#that was me with when i figured out that the reason nico can paint nails is because of bianca

[vivitalks]

like a burst of technicolor in a world of black and white

for the prompt "painting nails" on my @jasico-challenges bingo card. guys i am really having fun with this bingo thing have yall heard about this. this shit rules anyway imagine an AU where trials of apollo is a collective hallucination we all experienced and then decided never to speak of again. and instead jason stayed at CHB after the showdown w gaea. okay you are now prepared for the events of this fic xoxo

title from extraordinary magic by ben rector :) read here on ao3

“How come you didn't go to school?”

Fair question, but pretty random.

They're spread out on the floor of Cabin One. When Nico marched in armed with a bottle of nail polish the color of a cloudless sky and insisted on painting Jason's nails, Jason tossed his sketchbook aside. Any activity with Nico is better than drawing shrines alone. 

Nico got to work and they descended into easy silence. Jason figured that was for Nico's focus, so he didn't break it, just allowed his mind to wander aimlessly.

When he tunes back in at Nico's inquiry, he sees two nails painted — left index and middle, coated in light blue. Jason has never had his nails painted. He doesn't know if it's always this soothing, but if it is, he can understand why so many people do it.

“You mean instead of staying at camp year-round?”

Nico nods and takes the brush to Jason's next finger. His face of concentration is extremely cute: narrowed eyes, teeth digging into his lower lip, one rebellious strand of dark hair he keeps blowing out of his face only for it to fall right back in his eyes.

“You could have,” he says. “You’d only have two years before graduation. Could get a diploma.”

Jason shrugs. “Yeah, but why would I? It’s not like I was getting a formal education before. Praetor was a year-round job.”

Nico hums. He's really very good at this. If the demigod thing doesn't pan out, he has a future as a manicurist.

“Plus,” Jason adds gamely, “I don't exactly have a parent or guardian to enroll me anywhere.”

“I'm sure Chiron would be more than happy to falsify some legal documents.”

Jason chuckles. “You think so?”

“Are you kidding?” Nico snorts. “Percy told me Chiron posed as his Latin teacher for a full year when he was younger. He would love to invent a transcript for you.”

Jason gives this a dismissive laugh so they can put the topic to rest. He thought about trying to go to school, for sure. He spent about six minutes seriously considering it. I could have some normalcy, he'd mused. Be a high school kid. Sure, I don't have any surviving mortal parents, or anywhere to live during the school year, or any money, or any previous course credits, or any documents to prove I'm a real person, but. Those are solvable problems.

Then he’d thought, Or I could stay at camp, and the decision made itself.

Maybe it's bleak to say, but there's nothing for him out there. In the real world. He has no memory of being a baby living with Thalia and his mother, and after that, his whole life was the legion. Training with Lupa was the closest thing Jason had to elementary school. Everything that matters to him — his friends, his family, his sworn duty to the minor gods — starts and ends in camp. His youth is tattooed with the brand of Camp Jupiter. His freedom is a leather necklace tied by Camp Half-Blood.

Why leave?

“I'm good here,” is all he says.

Nico isn't ready to drop it. “But then why stay here? You didn't want to go back to Camp Jupiter?”

Jason raises both eyebrows. “Did you want me to?”

“No!” Nico scowls. “I'm just curious.”

Methodical brush strokes turn Jason's fourth fingernail blue. It's a pretty color; Jason wonders what inspired Nico to choose it. It's probably not Nico's first time painting someone's nails, because he's very skillfully managing not to get any polish on Jason's skin. He has good hands for the job — thin and precise. Careful. Deliberate.

“The plan was really to split my time,” Jason says, just as careful, just as deliberate. “I was already at Camp Half-Blood, so I figured I'd spend a little while here, then a while at Camp Jupiter, and, you know, so on.”

“But…it's been two months,” Nico says.

The unspoken question: why haven't you gone back yet?

“Well, yeah,” Jason says. His own stillness is becoming uncomfortable. If he moves, he risks ruining Nico's artwork, but sitting this stationary isn't in his nature. Like most demigods, he has a compulsion to fidget. It's less noticeable in him — less than, say, Leo — but in moments of extreme stagnancy, it doubles down.

“Are you planning to go back at all?”

It's not an interrogation. At least, Jason doesn't think so. It's not small talk, either. Nico is his friend. This is a friendly conversation. There are no wrong answers here.

“Eventually,” Jason says. “To visit. But…to stay?” He shakes his head. “I don't think so.”

“All your friends are there,” Nico says, and he's still looking down, focused on his task, like this statement is a reflex, requiring no thought.

“Not all,” Jason says, watching him. “You're here.”

That gets Nico’s attention. He looks up. “Me?”

“You're my friend,” Jason says.

“Don't tell me you stayed here just for me.” It comes out like a bad joke. Like it couldn't possibly be true.

“Well…” Jason pauses. “I don't know if that's the only reason, but it definitely helped.”

“What? Are you joking?”

“Why would I be joking?”

“Because that's—” Nico stops halfway through painting Jason’s little finger. He gestures like words aren't enough. “That's crazy!”

“You just said I should go to Camp Jupiter because my friends are there,” Jason says, puzzled. “Why is it crazy to stay at Camp Half-Blood for the same reason?”

