#not sure if he'd read it though or just let it sit there haunting him | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

bookworm551 · 10 months ago

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Take the Edge Off | Part 10 | Terrors

Summary: Late at night, Miguel confesses something that haunts him.

A/N: well, it’s time for me to post my bi-monthly part since I’ve been slacking sm lately. No good excuse, I’m not even sure if ppl read this anymore but oh well, enjoy

Warnings: smut, oral f-receiving

Word count: 8.4k

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

You were sleeping peacefully when the sound of quick rustling startled you awake.

Something was thrashing beside you in bed, quick and panicked. You blinked your eyes open, your sleep-addled mind trying to process what was happening. You felt disoriented as you tried remembering where you were. The bed and sheets were most definitely not your own, yet they were somehow familiar.

Miguel. This was Miguel's bed.

Since your talk with him about being more than just fuck buddies, Miguel had actually kept his word. He communicated more about where he was, what he was doing, how late he'd be out. There were even a few nights like tonight where he'd let you stay with him in his room.

It was Miguel who was causing the rustling that now pulled you from your sleep. He was muttering something unintelligible as his legs kicked at the sheets. You rolled over to face him right as his form shot up from the bed. Through the darkness, you could hear his ragged breathing as he gasped for air, and you could vaguely see his silhouette hunched forward next to you.

Instantly, you felt awake and alert. Pushing yourself up from your pillow, you were immediately at his side. "What's wrong?" You asked, placing a worried hand on his shoulder. Under your palm, you felt the sweat that slicked his clammy skin.

Miguel flinched hard from your touch and jerked his arm away from your hand, still breathing in sharp, uneven gasps. Instead of replying, he turned his body away from you, ripping the covers off himself and moving to sit at the edge of the bed as he fought to steady his breathing.

You'd been in his position enough times to know exactly what was wrong. Nightmares had plagued you endlessly since the first time you lost someone you tried to save, and they didn't get easier with time.

"Lyla, turn the lights to 20%," you said softly. Immediately, a faint glow illuminated the room, and you could see Miguel's trembling body in the faint light. He was rocking back and forth slightly as whatever vision he’d had faded from his mind, and he didn't say anything as his heaving chest began to grow steady again.

You scooted closer to him but didn't touch him. You knew all too well that sometimes you needed a moment to understand that the terror in your chest was unsubstantiated, and so you gave him a second to deescalate before whispering, "Are you okay?"

He ran his hands over his face once before muttering, "Fine." He did not sound fine at all, but you weren't going to point that out to him. Instead, you carefully placed your hand on his shoulder again. He didn't flinch this time, so you slowly let it wander across his bare chest, wrapped your arm around him, and pulled his back against your body.

He still didn't say anything, but he lifted a hand to grab your arm and held it for a moment as a comforting gesture. "What was it?" You asked quietly, hoping that he'd open up to you. Under your palm, his heart was still racing, though he seemed to be calmer than before. He held onto you for a moment before letting his hand fall away, and he stood up from the bed.

"It was nothing," he muttered. "Go back to sleep."

You watched as he stalked over to the kitchen to pour himself a glass of water. Clad in only a pair of black briefs, his whole body was shining with perspiration in the dim light. He was clearly rattled by whatever night terror had taken over his sleep, but you knew he wasn't going to open up so easily.

Rather than listen to his order to go back to sleep, you waited for him to return. His face looked haunted and drained of color when he came back and slipped under the covers again. You slid next to him, snaking an arm across his torso and pulling yourself close to him, resting your head in the crook of his shoulder. Miguel tensed at your touch, but he didn't try pushing you away.

You settled in silence for a while. Tilting your head up to look at him, you saw he was staring absently at the ceiling above, not even trying to fall back to sleep again. You understood that, too—the fear of sleeping in case the same nightmare took over again. You'd lost hours of sleep that way, refusing to close your eyes to keep away the monsters that plagued your dreams.

You quickly realized that Miguel wasn't going to talk unless you did. "I have them too, you know," you whispered, breaking the silence around you. His face didn't change, and after a quiet moment, he replied, "I don't want to talk about it."

"Talking about it helps," you offered. "Even if it doesn't make them go away." You watched his face carefully for a reaction, hoping he'd open up. Still, his faraway gaze never shifted, and he gave a barely-perceptible shake of his head.

Sighing, you looked back down at his chest, littered with faint scars from his time as Spider-Man. You wondered about the stories of how he got them. No doubt it had taken years to accumulate them all, each one a tiny reminder of the amount of traumatic events he had lived through. You had your own reminders too, and not just the scars on your body.

"Mine are usually memories of people I couldn't save," you admitted quietly. "Sometimes, it plays out exactly as it happened, sometimes it's a bit different. I used to tell them to my best friend, and it helped."

Your throat tightened as you thought of your friend. She was the only one who had known about your secret life. She had been the one to confide in, the one who listened. Late at night, when you couldn't stop shaking from the nightmares, she would answer your calls, no matter how late it was or how early she had to get up the next day. She had done so much for you.

And in the end, you had failed her.

"Then, I couldn't save her either," you continued quietly, a slight warble in your voice, "and the nightmares got...so much worse."

You felt Miguel's head shift to look down at your face. It was now your turn to avoid his gaze. Guilt and shame washed over you as you replayed that terrible day, the day you lost the most important person in the world.

There was a beat of silence, and Miguel's hand slid under the fabric of your shirt and began slowly rubbing your back across your skin in a comforting gesture—ironic given that he was the one still shaking off the effects of his nightmare.

"My worst ones are about her," you finally managed to say, still avoiding his gaze. "It's usually her on the ground, dead—" you took a shaky breath, "—but then she looks at me and asks why I didn't save her."

Over and over again, she would say it, and even now, you could see the scene clearly. Her body, sprawled and broken, her dead eyes glazed over lifelessly while her bloody lips moved and ask, Why didn't you save me? Why didn't you save me?

A shiver ran through you at the memory.

"I just had that one last weekend," you confessed softly.

There was a pause, and you could practically hear Miguel putting together the fact that you had been with him then, in that very bed beside him. You had woken up shaking and nauseous, but since he had still been sleeping, you had let him be while you stayed up for hours without closing your eyes again.

Miguel finally broke his silence. "Why didn't you tell me?" He asked. You gave a weak shrug. "Same reason you're not telling me yours," you countered. "It's not easy to talk about."

He didn't reply, but he did pull you closer to him so that you were lying halfway on his body, one of your bare legs draped over his.

Neither of you said anything for a long while.

You reflected on what you had said to him. That was the first time you'd ever told anyone about that particular nightmare. What you had said before was true—it's not easy talking about the things that scared you the most. Even just recalling it out loud made you want to curl up in a ball and hide under the bed, but now, you couldn't deny that you felt lighter, less burdened, less alone.

"It was you."

Miguel's voice was barely above a whisper when he finally interrupted the silence. You raised your head to look at his face again.

"Me?" You repeated quietly.

"You—something was coming for you. I don't know what it was, but I knew it was going to kill you."

His fingers curled into your back like whatever phantom had plagued his dreams was coming for you again. You were silent, barely daring to breathe. You were afraid that if you so much as blinked, he'd clam up again and refuse to tell you what was lingering from his dream.

"I tried running to you," he continued slowly, "but every step, I pushed you further towards whatever...thing was coming for you. And when it got to you..."

He didn't have to finish his sentence. You could see from the shadow that passed over his face that whatever he had seen in his dream hadn't been pretty. He just sighed and stroked your skin slowly.

"Have you ever had that one before?" You asked softly.

He shook his head faintly, and you held him a little tighter. The first time having a particular nightmare was always the worst, the hardest to convince yourself it wasn't real. It was no wonder he shook you off before. In his confusion, he probably still thought you were dead.

"It's over now," you told him quietly. "I'm alright."

Miguel said nothing, his eyes still fixed determinedly on the ceiling. His absent gaze didn't waver for the few heartbeats of silence that followed your words, and you were sure he was replaying the vision of whatever darkness had consumed you in his sleep.

Lifting your head up from his chest, you tried to capture his gaze with your own, but he refused to look at you, almost as if he was afraid that your eyes would be as lifeless as he had seen in his dream.

You cupped his cheek with one hand and gently pulled his face to look at you. He didn't resist, and his eyes finally blinked and met yours.

"It's over now," you repeated softly, "and I'm right here."

Miguel took a moment to study your face, like he was trying to memorize every line and curve that made up your appearance. You didn't move, didn't flinch from his gaze, letting him see for himself the life that still flowed inside you.

After a few seconds, you lowered your lips onto his to let him feel the warmth of your mouth, the heat and desire you had for him. Miguel responded by subtly pulling your body tighter to his as he moved his lips against yours.

Breaking away from you gently, there was the faintest softening of his face. "I'm glad you're here," he murmured quietly.

You felt your face glow at his words. You understood that he meant more than just you being there with him at the moment. He was glad you were alive, glad you were with him through all the shit you both had to deal with.

"Me too," you replied before placing another quick kiss to his lips again.

Settling back down at his side, you casually traced your fingers over his chest. So many reminders, so many terrors. You thought about all the sleepless nights you'd experienced since becoming Spider-Woman, all the strange visions that came to you in your dreams.

"I once had a nightmare that I had to shoot webs out of my ass," you told him in an attempt to lighten the mood.

There was a pause before Miguel huffed out a single, soft breath. "You too?" He replied. Your eyebrows shot up. "You too?" you repeated in surprise, a smile pulling you out of the somber mood. "It must be a canon event for us Spiders."

Miguel hummed and looked up again, and even though there was still that lingering appearance of melancholy, his face seemed more relaxed now. Your ear was pressed against his chest, and you listened to his steady heartbeat. His hand still rubbed your back slowly, the feeling apparently grounding him back to reality.

"You should go back to sleep," he told you. You shook your head. "I'm not tired," you replied. "Are you?"

"Even if I was, I couldn't fall asleep," he said, his eyes fixed on the ceiling above. You nodded. "I get it."

Silence returned.

Your fingers continued stroking his stomach slowly as you replayed his words, and your chest felt warm by what Miguel revealed to you.

He was scared of losing you. The fear of it made stole his breath away and caused his body to quiver. His face had looked haunted as he recovered from his night terror. It was such an intense and visceral reaction to the idea of you dying.

Soaking up his warmth against you, you knew you felt the same way—the same fear, the same helplessness at the thought of losing him. You hadn't even realized how deeply you had fallen for him, hadn't realized how important he was to you until recently. It consumed you so completely that the idea of him not being here with you made stomach tighten nauseously.

Turning your head, you brushed a kiss to his chest. Just a simple touch, just to remind both you and him that he was there now. You felt him shift to look down at you, and you were somewhat surprised when he pressed a soft kiss to your forehead. His lips lingered for a moment before he breathed a sigh against your skin.

Facing up at him, you met his gaze in the dim light. His eyes took in your appearance, and you took in his. An understanding passed between you, one that acknowledged what you were feeling, the fear and anxiety as a result of your feelings for each other. One look that told each other everything you were too afraid to say.

Your lips met his in a soft kiss—slow, gentle, comforting. You broke apart for a mere second before moving into another one, and then another, until he was leaning forward and pulling you in harder against his mouth. Your hand rubbed against his chest more intentionally while his tongue teased at your lips, and you parted to let him taste your mouth with a small moan.

Your heart began pounding in your chest. Each movement he made was slow and sensual, and he took each touch to remind himself that you were alive. His hand roamed up your back to feel your warm skin, and your loud sigh was proof of the breath in your lungs.

Your hand wandered lower and lower down his abdomen, the hard muscles flexing beneath your touch. You reached the band of his briefs before you stopped. Any other night, you would've jumped on him without hesitation, but you found yourself pausing and wondering if making a move for sex was wise.

Pulling away from his lips, you whispered, "Would this make you feel better?" You didn't need to clarify what you meant.

Miguel's eyes were half-lidded as he stared at your face. A faint smile pulled at his lips, the first crack in his wall of gloom, and he raised a hand to brush his fingers across your cheek. "It definitely wouldn't hurt to see," he breathed in reply.

A smirk pulled at your lips. "It could hurt if you want it to," you mused. "Just a little bit." His lips curved up a little more at your implication. Before he could reply, your hand pressed down on his cock over the materials of his briefs.

Miguel bit back a groan. You rubbed your hand over him with tantalizing slowness, watching his face as he closed his eyes and pressed his head back. Kissing his exposed neck, you reveled in his pleasure and pushed down harder against him.

"It doesn't have to hurt, though," you continued quietly in his ear. "It can be soft and gentle." You kissed him again just under his jawline. Under your palm, you could feel him growing hard. You smiled at how your words and some simple touches made him crave you.

"Or it can be hard and rough," you continued, your hand pushing down against him harshly, and you nipped at his ear. Miguel sucked in a sharp breath and pushed his hips upwards into your hand. He groaned your name softly, and just the sound of it made your core grow hot.

You slipped your hand under the black material that strained with his growing bulge. Miguel's breath stuttered as you wrapped your fingers around his hardening cock. "We can do it however you want," you finished with a smug grin.

You could feel his jaw clench under your lips. "Fuck," he breathed softly. You let the single word fuel your movements. You squeezed tightly as you slowly pumped your hands up and down his length. Another soft groan sounded in his throat, and he turned his head to kiss you again.

Still stroking him steadily, you broke away from his lips to ask, "So, how do you want it? Gentle or rough?"

His breath was hot against your mouth before he murmured, "Why choose when we can do both?"

A wicked smile grew on your face, and in a heartbeat, your lips were crashing down on his, devouring and exploring every inch of him. Your hand followed after your mouth's eagerness, stroking him with a stronger need.

Miguel pushed his hips up off the bed in encouragement, and in the same motion, he tugged off his briefs to free himself from the constricting fabric. Now, you could see his full length, so large and stiff that it made you ache.

Your breath grew heavy as your hands continued smoothly sliding up and down his cock. Turning your head, you nuzzled your face beneath his jaw and sucked at the skin of his neck. Miguel seemed utterly paralyzed, and his deep moan tickled your lips.

"Relax," you purred. "I'm gonna take care of you."

Miguel's hand moved under your shirt—his shirt, actually—and up your back. His callouses felt rough against your skin, and they wandered across your body and pulled you closer to him. You nipped gently at his throat, and Miguel's fingers dug into your back.

"Does that feel good?" You asked smugly, already knowing the answer. He nodded in response, his eyes closed tightly as his chest heaved uneven breaths.

"Talk to me," you implored in a smug voice, never slowing your hand's pace. "Does it feel good?"

Miguel was trying his best to answer you, and through his stuttering breath, he managed to sigh, "Yes. God, yes."

You loved the desperate edge in his voice. It sent a thrill running up your body. You lowered your face from his neck to his chest and placed long, wet kisses all over him. A growl sounded in his back of his throat. When you glanced up at his face through your lashes, his eyes were closed, and his head was straining against his pillow as his muscles flexed in pleasure.

"I love hearing you," you murmured against his skin, never ceasing for a moment the stroking movements of your hand. "It makes me so wet, every sound you make."

Hearing your words, Miguel actually moaned, and he pushed his hips up into your hand. The sound went straight to your core. Your blood was growing hot, and the deep throbbing between your legs was almost unbearable. You squeezed your thighs together to try and gain some relief, and you let out a quiet moan of your own.

Miguel must've heard you because something in him snapped. His eyes fluttered open, and he pushed himself up to capture your lips. Your hand increased its pace as Miguel explored your mouth with desperation.

He broke away from you for a second and gasped softly, "I need to feel you."

You smirked and lifted yourself up off his body. His impatient hands began tugging at your shirt, and you had to move your hand away from his cock to allow him to rip it off your body. With the shirt gone, you were left in only a pair of underwear.

Miguel was eager to feel you. He rolled his body onto yours and settled between your legs. As he hovered over you, he had one arm planted on the bed to support himself while the other wandered up your body, feeling your bare skin beneath his palm.

Another soft moan escaped from your lips as his rough hand slid over your body, kneading at one of your breasts as his lips latched onto your neck. Your thighs squeezed around his hips reactively when you felt his hardened length nudging against the soaked fabric of your underwear.

Your desperation to feel him inside you was overwhelming. Letting go of Miguel, you started tugging at the band of your underwear. He knew what you were doing, and so his lips broke away from your neck as he hooked his fingers around the top of your underwear. Sitting up off your body, he pulled them down your legs and tossed them aside.

Miguel stayed sitting upright for a moment, drinking in the sight of your bare body before him. Even in the low light, you were able to see how his eyes burned with desire, how they took in every inch of you with longing.

You looked up at him, too. His body towered over yours. The contours around his muscles were exaggerated by the soft light overhead, making him look like a god. His dark hair was mussed, and strands of it had fallen over his face. Between his powerful thighs, the sight of his cock made you ache.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to how good you look," you said softly.

