his lips before he spoke. “That was a really good catch. You’re a good player.” 

“Baseball’s just a dance of its own.” Mitchell shrugged, joking. “What can I say? I’m just that much of a star athlete.” Connor nodded, looking like he completely agreed. 

Before either of them could say anything further, Will called out to him and ran their way, grinning, with another guy at his side. “I heard the news! They’re still doing the show, that’s great!” Will was glowing, “See, coming to this was a great idea!” 

Mitchell stuck out his tongue, “You just wanted to brag that you were right.” 

“No!” Will looked behind where he had ran from and lit up, “Actually, I wanted to introduce you to Nico!” 

Nico, who trailed after him a few steps, walked up beside Will with a sarcastic roll of his eyes. Mitchell liked him already. “Next time you’re going to run off mid-conversation, can you at least give me a warning first? I’ll die before I jog after you in jeans.” 

“You’re the one who wore jeans to a baseball game!” 

“And why not? You think I’m gonna participate in this?” 

“Well, you’re an employee at an employee baseball game. Perhaps I thought you were going to play.” 

“Where would you get that idea? Have you not seen the everything about me?” 

“Hi, I’m Mitchell.” He stuck out his hand with a grin. He could sit here all day, truly, but he did have things to do. “You’re Nico?” 

“That’s me.” He raised an eyebrow. “You look familiar.

“Mitchell is one of Aphrodite’s kids. He’s a good one, don’t worry.” Will explained, shooting Mitchell a wince like he didn’t know exactly how his siblings were. 

Mitchell snorted, “On behalf of Drew and Scarlett, I can’t apologize enough.” 

“That… helps.” Nico winced. “I messed up Drew’s chai latte my first day on the job.” 

Mitchell groaned, “Again, I’m so sorry. I’ve been trying to get them to act like, you know, normal people -” 

Nico cut him off. “We work at a golf club. I get more cranky boomers in an hour than an AARP meeting.” Nico shook his head, “They’re a lot, but definitely not the worst customers to have. At least they tip well.” 

He could have wilted in relief. Across from him, Will’s eyes were nearly hearts. God, he was already lovesick. 

Which reminded him --

“Actually, Connor and I were just leaving. We’ll leave you two be.” Mitchell lightly grabbed Connor’s elbow to start steering him away. “Will, can you get a ride home? I’m probably going to be staying late.” 

Next to him, Nico perked up. “Oh, I can give you a ride? If you want? I’ll have to pick up my older sister but, um, it’s not that out of the way -” 

“I would love to.” Will looked perfectly composed, despite the screaming excitement that must be running through his head. He even managed to grab onto Nico’s hand as he led them away toward the parking lot. 

“Young love,” Mitchell commented, shaking his head fondly as the other couple walked off. “Must be nice.” He stepped back and dropped his hand from Connor’s elbow. “Oh, sorry!” He laughed lightly. “Sorry, I was recruited as Will’s wingman and I wanted to give them some time alone. Cute, right?”

Connor’s throat bobbled. “So cute. Um,” Connor made a jerky movement, like he was gonna run his hand through his hair but decided not to. “So you’re, uh, staying late?” 

“Yeah,” He blew some air up into the hair hanging over his face. “If you guys are gonna join the number, I want to have the choreo adjusted for a group before we start rehearsals.” 

“Cool, cool.” Connor nodded slowly, “Cool.” 

Now that he was closer, Mitchell could almost recognize Connor from his many shifts poolside. His lifeguard chair was almost right across from where Valentina would occasionally drag him to tan in the afternoon sun. Didn’t he once help Mitchell apply sunscreen, when Valentina ran to get slushies right when he was reapplying? 

His hands were cold, Mitchell remembered, or maybe his own skin was just that hot. He shivered when Connor applied the first handful of cream on his back. Mitchell had to advise Connor to take some of the sunscreen himself, after his own skin started to stain red. 

He was kind, was the point. Or at least, that’s what Mitchell remembered. 

Mitchell gestured at his parked golf cart as they approached it. “You want a ride anywhere? I’m heading toward the main pavilion.” 

Something wobbled in Connor’s expression before he spoke. “I could, um, go with you?” He said it as a question, looking slightly nervous as he spoke. 

“Yeah, sure! The employee entrance? Did you forget something?” 

“No, no, like -” Connor made another awkward gesture toward nothing. “Like, if you need help with the number? I could come? I mean, it’s never too early to get started on learning the dance, right?” 

Mitchell smiled, “Oh, sure! Do you have experience with dance routines?” 

Connor nodded confidently. “Yes.” 

“Really?” Mitchell turned to him in excitement. “Have you been in any dance groups before?” 

“Um. No.” 

“Oh, so like private lessons or something? A club?”

“Uh. No again.” His confidence was fully wavering now. 

Mitchell raised his eyebrows, “So what experience do you have?” 

“I sometimes dance in my room?” Connor scratched at the back of his head. “I, um. I didn’t think you’d ask many questions, actually.” 

Despite his awkwardness, Mitchell was… charmed by Connor’s fumbling. 

“Um,” Mitchell bit his smiling lip, looking away then back. “Actually, I was supposed to get ice cream with Will after the game.”

Connor deflated before he could finish. “Oh. Okay, yeah.” 

“No!” Mitchell was quick to correct. “I meant like, with Will going off with Nico, I still want to get it. With you. If that’s okay?” 

Connor’s expression bloomed into something so joyful, Mitchell was almost taken back. “I would… adore that.” 

“Adore?” Mitchell couldn’t help but tease. “Why’s that?” 

“I just,” He turned to Mitchell, his eyes wide. “I just really, really like ice cream.”

Mitchell bit his lip, “Me too. I mean, I really like ice cream. Ice cream is… sweet.”

Connor huffed out a small laugh, “Yeah. I, uh, agree.” He made an awkward little motion with his arm at the golf cart. “Um, shall we go?” 

Mitchell stepped forward and looped his arm with Connor’s. “Actually, I thought we could walk?” 

“I will do literally anything you want.” 

Mitchell laughed, “I’ll hold you to that.” 

To Mitchell’s amusement, Connor’s face turned a dark, dark red. He looked away, his lips pressed together in a small excited smile. Perhaps the baseball game hasn’t been such a bad idea.

[greenflamedwriter]

Percy AU

Percy Jackson AU

Keith as Nico di angelo and Lance as Percy Jackson.

But Lance was never claimed so he assumed he was Hermes kid he meshed well with them.

But once Keith got claimed so did lance and then shiro their dads had some sort of rivalry.

They didn’t account for the three to fall in love with each other. After an intense mission to save medusa. For lance.

Personophene for Keith and Ganymede for Shiro.

1 Lance is really nice and open with people until he realises that both Keith and Shiro are Roman descendants and not greek so they clash a little, Keith insults greeks and Lance is offended.

2 dinner and theres a party and lance is in the middle of it trying to get the daughter of Athena (Allura) To dance with him and that’s when it happens. Shiro is claimed by zues and everyone applauds then Keith by Hades and hears other say (it was so obvious he was an emo) But then lance is claimed by poseidan and everyone just stops and stares. What?

3 Lance is mad, he was a hermes kid wasn’t he? He looked like them, he had the same jaw line and nose and they all got along so well...this had to be a mistake and why now? He blames the new kids and this is when the party Lance becomes grouchy.

4 They get a quest (to save the victims by the abuse if the main three gods. Medusa, Personophene, Ganeymede)

5. Lance remembers his mother, and he always heard the tale of Medusa and thought it was sad. So when they go to the statues, and realise it’s people Lance keeps talking about how sorry he was and how being how she looks was to protect herself, Lance wanted to sacrifice himself and asked to let Keith and Shiro go to save kids. Medusa realising no trick lets him go.

6. Personophene and Keith, Keith apologises since Personophene hates Hades he thought and she blinks “I’m a god, I don’t eat.

Period. I knew underworld food would keep me trapped I hadn’t eaten in months and all of a sudden I’m peckish? Pul-ease.” Keith blinked confused.

“And I don’t hate you, you didn’t ask to be born. And I know Hades returns to me in the end.” Personophene brushes his cheek “You have his eyes, maybe thats why I can’t bring myself to hate you.”

7. Ganeymede. The boy who was stolen, raped and made into Zues personell wine waiter then demoted to a fate taxi cab telepromter. Boy he hates Shiro because who can actually hurt Zues?

Camp halfblood, was Lance’s home since before he could remember. He was here when he was seven years old and in all that time ten years later, he’d never been claimed.

He like any other child who wasn’t claimed stayed in the Hermes Cabin. They’re cabin was huge and the many children and teens there were very sociable. Sure at times they were a bit..much. But their pranks were legendary.

Lance always figured he was a hermes kid, he looked like them. Racheal was practically his twin, with long curly hair and Veronica was like his big sister, Luis and Marco were always taking care of him.

The hermes kids were amazing but Lance?

He just existed, everyone in the camp had gone on a quest, they’d been choosen. And some kids died young. Most die on they’re missions and Lance was the oldest person here.

The looks he got...it made him feel guilty and yet he was terrified of a prohecy that would choose to kill him.

He felt like on of the unlucky kids whose wisdom teeth hadn’t grown in yet.

And he was terrified.

But living his life in fear got boring after awhile and who had time to be afraid when an honest to god goddess lived in camp half blood whose name began with an A?

No not aphrodite, they weren’t that lucky.

Allura Altea- The most beautiful girl here also his age, but she has been on more quests and regained so any trophies. Lance could only gaze from afar and hope that one day he’ll have a quest and prove how much of a badass he was, maybe she’d give him the time of day.

Allura was at the pool, still in her white vest top and brown trousers sitting crosslegged and plaiting Romelles hair. They were best friends and girls always did stuff like that.

He sighed wistfully, maybe one day he’d sit over there playing with Allura’s hair and she’d kiss his cheek.

“Lance?”

“Fuck Zues!” Lance cried out almost punching himself in the face. Alfor the camp’s leader raised an eyebrow.

“Are you busy?”

Lance stood up hastily “No- No not at all.” He brushed grass of his legs, he would never admit his feelings for Allura with Alfor.

The guy was like her dad, well he was like everyones adoptive dad, along with Coran. So Lance would never tell him anything about that.

“What is it?” Alfor had his arms crossed and a knowing smile.

“Lance I would’ve asked but since you’ve been here longer, I hope you would do me a favour?”

Lance blinked “And what’s that?”

“Two kids from the roman camp got lost and found themselves here. They have no where to go and I thought someone like you would help them settle in, show them around.”

Was alfor...dumping these kids on him, why couldn’t he do it?

“I’m already introducing the first year campers, my hands are tied.” Lance raised an eyebrow then sighed “Fine.” It wasn’t like he wasn’t doing anything anyway.

Plus, being a tour guide to a bunch of snot nosed brats might not suck so much.

They were not brats.

Lance didn’t even think they were kids, he took a step out the cabin where they reside and made a show of looking around.

“Excuse me, have you seen any kids from a roman camp?” Because these guys had to be counselors, one was built like superman with beefy titties of doom, and a thin dorito shaped body and Lance had a good feeling he had a nice ass to go with the combo, he had a lock of white hair and beautiful almond eyes with a scar along his face. The guy could stop a room and the other one wasn’t bad looking either.

He looked like the type of guy Lance would ask to step on him, he was scowling with a cute pout and raven coloured hair that curled around his face and- god that was a mullet, well everything else made up for it.

These two were sculptures carved by pygmalion himself.

“Eyes up here,” The big one spoke and oh god even his voice sounded delightful. It was obvious, some higher power made these two to tempt him and Lance honestly didn’t mind.

He grimaced “Sorry,” He slid inside placing a hand in his pockets “Well I’ll take it you guys are the roman kids- and not some new counselors?” Who happen to model in their spare time, he kept to himself.

“Yeah, the roman camp just wasn’t for us.” The big man spoke again. Lance shrugged “Ever since the whole Roman and Greek exposure everyone feels as if their camp isn’t the right fit.” Lance shrugged “Who knows- am I the son of Hermes or the son of Mercury?” At this the scowling one looked surprised.

“You know the roman equivalents?” Lance winked “Not just a pretty face.”

He looked flabergasted and Lance almost laughed at him, he heard the other chuckle.

“I’m Shiro, and this is Keith. We were not selected yet which is why they sent us here. In case the greek gods want to claim us.” Lance grimaced “You might not get claimed some kids here have lived here years and still hadn’t been claimed. The greek camp is just a glorified holding place for the newbies and the unclaimables.” Lance beamed.

“So want a tour?”

Both glanced at one another then shrugged “Sure.”

Lance gaped at the white lighting bolt floating above Shiro’s head and then a purple scythe above Keiths. The other campers gasped as they drew away from the two except Lance as he beamed.

“Dude that’s amazing!” He clapped Keith on the shoulder “Claimed on day one, I’m jealous.” Then everyone was staring at him.

Keith looked up “I thought you said you were a kid of hermes?” Lance frowned “I am?” He glanced up and froze.

Above his head was a blue trident.

Poseidon's trident.

His eyes fell to the Hermes cabin and felt his heart shatter. They weren’t his family- they weren’t his brothers and sisters.

Alfor came and the rest was a blur, Lance was mostly in shock. It wasn’t until after when Alfor told him he’d have to move his stuff to his new cabin that he realised how severe it was.

His empty cabin, not much children of the big three stayed in the greek camp all of them were moving to rome. It was the only place that was big enough where they could live past eighteen. Allura the daughter of Athena mentioned moving there once, Lance never thought he could, he had his family here- or he thought he did.

His eyes slid over to Keith and Shiro, both looking excited and relieved that they were claimed.

Lance scowled he was never claimed before. Not once, then they show up and suddenly he is?

It was their fault.

Their new quarters are empty, there has never been children to the great three gods in a while, he’d been told. Shiro lay upon his bed glancing up at Zues. He looked ready to smite Shiro where he lay.

Where was the happy Zues from Disney? Shiro sat up, unable to sleep. Waking up somewhere different has always been scary and knowing Keith isn’t there? It’ll kill him.

He stood up from his bed and moved towards the back door opening it up with a slide onto the patio and took a step onto the wooden decking.

“Oh.” He flinched looking up then relaxed to find Keith there, looking awkward.

“Keith,” He asked relieved and the other relaxed too “Want to go for a swim?” Shiro glanced at the lake then smirked.

Lance couldn’t sleep.

He was in a new bed, with new sheets and a much larger, emptier room.

He rolled over and sighed, and that was loud. The silence was killing him, he sat up scowling into the darkness. He wasn’t sleeping no matter what.

Lance slowly makes his way towards the lake, he’s done this thousands of times and when he couldn’t sleep it usually helped in the past.

He heard a sound of splashing then laughter his head shot up and froze to see both Shiro and Keith in the lake.

Making out.

That...makes so much sense. But honestly Lance felt even more peeved.

“Oh come on! Really?” Both startled away to see Lance but he scowled shaking his head and tossing of his towel violently “No it’s too late,” Lance began to take of his shirt “I’m already out here, keep your cooties to yourself.” He dived into the lake and started swimming making lots of noise. He loved the glare the two had then dived into the water and kept swimming.

It felt fitting, sharing a lake with the kids that started this.

Sure it wasn’t their fault but if they didn't come to the camp Lance wouldn’t be choosen by poseidon in the first place.

He couldn’t see beyond the moonlight but he felt calm, he hated poseidon for doing this but it answered questions, made him lighter why he liked the water why sometimes the hermes kids were a bit...much.

And Lance just floated in the water and shut his eyes. There was a prophecy long ago about the greek children of the big three would cause the apocolpse. It ended and it turned out they didn’t do the apocalypse just the trigger for it, it was all dumb, but the fear remained. Roman kids were the exception...until now.

Lance opened his eyes still fuming, it happened four hours ago- he had a family, his friends in the Hermes Cabin now they looked at him weirdly he even had a chance with Allura (He didn’t) But now she couldn’t stand the sight of him.

It took him a few moments to remember that he wasn’t holding his breath, Lance brow furrowed huh?

He took a long inhale and he was breathing, like he was breathing air. This was- he was close to panicking now, had he ever tried this before? Well no what idiot breathed in water besides drinking it, of course he hadn’t tried this before. Until suddenly something grabbed his arm and he thrashed and felt something pull him up, the surface broke as he gulped in large bursts of air that burned his throat he was still being pulled he blinked water out of his eyes to see-shiro?

Shiro picked him up and practically tossed him on the back gasping, Lance gasped hand on his chest.

“Dude what the hell?” he asked outraged, what was Shiro’s deal?

Shiro glared at him then a voice spoke behind him “We thought you were drowning, idiot!” Lance turned and gasped to see not only Keith in a towel dripping wet and looking pissed, there was also

Alfor the Camp leader and Coran were standing just behind him.

Lance felt his throat close up “Uh h-how long was I…?”

Shiro looked up through his bangs grey eyes brewing up a storm that could rival Zues’s thunder “Almost twenty minutes.” Lance eyes bulged.

“I...I wasn’t drowning, I was always able to hold my breath under water.” Lance couldn’t say he wasn’t holding his breath period but admitting something like that would only solidify he was the son of Poseidon.

But shiro rolled his eyes “Son of posedion, typical.”

Alfor cleared his throat “What I have to ask boys, is what were you doing out in the lake past curfew.”

Now Lance almost stopped breathing. His first time in trouble, he glared at Shiro and Keith.

This was all of their fault.

Lance hides behind a pillar panting with a cut down his cheek. Oh god he was going to die!

“Hey!”

Lance turned to see Shiro lunge forward eyes closed ���If you want a fight come and get me!”

Lance gaped what?

They were in the car silent, “Um, a-about medusa? I pretty much handled it.”

Keith snorted from the back even Shiro’s grip tightened on the wheel “Walking out into the open to face Medusa knowing full well what she was going to do to you?”

Lance felt himself flush “We had to save them shiro- she was my responsibility- you didn’t have to jump in there to help me,”

“She was going to kill you!” Shiro snapped almost swerving on the road, Lance and Keith gaped as Shiro continued his tangent “Like hell I was going to sit there and let her.”

“I’m trying to say ‘thank you’ you ass!”

The car became silent and Lance shuffled in his seat glancing away “You didn’t have to help me but you did, so, thanks by the way…”

He crissed his arms and Shiro was surprised even with Keiths bewildered look in the background “Your welcome.” Shiro said softly as they aimlessly continued west

“Cone on Keith wheres your sense of humour!”

“Lance, no.”

Lance grabbed his arm and dragged him backwards towards the carnival with Shiro following behind. Lance pulled Keith onto every ride forced him to eat cotton candy but what stopped Keith from snapping at the kid.

Was when Lance played a shooting range gane and gave Keith a hippo.

“Only the best for the prettiest boy.”

Lance grabbed his hand and pulled Keith fir more open stalls with merchendise.

Keithseyes were shinning theough the whole trip and Shiro was able to watch it all.

Carnival leads to persophene

After Aphrodite crisis to pair the three up.

Lance jumps at the teenage girl sitting at the pool beside him, “So why don’t you try them, I know you like them.” Lance flushed “What?”

“It’s obvious, except not obvious enough for those two. Love does make a person go blind.” Lance shook his head “What no? Come between Keith and Shiro?”

She looked amused as he babbled “I can’t do that to them, they’ve been through so much.” Lance looked over to the two his eyes softening “Shiro has been hurt so many times, gladiator fights? It was compeltely barbaric and his hair is white- and Keith he’s a demon with a sword and can raise skeletons from the dead! Both are so strong but only vunerable around each other...they’re perfect for each other. When I think of Soulmates I think of them two...I hope I can find someone like them one day.”

“Like them? Why not just court them, I doubt the two would mind.”

“Making them pick each other or me? That’s stepping down.” Lance said unknowing why this stranger tried to sabotage Keith and Shiro, was she a siren? If so it wasn’t working.

She shook her head “No, it is possible to be partners with three people. I should know, Hephaestus is very accepting of who I am and who I bed with.”

“Heph- wait.” Lance’s eyes widened in shock as he looks at the golden teen properly.

She was big, round belly and thick legs and arms with golden healthy hair curling at her shoulders her face plump lips tilted into a smile as sea green eyes seemed to swirl, unnatural. God like.

She looked exactly like the painting, Venus stepping out of her sea shell.

She stroked his face “We share waters, both are lovers of the sea.” She kissed his cheek “If Gods could adopt demi-children, all of Poseidon's folk would be mine. Artemis can do it, why can’t I?”

Lance gaped “I can’t turn my back on poseidon he’ll drown me.” She smiled “What’s wrong with co-parenting? Do him proud by defending his name and waters and do me proud,” She nudged his shoulder and glancing at Keith and Shiro “By falling in love.” Lance’s eyes widened “I give my blessing, and I wouldn’t do this for a lost cause I stoke the fires for love. Never extinguishing them.” Lance blinked and she was gone.

The beautiful teenager, Aphrodite.”

Ganeymede they use their powers keith summons dinasaurs lance dives underwater to save shiro (ganeymede drowns shiro as zues cant save him)

Ganeymede “Zues is gay!?”

Both Ganeymede Keith and shiro raised an eyebrow “Ih yeah, who wasn’t gay with the greek gods.” Lance felt as if his whole life was a lie.

“I feel like I should know this as a fellow gay,”

Keith oatted his head “Your a newbie gay it’ll take a while to figure out.”

[solange-lol]

not so typical love song - ch. 7/13

Chapter Title: Love Me

Words: 3,332

Art by @lizzybizzyo! <3

[ one | two | three | four | five | six | seven | eight (coming soon)]

read on ao3

—

Thanksgiving came and went, and soon Bianca was on her train back to college, leaving a quiet house in her absence. 

They talked, of course, more than they had talked over the phone. But they never went in deep about anything. Nico never brought up his secret, and Bianca dropped asking about homecoming all together.

It felt like she already knew. Nico came so close to telling her just to get that weight off his chest, but every time he was about to bring it up, he didn’t. 

It felt so dangerous with the circumstance he was already under. Technically, he had already come out to two people, but something about telling someone face to face out of his own will terrified him. 

Deep down, he knew Bianca wouldn’t care. So why was he so scared?

The same reason he was scared to tell any of his friends, probably. He didn’t want anything to change, didn’t want their view on him to change. And if word got out, the best thing to ever happen to him would slip away. He couldn’t lose Blue, not now. 

Not ever.

Drew’s voice cut through his thoughts, as she finished her long list of plans for Christmas break, before asking “Anybody else going somewhere for Christmas?” they had been folding programs for the show at this rehearsal as people were getting fitted for costumes.

Nico shrugged as if he had been listening to what she had been saying the entire time. “Staying here. We have a classic di Angelo gingerbread decorating contest.” He said as he folded the program in his hand that he realized he had been clutching, unfolded for a few minutes now.

Piper grinned next to him. “I was the judge last year with Jason. You should have seen Nico’s house! Covered it with red frosting to look like blood with dead gingerbread men and ghosts! Called it his gingerdead house”

Nico tried to ignore the sound of Will laughing across from him, blue eyes squinting as his smile grew. He was there helping out backstage, mainly just to bother Lou Ellen and Cecil. (And to not let Nico get over his crush, apparently.) His gaze moved quickly from Octavian (ew) to Drew, who was rolling her eyes.

“What about you, Piper?” she asked, switching focus.

Piper shifted uncomfortably. “My dad will probably be away on a shoot, so either I’ll fly out to be with him, or I’ll be home alone,” she said, trying to shrug it off, but Nco could see the sadness in her eyes.

He patted her knee. “Come over to my house if you need to. I’m sure my parents would love to have you as a judge again.”

When he looked up, Will was smiling at him again, making Nico’s chest clench. 

“I’m going to a cabin with my mom,” Percy grinned from where he was sitting, not helping them at all. “No WiFi, just me and my mom and the lake.”

“In the middle of the winter?” Piper asked. “Won’t it be frozen?”

“Yup. Prime ice skating conditions.”

Nico rolled his eyes. “I hope you fall in,” her muttered, earning another laugh from Will, making his chest even tighter. 

“We don’t usually go anywhere, but I think my mom is planning a trip for me and my siblings this year. Bonding, or something,” Will says after a moment.

“You have siblings?” Nico asked, surprised. He never recalled Will ever mentioning them. “Do they go here?”

Now it was Will’s turn to look uncomfortable. “Oh, um, yeah. I have a sister and a brother. Kayla and Austin.” His smile was still there, but there was an emotion in his eyes that Nico couldn’t quite read.

“Cool,” he said, softly, not wanting to push Will any further, although it left him with more questions than answers. 

Next to Will, Octavian suddenly sucked in air through his teeth, dramatically dropping the program he had been folding. If that weren’t enough to convince Nico that he wasn’t actually hurt, he grabbed his finger with a dramatic “Owww.”

Nico sighed. Wherever Octavian was going with this, he didn’t like it. “You good?”

“Yeah, paper cut,” he responded, giving Nico a look saying come with me. Nico could see that perfectly clear, but he chose to ignore it. When he did, Octavian continued. “Nico, do you know where the bandages are?”

“Yeah, they’re right back there in the supply closet,” Nico said, still not giving in.

“You mind showing me?”

Nico had to stop himself from groaning. He wanted to scream at Octavian to just leave him alone for once, but there was no way out of this situation he was stuck in. Octavian, always concerned about himself, didn’t know how to take a hint either. He nodded his head towards the closet, and Nico just sighed as he stood up. Worried glances from both Piper and Will followed him, but he shook it off.

“Be right back,” he assured them, which only seemed to settle Piper as he followed Octavian to the back.

When they walked into the closet, Octavian spun on his heel. “I don’t actually have a paper cut.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Nico muttered.

 “I don’t want to have to leak your emails, di Angelo, but-”

“Look, you can’t bring Blue into this,” Nico cut him off angrily. “If he found out my emails got leaked, he would disappear. He’d never talk to me again.” Just the idea of it made tears prick at his eyes. 

One of these days, Octavian is going to push too far, and Nico is going to break. 

Octavian just shrugged. “Yeah, he probably would. Internet’s a freaky place to meet people.”

Just as Nico was about to argue back at him, Piper walked through the door, causing them both to panic.

“..Freaky Friday!” Nico said suddenly, trying to recover from anything she might have overheard.

Octavian nodded along. “Fun movie.” It wasn’t great acting (better than his fake paper cut bit) but Nico appreciated the coverup. Octavian was still far from a decent human being, but at least he didn’t out Nico. Yet.

Piper looked between the two of them, a confused smile growing on her face. “You guys are weird,” he states, before moving to look around the closet. “I just came to get a band-aid. You were right, those programs are a bitch.”

 Octavian elbowed him, signaling Nico to say something. He quickly thought of an idea, bracing himself as he began to talk. Please don’t hate me, Piper. 

“So, um, Octavian was having some trouble with his lines, so we were thinking of going to the Waffle House tonight and go over them, run a few scenes, if you wanna come,” he said quickly, trying his best to seem natural about it. Please don’t hate me, Piper. Please don’t hate me.

For a moment, Piper’s face dropped, as did Nico’s stomach. Please don’t hate him. He messed up. Please don’t hate him.

Then, the smile was back. “Really?” she asked earnestly. “That would be great, actually!” Both relief and guilt flooded Nico.

Octavian patted him on the back the moment Piper was out of sight again. “Good work di Angelo.”

“Go to hell, Octavian.”

—

Nico slipped out of the Waffle House the moment he noticed Leo standing outside, most likely on his break. 

Actually, he was escaping the hell that was his booth with Piper and Octavian, as well as Octavian’s multiple attempts of flirting. He was hurting Piper, not that she realized, and it was hurting him in the process. Leo just happened to be the perfect excuse to get him away from all that.

Leo Valdez is a junior, though Nico’s never really talked to him that much before. They’ve had a few classes together over the years, and Nico knows he’s good friends with Piper and Jason, but for some reason, he’s never really seen him around. He’s also a waiter at Waffle House, apparently, and something about him is setting off bells in Nico’s head.

Nico doesn’t think he’s Blue. Leo is like a ball of fire, while Blue is a calming wave. And yet, there’s more than one side to a person, so he hasn’t ruled him out yet. And besides, maybe he’ll at least be interesting to get to know. 

He shivered, pulling his jacket tighter as he walked over to Leo, who was typing something on his phone. “Were you in my Bio class last year?” Nico asked, and Leo looked up from his phone, surprised.

 “I think so, yeah.”

“Were you there last year when some kid ate the flower we were experimenting on while we had a sub, and she emailed our teacher who had to email the class because it turned out the flower was poisonous?” 

Leo grinned. “Yep. That was me, actually, who ate the flower.”

Not the response Nico was expecting, but he’ll take it. “Wait, really? What happened?”

“Called poison control, got it all sorted out.” Leo was still grinning, sort of mischievously like he was planning it all over again. “Somehow I lived through.”

Nico smiled. “Somehow.”