“I’m one person. Friend, singular. Meanwhile your entire cohort of friends is over in California.”

“Yeah, but…” Jason gnaws his cheek. He has this suspicion Nico won't like any of his answers, then decides he doesn't care. “They don't need me over there. I gave my praetorship to Frank, so I'm officially released from leadership duty, and I don't regret it for a second. It makes no difference to the legion if I'm there or not, except as this— I don't know, symbol of greatness that I…really am not.” He grimaces, examining his semi-painted pinky nail, this half-finished, imperfect thing. “Here, I feel like…maybe it matters if I'm here or not. And not because of who my dad is or my rank or anything, just because…well, we're friends.”

Nico stares. Then he lifts Jason's hand and starts painting again, picking up where he left off. With his gaze trained downward, away from Jason's, he says, “It does matter. To me.”

Jason smiles. He gets the same feeling as stepping outside in the morning into perfect weather — pleasantly, comfortably surprised.

“There you go, then,” he says. “I mean, if you want me to leave—”

“No,” Nico says quickly, then glares as if he's mad about being tricked into admitting he wants Jason to stay. Recovering, he snarks, “If you leave, I won’t have anyone to subject to my nail-polish schemes.”

“I bet Will would let you paint his nails.”

“Will wouldn't let me anywhere near him with any kind of artistic implement, as well he shouldn’t. I would absolutely deface him.”

“Honored that you've elected not to deface me.”

Nico turns a rosy shade of pink. “This time.”

This is that other kind of Nico threat, the kind reserved for friends. For Jason. The kind that, underneath, isn't a threat at all, but a promise.

This time means there will be a next time. That's Jason's favorite kind of threat.

“You're weirdly good at this,” Jason says. Nico has finished his left hand by now and moved on to the right. “Since when is this in your skill set?”

“Bianca,” Nico says. Matter-of-fact, without room to grieve. “A couple nights when we were in the Lotus Hotel, she asked me to paint hers. First time I tried, it was such a mess. She did mine to show me how, so I could learn.”

Jason catches his breath. “Clearly it paid off, ‘cause you're killing it.”

This was something Nico did with Bianca. And now he's sharing it with Jason. That gives Jason a feeling in his gut that's both warm and heavy, like a big dog is curled up in there, taking a sunbeam nap.

“You'll have to do mine after,” Nico says, still no-nonsense. “Black, obviously.”

“I don't have any nail polish.”

“I brought some. Lacy gave it to me. From Cabin Ten. Magical, so it doesn't smudge or chip.”

“I didn't even realize nail polish did that.”

“You have a lot to learn.” Nico nods sagely. “That's okay. Everyone starts somewhere.”

“It is very relaxing. I can see the appeal,” Jason admits. He wiggles the fingers of his finished hand, admiring them. “How’d you land on this color, though? Or was it just a random pick?”

 Nico looks strangely at Jason. Some of that blush from earlier returns. “You're…the son of the sky god.”

Jason studies the color. It's not quite sky blue, but close enough. “Huh,” he says, feeling silly for not having made the connection. “I suppose that makes sense.”

“Besides,” Nico says, a little quieter like it's not exactly for Jason to hear, but not not for him to hear, either, “it's the color of your eyes.”

That sleeping dog behind Jason's navel starts thumping its tail.

“Oh,” Jason says. He's not sure he could confirm that, but Nico sounds utterly certain. The fact that Nico has spent enough time looking at Jason's eyes that he can pinpoint their exact shade is its own can of worms. For future opening. At a later date. “Well, I like it. It's pretty.”

“Yeah,” Nico says, and his fingers press gently into Jason's palm as he continues to paint. “It is.”

[depressedacadamia]

Sore Losers

A/N: This was meant to be a simple one shot but I couldn’t help myself and now it’s a twoshot because I’m extra af. I hope you enjoy it and please comment!

Summary: Percy and Annabeth are both the most competitve people to ever exist by far. So when they both lead teams in a match of Capture the Flag Paintball edition, a very fun game ends up becoming a battle. Annabeth and Percy also happen to be the biggest pair of sore losers out there. 

Word count: 3.8K

Tagging: @showtunesandsolangelo

Chapter I

Let it be known that Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were both the biggest pair of sore losers on this side of the Atlantic. You’d think that a large group of teenagers at a paintballing park would cause a lot of trouble. Yes, yes they would indeed. But not nearly as much trouble a group of traumatised teenage demigods could cause.

They had 1 rule- don't use any powers.

However, the demigods were never really much good at following rules.

Percy promised Annabeth that his team would win and Annabeth, unable to help herself, boasted back how amazing her team were going to be. It was quite obvious how their fatal flaws- hubris and loyalty- were going to be their downfall in a game of paintball.

“Oi! You two stop flirting and get on the damned bus, would you!” Piper shouted from the window seat with Hazel to her. The yellow bus was warm due to the sunny weather outside and it smelt like teenagers.

“We aren’t flirting!” Annbeth protested violently as she threw her sports bag over her shoulder while climbing the steps. Percy, being the gentleman he was, took the bag off her shoulder and carried it for her- not that it was truly hard.

“Even I can tell that you’re flirting,” Leo called out from the back where his fingers idly fiddled with some copper wire, a battery and a nail- it seemed like he was making an electromagnet.