Miguel's eyes flicked up to your face, a small hint of surprise in his expression. You didn't praise him often enough, you realized. So often, he was the one idolizing your body while you were rendered speechless from his touch. Seeing him now with his god-like physique, you realized Miguel deserved to know how much you loved being with him.

Sitting up, you ran a hand up his sculpted body, feeling the muscles underneath his warm skin. He flexed reactively as your fingers skimmed up to his neck, and you pulled him into another slow kiss.

With your other hand, you reached down and stroked his cock. Miguel let out a low moan against your mouth, making you smile. "I don't think I'll ever get used to how good you sound," you whispered, pulling him back down to the bed.

He followed after you eagerly, his body hovering over yours as he continued kissing you ravenously. Despite being on top of you, Miguel was following submissively with your every physical direction. He was propped up on one elbow while his other hand held your thigh. His body was practically trembling in anticipation while your hand continued stroking him slowly, but he remained hovering over you and waiting for your permission to enter you.

You were just as anxious to feel him inside you. Pulling his head down with one hand to kiss you again, you guided his cock to your soaking entrance.

"Now, remind me of how good you feel," you told him quietly.

Miguel didn't need any more prompting. In one smooth movement, he pushed into you. Your head fell back against the bed with a loud moan as his cock stretched you out. His breath caught in his throat for a moment as he felt the wet warmth of your pussy around him.

"Mierda," he breathed against your neck as he began pumping long, smooth strokes into you. You couldn't even speak from the pleasure that overwhelmed your senses. The most that you could do was force yourself to take ragged breaths while Miguel continued rolling his hips into you, in and out, over and over.

He whispered your name as he pushed himself into you over and over again. You whimpered softly. At the sound of it, Miguel's lips came crashing down against yours, and his tongue explored your mouth with a growing desperation.

"More," you whined into his mouth. "I need more."

Miguel groaned. His movements evolved from strong, steady strokes to relentless, harsh thrusts. You cried out as the sound of him pounding into you echoed around the room, his cock sending pleasure pulsing through your body.

Miguel shifted his body above you. He pushed himself up off his elbow and up onto his knees. With his hands, he gripped you by the waist and hoisted your hips effortlessly into his lap, your back now arched with your shoulders still resting on the bed. Holding you firmly in place, he ever-so-obediently began fucking you mercilessly.

The air was snatched from your lungs as he began driving his cock into you with unrelenting desperation. One of your hand reached up and grabbed the edge of the headboard while the other clawed at the sheets.

Whatever amount of control you'd had over Miguel vanished, and any sort of restraint he'd had before snapped. His cock buried deep inside you and pounded against your G-spot mercilessly. Ragged cries tore from your throat as your whole body began trembling.

“Fuck,” you managed to groan, your fingers clenching around the sheets beneath you. Miguel was ravenous. His large cock stretched you out until it nearly hurt, and his fingers threatened to leave bruises on your hips.

“Like that?” He asked smugly, his words breathless as he continued slamming into you. You whined and nodded, your arms shook with the strain of their grip on the bed. Miguel leaned over your body while keeping your hips up on his thighs, one hand supporting him above you. His lips found one of your breast, and as he fucked you, his ran his tongue over your nipple.

Moaning salaciously, your body trembling as he completely overwhelmed your senses. In his throat, Miguel growled in approval of how you responded to him. His cock continued pounding against your G-spot, and he pulled his head up for just a second to watch your face before he bit down on your nipple.

You cried out as pleasure coursed through you, sending you hurdling into your release. You barely registered how you moaned his name as your climax took over your every faculty. Miguel noticed and gave a few more hard thrusts into you, drawing gasping cries from you.

You were seeing stars as you lost yourself in your bliss. Your body felt electric as Miguel slowed to a stop and pulled away from you, watching you slumped on the bed, unraveling underneath him.

"You look so beautiful when you cum like that," he panted, slowly moving his body further down the bed. "I can't get enough of it."

You moaned, unable to respond to him otherwise. Your heart was pounding furiously in your chest, and you were gulping down deep, uneven breaths. He lowered his face to kiss your neck softly, and you threaded your fingers through his hair. He made you feel like a goddess, and he was your most faithful worshipper.

Your body was still trembling while he placed kisses between your breasts to your stomach. As he moved lower, your eyes fluttered open to look down at him. Through his dark lashes, Miguel was watching your face as his lips trailed lower and lower down your abdomen.

Your body shivered when you realized what he was going to do. "Wait," you gasped quietly, squeezing your legs together around him. Miguel paused right as he was beginning to wrap his arms under your thighs, his gaze restless. He seemed to be exerting all his will to obey your single-word command.

"It's- I'm—," you fumbled for the right words in your unfocused state. Damn him for melting your mind like this, any semblance of rational thoughts shattered by his cock. Taking a steadying breath, you managed to say, "I don't think I can take that right now."

You knew exactly what he could do with his head between your legs, but you were currently still piecing yourself back together, and the thought of him ravaging you with his tongue while you were still coming off of your climax seemed torturous.

Miguel didn't move, but you could see in the dim light how his eyes flashed with need. "I'll be gentle," he promised in a low voice. "I'll go slow. I just want a taste." He shifted, and you noted the restless movement along with the desperate edge in his voice when he added, "Please. Just a taste of you."

Fuck. There was no way you could say no to the sounds of him begging.

In silent reply, you relaxed your legs. Miguel slid his arms under them, his powerful hands gripping your thighs as he pulled them open, baring your soaked cunt before him. His eyes never left yours as he lowered his face down and took a long stroke of his tongue up your pussy.

You couldn't suppress the cry that wrested from your throat. Your whole body felt like it had been set on fire as he licked at you again, a low growl rumbling in the back of his throat as he tasted your desire for him. Your eyes squeezed shut, and your legs fought the iron grip of his hands.

Slowly, gently—just as he promised—Miguel explored your pussy with his mouth. His tongue trailed between your folds, avoiding the very top where your swollen clit was still too sensitive for his touch. You sighed at the feeling, the warmth of his tongue sending delightful shivers across your body.

Moving lower, he slid through your wetness until the tip of his tongue teased the outside of your entrance where his cock had been mere minutes ago. Your breath hitched at the feeling, and Miguel took that as a sign to push his tongue in as deep as it could go.

Your back arched off the bed as he pushed into you slowly again and again. You moaned his name as he tasted you so passionately. Miguel's hands pulled your legs open further while he fucked you just like that, his tongue sliding in and out of you at a pace just inside of what you could handle.

"Mmm, Miguel," you whined, one hand gripping at his hair while the other reached for the headboard again.

It felt so good, impossibly good. Everything he did to you made you wonder how he could possibly be real, how he could possibly be with you. Your first time together, you hadn't thought it would ever happen again, let alone evolve into what you had now. What had started as a one-time fuck was now a constant need to be with each other, to hold each other close and never let go.

Your hips began shifting restlessly under his mouth. Your very blood felt as if it were on fire. Already, he had brought you from being overstimulated to craving another release.

Miguel lifted his face from your pussy for a moment. His glistening lips were parted as he panted lightly, and his eyes were glazed over with lust.

"You taste so good," he murmured, his voice hoarse with desire. "I could eat you out every day if you'd let me." You moaned softly at the thought of it. "I'm not stopping you," you replied breathlessly.

His lips curved up into a smirk before he lowered his head down again to drag his tongue up your cunt, carefully testing your sensitive clit. Your body squirmed under his firm grasp, and you gasped at the hot pleasure coursing through your veins.

Miguel seemed satisfied by your reaction. He took another slow stroke over your sensitivity again, trying to gauge how much you could take now. To answer his unspoken question, you groaned and pressed his head down harder. You felt more than heard his deep chuckle at your wordless instructions, and he obliged you by sealing his lips over your pussy and pressing his tongue against you.

You writhed on the bed, your thighs straining against his hands as he ate you out with greater fervor. Your whines and sighs filled the room, and your grip on the headboard tightened to an almost painful degree.

Miguel sucked, licked, and wholly devoured your cunt. You could feel the pleasure beginning to coil deep inside of you, and he seemed to read it in how your body struggled in his grasp. Falling into a steady pace of strong, even strokes, he moved tirelessly to earn more moans from your lips.

Your fingers gripped his hair tightly, and you glanced down at his face between your legs. His dark eyes were half-lidded and unfocused, completely pussy drunk. In them, you saw his utter surrender to your taste and the complete abandonment of his restraint.

Despite your legs still struggling under his grasp, he released one hand from your thigh, and before you could understand what he was doing, he inserted two fingers into you.

Your hips arched off the bed as a shuddering cry tore through you. His fingers curled inside you, working in tandem with his tongue still swirling around your clit. His pace was unrelenting, desperate, like he needed you to fall apart as much as he needed to breathe. Every nerve was on fire as you felt yourself completely lose yourself in the pleasure of his mouth and fingers.

You might have been screaming, you weren't sure. Every thought and scrap of awareness was washed away by the tidal wave that was your orgasm. Your body felt like it was shattering, and you lost all control of yourself as you lifted your hips off the bed with trembling effort. Miguel stayed securely attached to you, his tongue and fingers working you through it with a final desperation.

"Miguel!" You cried out as you struggled against him, your pleasure an overwhelming force that threatened to tear you apart. He slowed his hands to a gradual stop and raised his head up off of you, his eyes drinking in the sight of you unraveling under him.

"Beautiful," he purred, watching your body as the trembling finally eddied away. "Did that feel good?"

You were still gasping for air, and it took every ounce of your focus to reply, "Yes. Too good. I—I'm gonna need a minute."

His lips curved into a self-satisfied grin, and he placed a soft kiss to the inside of your thigh. "I'll take my time," he replied smugly. He placed another kiss a little higher, and then another on your lower stomach, until he was trailing his lips slowly up your body.

You groaned as he moved higher. Your body was thrumming with the aftermath of pleasure, and you were still breathing heavily when his mouth pressed over one of your breasts. You shivered at the touch of him, his warm tongue swirling around your nipple in lazy circles while his hand palmed your other breast with greed.

"You're insatiable," you groaned. You heard him chuckle quietly. "You say that like it's a bad thing," he said against your soft skin. You hummed, unable to keep the smile from growing on your lips. "It's not," you replied, "but I might not be able to walk tomorrow."

Miguel turned his face up to look at you, a smug grin tugging at his lips. "You need me to carry you around the base?" He asked in amusement.

You actually laughed at him. "Mmm, no. I'd hate to hurt that hard-ass reputation of yours," you told him. He hummed thoughtfully, pressing another kiss to your breast. "I think your reputation would be the one at stake," he replied. "After all, what would people think about you being with a hard-ass like me?"

You chuckled, bringing a hand up to run through his hair. "They'd be jealous," you stated. "I mean, half the Society wants to sleep with you, and the other half is lying about not wanting to."

That earned a low laugh from Miguel, his eyes sparkling in the dim light. "Well," he began slowly, bringing his face up to yours, "I don't want to be with half the Society, or the other half." You smiled up at him, your eyes never leaving his as he rested his forehead against yours.

"Just you," he whispered.

You held his stare and soaked in his presence, the lingering hum of pleasure in your body, the feeling of his heat pressed over you. Your hand slid down from his hair to cup his cheek. If you could stop time and hold onto a moment forever, it would probably be this one.

Gently, you pulled his face down to yours and kissed him. Your taste still lingered there, and after a second, you broke away to whisper, "I was hoping you'd say that."

He chuckled, and before he could respond, you pulled him back into a deep kiss. He parted his lips to slide his tongue against yours. You made a soft noise, and your lips moved against his smoothly, your kisses running together until your breathing grew heavy again.

Miguel, you could tell, was more than eager to be back inside you. His hand palmed your breast hungrily, and his whole body moved with anticipation. You quickly realized, however, that he was still holding out, waiting instead for you to give him permission to continue what you had paused.

You shifted your hips up to him, moaning softly when his cock brushed against your entrance. His breath shuddered, and he looked down at you to read your face. You nodded, answering his silent question before kissing him again.

You moaned into his mouth when he pushed into you once more. He moved slowly, so slowly inside you. Every thrust was long and deep, like he was trying to feel every inch of you. Your breathing was heavy as your fingers dug into the skin of his back.

The pace he set was vastly different than before. His pace was controlled and even, withdrawing all the way to the tip before pushing all the way to the hilt. This wasn't just fucking, you realized—it was love-making. Watching your reactions, waiting for your command, doing everything in his power to please you—Miguel completely encompassed what it meant to be a lover.

He broke away from your lips after a moment to catch his breath. You were both breathing hard, and as he continued moving steadily inside you, his eyes blinked open. They met your own, and he stared down at you with something like reverence in his gaze.

"I'm glad you're here," he gasped softly against your lips.

Your heart skipped a beat as he repeated his words from before. It was one thing hearing it in the quiet calm of lying together, but in the midst of the heat and passion, hearing them again gave them more weight, more substance. Even as he was deep inside you, he was still thinking about how grateful he was for you, that you were with him.

"I'll always be here," you promised quietly.

He let out a soft grunt at your words, his hips driving into with more force. Your eyes rolled back into your head as your whole body moved with each thrust. The rhythmic slapping of his skin against yours filled the air, and you couldn't help the quiet whine that left your throat as he pushed so deeply into you.

Your lips met his again in a desperate kiss. His hips thrust into you harder and faster now. You gasped as he pushed into you with greater need. The feeling of his cock moving deep inside of you was driving you insane, and your desire felt insatiable.

Miguel lowered his head to your neck, his hot breath fanning your skin as he continued passionately driving his cock into you. You felt his teeth graze against you, and a small whimper sounded in your throat. He growled at the sound and nipped gently at your flesh. You gave another small cry at the sensation, your fingers digging into his skin.

"You're so responsive," he murmured without lifting his head. "Every noise you make drives me crazy."

You moaned again for him. "It's because you feel so good," you whispered to him. "God, how do you always feel so fucking good?"

He groaned, thrusting into you over and over again with endless passion. Under his breath, he whispered your name. You could feel his hand sliding up your torso, until at last it found your own hand. His fingers entwined in yours and pinned it to the bed above your head.

You stared up at Miguel when he rested his forehead on yours. His eyes were closed as he fully immersed himself in the pleasure of your cunt. Small grunts sounded in his throat as he moved passionately in you, growing more and more hungry for his release until he couldn't hold back his sounds anymore.

With every thrust, he groaned softly in your ear. You wrapped your legs around his waist, urging him to push deeper. You could feel how the hand that was entwined in yours trembled, and his arm that supported him above you buckled at the elbow.

"Fuck," he whispered, his voice taut. "I don't think I can last—"

You didn't let him finish his sentence before you yanked his mouth down to yours again. His moan tickled your lips as your tongue slid against his, and he shifted his body to release your hand. Before you could mourn the loss of that intimate connection, Miguel's hand drifted down your body until his thumb brushed just above where his cock was moving in and out of you.

You gasped as white-hot pleasure shot through you. Your thighs trembled with every circle he made over your clit, in time with each drive of his cock. Digging your fingers into his skin, you held him tightly while you cried out at his perfect touch.

"Oh god, Miguel," you whined, unable to say anything else. His thumb worked rhythmically, pressing down just hard enough that your hips bucked against him. He was breathing hard above you, thrusting with deep, hard strokes.

Your body tightened, and your breathing was growing shallow. You could scarcely think about anything as you felt yourself growing closer and closer to the edge of your release. Miguel, you knew, was also growing closer based on his grunts of pleasure.

You managed to look up at him and were immediately captivated by his face. His dark hair had fallen over his forehead which glistened with sweat. His full lips were parted as he panted, and his eyes were focused on you. His gaze was electrifying, and as he stared down at you, he whispered your name so softly, so reverently, that you could barely hear it over the sounds your bodies were making.

That was all it took to send you over the edge. You were barely able to make more than a strangled cry as your climax racked your body. Every nerve was set ablaze as wave after wave of indescribable pleasure crashed over you. Your back arched off the bed, and you pulled him down in a tight embrace, your shuddering body pressed against him.

Miguel became ravenous at the sight of your undoing. His hand moved quickly from your clit to wrap under your back as he gave himself over to his desire. His hard thrusts had you clawing at his back, completely overwhelmed with the sensation of his cock slamming into you.

Just as you were coming down from your high, Miguel found his. His body tensed and stilled, a loud, gasping moan filling the air as he spilled himself inside you.

Your body still trembled against his while you both gasped for breath. His skin felt hot and alive, and in the stillness between you, he pressed a sloppy kiss to your neck. Against your chest, you felt Miguel's erratic heart hammering in time with yours. You moaned as he rolled his hips into yours with a few lazy thrusts before he pulled out of you entirely.

You remained sprawled out on the bed while Miguel collapsed next to you with a grunt. For a while, it was silent except for the sounds of your heavy breathing. One of your arms was pressed against his, and the other was draped across your face as you recovered from the intensity of what he had just done to you.