Leo glanced back at the restaurant. “Nancy’s glaring, that’s my cue to go. See ya, di Angelo,” he said, tapping one last thing on his phone before he walked back inside while Nico just stood there and watched.

He wasn’t completely sure if Leo was Blue or not. Sure, he wouldn’t mind if Leo was Blue. He was funny and charismatic, which was helpful to have in social situations. And he was pretty good looking. (Or maybe Nico just had a thing for curly hair.) At the same time, though, it felt like maybe their personalities were completely different. So was Nico just making it up because he liked the idea of it, or did he actually believe it? He wasn’t really sure.

Until his phone buzzed in his pocket.

Only a second ago had Leo been typing something on his phone. That last tap before he went inside could have been him hitting the send button. If it was that perfectly lined up, could it really be a coincidence?

Leo’s voice echoed in his head as he read the email.

From: blue0919@gmail.com

To: bettertoburn@gmail.com

Date: Nov 30 at 5:57 PM

Subject: Holiday Horrors

My mom is currently planning a trip for Hanukkah, which I don’t think we’ve ever done before, but I think she just wants my siblings (still weird to say) to feel okay coming into this family. Obviously, I still don’t really know that much about them, but I really hope they like me and feel as safe here as I do.

It’s also sort of scary because I imagine when I tell my mom, I’ll probably have to tell them too. I just hope that doesn’t change anything/

My dad wanted me to see him, spend a day with him over the holidays, but I passed up. He’s already shown me all that he can give me, I don’t need anything more. On the other hand, though, my mom told me he’s bisexual, so maybe I could get my first real coming out over with him. Or not, I don’t know. Do I trade up my first experience just for it to be easy? I feel like I need to get used to it not being easy.

Maybe I’m just going crazy.

Love, Blue

From: bettertoburn@gmail.com

To: blue0919@gmail.com

Date: Nov 30 at 6:01

Subject: re: Holiday Horrors

I don’t think you’re going crazy Blue. Crazy brave, if that’s what you meant. And crazy caring and compassionate at that. I’m sure your siblings love you for all your efforts. If they haven’t yet, they will. Take it from experience.

Love, Angel. 

Nico grinned to himself all the way through Blue’s email, as well as his own. He might not know who Blue is, but he knows what kind of person he is. Maybe it’s better that way. And something about that email made him consider maybe, maybe coming out to Hazel. She’s the one person Nico knows would love him through anything. 

Oh, and Leo isn’t completely ruled out yet either.

Nico’s got a lot to think about now as he heads back inside to the table from hell.

When he slid back into the booth, Octavian was dramatically leaning over the table, pointing his finger at a smiling Piper. “You, Piper McLean, deserve a goddamn superhero.” Immediately, his good mood is gone as he rolls his eyes. 

Ugh, give him a break.

—

“Octavian used to annoy the crap outta me, but he’s actually kind of...” Piper shrugged, looking out the window. “I don’t know. Not as bad.”

Nico sighed, gripping the steering wheel. There was a pit in his stomach that was weighing him down with guilt. He so desperately wanted to do the right thing, but honestly, he didn’t even know what that would be anymore. Tricking Piper like this, though, he knew that wasn’t right. He wasn’t sure what would make it better by this point, so he brought up something that could distract him.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you about your parents,” he said quietly as if he might be waking a monster. He found out pretty quick what was happening inside the restaurant when he got back. Octavian had pushed her, maybe a little too far, about her past. While it sort of hurt that she easily told him over Nico, he assumed it was his fault for never asking. “I just never wanted to make you uncomfortable.”

Piper shrugs, turning away from the window but still not looking at him. “Yeah, I don’t mention them that much. Kind of messes with my image.”

“What image?”

She shrugs again. “The girl who's only been at this school for a year and doesn’t want to be known as the one with the famous dad, or the mom that left them. The girl who's angry and sad all the time and has a history of being a kleptomaniac. A girl who still believes in love.”

Oh. “I didn’t know that.”

“I didn’t know if you wanted to.”

Nico cleared his throat. “You still believe in love?” he attempted to scoff, but his heart was beating so fast he just sounded nervous.

“I don’t know, maybe.” Piper glanced over at him. “Have you ever been in love?”

Nico didn’t say anything for a moment. He didn’t know what to say. What could he say right now? Anything, really. He could tell her everything. But at what cost? 

“I think so,” he said, before he pulled the car over.

Nico could see Piper glancing around in confusion, maybe almost nervous as they slowed to a stop. God, what if she thinks he’s in love with her? There’s no way he’s getting out of this without telling her.

“Piper?” Nico asks, not really sure what he’s asking. He takes a breath.

Piper gave him a look he couldn't read. “Yeah?”

“I’m gay.”

It came out almost like a question like he’s asking for acceptance. The words hung in the air for just a moment, then-

“Oh,” she smiled, and the tension broke. “Okay.”

“You can’t tell anyone though. Nobody really knows, and I don’t really want people to find out yet-”

She shook her head. “I won’t, I promise.”

“Okay,” he whispered. His heart was still beating fast, but warmth filled his chest. 

He did it.

They sat in silence for a moment, not making eye contact, before Nico asked, “You surprised?”

“No.”

“So, you knew?” he asked, fearfully glancing over at her. How many other people knew?

“No,” she assured him. 

“But you’re not surprised?”

Piper smiled again, and any nerves he had left completely drained from his body. “Do you want me to be surprised?” she asked genuinely.

For the first time, Nico smiled softly too. “I don’t know,” he said almost laughing as he looked back out the window. 

“Okay,” she was still looking at him; he could see her smile out of the corner of his eye. “Well, I love you, so…”

He let himself glance over at her, trying to ignore the pegging thoughts in his brain reminding him how much he would be hurting her right now if she knew. The warmth in his chest was gone, and now it was just tight with all the love and the hurt. Maybe he didn’t believe in romantic love (he honestly didn’t know yet) but there was some kind of love in this world, and he was so lucky to have it.

But what if she knew? “I love you too.”

Her smile, softer than before, hurt more than anything else.

Nico let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, turning on his blinker as he began to drive again.

“There’s no one behind us you don’t need to-” Piper started and Nico almost laughed. The moment was over, maybe he could stop thinking about it.

“I know, just being safe.”

“Okay,” she whispered, and Nico could tell she was still smiling at him.

He tried to ignore the tightness that still remained in his chest as they drove away.

—

When Nico got home that night, he went straight to his room. He opened the window that led to a small balcony and climbed through. He sat down, leaning his head against the fence and looked up at the stars.

When he was younger, so much younger that the memories were faint, his mom would take him out here before she died every time he was scared or upset. He could hear her voice in his ear as he stared up at the sky.

“If things are changing-” she would tell him. “Just remember the stars are still there. Even if it's cloudy at night or if the sun is out, they’re still there. Find peace in that.”

What would she think of him now?

He pulled his phone out, wiping away a stray tear that tried to escape, and opened his email.

From: bettertoburn@gmail.com

To: blue0919@gmail.com

Date: Nov 30 at 9:05 PM

Subject: You inspired me

You inspired me tonight, Blue. I came out to one of my friends and it went really well, so thank you.

I hope everything goes okay with your mom and your siblings, but I’m pretty sure it will.

Maybe afterward we can ride this bravery train and come out to each other for real? I’m dying to know who you are.

Love, Angel

He sent the email before he could overthink it, and went back inside to do homework, giving the stars one last glance.

Right before he was about to fall asleep later that night, he got a response.

From: blue0919@gmail.com

To: bettertoburn@gmail.com

Date: Dec 1 at 12:11 AM

Subject: re: You inspired me

I actually came out to everyone tonight. I thought it would be easier to just air it out now and let them think before we were stuck together with no escape on whatever vacation we’re going on. 

Everything went surprisingly okay. My mom of course was supportive, saying she would make me flag cookies for pride month and everything which was very sweet (literally). And my siblings were also nice about it. I really don’t think they care as much as I thought they would. (I almost made a joke about how I got it from my dad, but I didn’t want to push things.)

And you’ve got it all wrong. It’s you who inspires me.

I’m really glad everything went well with your friend. I’m just not ready yet for you to tell me. The real me. I’m sorry.

Love, Blue

(P.S- if it helps, I can’t stop thinking about who you are either. Someday soon I’ll tell you. Just not yet).

(P.P.S- Happy December! Rabbits Rabbits Rabbits and all that)

Sure, Nico was disappointed, but it was okay. Blue had said someday soon, and all Nico had to do was hold onto that promise.

[hoesidon]

Since I’m never gonna write it here’s some Platonic Pipercy for all of you lmao: (I ran out of space so I’ll do a part 2 for the HoO timeline soon)

Little bit of Piper’s backstory and how she ended up at camp, Piper was a “troubled” child who acted out a lot for her father’s attention

Tristan has just gotten into the movie industry after his father’s death and was just trying to make money to pay off his father’s medical bills and have enough money to support his daughter

And because of that he barely gets to spend time with Piper who he thinks is acting out due to the recent passing of her grandfather and she because she doesn’t have any maternal figures in her life

So he gets an assistant named Jane to help him out with his job and hopefully maybe be a female figure in Piper’s life that she can look up to and go to for girl talk and advice

Piper doesn’t like Jane and continues to act out because she just wants to have her dad back

But as Tristan’s fame grows, the less she sees her father

Piper is 10 when she finally decides to run away, hoping it would get her father’s attention

It doesn’t because he’s out promoting his new movie but she figures being on the streets is better than being with Jane

That is until she runs into some monsters who keep trying to kill her

While trying to hide out from monsters, she meets a Satyr who promises her safety and brings her to Camp Half-Blood

She gets ushered into the Hermes cabin, where all unclaimed kids go she’s told, and it’s where she meets Luke Castellan

He took her under his wing and taught her how to pick locks and how to hot wire a car

“Because you never know when you’re gonna have to steal a car for a easy getaway from monsters, Pipes”

When she asked why he was being so nice to her all he said was “because we’re family, Pipes.”

Luke was like a cool older brother

And to fit the “cursed blade shall reap” I’m gonna go along and say that Luke was the one who gave Piper her knife

Once the summer came to a close, Piper missed her father and wanted to go back home although she would miss Luke and the homey and overcrowded feeling of the Hermes cabin

Things at home didn’t approve

Tristan was still always busy and Jane tried to avoid Piper like the plague but she did ask where Piper ran off to when she ran away

(Chiron informed Jane once Piper arrived at camp that Piper was at a camp for troubled kids with behavioral problems)

Piper returns to Camp Half-Blood the following summer and welcomes the overcrowded feeling of the Hermes Cabin but hoping that maybe this summer will be the summer she gets claimed

A few weeks later she meets Percy Jackson

Percy meets Piper when he’s 12 and she’s 11 to find her standing over his bed in the infirmary after being unconscious for three days

Piper had snuck into the infirmary to look at the new guy who killed the Minotaur

He didn’t look like much, just a scrawny kid who the Ares kids could break in half like a stick if they so pleased

Piper’s first words to him are “you’re not that impressive”

Anyway, Piper shows him around camp and tells him that since he’s an unclaimed kid, just like her, that he’ll be staying in the Hermes cabin and introduces him to Luke

After Percy’s run-in with Clarisse and the bathroom and seeing what he can do, Piper is glad Percy will be on her and Luke’s team for capture the flag

To help Percy feel welcome, and because she knows how it feels to be alone at Camp, Piper and Luke snag some items from the camp store for Percy

It’s honestly one of the nicest things anyone has ever done for him in a long time

Piper is only a tiny bit jealous that Percy got claimed by Poseidon

And then Percy gets issued a quest and Piper knows that she has to go with him on that quest

Piper wants to go on the quest with Percy because she believes that if she helps retrieve Zeus’ master bolt she will make her mother proud and she will finally be claimed

So she just tells Percy (not knowing she’s charmspeaking him) she’s going on the quest with him and he just agrees without any questions

Later Percy wonders why he let an 11 year old talk him into coming along on his dangerous quest

Luke’s betrayal hurt Piper very deeply because he was like an older brother to her

And on top of that, Piper doesn’t get claimed but she does have two new friends: Percy and Grover

After learning of Gabe’s mysterious disappearance, honestly it’s so fucking weird right?, Percy tells Piper that she’s welcome to stop by his place anytime and they exchange emails so they can stay in touch

Piper returns home for the school year and it’s only a bit more tolerable because Percy, true to his promise, keeps in touch

Tristan is still busy but he promises to make time for her soon

Plans with Tristan fall through but what else is new

Jane, at Piper’s request, drops Piper off at Percy’s apartment on the first day of summer

Sally Jackson, Piper learns very quickly in the day that she was there, is an absolute saint and Percy is very fortunate to have her

Sally is the mother Piper always dreamed of having and she’s very sad to leave Percy’s apartment for camp but Sally tells Piper to come back before the summer is over and see her again

Piper instantly agrees

Piper doesn’t know what to make of Percy’s friend Tyson but he seems sweet so a friend of Percy’s is a friend of hers

Camp isn’t what Percy or Piper expected

Turns out Tyson is a cyclops and Percy’s brother, Grover went missing and nearly got married, Thalia’s tree had been poisoned and Chiron was blamed, Luke nearly killed Percy, and Clarisse brought back the Golden Fleece saving Thalia’s tree

Also Thalia was back from the dead after literally being a tree

And on top of it all, Piper still hadn’t been claimed but she did make two new friends: Thalia and Tyson

She also decided to stay and go to a boarding school in New York with Thalia for the school year

Percy doesn’t get to see her that often but whenever they’re both free, he takes her, and occasionally Thalia, around the city

Percy and Thalia don’t get along much but they make an effort to be civil

Thalia also leaves for California one weekend and doesn’t tell Percy or Piper why but returns a few days later in a somber mood

Neither of them question it

Sally absolutely adores Piper and invites her to dinner every weekend

One weekend that they’re all free, Sally takes them to Montauk beach

It makes Piper’s heart ache because before her dad was too busy for her, they used to do stuff like this

But it’s one of the best days Piper’s had in a while

During the winter, way before they’re even scheduled to return to camp, they get a frantic call from Grover

So Percy, Piper, and Thalia go off to help

They meet the siblings Bianca and Nico di Angelo, they run into the Hunters of Artemis, and Piper falls off a cliff on the back of a manticore, Bianca joins the hunt and they meet Apollo who Thalia thinks is hot

(Okay maybe he is but that’s beside the point)

Percy isn’t at all a tad bit jealous that Apollo let Thalia drive his sun chariot

Capture the Flag happens and it’s the whole camp against the Hunters of Artemis and the Aphrodite cabin, for once, is hell bent on winning

It’s one of the few and only times in his life that Percy has witnessed the Aphrodite cabin so angry and determined to be involved in any sort of camp activity besides Pegasus riding

(Well...the only other time was when the Hermes cabin pulled that Valentine’s Day prank the year before when they hijaked all of the love notes the Aphrodite cabin had sent out to everyone and replaced them with ‘hate’ notes

You see, Valentine’s Day is a very huge deal to the Aphrodite cabin and every year they try to play Cupid and try to set couples up because they love love and want everyone to be in love

Silena and Drew didn’t approve of all of their hard work being ruined and they made the Hermes cabin pay accordingly)

Piper would have loved to witness the Aphrodite cabin actually play Capture the Flag, Percy notes sadly

The camp loses and it’s very embarrassing and on second thought Percy is very glad that Piper isn’t here to witness it

Percy tries to speak to the oracle to get a quest to save Piper but the oracle won’t even talk to him

It’s even more annoying when the oracle walks downstairs from the attic and over to Zoë to give a prophecy and it’s up to him and Grover to carry her back up to her attic

He decidedly dislikes the oracle

So he sneaks out of camp, makes a promise to a 10 year old Nico, and joins a quest to save his best friend and little sister

Also the Goddess Artemis

But mainly for Piper

He meets the Goddess of Love who tells him that she’s going to make his love life very interesting

And also that she’s wishes that all of her daughters could break the hearts of guys like him

He breaks a promise to a 10 year old, nearly stabs a red head mortal girl by the name of Rachel, takes on the weight of the world from a Goddess, quite literally, and reunites with his friend

Also nearly has a breakdown because Piper may join the Hunters of Artemis

Piper is his best friend and he loves her and he will hardly ever see her again if she joins

Piper would be lying if she said she hadn’t thought about it for like a moment because it seemed cool but then she learned that no boys were allowed at all

Piper immediately makes her decision because she could never leave Percy behind because he’s the closest thing she has to a brother and she loves him. He snuck along on this quest to save her and he rescued her

Also she would very much like to date in the future thank you very much

Piper finally gets claimed after the winter solstice

She is horrified

Her claiming, on all accounts, is horrible and embarrassing

Piper didn’t think she would ever miss the Hermes cabin but sitting in the Aphrodite cabin made her miss her old bunk

Silena is sweet and helps her adjust

Drew is...well Drew is blunt but she also offers to do something about the rat nest she calls hair

Drew can be mean at times but Silena keeps her in line most of the time

Overall Piper thinks her siblings are alright but she still misses the Hermes cabin

She goes home back to her dad at the end of summer and argues with herself on whether or not she should tell her father the truth about her mother

Ultimately she decides against it

As a child of Aphrodite, there are a couple of abilities that Piper didn’t know she possessed

One of which is charmspeak, a sort of rare gift that Drew also possesses and teaches her about

Another ability that she actually discovers on complete accident, is that she can create bonds with people

Sort of like Grover’s empathy link with Percy but more intense

Piper gets her very first quest and she’s so excited!!

Until she gets her prophecy

‘And lose a love to worse than death’

Piper doesn’t tell anyone about that last line, especially not Percy

She immediately asks Percy to join her

Piper had a teeny tiny crush on Percy when she was 11 but then it went away when she realized how much of a fucking idiot and dork he was

Her first kiss was nothing like Silena and Drew told her it was going to be

It was meh and very awkward

Mainly because her first kiss was Percy and it was a ‘good luck you better not die’ kiss

Also the timing was shit and Percy was in too much shock to even respond

but on a positive note she got her first kiss out of the way and knew that she didn’t harbor any feelings for him

Percy felt very much the same

Then a volcano erupted

When Percy didn’t immediately return back to camp, everyone wanted to burn his shroud but Piper talked everyone into holding it off for a little while longer

When Percy didn’t return for nearly two weeks Chiron had informed her that it was time

Piper tried to fight it but everyone agreed with Chiron

“And lose a love to worse than death” Piper had her suspicions about Percy but she hoped it was wrong

She had no idea what a fate worse than death was but Percy had to be gone, the last line in the prophecy came to be

And of course, because Percy is a fucking dramatic asshole, he interrupts his own funeral

What a fucking prick Piper wanted to strangle him for worrying her for two weeks

Piper decidedly does not like Calypso

She’s relieved that Percy is back but she still doesn’t know what the last line in her prophecy could mean

Percy didn’t plan on bringing Rachel along for Piper’s first quest but y’know sometimes life happens

He immediately regrets his decision because Piper and Rachel immediately hit it off

Rachel talks about her first meeting with Percy he tried to stab her through with his sword

And Piper, because of course it’s Piper, tells Rachel all of the embarrassing stories Percy has done

Piper loves Rachel, absolutely adores her. She thinks she’s the coolest person Percy has ever met

But since Piper is a daughter of Aphrodite she can get a feel of what relationships are going to work and which ones are just not meant to be

Piper loves Rachel but she knows that she and Percy are just better off as friends

Anyway

The last line of her prophecy finally comes true

Luke, who she loved and looked up to as a brother, was now playing Host to Kronos

She didn’t know how to react. Part of her always hoped Luke would come back to the right side but now she’s lost him for good

Piper also thinks Rachel is pretty badass for throwing a blue hairbrush at a Titan

And at the end of summer, once the battle of Camp Half-Blood is over, Piper accidentally creates an empathy bond with Percy

At the end of the summer, before returning home, she celebrates Percy’s 15th birthday with him, Sally, and Sally’s new fiancé Paul

And Nico who randomly stops by for some reason

Rachel and Piper stay in touch during the school year and actually become really good close friends since they can relate to each other

(And because there’s no underlying jealousy involved)

Their IMs are literally just them shit talking Percy, Rachel keeping Piper updated on all Percy related shenanigans, them ranting about their dads, Rachel’s art ideas and Piper raving about Rachel’s art ideas

They make plans to have a girls day out the next time they’re both in New York and free

Beckendorf’s death hit the camp hard, Piper could feel the guilt through her bond with Percy and in the heaviness of the Aphrodite cabin

While Percy is getting the Mark of Achilles, he uses Piper as his anchor because she is the closest thing he has to a sister and he loves her

And because Percy is her brother and she loves him, Piper takes a poisoned dagger for him

Piper is only a little bit pissed when she finds out about the Mark of Achilles

Luke’s sacrifice was....hard to say the least

And then Percy gets offered to become a God and Piper forgets how to breathe

Silena’s death was hard to cope with

The Aphrodite cabin blamed her death on the Rite of Passage

Following Silena’s death, because Drew is the oldest and has been at camp the longest and has the ability to charmspeak, she becomes the next Head Counselor since no one else dares to challenge her

She becomes cold and a tyrant, creating these ridiculous rules and punishments

Mitchell thinks Silena’s death and her betrayal really hurt her and it’s her way of coping with it

Once the war is over and everyone can breathe again, Percy and Piper sit and hang out on the dock by the lake and talk

After, Percy and Piper spend the rest of the summer with Sally and Paul and Piper contemplates staying in New York for the upcoming school year or going home to her dad

She and Tristan get in a fight and she decides to stay in New York

[toonstarterz]

BECAUSE I’M NOT POPULAR, I’LL READ WATAMOTE: CHAPTER #160

After a long week of repeating quizzes, forging apology letters, and unexpected-but-not-really bonding, Tomoko and Yoshida are finally free to go. As the barrier separating Tomoko’s suspension and the outside world with her friends is finally lifted, we get to see just how both parties have grown from this experience. Even if Tomoko’s apology was more or less half-assed, something may have been gained after all...

Chapter 160: Because I’m Not Popular, It’s The Last Day Of Suspension

Whaddup, Tomoki? Your eye bags aren’t so heavy today. Is that artistic oversight, or has Tomoko’s suspension taken a load off your stress level?

Oh yeah, I had forgotten that Tomoki heads to school earlier than Tomoko does. He used to get really anal about avoiding his sister in the mornings, but it looks like he’s not so objectionable about it anymore... 

Is that how it works? I've never worked at a huge company with a sports club other than a fantasy football league, so I don’t have much of a reference. But if Tomoko is correct, then my assumption is that the sports clubs are used to indirectly promote “company loyalty” and get more work mileage out of their employees.  

It’s casual conversations like this that really show just much Tomoko and Tomoki’s sibling relationship has improved since way back then. Sure, they still take potshots at each other, but it’s more in the realm of affectionate brother-sister banter now. The days where they openly held the other with actual disdain have finally come to an end.

Not that they want to look particularly close when out in public, of course. 

It’s only the second page, and we’re already getting hit with the heartwarming feels? Damn, this is gonna be a tearjerker chapter, ain’t it?

As this chapter soon verifies, the last day of suspension is nothing short of formalities and kissing ass. 

Wow, it took the whole week to get full marks on those worksheets? Maybe I’m missing something here, but I’m not sure they’re really learning anything from those suspension packets if they’re just regurgitating answers.

Also, Dead-Eyes Teacher can actually smile? How about that.

Tomoko’s apathy towards her progress here leaves me wondering: Just how much do the teachers really think suspension is inspiring students to do better? My guess has always been that suspension is like a prison in principle in that it’s more about reforming them than punishment. It may work for some, though I’m inclined to believe that most of them just want to pay their dues and leave with very little actual reflection on their actions, like Yoshida’s perpetually blank face seems to suggest.   

Well, I suppose the lack of classroom distractions had to account for something, right? Though having her friends around could be seen as both a hindrance and a benefit towards her study habits.

There’snospecialmeaningforwhyMakosaidYoshida’snamefirst. 

There’snospecialmeaningforwhyMakosaidYoshida’snamefirst.

There’snospecialmeaningforwhyMakosaidYoshida’snamefirst.

There’snospecialmeaningforwhyMakosaidYoshida’snamefirst.

...darn it.

So on the Indifference Scale, she just slightly dips in favor of wanting to see them.

Oh Yuri, I know that being noncommittal is kind of your thing, but no one’s going to give you a hard time for wanting to see your friends, especially Mako. 

Do I sense a flash mob in the workings here? That’d be pretty lit.

So Katou actually does have some awareness that the idiosyncrasies of her behavior are, in fact, idiosyncrasies. I guess you don’t get to be as beloved as Katou unless you had some common sense. 

Even though we all already knew the answer, there’s something oddly relieving to hear it from Katou herself. I think it’s largely out of a sense of empathy for Fuuka, since she’s been strung along for so long, but also because it comes across as “humbling” to hear the on-top-of-the-pedestal Katou accept the truth.

That’s what happens when your expectations don’t match up with reality. You build up this impression for so long that you can’t help but feel jaded when it turns out to not be true, even if you didn’t actually want it to happen.

I call it the Ucchi Effect. 

Nooooo, Katou, you had it in the bag! You should have quit while you’re ahead!

But yeah. Katou didn’t really need to bring this up, so a part of me wants to think that she’s using the whole hair-touching moment as a consolation when the whole groping thing didn’t work out. 

Still, it’s kind of unnerving that she finds the idea of Tomoko, or anyone really wanting to touch her...there to be so humorous...

What goes around comes around. Stay strong, Fuuka. 

We get to see Yoshida’s mom?!?!

Officially the best chapter ever. 

I love how this whole time, the teachers have been pestering Yoshida to look more presentable. I’m not sure if Yoshida is being actively defiant or if she’s just clueless about these sorts of things, but I do appreciate that she complies without much fuss.

Getting those parent-teacher conference vibes right about now. The only difference is that those are some swanky couches.

I wonder if Nico Tanigawa just drew up a bunch of random old guys for this “Presidents Throughout The Years” or if they were based on real people. 

So...Yoshida’s mom. She definitely has the air of a high-powered career woman, what with the suit and all. It’s pretty ironic considering she has a delinquent like Yoshida for a daughter, but at the same time, maybe it isn’t. It’s been hinted before that Yoshida may come from a well-off family, so having a mom making a generous salary seems pretty plausible. Makes you wonder if Yoshida’s delinquent-ness is some form of rebellion...

I totally expected that Tomoko and Yoshida would have to do something like this, but still. FUUUUUUUUU–

In the immortal words of Tomoko Kuroki...

“How do I bullshit my way out of this one?”

Well, for what it’s worth, the principal looks like a nice, reasonable guy. But as Tomoko has proven time and again, you can never be too careful. Though I have to say, I’m surprised Tomoko would even consider screwing around instead of going right for the safe option. Having an active social life has really given her enough courage to take some risks, even if they end up with bad results more often than not.

So she thinks the principal is one of those perpetually smiling assassins you see in isekai series? That’s really chuuni and I love it.

So in the end, she takes the safe route. Fair enough, but her response is so stock and wooden that you just know it's gonna come to bite her in the ass.

In the midst of all the bullshitting, some of Tomoko’s honestly ends up rising to the surface. It’s the kind of unintended sincerity that really warms my heart. This whole arc has been a great opportunity for the adults in Tomoko’s life to recognize her unexpected popularity, so I’m sure Principal-san will offer some words of wisdom that Tomoko will take to heart for the rest for her li–

Nah, just kidding. Principal’s a troll.

I find it hilarious that Reina’s been put through the suspension wringer so many times, that it stopped being anything worth remembering. For all we know, suspension was just another Tuesday for her.

Of all the recurring characters, who would’ve thought the dog would be one of them? 

...

But seriously, whose dog is this?

Delinquent girls laughing at dirty jokes is ironically wholesome to me.

“Do you’re best!” you say? All the evidence points to Ucchi finally going forward with her apology to Tomoko. Of course, Lady Luck will have it be that something will get in her way. And the way this is playing out, we’re going to have the single greater encounter this series’ has ever given us.

The fact that Ucchi can accuse this dog of being gross just because it kind of resembles Tomoko is so stupidly unrealistic and stupidly hilarious at the same time. Girl needs to start majoring in gross-ology. 

Poor Emoji Girl just had a Freudian Slip that sums up her Tomoko-philia. 

Probably the most reasonable “Gross!” Ucchi has said in a long time.

I wasn’t sure if Tomopup’s appearance was just artistic license, but it turns out the dog looks just as freaky to us as it does in-universe.

Huh. So unlike Yuri, Mako gets both the first name and -chan suffix? Maybe the girl’s just that naturally personable.

I feel like calling out Katou for asserting dominance would be a drastically unsupported claim that would be built upon unreasonable shipping desires.

But that piercing gaze of hers makes that notion hard to assert.

