#straykidsisland

[neo-shitty]

gladius maximus (b.c)

prompt. #17 — “you can’t do that!” “watch me.” from @ficscafe​‘s dialogue prompt event and requested by @subways-stuff​

description. in which they didn’t tell you that superheroes didn’t always come in suits and capes. some came in casual clothes, OP gold swords and sparky hands.

pairings. son of zeus!bang chan x gender-neutral reader who can see through the mist

genre. (an attempt at) comedy, fantasy, action, fluff (?), pjo!au

warnings. a monster is slayed here, nothing but the typical pjo violence.

word count. 2.8k

notes. please do not ask me about the title. i wrote a sequel-ish for this story and you can read star lost here! :)

You tried to stay as still and as quiet as you could. Which was hard considering that there was nothing but a chunk of metal shielding you from the monster that made itself at home on the otherwise barren rooftop.

It all happened too quickly. One second you were just leaning against the barricade of the building’s rooftop, breathing in the view of the cityscape as a form of relaxation after surviving yet another hectic day. A loud flap from a pair of wings and a near-miss with sharp claws later, you were now slumped against the back of an insufferably smelly garbage trunk in desperation to stay alive.

This was supposed to be my safe place, you thought. It was ironic, really, now that you felt anything but safe.

You had your fair share of seeing otherworldly creatures but you’ve never had an encounter as close as this one. You thought that if you pretended you couldn’t see them then they wouldn’t take notice of your presence either. That didn’t seem to be the case with this creature in particular. It swooped down from a high altitude so quickly that you barely had any time to react before it landed on the spot where you once stood. You only figured it wasn’t friendly at the last moment. Thankfully, it was just enough time for you to escape unharmed.

You didn’t have enough time to study it and right now, you were too scared to even peek and spare it a glance. You imagined it was just as large as the garbage trunk, but not large enough to easily trample your hiding spot or throw it aside. Its grumbles panned from loud to quiet, as if it were pacing around the rooftop to find you. The thought made you laugh to yourself. For such a big, scary creature, it wasn’t all that smart. It evened things out.

You shook your head and reminded yourself that there was still a grave matter at hand.

The pulsing in your ear was still loud, but willing your mind to calm down seemed to work in clearing your thoughts out. The initial panic was beginning to die down and your heart finally seized trying to leap out of your ribcage. Slowly, you listed your options down.

The doorway leading back to the stairwell was only a few feet away. If you ran fast enough, you’d be able to reach it in seconds. The problem was that the creature was faster than you were. It could be anywhere on the platform and it could reach you way before you could safely make your exit. You shuddered at the thought of being caught; you didn’t want to become someone’s—or something’s, rather—dinner tonight.

Dashing for the exit was possible but only if luck was on your side. Any delay on the creature’s part could be crucial (and beneficial) to your survival. If not that, you could always yeet yourself off the building and hope the fall wouldn’t be too bad. Except you were on the rooftop of a building that was a dozen storeys high and there were no safety nets present to catch you.

You thought of sitting it out, playing a waiting game with the predator until it grew tired and set out for another prey. You’ve read about such things happening in books, something on Natural Selection and how survival wasn’t always about being the fittest but also being the smartest as well. But what you thought of doing wasn’t particularly smart either. And as the creature snarled when it got a quiff of your scent again, inching closer and closer to your hiding place, waiting things out didn’t secure your survival at all.

You were running out of time. You’ve laid all your possible options down and none of them secured a hundred percent life rate. Stay put, jump off or run. Only one out of the three didn’t scream certain death upon execution.

Either you moved now, or you might as well be monster dinner.

Snagging one of your sneakers off your foot, you prayed that the lucky shoe would cause enough distraction to deter the creature’s attention away from you. Hopefully, it’d buy you enough time to make your get away.

With little skill and poor aim, you threw the shoe overhead. It landed on a metal plate, rattling as it rolled over and over until it eventually lost momentum. The creature didn’t waste a second of its time, pouncing off the bin as it ran after the Converse. You stared in disbelief, finding it hard to process that a plan that stupid (and circumstantial) worked. Maybe luck was on your side tonight.

You took it as your cue to make your escape. Scooting slowly out of your hiding place, you ran the other way and in the direction of the door to the stairwell. Too easy, you thought, it was almost unbelievable.

Of course, like every other thing that came easy to you, you jinxed it.

Before you could reach the door, it swung open—hard—and it slammed against the wall beside the doorway. You had to bite your tongue to stop yourself from cursing at the boy who opened it. Great, now your little distraction trick was pointless. The creature turned its head, eyes ogling out of their sockets at the sight of two juicy meal options. Drool dripped down its beak and on to the ground beneath it—on to your shoe.