Noticing your posture, Miguel turned to you and brushed his fingers across your cheek. "Are you okay?" He asked softly.

You huffed out a breath, your arm sliding off your face as you looked at him with a smirk. "You just made me cum three times," you told him. "I would say I'm better than okay."

His lips tilted up in a smile at you, and his eyes studied your face intently, taking in every detail of your features. You remembered then why he was even awake, how you were startled from sleep by his thrashing. You had almost forgotten about the terror you had seen in his face earlier that night.

As you leaned your face into his hand, you asked, "Are you okay?" He considered you for a moment, his subtle smile still on his lips. "I just made you cum three times, I'm better than okay," he replied smugly.

Your smile widened, and you rolled your eyes. "You're unbearable," you mumbled, causing him to chuckle. His fingers still traced over your skin, and he added quietly, "I'm always okay when I'm with you."

Your face softened. In the low light, you could just make out his features, the shape of his lips, the angle of his cheekbones, the honesty in his eyes. He was only ever like this, open and vulnerable, with you in bed, still coming off of the high of an orgasm. Outside of sex, he mostly interacted with you through sharp wit and banter. This was the only time he ever lowered his walls enough for you to see soft side of him.

Instead of responding to him, you moved closer until your lips met his gently. You held the kiss for a moment before resting your head down on the pillow next to him, looking into his face with admiration. He stared back at you for a moment with a faint smile on his lips until he closed his eyes as his smile faded, and he let out a deep sigh.

"Hmm?" You hummed questioningly.

"Hmm?" He echoed back, his eyes still closed.

"That sigh—what are you thinking about?" You asked him.

The corner of his lips quirked up. "Maybe I'm sighing just to sigh," he pointed out. You gave a disbelieving scoff. "A likely story," you replied sarcastically.

His smile widened, and he finally opened his eyes to look at you again. You stared at each other for a quiet moment, each waiting for the other to say something. Finally, he sighed again, and you smiled up at him questioningly.

"What?" You prompted quietly.

His faint grin disappeared from his lips, and his eyes roamed over ever inch of your face. "I just—I don't think you realize," he said at last, "the power you have over me."

You blinked in surprise. Whatever you had expected him to say, it wasn't that. Miguel must've read the emotions in your face because he smiled softly again and closed his eyes. "Too much power," he added quietly.

Your heart fluttered in your chest, and your cheeks grew warm. He so rarely ever admitted that he cared about you. Despite all the nights like these, sweaty and breathless, and despite the pretty things he’d say in the heat of the moment, and despite the special gifts and treatment he gave you, Miguel hardly ever expressed with words how he felt about you. So, when he did, you often found yourself flustered by those rare confessions.

"Well," you began slowly, "I've heard that with great power comes—"

Miguel groaned, cutting you off. "Don't finish that sentence," he grumbled as he pulled you over to him so that your back pressed against his chest. You giggled, knowing that Miguel had probably heard every variation of your mantra during his time in the multiverse.

He nestled his face against your neck and wrapped his arm around your torso. His warmth enveloped you, and his breath tickled your skin. You rested your arm over his, entwining your fingers together.

"You have power over me, too," you told him quietly. "Way too much."

Miguel didn't say anything in response. A small part of you wondered if he had heard you, but then, he placed a lingering kiss on your shoulder and sighed.

"You should get some sleep," he said at last. "I'm sorry for waking you." You chuckled. "Well, I'm not," you replied wryly, earning a huff of amusement from him. "And I need to get cleaned up."

He grunted his understanding, tightening his hold on you for just a moment before pulling his arm away to allow you to slip out of bed to the bathroom. When you returned, Miguel had the covers pulled back up, and his breathing was deep and slow.

You slid between the sheets and curled against his side. Even as he was drifting off, his arms pulled you into an embrace. Your own eyes felt heavy now that all your arousal had been satisfied. As you drifted off into sleep, you couldn't tell if you imagined it or if he really did mumble one last time, "I'm glad you're here."

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oliversrarebooks · 1 year ago

Note

Have you considered what Oliver would be like as a vampire? I think he would be nice, with an aura like when you’re all cozy in bed and don’t have to get up, you can just enjoy the coziness. Treating any thrall he picked up with respect and intelligence, like a student and their favorite teacher.

Masterlist

September 1925 - In another universe...

TW: mind control, hypnotic induction

Pines Rare Books and Curiosities was probably Lex's greatest find since he'd arrived in the city.

It was a tiny shoebox of a store in a run-down district, but every single inch was packed with the most unusual and fascinating books. Not only did Mr. Pines stock hard to find imported books and gorgeous editions of classics, but many eclectic volumes of the kind Lex would never find in his university's library. Books on vampires and werewolves, on witchcraft and magic, on alchemy and sorcery and divination.

Lex was starting to suspect that the nervous-looking, unassuming proprietor might actually be a wizard.

"Good evening, sir," said Mr. Pines -- he always called Lex 'sir' when greeting him, even though Lex was barely twenty and Mr. Pines must be at least a decade older. "Is there anything in particular you're looking for?"

Lex felt a bit guilty about spending so much time in the shop and only occasionally buying anything, but Mr. Pines didn't seem to mind. If anything, he encouraged the company, offering books he thought Lex might enjoy and even allowing him to sit in one of the plush chairs behind the counter to read. Lex couldn't resist, drawn to the books and the comfortable chair and the always-roaring fireplace like a moth to the flame. It was such a peaceful retreat from the loud commotion of campus life.

There was a strange look in Mr. Pines' eye as he pulled something from behind the counter. It was a notebook bound in blue leather with no title on the front. "If you don't mind..." he said. "I've been working on writing some stories of my own. I'd like some opinions on them, and I know you have a discerning taste in literature."

"You want me to read your stories?" said Lex, surprised. "Well... I suppose I'd be happy to." Just because Mr. Pines was smart and well-spoken was no guarantee that his writing would actually be good, but Lex felt flattered that he'd asked, and it was the least he could do considering how often he used the bookshop as a sanctuary.

"Then please, have a seat," said Mr. Pines, gesturing to one of the plush chairs near the fire. "I do appreciate the help."

Lex took the notebook and settled himself down. The fire was warm as usual and smelled especially nice today. "What's that scent from the fire, Mr. Pines?"

"Oh, I added dried herbs tonight. The weather has been gloomy, so I thought some nice calming herbs would improve the mood."

Lex took a deep breath. It was so relaxing in the bookshop, as though he could simply let his cares melt away. The notebook had beautiful creamy paper that was satisfying to touch, and Mr. Pines had written out his story in neat script that was easy to read. Before long, Lex was starting to be engrossed in it.

The story followed a vampire, alone and starving in the city after his sire had died, fighting his urges to drink from humans even as he was haunted by the threat of starvation. While it was a straightforward plot, the way it was written was riveting, as though he was actually there, experiencing the feelings of the vampire. At one point, he vaguely wondered how much time had passed, but he couldn't even bring himself to look away from the book long enough to check his watch.

The vampire was giving into his urges, now. He'd lured a young man from a cafe and was ensorcelling him, binding him to the vampire's will. The book described in loving detail how the young man began to succumb slowly but surely to the vampire's hypnotic spell... his mind dulling and slowing, his eyelids growing oh-so-heavy, helplessly getting sleepier and sleepier as the vampire pulled him deeper under his power...

Lex yawned. The descriptions of the young man getting so drowsy were starting to make him feel drowsy, too. The smell of the calming herbs and the pleasant heat of the fire were also lulling him asleep. He'd been here a while, he thought. He should check the time. But he wanted to keep reading.

The young man's eyes began to flutter closed against his will as the vampire drew him so close. "It's too late for you to fight," said the vampire in the story. "You belong to me."

"Yes... master..." said the poor human victim, his mind struggling against the words, trying to fight off the sleepy haze and escape. But it was no use -- the vampire had him utterly at his mercy.

The human's eyes shut tight as he swooned in the vampire's arms, exposing his tender neck for the monster to drink, to feed, to replenish himself off of the victim's life-force...

Lex startled awake. It wasn't as though the book was boring -- on the contrary, it was fascinating -- but the quiet, peaceful shop and the subject matter had him half-asleep. He wanted to finish the story, but he wasn't quite sure where he'd left off. Maybe he should reread the entire part of the vampire enthralling the human, just to make sure he hadn't missed anything...

"What are you doing to me?" said the human in the story. "I feel so strange... so sleepy..."

"Oh, you poor helpless soul," said the vampire, stroking his cheek and directing the human's gaze into his eyes. "You will sleep. You will obey. You will not resist."

Lex swallowed. He didn't understand why he felt so drawn to the victim in the story, why he wanted to be in his place. Why he wanted to read the passage over again. Why it was so hard to think of anything else. Surely that was an insane thought -- no one of sound mind would want to be captured and fed on by some supernatural monster.

"You're getting so sleepy, so helpless, so vulnerable," said the vampire, on Lex's fifth or sixth reread of the passage.

The words blurred before his eyes. He was... he was so sleepy...

"Shhh, Lex," said a gentle, kind voice at his ear, as a hand tousled his hair. "You're so sleepy, aren't you?"

"Mr... Mr. Pines..." said Lex, so groggy, like he was trying to rouse himself from a deep slumber. "I'm -- your book --"

"So quiet, Lex. You're so very quiet, aren't you? So still and silent while you read."

Quiet... still... silent... yes, that was it... he'd always cherished the quiet...

"Your mind is so quiet. So utterly still. Falling asleep with a good book by the fire."

"Mmmm," he said, with a sleepy smile on his face.

"Let me take this," said Mr. Pines, removing the book from Lex's hands. "You're going to fall asleep now, Lex. And your mind is going to go completely quiet."

Lex didn't even register that something was wrong, that maybe he should resist. He felt completely at ease, peaceful and warm and comforted. As his drowsy eyes fluttered closed, a wool blanket was being wrapped around him, cocooning and immobilizing him. He was being picked up with a strength that may have worried him if his mind weren't falling asleep.

He didn't want to ask where he was going. He wanted to be quiet.

"Sleep, Lex. Sleep deeply in the dark and the silence."

Lex felt as if he were being gently rocked to sleep as he was carried, the creak of stairs giving the only indication of where he was being taken.

He was set back down again in a few minutes. "You're going to be completely still, Lex. Completely asleep. You won't make a sound. You're going to feel a little pain, but it won't wake you up. And then you're going to drift even deeper asleep."

Lex may have nodded his assent if he weren't so still.

The blanket was being moved, his shirt unbuttoned and moved aside. Something sharp grazed his neck, and then punctured. And then he was falling, falling so deep asleep, so deeply drowsy and still and silent --

He flickered very briefly back into consciousness as he was set onto a bed, before sleep dragged him under once more.

Masterlist Next

I was happy with how this AU scenario turned out! There will be a part two.

@d-cs @latenightcupsofcoffee @thecyrulik @dismemberment-on-a-tuesday-night @wanderinggoblin @whumpyourdamnpears @only-shadows-dwell-where-we-are @pressedpenn @pigeonwhumps @amusedmuralist @xx-adam-xx @ivycloak @irregular-book @whumpsoda @mj-or-say10 @pokemaniacgemini @whumpshaped @whumpsday @morning-star-whump @shinyotachi @silly-scroimblo-skrunkl @steh-lar-uh-nuhs @pirefyrelight @theauthorintraining-blog @whump-me-all-night-long @anonfromcanada @typewrittenfangs @tessellated-sunl1ght @cleverinsidejoke @abirbable @ichorousambrosia @a-formless-entity @annablogsposts @ghost-whump

#whump #vampire #mind control #whump writing #whumpee #vampire whumper #rare bookseller #alexander #oliver #role reversal au #hypnosis #hypnotic induction

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pianokantzart · 10 months ago

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The Super Mario Bros. Redux (Pt. 2)

What would happen if, in The Super Mario Bros. Movie, after Mario and Luigi are separated, Mario was the one who ended up in the clutches of Luigi’s eventual arch nemesis, while Luigi teamed up with some of his own close allies to go rescue him?

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8 ________

While on the train, E. Gadd and Luigi mostly keep to themselves. Luigi stares silently out the window trying to absorb everything that's happened while the professor tinkers with his vaccuum device, which Luigi now knows to be The Poltergust 3000. However, as night begins to fall, E. Gadd finally breaks the silence between them.

He asks about the tools Luigi carries and mentions that though they seem to be mainly for plumbing, there's a few mixed in that are better suited for engine repair. Luigi explains that while he and his brother's main profession is as plumbers, he does like to tinker a little– mostly fixing up the van or repairing household appliances.

E. Gadd seems happy to meet another tinkerer– even one so inexperienced in comparison– and asks Luigi if he ever considered a change of careers. Luigi declines, insisting he'd never leave his brother, saying he is "twice the plumber than I am a mechanic."

E. Gadd notes how much Luigi seems to admire his brother. Luigi confirms wholeheartedly and gushes about how great Mario is until he gets caught up in how much he misses him. Not wanting to make a scene by getting choked up, he distracts himself by asking E. Gadd about his work, and if he himself has a partner.

The Professor explains he's an inventor, and though his experiments are fairly eclectic his main area of expertise is ghosts and spirits. As for a work partner, he dismisses the very notion. He has happily lived and worked alone his entire life, and would have been perfectly content to stay that way had ghosts not raided his lab back in Evershade Valley.

Luigi– just now learning that Evershade Valley was E. Gadd's home– offers his condolences, but Elvin shrugs him off and assures that it's fine, as he's already working on a solution.

Suddenly, the train screeches to a stop, and the lights overhead shut off. Luigi starts growing nervous, and assures himself out loud that it's probably only a minor problem, and they'll be back on track in no time.

The Professor isn't so sure. He pulls out his handheld device he had used earlier (which looks uncannily like a Nintendo DS) and examines the readings. He gives a foreboding "oh dear," and Luigi asks what's wrong.

E. Gadd explains that many kingdoms have at least one haunted location, called a "ghost house." The Birabuto Kingdom is no exception, and they were passing by that very house at that moment. While the ghosts who resided there usually kept to themselves unless their home was invaded, the shattered Dark Moon likely allowed them to target any living thing passing through the area.

Then, a creepy, raspy voice comes on over the intercom: "Please remain in your seats. We will be with you shortly! Hee hee hee hee!"

Luigi lets out a little squeak of terror and curls up tighter into his seat. E. Gadd gets up and starts walking toward the engine room, lighting his way with a flashlight at the end of the nozzle of The Poltergust 3000.

"Professor!" Luigi calls in a frightened whisper "What are you doing!?" "Relax Kiddo, I catch ghosts all the time!" E. Gadd assures, giving Luigi a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "It's like riding a bike for me! You just sit back, I'll be back in a jiffy!"

Professor E. Gadd makes his way to the train's engine room. As he suspected, the drivers are knocked out, and a large band of about ten boos are wreaking havoc. Among them is a ghost dog, though it merely seems to be innocently concerned with the unconscious drivers, playfully sniffing them, nudging them, and bounding around their sleeping bodies.

The Professor wastes no time confronting the spirits, but as they fight back he is quickly overwhelmed.

Before any true harm can befall E. Gadd, Luigi suddenly appears in the doorway and rushes to his aid.

With E. Gadd struggling to get back to his feet, Luigi takes possession of The Poltergust and– though visibly panicking– makes quick work of all the ghosts except two: a single boo that flies off through an open window, and the dog ghost who phases into a nearby wall.

E. Gadd, dazed but ultimately uninjured, compliments the still trembling Luigi on his skills with The Poltergust. Though he is a little annoyed that the device was taken without permission, he confesses that the outcome more than makes up for it.

After E. Gadd and Luigi check on the drivers and confirm they too are unharmed, they look over the engine. Thankfully, all damage is surface level, and after getting the lights back on Luigi and E. Gadd work together to get the control panel functioning again.

Then they return to their seats, E. Gadd assuring the confused fellow passengers that it was merely a small electrical error that had now been repaired. After a moment the dazed voice of one of the train drivers speaks over the intercom, apologizing for the delay as the engine revs back up, and Luigi and E. Gadd continue toward the capital of The Birabuto Kingdom.

The scene transitions to Evershade Valley where, deep below the foundations of the mansion Mario had attempted to seek refuge in, phantoms twirl around a grand, ghostly ballroom, overseen by a giant dark-eyed boo in a gemstone crown.

The little boo who had avoided capture on the train suddenly enters. Once he finds the courage to uncover his face, he reports to his king that recent efforts to stop E. Gadd from reaching The Birabuto Kingdom have failed.

King Boo demands to know how the mission could've possibly been a failure considering the numbers they had at their disposal and how frail and weak E. Gadd has gotten over the years.

The boo explains that E. Gadd wasn't alone this time and that another human was with him, young and strong, wielding The Poltergust 3000 in the scientist's stead.