How the tables have turned, eh? I wouldn’t say Mako was being that hypocritical; more like she gained a bit of rebellion during the week while Yuri learned to restrain herself a little bit. A push and pull you could say. 

Is this foreshadowing for integrating Yoshida’s delinquent buddies into the Class 3-5 group? Please, please please make it so!

Anna really does like to look on the bright side of things, huh? It’s a great perspective to have around, especially when you have a Reina in your group, who tends to see the world around her as a half-empty glass.  

I’ve been made aware that Mrs. Yoshida was actually apologizing for her daughter’s actions and not her own, which suggests that blaming others whenever you can is in the family blood. Even so, Yoshida’s mom is unexpectedly adorable (though given who her daughter is, it’s not that surprising). Perhaps she and Mrs. Kuroki ought to start a support group for Mothers With Troublesome Daughters. 

Speaking of which, can we get Yuri’s mom in the picture, too, Nico? You know, for reasons...

Ditching her own mom when the lady had to take time out of her schedule to represent her daughter’s suspended ass? The Yoshida household sounds like a fun ride (I say “ride” because prolonged exposure to Yoshida’s family sounds dangerous). 

Not to toot my own horn, but I always knew that if a time ever came where Tomoko had to leave her mother behind to see her explicitly named friends, her mom would encourage her without question. 

When it comes to apologies, acknowledgments, and the like, Tomoko is always late to the party. But even if it's at the very last second, she’ll get around to it. Tomoko’s relationship with her mom is probably the least we’ve seen since their familial love has always been more implicit. So seeing Tomoko outright admit that she really does appreciate her mother is incredibly heartwarming. 

Hey, hey, hey! That looks like a callback to the afterparty Tomoko told her mom she was going to at the end of her second year. Looks like it really left a positive impression on TomoMom.  

Not gonna mince words–seeing Tomoko’s mom look so proud of her daughter brings a tear to my eyes. 

She’s never really admitted it before (as far as we know), but Tomoko’s mom really was concerned about her daughter’s lack of friends at the start of high school. Some have accused her of being a bad mother for not taking a more active role in Tomoko’s social growth, but I was never in that camp. Sure, TomoMom’s not perfect, and she could’ve shown more of an interest, but I think it did Tomoko some good that her mother never judged her. Expressing her concern without badgering her daughter is peak mothering right there.

To reiterate what every fan thought at this shot: This looks like a series finale.

It rare for a chapter to end so unabashedly happy like this, but that rarity makes it all the more sweeter when it does happen. It dials it up to eleven when you realize what this means for the series going forward. One of the uncertainties Watamote has addressed is the possibility that everyone will drift apart once high school ends. Well, this single moment gives us a little test on that theory. Even if Tomoko were to disappear for a week, her friends will still be there for her. And even if it doesn’t work out as well once they go out into the “real world”, it looks like, as her mom says, Tomoko will be fine now.

And thus the curtain falls on the Suspension Arc. We’ve still got a few hurdles to overcome, but for now, things look sunny in the world of Watamote.

[iblue-kitzune]

Of Rising Calamities Beyond the Cosmos: Chapter 1

There was a great storm approaching—one big enough to cover all of the islands that were scattered across the vast deep blue sea.

At least, that’s what the travelers and the wildlife had said not too long ago.

Even within the depths of an eerie dark cave, one that she was currently exploring at the moment, their whispers reached her sensitive ears. She immediately stopped her in her tracks.

And despite being in the middle of discovering something in this mysterious dungeon that was incredibly too damp and filled to the brim with god knows what, aside from the occasional wild animals or monsters that came out of nowhere to attack her—interrupting her search on nearly every floor she went through only to piss her off when one of the bastards got a lucky hit in and ripped a hole through her favorite sleeveless jacket, which earned him a quick ticket to hell, the young woman listened.

She listened to their warnings, their calls of distress that were laced with fear and worry. With a disappointed sigh, the young woman flicked her right hand and made her ruined jacket disappear into one of her many dimensional pockets.

‘I will come back here and try again next time,’ she promised in her mind right before she vanished from the cave in a flash of blue-white light.

                                        XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX      

Chaotic streaks of white lightning danced across the midnight blue sky in waves, bringing along its rumbling call of thunder that spooked those roaming around down below into action, and a downpour rain that soaked them to the bone.

A sudden flash of lightning struck, hitting the boulders on an empty port near a beach covered in coconut trees that stood tall in the very back where the exit was, shattering it into pieces with its powerful force. Unfortunately, this scared off the many critters and birds hiding up in the trees into the forest, heading right for the valley that was connected to this place.

                                        XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Fighting against the sudden force from a gust of wind that came and nearly swept them off their feet, the animals on ground floor ran on —a bit with slight difficulty— while those up in the crackling air flew on and on. Their high-pitched cries, roars, and caws echoed across the valley filled with shimmering huge trees, giant boulders, and stonehenge pillars that glowed lavender underneath direct light, colorful wildflowers that danced from side-to-side in timing with the blowing of the wind, bright blue rivers that sparkled ever so radiantly at night whenever the full moon or stars came out to play, and a mountain with snow covered tops that stretched far and wide over an area where a beautiful silver-blue and white citadel lay in waiting at the bottom near a waterfall.

It was a place that not only held an entire city inside, but it was a city that housed a couple of special schools and academies too—with at least eight of them being well-known throughout the whole world. However, out of those eight, only four of them taught both academics and magic. The type where students can receive their education and learn how to fight all in the same building.

And because of that, these institutions were considered by many to be one of the best. Why, some of the most brilliant people and warriors have graduated from here—some even came back years later and tutored here or taught classes here, after they went on and got their doctorate’s degree out of the way, elsewhere, that is.

Unfortunately, due to the location of this place, considering where it’s situated at and all, the fortress tends to get attacked by the local wildlife and monsters living in the area or get hit with thunderstorms and blizzards every once in a while.

ZZZOWP!

“Caw!” startled cries escaped from a flock of birds when a bright bluish-white light appeared above their heads. Then with wide beady little eyes, they watched the light disappear only for a human woman with long dark brown hair and golden brown-amber eyes to appear out of it and fall past them, heading for one of the high tower bridges of the citadel below them.

“A thunderstorm huh? That’s odd,” she commented once she grabbed a hold of the bridge’s railing and lifted herself up and over it...

Only to get hit by something small and hard.

“Ow!” she looked up with a grimace and paused. “What in the—hail too?! Yeesh! This is just not my day huh?” the young brunette complained, wincing in pain when she felt a few more drops of hail hit her on the head just as she ducked underneath the surface and took cover on the third’s highest floor she was on.

“It’s a good thing I choose this floor and not the damaged one with cracks in it above me...” she mumbled. “Or the top floor where I definitely could’ve gotten more soaked.”

BOOM!

“Caw! Caw!” more birds flew past her vision overhead.

However, she was concerned about other things at the moment.

‘Let’s see...’

The young woman took the time to make sure her clothes didn’t get ruined any further then they did earlier during her scuffles with the monsters.

‘Hmm…it’s not too bad I guess...’ she said, eyeing the tiny creases mixed in with the stains of dried blood —not hers— on her wet tube top. ‘I’ll have Darcy wash it and fix Friday since it will be her turn for laundry day,’ she added and continued her inspection.

Once she was satisfied and found nothing else amiss, the young woman turned and made a beeline towards the nearest pillar that came with a bench.

“Much better,” a relieved sigh left her mouth as she sat down and closed her eyes.

It was quiet for the first two minutes—save for the small occasional boom of thunder and whispers of the wind, but she didn’t mind any of that at all. She was just glad to be out of the weather for now. Well, at least before she had to go back out there again and head—

“Hey Dr. Foster!”

Damn. So much for peace and quiet.

“Jane!”

“There you are!”

She opened her eyes and looked over to see two of her friends and an old familiar face, one that she hasn’t seen in years, heading in her direction.

The first one to stop in front of her sitting form was a semi-tall woman with shoulder-length black hair, heterochromia eyes –with her right one being red while the left one was blue—, and a small scar running across the bridge of her nose. She wore white and black clothing with gold accents, some rider goggles around her neck, which sat over the red jeweled necklace she had on, and was armed from head-to-toe.

Next to the woman, a young man stood tall with spiky faux-hawk like white hair, blue eyes, and a cybernetic arm. He wore a dark blue hooded jacket over a dark crimson red shirt, black pants, and some black military-style combat boots.

Like his friend, he was also armed, but not as much as she was.

And finally in the back, an older man stood there in some kind of purple collared shirt and golden color tie underneath a dark blue business suit with his arms crossed against his chest. He had spiky brown hair, brown eyes, and a small beard forming under his chin.

And unlike the two in front of him, he was not armed at all.

But that didn’t mean anything seeing as not everyone carried some type of weapon or weapons on their person, and if they did, some of them wouldn’t even choose to have them hanging out in plain sight.

This is something that Jane knew all too well.

In fact, she, too, carried a few weapons on her person.

“Lady…” she finally spoke, nodding at the dark haired woman, “Nero…” and white haired man in greeting. “Alvin…” the young woman gave the brown haired man a quick nonchalant glance, ignoring his sudden slouched stance, and turned her attention back on her friends. “You two were looking for me?” she asked curiously.

“Yeah! Lady and I thought you were still out there in that cave you told us about over the phone earlier,” Nero answered. “But seeing as you’re here now, safe and sound from the storm, I guess there’s no point in coming to look for you anymore.”

Jane laughed at the small sheepish look on his face, “No, I guess not.”

“Told you, Nero! I knew she’d be fine,” Lady teased and gave the young man next to her a smug look.

Nero lightly glared at her. “Oh now you’re going to lie, huh, Lady? Admit it! You were worried too! That’s why you wanted to come with me.”

“I—I was not that worried.”

“Yes, you were!”

“No, I wasn’t!”

Jane hid a nostalgic smile behind her hand, silently laughing at the two as a small argument broke out between them. Even if she hadn’t seen these two and the other devil hunters back in Red Grave City in a long while, they were still just like how she remembered them.

Well, at least these two were. She didn’t know how Dante, Vergil, Trish, Kyrie, and Nico were doing or what they were up to these days, aside from slaying demons and all that.

‘Guess it’s time I pay them a visit in the near future. Maybe I’ll even run into Erik while I’m over there too.’

Though speaking of visits...

Jane ignored Lady and Nero’s ongoing friendly argument for the moment and turned her sights on the older man who observed the “fight” in front of him with slight amusement. 

It isn’t every day that the so called ex-mercenary –which he told her this in one of their old letters and among other things, such as the friends he made and how his life had finally turned around for him— comes down here to pay her a personal visit unless he had some information on him that he wanted to share with her.

“Alvin.”

The professional tone of her voice drew all of their attention towards her.

“Yo?”

“I know you usually don’t frequent visits to Earth unless you either have something to give to me or doing business down here, so which one is it?” she asked with crossed arms. “Actually, how did you even know where to look for me? I could’ve been back at home in London for all you know, so how?”

Alvin slowly yet nonchalantly corrected his stance and slipped his hands in his pockets. “Well you can thank your bubbly, little lovely lady friend with the sunglasses and the good-looking, eccentric rich guy with a nice beard and an ego the size of Texas for me. I told them I was an old friend of yours and was looking for you, and they so kindly directed me towards this nice little island here!” he chirped with a grinning smile.

Despite the urge to face palm or roll her eyes, the young woman kept her composure.

On the inside, however…

‘Damn it, Darcy! Tony!’

The smirk on Alvin’s face dipped a bit when he caught sight of the change of Jane’s expression on her face. “Hey Jane, what’s wrong—”

“Alvin?” Lady interrupted, immediately catching the man’s attention. “That’s your name, right?”

“Yep! That’s right!”

“Okay, Alvin. For one, you never told us your name when we ran into you earlier. And number two, you never told us that Jane was an old friend of yours other than “she’s someone I know” and “I’m here to see her too”…”

The spiky brown haired blinked. “Ah well…” he paused and gave the young black haired woman a small charming grin. “You never asked,” he stated, casually shrugging his shoulders.

Jane could see the irritation starting to settle in both Nero and Lady’s eyes. So before any of them could blow up on the man even though he probably deserved it for playing his usual games on people that he meets, she decided to jump in and save the poor guy.

‘Just this once,’ she sighed heavily, which ended up attracting all of their attention back on her again.

“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you, Alvin?” Jane gave the man a pointed look, and he just laughed in response. “Oh good grief. I see you haven’t changed that much in that department,” she shook her head, much to the confusion of her two friends who looked so lost and didn’t know what was going on between her and Alvin.

“Jane—”

“Don’t worry about it, Nero…” Jane reassured the white haired devil hunter with a smile when he turned to look at her in question.  “Alvin was just messing you and Lady. That’s all,” she clarified for him.

“…O…kay?” poor Nero still looked confused.

And as for Lady, she wasn’t even going to question it.

“Alright, enough of the fun and games you guys. Shouldn’t we discuss the weather situation at hand here?”

BOOM!

All of them suddenly jumped from the loud sound then got startled by the multiple flashes of lightning, which struck a top part of the mountain nearby. And the thought of being way up there, anywhere near that area, made them flinch a bit.

‘That could’ve easily been one of us.’

They were now suddenly thankful for being down here instead, where they would at least be safe and out of striking distance.

Alvin hummed, a somber expression growing on his face as he turned to look at three, although his eyes were more so locked onto Jane’s. “She’s right you know,” he said in a murmur. “And as a matter of fact, I do actually have something for you, Dr. Foster.”

Jane returned his expression.

“Let’s hear it then.”

                                           XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX            

Taking the Tesseract sounded brilliant in his mind at first. When he and the others saw Stark grab his chest in pain and crumble to the ground right in front of them, he immediately became puzzled…and a tiny bit suspicious. The injured god had no idea if this was some sort of trick, but he ignored them as soon as his faux brother and his new band of mortal friends, along with a few others, ran to the Man of Iron’s aid. Instead, he, without turning around, focused a little bit of his attention on one of the mortals behind him and the soldiers, calling out something along the lines of “Help!” and “Can someone get this guy here a medic please!”.

Then, before he could even comprehend what the hel was going on, a bang went off in the background and something flew across the floor and hit his boot, making him look down. And he couldn’t believe his eyes. It was the Tesseract! It was just...sitting there! Sitting oh so innocently on the floor and not in that strange metal looking case like it should’ve been earlier.

He couldn’t ignore the temptation, and immediately took action. The God Mischief looked around to make sure that no one was looking at him, and when they weren’t, he bent down to retrieve the glowing cube in his cuffed hands and activated it, immediately blinking out of their existence.

                                         XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX 

Well that went surprisingly…well, the raven haired god mused in his mind as he traveled through space and time. He thought for sure his little plan would blow up in his face considering that he hastily threw it all together in like, what, a split few seconds. But it didn’t! And, honestly, it shocked him.

Oh well, he wasn’t going to give any more thought to those incompetent fools now that he’s escaped from their hold. 

‘Wait a minute...’ and the realization of something else, something incredible, flew through his mind just then.

There was no going back to Asgard now…

No going back to The Other or the Black Order…

And, most definitely, no going back to Thanos and his Chitauri army to deliver the news of his failed mission, which he was sure by now that the Titan knew and will more than likely punish him for it—but still!

He was free!

For once, he was actually happy. And although he couldn’t remember the last time something had gone right for him, the god wasn’t going to let his own pessimistic thoughts or the “what-ifs” –that were currently flowing through his mind right now— ruin the rest of his day.

He could go wherever he pleased and they wouldn’t be able to catch up with him—not without Tesseract though, which was in his possession now. So with that in mind, he willed the powerful glowing blue cube to take him somewhere to safety and slowly closed his eyes.

‘Just a quick rest,’ he thought to himself as the cube glowed in response to his wish and teleported him out of the area.

                                           XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The raven haired god knew something went wrong the moment he sensed a couple of hostile auras in the area, and so, he opened his tired, weary eyes only to come face-to-face with an army of familiar alien battleships with their weapons aimed directly at him.

Oh for Valhalla’s sake! He knew it was too good to be true!  Stupid Loki for believing that sweet, sweet victory and freedom was within his grasps! And damn the Tesseract for dropping him here in the heat of fire instead of somewhere else.

Somewhere that’s safe.

Bah! Trust that blasted cube to betray him now. It’s like the thing wanted to get rid of him or something.

And now these fools demanded that he hand over cube unless he wanted to become space dust? Ha! Do these people really think they could— 

“Quit trying our patience, false Asgardian prince! Surrender the Tesseract now or we will fire!”

He sighed. ‘You really are a lot of trouble you know that right?’ the god looked down at the infinity stone in his hands and pondered over this new situation he landed himself in. Even though Loki resented the cube at this present moment and wanted nothing more than to rid himself of it, that didn’t mean he wanted to hand it over to Thanos’ cronies.

There was a reason why he made sure he purposely failed his takeover of Midgard and still made it look like it wasn’t his fault that the mission went south. He knew the Mad Titan wanted the Tesseract, and wanted it badly. He knew that Thanos wanted the other stones too. The guy and his army were still searching for them—and have been for a long time now. Sure, he didn’t know why they were looking for them in the first place, but Loki had a feeling that it wasn’t for anything good at all.

And he trusted that gut feeling of his, so maybe it was sort of a good thing Thanos never told him what his true plans were.

‘Trust...and loyalty... He never had mine to begin with and I never had his. Good. I didn’t need it or wanted it anyway. Only a fool would give either of the two away and expect me, in return, to fully hand over mine, especially over a deal or a promise.’

The god sighed once he finally made up his mind. He just hoped to Gods that he wasn’t going to get killed for this since his seidr was severely low at this point.

He closed his eyes once more and shook his head.

They didn’t seem to like that response as their cannons started glowing with built-up energy, and they demanded through the intercom, for the final time, to give them the Tesseract.

Instead of shaking his head again, Loki opened his green eyes and took a page out of the Midgardians’ hands—something that he’d witnessed before during his time in the void when he was spying on Midgard. He lifted both of his cuffed hands up—while letting the Tesseract go to hover in place before him— and shoved them forward with his middle fingers raised high up in the air.

And to add further insult to injury, the God of Mischief stuck his tongue out at them and waved good-bye before he quickly grabbed the glowing cube and bolted.

When they realized what the god had just done—let alone have the nerve to do it without even speaking to them telepathically, which they knew Loki was quite capable of it, the group chased after him in pure rage.

                                            XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX             

‘Oh shit…’ he suddenly and uncharacteristically cursed in his mind when the battleships quickly caught up to him and started rapidly firing at him.

Despite his weakened appearance, Loki managed to dodge all of the blasts and with the little bit of seidr he had left, willed his body to change.

In a flash of green light, he transformed himself into a griffin and transferred his hold on the Tesseract over to his tail and flew off. ‘What the—’ the god narrowed his eyes in deep annoyance when he realized that the blasted contraption attached to his beak was still on. He thought for sure the muzzle would break under the force of pressure due to his body changing, but it didn’t.

In his exhaustion and rage, he completely forgot to dodge the next set of beams and got bombarded from all sides.

BOOM!

Before the battleships could proceed forward, a bright blue light exploded from within the smoke cloud and blinded everyone.

ZZZZZPPT!

When the light in the huge receding smoke cloud died down and the Black Order along with the Chitauri inside opened their eyes and looked out the window of their ships, they found the Tesseract and Loki Laufeyson, who they’d once thought was dead, no longer there.

They were gone now.

                                           XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

‘Where…a…are…y…ou…ta…taking me?’

The cube was silent.

‘Fine…whatever…’ he truly wasn’t in the mood to try and argue with an inanimate object that held some form of sentience and a lot of power.

With his energy completely spent and his body slightly numb from the waist down, he couldn’t move. 

He couldn’t do anything!

Then his vision blurred, and Loki found himself falling for a second time.

Why was he not surprised by this? He thought he would be. But then he remembered something, something so minuscule that really shouldn’t matter at all. Why should it?

But still...it was something so important that it should never, ever, be forgotten.

The Norns hated him. They always did. And that will never change. He was sure of it.

So in conclusion, this must be their doing. They must want him to fail and perish.

……….

.....

Well then, if he died during the fall—or after, this time around, so be it.

                                            XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

“—So it’s like that in other parts of the world other than here, on Snow Lunar Island, and London huh?”

“Yeah, pretty much, Kid.”

“That’s a bit concerning to hear then...”

Jane stayed quiet as her two friends spoke up after Alvin just got done explaining the news he had for them. She had to agree with Lady though. It was one thing for the island to experience frequent thunderstorms such as this, but for places such as Puente Antiguo, New York City, Stuttgart, Sokovia, Wakanda, Norway, and many others to experience this same kind of storm, and mimic its intensity at the same time too, was —she wasn’t going to lie— a little alarming. 

It was practically unheard...

And to make matters worse, if she recalled correctly, it stormed the day she got here. Hard. Really hard. And sure, she was a couple of days late because of delays and all, but at least she and the other passengers on the ship made it to Snow Lunar Island, safe and sound.

That happened about six months ago, and since then, it has stormed over a total of four times already—with this one being the fifth, Jane realized with a start.

It just now dawned on her that the storms never really went away. At best, they lasted for about a couple of days before they died down, only to pick right back up where they left off again, a few weeks later. 

It was an ongoing chaotic cycle. Rinse and repeat until...

‘Today...’ she said, looking uneasily at the sparks of white-blue lightning running along the thick dark clouds in the rainy sky, mixed in with the hail that fell through the cracks within.

“I don’t know if Mother Nature’s been PMS-ing lately or whatever, but this, THIS, I can guarantee you is not normal! All of the animals and other creatures I’ve come across lately have been going stir crazy! Hell, even the demons that Lady, I, and everyone else have slayed on our past missions gone bonkers! More so than usual in fact! It’s more than a little nerving I will admit, but I shit you not, the last mission I went, the Old Man, Pops, and I witnessed a fucking Blitz  —which is an elite demon in terms of being the strongest of ranks mind you— running around in circles like a damn headless chicken. And you wanna know what it did next? It fucking kamikazed itself with us right there! And while I’m sure it definitely noticed our presence there, it didn’t care enough to turn around and attack us!” Nero’s shouting broke the young woman out of her thoughts.

Lady was shocked, “That’s...”

Nero continued, “Let me tell you...that was undeniably one of the most bizarre-st of things I have ever witnessed in my entire career of demon hunting. Seriously, you know something’s gone wrong when even the blind one ignores the Sons and the Grandson of Sparda in favor of something else and decides to off itself.”

“You know...I think I remember witnessing something similar a while back like that out here...except, it was a behemoth arctic dragon and not a demon. The poor thing looked so scared too. I literally witnessed the dragon throw itself off a cliff and into a pool of hot lava in the other cave I was exploring not too far away from here. It was awful,” Jane threw her own two cents in.

Nero and the other two turned to her, horrified.

“Yeah! See what I mean guys?!”

“Okay, that is disturbing...” Alvin and Lady said in unison. “I can’t even begin to imagine...” they trailed off, unable to finish their thoughts.

Jane nodded solemnly, and turned away. In a way, she supposed it was a good thing that neither one of them weren’t there to see and hear the reptilian monster’s shrieks of agony as it was burned alive...

Or experience the horror and helplessness she felt after when its body finally melted and sunk under the lava, cooling its boiling surface as a fog of mist rolled up and covered the area.

...That image gave her plenty of nightmares. And still does to this day, but not as much, thankfully.

“Every monster, animal, and creature out there, except for the majority of us “humans”, knows what’s up. They sense...something. I think it’s about time we should do the same because I don’t think this weather is going to get better anytime soon. At the rate this storm’s going...if it continues to get worse...worse than what’s happening right now, then I’m afraid we’ll all be in real big trouble,” Nero finished.

Alvin and Lady nodded.

“There’s also the issue with increased activity of anomalies happening up there that we need to worry about too,” Jane pointed out. 

Nero looked and blinked at her, “You mean up in space?”

Jane nodded.

“You’ve been keeping track of them, haven’t you? I thought you were supposed to be on break?” Lady gave her an exasperated look. “Wait...? Are you even on vacation or...”

The young brunette frowned, “Of course I’m on vacation. But that’s not going to completely stop me from doing work or making new exciting discoveries out here!”

The men shook their heads with a sweat drop while the devil huntress put hers down with a sigh.

“Oh Jane, what are we ever gonna do with you...”

Before the young scientist could come up with some kind of sarcastic response or retort, her body tensed up. 

And so did Nero’s.

‘What in the world...’ their eyes went wide in shock when they felt an overwhelming amount of energy appear on their radar, and it nearly crippled them to their knees not only because of how raw and powerful it was, but because of how darn close it was too. Like it was heading towards—

Lady narrowed her eyes and placed a hand on the shoulder strap holding up her Kalina Ann —that was placed on her back— when she saw Jane and Nero turn their attention to the sky. 

“You two sense something?” she asked, following their lead with her own eyes.

Without looking away or say anything, the two nodded.

“What the hell is that?!” Alvin blurted out, pointing a finger at the changing colors of the dark sky.

“Is that an aurora borealis forming?”

“I believe so.”

They couldn’t believe their eyes. Right before them, the rainy sky glowed once, then twice, and thrice. And suddenly, one by one, a stream of blue, green, yellow, purple, and white lights appeared. 

This, combined with the crazy weather that was still going on in the background, made the whole image look so...surreal. Like something straight out of a fantasy visual novel or videogame. It was hard to believe that something like this was happening right now.

“Whoa!”

“Hey look at that you guys!”

“It’s so pretty!”

And from the commotion they could hear a few floors down, it seems like the people shared their thoughts as well as they all came out and formed a single long line along the railing of the tower bridges below theirs to watch the strange phenomenon from their own respective floors. 

‘Brother is coming...?’ the faint whisper of a long, dormant feminine voice, one that Jane hasn’t heard in a long time, spoke up. ‘But something’s off... He feels...different...this time.’

‘Huh?!’ she uttered in complete surprise and confusion.

‘Brother should’ve been gone like the others...except for Mind and Time...but...’

Before the young woman could even begin to question the remnants of the Aether, she heard the sound of incoming footsteps.

“Auntie Jane!”

Jane and her friends turned to the side to see two people with black hair and brown eyes —one being in his early twenties while the other one was in her late twenties— running toward them.

“Hey Kagome... Hey Sota,” she said when the two stopped in front of her friends. “Aren’t you two supposed to be in class by now?” Jane looked at the siblings with furrowed brows, and crossed her arms.

“Yeah...” Kagome said. “But we got an email earlier from all of our professors saying that classes are cancelled for the rest of day. Power outage and all of that,” she explained with a small shrug.

“And you two thought it was a bright idea to come out here where it’s pouring like cats and dogs, and risk catching a cold or getting struck by lightning, instead of going back to your dorm rooms where it’s warm and cozy inside?”

The two flinched at that.

“Well, when you put it like that...” Sota trailed off when he saw the dark look on the older woman’s face. “Nevermind! It was a stupid idea,” he quickly bowed his head in apology, his eyes filled deep shame.

“Yeah, we’re sorry, Auntie...” Kagome quietly said, fiddling with the end of her shirt’s sleeves.

Jane sighed, “Just don’t...don’t ever do something so reckless like that ever again, okay?”

Sota nodded, silently, while Kagome looked at the woman, worriedly.

“You’re not going to tell Dad are you?” she asked with slight hesitance in her voice.

Jane uncrossed her arms and closed her eyes with a heavy sigh, “I should, but I’m not going to...” then opened them back up and looked away. “Not this time at least,” she mumbled that last part like it was an afterthought.

The two black haired siblings looked a little relieved at. 

“Umm...what is that?”

Everyone looked in the direction where Alvin was pointing at and saw what looked like a meteor falling from the sky. 

“Is that a meteor?”

“It looks like it—”

BOOM!

The loud rumble of thunder startled everyone standing within their own respective tower bridge floors so badly that some fell back on their butts while a few almost went over the railings if it hadn’t been for those nearby who pulled them back up.

BOOM!

Seconds later, a sudden giant flash of lightning appeared, nearly way too close for comfort, and light up the whole sky, blinding the crowd who let out surprised screams and covered their eyes. Because of this, they missed the second flash of lightning, and this time, it struck something.

KABOOM!

The crowd opened their eyes and looked up just in time to see the ball of fire get knocked off its course, and instead of getting destroyed upon contact like they thought would happen, the meteor flew to the side.

And much to their surprise, it was now hurtling itself straight towards the ground at an alarming speed.

‘Oh no…’

Before anyone could shout out a warning, the meteor flew out of sight behind the trees and landed somewhere in the valley with an explosive crash, sending out a massive shock wave of energy that rippled through the earth along with a bright blue light that engulfed them and the area whole.

                                             XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Pain…so much pain…

Deep and agonizing…

He could feel it in his tail…

His legs…

His groin area…

His chest…

His arms and shoulders…

And finally, along the wings on his throbbing back, which felt like they were on fire.  