You only had a moment to mourn over your soiled shoe before the creature shrieked, bending its legs as it prepared to launch itself for attack. You stood frozen in terror, your feet seemingly glued to the cemented floor as you locked eyes with the beast. Its eyes reminded you of your cat’s; thin black slits surrounded by a pool of gold. So hypnotizing but also terrifying.

You were knocked out of your own thoughts when you were dragged aside.

“Get behind me.”

The voice came from the stranger who opened the stairwell door—the culprit responsible for getting both your asses into a tight pinch. You wanted to snap at him and ask him what in the world he was thinking, like it would be physically possible to one-up a creature twice as large as him. It was stupid, you thought, he was stupid.

“You can’t do that,” you blurted out.

The boy’s stance didn't waver, but he turned his head slightly to answer you. “Can’t do what?”

“Face that thing off? Are you stupid?”

You could hear the smirk in his tone when he spoke. “Watch me.”

But he sounded so sure that it convinced you to stay put and stand behind him. Who were you to choose? You had nothing to lose. At least you weren’t the first one the monster would make a meal out of, and you always had the chance to leave the boy on his own and run down the flight of stairs back into the building. Maybe he was buying you some time.

The boy stood with one foot in front of the other as if he were actually serious in fighting the beast on his own. He was right to be at the ready because the creature pounced at him before you could rethink your decision. He didn’t move at all, and for a moment you thought you were both done for. 

Up until the last second. Thunder rumbled and rolled overhead, like a storm was stirring right above where you both stood even when you recalled looking up to a sky full of stars just moments ago. A bright light flashed in front of you and a loud boom followed after, blinding and deafening you momentarily. You took a step back, blinking a few times until the black outline of the lightning bolt cleared up.

It took you a moment to realize that it was the creature that was struck by it. Being this close to the sky on top of a high-rise building, it wasn’t an impossible target. It might’ve carried some kind of conductor with it. Metal? Gold? You weren’t so sure, you were just thankful that you weren’t the lucky one who got struck.

The beast looked weakened and dazed, maybe even paralyzed. A part of its back looked blackened and burnt. Its feathers were charred; some were reduced to ash while others still burned and scattered cinders around.

On the other hand, the boy’s moves were swift and calculated, easily missable if you weren’t paying attention. The glint of the blade he held caught your eye as he drew it out of its leather sheath. He jabbed the sword upward, right as the beast’s beak closed in—stopping it from fully clamping shut. It let out a low cry in agony, sinking to its knees as the blade was buried deeper and deeper until the pointed end stuck out of its head. Its eyes slowly fluttered shut and its whole body crumpled. 

You both stood in silence as the creature fell limp, sprawled out on the floor in front of you. You were about to open your mouth when you noticed bits and pieces of it beginning to disappear into the wind. What once was solid, ferocious, and terrifying was reduced to a pile of dust; so fragile that the slightest movement would cause it to crumble. The boy did just that as he pulled his sword out of what once was the creature’s head. As if the sword was the last thing holding it together, the whole structure of the beast dispersed into thin air upon the metal’s removal. It left not a single speck of its existence behind and it left you blinking at the space where it once was. 

“Oh, you’re still here?” 

Your brain was still preoccupied with processing everything that happened since Whatever-that-was landed on the rooftop, that you were startled when the boy spoke. 

You blinked back at him. His sword was back in its sheath and he didn’t look like he single-handedly K.O-ed a monster with one move. He appeared unscathed, which was good, and unfazed, which was confusing. You weren’t sure if you should congratulate him or take a step back.

“How did you do that?” The question left your lips before you could even think twice about how weird and childish it sounded. 

“Do what?”

“That,” you stammered, “that thing you did. You stabbed the eagle, mutated eagle, eagle lion or whatever that was, and it just”—you snapped your fingers in his face—“you get me?”

The boy raised an eyebrow, “Mutated eagle? You mean the Gryphon?” Your face contorted into an even more confused one and he figured that everything was just a little too much to process at the moment. “You can see through the Mist?”

You blinked twice, checking the surroundings for any clumps of grey that could’ve clouded your vision. Nope, not a single cloud in sight. “I guess so? I can’t see anything,” you trailed off, “misty.”

He looked at you with furrowed brows, before he went on to shake his head. “That’s not what I meant,” he chuckled awkwardly. “It’s a long story, actually.”