King Boo demands a name. The smaller boo doesn't know, but can give a description: mustachioed, big nosed, and dressed in a hat and overalls.

This intrigues the king. He dismisses the frightened boo and calls upon Boolossus, telling him to bring his newest painting to The Secret Altar beneath the courtyard.

#Mario Movie #Mario Movie AU #Luigi #Super Mario Bros #Super Mario Brothers #King Boo #The Super Mario Bros. Redux #super mario bros redux au

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sunkissedlucida · 2 years ago

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beautiful boy

Miles Quaritch x baby! Miles Socorro x deceased! Reader

— Life has lost its color to Quaritch since your recent passing. He continues to mourn over the loss while raising his infant son. But one night and a John Lennon song later, he feels a little more hopeful for the future.

A/N: Been simping for this man longer than I knew what love was. Guess I'm adding another fandom to my list!

Miles wakes up in the middle of the night. Flood lights of the base peek through the slightly open curtains. The starry night sky of Pandora remains visible during early hours like this. He looks over to the crib beside the bed, where he sees his baby boy fussing and crying.

"Shh," says Miles, still half-awake. "You're okay."

He sits up with a grunt. He walks over to the crib and reaches out to hold his son. The baby squirms and wails under his hold, reaching for comfort.

You were always a light sleeper, so you would usually wake up before him when the baby cried. You'd comfort him better than the colonel could. But now you're gone, leaving your husband half of what he once was. One of the few people keeping Miles together is your one-year-old son, who is also his namesake. Your little miracle and greatest joy.

The baby's diaper needs changing, so Miles puts him back down to get a new pair. His hands are shaking from exhaustion, but he manages to change the diaper without much struggle. Afterward, his son's cries diminish to whimpers and sniffling. Miles carries him and walks over to the couch. He sits down, sighing at no sight of tissues on the coffee table. He moves his hand under his shirt and uses the fabric to wipe the snot off his son's nose. If you were here, you'd be complaining about how he couldn't just look for one in the cabinets you painstakingly organized. What he'd give to hear you again.

It's been months since your death, and nothing has changed for the better to him. The world stops turning whenever the baby cries, and he can barely bring himself to eat. With his wife gone, it feels like he's not doing anything right anymore. It's simply harder to get through the day.

Miles looks down at the little one. "What's wrong, Junior? Had a nightmare?"

He looks back at his son's wide, glassy eyes. His lip quivers like he can read his father's mind. The infant nuzzles his chest with a tiny fist gripping his shirt. The sight tears his heart to shreds, knowing things can't go back to the way it was. No form of revenge against who or what killed you can bring you back. It's a lesson he learned the hard way.

"I miss her too, kid." Miles holds Junior tighter, placing kisses on his forehead.

He whispers, eyes brimming with tears, "Mommy's gone now, but I'll never let anything happen to you. Stay strong, alright?"

The child calms down and snuggles into his shoulder. Miles strokes his soft curls, closing his eyes as the two sit in silence. His calloused hands envelops his son like a blanket. Later, soft snores put his mind to rest. As his body relaxes, the tears finally stop threatening to fall.

The silence haunts him. It reminds him of how you'd fill it by playing your favorite song before bed. It is old, but it is a classic, as you would say. Miles hums the tune to himself, trying to keep the memories alive even though you're not here to show him the right notes.

"Close your eyes,

Have no fear,

The monster's gone,

He's on the run, and your daddy's here."

As he rubs the infant's back, he wonders if his son will remember that song. Will he grow up to carry the same love for music as you? Maybe one day, when he's older, he'll tell his father that you were the reason why he fell asleep every night. That the melody made him feel safe and brought him comfort. A reminder of the love that he had, and one that would always be there.

"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy."

He's not sure how long he's been humming the song, but he realizes he's singing out loud. He hears the familiar lyrics coming from his throat.

The baby stirs in his arms, smiling as he snuggles closer. Miles smiles too, looking down at his son and crooning,

"Before you go to sleep

Say a little prayer

Every day in every way, it's getting better and better."

The world around him disappears. All that remains is the happiness he feels at being loved by someone he created with you. Something tells him that things are going to be okay, even if it's not now. Someday, both of them will be alright. For now and always, they have each other.

"Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful

Beautiful boy."

#colonel quaritch #avatar quaritch #miles quaritch #quaritch x reader #avatar #avatar movie #miles socorro #spider socorro #spider avatar #sunny writes

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igakc · 2 years ago

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Take It Easy - Chapter 2

Spider plopped down at his desk with a heavy sigh. He didn't mean to snap at Kiri and Lo'ak, or maybe he did. Nonetheless, it was still mean and he'd have to apologize to them the next time they visited. Well- That is talking in the sense that they will visit again. After his little outburst he was sure that they'd given up on him. Although he was used to it, 'it' being the abandonment, it didn't stop the pain that lingered in his chest.

But like he said, he was used to it. So he'd do what he always did. He'd move on with his life.

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The sun hadn't risen yet, which meant that no one on base was awake. Except for the few who strayed a bit too far from their beds, like Spider Socorro. The kid never slept through the night, it was almost like he was some sort of nocturnal species. He'd go to sleep at a late hour and be awake by 4:00AM, perched on top of his rock wall or scrubbing his hair in the showers. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sit still.

No one had asked him why, and he wasn't even sure he had an answer for whoever would. Maybe he'd say that being active kept him happy, or it felt good to be doing something. But the real truth was that if he sat still for too long, he would be opening himself up to the thoughts that darkened whatever horizons he found himself facing. The thoughts that haunted him every night, the thoughts that maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't belong anywhere. Ever.

Not the labs, not airlock, not Room, not Earth, and definitely not Pandora.

And those were scary thoughts for a sixteen-year-old to go through, especially one who hadn't received an ounce of affection in his life. Especially one who-

Crap. He'd been sitting too long.

Spider rubbed away the sorry excuses for tears that had been forming in his eyes. He let his hands wander back down to rest on his desk, the windows at the top of Room casting beams of moonlight around him. It made for a pretty melancholic scene, it could've been an album cover. The song would probably be called 'come pick up your depressed and lonely child please'.

Spider cracked a smile at that one.

He shook his head before standing up, the legs of his chair scraping along the wooden floor noisily. Luckily there were no Na'Vi on base. Otherwise, he would've been caught. Advanced hearing and all.

His fingers skimmed over one of the many bookshelves, lightly tracing each and every cover. Spider had no intention of reading them, he had outgrown his reading a long time ago. Back on Earth, he wouldn't need to know about the stars, since according to Norm, he wouldn't have been able to see them anymore anyways.

Norm was a pretty smart guy, according to Jake. The man possessed the personality perfectly suited for a scientist, but something was missing in him. A gaping hole.

Spider knew that hole all too well. Hell- He lived in it.

But unlike Norm's habit of trying to fill up the hole with healthy things like studying or cooking, Spider filled the hole with junk. Porn magazines that he stole from Jake's old room, expired beer that made him feel more nauseous than drunk, the occasional wallow in self-pity with sad music playing in the background. Sometimes Spider would try to do something worth while, maybe clean up the lab one day or cook everyone a nice dinner, but it always ended up ruined. He couldn't even blame anyone, because every time it was his mistake.

He'd knocked over a beaker of acid over important paper-work one time, and almost burnt down half of Hell's Gate the other time.

But at least he tried.

That Spider was long gone now, though. That was the Spider who tried to get the scientists to like him, that was the Spider who wanted the scientists to like him.

All that was left now was an empty shell of a human being.

An empty shell that kept zoning out when he needed to focus.

"Focus." He whispered to himself, snapping out of his daze. He looked down to check his watch. "Only two more hours until 7AM. That's time for one book."

Or one beer.

Spider bit his tongue as if deep in thought, before letting his shoulders curl inwards. Beer it is.

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"What the fuck happened, Norm? You said he was fine here!"

"How was I supposed to know he was getting drunk every night, Jake? Did you want me to check all of the security cameras before going to sleep? We thought we could trust him."

"I can't believe this. Spider could've died. I expected you to be more vigilant!"

"You expected me to be more vigilant? I didn't even want to look after Quaritch's kid, Jake! I've tried my best, he's impossible to communicate with. I'd like to see you try to talk with him."

"You know how Neytiri feels about him-"

"Neytiri isn't here though, is she?"

"What's that supposed to mean-"

"It means that Neytiri isn't a factor in this. This is between me and you. Who's going to take care of Spider until he turns eighteen, because we're sure as hell not going to do it?"

Take care of Spider?

He could take care of himself, thank you very much! He'd been doing it for the past sixteen years. Jake never tried to be his father or stay longer than necessary. The Na'Vi kept Spider just out of reach, just close enough for him to get attached and then thrust aside once again. It sucked balls.

"Norm. You said you could handle this, you promised. Neytiri and I have Tuk now, we can't be raising another kid." Jake Sully sighed, one hand perched on his hip, the other on his forehead.

Norm peered up at him with a scowl on his face, the sight reminded Jake of when he first joined the Avatar program, when Norm despised him. "Well what if I don't want to handle it anymore, Jake? Max and I have studies to do, we have jobs! Spider is old enough to live in the forest with your family, we have Exo-Packs that will last long enough."

Spider listened to the conversation in his curled-up state, not bothering to move an inch to let his presence known. He wanted to hear this conversation, he knew it was a turning point in his life.

Norm had never admitted his dislike for Spider, and that's what kept Spider there. Alive. Long story short, Norm's tolerance of Spider kept him from placing his life in the hands of Eywa.

So what did Spider really have to live for if not for Norm?

He knew it sounded stupid, he knew it sounded absolutely ridiculous to put an important aspect at such risk. But Norm was the only one who looked out for him, in a very basic sense, but still.

Spider's eyelids fluttered as he tried to contain the tears shoving mercilessly at them. Jake's response was long-awaited, and Spider knew it would just be another punch to his already bruised gut.

"I-.."

"I don't want Spider with my family. Lo'ak and Kiri are preparing for their Iknimaya, and Tuk is still growing up. Not to mention how Neytiri would feel about it.."

"I don't think it's a good idea for him to be with us anymore."

Well there you have it then.

I don't think it's a good idea for him to be with us anymore.

Jake couldn't have been clearer.

An uncomfortable silence settled over the room, heavy like the fog that clouded Spider's mind. Oh, how he wished he could've been anywhere else. In Room painting on his wall, reading a book about the newest constellation he'd discovered, swimming in the training pools.

It's funny how he never realized how much he missed Room until he wasn't in it anymore.

It was beginning to feel like he wouldn't get to see Room again, his closest friend, and it was a fucking room.

That's all Room was. A room.

A room that he had convinced himself was living. A room where he felt safe and content, and sometimes lonely. But Room kept him warm when Norm couldn't, and Room never turned him away.

And. It. Was. A. Fucking. Room.

Maybe Spider would be happy if his only friend wasn't a room inside an old military base. Maybe that's what he needed, a friend. A friend on Earth.

Norm let out a string of incomprehensible curses before storming out of the room, leaving Jake and Spider alone.

"Fuck this shit." Jake turned and walked off in the opposite direction, and Spider wasn't sure it was the right one. Oh well, at least now he could wallow in his own filth.

Only then did he open his eyes. And boy, was it horrible.

His vision was hazy, and it just wouldn't focus on anything. His stomach was coiled tight and cramping painfully, a dull ache crawling its way up his chest and throat. He realized what was happening a little too late as he sat up, thick streams of vomit pouring out from his mouth as he gagged and wretched.

"Fan-fucking-tastic." Spider muttered, wiping his mouth weakly with the back of his hand. He slid off the table, a sigh leaving his lips. As he walked in the same direction as Jake, he created a checklist in his head.

Shower and get this disgusting vomit off.

Pack up his things.

Say goodbye to Room.

Leave.

It would be easier said than done.

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*me giving the most traumatized characters more trauma*

Anyways- ONE OF MY FAVOURITE AVATAR WRITERS REPOSTED THE FIRST CHAPTER!?!?!? WHAT? I'm sobbing.

Also Spider is so Merida from Brave and Rapunzel from Tangled idc if they're princesses :) The wall of stars is heavily based off of Rapunzel's paintings of the lanterns because why not?

Oh also- Does anyone know how to add a link to a chapter on Tumblr? I'm so lost :')

#Miles “Spider” Socorro #Avatar #ATWOW #Jake Sully #Norm Spellman #Max Patel #Sad #Depressing Stuff #lo'ak te suli tsyeyk'itan #kiri te suli kìreysì'ite #tuktirey te suli neytiri'ite #neteyam te suli tsyeyk'itan #neytiri te tskaha mo'at'ite #Spider Socorro #Spider Avatar #James Cameron #Avatar 2009 #Drunk #Alcohol

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the-fiction-witch · 19 days ago

Text

Welcome

Media - House of Anubis Character - Jerome Clarke Couple - Jerome X Reader Reader - y/n Rating - 12 Word Count - 1191

Fictional Advent Day Three

Jerome felt like utter shit. He always did around this time of year. Classes had ended for the term and everyone in Anubis's house packed up to go home for the holiday break. To go and spend Christmas with their families. But Not Jerome. His mother was going off on some cruise with her new boy toy. His sister heading off to some little Christmas camp meant for little kids. And he was stuck here. The school let him stay in Anubis house for the two-week break meaning he'd be alone in the creepy place until everyone got back. He slowly bid everyone goodbye as they got picked up by family and taken home. So he sat in the living room with his book staring at the small tree Trudy had put up during December along with other decor around the house to yet them all feel merry for the holidays, of course below the tree was empty of anything other than fallen needles.

Y/n made her way downstairs with her suitcase sitting it by the front door and checking her phone. She spotted Jerome and immediately felt so guilty about leaving, and she knew she needed to see him before she goes anyway, so she softly smiled heading over, "Hey,"

“Hey, Y/n,” Jerome replied lazily, not bothering to look up from the book he was pretending to read. “Just waiting for the isolation to kick in.” He glanced at her briefly before returning his gaze to the pages.

Y/n half smiled and sat herself on the sofa arm, "You sure you'll be okay here on our own?"

“I'm fine, Y/n,” Jerome said dryly, not looking up from his book. “I've survived worse things than a couple of weeks alone in this dump.” He paused, flipping the page with a careless flick of his wrist. “Besides, I have my trusty company the ghosts of Anubis House.”

Y/n laughed "Watch out for the headless lady she'll get ya." she joked

“Ha ha, real original, Y/n,” Jerome deadpanned, “The headless lady's been trying to kill me since freshman year. I'm surprised she hasn't gotten bored yet.”

Y/n nodded, "You know if you want I'm happy to stay with you-"

“No, no, don't be ridiculous,” Jerome interrupted, waving his hand dismissively, “You need to get home and celebrate Christmas with your family. Besides, I can handle myself against the headless lady.” He flashed Y/n a charming smile, though his eyes betrayed a hint of loneliness beneath the surface.

Y/n didn't believe his tough guy act so she softly brushed her hand against his arm, "I know you’re uhh… way too cool for this kinda thing, but I know my parents love you. They wouldn't mind you coming to stay with us over the holidays. we can decorate, go for Christmas light walks, make cookies, I know they wouldn't mind."

Jerome's mask slipped for a moment, and he looked away, his expression softening slightly as Y/n's touch sent a flutter through his chest. “…thanks. That's really sweet of you.” He cleared his throat, attempting to regain his composure. “But I'm not exactly the cookie-baking type.” For a moment, Jerome let himself imagine what it would be like to spend Christmas with Y/n's family, surrounded by warmth and laughter instead of the eerie silence of Anubis House. To snuggle up with Y/n under a blanket while the snow falls, to walk around her home town and see all the beautiful lights, to bake ugly messy Christmas cookies with her, have dinner with her family up a long table with delicious home-cooked food. But then his pride kicked in, and he shook off the sentimentality. “No no, it's okay. I don't want to impose. You go and have fun though” Jerome told her even if he did want to just say screw it and go with her,

“Okay… if you're sure” Y/n nodded knowing she couldn’t force him,

“Positive,” Jerome lied, forcing a smile onto his face, “Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.” He stood up, walking with Y/n to the door, “It's not every day you get to spend Christmas alone in a haunted mansion,” he quipped, trying to lighten the mood. “So, I'll just… enjoy the peace and quiet.”

Y/n turned to him, concern etched on her face,

but Jerome quickly masked it with a wink. “Seriously, go. Have fun.”

she nodded and pulled him into a tight hug "You know you're welcome Jerome, even if you change your mind and need us to come to pick you up on Christmas day its no trouble."

Jerome's cheeks flushed slightly as he awkwardly returned the hug, his arms wrapping around Y/n in a half-hearted squeeze.

she smiled as she pulled back "And make sure you text me. So I know the ghosts haven't gotten you,"

“Yeah, yeah, I'll text you,” he mumbled, “And don't worry about me, I've survived worse than a few ghosts.” He flashed a cocky grin, but his eyes betrayed a flicker of unease as Y/n's words lingered in his mind.