No matter which way he turned, or even if he moved just less than a centimeter, his body roared in protest. And he bit back a whine, nearly biting his own tongue off in this process, as he flopped back to the ground, which smelled like burnt grass, and the strong stench of it nearly made him gag behind the muzzle that was still somehow attached to his beak.

It, along with the pain, brought him to tears. A surge of anger and frustration burned through him as they leaked from his eyes and ran down his furry cheeks and over his bleeding cuts, stinging the hell out of him.

As the defeated god continued to lay there on the wet ground, broken and bleeding in a pool of his own blood, only one thought ran through his aching mind as his muted green eyes surveyed the lightning flashing so ominously —almost mockingly at him it seems— in the dark rainy sky before they slowly shut closed.

Why…? Why was he still alive? 

                                              XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Nothing but silence filled the air. Questions flew through the minds of everyone standing or sitting completely still in their spots, eyes shut closed behind arms that came up to cover their heads from the blast that occurred a minute ago.

Right as the people were beginning to give up hope, wondering if they were still alive or not, their ears picked up a new sound.

“Oh my god...!” Sota whispered in awe.

Slowly, everyone’s eyes fluttered open and they looked up to see Dr. Foster along with Stark’s Eldest Daughter hovering in the air a few feet away from the citadel, with their arms stretched out, behind a dome of swirling energy that hummed and glowed bluish-white.

Alvin along with everyone else gasped in realization at what the two ladies had just done.

“It’s a barrier,” Lady confirmed.

Whispers broke out amongst the people as Jane Valerie Foster and Kagome Higurashi Stark lowered their arms and lifted the barrier up.

“I think a small group of us should go check out what crashed down there.”

Alvin along with Sota and Lady frowned at Kagome’s suggestion.

“Uhh, Little lady, I don’t think—” the ex-mercenary trailed off in shock as an explosive burst of mana in the shape of bright purple and white flames erupted from the young scientist’s body and engulfed her whole. “What the...!” then within mere seconds, a newly transformed Jane broke free from the veil of mana-like fire.

No longer was there a human hovering in front of them all, but a canine-vulpine spirit with flowing waist length orange hair and yellow-red highlights, large fire colored wolf ears, and four fire colored fox tails with black tips at the ends.

“She’s right, you know…” Jane looked over her shoulder at the crowd, her purple eyes encased in the black sclera staring intently into their own orbs. “Someone’s gotta go down there and make sure it’s just that, a meteor.”

The frown on Lady’s face deepened. 

“And if it’s a threat?” she asked, crossing her arms. 

It was at this point Nero knew what he wanted to do, so he made his first move. He stretched and placed a hand on the devil huntress’ shoulder, making her look up at him in surprise. “Then we will get rid of it,” the spiky faux haired devil hunter said as he gave Lady a reassuring look and a single pat, released her shoulder, and walked past her. “It’s just as simple as that,” he grabbed a hold of the railing and leaped over it.

“Nero…” Lady watched the young quarter demon transform in a flash of blue light with a gleam of worry in her heterochromia eyes. 

“Don’t worry, Lady! We’ll be fine,” Nero threw a confident smirk over his shoulder, his voice a bit gruff and demonic due to him being in his Devil Trigger form, as he joined Jane and Kagome in the sky.

“You better, Nero!” Lady gave him warning as she and others waved at them. “And you too, Jane! Kagome!”

The transformed devil hunter chuckled in response while the two ladies smiled. “Okay...” Jane looked between her friend and niece figure and motioned the two to move closer to her. “Ready?” she asked when they both grabbed her hands.

“I am.”

“You betcha.”

“Alrighty then.”

In a flash of bluish-white light, all three of them disappeared.

                                            XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

While he waited for the inevitable—or for something to happen, Loki dreamed.

He dreamed he was in a grassy field surrounded by darkness and filled with a lot of white noise. There was chit chatter flowing all around him. It took up the majority of his attention, and he wanted to know what it was all about.

So he concentrated, and listened, blocking everything out of his mind such as the downpour of rain and some kind of balls of ice hitting him —not that he could feel them of course, but he can definitely hear them make contact with his body— and the sensation of...something...entering his numbed body. He focused on the words and not their meanings.

He heard three voices. One male and two females. The god didn’t have a clue on what their identities or origins were, although one of them did sound slightly familiar to him. 

How strange...

“—Can’t believe this one griffin caused all of this damage here.”

“Well, thankfully he didn’t crash into the ocean; otherwise, he would’ve drowned. And I’m sure something like that would’ve made it into the news on TV too.”

“Yeah...”

“Still, it’s incredible that he not only survived the fall, but survived getting struck by lightning too. Tough little guy he is.”

“Mhmm... When’s Nero coming back?”

“Hopefully soon. That powerful surge he and I felt earlier...I hope he finds it and recovers it before anyone else does. A power like that should not be left unattended. It would be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands if anyone with...questionable intentions were to get a hold of it.”

Shit... They were talking about the Tesseract. How did he not realize he’d drop it?!

“You...you have an idea of what it was, Auntie?”

“Sort of...” the female voice —the one that sounded vaguely familiar to him and had a slight melodic tone to it— paused. “It had the feel of an Infinity Stone, I think. Not sure which one just yet.”

“Unless Nero finds it and brings it back, right?”

“Right.”

Oh that’s just fantastic now. He was on this dreadful backwater planet. On freaking Midgard. Where? He didn’t know and didn’t care. But still, it made sense that he would get found by some Midgardians sooner or later. The only thing that confused him though was how in all of Yggdrasil do they know about the Infinity Stones?

“You can take over from here, Auntie. My ki energy is getting pretty low...” the other female panted in a low voice.

Suddenly, that sensation he felt earlier—and promptly ignored, which he didn’t know why he did it in the first place— changed. It felt much warmer than the first one now. More powerful. And much more different, but still felt soothing all the same.

Almost like—

Loki’s eyes snapped wide open, and he wildly looked around the area, completely ignoring the tired black haired Midgardian woman sitting off to the side, for the one who—

“Stop! You’ll hurt yourself more if you continue doing that!”

Small yet warm delicate hands —that were dark blue in color. Odd?— held his face still and a wave of some unknown energy that felt almost like magic washed over him, clearing both his mind and emotions. Calming him down even.

In fact...his fear was now gone, much to his shock. 

How...? How did she even manage to...

“Better now?”

Despite his vision being somewhat blurry, Loki slowly looked up and paused at the sight. He blinked in...surprise? Awe? Confusion? He truly didn’t know.

Shiny purple eyes, which glowed like amethyst gemstones from the bright greenish-yellow and white light coming off her hands, surrounded in a pool of black stared back into his green ones.

And that hair...it reminded him the colors of an evening sunset, which complimented the fire colored ears on top of her head quite nicely—huh?

What...was that?

Something in his peripheral vision moved, and one quick glance down with his eyes told him exactly what it was. 

Four beautiful long fire colored tails with black tips—that looked so fluffy and so soft that if he even remotely had the ability to move right now, he would touch them and test them to see if they were as soft as they truly looked, sat curled around the woman’s waist and ran along the length of his body from each side.

And wait a minute... Was he...? Actually, what was he sitting on? He could’ve sworn he saw...

His eyes darted back down again and...oh. He froze in shock at the sight of himself lying on his back in the woman's lap. How in the world did he get there?!

And more importantly, why did it take him this long to realize this sort of thing?!

“There! You should be fine for now.”

He blinked when the glowing light from her hands disappeared. And somehow, he felt better.

Not completely better...

But a little bit better than he did a few minutes ago.

This was definitely one of the weirdest dreams he’s ever had in a long time.

“Jane! Kagome! I found the source of the power!” a young Midgardian man with shocking white hair, to his complete astonishment, ran in holding a familiar glowing object in a transparent case of some sorts. “This is what we felt earlier, Jane!” he held it up for them to see.

“Nero! You’re back!” the woman with black hair, called Kagome, spoke.

“It’s the Tesseract...” the strange sunset haired woman, the one called Jane, uttered in shock. 

Jane... 

That name... 

Why did that name sound so familiar to him? Could it be possible that he heard that name before from somewhere? There were so, so many questions he had flowing through his mind like crazy now...

Damn...if only his head didn’t hurt so much right now...if only he didn’t feel so bloody tired...

Or dizzy at the moment—

“Oh hey! The little guy's awake,” the Nero guy said and stared at him. “He actually looks ready to pass out at any second now.”

The two women looked at him, and sure enough, he could hear the darkness calling out to him. 

“Oh no...”

“Hey little guy!”

“C’mon! Stay awake, Little one!”

Their expression of concern was the last thing he saw before his whole world went black. 

And because of this, the God of Mischief missed the chance to see Nero storing the case away in one of his dimensional pockets and transforming back into his DT form, missed the way Jane and Kagome picked him up and held him in their arms, and he definitely missed the way the three gathered around him in a circle, holding onto each other and him, before all four of them teleported out of the area.

[alamanyar]

through the keyhole; [teen and up audience] character’s pov: martino ships: martino x niccolò summary: five times martino didn’t say I love you and one time he did chapter summary ⟶ you’re (amazing): domestic boyfriends. basically a future version of 'nel mio letto' maybe a bit more angsty (sorry)

chapter word count: 5.985 read below or on ao3 (thank you, if you do) ♡ I "Hm?" Martino was standing at the side of the bed in nothing but his underwear when Niccolò’s voice pulled him out of his trance. The black-haired boy he was entitled to call his boyfriend. He still couldn't grasp it at times. 

"What did you say? Sorry." He looked over to the desk where Nico was sitting at.

The latter peered over his shoulder and perked his eyebrows up in amusement. “I wanted to know what you're up to.”

"Well", he grabbed his boyfriend's pyjamas from under the pillow at the headboard, "I was thinking of watching some clips Giò sent me."

“Yeah?”, Nico called back, his voice soft, and yet, clothed in a tremble. It was barely audible, but Martino sensed that something was off. He looked over to the desk again just as Nico turned around in the chair. "What kind of videos?" He seemed to have bounced back already, his voice as clear and jovial as ever. Maybe he misheard, Martino thought.

He decided to let it slide- not every change in tone meant something. “Yeah", his voice merely a shadow as he fumbled through the action putting the pyjamas shirt on, "he wants my opinion on his latest skateboarding skills." He laughed then. Those were his best friend's words, and he wouldn't correct them. After he finished putting the pants on, he pressed his hands to his hips and caught Nico's eyes who seemed to be disappointed that he was dressed again- or so he thought. He shot him a reproving look, his lips forming an amusing smile, however. "And you know, since we’ve studied for a good while now by your parent’s request, I think we've earned a break. You said you wanted to draw, didn't you?” He took the blanket from the bed and shook it.

“I can always draw another time, you know?”

“True. But you also said you were inspired earlier.”

Nico’s lips twitched and he rubbed over the skin above his eyebrows. “You don’t mind?”

“Why would I?” Marti lay down on his side of the bed, wrapping the blanket around him like a cocoon.

It was a few days into the New Year and school wouldn't start until next week. They had spent most of the holiday together. On some days, Martino had merely come over to sleep next to Nico since his exhaustion hadn't completely worn off. Not that he minded at all. If there was a way he could help him coping, he'd do it in a heartbeat. He finished wrapping up and caught Nico's smirk when their eyes met.

“You’ll die of hot flush, Marti", he claimed, removing himself from the desk.

“I’m wearing your pyjamas, remember? It’s fine.”

The thing was, Martino often changed into his boyfriend's pyjamas and he always wrapped himself into a cocoon blanket when he was over, loving his scent, wanting to drown in this earthy, slightly made of cedar wood, dream-like smell that surrounded him with warmth he wouldn't want to miss.

Nico was giving him a side glance as he got rid of his own trousers, and seconds later, he was crawling onto the bed.

“You know, you could just wear your underwear underneath all of this.” He waved his hand over Martino’s posture.

“Your dad is home. So, no.”

“Ah, you’re boring like that, I almost forgot.” Nico chuckled and Marti would have been offended, if his boyfriend wasn’t all adorable laughing into himself.

“You wanted to draw, remember?” He tried to sound annoyed, but he was pretty sure Nico could see right through him. "That's why you got rid of your trousers", he emphasized just for the sake of it.

“Always so bossy.” He shook his head and crawled closer. “Have fun with your videos.” He gave him a quick kiss and was about to move away again, but Marti raised his head so that he could nudge his nose.

“Have fun drawing.”

He gently rubbed his nose against Nico's before he kissed it. Ever since the morning after that eventful night on the school's terrace, it had become their thing. Martino remembered how relieved he had felt. What he had hoped in his heart all along finally became certainty. Nico's feelings were genuine; they always had been. He was positive he'd never forget this moment of liberation that had rushed over him that night. It had carved its way into his skin- as a token, and as an abiding memory. And perhaps Nico's emotions weren't as heightened compared to his owns then, but when he had woken up the morning after their reconciliation, Martino knew that all the suffering had been - and would be - worth it. Such a stupid saying actually, at least, that's what he had always thought, but Nico, despite everything, smiling his sunshine smile that day, made him realize that it was true after all. It basically came down to love having the power to conquer every burden. Both in theoretical and practical terms. He got that now. 

So, naturally, he'd never get sick of kissing Nico on the nose since it always put him in a good mood. But he loved getting those kisses, too, and yet, before this thing of theirs could turn into something more, Marti drew Nico close by the collar of his jumper, gave him a peck, just so he could push him away, ever so gently, but not without smirking.

Nico heaved a sigh, but his eyes were shining and the corner of his mouth curved into a delicate smile. And so Marti let Nico collect some drawing materials which he spread out on the side of his bed. He tried not to look at his boyfriend’s bare legs which he had seen more than once, of course, but he still got all flustered when he saw them or any part of Nico’s body, that was. He still wasn't there believing that they were together for real now, even though he’s never felt this comfortable in his life. Naked skin and all.

He plugged the earphones in and clicked play on the first video while Nico started sketching beside him, legs crossed and sleeves pulled up, as per usual. His boyfriend got up from time to time, collecting all kinds of drawing utensils from his shelf. Every time he fetched something, Martino couldn't help but follow his every action. Sometimes it was something of daily use, like a rubber, a pair of scissors or another pencil, and sometimes he came back with a picture book he’d search for inspiration or pages he could use for collages. In the end, he used the sketchbook as drawing pad. Martino suggested that he'd better work on his desk, giving the fact that Nico had hoarded quite some materials which were now lying all over the side of his bed. He also didn't want his boyfriend to suffer from aching muscles tomorrow, but Nico wouldn't have any of that. Instead he came back with his next conquest. It was a kitchen tool Martino had absolutely no clue what use it held, but his boyfriend sketched it with great intensity and concentration.

It did something to his heart. He was positive he felt it flutter while he observed Nico’s aura in these moments. Brow furrowed with wrinkles, tongue sticking out merely a tiny bit, and hands guiding various pencils over the sheets of paper, emptying and filling his mind in equal measure− Martino was sure of it.

There was no doubt that he was far gone for the boy next to him, and in this very moment, he felt the devotion jumping out of his chest. He was aware, because for one, the corner of his mouth started to hurt from grinning, and two, his cheeks were heating up as well as his upper body.

Nico’s mouth moved then, pulling him out of his trance, yet again.

“What? I didn’t hear you?” He paused the video, grinning, probably looking like an idiot.

“I said stop looking at me.” Nico gave him a quick look of disapproval. “You’re distracting me.”

“Sorry, continue.” He pressed play again and chuckled into himself.

He’d be a liar, if he didn’t like the fact that he could hold such power over his boyfriend. Usually it was him who uttered those lines, so yes, this was a nice change for once. He kept glancing at the boy who was sketching in a medley of tranquillity and occasional outburst of passion. With vigorous movement, Nico guided the pencil over his artwork, or as it seemed, into his artwork, becoming one with it, so to speak. And every time Martino saw his boyfriend perform such an act out of the corner of his eyes, he smiled to himself, feeling the adoration he held for him in every fibre of his body. Giò had been right to call him a goner. 

After he had finished sketching the ominous kitchen tool, Nico gathered paintbrushes and colours around him. Martino was about to ask him why the hell he’d wanted to paint his sheets, but before he could say anything, the brush in Nico's hand landed on his face. Of course it did. His boyfriend knew he was ticklish and he fully took advantage of it. What a shithead. It didn’t take long though and the utensil was forgotten, and they were making out, exploring each other’s faces thoroughly, getting rid of the blanket Marti was still wrapped in while trying to stay on his side of the bed.

"I could paint you, you know", Nico breathed into his ear.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"You're beautiful, Marti."

"Shut up."

Maybe he would let him. One day.

Nico was lying on top of him now, working on his neck, holding his face in place firmly. His grip made him feel as if he was something special. Someone special. Martino sighed.

He moved his head then so that he could capture Nico's lips into a kiss. He seemed to know what Marti wanted and started kissing him slowly, carefully even, while stroking his cheek with his thumb.

Perhaps those kisses were Martino’s favourite ones. When their tongues danced around each other, almost lazily, accompanied by his tingling skin and butterflies bustling about inside his stomach. When their hands roamed over each other, when Nico searched for his skin underneath the clothes, when he grabbed the hair at the back of his head, and when he bit down on his lower lip. The black-haired boy sent him to places he didn’t dare dream of, all in the span of seconds.

However, Marti had discovered quite recently that his boyfriend kind of responded every time he kissed the skin above his eyebrows. Oh, sweet revenge. When he rolled them over, that's when he had him. Under him, pressed into the pillow, defenceless. He took his time to tease him - first with feather-like kisses, and then, nuzzling his nose over the skin deliberately, tracing an invisible line – and watched how Nico shivered when he blew air over the sensitive spot. That was one of Martino’s favourite facial expressions on him. Eyes closed and lips formed into a content smile. If he were an artist like Nico; he'd paint him precisely like that. And so he forgot that he actually wanted to keep teasing him. He just melted into Nico's body effortlessly then, putting his hands under his shoulder blades, squeezing him and hugging him tight to his chest. Not wanting to let go. Why would he? This, sharing an embrace with Nico, was his safe haven. He's never really felt like he belonged before, not anywhere in this world, nor let alone to anyone.  

Elia would have called him a lucky bastard. 

They stayed like this for a while until Marti untangled himself abruptly, Nico protesting vehemently in the process, trying to tug him back to his chest, but Martino was quicker. He kissed the skin right above his elbow and pushed him back to his side before he wrapped himself into a cocoon again.

Nico rolled into some of his materials and they both laughed at that, Martino a bit more maliciously which Nico responded with flipping him off.

He was still grinning when his boyfriend put his trousers back on and continued working on his desk. He already missed him and the diverse sheets of paper beside him, but he was glad nevertheless. Just recently, Nico had told him that his creativity wasn't something that he could summon whenever he wanted. No, it attacked him sporadically. And when that happened, he had to get it out of his system before he imploded. That wasn't something he wanted for him, of course. Just the thought of the possibility made his heart heavy.

When he watched him sitting on his desk, he knew that it had been high time for Nico to get creative. His arm guided the brush over the paper- sometimes his whole upper body moved in union with it. Like a dance he had to carry out. Maybe, he thought, that dance was a battle all the same. Martino barely registered what happened on his phone anymore. He was utterly entranced until the shadow of Nico's voice burst his bubble of thoughts. For the umpteenth time today, he paused the video and removed one of the earbuds.

"Hm?"

"You're distracting me again."

"I'm not doing anything?" He claimed, his voice throaty, knowing exactly what Nico was hinting at.

"If I turn around now, I know I'll see you smiling."

"Is that so bad?"

"No, not at all."

"I'm sorry for distracting you." He really was.

Nico put the brush aside. "Let's have some coffee. I'm getting tired anyway." He turned around. "See. You're smiling."

Indeed, he was. Strangely enough, Nico's comment made him smile even brighter. "Let me help you." He was about to get rid of the blanket when Nico interrupted him with a dapper wave of the hand.

"No, no, I'm on it. You stay here. I'll be right back."

Marti protested, but Nico was already at the door. "Before you've put on your clothes, I'll be back already anyway." He scrunched his nose and slipped out of the room.

It was more or less a lie. It took him quite a while to get back. In the meantime, Martino made himself comfortable again and closed his eyes. His mind wandered to different places at the same time, and yet, he felt himself wrapped into an even warmth. Perhaps the afternoon sunbeams interloping into the room through the window were a reason for that, but Marti always felt comfortable in Nico's world. Whether it was here or at his place or whenever they were together. Hell, just thinking about Nico and how loved he made him feel never failed to amaze him. He always came back to thinking how it enveloped him, just as the rays of sunshine which were enveloping this very room with a calmness, so gentle and yet palpable.

Martino's favourite colour might be blue, but right now he was gleaming in all sorts of yellow nuances. Luchì would have said it showed.

And then, just before he dozed off, Nico slipped back into the room, his voice nonchalantly ringing in his ears, almost sing-song like. "Sorry, had a chat with my dad."

"No worries." Marti got up into an upright posture and tucked the pillow between his back and the headboard. "What were you chatting about?"

"Ah, you know, this and that." Nico positioned a trayful of biscuits and two cups of coffee on the middle of the bed. "He told me about his new project, you know."

"Which is?" Martino poured sugar into his cup and started stirring the beverage. For a fleeting moment he closed his eyes just to soak up the familiar scent. Not long ago he would have said it was his favourite smell in the world.

"Some building north the city." Nico was sitting cross-legged on his side of the bed now and took a sip of his coffee, glancing at him over the rim of the cup.

Unlike his boyfriend, he finished his coffee in one go. "You sound disinterested?"

"Naw, I just, you know, sometimes he talks for ages."

Martino chuckled, knowing exactly what Nico meant. His father's floods of words were quite endearing actually, but he wasn't walking in Nico's shoes on a daily basis. There were a few things he'd never fully grasp. He'd never know how much pain Nico actually went through, he could only ever imagine. And just before his thoughts could wander to darker places, he heard a clinking noise of porcelain hitting metal. When he looked up, a pair of curious eyes stared back at him. Martino knew that look well. Before he was able to form a coherent reasoning, a biscuit was stuck between his teeth.

“Stop that”, he giggled, while taking a bite off the sweet, leaving crumbs on the sheet.

“What? You don’t like them?”

“Don’t look so smug.”

“Why would I do that?”, Nico answered and leaned in to give him a peck on the lips.

“Your eyes don’t lie.”

“Ah no?”

“No.”

“Well, what can I say, amore, you make me feel things.” His boyfriend gave him one of his best lopsided grins. One of those that made him weak in the knees.

“Is that so?”, he raised his eyebrows, trying to ignore the butterflies in his belly.

“Oh, you haven’t noticed?” Nico took a bite of the biscuit in Marti's hand and then he gave him another peck on the lips, leaving crumbs there.

Marti laughed and wiped over his mouth with the back of his hand. “No. No, I really haven’t.”

They held their gaze for a moment. Martino was absolutely certain that he must’ve looked like a dumbstruck idiot. But it was alright. Actually, he had stopped caring about that a while ago. He knew he was one of those people who blushed easily, but Nico always looked at him with what he'd call a mix of endearment and boldness when that happened. And that made it even more okay.

Filippo would have called them sickeningly adorable.

“Will you show me your latest sketches?”, he broke the silence, being in desperate need for a distraction, but he was also curious about Nico's art, and seeing him so very caught up in it today, had gotten him even more curious.

“Huh? You’ve seen them. They’ve basically been in front of you the whole afternoon.”

He glanced at the drawings lying on the desk. He saw the early stages and knew Nico had worked on outlining miniatures of fairies once again. They were little superheroes in his eyes; sitting on one’s shoulder, always watching out for the ones in need, so he had told him. He had sketched some with a pen, and then later − after he had stopped using the brush to tickle Marti − he’d coloured the fairies in shades of green and yellow as well as the star dust around them. Nico had held up various sketches asking him which one he liked best. Martino was bad at deciding and he liked them all anyway. He always did.

“No, I meant the ones you’re working on when I’m not here.”

Nico’s eyes stopped track in time for a second. It was as if he was contemplating of what to say or give away. “Uh, I told you I’ll show you when they’re finished.” He scrunched his eyebrows. “Be patient, amore.”

“But most of the sketches from today aren’t finished either. And you’re not hiding them.”

“Listen, I don’t hide the others−“

“Yes, you are.”

He stuffed the rest of the biscuit into his mouth and looked at Nico who was eyeing him suspiciously.

“Are you taking the piss out of me?”

Martino snorted with laughter.

“You shithead!”

“Hey now, you fool with me plenty of times! It’s only fair.”

Nico’s eyes held a shine in them, twinkling almost. Martino noticed a ghost of a smile on his lips as well and started grinning when he looked back into his eyes. They told him how comfortable his boyfriend was. How happy he was that they were together and that there wasn’t anything between them that wasn’t right. That he could fool with him right in this very moment, in Nico’s room, surrounded by light yellow curtains and wooden furniture, where it was only them. Eva would have said they were a match made in heaven.

The outside world was okay, too, being with their friends and loved ones that was, but nothing came close to their moments alone. It was as if they lived in a safe house. Wrapped up in a shared blanket, waiting for sleep to take them. Even if it was merely imaginary.

“Hey, you have something there.” Marti pointed at Nico’s mouth then.

“Hm? Where?” He jiggled his head.

“Right there.” He propped his elbows up on his thighs - his boyfriend clearly waiting for him to close the distance - and slowly made his way up to kiss the left corner of his upper lip.

Nico’s lip twitched for a second. And then he traced the spot with his thumb.

“Biscotti flavoured kiss?”

“Biscotti flavoured kiss.”

He had the biggest grin on his face, and when he felt Nico's lips touching his own, he felt him smile into the kiss, too. He could say something, he thought.

“Hm-hm and a little bit of coffee, too.” Those weren't the words lingering on his mind, but—

Nico laughed. His shoulder trembled a bit and Marti melted into him. Again. His boyfriend’s laugh always did this thing to him when his cheek would just burn instantly. Not quite like fire, but with a certain warmth that was electrifying and calming at the same time.

The kiss turned deeper. Not like earlier. There was more hunger now. Tongues started grazing each other and fingers tugged at sleeves and elbows after they had gotten rid off the blanket again, this time more clumsily.

Martino took control whilst setting a slow, yet steady pace. It hadn't happened often yet, him, taking the reins. There still existed a certain shyness under all his eagerness to devote himself completely to their sexual intimacy. Nico had told him not to hold back, and it wasn't that he did it on purpose, but at times he was unsure if he was doing it right; whatever that meant. Maybe he was thinking too much about it. However, there was no way he’d get sick of Nico’s laugh. He always wanted to hear it. He wished he could kiss it away to put it in a jar that he could open whenever his boyfriend wasn’t with him. It made him all mushy and more in awe of him than he thought was possible. Yet here he was.

He rolled them around and slotted a thigh between Nico's thighs. While he stifled a laugh when they hit the tray, Nico cursed. Somehow they managed to shove it away with their hands and feet while their lips stayed glued together. He listened to Nico slightly starting to moan. It was more like puffing out air more rapidly each time their tongues parted, but it made him even more eager to kiss him absolutely senseless. Right here in this very room where he learned so much about him on one Friday afternoon. October felt like a lifetime ago.

Someway in between his attempt to make the object of his desire melt into the sheets, Nico managed to get a hand of his helix piercing with his thumb. It was enough to make him jolt. His boyfriend laughed into their kiss, his curls tickling his cheek, reinforcing the already existing tingling sensation going through his body.

“Ni, I swear...ughh.”

“Mh-mh yeah?” Nico kept grazing the metal with his thumb, slightly tugging at it.

“Ni, stop it, I swear”, he huffed in between smooches, digging his fingers into every spot of Nico's skin he managed to grasp.

“What?”

“Not now, your dad...”

“Who gives a fuck.” He felt Nico’s lips on his neck.

“I do”, he panted, feeling a throbbing heat to begin in his stomach.

“Of course, you do”, he sounded annoyed, yet his lips had arrived at his earlobe, biting down gently.

“Ah, I really don’t−“

“What?”, he asked more slyly and twirled his tongue around the piercing.

Marti's leg kicked the bed rest. He was at that point where he had lost control of his body, muscles doing whatever the fuck they wanted. He loved and hated it at the same time; especially in this very moment.

“Oh God, I swear, Ni...”

Nico ignored his plea. He really was insufferable. It wasn’t that he hated his boyfriend’s caresses on this particular body part of him, no, in fact, he loved them. It was just that he couldn’t bare Nico’s dad to interrupt them. Just the thought of that made him nauseous. How would he be able to look an older version of Nico in the eyes? They both shared the same pair of black curls and their eyes held the same shine in them. Martino was absolutely certain he'd melt in shame on the spot.

He managed to take a hold of his jumper's collar. “Ni, I swear... please...”