“Can you blame me if Percy thinks his team is going to win Pipes?” Annabeth turned around in her seat.

“That’s because we are going to win,” Will commented with a hint of sarcasm from the side of the bus where Percy’s team sat. Nico, who sat next to Reyna and was on Annabeth’s team, was more invested in fidgeting with his rings until Will spoke up.

“Says you, traitor,” He snorted.

“Death boy, it’s a game. You chose Annabeth's team- it would be unfair if we were on the same team. Besides, If anything, I should be upset. You chose Annabeth's team after I chose Percy’s!”

Nico refused to answer, his arm clinging to Reyna who barely took notice and smirked at the boy’s ego’s.

“How sad must it be that you genuinely believe that you will win?” Reyna was about to sheath her spear when Hazel put her hand on hers.

“Reyna! We aren’t allowed to bring weapons. We need to prove we can beat them without weapons!” Hazel argued.

“Having second thoughts over there?” Frank called out from beside Jason. Hazel stuck her tongue out at him- he pulled a funny face in return. While these two were considered the most mature, when they were talking to each other, they were no better than 5 year olds.

The venue was huge. It was like an abandoned forest with upside down vehicles, camo everywhere and at least 3 places to get perfectly shot in the head- not that it was allowed. There was a specific reason behind the demigods choosing to go paintballing- they were never trained to use guns. It was something that none of them were familiar in, thus they were all at a completely fair level. Had they been sword fighting, they would have all destroyed each other. They had to pull on protection suits- which were also camouflage.

“Okay, this is to capture the flag but in paintball. You’re all familiar with capturing the flag- the only difference here is instead of our regular weapons, today we have these peculiar things…” Calypso trailed off slightly.

“Guns,” Hazel and Nico finished off together. The entire squad gave an alarmed look at them saying Why in the name of Hades do you know that? In sync, they both replied.

“World War 1,” Hazel sighed.

“Hitler,” Nico grunted, kicking at the floor. A couple of scattered snorts came from the group who could not picture them in the 1900s.

“Enough enemy mingling! Comrades, let us unite to beat the Owls!” Percy commanded his group comedically. Nico raised his eyebrow at the communist joke while everyone laughed slightly.

“I see you’ve learnt something in History- let’s find out if your seaweed brain can figure out how to surrender shall we?” Annabeth challenged as she took steps towards Percy, her hands resting on her hips confidently- Her hubris was showing. She half expected Percy to slip his hand around her waist or try and show off like she did but instead, he turned to his team and began frantically whispering.

The game was so on.

“Okay, this is it. We go in, storm the boys and capture their flag,” Annabeth decided.

“And don't forget to shoot as many of them as you can!” Piper added and the group happily agreed.

“Okay Comrades, Mission ‘infiltrate’ the owls is about to end- when we meet at what I like to call No man's land, we shall take their flag while they attempt to take ours. Will, guard our flag- the rest of you, position ourselves in the formation we discussed earlier. Jason and Leo, you’re my backup soldiers if I’m down,” Percy announced. The boys nodded and prepared for the plan.

Annabeth was crouching, gun in hand with Hazel behind her. Annabeth's blonde hair made her stand out a bit whereas Hazel had a greater advantage- from a vantage point, one wouldn’t even be able to see her. As Annabeth approached through the clearing she froze. Up ahead was a dangerous place. No bushes, no trees, no cars- she’d be totally exposed to whatever Percy was plotting. She did not doubt that he had some person watching this area, ready to release fire on any enemies. Annabeth was going to wait, she crouched by the bush before the clearing and kept her gun pointed and her eyes on the lookout.

She was about to move when paint balls began exploding all around her. The sound ricocheted in her ears and the droplets of paint remained floating about in the air. The boys had planned an ambush! Annabeth knew she had 2 options- retreat and play defensive or attack and play offensive.

“Hazel, you’re in charge. Nico, you’re coming with me. Make sure Reyna is still guarding the flag!” She whisper- shouted as she began running across No Mans Land with Nico trailing close behind her. He may or may not have been using his powers to bring shards of earth encased in shadows to protect himself and Annabeth from the shower of paintballs heading towards them. Nobody really needed to know- besides, he was forbidden from using death powers, not earthly ones.

“Nico, I hear something,” Annabeth warned. The sound of crackling and rushing water surrounded them.

“It’s coming from the creak…,” Nico mumbled.

They both made eye contact, agreeing on a time to run. 3 ,2 ,1- Now! They began sprinting, dodging the rocks and the flames which were scattered across the field. The other team were really going all out and being ruthless. Leo had set half of their frontier on fire that was only being controlled by the fact that Percy had a lot of water coming in from the creak preventing the fire from spreading too far. Flashes of light came striking down on the trees, causing crackles in the trees. There were echoes of thunder rumbling throughout their section and the smell of carbon monoxide slowly rising into the air.

The tree that had been struck by lightning was causing an awful mount of crackling, a bit too much for comfort. It wasn’t until the distinct sound of a tree snapping did Annabeth and Nico realise that the tree in front of them was falling.

Directly. Onto. them.