Y/n nodded "Ooh!" she gasped "Before I forget, Here. So you have something other than cash envelopes to open on Christmas day," she smiled pulling a present sweetly wrapped with red and white striped paper and a big green bow,

Jerome's eyes widened in surprise as Y/n pressed the gift into his hands, his fingers brushing against hers in the process. “I- Uhh- you uhh- you…thank you,” he stuttered, feeling a warmth spread through his chest at the thoughtful gesture. “You shouldn't have done this, Y/n,” he said finally, trying to sound casual despite the excitement building inside him. “I mean, thank you of course but I - I mean you didn’t have to do this, not that I uhh- I appreciate the thought and all…” His eyes met Y/n's, and for a moment, they just stared at each other, the tension between them crackling like electricity.

"It's okay, but you have to promise not to open it till Christmas" she smiled

Jerome's face lit up with a mischievous grin as he held up the gift, his eyes sparkling with amusement. “Oh, I promise nothing,” he teased, winking at Y/n. “But I'll try to keep my curiosity in check… until Christmas morning, at least.”

just then the familiar horn from her parent's car echoed from outside

"Oooh that's me" she chuckled gathering her suitcase and bag, but she blushed a little spotting the mistletoe hung above the door, and she smiled moving to her tip toes and kissing Jerome on the cheek "Merry Christmas Jerome,"

Jerome's face turned bright red as Y/n kissed him on the cheek, his heart skipping a beat at the unexpected touch. He stood frozen for a moment, unsure of how to react, “Merry Christmas Y/n,” he muttered, trying to play it cool despite the flutter in his chest.

As he watched Y/n hurry out the door, he felt a pang of disappointment wash over him.

He hadn't expected things to end so quickly. But then he heard the sound of Y/n's laughter echoing from outside, followed by the rumble of her parents' car driving away. He sighed, feeling a mix of emotions swirling inside him. He slowly walked back to the living room and put the sweet present under the tree.

#house of anubis #houseofanubis #hoa #sibuna #jeromeclarke #jerome clarke #eugenesimon #eugene simon

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fareehaandspaniards · 1 month ago

Note

damian and gremia for sleeping ask

The ask!! YIPPIE!!!!! Beloveds!!!

Who is a night owl:

Damian of course :з I think he's used to the night life at School of Mensis, used to doing important things in the dark. And even though the older he gets the harder it is to stay awake, he's still an owl :з Gremia does well at night and can stay awake for long periods of time, but loses coordination gradually and generally becomes calmer than usual :з

Who is a morning person:

Still Damian...? xD Even though Gremia has gotten used to the Tomb Prospector's military way of life (training, regulations, schedules), he still has a hard time getting up early in the morning, and does so more out of habit and instinct. Damian, on the other hand, doesn't like sleeping in the morning, so he'd rather not sleep at all. Mornings for him are a time to read, relax and breathe in fresh air. Let's just say he feels free in the morning and tries not to think about hunting and the burdens of life, his sins and hundreds of people who died during the Hunt

Are they cuddlers:

Absolutely!!! Gremia can't survive a day without a hug and is in dire need of any attention Damian can give him. And Damian himself loves hugs. It brings both of them to comfort from the horrors of the nightmare, calms them down and makes them a little happier

Who is the big spoon and who is the little spoon:

It's very simple, big Gremia is a big spoon :з Rarely there are exceptions. It's just that it's very important for Gremia to feel Damian around. Sometimes in his sleep he can hold him even too tightly and Damian has to wake him up to at least get out of bed.

What is their favourite sleeping position:

Gremia sleeps on his side, and Damian mostly on his back - because he reads before bed and that's how he usually falls asleep :зззз

Who steals all the blankets:

Damian! Because he is often too cold due to poor blood circulation and the fresh air from the window makes him feel uncomfortable. And also in the sleep, he randomly rakes up everything around him xd So Gremia can go from a big spoon to a little spoon <3

What they wear to bed:

Damian most likely has a roomy robe and shirt with pants, while Gremia is either naked or only wearing pants

Who likes seeing the other wearing their t-shirt:

Gremia would be happy to see Damian in something of his own clothing, no matter what it was! :3 His clothes are a bit big for Damian, but the latter would purposely wear something at least to please him <3

Who falls asleep mid-conversation:

Gremia for sure. When he feels sleepy, it is unlikely that anything will prevent him from falling asleep. He is also the kind of person who can stay up all night drinking one cup of coffee. And he can also fall asleep in almost any position - standing, sitting, lying - a habit after long nights on duty in Yharnam. He had learned to sleep in such a way that Ludwig couldn't catch him doing it. And Olek was always a little jealous of that ability.

Who wakes up in the middle of the night with nightmares:

Both of them :( Damian takes nightmares more calmly. And Gremia will be scared and will push Damian around to sit with him and help him calm down. It's very hard for Gremia to get rid of intrusive unpleasant thoughts. And the nasty dream images can haunt him for a long time, unless someone distracts him from it. Damian's nightmares mostly involve his past and make him want to right many of his wrongs. Therefore, he wakes up from them mostly apathetic or anxious

Who accidentally punched the other in their sleep:

Both :D Habits that can't be put away. Gremia just shoves and kicks, swinging his arms and legs randomly, and Damian… He can literally fight in his sleep, and the kick will hurt a lot

Who can’t keep their hands to themself:

Gremia :3 Not only does he need to feel Damian in his arms, but he's also too active and energetic to calmly see a loved one next to him in bed. Kissing, touching, stroking Damian's hair, he will fidget restlessly around trying to get attention until he succeeds, and Damian likes it, sometimes ignoring him on purpose to make it all last longer <3

#gremian #oh ah aha ah ah ah #tomb prospector gremia #mensis scholar damian #<3 <3 <3 #no doodles because time to sleep

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highwaytothedangerzone502 · 2 years ago

Text

Foxtrot Alpha Alpha - Chapter 9

Pairing: Hangman x Female OC

Word Count: 2212

Warnings: Discussion of violence, bad home life

Summary: Hangman learned his lesson a long time ago to never show his true feelings when someone's words or actions hurt him. To do so showed weakness that could be exploited, and Seresin men couldn't show weakness. Of course, there was an exception to every rule, and Jake's always came in the form of women, three in particular: his mom, Juliette Kazansky, and the girl whose name he could no longer bring himself to speak. She was the girl that got away; she was his biggest 'what if' and his biggest regret; she would forever be the ghost that haunted his dreams. Jake believed that's where she'd stay, for he would surely never see her again after what he did.

Or so he thought.

Notes: This is the sequel to India Lima Yankee; I'm using the same callsign for the Female OC as in Ghost Story because I just really like it, but they are different characters; chapters in italics are flashbacks.

Chapter Songs: I'm Only Me When I'm With You Life As We Know It

****

Hangman

He sat by the pond reading a book on fighter jets, trying to take his mind off the scrabble with his brother's best friend, Kyle, earlier. It'd left him sporting a black eye, although that'd actually come from Nick. The fight would've continued- and possibly have gotten much worse- had Michael Seresin not stepped in and broken it up. Of course, when Jake tried to explain what happened, it was his word versus Nick's. Michael believed the latter and grounded Jake for two weeks. This didn't stop Jake from sneaking out of his bedroom through his window, though. He had to get away from the stifling atmosphere and, more importantly, away from his brothers, mainly Nick.

"Jake?" Annalise's voice, which typically calmed Jake, sent his nerves spiking. He'd kept his unstable home life from her since he'd met her in June of that year. With Christmas this week, he wanted to maintain the cheerful ambiance. Thankfully, she approached from his good side, so he kept his focus on his book but smiled.

"Fancy meeting you here," he said, flipping to the next page. "What are you doing here?"

"Walking Kory," Annalise replied, scratching the head of her golden retriever. "What the hell are you doing out here? It's freezing."

"Wanted to get out of the house."

"And sitting in the frigid temperatures on the frozen ground to read your book was the best place you could come up with?" Annalise crouched next to him, and Jake realized he couldn't escape the situation without telling her the truth. Sighing, he turned his head to look at her. Her eyes immediately widened at the sight. "Who did that to you?"

"Nick. I caught his friend Kyle stealing money from my wallet and confronted him about it. When I tried to take it back, we started fighting. Nick joined in and socked me. Now I have this shiner," Jake explained, motioning at the injury. "My dad broke up the fight but believed Nick instead of me when we told him what happened. Got grounded for two weeks. I snuck out my window because I didn't want to be in the house."

"Those dicks!" Annalise exclaimed, fury alight in her eyes.

"Yeah, well, that's my brother and my dad. I swear Dad hates me. Always takes my brothers' sides in everything, regardless of whether it's Nick or Matt."

"How come?"

Jake shrugged. "No idea. It's been like that for as long as I can remember. Why do you think I want to get out of this town so badly when we graduate?"

"I figured you're ready to get out in the real world like I am..." Annalise said, standing up. She offered her hand. "Come on. Let's head to my house and get you an ice pack."

"I don't want your parents to see me like this."

"Mom and Dad won't be home until tomorrow, and Jackie is at a friend's house tonight. They won't know," Annalise assured, wiggling her fingers to silently insist he join her. Jake relented, taking her hand and allowing her to help him stand. The pair strolled back to her house with Kory trotting happily between them.

Upon entering the Blackwood household, Jake knelt down to pet Kory while Annalise grabbed an ice pack. She handed it to Jake and sat next to him. "I'm sorry," she said.

"For what?" Jake replied, placing the ice pack to his eye.

"For what happened with your family and for making you feel like you couldn't come to me about it."

"No, no, that's not- that's not why I didn't tell you. I know I could've told you; I just didn't want to. You can't do anything to stop it, and I didn't want to burden you."

"Nothing you tell me is ever a burden to me, Jake," Annalise assured, placing a hand on his knee. "Besides, burdens are too heavy for one to carry alone. You should have someone to come to about this."

The sincerity in her voice and in her words broke the dam of everything he'd held back from telling her. He told her about the fights between his parents, how his mom would end up in tears after each one, and how she would never leave Michael Seresin for the sake of her sons because she worried about losing the custody battle that would ensue from a divorce. Jake told Annalise how his mom was his only ally in the house and that Matt had slowly been getting nicer since he left for college, but Nick brought out the worst in him, and Matt would often slip back into his bullying habits when he returned home. Jake confessed that the first day he ran into Annalise, he'd gotten into an argument with his dad because he didn't want to join the family business, and Michael Seresin lost his damn mind over it. Jake admitted he'd thought about running away on numerous occasions and that the only thing keeping him here was his mom and-

"You," Jake finished. "Don't get me wrong, I've always had friends, but I've never felt as close to them as I do you. I get that that's cheesy, and maybe I'm saying this because I got a small concussion or something in the fight earlier, but... yeah. It sounds stupid coming out of my mouth now..."

"No, no, it's not stupid at all," Annalise said, shifting so she sat cross-legged. She dropped her gaze from his. "I've never really had close friends before. I used to when I was little, but we moved so often, and I hated how much it hurt when I left that I decided to avoid making friends entirely. I'd be friendly, sure, but not have friends. That way, I wouldn't be upset when I inevitably moved again. I tried not to get too close to you, and I even prepared myself for us to never speak again once school started-"

Jake frowned at the admission. "Why did you think we wouldn't speak after school started?"

"Because you were Mr. Popular, and I was invisible. Except for when I'm around you, I'm a ghost, whether I intend to be or not. But you proved me wrong, and I'm really glad you did. You're the only close friend I've ever had. So... thank you."

"I'm not sure if I should be honored that I'm the only person you've allowed to be a close friend or if I should be insulted that you thought I'd stop talking to you because of my popularity," Jake joked lightly, although the latter did, in fact, concern him.

"No, it wasn't because of your- it was just that you were a somebody, and I was a nobody. I thought: why would you want anything to do with me once you were with all your friends back at school?"

Jake chuckled. "I never told you this, but my friends weren't busy the entire summer, you know. They were the first day I met you but after that? They invited me to all kinds of things, and I skipped hanging out with them to be with you."

Annalise stared at him in bewilderment. "Why would you do that?"

"Because I liked being around you more than I did them."

She shook her head, still apparently unable to believe his words. "But why? All I do is play guitar and talk fighter jets."

"And nearly decapitate me with said guitar."

"That was one time!"

"Which I will never let you live down," Jake replied, shooting her a cheeky grin. She swatted playfully at his arm in return. "In all seriousness, I love that you found your interests and what you want to do already. You have a path to follow, a future that you have all planned out. I had no idea what I wanted until you came along. You helped me realize that I want to be a part of something bigger than myself. I want to do something no one in my family has done before and make a name for myself."

"I get it, but I also know you, Jake. Part of you choosing the Navy is because you also want to fly badass jets, don't you?"

"I really want to fly badass jets," Jake whined. "Can you imagine being up in an F-18 flying at almost Mach 2? Or an F-35?"

Annalise pursed her lips. "Will you hate me if I say yes?"

Jake narrowed his eyes at her. "Say 'yes' to what?"

"That I can imagine? Because I've been up in one?"

His mouth dropped slightly open, stunned at the response and insanely jealous. Deciding he had to give her hell for it, he declared, "We can't be friends anymore. Nope. We're done!"

"It was my birthday present this year... I asked for it again for Christmas. Don't know if it's going to happen, but if it's any consolation-" a bashfulness seemingly overcame Annalise- "I, uh, I might've asked my parents if we could swing having you go up with me too. As your Christmas present from me."

Jake blinked, processing her words. "... But- but all I got you was a new guitar-"

"You did?" Annalise perked up instantly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't even come close to going up in a fighter jet! My present game is weak compared to yours!"

"Are you kidding? Guitars aren't cheap, Jake! The fact that you got me one is amazing!"

Jake scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, but-"

"No 'buts.' The guitar is perfect. I can't wait to see it!"

"Might have to wait until after Christmas since I'm grounded..."

"Speaking of which-" Annalise checked the time- "how long before your dad finds out you're not home?"

"He probably won't notice I'm gone until dinner, so I have a couple more hours."

"Do you want to risk getting in more trouble by not being home?"

"What's another week of being grounded? Besides, you're worth it," Jake said, unsure of where his sentimentality and borderline flirtatious remarks stemmed from. "Want to watch a movie?"

"Uh, only if you want to watch The Notebook because that's the only option you're getting."

"I need to see what the big deal is about the movie anyway, so why not?"

"It's romantic, and it has Ryan Gosling."

"What's with the letters thing?" Jake asked as he followed Annalise into the living room. They sat on the couch while she pulled out the movie and put it into the DVD player.

"You'll have to wait and find out, but it's super sweet," Annalise said with a wistful smile. She then added, "If a guy ever did that for me, I might marry him on the spot."

"Noted."

"What? You planning on marrying me or something?"

"No, I'm just making sure no other guy finds out your weakness and exploits it."

"Please, my one true love is fighter jets, so no need to worry about that." Annalise patted his shoulder, and he ignored the twinge of pain in his heart at her words. While she most likely meant it as a joke, the thought he might never have a chance with her hurt more than he cared to admit. Of course, it was probably for the better. What did he have to offer her? Now or in the future? Annalise came from a strong, stable family. She had goals and had the means to reach them. Jake was the polar opposite. Sure, he had the same goals as Annalise, but if his dad caught wind that his son wanted to join the Navy, his head might actually explode from fury. Besides, Jake's home life was anything but stable. Why would a girl like Annalise ever date him? She wouldn't, and he doubted her parents would let her either, so Jake decided being her best friend would be the only thing he'd ever be to her, and that was okay. As long as he had her in his life, that's all that mattered. Annalise had swiftly turned into his rock, his anchor, and he feared what he might become without her to keep him grounded. Jake could do nothing to risk losing her.

"Hey, Annie?"

"Annie?" she echoed, giving him a curious look. "That's new."

Jake cocked his head, confused himself. "Sorry. I didn't- I don't know where that came from. I won't call you that again."

"No... it's fine."

"But no one else calls you Annie?"

"I know," Annalise responded, smiling shyly at him. "I'm only allowing you."

"Why?"

"Because you're you." Jake couldn't help but smile cheekily, prompting Annalise to add, "Don't let that give you a big head. Otherwise, you'll lose the privilege."

"Understood."

"So, what were you trying to tell me before I interrupted you?"

"I just wanted to thank you for earlier and for letting me escape that hellhole for a bit."

"I've got your back, Jake. You made the mistake of getting close to me, so now you're stuck with me. You know that, right?"

Jake raised an eyebrow at her. "Forever?"

"And always."

"Sounds good to me." Jake slung his arm around her shoulders, and Annalise rested her head on his shoulders. They settled in to watch the movie, both finding comfort in each other's presence.