Nico's breath was hot and heavy on his skin, making his toes curl. “Marti... you drive me insane. It really isn’t my fault.” Another twirl around the metal followed by his leg kicking the bed rest again.

And then, a knock. Martino froze in a jiffy.

“Yeah?”, Nico called out, irritated.

“You boys alright?", a muffled voice called back.

Don’t open the door, don’t open the door, please don't open the door!

Marti buried his face in the crook of Nico's neck. It was bound to happen one day, he knew it. Perhaps he could disappear into the shielding niche of skin until the coast was clear again.

“Yeah, sure, pa", Nico called back while caressing his jaw with his thumb. Martino wished he'd stopped doing that, having trouble cooling down as hard as it already was.

“Thought I heard a dull noise, or well, something similar.”

“No yeah, Marti just stumbled against the bed...”

“Ah− you good, boy?”

He raised his head at the question, shooting a piercing look at Nico who was clearly entertained by his discomfort. “Every-everything’s fine”, Marti tried to answer with containment, but he felt his voice trembling. Nico snorted with laughter whereupon he nudged his shoulder.

“Oi!”, he cried out in fake pain.

“Niccolò?”

Martino thought he saw Nico’s dad trying to push down the handle of the French door.

No, no, no- don’t open the door! Don’t come inside!

He pointed to the door while trying to stare holes into Nico's eyes who was still terribly amused. What a shithead, Martino contemplated, trying not to grin at his own thought.

“Everything’s good, pa. Marti is just a bully, as usual.”

He nudged him in the shoulder again.

“We’re fine. Everything’s fine, don’t worry.” Nico said more earnestly now, putting his hands up in surrender.

“Okay.” A pause. “Listen, are you staying for dinner tonight, Martino?”

He turned his head towards the door, trying to regain his composure. “Um, well, actually I... I have a... dinner date with my mother tonight, so no.”

“Ah, what a shame− okay, you, uh, you boys continue. I see you later.” He listened to footsteps disappearing and heaved a sigh of relief.

Nico had started chuckling at one point and if he weren’t the lovesick puppy he had turned into, he’d truly be offended. However, it was really hard for him not to start laughing himself, so, with one final kiss to his boyfriend’s lips, he pushed himself off of him.

“I really hate you, you know”, he claimed, somehow grinning.

“Ah, you should have seen your face, amore, I swear I saw your cheeks turn burgundy in one second.”

“Funny.”

“That’s why you’re so incredibly fond of me.”

There it was again. That smug look of him, tongue sticking out for a millisecond behind his teeth, his eyes full of mischief.

“No, you got it all wrong, I really loathe you.”

“Oh really?”

“100%.”

“Okay. Then if you truly loathe me, you won’t mind that I won’t show you the sketches I am working on when you’re not here.”

“What?”

“You think I’m joking?”

“If you think you can blackmail me in any way...”

“I can’t?” Another challenge.

“Okay, fine”, he spit back angrily, almost on a level where he knew it was hard to tell he was joking.

It seemed to work, for Nico didn’t say anything. He felt his gaze, but he didn’t dare look. Two can play the game, he thought.

“Maaaarrrrtiiiii...” Nico stretched out his name, rolling the r’s endlessly it seemed.

He pretended he didn’t hear him and started looking for his phone which he remembered was lying somewhere underneath the sheets. When he had found it, he grabbed it, a sigh escaping his lips. It was really hard not to smirk, so he turned his head looking away.

“Really?”, Nico burst out, his voice an octave higher than usual.

He put the earbuds back in and was just about to get back to Giovanni’s videos, when he felt Nico grab his upper arm.

His finger hovered over the play button. “Yes?”

“Turn around.” Nico’s thumb dug into his flesh. “Look at me.”

He complied, putting the earbuds in his lap. Nico’s eyes were fixated on his and he blinked a couple of times so that he could hold his gaze.

“You didn’t mean that, did you?”

He was confused. “What are you talking about?”

“Um, that you loathe me?” His eyes fluttered and there was a crushing nervousness in his voice Martino absolutely hated hearing.

“WHAT? Why would I mean that? Are you stupid?” He searched Nico's eyes. He seemed to be dead serious and he felt like an idiot.

“Ni, I swear, I was joking. I’m... I’m sorry if it came off−“

He didn’t get to say more. Nico pulled him up by the collar of his pyjamas shirt and kissed him on the lips. Hard and frantic. Hitting his teeth in the process.

“Ouch”, he chuckled into his mouth.

“I love you, Marti. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“Hey now... hey.” He took his head into his hands and pressed his forehead to Nico’s whose hands had fallen on his shoulder, gripping the shirt there.

I love you, too. It’s okay.

“I overwhelm you, I always do that.”

“Please cut the always, will you.”

“But it’s true, isn’t it?”

“No. I promise you, you don’t. Sometimes I am overwhelmed that this is real. Sometimes I can’t believe it, you know, that we’re together?”

“No?”

“You’re amazing.” He took one of Nico’s hands and gave it a little squeeze while he kept their foreheads connected. “You amaze me every single day.” He half-whispered the last sentence and tried to lift his chin up, but Nico was shaking his head no. No eye contact for now, okay, Marti knew that much. And so he snuggled his nose against his neck, kissing the spot of skin with caution right afterwards. He repeated the action until Nico spoke, his voice in a mist of shame.

“I’m sorry I’m impulsive.”

“I’m not.”

“I’m sorry I’m so needy.”

“I’m not, really.”

“I love you.”

He started to tremble at his words. He was about to open his mouth, to say them back, because only a fool would believe him if he claimed he didn't love the boy who was clinging to him. Martino was chanting the words in his mind anyway. Ever since New Year's Eve – if not before that − when Nico had first said them, casually, as if they had slipped from his lips unintentionally. But Marti knew Nico had been sincere, just as he was in this very moment.

Now, if he could only say them back.

His heart exploded, because he felt so incredibly blessed and cherished and loved and there wasn’t anything to fear, and yet, he feared to say them. Those three little words. It was the most absurd thing he’d ever experienced. Here he was, holding his boyfriend, embracing him like the treasure he was, and yet, he couldn’t say them back. He truly was a walking contradiction. Nico moved him in every way a person could be moved. He should say something, he knew that. In fact, he should have said something a while ago. He could tell him right now that he loved him. It was neither a lie, nor a bad time. It could even soothe Nico's tension, if he thought about it. Still, shouldn't he say something so significant with nothing but joy between them? He felt a knot forming its way up his lungs, and so he buried the mental image and pulled his boyfriend to his chest. As if on cue, Nico started breathing erratically. He, too, didn't seem to get enough air to fill his lungs. Martino cursed himself, this was clearly his fault. Open your damn mouth. "It's okay, Ni, it's okay. I'm here." "I'm sorry, Marti." "Shh, shh, everything's alright. It's not your fault." Don't be sad, please don't be sad. It's okay. He losened their embrace and started to draw soothing circles on his Nico’s back and planted kisses - as tender as he could - on his hair where it met his earlobe. It took a while until he felt him relax, his head on his shoulder as if he had just ran a marathon and needed someone to support some of his weight. “A nap? Before you have to go?” Nico whispered into the crook of his neck, his breath tickling and making his flesh crawl at the same time.

“Okay.”

“Okay.”

They settled down in the middle of the bed. Nico was already captured in a sleepy trance, but he still held enough force to pull him down to his upper body, enveloping his arm around his back. Martino partly nestled down on his chest and partly on his shoulder, belly down, and face towards Nico’s middle.

I love you.

Nico's lips brushed his forehead. He shivered at that and moved his hand over the jumper until he felt his heart beating.

I’m sorry.

Some time later Nico found his hand and Marti entwined their fingers. He moved his thumb over his knuckles, trying to soothe him, or maybe he was trying to soothe himself. It didn’t take long and he felt his boyfriend puffing air into his hair.

Ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Seven.

Six...

It calmed him down listening to Nico breathing, and feeling him under him steadied him. Grounded him, yes.

He was so damn lucky, he thought, shedding a tear at the very thought, feeling relieved that Nico wouldn’t have to worry about that as well. God, Martino hoped he knew how much he wanted to be with him at any giving time. The shame he felt over not being able to tell Nico how much he meant to him made him feel small. What a fool he was.

At one point, Martino started repeating his affection towards him like a mantra. In his mind, but he could have sworn that he heard himself whisper his confession into the silence of the black-haired treasure's room he was holding on to.

I love you so very much.

The approaching evening light was creeping into the room now, absorbing the yellow aura which was one of the many things about these four walls he loved.

He reminded himself that, however dark this room might get, the warmest colour was lying in his arms, and that he needed to be brave to make it stay that way. He justthis ineeded to be brave. I do, I truly do. ☆．。．:*･° 

When you move I'm put to mind of all that I wanna be When you move I could never define all that you are to me So move me, baby Hozier - Movement

[darby-drabbles]

Hm, finally making a post about Nico facts & relationships with some of the gang. I meant to earlier, and I could probably type out even more if I thought longer, but ah well! Feel free to comment or ask more things I lov 2 build up the new baby oc facts! We haven't worked all of this out so some of it won’t be vry in depth if I just don't have a lot of thoughts or something's still undecided.

Goth baby AU/Nico is shared with and Lucky belongs to @duck-n-clover​!

Nathan, overall, is really happy and he loves kids this is fine. But it's kinda messy? It's, bittersweet I'll say that much. Their polyship parenting is still ? a mystery to me? I think Nate woulda been a little upset and in denial when they first told him. Mostly because, Izzy and Nate have talked about maybe perhaps having kids in the Future before,,,, and parenting is not something Lucky's thought about at all, so it seemed... Not Fair.. He knows it very much wasn’t on purpose, but stILL! This isn’t how he thought it’d work out. How do you kNoOoOowww its Lucky's are you suuuure????? But he loves and supports both of his babes and their baby very much, no doubt about that. It was just a shock and somethin to get used to. They all wanna talk it out and reassure Nate that Nothing Has To Change between them. I'm sure it gets easier as Nico gets older, too, and he doesn’t even think about that jealous worry anymore!

Nico and Mark really get along! He's good with kids, and Nico finds him real fun. And his hair!! So spikey,,, good to touch.. -:)

Lucky and Drew never got along, and that definitely influenced lil Nico. Lucky,,, may have taught him a few new words when talking about Drew. Baby knows hes a basard..... Drew doesn't like kids either and I think he can sense that, too.

Sid n Nico love each other, partners in crime. That doesn't mean Nico isn't occasionally a pest,, being a little too enthusiastic tryin to get Sid's attention and gettin a scratch or hissed at. He Always comes back for more tho, his main quest is to Pet That Cat, no matter the cost!!!! Sid's better with Nico as he gets older and learns to be gentler, but he's a pretty good cat as it is.

Izzy doesn't talk much with her family, & it's not very big at that. She’d wait a while to tell her father. He’d be upset at the announcement and I think he didn't want much to do with it.. He’d only barely know about Lucky, if at all, and that’d negatively affect things a lot. He was probably only being introduced as A Friend anyway, if they met before the pregnancy? Izzy's not too open about the poly relationship with him because he wouldn’t approve and she wouldn’t wanna deal with that, and now it’s just a mess.

Nico’s a lil joth. (perhaps he inherited the jock side from Levi,,,, some how...) His favorite sport to play is soccer! Kicky..

And yeah.. Nate’s favorite running joke is that Nico “gets that from my side of the family” despite not being blood related at all. Izzy and Lucky’s response is always just. :/ Did He Though. Did He Really???

His favorite animal is sheep!

He’s unlucky like his dad, but, it’s usually joined with some good luck to balance it out, too! Yeah, the soccer ball hit him in the face, but, he did score the winning goal with it!!

He gets scraped up pretty dang often, it just comes with the unlucky/jock territory! I don’t know how well he handles it though. He gets used to injury no doubt, he’ll probably eventually be pretty casual and calm about it if things happen often, but he is still just a lil bab and a mama’s boy, so you know how it is.

Nico is a big ole trouble maker! He also knows,,,, A Lot of the cuss words.. He gets into trouble a lot because of it.... (Not with his parents usuallyy, they taught him all the words, but u know. At school and such.)

[takaraphoenix]

Percy Jackson and Buffy for the fandom crossover?

Buffy as a daughter of Ares, who gets that same kinda upgrade that Frank did in the series, hence the strength and all.

Willow is a daughter of Hecate, I mean very obviously.

Xander son of Hephaestus - he is the handiman.

Our precious golden trio.

And, uh, can I just cheat and say Giles and Chiron are the same person, considering they are the same actor. Like, Chiron pretends to be the school librarian names Mister Giles to see the kids for himself?

The vampires are tricky though.

Drusilla, daughter of Mania. I mean, have you met my beautiful broken darling…?

Darla, daughter of Aphrodite - and getting along great with Drew. Because yeah, total bully. Cordelia, also daughter of Aphrodite, but super not getting along with her sister Darla.

Gun’s a bit tricky though. Part of me wants to say Ares, so I guess I’ll listen to that.

And Fred, definitely a child of Athena. There is just no way around this one.

Wesley… a satyr? The one to bring them to camp? He’s the one to find them.

Faith would be great for Enyo though! Ares’ less recognized twin-sister. And that relationship would be beautifully mirrored in Faith and Buffy.

I don’t want Anya as a demigod. Her endearing no-idea-what-humans-do attitude is such an important part of her personality. So, how about she’s a fury who got cursed and turned into a human and thus meets the others?

Tara is hard, because I can’t make her a daughter of Hecate since that’d make her and Willow… yeah. Uhm. No. So, how about she is just a sorceress? Who lived on Circe’s island until the Sea of Monsters and is now that wide-eyed freed sorceress who’s still trying to fit in? It’d go along well with her characterization in canon.

I kind of want Angel to be a son of death, because the moody and broody attitude, but… Too on the nose. So how about Janus? Angel and Angelus. The two faces he has, always at battle, always in conflict. His soul-curse could be translated to a curse from his father - much like with Hazel’s jewel-curse.

Spike is really hard though. Like, really hard… *frowns* I’m sorry, but my love for James Marsters’ voice is too great - so Apollo. For the music. Also the sweet irony of a vampire being a son of the sun in this universe.

Angel and Nico would be friends. Not, friends in the normal definition of friendship, but they’d just… find the darkest corner to sulk in together while creepily and longingly watching Percy and Buffy spar?

PERCY AND BUFFY ARE BEST FRIENDS FOREVER AND I WILL DIE WITH THIS HEADCANON. They are both so strong, so fiercely protective, but also so goofy and sweet and dorky. They would kick ass so hard together and geek out about each other’s weapons - yeah Buffy 200% keeps her awesome red axe. They’d spar a lot and gossip a lot and be absolutely amazing I need this in my life now.

Willow all the while is befriending Annabeth. Our two wise-girls. Definitely.

Wesley would also befriend Annabeth and Fred. Those three? Beautiful geek trio.

Xander, hanging out a lot with Grover. I mean. Come on. I don’t really see him so much with Leo or the other kids of Hephaestus, but he would sooo get along with Grover.

Drusilla and Darla, definitely with Drew, as above mentioned.

Faith and Clarisse would make great and dangerous friends and I might feel swoony about this one. Reyna too, Graeco-Roman sisters after all. Maybe Reyna could teach Faith some about restraint.

Tara would be friends with Hazel and teach her more about the magic.

Oooh. Frank and Grover would also get along, I’m sure!

[mya-rt]

*I decided to merge all the asks in my inbox and all the replies in this post. Sorry for the inconvenience. Please let me know if i made any mistakes with english!*

ASKS:

@melisa-kirkland said: Wait I totally don’t remember if I had said this to you before but you are the best, the most adorable, lovable, talented and greatest person I’ve ever seen on earth, and I love you so much.

You’re so sweet mel-chan omg !!! I’m tearing up... You’re the best and super adorable too. The Normanray art you drew for me is so beautiful, i will cherrish it forever.

@melisa-kirkland said: The new chapter is leaving me sobbing for the cliffhanger @melisa-kirkland said: The moment I finish this chapter: “Fuck” 

I feel you. Mel-chan is me after any tpn chapter. So relatable.

Anonymous said: Can I use your drawing of Emma (for her b-day) in my aesthetic? Thanksss!

It isn’t a drawing for her birthday but for the author of the manga! Since it’s a drawing for posuka demizu so please refrain from using it!! I’m sorry. Thank you for asking first.

@astolfoh said: Yoooo, Rie!! May I just... sob here in your ask box since finally our local boy Norman appeared?? I really missed him so much ;;. What relation do you think Adam has with him? May I join the send Peter Ratri to the shadow realm squad? . There's just been so much happening lately that I can't help but scream, omg. Hope you're doing well! ♡

Of course! ((Anyone is always welcome to sob over tpn hell in my askbox hehe-)) I’m SO GLAD NORMAN IS ALIVE. He was obviously one of my favorite characters and I missed him more than a lot! I think it’s possible that Adam was one of the guinea pigs for the lambda project, and managed to escape somehow. Everyone is invited to send the rat Peter Ratri to the shadow realm (I swear if he dares to lay his filthy hands on norman I will take care of him personally) (also anti daddy kink... smh) I hope you’re doing well too Mei!! I love you~ It’s always my pleasure to get asks from you.

Anonymous said: I really like your lining brush plus, of course, your art!! Can you please share it if it’s okay?? If not that’s cool too!! 💗

Thank you very much buddy!! I’m totally fine with sharing it but please take into account I recently changed laptop and so i just set it like this for the time being from memory. I used this brush for these drawings: 1 2 3 4. That’s not my actual lining brush but something close, and if you were asking for the brush settings of my previous drawings.... i have no idea sorry! By the way I color with the regular pen if you’re wondering.

@tododorkies said: Happy Valentine’s Day! Send this to anyone you’d like to send love to today ❤️ 💕 💗 (P.S. this is Bee)

Happy Belated Valentine’s Day!! I love you Bee (Bee and I are married by Oni laws) (Shoutout to @sleepy-cyclops because Bee’s side blog is cool, go follow for good tpn content!)

FOR THE ASK MEME:

@g-ran said: 001 TPN & 002 Cairn/Phos & 003 Haj

001 I Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: Ray ? Norman ? I don’t know anymore...

Least favorite character: RAT jk I love everyone

5 favorite ships: raynorman - normanray / emmanorman - normanemma / gildaemma / natanna / rayanna

Character I find the most attractive: I don’t think attractive is very appropriate but Dominic design wise ? (White hair, dark skin and red eyes... he will grow into a fine man... I can feel it)

Character I would marry: JAMES RATRI (It was. Love at first sight...)

Character I would be best friend with: Emma !! She is so cute and cheerful she would always brighten my mood.

A random thought: “ray is fine this way”

An unpopular opinion: Norman actually hides a frightening dark side behind his cute facade (I always call him my pure son yet he was damn serious about murdering krone...)

My canon OTP: normanemma

My Non-canon OTP: normanray

Most badass character: Bunkerdude

Most Epic Villain: Isabella. Mama is the best.

Pairing I am not a fan of: I’m pretty much ok with anything unless it’s incest etc...

Character I feel the writers screwed up: Conny because she deserved to live!!! My sweet daughter!!!

Favorite friendship: Ray and Emma... friendship goals.

Character i most identify with: Gilda. I feel like we have a lot in common.

Character I wish i could be: none. But I would love to be as brave as Emma, as clever as Norman, and as witty as Ray

002 I Send me a ship and I will tell you:

When i started shipping it: as soon as Cairngorm punched Phos

My thoughts: “YOOUUU AAAARE NOOOOOT DREAMIIIING” “What’s up with this crap!?” (Their relationship is all over the place... I love this.)

What makes me happy about them: How they manage to get along despite everything that happened

What makes me sad about them: Everything. This ship is so sad and hurts me so much... ((I love it?)) ((I’m so maso))

Things done in fanfic that annoys me: I don’t read fanfics

Things I look for in fanfics: Pain ? Probably.

Who i’d be comfortable them ending up with if not each other: Phos with Cinnabar (although i find them annoying tbh) (I’d have said antarc if he wasn’t dead...) and Cairngorm... nobody (He only loved Lapis or Ghost and since both are dead...)

My happily ever after for them: I don’t think this will end up well tbh

003 I Give me a character and I will tell you

How i feel about this character: I LOVE YOU HAJIME MY #1

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Tori Himemiya, Eichi Tenshouin and Ritsu Sakuma

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: With the ra*bits members

My unpopular opinion about this character: he can. actually top...

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon: Happy Elements could have given me Hajime in an Alice in Wonderland dress. but. They didn’t. We could have had it all...

Favorite friendship for this character: With Tomoya... aww...

My crossover ship: hajiruby. (Ruby Kurosawa from love live! lol i feel like they could get along well!!)

@tododorkies said: 003 Ray ;^)

003 I Give me a character and I will tell you

How i feel about this character: MY PRECIOUS EMO SON

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Norman COUGHS OUT BLOOD AS IF IT WASNT OBVIOUS ENOUGH and Anna!

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: raychristy is the best and heals my soul

My unpopular opinion about this character: His long bangs doesn’t make him cool, it’s ridiculous imo (Yet I love it)

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon: Show him crying (I want to see ray crying so badly... I’m sure he must have cried a lot younger, since he often tend to keep things for himself and must have suffered a lot in the past)

Favorite friendship for this character: Emma!!! They have the best friendship... or Don.

My crossover ship: Ray x sleep is an otp. Give me the good content...

@lightningflash55 said: 001 Kiznaiver / 003 Ryuko Matoi / 003 Your fave tpn demon :3

001 I Send me a fandom and I will tell you my:

Favorite character: HONOKA MAKI I love this girl

Least favorite character: Kazunao Yamada...

5 favorite ships: honoruru / hononico / katsuchido / katsunori

Character I find the most attractive: Honoka Maki is my goddess

Character I would marry: Honoka Maki... (Makichan all the way)

Character I would be best friend with: Nico ! She is so cute and seems funny to talk to.

A random thought: Maki doesn’t like whipped cream.

An unpopular opinion: Maki is a lesbian,,, 

My canon OTP: honoruru

My Non-canon OTP: hononico

Most badass character: Honoka Maki

Most Epic Villain: Was Sonozaki really a vilain?

Pairing I am not a fan of: honoyuta

Character I feel the writers screwed up: None?? I liked how all the characters were written tbh

Favorite friendship: All the friendships... since this anime is about strong bonds!

Character i most identify with: Chidori Takashiro?? Maybe.

Character I wish i could be: none.

003 I Give me a character and I will tell you

How i feel about this character: RYUKO MATOI IS MY QUEEN

All the people I ship romantically with this character: I only like ryumako

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: ryuko and senketsu

My unpopular opinion about this character: All the ryuko outfits are great. All of them.

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon: I want to see how she is doing after all the events that happened sobs

Favorite friendship for this character: With everyone. Ryuko has so many nice friends

My crossover ship: I can’t think of any...

003 I Give me a character and I will tell you

How i feel about this character: You only appeared three times yet I love you

All the people I ship romantically with this character: None

My favorite non-romantic relationship for this character: Norman as a joke because I thought he held him captive while norman disappeared

My unpopular opinion about this character: His hands are very cool

One thing I wish had happened with this character in canon: See him again?

Favorite friendship for this character: With his other demon friends

My crossover ship: with swirly boy??? lol...

[imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch]

I Love You, You Pay My Rent: Chapter 16

First Chapter (Prologue)

Previous Chapter (Chapter 15)

Nico had been living with Will for long enough to slowly have developed a grudging tolerance for his friends. Or at least some of his friends. No matter what Will said he didn’t think he’d ever be able to bring himself to warm to Drew. Part of it was jealously, part of it genuine distrust and wariness he reserved for pretty much everyone he wasn’t well acquainted with. It was a survival technique. But then there was also the fact he was probably just shoving all his frustration at Will towards her.

Lou Ellen and Cecil, however, were different. Loud and often obnoxious for a start, and somehow carefree in a way Will sometimes achieved and sometimes faked, and Nico could never hope to understand. But they cared for Will, that was obvious enough, so he accepted them as a kind of necessary annoyance. It didn’t mean he didn’t jump when Lou Ellen caught his arm in the middle of a street. He frowned at her, more confused and surprised than actually angry for once, and she let go with a look of apology.

“You look stressed,” she commented.

Nico stared at her blankly for a second. Lou Ellen frowned slightly.

“Coffee?” she asked. “Or maybe green tea or something in your case since coffee might set your heart to explode -?”

Nico blinked.

“Or not?”

Nico had arrived in town far too early to meet his father. He’d been unable to spend another minute in the house in the grips of the agony of a wait, when each second felt like he’d lived a decade. He had also been terrified of being late, and that had overwritten any contrariness he might have felt, any insistence that he didn’t care what his father thought of him and his time keeping skills. Whenever he thought of his father he felt ten years old again, and desperate to please.

“Yes,” he said abruptly, and his own words surprised him. But he had time to kill and though he thought he might feel too jittery to sit, he also couldn’t keep walking up and down if only because it felt like his legs were locking up.  He followed Lou Ellen distractedly into a café where he was assaulted with the smell of coffee grounds. It was a heavy scent but comforting and he fell into a chair feeling a tiny bit more settled. He was still awash on a stormy ocean on a rickety raft with a tornado incoming, but it felt like he’d at least just found a single life-preserver for all the good it would do him.

Lou Ellen had chosen the table. There was a half a cup of coffee waiting, and she picked it back up, watching him as she sipped. Something in her gaze reminded him or his father; though Lou Ellen was a more benevolent version he still felt that if she put in a little bit of work she’d probably see right through him.

“How’s everything going?” she asked.

He got the distinct impression that there was an undertone to that question, some kind of subtext he was probably supposed to pick up on but he was too tired, too distracted, to even bother attempting to work out where she was coming from.

“Good,” he lied automatically.

“Uh huh,” Lou Ellen said. There was no judgement at all in her tone, but again Nico felt something intangible just around the corner.

“You know you walked up and down outside that window about eight times before I went out and got you?” Lou Ellen asked.

“You shouldn’t have left your drink unattended,” Nico responded.

Lou Ellen raised an eyebrow.  

“I can see why Will likes you,” was all she said.

Which surprised Nico because he was still having trouble figuring that out, and half the time Will himself seemed to have trouble working out exactly what the point of Nico was.

That was unfair.

Will was –

He didn’t really know what Will was.

He was edgy and he was taking it out on his boyfriend because Will was an easy target at the moment.

“He’s not what people think,” Lou Ellen added. She was watching him again. Nico hated being watched, hated being in the spotlight, it made him want to duck out to run away, change his name and face and identity and only leave his house under the cover of darkness.

And he did feel like he wanted to shrink, could feel himself unconsciously making himself smaller, hunching his shoulders into his default defensive posture. But he was also aware that, actually, he didn’t feel as exposed as usual.

One day, he thought, Lou Ellen would rule the world. And she’d do it so silently and subtly that no one would even notice she’d taken charge.

“What do people think he is?” Nico asked.

Lou Ellen’s smile flickered on.

“Interesting question,” she said. “Do you want a drink?”

Hanging out with Lou Ellen wasn’t anywhere near as terrible as Nico might have imagined it, although that might have just been because interacting with her offered a strong contrast with what was to come. She didn’t really offer any further insight into the question of what Will’s deal was though she did reaffirm that Will really did like Nico and she had added in a vaguely threatening manner that it would be a real shame if one (or both) of them screwed it all up because they were being clueless morons.

In total he spent about half an hour with her and managed to do it all without planning an exit route or a variety of implausible excuses as to why he had to leave. Either that was a testament to Lou Ellen’s social skills or a testament to his personal growth. Eventually however, as mildly pleasant as the impromptu coffee date had been, he had to stand and explain he had to go visit his father.

“Good luck,” Lou Ellen said. “And don’t worry about Will. He’d stupid but I don’t think he’s quite stupid enough to let you go.”

She seemed to think for a moment.

“At least Cecil and I won’t let him be that stupid. And I think Kayla would strangle him if he did anything to jeopardise you two. So you’re probably safe.”

Nico shrugged in vague acknowledgment.

“I mean it,” Lou Ellen said. “He really likes you Nico. Anyone can see that.”

It was a relief to hear someone say that, even if that someone wasn’t Will professing his undying love directly - a situation he had to admit may be a little unrealistic this early into a somewhat complicated relationship. If that thought was a train it usually ran along the does Will like me tracks which lead in turn to Self-Doubt and Overthinking Stations. Occasionally the thought went on a little detour to if I want him to admit he loves me do I love him? town which tended to be the sort of stop that he got to in the darkest part of the night and had him stranded there, lost and panicking until the early hours of the morning.

In some ways his father turning up was almost a blessing in disguise. At least now he had something else to overthink.

Nico couldn’t remember his father having many particular traits, hobbies or quirks and his mental image of his father could be summed as cold and formal. His choice of restaurant reflected everything Nico knew about him: it was formal, somewhat aloof and distant despite, or perhaps because of, the plush and luxurious décor.