Back at Annabeth's side of the frontier, Hazel had decided to play dirty and get powers involved. It was only fair, was it not? Piper, Reyna and Calypso were all very happy to oblige to this. They had restructured their battle plan with Piper guarding the flag and using her charmspeak if necessary. Hazel, Calypso and Reyna were at the front, using their powers to their advantage. Reyna had not decided to use her empowerment- it wasn’t necessary and it was never comforting knowing she had made her friends feel brave; she felt like she was manipulating them whenever she did use it.

“So Hazel, what were you saying about not using weapons?” Reyna raised an eyebrow as she impressively pulled out her spear of imperial gold, glimmering in the sunlight. Hazel who sheathed her Spatha simply shrugged.

“Calypso are you ready?” Hazel asked, slightly concerned- she didn't want to overwork her so quickly after she had only just started to get her magic back.

“You think I’m going to let Leo win?” She scoffed slightly as she raised her hands slightly, the magical aura around them visible.

“We have a battle to win,” Reyna announced.

Nico grabbed onto Annabeth and closed his eyes. She felt herself slip into the darkness with Nico- the moment was awful. Dark, cold and creepy whisperings surrounded her. She did not want to know how Nico was able to do that. As he pulled them out the shadows, Nico dropped to his knees, trying to catch his breath. His eyes looked significantly tired post- shadow travelling.

“Don’t tell Will, he’ll go crazy if he found out that I shadow travelled,” he said weakly, his hand clutching his ribs. Annabeth slowly helped him up to his feet, only one gun still with the both of them- Nico had dropped his when he had to shadow travel them.

“Nico, I’ve got another plan if you’re up for it,” Annabeth offered. She leaned over and whispered her strategy. The corners of Nico’s lips twisted upwards into a cruel smile- cold and menacing. Was this plan extremely dangerous if one part went wrong? Probably. But Nico decided he liked the idea of winning too much to really care.

He dug his feet into the ground again, pushing every ounce of energy into controlling the shadows. He needed to keep this accurate- too much and Hazel’s side of the field goes dark, too little and Percy’s team will be able to see what's coming.

Slowly, shadows covered every inch of Percy’s field. Nico and Annabeth were grasping onto each other, Nico was holding onto her for strength while Annabeth was staying with the only person who could control what was happening. The only light that was visible were the fires ignited by Leo but by now, they were weak. All they had to do was wait for a figure to light up their hands- all the members would flock to the light, except whoever was protecting the flag.

“What just happened?” Percy yelled as he followed the stream of water that led to the fires.

“Someone’s using their powers… probably Nico, I can hear whisperings and these shadows are really cold!” Leo responded, lifting his hands up to signal his location to his teammates- though that may have not been a good idea. A giant flash of light came striking down to the ground again and the loud rumble of thunder came soon after, only adding to the creepiness of the game.

“It’s definitely Nico using powers which means he’s somehow gotten through our borders,” Jason gritted out. They all looked at each other agreeing to search for the son of Hades.

“Nico, you can summon the skeletons now, right?” Annabeth asked as she supported Nico on her shoulder. Feebly, Nico nodded while trying to summon some of his own strength. His skin which had almost returned to it’s olive hue was now close to a deathly pale. Annabeth could feel his cold fingers and slightly shivered- it was like holding a corpse. The ground started cracking, the earth splitting open as a skeletal arm reached out, climbing into the real world. Within a minute, Nico had summoned enough skeletons for the plan to work.

Annabeth knew what had to happen next- she would either run after the flag or go drive the remainder of Percy’s team far back enough so that her team could attack them from behind. She cherished the idea of getting the flag, a truly victorious moment, but she knew that if she went after the flag, she’d be sending Nico who seemed as fragile as glass right now to go fight 4 of the most powerful demigods. She decided to take her chances- hopefully whoever was guarding the flag wasn’t too hard for Nico.

“Nico, here take the gun and go after the flag. I will push back the other team.”

“I don’t need that- you’re going to be 4 against one, take it.” He batted his hand, refusing to allow Annabeth to hand over her gun to him.

“Nic-”

“-If you want to actually win this, you need your gun. You don’t stand a chance fighting 4 of them alone. Take the gun,” He managed to snap. Annabeth actually smiled at this. If Nico could give her snappy comebacks, then he still had a bit of strength in him. She kept her gun as she ran into the shadows, the skeleton army close behind.

“Does the other side look kinda funny?” Hazel asked, tilting her head to the side with her spatha in hand.

“It’s...it’s dark. I can't see anything there,” Calypso responded, slightly shocked.

What in the name of the gods was going on over there?

It seemed that the answer hit Reyna and Hazel at the same time- Nico! Not that they were about to admit it, but they were a tad concerned- you know, if you saw pure shadows just floating about, you would also be slightly concerned.

“We should move ourselves further up the frontier into No Mans Land. Annabeth must have planned something with Nico.” Calypso announced. They all agreed and moved further downwards, cautious for any ambushes.

“Oh Annabeth, aren’t you meant to be the smart one? You know, daughter of Athena?” Percy mockingly asked as she approached them, the shadows encasing most of her but not enough to go unnoticed. The skeletons however, were hiding perfectly in the dark.

“And where is the little shit?” Jason looked around Annabeth, trying to see if Nico had hid himself among the shadows- something that wouldn’t be too hard for him.