****

Tags: @lgg5989 @shanimallina87 @polikszena @summ3rlotus @icemansgirl1999 @supernaturaldawning @thedarkinmansfield @lyannaforpresident @lapilark @getmyprettynameoutofyourmouth @simpofthecentury @shadeops21 @pansexualwitchwhoneedstherapy @double-j @bradshawsandbridgetons @catsandgeekyandnerd @peachiicherries @multifandomcnova @fandomsstolemylife00 @bookloverhorses @mak-32 @midnightmagpiemama @luckyladycreator2 @ellamae021 @genius2050

Chapters: Chp 1 Chp 2 Chp 3 Chp 4 Chp 5 Chp 6 Chp 7 Chp 8 Chp 9

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miramilocamimira · 1 year ago

Note

ignore if you're uncomfortable with mpreg, but a prompt request for pjo: maybe a story where zeus has dionysus in a more traditional way than through the thigh, and how his siblings react and care for him?

Oh my gods, yes!

Also, I find out how to do the read more thing!!!!

Weird

————-

Zeus knew Hera had to be behind this. He just can't tell if she knew what was going to happen either.

He hadn't had a lot of time to think- especially if he had any hope of saving the fetus. Taking a page from his brother's book, he reacted rather than think. Now, he feels an unfamiliar weight in his stomach and a flash of pain as his body shifts to accommodate.

Seeing as how many people would be like whoa Zeus, why'd you do that? He will reiterate. HE DOESN'T KNOW. WHY WOULD HE DO THIS? WHY WOULD HE CHOOSE NOT TO THINK LIKE POSEIDON?

Anyways, he’s made the decision and he will follow it through.

——-

He'd been getting constant complaints about the weather. Always “what are you upset about, now” and he'll be honest. It's pissing him off.

Then, he realizes, he might have made the wrong choice.

So, Zeus would normally consider himself to be more of a fighting person rather than a flight one. Yeeeaaah, that's.… that's not how it worked out. He'd gone back for maybe a week when Hera started asking him about Semele and he started crying. So he ran.

And by Chaos, wasn't that horrific. He'd been sitting here for hours and the memory was at the forefront of his mind, haunting him.

He may not be able to take another six months of this.

—-

Apparently, Hera had requested a search party after a week and ‘thinking she may have chased him off forever!’ As Hestia had so kindly explained when she found him. Which was great. Just fantastic. Really.

“It looks like you have an additional problem though brother.” Zeus feels his face flush as he stammered and Hestia laughed. “Do not worry. I won't tell your wife about it. I will let her know that you're… trying to calm yourself.” He releases a breathe he hadn't even realized he was holding.

“Thank you sist-”

“You should expect a visit from our other siblings though.” She says. “We have been scouring for you for, oh, two weeks now?”

“Wait Hest-” He panics as she disappears. “-iaaaaaa FUCK!”

She does come back the next day. Humming and joyful. He wanted to still be mad but she's Hestia. She's also kind enough to answer some of his questions. So that helps.

Like, let's say, for a hypothetical situation, he's pretty sure at least a new of his siblings hates him and it's unclear why they'd be searching for him if they do, in fact, hate him. This meant he had, unfortunately, been made to listen to her lecture about “family” and that while they may think he's a “dick” that doesn't mean they don't care about him.

Her eyes soften and she hugs him. Which is absolutely weird like hey Hestia why are you doing this? Literally no one ever does this and holy crap wow this actually feels nice and what does that mean? She lets go and says something about how it looks like he needed it. Which is a total lie, isn't he right? He absolutely doesn't wish she'd hug him again. Nope.

Hestia stays with him and they talk. She tells him what been going on in Olympus. It's kind of her.

“Oh! Zeus don't forget,” she starts and he's immediately worried, “stress isn't good for the baby!” She disappears and he hears a voice he has not wanted to hear since this happened.

“ZEUS WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!? I KNOW YOU’RE HERE! YOU HAD BETTER HAVE A GOOD EXPLANATION FOR RUNNING OFF YOU- oh.”

Poseidon.

————

Honestly, Zeus thinks, if he had been given more than a minute's notice and a bunch of screaming, he'd of handled it better.

————-

Poseidon’s eye quickly heals after being given some ambrosia and even though his brother won't stop complaining about his “violent tendencies,” Zeus can admit it's... Not horrible to see his brother again.

“So is this-?” Zeus holds up a fist. “Whoa, whoa, whoa we're all friends here!” Poseidon squeaks out.

They end up sitting in silence together.

“Really though, who’d you bottom for?”

STRESS ISNT GOOD FOR THE BABY ZEUS. OH REALLY HESTIA? THAN WHY’D YOU LET POSEIDON COME HERE?

——-

Eventually, Zeus did explain what happened. Not willingly since Hestia came back and watched them fight for a bit before telling Poseidon to “Just hug him!”

Which led to Zeus trying to escape his brother's grasp by squirming, then his default of extreme violence, and when that didn’t work, he relaxed into the hug. The weird feeling came back. He thought it might have just been because of Hestia’s hearth connection but now he's certain they are using dark magic. His face feels warm as what he’s sure is embarrassment courses through him.

“You're really light.” Poseidon notes as he rests his chin on top of Zeus’ head.

“I’m the God of the Sky, moron.” Even without looking, he can tell his brother doesn't understand. “I'm as light as air.”

“Does this mean next time you're angry we can just pick you up like a kitten.” There's a moment of silence.

Hestia starts laughing as Zeus rams his elbow back into Poseidon. “You could have just said no.” His brother gasps and Zeus huffs.

Thankfully, no-one mentions that he doesn't move away from Poseidon.

———

Hestia and Poseidon keep finding him over the next week, telling him to take it easy or making stupid jokes. This, of course, doesn't stop him as he continues going about his day and caring for his domains. Some of the sylphs under his command were kind enough to help bring his paperwork back to Olympus as needed.

Demeter being the next one to find him was a surprise though. As neither had expected it.

She caught him delegating to the sylphs and they had stood there staring when Poseidon showed up.

The misunderstanding that followed was both embarrassing and amusing.

“DID YOU KIDNAP ZEUS AND KNOCK HIM UP?” Her voice got higher and higher and Zeus was almost positive only dogs could hear her now. She started whacking Poseidon with vines as he watched his brother attempt to explain the truth. “OF COURSE YOU DID! YOU AND HADES BOTH!”

It was kinda funny. But. He is a proper God. He finished talking to the sylphs and went to finish his next task. Fetching some water for dinner.

Of course, the amusement ended when they caught him bringing the bucket back to his camp. Suddenly they were best friends and skilled in the art of being annoying.

His family is fucking weird.

———-

He does tell the truth to Demeter. Seeing as the track record so far had been being forced into confessing, he decided he wanted to get it over with.

“That's not all~” Poseidon practically sings. Now, while he may not understand where his brother is going with this, he knows it's not good. With the sky rumbling in the background, the sea God continues, “Zeus is really, really light Demeter.”

Zeus will forever deny screaming as Demeter lifts him up and decides that ‘no this is not a healthy weight, brother have you been eating’ and the sky darkens. Demeter starts going on and on about what he should do no that he's expecting and that, once again, his weight is concerning.

It takes hours. Hours. Before he can explain that he is always light and is actually heavier than usual right now so could you please stop!?

She does and he looks around. Hestia had shown up but where Poseidon decided to be useless, she had started on cooking the game he hunted. Which… is something his second sister said he shouldn't do anymore so that's great.

Demeter wraps an arm around his shoulders. The warm feeling returns. Now three of his siblings have attempted to curse him. And quietly she asks if he's doing okay. His eyes widen a bit and he hopes she doesn't notice as he nods.

“What is this!? I hug you and you assault me, she does it and you let it be? This is blatant favoritism!” Poseidon shouts and Zeus flips him off before making a show of returning Demeter’s embrace.

From the corner of his eye, Hestia looks peaceful and even content.

He's happy for her.

—————

Okay. He knew it had to happen. He knew it was inevitable. BUT WHY NOW CHILD?

Ah. Right. Maybe he should explain?

——

He could not stay in the camp all the time. And none of them will let him keep himself busy. Taking care of the campfire, ‘no Zeus, what if you get burned?’ Getting some water? ‘Don’t you dare Z— HESTIA! HESTIA, HES TRYING TO BITE ME AGAIN!’

Demeter said he should start feeling the baby kicking soon. He honestly cannot wait for this to be over. He's stomach is getting bigger as the baby does and his siblings keep hugging him and picking him up and he hates loves it. Why he couldn't have just…. Sewn the babe into his thigh or something, he doesn't know. He sighs as he walks.

He's going insane. Demeter, thankfully, has been on his side. She even got them to agree to let him take a walk, alone.

It's nice out, the sun is being pulled across the sky, and the breeze is nice. Really a beautiful day for a walk. And it continues to be until he sees a tall, near skeletal figure with their back turned to him.

“Hades?”

——

Holy shit does he have a pair of lungs. Unluckily, his voice attracts the attention of the annoy- sorry, their other siblings.

——

Hades officially becomes his favorite sibling. After the explanation, Poseidon goes to pull what he did with Demeter again and Hades merely states that he already knew.

“Zeus is a sky deity.” His eldest brother explains. “With a few exceptions, nearly all of them are ‘light’ or considered underweight even if they aren't.” Demeter and Poseidon both end up having questions about how he knows that and Zeus takes the opportunity to sit next to Hestia.

“Why were those two surprised to see me?” He asks. “I thought you told them where I was?”

“All three of them were surprised to find you, actually.” She says and holds up a hand. “All I said was a general area. Poseidon went around and screamed at everything while they were doing it the normal way.”

“How…” He's shocked. Flabbergasted. No. You know what, he is appalled. “How was he able to find me first!!?” Hestia shrugs and he notices that the others have gotten quieter.

Poseidon and Demeter are whispering to Hades. Who had looked away as soon as he looked over which is concerning because his brother’s face was getting increasingly grumpier. Hestia looks over as well.

Unhelpfully, she draws out an “ooh” and continues with “someone’s~ jealous~!”

“What? How does that look like jealousy? That's his ‘i hate you and everything you do’ face.” He gestures to himself, “I’d know. I've seen it thousands of times.”

“Why can't it be both, huh?”

“Hestia. It's Hades.” She sighs as she stands up and claps her hands.

“I've just realized that someone here hasn't attempted to hug Zeus yet.” She ignores him growling out that she's a traitor. “Hades, if you don't mind switching spots with me?”

“W-what? Wait, no I don't think he'd even want for me- I mean-” Zeus thinks, as Hades stammers, that his brother might have a heart attack. Hestia makes a show of tilting her head towards their brother. Ugh.

Hades is still stuck in a loop as Zeus gets up and sits down beside him. The older man stills. It takes a moment but when Zeus tells him that if he doesn't hurry up, he will punch him, Hades resituates himself to be able to hug the younger, with his hands gently resting over Zeus’ belly.

—-

Which brings him back to now. CHILD WHY? Zeus thinks as the baby kicks.

“Wait- did it just?” He hears from Hades and Demeter pipes up with a ‘IT’S KICKING?’ It takes a couple tries but Zeus allows everyone to feel. Since they're all more ecstatic than he is about it. When Zeus ends up needing to readjust, he gets a look at Hades.

He has an expression that Zeus hadn't seen in awhile. He always looked better when he was happy though. The baby really was bringing forth joy for gods.

��Aw, Zeus are you smiling?” Poseidon ruins everything he decides as he throws the closest thing he could find at his brother. The item in question being Hades’ Helm which causes him him to cry out and Demeter to laugh.

Zeus looks over to his eldest sibling and sees the fire she’d been tending to grow brighter. He notes that she is laughing as well as he, Poseidon, and Hades argue.

——-

Despite saying that Zeus is rude and that Hades will hate him forever, Hades does not let go of him.

———————

He will admit that having his siblings visit him more frequently has helped with a lot of things. And he may… possibly… ever so slightly… like that they’ll let him hug them. It's... Nice.

However, as the days turned to weeks, he's noticed Demeter, Hades, and Poseidon have all become… strangely obsessed. He tried to go to Hestia about it but she didn't take it seriously. She was all ‘do you mean they are being protective?’ or ‘Yeah I think you mean protective.’ and it was quite upsetting.

She did concede that they might be a bit ‘overprotective’ but that wasn't the point! The point was that they should stop but they've refused to! Now some may say that it's good to have someone looking out for you when there's the false contractions and dizziness that come with but consider this: Fuck you.

He will NOT be babied!

——

He failed.

Poseidon, despite the multiple marks on his arms that resemble Zeus’ teeth, would not let go of him and Demeter and Hades rushed to keep him from assisting with anything ‘heavy.’

Demeter wouldn't let him walk alone, Poseidon and Hades trailing a little bit behind.

And anytime he attempts to sneak away, Hades finds out and looks at him with these sad eyes and it. Is. Annoying. He won't even let Zeus fight with Poseidon anymore!

Like the last time Zeus want to go for a walk and Poseidon made the joke ‘Don't you mean waddle?’ Hades hit the sea God which, while funny, is not as satisfying.

“I'm disowning the others.” He tells Hestia who merely says he won't. Which true, but how rude!! At least play into his delusions. “So… You've been happier.” She raises a brow.

“Nearly everyone has been in a good mood lately.” He stares. “I’m just. It's rare for so many of us to be so happy all at once.” And oof. He feels that. “You're letting us do plenty of things you hadn't before. We're all actually talking- I saw Poseidon pick you up yesterday and not get attacked for once.”

“He asked that time!” Zeus defends. “And it's not biting! It's... Hugging… with my teeth.”

“Wow. I feel so loved.” Zeus and Hestia both turn to see their siblings. Poseidon holds up one of his arms. “Look, permanent reminders of all your hugs.” Zeus sniffs.

“You should.” He responds and looks away. When he hears nothing, he looks back. They all are staring at him. “What?”

“Did you just admit you care about me?” Excuse me? He thinks.

“Did you think I didn't? Why else would I let you all annoy me all of the time!?” Zeus complains. He hears multiple shouts of ‘You've never said you love us!’ “If I didn't love you idiots, I wouldn't have let any of you rant about, in order, a cactus, crossing fees, or us-be-damned DOLPHIN DRUGS!”

“Dolphins have what now?”

“Okay, in my defense, pufferfish are insane.”

————

“I'm just saying! The dolphins seem to view it as a really fun activity!” Zeus rolls his eyes as Poseidon reaches over to feel his stomach.

“Didn't you also say that they have a toxin they produce?” He really should have chosen a different point for Poseidon. Then he wouldn't have been stuck listening to this. “It will kill people!”

“Oh, please. Plenty of plants are poisonous.” Demeter brings out irrelevant fact.

“YEAH AND IT KILLS PEOPLE.” Hades uses logic. “So many end up dead because they mistake which plant is which! That leads to more renovations needing to be made!”

He grins as he listens to them. Hestia may be right after all.

———

“What do you plan to name it?” Hestia asks.

“Dionysus.”

“What is its a-”

“Are you saying Dionysus can't be his or her name. Wow. Okay. I see how it is.”

“Damn it, Zeus.”

——-

He gives birth and he hates it. It's long and painful but Dionysus is born and he's so happy.

——-

They keep the arrangement for two months more when he hands Dionysus to Hermes and asks that his older son help keep watch over the babe. Hermes agrees and they disappear, Zeus buries the feelings of regret as he lets his siblings know he's headed back to Olympus.

Hera awaits after all.

——

Hestia comes back with him. Hera is waiting at the entrance.

“Zeus.” She greets. His wife is frowning but her hair is silver and she's dressed as elegantly as ever.

“Hera.” He returns. Her eyes flash. She nods and walks away and what in Tartarus?

“What was that?!” His sister nearly shrieks and it hurts his ears. Ah. He knows Hera best, he can answer.

“That was Hera being happy.” He grins. “Hey, all of us were happy at once. Isn't that exciting?”

His sister laughs again and she gives him one last hug before returning to her duties. He continues his way back to his throne.

During their date tonight, he should tell Hera about Poseidon’s dolphins.

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halothenthehorns · 2 years ago

Text

Chapter 4: THALIA TORCHES NEW ENGLAND

Thalia took the book from Rachel without batting an eye and used all of her immortal grace to grab just a few to many pages as subtly as possible, it would be no major difference to Percy she was sure if he just skipped this one part and arrived at camp without-

Rachel caught her before she could finish flipping the few innocent pieces of paper necessary, gently meeting her eyes and giving her wrist a reassuring squeeze.

How to explain? She couldn't be seen as weak in front of them. She was a Hunter of Artemis, she was Percy's closest friend in here and his guide on how to navigate this insanity. And Jason...

Whether that guy was the ghost of her baby brother back to haunt her or some deranged joke by the gods of a look-alike, he was as lost as Percy. She wanted to be the example for the two of them how to calmly get out of this, and she didn't think she could do that with this chapter.