Nico felt instantly on edge. For a moment he wondered if his father had chosen the venue deliberately to make Nico uneasy, to meet him feel like a scared little kid again. The thought probably hadn’t even crossed his father’s mind, and Nico wondered if that was worse. His father didn’t have any clue what Nico liked, or maybe he just didn’t care.

His father was already seated. Nico, who wouldn’t have changed and didn’t have anything else to wear anyway, suddenly felt more conscious than he ever had of his slightly faded black jeans and old top. He fiddled with the hem of his shirt as he sat, barely able to meet his father’s eyes. In turn his father barely acknowledged him, merely glancing over the top of the menu and casting his eyes over Nico then turning back to his food choices

“Hello father,” Nico said, a little pointedly.

“Nico,” his father said. His voice lacked any warmth, but he didn’t sound disappointed yet.

Nico had to be satisfied with that and he picked up the menu, wincing at the prices. His father spent money like it meant nothing, and Nico still wasn’t one hundred per cent sure what he actually did.

“How is school?”

Nico looked up surprised.

“I don’t go to school,” he pointed out, a slight bite in his voice.

His father did look up then, and actually put the menu down to better fix Nico with a sharp stare.

“I thought you attended with Percy?”

“Well you thought wrong,” Nico snapped. “I haven’t been to school in years.”

“What on earth are you doing with your time?”

Nico was used to justifying his life to himself. He asked himself the question almost daily. What are you doing with your life? Why do you matter? And the more morbid would anyone care if you disappeared? He had yet to come up with an answer. He wasn’t doing anything. He was drifting. He worked in a bar. It wasn’t exactly revolutionary.

“I work,” Nico answered shortly.

“You should be at school,” his father said. “A degree would greatly improve your chances in life.”

Nico felt like screaming. It wasn’t like he hadn’t wanted to go to school. Had his father missed everything that had happened? Had he missed Bianca’s death? Percy dropping out of school? Jason barely making it through and eventually moving to the other side of the freaking country to escape everything? How had he missed the fact that Nico had been working in a bar since he was legally able to and before that in cafes and shops and anywhere that would have him just to make enough to survive?

Because he wanted to get out of the restaurant and book home as quickly as possible he just made a noncommittal sound and picked his menu back up, hiding behind it.

“Your mother would not have wanted you to waste your life.”

Nico grit his teeth. His cheeks felt hot, he was holding the menu so tightly his fingers began to cramp. He was saved by a waiter turning up to take their order. His father ordered some expensive fish and sparkling water. Nico asked for a coke and a burger, and, if sniffing in derision hadn’t been beneath his father, Nico was sure he would have done so.  

“Have you considered what you are going to do next? I assume you don’t want to be doing whatever it is you are doing now for the rest of your life. I certainly expect more from you. Your sister would have finished school by now. She’d be working hard.”

Nico didn’t even have the menu to slowly strangle anymore.

“Why are you here?” he bit out.

Hs father raised an eyebrow.

“I came to see you. To offer Percy my congratulations on his engagement. Do I need another reason?”

“Usually yes.”

“Nico this surliness is getting tiring. I tried to be patient after your mother and your sister but really it’s time to start growing up now.”

The napkins were fabric he discovered as he pulled one into his lap and tried to shred it.

“Their deaths were a terrible tragedy. But do you think Bianca would still be sulking? She would have stayed strong. She would not have ended up working in a bar.”

So his father did know. And all this was one big, Nico why aren’t you halfway to becoming a five star lawyer like Jason or at least pretending like you have a clue by going to college like Percy. It was a you’ll never be as good as your sister.

“You wish I had died instead of Bianca,” Nico said.

“Nico!”

He didn’t deny it. Nico stood, eyes hot and ashamed at himself for getting so frustrated. His father had never been any different. He never would be any different.

“Thanks for coming,” he said.

“Sit down Nico!”

Nico just shook his head. He threw the napkin down on the table and fled.

He had never wanted to go home more. He ran up the stairs to their door and stopped dead on the landing when he saw Jason and Percy waiting outside. Percy looked bored, slumped against the wall but Jason was standing tall and alert.

“Nico!” he said. “How did it – oh.”

Knowing Percy and Jason his entire life didn’t make it any easier to cry in front of them. He tried not to notice them exchanging glances.

“Why don’t we go back to mine,” Percy said. Nico turned to him, didn’t have to say anything before Percy held up his hands.

“We won’t make you talk but –“

“-you shouldn’t be alone right now,” Jason finished.

The only thing more frustrating than Percy and Jason’s almost constant good-natured sniping and bickering, or the times they used the word ‘bro’ out loud in actual conversation, were the times they ended up finishing each other’s sentences in joint concern over him.

“I’m not a baby,” he muttered.

But he did let them lead him back to Percy’s dorm room, if only because if they were waiting outside then maybe Will wasn’t in and they were kind of right – though he’d never admit that – for once he didn’t want to be alone.

Percy’s roommate – Grover? – was in but Percy took him to the side and after a brief muttered conversation he left saying something about needing to leave the library and or get lunch. He was about as bad at making excuses as Nico.

Once he’d gone, the three of them seemed to realise that after a period in childhood during which they had rarely been apart in their free time, they hadn’t been together in years. There was a bite in the air, unsaid things and some more recent arguments on his and Percy’s side. No one wanted to bring up the past but it was becoming apparent none of them really knew what to say. Percy quickly solved this by pulling out a bottle of tequila.

“I hate tequila,” Percy explaining, pouring them all shots rather generous shots. “It’s why it’s still here.”

He held up his shot glass.

“To crappy dads.”

They all toasted. It was something they could all get behind after all. Percy’s dad wasn’t necessarily horrible, but he wasn’t around much. Jason’s dad was some big shot something and was distant and hard to live up to. And Nico’s dad was –

He took the second shot Percy offered him, coming to the conclusion he didn’t really like tequila either.

“My dad said congratulations,” Nico said. “I hope for your sake he doesn’t feel the need to pass that message on in person.”

Percy laughed but also looked a little worried.

“Do you think I have to invite him to the wedding?”

“No,” Jason said firmly.

“It’s him or me,” Nico said at the same time.

“Oh well when you put it like that –“

Nico’s eyes narrowed but Percy just took a third shot and didn’t finish his sentence.

“No,” Percy said screwing his nose up. “It’s still terrible.”

“Besides,” Jason said returning to the previous point. “If you invited him to the wedding our dads would probably turn it into world war three.”

Percy winced.

“Point made and taken.”

Nico’s phone vibrated. He was used to ignoring messages, sometimes for days, but since Will had his number and began texting him he found himself actually checking whenever a text came through.

“Is that Will?” Jason asked. Nico looked up at him, trying to figure out what the tone behind his voice was. Percy took the opportunity to snatch the phone from his grip.

“That’s really childish,” Nico scolded as Percy leant further back and away as Nico reached for the phone. Nico’s fingertips were inches away when Percy elbowed him and managed to push him back.

“Jason!” Percy called.

Jason caught the phone out of reflex.

“Don’t you dare!” Nico said, as he scrambled up.

“Well maybe if you’d introduced me to him I wouldn’t have to –“

“You know I tried!” Nico protested. “Come on give it back. Jason!”

“What does it say?” Percy asked.

“Jason!”

“Text him back!" Percy suggested. "Invite him over!”

“Jason seriously!”

Jason glanced between Percy and Nico, phone in the palm of one hand. Nico could lunge for it but Jason had quick reflexes; he’d move it before Nico could get close.

“I’ll give it back,” Jason said ignoring Percy’s groan. “If you text him and invite him over.”

Nico debated for a moment weighing up having to introduce his boyfriend who he was currently on very uncertain standing with, against the cost of buying a new phone. Jason gave him a pointed look, waving the phone. Percy was grinning.

“Fine,” Nico said in bad grace.

He opened up the text to reply and saw that Lou Ellen had apparently told Will Nico was going to meet his father. Will was asking if he wanted Nico to come home but there was a something almost passive aggressive behind his words. Nico guessed Will didn’t like he’d had to find out from Lou Ellen.

He told Will he was fine. He didn’t invite him over. He’d just tell Jason and Percy, Will was busy.

“There,” he said.

“Do we believe he’s actually done it?” Jason asked, with far too much insight.

“Not at all,” Percy said.

Nico sighed.

“Why don’t you want us to meet him?” Jason demanded.

“I’ve met him,” Percy said.

Jason turned to look at Percy  and then back to Nico, so quickly Nico was slightly concerned he’d just given himself whiplash.

“Percy introduced us,” Nico said with a shrug. “Sort of. He kind of threw him my way.”

“And look how it worked out for you!” Percy said with a grin. Nico glared at him.

“Well how do you know him?” Jason asked.

“He’s in my biology class. And he’s Connor’s brother’s friend. Besides everyone knows him even if they don’t know him.”

Jason was beginning to move from looking #offended to looking confused.

“What are you talking about Percy?”

“Come on even you all the way in LA must have heard of Will Solace.”

Jason blanched.

“Solace?” he asked.

“I hadn’t heard of him,” Nico pointed out, giving Jason a searching look. Jason met his eyes, all traces of the shock that had only half a second before been written so deeply on his face gone.

“Yes but you live under a rock and only occasionally emerge in the dead of night. Everyone else has a vague idea who he is. Just like everyone has a vague idea who the Kardashians are. Did you know Nico watches the Kardashians? Maybe that was a bad example.”

“I wasn’t watching –“ Nico tried to explain and then gave up.

“Jason?” he added when Jason still didn’t offer an explanation for his rapid loss of colour.  

Jason just shook his head.

“I didn’t realise it was Will Solace,” was all he would say, even when Percy began giving him a strange look.

“Anyway,” he continued, apparently mustering up some of his usual good humour. “I still think we should meet him. Even though one of us has apparently already met him.”

Percy shrugged good naturedly.

“Nico’s always liked me more.”

Once upon a time that might have had Nico trying to hide a blush, but now he just threw a pillow at Percy’s face. Percy protested, Jason got involved in the argument and they all got distracted from Nico’s boyfriend and relationship, which was undeniably what he wanted. But as the day wore on Jason seemed distracted and Nico noticed him on his phone several times, typing with an expression that was somehow both intent and far away. And when Nico left for home, Jason walked with him down the hall.

“How much do you like Will?” Jason asked.

It was an odd question, even for Jason who was overly invested in Nico’s wellbeing and love life.

“Why?”

Jason shook his head.

“It’s nothing,” he said. It didn’t look like nothing but Nico was too annoyed with him to care about asing further. Jason probably just thought Will was nothing but some shallow rich kid who’d drop Nico after a few months. Which to be fair was sort of what Nico had thought when he’d met him.

“Nico?” Jason had stopped at the top of the stairs. Nico had to turn to look at him, neck craned at an awkward angle.

"What?" he snapped.

“Be careful?”

Nico had begun walking down the stairs the pause had been so long and he'd been so convinced Jason wasn't going to answer. He turned back in frustration, but Jason was walking back towards Percy’s room, shoulders hunched and defensive.

"Jason!"

Jason didn't respond.

Next chapter

[rosyredlipstick]

Rental Love* (9\10)

(*Read Terms & Conditions)

-

Male/22/Long Island N.Y.C. Tired of showing up stag at holiday events? Want your family to stop thinking there’s something wrong with you? Just want some arm candy for a work event? Look no further. Your solution is here! I will attend holiday events with you as your paid date. Accepting all genders as applicants. Email solace.w@fastmail.com if interested. Interview & application will be set up there. - Nico di Angelo has been telling Hazel Levesque about his boyfriend for weeks. The bad part? Nico doesn’t have a boyfriend, the holidays are coming up, and not all of Jason’s ideas are horrible. They’re all a bit surprised about the last one. Read Part One Here Part Two Part Three Part Four Part Five Part Six Part Seven Part Eight

Nico had always enjoyed breakfast with the group.

Reyna and Drew - with Annabeth now - always insisting on some health food craze Persephone was too happy to accommodate, Leo and Piper getting their fingers hit with Allegra’s wooden spoon as she mixed up the chocolate waffle batter with skilled air, Jason beside Hades, falling asleep onto the older man’s shoulder with Hades only too happy to allow the action. Thalia and Rachel, grinning, as they took quick photos of the younger boy, Hazel giggling from under her hand and Frank’s arm over her shoulders. Percy, a foreign but quickly adjusting presence in their house, insisting on adding drops of blue food coloring to a batch of the pancake batter even as Grover and Juniper outright laughed at him. Even Jules-Albert, usually too busy admiring Hades’s vintage cars, joined them for the morning, following Allegra’s strict orders with swift air.

Nico leaned into Will’s side, Will’s arm thrown over the back of his chair, and felt very warm.

A cup was sliding in front of him, Mitchell grinning down at him, a pitcher of juice in his hands.

“Cute,” He remarked, winking at Will as he poured another glass.

Will smiled in thanks, accepting the glass. Nico’s shoulder, pressed into his side, increased in pressure as Nico leaned in even closer.

Mitchell caught the action and smirked as he walked away, the pitcher still in his hands. Nico tried to keep his glaring to a minimum.

Will caught it too, but said nothing even as he smiled into his drink of juice.

Allegra and Persephone finished up cooking breakfast - Persephone always liked to help out when they had company - and Hades helped serve everyone, a big, happy smile in place.

Hades, Nico had noticed long ago, was always happiest when his house was full.

Jason noticed Nico’s plate, piled with pancakes and, from Will’s insistence, a small pile of fruit. A compromise they had settled on in the past few days.

“What,” Jason’s voice was full of glee, “no Pop-Tarts? That’s a first.”

Vaguely, Nico was thinking of his Pop-Tarts in a way someone might reminisce upon a lost lover. He missed them.

Nico sighed, gesturing towards his plate. “I guess this is somewhat healthier.”

“Pop-Tarts have fruit in them though,” Leo added thoughtfully, “The strawberry ones should be fine.”

Will was clenching at the table, “Oh my god.”

“Right?” Nico was happily agreeing.

Will was glaring at Leo, “Are you where he gets this?”

Leo gave him an innocent look, “Me? Please. We all know who the true leader of the Pop-Tart cult is.”

There was a beat of silence as both Leo and Nico’s eyes slid over to the accompanying person.

“Piper.” They agreed together, the girl giving them no attention as she cut into stack of pancakes. There were a lot of them.

Piper was the true leader of the Pop-Tart love in their group. Nico knew, with incredible certainty, that if someone where to look into her backpack at that exact moment, at least three silver packets would be tucked away in the fabric. She was a true champion like that.

Will’s head fell back to the back of his chair, staring at the ceiling. “You’re all disgusting.

“Pop-Tarts have no good nutritional value.” Reyna was frowning down at them, taking a bite of her yogurt. Persephone had ordered it special for her once they found out she was coming.

Will went practically lax with relief. “Thank the gods, someone with sense. And a will to life.” He leaned forward, “Have they always eaten so incredibly horrible?”

There was a beat of silence, like Reyna was mentally going through their meals.

She chewed through a bite of granola as she did so. “They like to participate in food challenges.” She finally said, Will’s face going pale. “Like those, eat a five pound burger in under an hour and win a meal and tshirt? Yeah.” She shuttered, as did several other people at the table now listening in, “Do you know how many of those food challenges are in New York?” She gave them all a stern look. “A lot.”

“Piper’s the best at them,” Nico added on, “When I had to tap out on that nine scoops sundae one, Pipes just kept going. Totally won too.”

Piper gave him an appreciative nod, holding up her pancake slice in toast. Nico nodded back. They had shared a bond, after that.

“Jason made a tshirt quilt all of our accomplishments,” Leo looked strangely proud, pulling out his phone to show everyone a picture. Persephone leaned in to look closer.

She was nodding in approval. “You kept the edges very straight, very nice.”

Jason blushed, waving off her praise. Jason had worked on that thing for two straight months in their living room - it had been a mess of scissors, fabric, and needles for weeks afterwards.

Will had been still at his side for the past few moments, his face still pale.

“That’s….horrifying.” Will finally got out. Reyna nodded in agreement.

“I went along with them to one of them - tacos, I believe.” Her face went thoughtful, “Jason won that one, I think. 26 tacos.”

“Piper sat out, they were out of tofu.” Jason added on, “She totally could have taken us all.”

Piper smiled, knocking her shoulder into the other boy’s. Their flirting was so weird, sometimes.

Reyna was still observing Will with that look on her face. “You should come along next time.” She said after a long moment, “They usually do it once every month or two. Should be coming up soon. Would be nice to have someone with...sense, as you say.”

It...was coming up soon. They were thinking of doing some burrito challenge Leo had found. It was also planned for the end of January, long after Will would be hanging around.

This was also, strangely, the first time Reyna had ever offered to hang out with, even in a group, one of Nico’s boyfriends. She notoriously disliked most of the guys Nico chose.

Percy perked up from down the table, “That sounds so cool! I’ve always wanted to do that!”

Annabeth wrinkled her nose, “Gross, Seaweed Boy.”

“You guys should totally come next time.” Jason offered, his eyes sliding to Nico’s for a fraction of a second he grinned at them both. “It’s fine, and we could always use more free tshirts.”

Percy beamed at that, grinning slightly.

Nico felt bad, suddenly, that after the mess he’d made in high school, that Nico had gotten most of the friends. Jason, Hazel, and Reyna, of course, and by extension Piper, Leo, and Frank, with Piper and Jason’s siblings.

Percy had never had trouble making friends, no, but there was nothing like the people you grew up with - the ones who saw you through your terrible hair dye phases and still teased you for it.

Maybe it would be good, for both of them, that he was invited to these things again. Percy had always been a good friend, despite it all. And Bianca had always laughed at his dorky jokes, the few times Nico had invited them all over before.

It would be good for them, he thought

They finished eating - Will’s horrified shutters kept to a minimum - and it wasn’t long before their plates were clean, and the conversation slightly lulled.

“What are we doing until the party?” Hazel asked as she began collecting dishes. At the sink, Frank was rolling up his sleeves.

There was a moment of silent as they all thought it over. Last year, they had all relaxed at the pool for a few hours in the afternoon, the year before that they had watched a few movies. There was so tradition for this part. Well, if you didn’t count -

“Everyone else is getting here around seven.” Piper examined her nails, a picture of nonchalance. “We have time, you know.”

Shoulders tensed, eyes flashed, hands clenched. The tension in the room suddenly shot up a few hundred degrees, leaving everyone - all except one - glaring at each other.

“Um,” Will was glancing around, unsure but on edge. It felt like someone was going to suddenly pull out a knife, and they’d all jump in a choreographed fight Will had no idea about. At his side, Nico’s hand twitched towards his side, and suddenly that idea seemed a lot less ridiculous. “What are you talking about? Time for what?”

Reyna, tall and elegant even with a scrap of yogurt at the corner of her mouth, leaned forward to take a long drink of her ice water. All eyes were on her, breath baited.

She finished her sip, leaning back into her chair. “Oh, it’s nothing.” Her eyelashes swept across her chest as her eyes dipped down to the table. After a moment, she was meeting their eyes, her gaze dark and serious through her eyelashes. “Just a snowball fight.”

The air snapped back to its previous tension like a whip. Nico’s knuckles were turning white as he clenched the table.

“Game starts in ten.” Reyna’s announcement was all the prompt they got, and suddenly they were all stumbling to their feet, running to get winter gear and boots and start making their forts before the game began.

“You guys are crazy.” Will let out a breath as they all stood, the words coming out of him like a confession.

Nico’s hand clasped him on the shoulder, mostly just to pull him along as he hurried to grab their coats. “Keep saying that and I won’t let you on my team.”

“Oh?” Will gave him a look, “And what team is that?”

Nico’s eyes flashed, “The winning team.”

“This is insane.” Will was wide-eyed, “You guys get like, entirely too serious about this. Honestly, about everything. Your family is crazy. First, gingerbread house making, and now this. You guys are way too competitive like, to a weird level.”

Nico snorted, “Are you going to keep complaining or are you actually going to help out here?”

Will’s eyes were still a bit wide around the edges as he crouched down to help Nico roll some balls of snow. “Hades brought out a rule book.”

“It’s lamented,” Nico added helpfully, “so the snow doesn’t ruin it.”

“You guys are the craziest family I’ve ever visited, you know.” Will added thoughtfully.

Nico hummed. Hades and Persephone were extra as hell, and his friends were pretty crazy as well.

Will was still speaking, “I...like it. I like your family.”

Nico paused for a second, glancing up at the other boy. “Oh?”

Will was now focused on his task of rolling out snowballs, his eyes glued to the snow. “Yeah.”

Nico cleared his throat, glancing around before standing. “We should go. Um, join the game. Usually everyone’s in the front courtyard.”

Will was silent for a few seconds, his eyes on Nico’s face like he was looking for something there. After a moment his shoulders fell, and when he spoke his voice was quiet. “Yeah, okay. Let’s go.”

Nico lead the way, sticking to mostly creeping behind the trees and piles of snow as they headed towards the front. Beside him, Will’s usual chatter was absent.

Nico felt like, for some odd reason, he’d messed up something back there. Like there was a scripted line, or a choreographed step, he’d totally missed out on.

From the slight curve for Will’s mouth, maybe he was thinking the same thing.

At his left, a blonde ponytail was disappearing around a wall of snow. Nico tensed up, the hold on ammo tightening.

He pulled down Will’s shoulder as he fell to a crotch, his eyes narrowing. After a quick minute of this, Annabeth stood from where she had hidden away, running to the middle of the clearing.

Nico jumped to his feet, his snowball already flying through the air as he got into position. Bulls-eye.

She paused, glaring at him, before dashing off again. Her first or second hit then - the fatal third hit would have had her scowling and stomping away. She had twenty seconds to run off to safety.

“Nice,” Will nodded in approval. Nico’s ignored the bubble of warm that inflated in his chest at that.

The game was intense, as usual. Every step had to be occupied with a careful step - it wouldn’t be the first time they resorted to traps - and a glance over the shoulder. Even Will fell into the tension, his steady hand carrying a tight grip on Nico’s wrist as he guided the other boy forward.

There were a few close calls - almost stepping out in the open when Thalia and Reyna crept by, nearly getting hit as Drew pelted their tree as she ran by.

“Let’s split up,” Nico nodded towards the thinning hiding spots. “I’ll meet you back here in twenty - try and get Reyna out, if you can. She’ll win it all on her own if she has to.”

Will nodded gravely, scooping up a handful of snow as he dashed off. Nico smiled slightly as he ran off.

It was nice, having someone who got into this as much as his friends did, complaints and all. Really, Will had thrown himself into this arrangement. He was....good at this. At being a boyfriend.

Nico supposed he had to be. It was his job.

But was it really?

Really, his job was carefully written out in the folded contract Nico had gotten a copy of. Going along with family traditions, sure. That was one. Three forms of public physical affection, yes. Even playing the part of a boyfriend, someone who knew Nico intimately, yes.

But was participating in an annual snowball fest, as earnestly and seriously as he was, included? Or their midnight talks - so soft spoken - were those? Those grins, those looks, the way Will would trace his fingers over Nico’s skin when they were alone - that wasn’t....Will hadn’t signed up for that.

Nico hadn’t paid for that.

He was thinking this, frozen against the trunk of a tree, all of this, when it kind of came to him.

When he realized that this wasn’t a job. Not all of it. It couldn't be.

Nico was frozen there for a few minutes, a shocked with his revelation, until he forcibly shook himself out of it. He...couldn't think about that right now. Not right now.

He ran away, chasing off one of the girls, unidentifiable under all their winter gear - either Rachel or Juniper from the red curls peeking out from under their hat - but returned to the tree trunk after only a few minutes. Will would be back, and the game over soon. They were all too competitive for these games to last too long. Hiding and talking with Will - they had probably missed most of the action. Nico didn't regret it.

Only a few minutes later, Will was back, breathing a bit heavy, his eyes a bit wide.

"I think I just saw someone, like, die from the force of a snowball." Will informed him, leaning against the tree.

Nico cracked a smile, "Who threw it?"

"Reyna, I think? Hard to tell."

Nico whistled a bit, "That would do it. She was on the softball team in high school. Pitcher."

Will winced, "Maybe I did just witness a death."

"Probably."

Will spoke up at Nico glanced around again - it wouldn't do good to have any sneak attacks.

"It is always this intense?"

Nico shrugged, his gaze still off and away. “We used to have these all the time and they were fun, but most of the time everyone would get bored after a few minutes. But one year Reyna proposed boys versus girls and....” Nico shook his head, a bit incredulous. “It was the most intense game we’ve ever had. Everyone went crazy.”

Will snorted, which should have been unattractive. Nico’s eyes drifted down to his coat, covered in two separate hit marks.

“You’ve been hit twice.” Nico observed.

Will cursed and bent down to make another snowball. “Piper and Thalia got me - they’re out for blood.”

Nico hummed, crouching down to make his own ball of snow. Perfectly round, the snow pure and white.

It looked even more perfectly as it smashed into Will’s back, the snow painting out across his back beautifully.

Nico was smiling sweetly as the other boy turned slowly, betrayal written all over his face.

Will touched the snow on his shoulder, looking down to the melting snowflakes in disbelief. “You…”

“You owed me,” Nico finished for him, still smiling, “Remember? When we made a snowman - sorry, snowwoman - you said I could get a free hit. Remember?”

Will was speechless.

“I think you’re out, sweetheart.” Nico turned and pointed towards the side of the yard, where Hades and Persephone were perched happily, watching the game with hot chocolate and cider. At their feet, Grover sat smiling with a steaming cup, Frank was cheering for someone - probably Hazel - and Drew was frowning with snow in her hair. “You should go join them.”

“I...can’t believe you,” Will told him, blinking. The melting snow started sliding off his back. “We’re dating.”

“Everything’s fair in love and war.” Nico was full on grinning now, his hands deep in his pockets.

Will was glaring at him, “You can take out that love part, I should break up with you right now.”

“Go for it babe,” Nico grinned sunnily and, without giving it much thought, leaned in to peck the other boy on the cheek. In the moment, it felt right. Afterwards...

They both froze almost immediately. In front of him, Will’s cheeks were burning a harsh red not due to the cold weather, and their eyes were matching wide.

“I, uh -” Will stumbled on his words before going quiet, staring at the other boy.

Nico was speechless.

Why...why the hell did he do that.

Will’s cheek had been warm and soft under his lips.

Fuck. That was why.

Nico’s mouth fell open, his breath icing white in front of him. He didn’t know what to say.

A hand shoved at his shoulder, knocking him out of the moment.

“C’mon lovebirds!” Leo was dashing off, throwing a grin over his shoulder. “Don’t just stand around!”

Nico let out a breath, nodding. He turned back to Will, who was still waiting.

Will cleared his throat, “I guess I should go sit with everyone else.”

“Yeah, uh - “ Nico gave him a casual shrug, “Root for me?”

Will rolled his eyes, successfully setting the mood back. “Like I ever would after you betrayed me.”

Nico gave him a soft smile as the other boy turned to head over to the out zone, Persephone and Hades waving happily.

As he walked away, Will’s fingers came up to crush his cheek, still burning red.

Nico noticed this.

And then he promptly forced himself to Stop Thinking about it as he ran off, trying to keep out of sight from the girls team. He could...freak out about this later. For sure.

Will sat there, his eyes following Nico, only cheering when Rachel managed to get him with a snowball to the shoulder, and Thalia with a hit to chest. He only had one hit left.

He dove behind one of the walls - probably made by Frank, he was good at strategy like that - and began rolling up more snowballs. It only took a few minutes of this before he was joined.

Jason was breathing heavy as he leaned against the wall. He and Leo had come running.

“Reyna just got Mitchell out when he pelted Rachel,” Jason informed him, “It’s only us left. Against who?”

“I just got Hazel out.” Leo winced, “I really think she’s going to like, poison me later tonight.”

“Nah, Hazel’s more of a hands-on kinda gal. A stabbing, if anything.”

“Reassuring.”

Another person was diving for shelter under their wall, bringing a flurry of snowballs flying in his wake. It was Percy, barely missing a snowball flying straight for his arm. They all winced.

“Got Juniper,” He was panting, “It’s only Annabeth, Reyna, and Thalia left.”

“Piper?” Jason cocked his head to the side, peeking above their wall to throw a few more snowballs. The girls must be getting a bit too close for his liking.

“Mitchell got her a few minutes ago.” He grimaced glancing over their wall. “It looks like we’re trapped.”

“We’re not going to win this.” Nico informed Jason and Percy as they huddled under their snow wall. Before them, the girls were relentless.

“Yeah, big surprise.” Leo rolled his eyes as he fiddled with the slingshot he’d made with two sticks, some duct tape, and a piece of rubber. Not bad, either. “We haven’t won in three years.”

“This was suppose to be our year.” Jason reflected on, his eyes to the sky even as he rounded out another few snowballs.