“Are you an alien?” You cut him off before he could even begin his long story, but it didn’t look like he was about to tell it either. “I mean, you’re physically human at the moment. But that sword,” you pointed at the hilt that stuck out of the leather scabbard hanging by his hip, “that pulverized the Gryffindor doesn’t seem earthly at all.”

“Gryphon,” he corrected.

“Sorry.”

“You sure catch up quickly,” he noted, humming in praise at your speedy deduction.

You mumbled a small thank you before you looked up to meet his gaze. His dark eyes stared down at you with such intensity; it made you shudder. You could make out thin lines of light in the middle of the swirls of black. You couldn’t be sure if they were mere reflections of the light from other skyscrapers or his eyes just glowed on its own. Looking into them felt like peering at thick storm clouds moments before the downpour. 

You were busy staring back at him so intently that you jumped when a loud voice suddenly echoed up the stairwell. 

“There you are, Chan! We wouldn’t have found you without the lightning.”

You turned your head and found two boys standing by the lower platform; one jolly boy who owned the voice that left you startled and a shorter boy who was tugging the former back.

“Jisung, shut up,” the shorter boy scolded, elbowing the boy beside him as he acknowledged your presence. “I’m sure you already dealt with the,” he trailed off, skirting around the topic at the presence of someone else, “with it. Meet us back at the park once you’re through here.” 

He spared you a cautious glance before he disappeared down the stairwell with the jolly boy in tow.

You had a million questions to ask, enthralled with the idea that you finally came across someone who saw all the weird things you did. Curiosity was eating you up, but you knew Chan didn’t have enough time to answer them. 

“I’m guessing you need to go,” you uttered under your breath.

Chan pursed his lips, seemingly aware that you weren’t happy about him leaving with so many loose ends left untied in your head. “Kinda. Feels like I still owe you an explanation though,” he answered. 

“Save your explanation for another day, Alien.” 

He arched an eyebrow at the announcement of his new nickname and he fought the urge to laugh at how wrong you were. “I prefer Chan, whatever-your-name-is.”

You sighed, wiping your hands on the pant leg of you jeans before offering it to him, “Good day, Chan. I’m _____. You saved my life,  I am eternally grateful.”

Chan blinked at you, then at your outstretched hand, then back at you again. It took him a few more seconds before he took it in his. You felt a jolt of energy run up your arm the moment his hand touched yours. His hand was warm and rough and of high voltage. Slowly and surely, you started to piece two and two together. If the boy in front of you wasn’t human, then could he possibly be a—

“You don’t have to be eternally grateful,” he insisted as he let go of your hand. “It’s kind of my job to make sure—”

“It’s a movie reference,” you cut him off again, and the look of confusion in his face made it obvious that he didn’t get it. Maybe he really was an alien, you thought. Wherever he lived, they didn’t have Toy Story or maybe he just hasn’t seen it yet.

You watched as he began to walk in the opposite direction. By opposite, you meant both away from you and away from the stairwell. 

“And where the hell are you going? The way down is this way?”

Chan didn’t appear to be listening because he continued to walk up to the cemented barricades of the rooftop. “Who needs stairs when you can fly?” he announced, lifting himself up so he could stand on top.

He noticed the glint of worry in your eyes as you stared up at him. 

“For someone who can see through the Mist, you seem a bit skeptical,” he chided, walking down the wall with little to no caution.

“All in a day’s work of seeing things no one else can. You start believing them when they tell you that you’re just hallucinating.”

Chan finally stopped pacing when he reached the corner of the building and you let out a breath of relief. “I’ll see you around, _____. I promise I’ll explain everything next time.”

Before you could shout back a response, he was already leaning back against nothing. You broke into a sprint as you watched his body disappear off the side of the building. Your eyes scanned frantically for his falling body when you reached the edge. And you saw him briefly, free-falling until he wasn’t. 

A cloud swooped by to catch him and the gears in your mind reeled again. There was no way water vapor could catch a heavy man but there he was. Chan drifted by at the mercy of the wind (literally) and you began to question every Science lesson that has been taught to you. You already had your fair share of encounters with the supernatural before. Why would this day be any different?

The cloud began to take form as it rose in altitude, passing you by as it climbed up an invisible staircase upwards before it disappeared in lightning speed—taking Chan along with it. You sat there for a few moments, dumb-founded and stunned beyond disbelief. 

You blinked twice and you tried to internalize that you just saw a grown-ass man fly away on the back of a cloud shaped like a horse, or a horse made out of clouds. Your head began to ache when you started to think too much about it. 

Whatever, you thought. Just another weird day for you. 

You turned your heel, walked back to the stairwell door and never looked back.