She wished Annabeth were here, her little sister at least knew what she didn't want to share. Rachel just seemed to know she was afraid of something. Then Thalia glanced at Percy and Nico, both of whom were going through pretty much their most miserable time in this book. Her eyes lingered on Jason, the little two-year-old in her mind crying as his lip bled from that cut as she tried to stop it while their mom had been on the phone telling them to quiet down. The first thing Beryl Grace had said when she'd seen it was it might need cosmetic surgery to hide a scar.

She felt like she'd shared more than enough already, wasn't dying and coming back to a broken world enough? She didn't want to expose this fear too.

Percy leaned forward in his seat as she kept hesitating, he'd watched her try to skip those and wasn't going to say a word. "You want to get out of here Thals?" Eyes flickering to the door in clear invitation, just the two of them could leave. It really wasn't anybody else's concern, and at least if just Percy found out she wouldn't have to endure him mocking and laughing at her like the others would be prone to do. A child of Zeus afraid of heights, who wouldn't laugh?

It was the choice that made her decide to stay though. Like nobody had ever given her before on the course of her life.

If she'd just skipped over every awful thing that had happened to Percy thus far he'd have no clue what was going on in his own life. This wasn't the only time it would come up in hers, and if she started picking and choosing now what unpleasantness she wanted to skip, how would that be fair to Percy and Nico who hadn't once complained of their own pasts being revealed?

"No, I'm, I'm good," she lied. She was glad that Percy had moved away though, she might intentionally zap him when he figured it out. She could still do it across the room sitting next to Jason, but she might hesitate a little more.

She still had to give Rachel's hand a little shake to let go of her wrist, and her friend reluctantly did so with troubled eyes. 'Sorry,' she mouthed, but Thalia knew she was right too. Even being immortal now, keeping this kind of thing buried didn't mean it would never come back. Annabeth might have let her get away with skipping, but she would have protested later about the wisdom in that.

With a ragged breath, Thalia read, "Thalia Torches New England. Wow, it is kind of weird reading your own name."

"Know my pain!" Percy agreed triumphantly.

'You have no idea,' she silently agreed as she forced herself to start over Alex and Jason's spluttering, already laughing protests they wanted her to give a clue she would not be providing.

"When did this happen? Am I secretly dead?" Magnus asked. He'd notice his city on fire, even the Mist couldn't hide that. He was ignored right along with them though.

Artemis assured us that dawn was coming, but you could've fooled me. It was colder and darker and snowier than ever.

"You've never heard the saying the night's darkest just before the dawn?" Nico asked in surprise. Perfect time for shadow traveling.

"Must have missed that one in all the classes I got kicked out of," Percy clearly wasn't impressed regardless.

Up on the hill, Westover Hall's windows were completely lightless. I wondered if the teachers had even noticed the di Angelos and Dr. Thorn were missing yet. I didn't want to be around when they did. With my luck, the only name Mrs. Gottschalk would remember was "Percy Jackson," and then I'd be the subject of a nationwide manhunt... again.

"See, this is why you should have used fake name's Prissy," Alex oh so helpfully reminded.

"They still would have found a way to blame me," Percy said confidently. "The newspaper would have misspelled that into my name!"

"You might even get kicked out of a school before you even enrolled in it for once," Jason chuckled.

The Hunters broke camp as quickly as they'd set it up. I stood shivering in the snow (unlike the Hunters, who didn't seem to feel at all uncomfortable), and Artemis stared into the east like she was expecting something. Bianca sat off to one side, talking with Nico. I could tell from his gloomy face that she was explaining her decision to join the Hunt. I couldn't help thinking how selfish it was of her, abandoning her brother like that.

Nico's throat threatened to close shut and never open again as he heard that. Percy agreeing with him, on top of remembering the piss poor words his sister had used to try and explain how this was going to be great for both of them, some space, like he'd never asked for...

"Thanks Percy," he found himself saying, "I thought so too, but now I'm, I'm glad she did what made her happy." The words sounded more mechanical than if an automaton had pulled them out of him, but somewhere in him, he meant it. He was trying to at least.

"Yeah," Percy said softly, "sucks man." He felt while looking at Nico now he finally had an inkling of why the guy was so weird, just a little off. Had his sister dumped him at camp and not come back yet? There was still something he was definitely missing about the pair of them as he studied his olive complexion and dark eyes he couldn't connect a dot with.

Thalia and Grover came up and huddled around me, anxious to hear what had happened in my audience with the goddess.

When I told them, Grover turned pale. "The last time the Hunters visited camp, it didn't go well."

"Do they torch every place they go?" Magnus asked wearily. "Do you get tricked into joining them early and torch New England in retaliation?"

"Not even close," but Thalia was smiling lightly back, it did sound funny out of context and she wasn't looking forward to when it was corrected.

"How'd they even show up here?" I wondered. "I mean, they just appeared out of nowhere."

"And Bianca joined them," Thalia said, disgusted. "It's all Zoe's fault. That stuck-up, no good—"

"And I thought you hated me," Percy grinned uneasily. "Glad I never did whatever she put in your bonnet."

"That is not the saying," Will corrected.

Percy didn't hear what the saying actually was as he realized Thalia hadn't corrected him, instead studying the wall behind him very intently until she realized Will was done talking so she could keep going.

"Who can blame her?" Grover said. "Eternity with Artemis?" He heaved a big sigh.

Thalia rolled her eyes. "You satyrs. You're all in love with Artemis. Don't you get that she'll never love you back?"

"But she's so... into nature," Grover swooned.

"I really hope you're there when he meets Pan now," Jason chuckled. "If this is his reaction to meeting a goddess associated with nature, he might faint upon the God of the Wild."

Percy laughed along in agreement even as he winced, while Nico sat very far back in his seat with a pit in his stomach. Will did a double take upon seeing that look on his face, but Nico was already going through enough with his sister on display, he really didn't want to push him over what that was about.

In all the retellings of Grover's tale that day, nobody had mentioned Nico was there though.

"You're nuts," said Thalia.

"Nuts and berries," Grover said dreamily. "Yeah."

"Being proud of you who are," Alex nodded saintly.

Finally the sky began to lighten. Artemis muttered, "About time. He's so-o-o lazy during the winter."

"According to her he's lazy year around," Thalia happily pronounced, "the weather makes him different kinds of lazy."

"I think I found my spirit god," Percy shrugged as he rubbed at his eyes. They'd barely been at this for an hour, two tops today, and he was already getting drowsy again.

"You're, um, waiting for sunrise?" I asked.

"For my brother. Yes."

I didn't want to be rude. I mean, I knew the legends about Apollo—or sometimes Helios—driving a big sun chariot across the sky. But I also knew that the sun was really a star about a zillion miles away. I'd gotten used to some of the Greek myths being true, but still... I didn't see how Apollo could drive the sun.

"That's definitely got to be a metaphor or we're all going to die," Magnus said with confidence.

"I thought you were past the whole questioning the reality of all this phase?" Rachel smiled at his naivety.

"Never," he promised.

"It's not exactly as you think," Artemis said, like she was reading my mind.

"Oh, okay." I started to relax. "So, it's not like he'll be pulling up in a—"

There was a sudden burst of light on the horizon. A blast of warmth.

"Don't look," Artemis advised. "Not until he parks."

Parks?

I averted my eyes, and saw that the other kids were doing the same. The light and warmth intensified until my winter coat felt like it was melting off of me. Then suddenly the light died.

I looked. And I couldn't believe it. It was my car.

"Unless Beckendorf built you a Transformer, I don't think so," Will grinned, his smile weary but genuine as he kept mentioning the old head of cabin 9 with great effort not to wince.

"I'm pretty sure Chiron would ban you and the Stoll brothers from camp if you said that anywhere other than here," Thalia promised.

Well, the car I wanted, anyway. A red convertible Maserati Spyder.

"I don't speak car," Jason informed with a mystified expression.

"A red convertible," Nico repeated with a shrug, "looked fancy."

Percy looked devastated at the pair of them and promised, "I have got to introduce you two when we get out of this."

"Does it show everybody the car they'd want?" Magnus asked with an old smile, imagining he'd see his mom's beat-up truck with that dent in the hood.

"It shows the car Apollo wants," Thalia corrected.

It was so awesome it glowed. Then I realized it was glowing because the metal was hot. The snow had melted around the Maserati in a perfect circle, which explained why I was now standing on green grass and my shoes were wet.

"These books are going to melt my brain," Magnus promised. He missed science class. This was not a good substitute.

"Would it help at all if I said don't think about it to hard," Percy offered. "They, coexist?"

"No, but thanks for trying," Magnus answered, tapping his ears to make sure goo wasn't leaking out already.

The driver got out, smiling. He looked about seventeen or eighteen, and for a second, I had the uneasy feeling it was Luke, my old enemy.

"You're not old enough to have an old enemy," Jason rolled his eyes. Apollo, like all of the strange Greek gods, seemed a lot more relaxed than he'd ever believe possible a god should be, but he kept telling himself he was getting used to it.

"He's your only enemy," Alex added, considering he worked directly under the ultimate enemy.

"You're about to make the list," Percy rolled his eyes, not indicating which one of them he meant.

This guy had the same sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. But it wasn't Luke. This guy was taller, with no scar on his face like Luke's. His smile was brighter and more playful. (Luke didn't do much more than scowl and sneer these days.) The Maserati driver wore jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt.

"Just what my dad needs, more compliments about him imprinted in these pages," Will chuckled.

"You look like him," Nico said absently, still internally shaking his head at his younger self. The second god had appeared in a matter of hours and he'd still just been smitten with Percy and now more angry and confused than he ever had in his life at his sister.

"Thank you!" Will beamed as he stretched out like a cat, though he was wearing flip-flops and an orange shirt, otherwise it was an eerie resemblance to that sunlit morning, he even looked like he was glowing for a second.

"Wow," Thalia muttered. "Apollo is hot."

"He's the sun god," I said.

"That's not what I meant."

"You are so clueless Percy," Thalia sighed, even now he was watching her like he thought her answer wasn't up to scratch.

"Little sister!" Apollo called. If his teeth were any whiter he could've blinded us without the sun car. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!"

"Can't they just pop in on each other whenever they want?" Jason chuckled.

"Oh they do," Thalia rolled her eyes, "Apollo is pretty terrible about it, he is this flamboyant about everything."

"I'm just imagining a god going missing now and Oceanus snapping his fingers to fix it," Magnus rolled his eyes.

"I can't even imagine what would trap a god away," Percy muttered with an uneasy wince.

"I can," Alex said with a dark, pleased look on her face Magnus was a little afraid to know the meaning behind.

Thalia quickly kept going, swallowing a lump in her throat as Percy brushed his hand through a few gray strands of hair.

Artemis sighed. "I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister."

"Hey, I was born first."

"We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue—"

"Eternity," Will assured.

"So what's up?" he interrupted. "Got the girls with you, I see. You all need some tips on archery?"

Artemis grit her teeth.

A sentiment shared by her lieutenant, making the next sentence come out muffled and funny.

"I need a favor. I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood."

"Sure, sis!" Then he raised his hands in a stop everything gesture. "I feel a haiku coming on."

The Hunters all groaned. Apparently they'd met Apollo before.

"Frequently," Thalia's smile was nostalgic, and a little sad. It wasn't so unusual to go weeks without seeing Artemis, but even before she'd been trapped down here and heard of Olympus closing it was going on longer than usual. Was it naïve of her to wish Poseidon had a book in that massive pile explaining all of this? She certainly had to wish for something good to come out of this torture she was about to endure herself through.

He cleared his throat and held up one hand dramatically.

"Green grass breaks through snow.

Artemis pleads for my help.

I am so cool."

He grinned at us, waiting for applause.

"Nobody applauded by the way," Nico offered.

"That wasn't five syllables," Alex looked devastated. "A god can't keep count? Isn't he the god of music too?"

Will rubbed the back of his head and chose not to answer that.

"That last line was only four syllables," Artemis said.

Apollo frowned. "Was it?"

"Yes. What about I am so big-headed?"

"No, no, that's six syllables. Hmm." He started muttering to himself.

"I kind of like him," Magnus chuckled, apparently having decided his brain wasn't melting since the sun god didn't blow up the continent from his sister's light ribbing.

Zoe Nightshade turned to us. "Lord Apollo has been going through this haiku phase ever since he visited Japan. 'Tis not as bad as the time he visited Limerick. If I'd had to hear one more poem that started with, There once was a goddess from Sparta—"

"That was the most pleasant sentence she'd yet said to us," Percy grinned.

"The enemy of the limerick is my friend," Thalia nodded along.

"I've got it!" Apollo announced. "I am so awesome. That's five syllables!" He bowed, looking very pleased with himself.

"Someone has to around there," Rachel smirked.

"I want all of this on record," Percy reminded, "when you were all freaking out about how I spoke to Ares."

"Apollo isn't Ares," Thalia scoffed, "he's chill to play along with, most of the time."

"If you're a girl, or one of his kids," Rachel reminded with a proud gesture at herself which only a few got; or his mortal oracle.

"I'm still hoping Percy doesn't press his luck by calling him something worse than big-headed," Jason muttered. He didn't think he'd ever get used to the casual way these Greek kids interacted with the gods.

"And now, sis. Transportation for the Hunters, you say? Good timing. I was just about ready to roll."

"These demigods will also need a ride," Artemis said, pointing to us. "Some of Chiron's campers."

"No problem!" Apollo checked us out. "Let's see... Thalia, right? I've heard all about you."

Thalia blushed. "Hi, Lord Apollo."

Thalia gritted her teeth and talked herself out of getting seven arrows ready as someone muffled a snort. She didn't look up to see who.

"Zeus's girl, yes? Makes you my half sister. Used to be a tree, didn't you? Glad you're back. I hate it when pretty girls turn into trees. Man, I remember one time—"

"Brother," Artemis said. "You should get going."

"Wise words," Will said, but his smile was more sympathetic. "He gets all weepy every time about Daphne."

Percy gave him a blank look and assumed Will was talking about one of his siblings.

"Oh, right." Then he looked at me, and his eyes narrowed. "Percy Jackson?"

"Yeah. I mean... yes, sir."

It seemed weird calling a teenager "sir," but I'd learned to be careful with immortals. They tended to get offended easily. Then they blew stuff up.

"See, that threat keeps being mentioned, but has yet to happen," Alex waved a hand around in disappointment.

"Are you hoping for a whole building, or a state?" Magnus asked indulgently.

"I'll settle for one person who annoys me," she shrugged.

Apollo studied me, but he didn't say anything, which I found a little creepy.

"Well!" he said at last. "We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way—west. And if you miss it, you miss it."

"That was ominous," Alex said cheerfully.

"Your dad's the god of prophecy too, right?" Percy asked uneasily. "He's not as weird about that as he is with the poetry is he?"

Will helpfully didn't answer again by tugging on his ear and not looking at him. His dad had likely fixated on not just Percy in that moment, but maybe even scattered to the cosmos and back as he realized he was standing amongst the four children of the big three, more than had existed in decades, if not longer considering even before the pact they didn't congregate in the same place much. Perhaps Apollo had been trying to sense which of them was the child of the prophecy, or he'd had some internal sense about the Di Angelo kids or even Thalia's coming immortality in joining him as his half sister.

Or his dad could have been arguing with executives in Tennessee and gotten distracted for a moment. It really was no telling with him.

I looked at the Maserati, which would seat two people max. There were about twenty of us.

"Cool car," Nico said.

"Thanks, kid," Apollo said.

"But how will we all fit?"

"I was imagining him tying us to the bumper and was way to excited," Nico admitted, deciding if Percy wanted revenge for him laughing at that guinea pig moment he should get it over with now.

"I thought he'd tie us all to the hood instead like trophies," Percy instead agreed.

"Oh." Apollo seemed to notice the problem for the first time. "Well, yeah. I hate to change out of sports-car mode, but I suppose..."

He took out his car keys and beeped the security alarm button. Chirp, chirp.

For a moment, the car glowed brightly again. When the glare died, the Maserati had been replaced by one of those Turtle Top shuttle buses like we used for school basketball games.

"Does it shoot manhole covers out of the front?" Alex grinned. "Does it have giant nunchuck arms?"

"What on earth are you talking about?" Percy was pleased to see everybody looked as confused as him about something for once.

"And I thought I had a bad childhood," she huffed without further explanation.

"Right," he said. "Everybody in."

Zoe ordered the Hunters to start loading. She picked up her camping pack, and Apollo said, "Here, sweetheart. Let me get that."

Zoe recoiled. Her eyes flashed murderously.

"Brother," Artemis chided. "You do not help my Hunters. You do not look at, talk to, or flirt with my Hunters. And you do not call them sweetheart."

"She has that speech down pat," Thalia got her last ditch moment to smile at something as she informed them.