“Technically this is cheating,” Leo pointed out. Annabeth snapped her head towards him, still wondering where the skeletons were.

“We weren’t the ones who started it- if I remember correctly, you literally almost crushed us under a tree.”

“That was an accident,” Jason sheepishly rubbed his head.

“Don't think you can walk in here without being defeated, Wise girl.”

“If all 4 of you are going to fight me, I think all guns should be prohibited- does that sound fair Jackson?”

“3. All 3 of us. Frank has been… patrolling.” Leo rubbed his hands mysteriously. Annabeth wanted to gasp, they had been cheating from the beginning, using Frank as surveillance on them.

“Well since you were cheating from the very beginning, you definitely cannot use your guns,” Annabeth protested, enforcing her plan. The boy shrugged and threw their guns to the floor- Annabeth did the same but the gun was still close enough for… a change of heart. Fire raged from Leo’s hands, Percy had Riptide in hand and Jason had his Gladius, the charge of lighting running through it. Annabeth had to try to not visibly gulp- Where on earth were the skeletons? Here getting toasted was not part of the plan. She could only start to take them one when the distraction was set.

Nico forcibly pushed his foot one in front of another, searching for the flag. The entire half of the arena was covered like a blanket. The only light source being Leo’s fire and the occasional fires that Nico let loose through the ground to help him see. Up head, Nico could see another light source- did he just walk himself into a circle? He couldn’t see Leo or any fires. In fact all he really saw was light.

Light?

He trudged forwards, keeping to the shadows. As he got closer, he realised the light source was Will- his skin was the lightsource, literally. It was like he was watching a firefly for the first time- Will was glowing! No, focus Nico. The game, the flag. Capture it and reign victorious with Annabeth.

“Frank, dude, get off my shoulder,” Jason said. As the hand remained on his shoulder, Jason grew slightly agitated and turned around before jumping back and letting out a scream of surprise. Catching the attention of Percy and Leo, the skeletons began to close in on them. Now was Annabeth's chance. While the skeletons pushed them back, hopefully Hazel would have the team ready for an ambush on all sides.

“You’re very shiny today,” Nico commented.

“Well if you didn’t plunge us into semi- eternal darkness, I wouldn’t be a night light,” Will retorted crossing his arms.

“I’ve always wanted my own personal nightlight. Also now, I have an actual justification to call you sunshine- you’re literally glowing.”

“Quit laughing at me.”

“I’m not laughing at you… I’m just stealing,” Nico shrugged as he made a dash for the flag. Will scrambled for his gun but it was too late, Nico had pulled the flag into the shadows- the paintballs from Will’s gun had only hit the tree that Nico had once stood in front of. As Nico emerged from his travelling, the shadows that once covered the entire field started fading.

With their guns strapped to their backs, Hazel and the team made their way across No Mans Land- trying to avoid the shower of paintballs from the other side.

“You made a machine gun out of this?” Hazel asked in dismay as she dodged the fireball coming from Leo.

“I am Admiral Leo, of course I made a machine gun, Hazel.”

“Hazel, on your left!”

Hazel swiftly ducked a paintball coming her left which proceeded to hit Leo square in the chest. He groaned as he felt the bruise start to form across his chest. Saddened by getting hit, he fell to the ground dramatically.

“Oh I’m wounded! Tell Calypso I might not make it!”

“Tell her yourself,” a voice snorted. Jason and Reyna were both fighting- Jason’s gladius would come down harshly onto Reyna’s spear, who continuously tried to disarm him. When Jason came down again with his sword, Reyna twisted her spear towards the hilt and pushed the butt of her spear upwards successfully disarming the sword with a clatter from his hands. She placed her foot on the sword and kicked it backwards, away from Jason before she dropped her spear.

“Hand to hand?” Jason asked. Reyna did not reply and instead charged towards him.

Calypso was trying to not get set on fire- while Leo had been shot, he was not about to let her win so easily. Her magic could only do so much and it annoyed her that Leo was setting everything on fire.

“Calypso, don’t you have telekinesis?” Annabeth shouted nodding towards Leo as she dodged another slash from Percy. Calypso got the memo and closed her eyes, harvesting as much power as she could. Being an ex-titaness came with it’s privileges from time to time. She opened her eyes and flung her hands towards Leo. Easily, she threw him into the creek where he landed with an ‘oomph’ and a very loud curse word that will not be repeated.

Piper hated being the guard. Everyone was probably having a blast and here she was, away from the action. There was a buzzing noise that was annoying her and she really did not want to deal with it. She had one of her daggers clutched in her hand while the gun was slung over her shoulder. She had gotten so bored that she had resorted to talking to the crow opposite her who had just sat there. It would tilt its head every once in a while when she said anything that could be deemed controversial.

Suddenly, the crow flew towards her, as to rest on her shoulder but instead, went towards the flag. Nothing wrong there, just a crow going towards a flag. Afterall it wasn’t as if it was trying to pull it out of the ground. Just as Piper turned around to see what the crow was really doing, she caught Frank with his hand wrapped around the flag, smiling and saluting towards her as he turned around and ran, flag in hand. Piper swore she had run as fast she ever had in her entire life, trying to get her charmspeak to work. The panting did not help her.