© neo-shitty, 2021

[neo-shitty]

teaser — gladius maximus (b.c)

gladius maximus — a bang chan story for ficscafe’s dialogue prompt event under prompt #17 — “you can’t do that!” “watch me.” (per request of @subways-stuff​)

description. in which they didn’t tell you that superheroes didn’t always come in suits and capes. some came in casual clothes, armed in an OP bronze sword and sparky hands.

pairings. son of zeus!bang chan x gender-neutral reader who can see through the mist

genre. (an attempt at) comedy, fantasy, action (?), fluff (?), percy jackson and the olympians au 

warnings. none for the teaser but typical pjo violence in the full fic. 

notes. entitled as such in honor of jason grace’s sword (gladius) and chan’s gluteus maximus. does it hold any relevance to the plot? of course not.

word count. 836 for the teaser; 2.8k for the fic.

[ READ THE FULL FIC HERE ]

You tried to stay as still and as quiet as you could. Which was hard considering that there was nothing but a chunk of metal shielding you from the monster that made itself at home on the otherwise barren rooftop.

It all happened too quickly. One second you were just leaning against the barricade of the building’s rooftop, breathing in the view of the cityscape as a form of relaxation after surviving yet another hectic day. A loud flap from a pair of wings and a near-miss with sharp claws later, you were now slumped against the back of an insufferably smelly garbage trunk in desperation to stay alive.

This was supposed to be my safe place, you thought. It was ironic, really, now that you felt anything but safe.

You had your fair share of seeing otherworldly creatures but you’ve never had an encounter as close as this one. You thought that if you pretended you couldn’t see them then they wouldn’t take notice of your presence either. That didn’t seem to be the case with this creature in particular. It swooped down from a high altitude so quickly that you barely had any time to react before it landed on the spot where you once stood. You only figured it wasn’t friendly at the last moment. Thankfully, it was just enough time for you to escape unharmed.

You didn’t have enough time to study it and right now, you were too scared to even peek and spare it a glance. You imagined it was just as large as the garbage trunk, but not large enough to easily trample your hiding spot or throw it aside. Its grumbles panned from loud to quiet, as if it were pacing around the rooftop to find you. The thought made you laugh to yourself. For such a big, scary creature, it wasn’t all that smart. It evened things out.

You shook your head and reminded yourself that there was still a grave matter at hand. 

The pulsing in your ear was still loud, but willing your mind to calm down seemed to work in clearing your thoughts out. The initial panic was beginning to die down and your heart finally seized trying to leap out of your ribcage. Slowly, you listed your options down.

The doorway leading back to the stairwell was only a few feet away. If you ran fast enough, you’d be able to reach it in seconds. The problem was that the creature was faster than you were. It could be anywhere on the platform and it could reach you way before you could safely make your exit. You shuddered at the thought of being caught; you didn’t want to become someone’s—or something’s, rather—dinner tonight.

Dashing for the exit was possible but only if luck was on your side. Any delay on the creature’s part could be crucial (and beneficial) to your survival. If not that, you could always yeet yourself off the building and hope the fall wouldn’t be too bad. Except you were on the rooftop of a building that was a dozen storeys high and there were no safety nets present to catch you.

You thought of sitting it out, playing a waiting game with the predator until it grew tired and set out for another prey. You’ve read about such things happening in books, something on Natural Selection and how survival wasn’t always about being the fittest but also being the smartest as well. But what you thought of doing wasn’t particularly smart either. And as the creature snarled when it got a quiff of your scent again, inching closer and closer to your hiding place, waiting things out didn’t secure your survival at all.

You were running out of time. You’ve laid all your possible options down and none of them secured a hundred percent life rate. Stay put, jump off or run. Only one out of the three didn’t scream certain death upon execution.

Either you moved now, or you might as well be monster dinner. 

Snagging one of your sneakers off your foot, you prayed that the lucky shoe would cause enough distraction to deter the creature’s attention away from you. Hopefully, it’d buy you enough time to make your get away. 

With little skill and poor aim, you threw the shoe overhead. It landed on a metal plate, rattling as it rolled over and over until it eventually lost momentum. The creature didn’t waste a second of its time, pouncing off the bin as it ran after the Converse. You stared in disbelief, finding it hard to process that a plan that stupid (and circumstantial) worked. Maybe luck was on your side tonight.

You took it as your cue to make your escape. Scooting slowly out of your hiding place, you ran the other way and in the direction of the door to the stairwell. Too easy, you thought, it was almost unbelievable. 

Of course, like every other thing that came easy to you, you jinxed it.

© neo-shitty, 2021