Apollo spread his hands. "Sorry. I forgot.

"Be glad he's not the god of memory," Magnus muttered.

Hey, sis, where are you off to, anyway?"

"Hunting," Artemis said. "It's none of your business."

"I'll find out. I see all. Know all."

Artemis snorted. "Just drop them off, Apollo. And no messing around!"

"No, no! I never mess around."

Eight collective snorts circled the room this time, and Thalia's tense grip on the book finally eased just a bit.

Artemis rolled her eyes, then looked at us. "I will see you by winter solstice. Zoe, you are in charge of the Hunters. Do well. Do as I would do."

"Can she turn people into jackalopes?" Percy asked in concern.

"If so, it's not a power I've discovered yet," Thalia said tragically, but she at least got one last genuine laugh too.

Zoe straightened. "Yes, my lady."

Artemis knelt and touched the ground as if looking for tracks. When she rose, she looked troubled. "So much danger. The beast must be found."

She sprinted toward the woods and melted into the snow and shadows.

Apollo turned and grinned, jangling the car keys on his finger. "So," he said. "Who wants to drive?"

Alex's hand shot up like it was on fire, but the look on her face made all of them want to run screaming how soon she'd crash on purpose.

"Well that's already spoiled," Magnus reminded with that same way he always talked to her, like he'd be sitting in the passenger seat through the whole ride. "I'm sure you're not that bad of a driver Thalia, Apollo probably fixed New England," he finished cheerfully to her.

She didn't answer, eyes trained on the pages, the spine to close to her face. It was starting to worry them, they'd yet seen Thalia so unsettled.

The Hunters piled into the van. They all crammed into the back so they'd be as far away as possible from Apollo and the rest of us highly infectious males,

"That toxic masculinity crap is very contagious," Will said breezily.

"Makes you wonder what they were calling Thalia in their head," Jason said defensively.

"Nothing I cared about correcting," she shrugged. Some of the hunters were still old fashioned and thought her casual approach to boys insubordinate to the cause, but were still respectful of her position. It was a fine line she walked. Speaking of her sisters had kept the strain out of her voice for a moment, but Will grew concerned when it jumped right back.

Bianca sat with them, leaving her little brother to hang in the front with us, which seemed cold to me, but Nico didn't seem to mind.

"Seemed to," he repeated, but managed to keep his own ire off the grid much better. He'd sat apart from his sister in busses before, she was usually good at making friends while he kept himself entertained. It never seemed to last, she'd always drift back over to sit with him and make sure he wasn't getting car sick or ask if he needed the bathroom. She hadn't this time. He had kept telling himself maybe Bianca was right and this might be a good change, let him grow up just a little without his sister constantly nagging at him in front of Percy.

"This is so cool!" Nico said, jumping up and down in the driver's seat.

"Your feet couldn't even reach the pedals," Percy told him fondly.

"Apollo could have readjusted it if he wanted," Nico insisted, "he's just as prejudiced as his twin. He wanted to impress his half-sister!"

"Maybe I can talk him into letting me drive it, I'll sneak you in and he'll have no choice," Will offered.

"I'm game!" Percy fist-pumped the air as hard as Alex had, apparently not picking up on the fact Will had been looking at Nico when he answered.

Nico's dark eyes were dancing with just a hint of excitement too as he whispered, "road trip, right. Because we haven't been forced to spend enough time together."

"It's strange, I've yet seen a hint of a hellhound being sicked onto me for this dragging out," Will grinned.

"She's on her way," Nico vowed, knowing it wouldn't take much coaxing to at least sick Mrs. O'Leary on him when they got back. He was pretty sure Will wouldn't drown in her doggy drool.

"Is this really the sun? I thought Helios and Selene were the sun and moon gods. How come sometimes it's them and sometimes it's you and Artemis?"

"Downsizing," Apollo said. "The Romans started it.

Zzzzaaapp!

"Ouch!" Percy yelped, jumping away from Jason and rubbing his arm. "Dude! Nobody can complain I'm related to an electrical eel if you're going to shock me like that."

Nico's hair was standing on end too from sitting on his other side, but he quickly brushed it back down with an intrigued look at him, and then his forearm.

Rachel was studying him too with those eerie, too intelligent eyes that normally saw more than just the scar on his lip in the gloom.

"I what?" He hadn't taken his eyes off the book.

Percy sat back down beside him and made a few more jokes about the sea life starting to convert Jason, but Thalia was still jittery like she was sitting on an angler fish ready to snap and reading on distractedly before silence had fallen despite the fact she'd have liked the reprieve for a while longer.

They couldn't afford all those temple sacrifices, so they laid off Helios and Selene and folded their duties into our job descriptions. My sis got the moon. I got the sun. It was pretty annoying at first, but at least I got this cool car."

Jason's single minded focus on the book felt as unfulfilled as as popped balloon. Roman. The word battered around his brain disconnecting any smidge of rightness he'd thought he'd gotten used to.

For just a split second as the strange girl with black hair took a breath, he felt trapped between the Son of Neptune and Pluto. In a room full of enemies he'd have to escape.

Then Thalia kept reading, and Percy was still watching her with a clear feeling of nerves. He'd seemed ten times more on edge all day, with Annabeth now out of the foreseeable picture and his best friend in here as constantly on edge as him. It wasn't a problem he actually felt like he could help to fix, but it soothed away the building pressure in his skull he couldn't unravel.

"But how does it work?" Nico asked. "I thought the sun was a big fiery ball of gas!"

Apollo chuckled and ruffled Nico's hair. "That rumor probably got started because Artemis used to call me a big fiery ball of gas. Seriously, kid, it depends on whether you're talking astronomy or philosophy. You want to talk astronomy? Bah, what fun is that? You want to talk about how humans think about the sun? Ah, now that's more interesting. They've got a lot riding on the sun... er, so to speak.

"Pun, pun, pun," Will chuckled.

"I hate to ask, but your dad invented the dad joke, didn't he?" Nico sighed.

"He'll certainly claim he did," Will nodded.

It keeps them warm, grows their crops, powers engines, makes everything look, well, sunnier. This chariot is built out of human dreams about the sun, kid. It's as old as Western Civilization. Every day, it drives across the sky from east to west, lighting up all those puny little mortal lives. The chariot is a manifestation of the sun's power, the way mortals perceive it. Make sense?"

Nico shook his head. "No."

Rachel was smiling genially at the end and promised, "oh I'd love to go over this with you later then. My school actually has an interesting art program, and I did a construct take on Western Civilization over the eras and used cars to symbolize it."

Nico looked at her without response. He'd never had a direct conversation with her before, she was around camp more frequently than him but always hung around Percy or Chiron. "Um, that's not necessary, I'm good now."

He half expected her to be like Will and stubbornly insist he'd enjoy it, but she merely looked disappointed and let it go and he was surprised to feel guilty about that too.

"Well then, just think of it as a really powerful, really dangerous solar car."

"Can I drive?"

"No. Too young."

"Oo! Oo!" Grover raised his hand.

"Mm, no," Apollo said. "Too furry." He looked past me and focused on Thalia.

Alex at least got a good laugh out of Percy and Nico's exact same disappointed look, and could all to easily imagine Grover would be even more offended.

"Daughter of Zeus!" he said. "Lord of the sky. Perfect."

"Oh, no." Thalia shook her head. "No, thanks."

"C'mon," Apollo said. "How old are you?"

Thalia hesitated. "I don't know."

"And the number gets murkier every year," she murmured to herself. Being immortal now meant she wasn't to concerned with keeping track of it either.

It was sad, but true. She'd been turned into a tree when she was twelve, but that had been seven years ago. So she should be nineteen, if you went by years. But she still felt like she was twelve, and if you looked at her, she seemed somewhere in between. The best Chiron could figure, she had kept aging while in tree form, but much more slowly.

Magnus let out an uneasy whistle. "That can't be fun."

"It's," she didn't finish, she didn't have to. She was sitting tense in her seat, she wanted to bury this book. She just had to be reminded of all that right before the worst Drivers Ed test in the universe!

Apollo tapped his finger to his lips. "You're fifteen, almost sixteen."

"How do you know that?"

"Hey, I'm the god of prophecy. I know stuff. You'll turn sixteen in about a week."

"That's my birthday! December twenty-second."

"Which means you're old enough now to drive with a learner's permit!"

Thalia shifted her feet nervously. "Uh—"

"I know what you're going to say," Apollo said. "You don't deserve an honor like driving the sun chariot."

"That's not what I was going to say."

There were several things she'd like to say, most of them in Greek she was hissing now. Will shifted uneasily in his seat and wanted to go check on her, but Nico caught his arm and shook his head. He didn't know what was wrong, but he worried it was closer to Percy's headaches than something Will could diagnose.

"Don't sweat it! Maine to Long Island is a really short trip, and don't worry about what happened to the last kid I trained. You're Zeus's daughter. He's not going to blast you out of the sky."

"Um, should I be concerned!" Percy raised his hand with a lot of concern.

"This is a godly sanctioned trip?" But Rachel didn't sound all that convinced, and she was starting to feel terrible about encouraging Thalia to go through with this. She could feel a storm brewing in the air, and she was sitting next to the eye of it.

Apollo laughed good-naturedly. The rest of us didn't join him.

Thalia tried to protest, but Apollo was absolutely not going to take "no" for an answer.

"I'm going to blow a whistle in this guy's ear and see if he can hear anything again," Alex scowled.

"Err, maybe save that for plan B," Magnus muttered.

He hit a button on the dashboard, and a sign popped up along the top of the windshield. I had to read it backward (which, for a dyslexic, really isn't that different than reading forward). I was pretty sure it said WARNING: STUDENT DRIVER.

"Take it away!" Apollo told Thalia. "You're gonna be a natural!"

'A natural disaster,' Nico kept to himself as he rubbed at his abused rib cage.

I'll admit I was jealous.

"That's twice I've admitted that to you," Percy tried to coax a fun rise out of her like usual, "I'm getting worried, where's the boasting Thals?"

She didn't answer, her bow and arrows were flickering in and out of existence on her back like a hologram swirled in with the plankton floating off the floor now, migrating towards her.

I couldn't wait to start driving. A couple of times that fall, my mom had taken me out to Montauk when the beach road was empty, and she'd let me try out her Mazda. I mean, yeah, that was a Japanese compact, and this was the sun chariot, but how different could it be?

"Speed equals heat," Apollo advised. "So start slowly, and make sure you've got good altitude before you really open her up."

Thalia's voice cracked with stress, and an arc of lightning flickered over her fingers on the purple spine. She cleared her throat valiantly, and they'd all swear they felt thunder rumble on the ocean floor.

"Er, so, what do you think he named her?" Percy tried again. "Sunny?"

"I've never asked," Will admitted, his own hint of jealousy much more well covered than Percy's had been. He'd never actually been in his dads car and it had been a false promise to Nico anyways.

Thalia gripped the wheel so tight her knuckles turned white. She looked like she was going to be sick.

They needed that description since no one could see her face, and had guessed it without the proof.

"What's wrong?" I asked her.

"Nothing," she said shakily. "N-nothing is wrong."

"Thalia, you sure you don't want to step out of here?" Percy stood up wearily in concern.

"Nothing's wrong!" She repeated in the same convincing tone as she continued reading in. Percy forced himself to sit back down, feeling useless how to help her but ready to drown someone on the spot if anybody else bugged her.

She pulled back on the wheel. It tilted, and the bus lurched upward so fast I fell back and crashed against something soft.

"Ow" Grover said.

"Sorry."

"Slower!" Apollo said.

"Sorry!" Thalia said. "I've got it under control!"

I managed to get to my feet. Looking out the window, I saw a smoking ring of trees from the clearing where we'd taken off.

"Thalia," I said, "lighten up on the accelerator."

"I've got it, Percy," she said, gritting her teeth. But she kept it floored.

"Loosen up," I told her.

"I'm loose!" Thalia said. She was so stiff she looked like she was made out of plywood.

"That tree got its roots in you?" Magnus asked uneasily, his mind still on that fleece. Did she get sick when she left the ground?

She was still ignoring everybody, they could see tendons in her neck. It looked painful reading, and Rachel would swear she saw a bead of blood on the page like she'd bit her tongue before she'd violently flipped pages.

"We need to veer south for Long Island," Apollo said. "Hang a left."

Thalia jerked the wheel and again threw me into Grover, who yelped.

"The other left," Apollo suggested.

I made the mistake of looking out the window again. We were at airplane height now— so high the sky was starting to look black.

"That's one way to stop global warming," Alex said under her breath, but more because she felt like it would insult Thalia if they pretended everything wasn't okay. Even if she wasn't listening, the background words had to help a bit.

"Ah..." Apollo said, and I got the feeling he was forcing himself to sound calm. "A little lower, sweetheart. Cape Cod is freezing over."

Thalia tilted the wheel. Her face was chalk white, her forehead beaded with sweat.

Something was definitely wrong. I'd never seen her like this.

Nobody had before, except Luke. She could still vividly recall standing on that roof, the way the world had spun sickeningly- but it was Apollo trying to talk her through this stupid bus! She was fine, she was in control!

The bus pitched down and somebody screamed. Maybe it was me.

"I think Zoe was guilty actually," Nico muttered as he rubbed his ear, but it could have been Thalia, or himself. Maybe Grover could shriek that loud if his fur was in a twist too.

Now we were heading straight toward the Atlantic Ocean at a thousand miles an hour, the New England coastline off to our right. And it was getting hot in the bus.

Apollo had been thrown somewhere in the back of the bus, but he started climbing up the rows of seats.

"Take the wheel!" Grover begged him.

"No worries," Apollo said. He looked plenty worried. "She just has to learn to— WHOA!"

I saw what he was seeing. Down below us was a little snow-covered New England town. At least, it used to be snow-covered. As I watched, the snow melted off the trees and the roofs and the lawns. The white steeple on a church turned brown and started to smolder.

"Talk about divine intervention," Alex offered.

"I thought that was a comet," Magnus said in wonderment, it had all blinked in and out of existence so fast, he'd thought he'd imagined the heat before the snow surrounded them again. That mist was powerful stuff.

Little plumes of smoke, like birthday candles, were popping up all over the town. Trees and rooftops were catching fire.

"Pull up!" I yelled.

There was a wild light in Thalia's eyes. She yanked back on the wheel, and I held on this time. As we zoomed up, I could see through the back window that the fires in the town were being snuffed out by the sudden blast of cold.

"There!" Apollo pointed. "Long Island, dead ahead. Let's slow down, dear. 'Dead' is only an expression."

"Only if you use it wrong," Nico said softly, studying Thalia carefully. She didn't have a death aura, the opposite with her faint, immortal silver glow still around her, but power was crackling out from her in the same dangerous current Percy so often gave off. She was starting to sweat, and he couldn't decide if he should let Will go to check on her or duck in front of the guy if she went off.

Thalia was thundering toward the coastline of northern Long Island. There was Camp Half-Blood: the valley, the woods, the beach. I could see the dining pavilion and cabins and the amphitheater.

"I'm under control," Thalia muttered. "I'm under control."

We were only a few hundred yards away now.

"Brake," Apollo said.

"I can do this."

"BRAKE!"

Thalia slammed her foot on the brake, and the sun bus pitched forward at a forty-five degree angle, slamming into the Camp Half-Blood canoe lake with a huge FLOOOOOOSH!

"That explains that warning sign," Rachel popped the side of her head in relief. "I always wondered why the naiads told me they needed one for no bus parking in there."

Thalia still wouldn't look up.

Steam billowed up, sending several frightened naiads scrambling out of the water with halfwoven wicker baskets.

The bus bobbed to the surface, along with a couple of capsized, half-melted canoes.

"Well," said Apollo with a brave smile. "You were right, my dear. You had everything under control! Let's go see if we boiled anyone important, shall we?"

"Define important?" Percy asked as he rubbed at his head to make sure it was still attached.

"If Dionysus hasn't killed them yet I like her chances," Nico shrugged.

"Oh shush, all of you," Jason jumped in as Thalia still had a strangle hold on the book and didn't even seem to realize she was done despite Rachel trying to tug it away. "We don't have to learn every detail of each other's lives, Thalia's entitled to whatever was bothering her to stay with her."

"We weren't teasing," Nico assured as he got up. "Awkward silence would be worse though, right Thalia?"

She was still taking calming breaths and fighting down shame just the memory of that had freaked her out so badly, but quickly waved Nico on so she wouldn't have to respond, practically throwing it into his chest. So Percy hadn't figured it out, his face as clueless and concerned as ever, but it was just a matter of time until they had to deal with that pig and Percy truly did remember, then the jokes would start. If nobody else got it sooner.

#pjo #Percy Jackson #BotL #Thalia Grace #rachel elizabeth dare #Jason Grace #nico di angelo #will solace #solangelo #Magnus Chase #alex fierro #fierrochase #HDYSG

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