Annabeth slashed her knife in Percy’s direction, missing him by a millimeter as he stepped back to avoid it. Riptide came back at her, instead of it going for a blow to the chest as she expected, Percy aimed for her feet. As he wanted, she tripped and fell but her knife was still in hand. Just as she was about to use it, Riptide was held under her chin- she could feel the cool metal of it as Percy smirked and lightly teased her neck with it.

“You know Miss Brainiac, you really have yourself in a bad position, giving up would be easy, wouldn't it?”

“Jackson, you are enjoying this too much. I think you’ve forgotten the point.” Annabeth grabbed Riptide and twisted it before roling backwards slightly and throwing herself forwards. The sword clattered to the ground making Percy pout slightly but he wasn’t disheartened. Annabeth backslashed towards Percy who grabbed her arm, rendering the weapon in hand useless.

Annabeth had one last plan.

She leaned forwards and pressed her lips against Percy. It was quick and daring and Percy certainly did not expect it. Their lips met gently- it was comforting, warm and soft. Their lips brushed and when she pulled away lightly, he could taste her chapstick.

“Ouch!” Percy yelped as he jumped away from Annabeth and let go of her wrist. She held the knife under his chin and winked at Nico who held the gun with the flag under his arm. There was a giant yellow splatter on his back.

“That's not fair!” Percy sputtered. “ You seduced me!”

“All's fair in love and war.” Annabeth winked.

“I’ve got it! I’ve got the flag!” Frank gasped slightly- mainly due to being out of breath. He looked at Jason who was on the ground, Leo who was soaking, Percy who had a massive paintball splatter on his back and then at Nico who was holding the flag.

“We planned this. To make you win. We were taking it easy on you guys,” Frank decided. All the boys nodded in agreement only making Annabeth's teams chuckle.

[yukippe]

with one glimpse

this is inspired by and for @silima bc i saw her reychel art yesterday and went oh!! ao3

reyna meets rachel at the worst possible time. 

she’s losing her influence over the people that she’s done her best to hold onto at the seams for years. her sister has dealt with coups before, but there is something to be said about being a twenty two year old queen who has never had her authority truly questioned before versus a sixteen year old praetor on her second year of her term that has constantly been filled with thinly veiled insults and redirections to the opinions of her male counterparts. 

she is the only one willing to see rachel elizabeth dare, oracle of camp halfblood and her companion grover underwood, the apparent new lord of the wild. she does it because she knows that something is wrong. the greeks may have attacked camp jupiter, but it never felt right. 

reyna meets rachel at the worst possible time. rachel leaves an impression, of course, she is a legitimate oracle and all reyna has known when it comes to fate and prophecy is whatever octavian does with the teddy bears he cuts up. and, well. rachel is also someone that likely leaves an impression everywhere she goes. her bright red hair and paint stained jeans and nails with chipped, multicoloured polish make a clear picture in reyna’s head. if things had been different rachel wouldn’t have been able to leave reyna’s thoughts. 

but, it is a war and reyna is trying desperately to hold everything together when all the legion seems to want to do is follow the words of a power hungry augur who has never won a sparring match. and then the message rachel dare and grover underwood came to deliver sends reyna all the way to greece.

after everything, reyna knows no lost love for eros or venus, both deities having wreaked pain for her and nico. nico, however, reyna thinks is better than a godsend. 

seven months after the end of the giant war nico visits camp jupiter with the promise of setting her up on a blind date. 

at first reyna is skeptical. nico is a fourteen year old boy who spends every other weekend in the underworld and the rest of the time avoiding reyna’s questions about whether or not he’s going to high school. but, nico does have a very nice boyfriend and he claims that will has “an infinite supply” of lesbian friends her age. so reyna agrees to one blind date, on the condition that nico tours the campus of the high schools in new rome with her. percy likes to cut it on their iris messages to say things about how annabeth is going to have a high school set up in no time, but reyna always reminds him that not even new rome was built in a day.

the two of them are getting hot chocolate in reyna’s favourite cafe by the park with cherry trees that reyna likes to watch and keep track of the blooming patterns. nico is texting will under the table while reyna pretends to be interested in people watching the passerby on the other side of the window they’re seated by. a little girl spies reyna’s purple shirt and the golden laurel in her hair and waves, reyna winks at her. 

“ha, you spying new recruits?” nico asks, evidently finished making fun of whatever will sent him. 

reyna raises an eyebrow at him, “you were at the senate meeting where frank and i raised the age of voluntary service to sixteen. if she is interested in the legion, i will likely be long retired by the time she’s old enough to join.”

nico makes a face at her. reyna sticks her tongue out in return. most of the time she behaves better, but nico’s company makes her act like a child. could be the shared trauma, or the fact that they were both gay. nico’s phone buzzes again and saves reyna from embarrassing herself further in public. she looks over at the display of pastries at the front of the cafe and considers them carefully. hm. she walks over and orders a chocolate croissant for herself and an oatmeal raisin cookie for nico. his tastebuds are strange, but reyna’s learned better than to try and help him in months of their friendship. 

when she returns to their table she plucks his phone out of his hands and pockets it. she ignores his protests and grabby hands, “so. this blind date.”

nico retracts his hands and grins, she doesn’t trust it at all. “she’s going to be holding a blue hairbrush,” he pauses to snicker for no apparent reason. “and she’ll meet you at the library. she told me she’s going to pick a really weird statue to stand next to so you’ll have to make conversation while it’s staring down at you.”

reyna blinks at that. all the statues near the library are odd, so that won’t help very much. but the blue hairbrush should be enough to identify her. 