“You say that every year.”

“Well, men.” Percy gave them all a fierce look, looking a bit ridiculous in his blue pom-pom hat, bright yellow scarf he’d stolen from Hazel’s closet. “This is the end. But damn it all if we don’t do out with honor.”

“Bro.” Jason was teary eyed.

Percy only nodded gravely, “Bro.”

There was a beat of silence, mostly just a sigh from all of them as they accepted their loss, before Leo spoke up.

“At least I'm going out with my hot piece by my side,” Leo announced, slapping Jason’s ass. Jason blushed sweetly, making both Percy and Nico gag into the pile of snowballs. “Speaking of hot pieces, where’s Will? I thought he was still in.”

“Pelted him in the back as revenge.”

“Oh, nice.” Leo responded, having Nico glance over just in time to watch him pull Jason in a fierce, passionate kiss. Nico sighed in frustration, turning back.

“We’ll go out together. It’ll be like the end of Les Mis but gay.” Leo reflected as he pulled away, gathering all the snowballs he could to prepare.

Nico scoffed as he did the same. “Please, Les Mis was so gay. Read the book.”

Jason gave Leo a strange look, “What do you mean?”

“You know, when that one dude joins Aaron Tveit when he’s about to get all shot up in the barricade and like, they hold hands and die together? It was so sad, you cried.”

Jason was nodding, “I cried a lot during that movie. Remember Anne Hathaway? God.”

“Focus,” Nico hissed, “you guys can talk about this later!”

They snapped back to attention and started gathering all they could carry.

And finally, with their arms heavy with rounded snow, they nodded to each other, stood, and ran.

Predictably, they didn’t last long. Even with their arms overflowing with ammo, they were no match for the combined efforts of Reyna, Annabeth, and Thalia.

They fell with honor - and grace, Leo would add snickering as he poked Jason’s shoulder - Percy would reflect on as they all melted in front of the fireplace. There was still snow in most of their hair, and Persephone had demanded they leave their snow covered clothes in the entrance area, so they were mostly stripped down to the bares, covered in blankets.

Leo was down to his boxers, having simply stripped off his snow painted jeans and sweater. It was a good idea, Nico was realizing as the snow began melting into the fabric of his clothes, setting the cold close to his skin.

They began to break off in bits - most everyone getting up to change into spares of clothes. Finally, Nico picked up his head from where he had comfortably tucked it into Will’s neck. Will gave him a curious look.

“We should go change. Get ready.” He sighed, “We’ll have to help set up for the party soon.”

Will picked himself off the ground first - they had been comfortably curled by the fireplace, nearly the last in the parlor now with the exception of Grover and Juniper dozing on the couch.

He held out a hand, and Nico pulled himself up. Once on his feet, neither of them let go.

Nico gave him a small smile, “Let’s get ready to party.”

Nico wondered, very softly in the back of his mind, if Persephone and Hades even knew what the meaning of simple was.

That’s what they had promised the party to be. And Nico was an idiot for ever believing it.

He should print out the definition and frame it for them - they could hang it up in the living room, in that empty section of wall next to the door. It would be a perfect reminder there, lest they ever forget.

Because this...this was not simple.

He should have known.

Their entire basement had been outfitted for the night - silk ribbons - never streamers, nothing as simple or obvious as streamers but goddamn silk ribbons - hung from the ceiling, along with clear balloons filled with multicolored glitter. The bar was ready, drinking and glasses lined up, and a full catered buffet was along the wall. Large speakers hung from the walls. A live band. There was a candy table, with personalized favors.

A photobooth was in the corner, laughter drifting from the small box. The basement was already decently full, and people were still arriving by the carful.

This. Was. Not. Simple.

Nico only let out a breath, clenching at Will’s hand in his. Will’s eyes were shining at he looked around, his eyes catching on everything and gleaming. Under the different colored lights, Will was grinning like movie, laughing like the best song Nico'd ever heard. 

Okay, Nico briefly reconsidered his stance, maybe it isn’t that bad.

Hazel had invited everyone, it seemed. Every few steps he spotted a familiar face, eyeing his and Will’s entwined hands with interest. Piper, with wicked grin, only waved as they passed, staring at both of them as they walked by. They killed some time like that - Will navigating Nico's friend group and extended like a pro. 

Leo, draped over Jason and probably already drunk, whistled as they walked by. “Looking good, di Angelo!”

“Fuck off, Valdez!” Nico didn’t bother looking over his shoulder for that, settling for a simple middle finger in the other boy’s direction. From the bound of laughter that followed, it wasn’t as effective as Nico had hoped.

Nico lead them around the party, saying hello to most everyone he hadn’t already seen before. He steered clear of the Stoll Brothers, not needing to get involved in whatever they had planned, and eventually lead them over to one of the corners. He needed a break.

Nico winced against the loud music, his hands twitching up. He forced them to his sides, despite the want to cover his ears against the pulse of the bass. It was nearly shaking the walls.

Will leaned in with a concerned look, “You okay?”

Nico nodded, looking away. He didn’t like parties, usually. They were loud, hot, with everyone pressed against him, and he usually had a sensory overload if he stayed too long in the middle of things. He'd have to make up some excuse to escape and calm down in a few minutes. 

Will gave him a look, a steadying hand curling around his wrist. “Follow me.”

Nico was already trying to pull his wrist back, “It’s a party, we don’t have to-”

Will didn’t wait for him to finish, only readjusting his hold and pulling the other boy out of the basement. Nico didn’t argue after they hit the main staircase, climbing up to the second flood.

Another staircase - not Nico’s room then, where he had been expecting.

They hit the third floor, and Will lead him directly into the library, turning on a lamp as he pulled them to a couch. They were alone, of course. No one would be in a library during a party.

No one but them.

Nico fell to the cushioned seat, beyond thankful. Already, his chest was beginning to ease, the cotton in his mind beginning to ease. Parties made him twitchy.

Will settled next to him, his feet curving under him. He settled the blanket from the other night over his legs, leaving out the edge for Nico to curl against. He did so happily.

There was a moment of silence, Will pulling out his phone, and Nico bit his lip, his head clearing up with the silence. He sat up, avoiding Will’s eyes.

“You don’t have to stay, you know.” Nico shrugged, looking away. “I’ll be fine on my own.”

Nico could hear Will’s phone click off. Will shifted his weight, “What?”

“You can go, it’s fine.” Nico waved his hand through the air, “Go have fun. It’s New Year’s Eve. I hear there’s a party downstairs.”

Unsteadily, Nico’s eyes slid to the other boy.

Will smiled slightly at Nico’s lame joke. Nico kind of loved that about him.

“If it’s okay with you,” Will began carefully, “I’d be okay staying here.”

Nico bit his lip again. “The party is always really fun, honestly. I just - I don’t like them sometimes. But they’re fun, really, you shouldn’t miss it.”

Will leaned in, his hand coming up to circle Nico’s cheek. Slowly, so Nico could pull away if he’d want (he didn’t), Will turned Nico’s head to face him head on, his eyes serious but soft.

“Nico,” Will’s eyes dipped down, giving Nico a front row seat of his long eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks. Usually, the closer to a person you got, the more flaws you could spot. Oily pores, zits, stray hairs, whatever counted as aesthetically displaying, Nico guessed. But, of fucking course, this didn’t apply to Will Solace. Fucking of course.

Nico could count Will’s freckles, this close. It wasn’t helping his heart.

Will continued speaking, repeating his name. “Nico,” smiling slightly, Will’s thumb traced his jawline. “There’s nowhere I’d rather be right now then here, in your library, with you.”

Nico swallowed, “Except home, right? With your family?”

Will didn’t look away. “Counting home. Nowhere else, Nico.”

He took a quick breath.

That meant something. They both knew it.

Nico wanted to kiss Will, at that moment. Wanted to kiss him as Nico, a single as hell literature nerd with a crazy family and friend group to match. He wanted to have a first kiss with Will. He wanted that.

A bell tolled right then, making them jump apart, not just ruining the moment - hitting the moment front on, seventy miles an hour, backing it over again as a statement.

Nico was leaning back, letting go of a breath he didn’t remember let build. A smile cracked at the corner of his mouth

Will was glaring at the grandfather clock in the corner, still going off with the hour, and Nico let out a small laugh. The moment was gone.

“It’s ten.” Nico’s eyes slid over to the table as their side, the teal book still in place where he’d left it. “We have some time before midnight. Do you wanna, uh, pick up where we left off?”

Will broke his glare with a clock, nodding a bit eagerly. He resumed his position from before - his head on Nico’s knees, a blanket over his shoulders as Nico rested the book in his lap. A bookmark held their place, and he cracked open the book to resume.

Nico took a breath, his free hand falling into Will’s curls, and began to read where they had left off.

“But first, to Aulis. Aulis, a jutting finger of a land with enough shoreline to beach all our ships at once…”

Will’s eyes were fluttered shut, but he was not asleep. That was obvious from the tear sliding into the corner of his face.

“It’s so beautiful,” he only said, “and they love each other so much. Gods.”

“It is,” Nico agreed, grabbing his bookmark to slid it back into place. They only had a small section of pages left - the ending was coming, soon. Will gave him a questioning look at his action.

Nico nodded to the clock, “It’s almost eleven thirty. We should rejoin the party.”

Will blinked in surprise, “Oh,” He began pulling the blanket off of himself, “You’re right, I didn’t realize.”

Nico agreed - he hadn’t realized the time had passed so quickly. He checked his phone and, predictably, there were a few texts flashing back at him. One of concern from Jason, some suggestive emojis from Leo and Piper, a question of his whereabouts from Reyna. What he expected, basically.

Nico placed the book to the side, standing and stretching. They’d been lying for an hour and a half - his legs were starting to cramp.

Will was staring at he did so, stumbling up to follow his action, but Nico wasn’t turned to see it - it, being Will’s lingering gaze, his bit lip.

Nico only half-turned back, his hand extended. “Coming?”

Will took his hand, and had to resist the urge to reply with something sickly lovesick.

The party was, of course, still in full-swing - probably due to the Red Bull and vodka shots Jason was lining up on the bar counter, in addition to the loud, poppy music. Top 40. Will must be in heaven.

Jason gave him a considering look as Nico came up, handing over a bright blue drink with red cherries, the glass icy and cold. It was sour. Nice.

The other boy cocked his head in silent question, his gaze still meeting Nico’s even as he handed off another drink. Nico nodded, slightly, and both boys accepted that.

Nico wasn’t really a dancer at parties - mostly preferring to observe and become one with the wallpaper, but enjoyed to watch others make a fool of themselves. The Stoll Brothers always had such a nature talent for it.

Will and him finished their drinks at the bar, soaking in the atmosphere of the party.

There were a few more minutes until midnight when he checked his phone, only a few snapchat notifications blocking up his screen. He checked them - all from the exact party he was at, one from Hazel of him and Will taken from a distance only captioned kiss him!!! with a few bubbly hearts drawn around them. He glanced around for his sister, not immediately finding her anywhere, and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

Will was smiling beside him, laughing as Leo, now dancing on a table, began stripping to the apparent delight of the crowd. Over the cheering, some were throwing dollar bills. Good. Maybe he’d stop pursuing Nico into paying for their McDonald's. (Which okay, it wasn’t Nico’s fault that Leo was the only person he knew with low enough standards to not mind McDonald’s once in awhile. Or once a week. Or twice a week. Listen he fucking loved trash fast food okay this is over -)

Gods. Will would probably, like, cry if he knew how much McDonald's Nico ate. Nico had the app. He kind of wanted to tell him, just to see what would happen. Something spectacular, probably.

Nico turned to the other boy, maybe to tell him of the Mcdonald’s thing just to see what would happen, but the words died on his lips. Will was a lot closer then he had been expecting. Around them, the crowd was getting more excited.

“One more minute until midnight!” Someone was yelling nearby, nearly drowned out by the pounding music.

“You’ve still got one kiss.” Will’s breath was barely close enough to brush over Nico’s lips, and wasn’t that just sweetest thing Nico had ever tasted, Will’s warm breath, ghosting over Nico’s chapped, reddened lips. He had been biting them, unsure, all day - now they were particularly sensitive.

“Per my contract.” Nico breathed out, his wrists coming up around the other boy’s waist. It felt almost natural, at this point.

The crowd around them was getting even more rowdy by the second and, in time, they began yelling out the countdown.

10

As if perfect choreography, they both took a small twin step forward, their bodies pressed together not by convenience despite the thick crowd, their breathed mixed together by want.

9

Will’s bend down to run his nose up the line of Nico’s throat, and Nico, without thinking, lifted his chin so he could have better access.  

8

Will pressed a small kiss to the under of Nico’s jaw, and Nico’s hand came up to the back of Will’s neck. It fit well there, like it was meant to.

7

Nico’s cheeks burned the color of the scarlet fireworks soon to be lit off in the air, and Will’s lips found a matching tint.

6

Will’s hands came up to cup Nico’s face, soft and hesitant, like Nico was something to be handled with care, like Nico was something that mattered.

5

Nico bit his lip and stared into his Will’s eyes, as wide and open and vulnerable as his own.

4

This part wasn’t in the contract.

3

This part wasn’t planned for.

2

Will’s eyes were the first to flutter shut, but Nico was the first to start leaning in.

1

The entire deck was filled with kissing couples and friends; nearly all tipsy on alcohol bought for the occasion. Percy and Annabeth, of course, were kissing, and probably not stopping soon. Leo was being showered with overdramatic kisses by a few drunken partygoers, one looking suspiciously like Jason, with most of them not even landing on his lips. Piper, rolling her eyes fondly, pulled in an ecstatic looking Stoll Brother. Her brother, on her other side, was attached to the other Stoll brother - neither of them being very distinguishable from only their wild curls.

Hazel and Frank, neither whom were much fans of PDA, shared a sweet, chaste kiss that would have given anyone looking automatic cavities.

Even Reyna, who usually saw herself above things like this, laughed and shared a quick peck with Jason’s older sister, Thalia.

And Will and Nico, with nearly no one around them now, remained pressed together during the next minute. They didn’t seem to notice the countdown ending, or the eruption of literal fireworks blasting over their heads, not even when another couple knocked into them roughly, a rougher apology only following.

They only noticed each other.

Nico was noticing how Will shuttered a bit as Nico pulled on his hair a bit, and the strong lines of the other boy’s chest.

Will was noticing how Nico’s breath would hitch as Will’s hands smoothed over Nico’s chest, and how Nico’s hand tightened on his hips as Will pressed them impossibility closer.

Only each other.

They laid there in bed that night, both still a bit reeling after that kiss, even when they’d been separated by Piper’s sharp laugh, too close, as she teasingly pointed out their heavy necking session. Even when they both awkwardly pulled apart from each other, their movements jerky and unsure, and pretended to enjoy the rest of the party.

Nico, of course, was determined to go about it the correct way – which happened to be completely ignoring what had happened. He had no idea where his phone was – it happened to be tucked inside one of the couch cushions he’d had a minor freak out on afterwards where it would remains for several more hours – but if he had it, he would see the few increasingly drunken texts from Jason, along with one from Leo and a voicemail from Piper, each demanding to know when he’d actually started dating his date-for-hire.

Nico was grateful for the little things, and the fact he didn’t find his phone until tomorrow evening, as he would have thought of nothing else for the entire night, was one of them.

He went about his bedtime routine, refusing even to turn his back to change his shirt despite his burning cheeks, mostly because he hadn’t the night before and he was trying to convince himself that everything was the same as before.

Of course it wasn’t, and Will’s eyes would still linger nonetheless.

They laid next to each other, just as stiff as the first night, and it was horribly silent for a long few minutes as each refused to speak or relax. They both stared at the ceiling, the lighting dim, and felt unsure.

“You know, um.” Will began, “I was just thinking over the contract. It’s so extensive sometimes I forget what’s in it, like one of my political science friends wrote it up for me – I’m really bad with this kind of stuff, you know – anyways, sometimes I forget everything that’s in it and –“

“Will.” Nico interrupted, sitting up and facing the other boy in the dark. “Spit it out.”

“The contract covers holiday events and traditions.” Will blurted out, following Nico’s example and sitting up. “Like, if your family has a holiday tradition I’m obligated to go along with it and everything.”

Nico frowned at the other boy. “Why are you telling me this? You’ve been going along with all our stuff.”

Will sighed, a bit frustrated, mostly embarrassed by gods know what. “It means…” Will hesitated for a second, “It means that the New Year's kiss would be covered by that. It’s like a tradition everywhere, right? So like, it wouldn’t count towards your…allotted amount.”

Nico gave himself a moment to process that. “You’re saying I still have one more kiss left? “

Will bit his lip, looking unsure once again. “Yes.” He seemed to decide. “You still have one more kiss left. If you want it.”

“Oh.” Nico only said, blinking. “Oh, that’s…good.”

Will turned away, focusing on his knees. “Yeah, um, so like if you want another display of PDA for your family. Or, um. We could always do it, um. We could do it now if you want.”

Nico seemed to be in the business of one worded responses nowadays. “Now?” He questioned, his voice high. His mind, short-circuiting, could only think of the fact that he just brushed his teeth.

“Yeah, uh,” Will sounded even more unsure than before, badly covered up by forced nonchalance. “It could, um, help us with our chemistry. So like, they see we’re compatible.”

“Chemistry?” Nico only repeated dumbly, his mind racing.

“Yeah.” Will nodded, seemingly running out of words. “Yeah, uh. Yeah.”

Nico took a moment to gather himself and all the information just thrust as him. “Okay.” He only breathed out after a long moment. “That sounds good.”

They sat there, now facing each other in the dim light.

Nico bit his lip, his confidence from only a few hours ago seemingly left behind in the old year. He leaned forward just a bit, unsure whether to close his eyes, and that queue seemed to be all Will needed.

The other boy leaned in, probably too quickly, and brushed his lips against Nico’s, the movement in itself labeled hesitation.

This was so much different then everything they’d had before – the chaste peck in front of Nico’s family, the teasing kiss for Nico’s friends, different even from the New Year's kiss they’d shared hours before.

This was –

This was what a first kiss was.

Will’s lips were warm against Nico’s, soft and still holding an element of uncertainly as he pulled away, his nose brushing against Nico’s as they stayed in position, both breathing a bit too rough for the modest action.

And Nico considered what would happen next.

They’d pull away, eventually fall asleep to the awkward air. They’d wake up tomorrow and avoid each other’s eyes and go through the day as a couple. They’d pack tomorrow night and be on a plane the next morning. Nico would probably never see the other boy again. Nico would probably never kiss the other boy again.

Nico’s shut his eyes, and Will was still close enough that Nico could feel his breath against his face at every exhale.

If this was the last time Nico was ever going to kiss Will, it wasn’t going to be like that.

He opened his eyes, them alight with a certain determination as he reached out and settled his hand on the back of Will’s neck. He pulled the other boy in, making his last kiss count for something more than the obligation Will had signed away on.

It wasn’t as dirty as before, nor as chaste or as sweet or funny as it ever had been.

It was a kiss where Nico was memorizing the way Will opened up eagerly to him, the way Will lightly bit at his bottom lip, the way Will’s hand automatically came up to mirror Nico’s on his neck.

Will leaned back, taking Nico with him, and pressed back as Nico poured more of himself into the kiss.

Unknown to each other, each boy was desperately trying to seer the memory of the kiss into their minds, desperately accounting for every detail, because each boy was certain it was the last.

They woke up the next morning, avoiding each other eyes, and went about.

At the bottom of the staircase, Will grabbed onto Nico’s hand just as Persephone would sweep into the room, and he’d hold on too tight.

And Nico did the same.

Tonight, they were to pack and separate their clothes and belongings. Will would be packing a new soft, feeling sweatshirt, a carefully folded certificate with a sticker of wax, a small boot shaped mug long since cleaned, along with a horribly ugly neon-haired child’s toy, and tried not to think about how he’d be feeling when he unpacked it.

Notes:

will that's the worst excuse to kiss a boy i've ever heard how dareee you hashtag spoilers for a 150 year old book\musical lol also MORE SONG OF ACHILLES READ IT PLS also hades and persephone will use eVERY OPPORTUNITY THEY CAN to be extra as hell trust me i love family !!!! and friendship!!! wholesome relationships!!! i had to google food challenges for this. have you ever seen the show 'man vs. food'? no? u lucky soul. u lucky, lucky soul. also the midnight nye kiss was maybe, like, the third scene I wrote for this fic. it's been a-brewin' for awhile. next: feelings!!! ACTUALLY TALKING ABOUT THEIR FEELINGS JFC. CONVERSATIONS ABOUT FEELINGS. EMOTIONS. jfc. almost the end. it's been a crazy, nerdy ride y'all and seriously, i've loved it. thank you thank you THANK YOU for all your incredible support. I started this fic as a really lonely, kinda depressed university student on my own for the first time and now, because of this fic, I'm made a ton of great friends and improved my writing so well. thank you so much y'all for reading or liking or commenting or messaging me on tumblr or following. if this fic helps ya even fraction of what it did for me, even if it just brightens an hour of your day, then I'll count it as a roaring success. thank you. <3.

[itsomgitsgreenblogging]

Break My Heart: Chapter 6 (A Solangelo Fanfic)

And here we have part one of the final day in the infirmary, as well as the end of the first act of this fic. I’m actually really proud at how soon I managed to update this. I’m putting this down as a victory.

I hope you enjoy!

Read on Tumblr: Chapter One, Chapter Two, Chapter Three, Chapter Four, Chapter Five 

Read it all on AO3

Preview:

“Why do I need to bother with that?” Nico asked, obviously not interested, but continuing to drink his smoothie.

“I don’t know, do you ever want to grow?” Will asked him honestly. “I’m not the one who’s going to be responsible for stunting your growth at two inches.”

“I am not that short,” Nico said with a scowl.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you from all the way down there.”  

Suddenly a pillow was smacked against his head and Will was sent sprawling on the ground. 

“I never liked Annabeth…I…I liked Percy Jackson.”

               Will liked to think that in general his ADHD wasn’t as bad as say, Antonio who had a hard time keeping still, or Violet who would talk your ear off in a million directions. However, his brain shut down and went into full impulse mode. He grabbed Nico’s hands and blurted out,

               “You liked Percy Jackson? Me too! What was it? The green eyes? The curly hair—oh! Oh! It was the sexy intense bad-boy expression right?”

               When Will finally actually looked at Nico, he was outwardly staring at Will, as if Will had just offered to take Nico unicycling over burning coals while singing God Save The Queen backwards and in Spanish while in matching tutus. Will’s face burst into heat as he let go of Nico’s hands and stared up at the ceiling, trying to collect himself and the shattered illusion that he wasn’t an absolute wreck of a demigod.

               To Will’s shock, Nico stifled a chuckle. He tried to hide it for a few moments before bursting into gut wrenching laughter, laughing so hard that he was wiping tears from his eyes. It took him a few tries to collect himself, but by that point Will was smiling along with him.

               “Sorry, sorry, that just really took me by surprise,” Nico admitted, his low voice still warbling with the remnants of his laughing fit, fanning his face which had taken a pink tinge. “If I had to answer though, it was because he is a hero. The first one I ever saw, and I thought he was the coolest person I had ever met in my whole life.”

               “Percy Jackson is a pretty cool dude,” Will promised him seriously. “Decently crush worthy.”

               “But...you know…I accepted it, and when I did that I kind of grew out of it, if that makes any sense. So there it is, my tragic first love story,” Nico said, seemingly resigned about what seemed to have been a great ordeal. Will didn’t know much about Nico’s actual Tragic BackstoryTM, but he had heard whispers. What Nico was saying had probably been harder than he was letting on, and Nico was brave for that. It made Will admire him more…in a very platonic way obviously.

               “Was that what you were talking about with him?” Will asked as he rested his hands on his knees to keep from doing something stupid again.

               “Well, I admitted after the battle what I basically just told you but…he wanted to talk. Mostly apologize for things.”

               “For what?”

               “Well, for example he tried to kill me a few times, or at least made a serious attempt once and then wanted to kill me a few other times,” Nico said with a very nonchalant shrug. Will stared at him, and then realized that though sometimes with Nico it was hard to tell, Nico definitely wasn’t joking.

               “Wait, he seriously tried to kill you? And you still liked him?” Will asked as he squinted at Nico.

               “He also thought that I had betrayed him at that point, but yeah. Choked me out and everything.”

               “Nico, seriously, you still liked a guy who tried to kill you?”

               “I’m working on the self-worth thing,” Nico half-whined, rubbing his temples, before looking at Will with seemingly saintly patience. “Listen, that doesn’t come over night. I’m not the main character of some shitty novel. We’re demigods and besides that we’re Big Three kids. Sometimes baser natures take over and we just react. I know that better than anyone. I know those aren’t great excuses, but that’s what happened. Percy apologized for that stuff and I forgave him, that simple. We’re going to try to work on being friends, and that will be nice for a change.”

               “I’m not going to say I understand, but I trust your judgment on that,” Will said, feeling oddly defensive of Nico and the situation he had been put in. But he had also been friends with Percy for years, and knew it wasn’t his nature to just lash out either. The grey area Nico was describing probably really did exist, and Will would just have to trust that they had worked through it. “Still, I’m sorry you were put in that position. That must’ve sucked.”  

               “Yeah, it really did,” Nico admitted, and Will could tell that it was hard for Nico to explain how bad it must’ve been. “I never really wanted to…come to terms with my feelings. Gods, that was part of the reason I was always getting into these giant messes. But running doesn’t suit me, Jason and Reyna both helped to show me that, and…you seem so happy being out. At peace. To feel peace…I would like that. Talking with Percy today was my third real step.”

               “Third?”

               “First was telling Percy how I felt. The second was…” Nico stopped himself and looked away quickly. “Forget it.”

               “Was it becoming friends with me?” Will asked teasingly, pointing at himself. When Nico didn’t respond Will felt a large smile break out across his face. “Aw, Death Boy, that’s so nice. I think I’m going to throw up kittens and rainbows.”

               “Shut up,” Nico grumbled, still refusing to look at him. “You are out and friends with…with gay people. I just thought it would be a good idea to have an ally is all.”

               “Well I’m happy,” Will promised him. “That’s a great honor that you’ve bestowed upon me. I’ll take it very seriously.”

               “Gods you are such a weirdo,” Nico said, looking annoyed.

               “But you are friends with this weirdo.”

               “Nope. Nevermind. I’m not.”

               “Sorry, you can’t just take back the friend check I’ve already cashed it in my friend bank and it’s nonrefundable,” Will said with a shrug and a sympathetic look. Nico just scoffed and rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide his yawn. “Tired?”

               “Yeah…I guess that conversation took more out of me then I thought,” Nico actually admitted which maintained Will’s smile.

               “I’ll let you rest then,” Will said as he stood up. “And I’ll let you know when dinner’s coming.”

               “Hey…Will?” Nico asked as he pulled up his covers. “Thanks for…not freaking out or anything.”

               “No problem.”

               The first thing that Will did as soon as he left the infirmary for that evening was to high-tail it to where Lou Ellen was standing by the edge of the campfire pit, wrap his arms around her, and scream into her shoulder while jumping with her up and down.

               “Oh my Gods what is happening?! Who broke Will Solace?” Lou Ellen cried out as Cecil looked on at the outburst with amusement. Will let her go and tried to compose himself, but found it much more difficult than he had been expecting.

               “I think I figured out my dream,” Will told them both before clarifying, “well, I can’t tell you what maybe I think it’s about because privacy issues but I think I figured it out.”

               “Uh, wow, vague answer much,” Cecil noted, eyebrow raised at him.

               “Sorry, sorry, I’m just so relieved,” Will said as he stretched, letting his sweatshirt sleeves dip and pressing up on his tippy toes. He felt the evening air cool and sweet against his face, the scent of campfire and cut grass and deep woods a gentle and wonderful in his breath, and it was all wonderful. “I feel refreshed.”

               And he ought to. He figured out what had been weighing on him for two whole days. Obviously what Nico had not wanted to do anymore was keep his sexuality a secret. Will was comforting him like a friend and Nico was ready to move on. Obviously. This was it. No more reason to push, no more reason to worry. Done. Finished. Will had figured it out. Will wasn’t going to fall in love and get his heart broken, nope, Will had taken on a role of dear friend and confidante. And if those thoughts sounded like he was just trying to fool himself, Will was just facing reality. Reality. Yep. Nothing else to see here.

               “Not to rain on your parade but…there was kind of a situation,” Lou Ellen said regretfully, patting Will’s shoulder.  

               And that’s how Will ended up waiting outside the Aphrodite Cabin with two bags of makeup that had been responsible for the simultaneous makeovers of the dumb campers who had dared to steal them from the cabin; i.e. the Stolls, Alice and Julia, and Antonio. Will hadn’t needed to know that Aphrodite Cabin and Hecate Cabin had a collab on some hexes and makeup, nor wanted to see what that would create, so not he was not happy. Not a single bit. In fact it was safe to say his good mood was completely ruined.  