“what’s she like?” reyna asks. nico shrugs at her, so she pulls out the cookie she hid under a napkin and waves it at him. 

“she likes art and loud noise,” nico tells her as he reaches over the table and grabs the cookie from her hand. reyna lets him because she doesn’t feel like fighting him in the cafe for it. besides, by nico’s cagey standards that’s a decent amount of information.

she asks him if any of the friends he’s made at camp half blood would be interested in joining them on the tour they’re taking of high schools in new rome in a few weeks and he shoves his cookie into his mouth to avoid answering her. reyna lets him avoid her questions as she tries her croissant.

weeks later after a successful tour of colosseum high school with ten of camp half bloods young and at risk to monster attack teenagers, nico hands her a library book he forgot to return that she’s supposed to use for the girl he’s setting her up with to recognize her with.

“you’re going to get your library card revoked,” she tells him. “do you know how long it took me to get you one? you don’t even live in new rome yet.”

“i don’t like the sound of ‘yet’,” nico says. reyna bares her teeth as she smiles at him, but then she leaves him with his friends and a map to wander new rome for the rest of the day and makes her way over to the library. 

reyna has only been on a date that mattered once before. before the unsettling conversation she had with venus, she had tried to feel things for the boys who she knew she should like. no demigod will heal your heart. she is not thankful for venus, the goddess had been cruel and cruelty is not what reyna had needed when the goddess of love had pulled her away after reyna had risked everything on hope and her faith in her ability to survive. 

after the war, though, venus’s words had haunted her. reyna has never had time to think about attraction in depth, but piper’s reassurances that she might love a mortal or a god did not seem to be what venus had been alluding to. reyna has no interest in letting someone else heal her heart, and even less interest in any immortal figure. and. reyna had pieced it together with the help of her inability to tear her gaze away from piper’s beautiful brown eyes that fundamentally she couldn’t love a boy. 

she’d gone to lunch with a centurion who had a pretty singing voice and liked card games. it had been fun, but the other girl hadn’t really been able to separate reyna as herself and reyna as praetor. 

nico’s friend is from camp half blood and reyna has found since the giant war that she is very fond of the looseness of the greeks. she doesn’t like to jinx things, but reyna thinks today will be at least a day of fun. 

rachel elizabeth dare, oracle of camp half blood, is sitting at the feet of a particularly ugly statue of emperor constantine holding a blue hairbrush. reyna pauses in her tracks. a memory of the shape of rachel’s mouth as she said reyna’s full name the first time they met, months ago, plays in the back of reyna’s head. 

reyna met rachel at the worst possible time. nico’s given her a second chance. 

rachel is tormenting the pigeons near her when reyna walks up to her. rachel’s hair is cropped shorter than it was the last time reyna saw her. her nails are less chipped, and it looks like they’re painted in a rainbow pattern. 

“hello,” reyna says. she feels awkward, but she wants to try her best to be charming. everything about rachel is breathtaking. 

rachel looks up from the pigeons she was making faces at and sways. reyna reaches out to steady her. “are you okay?” reyna asks, concerned. 

“uh,” rachel laughs lightly and reyna wants to hear that sound many, many more times. “yeah! i’m find. nico didn’t seem to think to tell me it was you.”

reyna doesn’t quite understand why that made rachel swoon but she smiles at her, because she really wants to smile at rachel and it seems like it fits. “i tried to get nico to tell me who you were going to be, but he can be a bother when he wants to. i have to return a library book of his, but i’ll be right back.”

rachel grins back at her, “sounds good. hey, do you know who this unfortunate statue if of?” rachel points up at constantine and mimes a sick face. 

reyna can’t help but laugh, “yeah. emperor constantine.”

“wonder what he did to piss off the artist,” rachel muses. reyna laughs again and does her best to rush to return nico’s book without looking like she’s running to get back to rachel. 

when she returns she and rachel decide to walk though the park nearby and then go for something sweet after. rachel tells her she’s vegan and reyna plots a path in her head that will lead them to a gelato place. 

“so,” reyna says. “nico said you like art and loud noise?”

rachel blushes, it’s a little splotchy and it hides some of her freckles. reyna wants a picture of it. “uh yeah, i paint a lot and i think i’m going to apply to scad and some other more realistic schools.” she gestures to her denim shorts and reyna looks closer to see paint stains similar to the ones rachel wore when they first met.