               This was especially the case when Drew walked up, obviously pissed but still making her tee shirt and jeans look fabulous. She glared at him darkly, as if he insulted her by just being in her presence.  She immediately crossed her arms over her chest, showing off her rings on her fingers and turned up her nose at him.

               “Piper,” she muttered under her breath. “That little no good thieving—“

               “You kiss your mother with that mouth?” Will interrupted, earning another seething glare. “I’m just as happy about this as you are, trust me. If I could, I would ignore the situation. But obviously that isn’t working for either of us. So how about we do this instead? Do you want to tell Piper why we don’t get along, or should I. Because if we don’t she’ll keep trying to make peace between us, and we both know you don’t want that.”

               “Oh please, sweetie. I don’t care about my dirty laundry, not enough to give my meddling sister ammo to use against me,” Drew sighed softly and sweetly, her lips colored a bubblegum pink. Will gritted his teeth, knowing that she was attempting to goad him. Ammo? Him? Was that all he was to her?

               “Fine, I’ll take responsibility since you are incapable of doing so. A running theme I’ve found,” Will snapped, trying to channel his most calm and composed self but finding it difficult. “Not caring about actual leadership, not helping your siblings in any meaningful way, not actually coming up with a good excuse for hurting me just blaming everything on an outdated hazing ritual—“  

               “What you saw was what you got, honey,” Drew said as she motioned to herself before crooning as if he was a child, “is Silly Willy still all sad because he got dumped.”

               “Yes Drew. I was sad for a while, but I’m not sad anymore about anything but you. Forgive me for thinking that maybe, just maybe, that we had something worth a damn and for knowing that you are more than some Empousa with a better hairstylist like you like to make everyone think you are, but seeing that the image of the impenetrable Drew Tanaka is more important than anyone else will ever be,” Will just sighed tiredly, rubbing his eyes. “Your act didn’t work, no one followed your lead, and now you’re knocked down a few pegs and just looking for cheap shots. Honestly Drew, you just exhaust me. Take your makeup and let it rest.”

               “Why? So you can go back to your boyfriend who you’ve got all holed up in the clinic?” Drew asked angrily, her perfectly plucked eyebrow twitching. He took satisfaction with the idea that he had needled her just a little.

               Will felt his rarely there temper begin to boil over.

               “Drew, seriously, you either drop this or prepare yourself. Choose your words wisely,” Will growled at her, feeling his battle honed instincts begging to be kicked in. Will wasn’t a fighter, not by nature, but he certainly wasn’t a push over. He had just about had enough of Drew’s bad attitude.  

               “Make me,” Drew challenged him, seemingly just as ready as he was.

               “Apollo versus Aphrodite, next game of Capture the Flag. And you can tell Piper how she got herself into this mess when Clarisse la Rue and I kick your butts into next year,” Will announced to Drew and anyone within ear shot, his control cracking like ice on a warm day.

               “I don’t know what’s happening but hell yeah!” shouted Mark Wilkinson, one of the Ares kids from across the green as he dragged a dozing Clovis from where he had fallen asleep. Clovis’ slumbering body knocked over a couple spears which sent the child of Ares swearing like a sailor. Will pressed his palm to his face.

               “Shit Solace, I'm proud of you. Way to finally stand your ground, and what a way to cash that favor I owe you for Ellis. Ares cabin is with you all the way," Clarisse said as she grasped his arm before walking away with her posse of siblings following close behind, giving hoots and hollers to Aphrodite Cabin. Piper hadn’t looked up from where she was resting her head against the table the whole breakfast, and the rest of the cabin was looking pretty pissed at Drew who primly tore apart her toast as if she had no clue what was happening.

Will collapsed back on his seat heavily. This sucked, and Will wasn’t happy. He had every reason to be, but he wasn’t.

"You didn't follow your What Would Grandpa Vernon Do rule, did you?" Cecil asked him suspiciously from the seat across from Will. “That was impulsive, even for you.”

Will winced at that as he toyed with his beads. Will had grown up tucked away from most of the world with his Grandparents in a place called Abundance, Texas. It had been a wholesome normal upbringing by any stretch of the imagination, until he had almost died in a monster attack. The ruse was that his mother had wanted a stable life for him, away from fame and touring. And thought it was definitely a part of it, it was mostly because of the horrible things that lurked in big cities and the bad things that kept happening.

His grandfather was the town's patriarch. A stern, but caring man who had raised Will alongside his Grandma Florence. He could almost see his grandfather in his mind's eye, tapping his booted foot, crossing his arms over his pastor garb, narrowing his grey-blue eyes and drawling, "what in God's green earth do you think you solved with that little temper tantrum William Elijah?" 

He missed him, and Will swallowed that tinge of homesickness as he considered mental Grandpa’s advice.  

"That's the problem, as my pastor he would probably admonish me for giving in to my anger and not listening to my good sense. As my Papa, once, he almost stabbed a man with a spork when the guy said something disparaging about my mom. And when I mean almost, I mean it was in his hand and prepared to be plunged," Will explained as he mimed the action of Spork-Assaulting to Lou Ellen and Cecil before sighing. "Do you understand my problem? Papa sent me mixed messages."  

“Will…” Lou Ellen said to him, tapping her black-painted nails against the picnic table, obviously trying to find a way to help but seeing nothing.  

“Can I count on Hermes and Hecate? I know Piper’s going to recruit Jason and Percy, and she’s in talks with Athena Cabin. And I also know that Jake Mason owes Annabeth after she found those scrolls for him so I think Hephaestus is going to them too.”

“Don’t worry, bro, I’ll talk with the Stolls. But considering last night’s debacle, you got an ally with Hermes Cabin,” Cecil promised him and offered a fist bump.

“I don’t like the way Drew talks to you, I think some pig bombs are in her future,” Lou Ellen said with another fist bump, before returning to her table with a wave. Cecil turned around and relayed his news to his siblings who began happily discussing plans.

               When Will finally got to the infirmary after dealing with his siblings, he felt like he had already been through a whole day. His favorite patient, i.e. his only patient, was sitting in bed reading. Will smiled at Nico, but quickly noted the shadows like rims under his eyes, filled to the brink with darkness.

               “Didn’t sleep well?” Will asked him, thankful to focus on something that wasn’t himself. “Nightmares?”

               Nico shrugged and closed his book, which seemed to be his answer. Will tried to read the title but it took a few moments for the words to come together into something he could actually understand.

               “Tolkien, eh?” Will asked him. “Going with a brother of mine is always a good choice.”

               “J.R.R. Tolkien was a son of Apollo?” Nico asked, seemingly startled by that revelation.

               “Is it that surprising that a man that obsessed with poetry and language could be a son of Apollo?” Will pointed out to him as he took his hand, feeling out with his powers for Nico’s state. “Unlike our father, some of us have to be half way decent at it. So? What do you think? Like it so far?”

               “I think I do, a lot of the names and words keep making it difficult,” Nico admitted before huffing, sounding very frustrated. “My dyslexia isn’t usually so bad.”

              ��“You are also sleep deprived,” Will pointed out to him. Thankfully the darkness hadn’t built back up in his system, though he wasn’t about to talk to Nico’s ear off about the absorption qualities of magic muck. He checked Nico’s wounds and saw that the steady doses of ambrosia and nectar had healed up his outward injuries, with a day of rest and food, Will might even able to confidently discharge Nico the next morning. “Good, besides the sleepiness. I had the nymphs fix you up something for breakfast.”

               Will offered the bottle of smoothie he had kept in the fridge. Nico took an experimental sip before finding it palatable enough that he didn’t try to kill him.

               “What’s in this thing? Besides strawberries.”

               “Well besides our camp-grown strawberries, it has quick oats, banana, yogurt, milk, and honey in it. It’s a good recipe and has everything you need for the most important meal of the day in drinkable form,” Will pointed out as he sipped his own smoothie. “I figured smoothie breakfasts would be a good way to go for a while, I’ll print out the action plan I made for you, but basically the gist is to get you to gain healthy weight in a way that won’t make you want to kill someone. Three meals a day, and post work out snacks since I know that as soon as you get out of here you are probably going to be hitting the training fields. I’m sure it’ll feel a bit like bootcamp, but as soon as you are in a healthy weight zone it’ll just be about maintenance.”

               “Why do I need to bother with that?” Nico asked, obviously not interested, but continuing to drink his smoothie.

               “I don’t know, do you ever want to grow?” Will asked him honestly. “I’m not the one who’s going to be responsible for stunting your growth at two inches.”

               “I am not that short,” Nico said with a scowl.

               “What was that? I couldn’t hear you from all the way down there.”  

               Suddenly a pillow was smacked against his head and Will was sent sprawling on the ground. Will leveled a halfhearted glare at Nico, who sat as proudly as any king upon his throne, looking at Will from over his sharp nose as if he were a mere peasant who had dared to insult his royal person. Will just shook his head with a smile before pulling himself up on his feet.

               “Oh, hello,” a voice greeted. “Am I interrupting something?”

               Will looked over to see Jason Grace standing in the hallway, carrying a backpack. Good looking guy, though, not Will’s type at all. Maybe it was the blonde-blue-eyes thing, since Will couldn’t really ever see himself flirting with a dude who could be his cousin (not that they weren’t related as all Greek and Roman demigods were technically somehow related but not physically and genetically…it was all rather confusing and everyone just chose to ignore it for their own good). It might have also been that, though Will knew that Jason had loosened up quite a bit since he had first been introduced at CHB, he was still a rather serious and honorable guy, both perfectly fine qualities but Will had always preferred boys who knew how to cut loose and joke.

               Like Nico di Angelo? His brain unhelpfully supplied.

               Shut up, you. We’ve solved this. Don’t do that.  

               “Nothing important,” Nico told him, cool and composed.

               “How is he doing, Will?” Jason asked, intently scanning Nico’s face as if searching him for illness and disease and injury.

               “I’m right here, Jason,” Nico said crossly before Will could answer the question.

               “And I trust Will, who is not only a counselor but also the head healer of the camp to give it to me straight. Unlike you, since I actually know what you are like,” Jason pointed out to Nico’s chagrin, who slumped back in his bed with a pout.

               “Damn Romans and their regard for authority,” Nico muttered under his breath. “You are just as bad as Reyna.”  

               “Nico’s actually doing much better,” Will said holding his hands out and waving Nico down. That seemingly defused the other’s annoyance. “His infections are gone and the darkness isn’t going to make him disappear if he isn’t stupid about it. Like I was just explaining to Nico, we’re mostly going to be focusing on maintaining health and gaining weight once I release him.”

               “If you could give me the plan too, I would be really grateful. Just so I can make sure this one stays on track,” Jason said with a jerk of his head towards where Nico was sitting, blowing bubbles into his smoothie, obviously ignoring the two of them. “It’s important to keep Nico honest, otherwise he’ll just avoid.”

               “You see Will, everyone lies, but people only get up in your business about it if you are a child of Hades. That’s what I learned,” Nico told Will bitterly. “Double standards, all of them.”

               “I didn’t come to argue, just know I care,” Jason said seemingly giving up for the moment, before turning to Will as he sat down on Nico’s bed. Nico made a show of glaring and looking like he was about to hiss at him, but there wasn’t much actual heat in it. “Talking about arguing, I heard about what happened with Drew, Will. Can’t say I’m not sympathetic. Just wanted to let you know that before our team wins at Capture the Flag next week.”

               “Capture the Flag?” Nico asked, his interest piqued. Will groaned, his nightmare still seemingly unfolding no matter where he went.

               “If you were really so righteous you would join my team. They already have Percy and Annabeth. Why do they get you too?”

               “Boyfriend duty,” Jason said and Will made a face. Nico was still obviously confused, and Will decided for the sake of everyone it was just easier for him to get it straight from the horse’s mouth.

               “Basically me and Drew got into it last night. The challenge was put forth,” Will explained the less gruesome version to Nico.

               “I can’t believe you used to go out with her,” Jason said with a shudder, shattering Will’s hopes of keeping it less gruesome. Nico blinked, obviously absorbing the information slowly.

               Will looked at Jason Grace for a moment. Somewhat hurt, somewhat surprised that a guy so powerful and with so much prestige could be so utterly clueless. Then again, considering Jason’s infamous love triangle situation, Will figured that love wasn’t Jason’s strong suit. It wasn’t Will’s either, but still. Any guy who was dumb enough to get himself into a love triangle and then stay in it for a while because he was indecisive wouldn’t get it.

               “I went out with Drew because at the time I liked Drew. Even if our relationship is over and Drew is difficult I was always true to myself,” Will told him sternly and completely unamused, donning his head counselor tone. “I know everyone would like me to be happy about this, but I’m really not since I basically fell right into what Drew wanted. I’m going to work things out with her somehow, either on or off the Capture the Flag game, but in the meantime, I don’t appreciate the implications of what you just said. You owe me an apology. Now.”

               Jason was staring at him with outward shock like Will had just slapped him in the face with a dead fish. Will realized that Phoebe was right, he did the authority of a praetor when it came to Romans. If only he could shock his siblings into silence too. Nico’s mouth twisted into a savage sharp grin that cut wide and wild across his face and sent pleasant shivers down Will’s spine.  

               “Jason, you might want to apologize. Not only does Will historically have no fear when it comes to Big Three Kids, but he’ll also be the one stitching up your team after we kick your sorry butts,” Nico di Angelo announced, propping his feet on Jason’s lap, looking like a cat who had gotten the cream. “Will’s my ally, so I’m going to be his.”

               “Singing Sirens, di Angelo is on our team! Yes!” Austin cried, and Emma, Violet, and Antonio who were peaking in from down the hall began jumping up in down and slapping high fives. Someone began blasting DJ Khalid from the front, and Chiron’s voice echoed as he tried to reprimand over the music.

               “I really walked myself into that one, didn’t I?” Jason said, looking legitimately sorry and with a small nervous grin. “I’m really sorry, Will. Seriously. When Piper decides to skin me, will you consider healing me?”

               “I’ll even do it free of charge and with a complimentary lollipop,” Will said with a smile of his own. Nico reached over to pat Jason’s shoulder and Jason accepted it like a good sport. Maybe this wasn’t going to be all bad, Will thought to himself. Just maybe.

[loisinherlane]

Title: Monachopsis

Summary: It’s been a year and a half since Bianca joined the Hunters. A year and a half since Zoë Nightshade died and Thalia Grace took over. A year and a half since Nico di Angelo came to Camp Half-Blood, and year and a half gone unclaimed. He never expected this.

Notes: This is somewhat of a snippet from a fic I will at some point develop fully. Basically, the premise is that the prophecy in the Titan’s Curse went a little differently, and Bianca didn’t die. (Don’t be too happy yet. She does still die. :( But I have another AU in which she lives that I’ll probably delve into eventually.) In this, Nico has lived at Camp Half-Blood year-round and grown up a bit. Because this does involve changing the timeline a bit, imagine this as the beginning of the Battle of the Labyrinth. At some point, I’ll establish the timeline more neatly, but for now, don’t worry about it too much. I’ve left it a little rough, as I wanted to get it out today, so forgive me if anything is off. Dedicated to @rainelinde @adreamingsongbird for her birthday, because we both relate to Will in this fic.

The day started off like any other. Like every day, the Hermes cabin seems a little emptier.

When Nico first arrived, people had warned him that the cabin was perpetually crowded. “It used to be worse,” Connor Stoll had confessed, “but a few people have followed--”

No one at camp ever said his name directly. It was like they were scared of invoking something. Nico figured it was a weird Greek thing anyway, the avoiding of names. Reminded him a lot of Harry Potter, in a way. (Percy had brought those books during one of his visits, saying he couldn’t quite get as into the story as before, being the whole potential prophecy kid. Nico got it a little, but he also thought Percy was doing the same thing Annabeth did, trying to replace Bianca as an older sibling figure. It didn’t work, but it was nice enough.) Nico went along with it though. He never knew the guy, and the whole rhetoric didn’t affect him much.

It did affect the older campers, the ones who’d waited longer to finally be claimed, the ones who felt left out and cast aside. Nico understood their pain, but he didn’t understand why they’d give up all of their friends at camp. The gods may not have been good, but camp was. Nico loved camp.

Mainly because he had great friends. Cecil and Clovis both stayed in the Hermes cabin, though Cecil was the only actual Hermes camper in their crew. Somewhere in the past few months, they’d picked up Will Solace from Cabin 7. A lot of their stunts usually ended with some sort of injury, and Will Solace was the one to patch them up most often, so in spite of the healer’s standard to hang out with older kids, especially his siblings, he’d been roped into a few schemes from time to time.

Nico really liked Will, even though he was kind of stuffy half the time. When he smiled, things seemed to light up, and occasionally, he relaxed, and then he was just the most fun to be around. Unfortunately, that wasn’t often, and besides, he normally stuck with his cabin for camp activities. Most of the time, Nico was stuck with Cecil and Clovis, in the sad little Hermes cabin where he didn’t even have a real bed.

Maybe he’d get one soon, though. That morning, Nico saw a few of the mattresses on the floor were completely empty. Travis and Connor seemed to notice as well, but they didn’t say anything.

“Rise and shine, kids, it’s time to canoe,” one said, to which the other added, “And we don’t mean canoodle, so stay away from the Aphrodite cabin.”

Nico winced at the terrible pun. Cecil laughed. Clovis yawned.

“Morning already?”

The cabin was always in a rush to get ready in the morning, but it didn’t take too long until the entire camp was lined up at the dining pavilion. Will had to sit with his siblings, but Nico, Cecil, and Clovis got to sit together and talk about the day--or more accurately, bug one of the Stoll brothers into telling them the rest of their schedule.

They didn’t succeed. They were dragged off to canoeing, where Clovis and Nico tipped their canoe when Clovis fell asleep. Next, it was time for sword practice, which Beckendorf taught. Nico loved that. Swords were about the only thing in camp he could handle. The day continued in the same manner, just as always, until the Hermes campers were released for free time, and Cecil dragged Nico and Clovis to walk around in the forest. Cecil was talking a lot, like he always did, but Nico could hardly pay attention. His mind was wandering off once more.

That feeling was back. The feeling that he didn’t belong.

Camp Half-Blood was the greatest place on the planet. It was basically Mythomagic come to life--minus the ancient Greek aesthetic and fashion sense, plus the camp tradition of friendship bracelets. (Nico currently had five: one from Cecil, one from Clovis, and three from Will, because Will had seven on each arm, and he didn’t want Nico to feel left out.)

Fighting with swords, riding pegasi (even though they didn’t seem to like Nico), exploring the forest, Nico loved it all. Being the kid of a Greek god was awesome.

Except that he had no idea who his parent was. That would have been nice. For as long as Nico could remember, it had just been him and Bianca. Without Bianca he was alone. Knowing a little more about his family would have been nice. But Nico couldn’t really complain. He had good friends, and when the Hermes cabin was overstimulating, Will’s brothers Lee and Michael didn’t mind if Nico hung around.

Really, Nico loved camp. So it sucked that he had that feeling.

Nico had first mentioned it to Grover privately on the trek to camp. Maybe Bianca was a demigod, and Nico was her entirely normal half-brother? But Grover had dismissed his worries.

“You and Bianca both smell very strongly. You must have great powers.”

Besides, that theory was completely destroyed when they arrived camp and Nico could pass through the barrier. Both di Angelo siblings were half-bloods, and half-bloods belonged at Camp Half-Blood.

If only it were that simple.

When Nico spoke to the Stoll brothers, they just assured him that most new campers felt like that. Finding your got parent made things easier. You knew where you belonged. They didn't mention that some were never claimed.

Will usually just advised Nico to find something he was good at and stick to it. “I was claimed when I reattached Drew’s pinkie toe,” he confessed. “I promised her I wouldn't tell, but it's okay, ‘cause it's you, and no one can tell it came off anyway.”

Nico had to try really hard not to stare at Drew Tanaka’s feet the next time she wore flip-flops.

In any case, none of this really helped Nico figured out who his godly parent was or why the camp didn't feel right to him. Nico just grew used to the camp not feeling quite right and enjoying life.

Maybe if he'd paid more attention, he wouldn't have been caught so off-guard.

Nico made a face.

“What's wrong?” Cecil asked.

“My ear is ringing,” Nico said. He reached to cover his ear to see if that would help. It didn't.

Clovis mumbled something sleepily.

“Oh,” Cecil said. “Is it that bad? Can we keep going?”

Nico was about to nod when a sudden pain wracked his body. He clutched his chest and tried to catch his breath. Something was wrong. It wasn't that he didn't belong. It was worse.

He heaved and stumbled forward. Cecil tried to catch him, yelling, “Clovis! Help!”

She was on a boat. The boat rocked enough to make her seasick. She'd never liked water. Strangely, this water didn't make her feel ill. It was calm.

“You said said my passage was completely paid for?” she asked for the third time--just to check.

The boatman huffed. “Yes, miss. Two gods vouched for your passage. There was absolutely no leaving you on the other side.” He sounded a little put out, as if vouching wasn't payment. She wished she had something to offer, but she always used all of her coins to message her brother. All she could do was tug at her braid and hope for the best.

“Will! Will!”

Nico came back to his senses just in time to see Will Solace stumbling over from the stables where his cabin was having lessons. Clovis’s arms were wrapped around Nico’s waist, and Clovis seemed surprisingly alert. Cecil dragged Will down the hill.

“Something's wrong with him, see?”

Nico vaguely recognized that Cecil was gesturing at him, and he absently narrowed his eyes, wanting to protest that he was fine, and Will Solace totally didn't need to check him out, when the ringing resurfaced and his chest tightened.

“We’re here, miss,” the boatman said. She maneuvered through the crowd on the boat--they part for her, really--and hopped off onto the shore.

“Where do I--?” she asked the boatman, but he was already turning around.

“I’ve played my part, miss. You had your passage. You’re not my problem,” he said shortly. The already dark cavern seemed to lose its light. He winced. “Wait right here, miss.”

She frowned. “Wait? For what?”

“Your father.”

“Nico? Nico, deep breaths.”

Will’s voice was already cracking, a little deeper than most of their friends, but at the moment, it was smooth, soft, soothing. He was shining his pocket flashlight into Nico’s eyes, and he winced and blinked. Will gave a tiny breath of relief.

Cecil glanced at him. “Do you know what’s wrong with him?”

“You said he didn’t have any blunt force trauma?” Will confirmed. “He’s not quite responsive, but I think it’s just a panic attack.”

“What caused it?”

Will shrugged. “It’s hard to determine the triggers. He might want to speak to one of my siblings about mental health. His file says he and his sister were in an accident and lost their their memories. It could be some of that resurfacing. But that’s just speculation.”

Clovis remained silent behind him.

Will hummed as he tucked his flashlight away. “Nico, can you speak? If not, just shake your head. We’re in no rush,” he said, voice as warm and perfect as ever. Nico almost thought it was better than Percy’s.

Nico took a rough breath. “Bi--”

Will’s smile faltered. “What?”

Nico doubled over.

A tall man pushed through the thousands of people making their way forward. Most took care to avoid him, but a few bumped into him and practically recoiled. She didn’t feel the same urge to back away. In fact, when she caught his eye, she saw the same look her little brother got when he was ready to a win particularly tough match of Mythomagic.

His face was colder though. He didn’t smile, even as he approached. She straightened her back, feeling so bare without her bow.

He opened his mouth.

“Nico,” warm, breathy in his ear. Whose shoulder was he leaning against? Clovis was a bit back, dozing on a tree. Cecil was--

Fluffy blond hair brushed his cheek. “Hey, breathe. Everything is okay. We’re at camp. We’re safe.”

“Bianca, my only daughter,” he said sadly.

Her throat caught. “Papà . . . .”

“You died a hero. I will give you three options,” he said.

Nico lurched away from Will Solace and ran farther into the forest.

Bianca.

Bianca.

She was dead. Papà--

He let out a yelp.

“Nico?” Worried. Hopeful. They were looking for him. He had to go farther. Beneath his feet, the grass turned brown, then froze over. The death rolled towards the trees--the dryads. No. He had to rein it in.

Nico continued running until he smacked into a wall, catching himself with his hands against the stone.

Suddenly, he knew what to do. He opened the passage and stepped inside.

The passage was dark, but he knew where to go. He walked to the end of a hall, where a ghost smiled to see him.

“Master Nico,” he said brightly. “Your father has sent me to guide you.”

-

When he emerged from the labyrinth, Nico only had to take a few steps before someone caught him. It was Charles Beckendorf. They must have sent all the head counselors to look for him. Great. Just the attention he needed.

“Nico,” Beckendorf heaved. “Thank the gods. The forest can be pretty dangerous.”

“Yeah. We saw the trail of a monster,” said Katie Gardner, walking up behind him. Her face was beet red, and she placed her hands on her knees to catch a breath. “You should know you’re not supposed to run off on your own.”

“He had a panic attack,” Will Solace piped up, running up behind his older brother Lee. “He can’t be held accountable for poor decisions.”

“That’s not entirely true, Will,” Lee warned--his specialty in healing was mental health, and he always seemed to be on Will’s back any time he tried to say anything on the subject. “But since this is his first, I think we can agree he didn’t know what he was doing.”

Nico bit his tongue. No. He couldn’t tell them what he say. Not a thing. Anything he said would just make it worse. It was better to let them worry he had issues than to admit the truth--the truth he’d tried to avoid for so long.

He had no place at Camp Half-Blood.

[ivory-peaches]

Cabin 7: Apollo

Heyyyy, i have good relations with this cabin, being in and out of it over and over and over and frickin’ over.  Alas, I am still unclaimed.  I’ve figured that if I tell y’all this, that might change but, you never know.  Maybe I just don’t know what to do to get claimed.  These posts are like a therapy session, y’know?  *sigh*

Alright, you have your six main types of campers (a lot i know) and sometimes, the campers can meld into several groups because hey, Apollo is basically the god of Awesome, ahem.  ANYWAY.

The first group you have is your musical group.  These kids are expert prodigies in playing any instrument, sight reading music, writing music, and performing with A+ efforts and execution.  They’re known for the singing time at the bonfire at night and even have a small Gospel Choir, made for fun until it actually became something.  Their favourite song to sing is ‘I Won’t Say I’m In Love’ ironically, because messing with small, confused, crushing/pining campers is fun.

Group two is your Arts group.  Technically, music would fit into this but, the group is so broad already, yadayadayada.  This is art and poetry, which is a lot of fun for the entire cabin.  The Apollo cabin leads crafts and is in charge of painting every single damn bead for the necklaces by the end of the summer so, yay...  They’re proficient in several different types of poetry and have a poetry slam under the pavilion every Thursday during lunch just to rock out and snap their fingers as someone describes how the wind is their brother (very deep, man.)  Also, Rachel is good friends with these peeps because Art is Life.

Group Three is the annoying group that can see the future or predict it.  It’s kinda fun sometimes but the constant, ‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you’, gets on everyone’s nerves because the Apollo cabin is terrible at specifying details on why you shouldn’t eat the strawberry cheesecake.  You eat it anyway but get a sick stomach flu sooooooo.  The oracle and knowledge part can come in handy sometimes, especially when they’re in the infirmary and prepping for a terrible victim to come in.  If they can prepare fast enough, your patient will survive.

Group four is medicine and plague, Will Solace’s powers.  These kids are natually talented in treating patients, know several medicinal songs, and are good friends with the Demeter cabin just because they can get herbs and other medicinal crops for healing.  The medicinal part of the cabin is excellent at anatomy, biology, and all things medical, always taking their spare time in the infirmary to heal dangerous and clumsy demigods (like Percy Jackson).

Group five is the sun/light demigods.  These ones can control light and sunlight and do cool stuff with it.  Some weapons are made from light, sometimes you can blind monsters with it, etc.  Will Solace has a sun whip (because he’s awesome, note that’s just a hc) and it’s made from sunlight.  These kids are immune to sunburns (as well as most of the cabin), and always have freckles.  Constant adorable freckles.

The last group is archery.  These kids are pro at arching and kinda suck at the rest of the weapons, only because they’re so gifted at pulling a string back and firing arrows 200 feet away.  It’s pretty cool.  A lot of them have bruises on the insides of their arms but, every single one of the Apollo kids that can arch are ambidextrous and can shoot with both arms, making it easier on the arms to not constantly have bruises.  Many of the Apollo girls that can arch are actually in the Hunters of Artemis because their bowman skills are so amazing.

Apollo gets along with basically all of the other cabins and each Apollo camper has a best friend out of their sibling group.  Will is best friends with Drew Tanaka, Piper McLean, and Percy Jackson, Kayla is best friends with Nico di Angelo, Austin is best friends with the entire Hecate cabin, etc.

[send me which cabin you’re in and i’ll do an analysis of what i think about that cabin]