“what do you like to paint?” reyna asks her. she wants to know everything rachel wants to tell her. 

rachel smiles at her and reyna can tell she asked the right question. as they walk rachel tells her about how they realized she was meant to be the oracle of delphi because she started to paint the future. now, rachel paints things to send a message or make people smile. reyna gets rachel to show her an oil painting she did of annabeth and thalia that percy commissioned her for for annabeth’s birthday. “he’s paying me in baked goods,” rachel tells her. “his mom’s blue chocolate chip cookies are better than ambrosia.”

reyna pauses her at that, “can you eat ambrosia?”

rachel winks at her, “no!”

rachel proceeds to ask her about her dogs, and reyna loves to talk about aurum and argentum. she’s telling rachel about how they like to steal her food even though they’re made of metal when rachel plucks a blue flower and tucks it into her braid. reyna trails off as she watches reyna, and her breath catches when rachel’s hand brushes against her jaw. 

rachel’s hand drops to her side and she meets reyna’s eyes. “reyna,” rachel asks, her eyes sparkling and her mouth quirking at the side. “this is a first date and all, but can i kiss you?”

reyna remembers how to breathe, somehow and nods. “yes,” reyna says, smiling. “i’d like that. i like you.”

rachel blushes again, and she places one hand gently on reyna’s cheek, and the other on rachel’s shoulder. reyna puts her hands on rachel’s waist and hooks a finger into one of rachel’s belt loops, she pulls rachel closer and she thinks rachel must be able to hear her heartbeat. 

gently, rachel presses her lips against hers and reyna sinks into the touch. reyna can’t think of anything else other than rachel. 

they break apart and reyna can feel a giant grin fill her face, it grows even more when she realizes rachel’s smile is just as big. rachel’s hands drop down and reyna lets go of rachel’s waist so she can hold rachel’s hand. 

“what’s your favourite flavour sorbet?” reyna asks her. 

rachel blinks, “hm?”

“we’re headed to a gelato place,” reyna says. she pulls rachel along the path. rachel laughs as they go and they talk about rachel’s strange taste in music and reyna’s guilty pleasure of badly made action movies. rachel’s hand is soft and reyna thinks the feeling of it against her skin is maybe the best thing ever.

[solange-lol]

Crazier Than You - Ch. 2/?

Chapter Title: Pulled

Words: 2,047

[chapter 1 | chapter 2 | chapter 3 | chapter four (coming soon)]

Read on Ao3

“So how’s it going with lover boy?” Lou Ellen teased at tech after a few weeks of Will going to rehearsal. He didn't need to anymore, by that point, as they were just waiting to finish building all the set pieces before they began running them. Chiron never called him out for it though so he would make himself busy backstage. Secretly he enjoyed watching it all, even with the constant stops and restarts. This was one of Will’s favorite musicals, after all.

Also, Will had gotten significantly closer to Nico. Nothing more than friend-close, of course. It’s probably the most social Will has ever been with the cast, considering Nico was somehow acquainted with almost all of them. Apparently, he’s more social than Will first thought, though he’s been assured by Nico that is all circumstantial (whatever that means).

All of this just gave Lou more reason to bug Will about his micro-crush on Nico.

“We’re just friends Lou, I swear,” Will sighed, nailing another piece of wood to the bench they were creating for the dining room scene.

“Friends who hold hands?”

“It was one time! And it was an accident!” He nearly shrieked, feeling his face warming. Will truly regretted telling Lou that story. It was a moment of panic, and he needed to get it off his chest to someone who didn’t know Nico as a close friend. He set a mental reminder to never tell Lou Ellen anything.

Unfortunately, her comment brought the vivid memory back to Will. During rehearsal that week, things were slower than usual as the cast made their way through Act Two. It got the point where Will was too fidgety to stand still anymore (curse you, ADHD) and he had already scrolled to the end of his Instagram feed. As he had fiddled with the curtains next to him, he thought he was grabbing onto the chain; while in reality, it was actually Nico’s hand. Awkward apologies ensued, and Will did his best to forget it altogether. (Also, no theatre person had the right to have hands that smooth. Or maybe Will was just used to everybody in tech’s rough, calloused palms).

“Besides,” Will continued. “I’m pretty sure he likes Piper. Nobody can have that much chemistry in high school without probably wanting to fuck each other.”

“It’s theatre. He’s probably gay!”

“Not all guys in theatre are gay! Just look at Percy.”

Lou rolled her eyes. “Just because he’s dating Annabeth doesn’t make him straight. That’s bi erasure, Will.”

“Whatever, I can’t focus on him when I have a job to do.” He was getting riled up, shooting another nail with a kshk. “Like, it’s not fair, y’know? That I don’t get the year that goes smoothly, and not because of sets or anything,” Kshk.

“Will,”

“The other day, I forgot to close the curtain before Full Disclosure because I was thinking he had to kiss her and it so fucking dumb that I want that to be me..” Kshk

“Will!”

“I think I’ve been single for too long Lou.” Kshk.

“Will!”

“What?!” he nearly dropped the nail gun as he turned to face Lou Ellen, who just pointed at his hand. As soon as he noticed blood dripping from where he had accidentally shot himself with a nail, he felt his finger begin the throb. Painfully.

“Shit,” Will cursed loud enough that even their supervisor, who was busy snooping through their snack box, turned and said “Language, Will!” He ran off the try and grab a bandage or cloth or something that didn’t have sawdust on it. Cecil dropped down next to Lou Ellen.

“What did I miss?”

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes for the nth time that day. “Will being a chaotic gay idiot.”

“Ah, so nothing new.”

**

The show was approaching quicker than Will was expecting it to. Parts of the set weren’t even finished being built yet, much less painted. He eventually gave up on trying to finish it all at once and called in Rachel to recruit art class students to start on the finished pieces while he, Lou, and Cecil built as fast as they could. It ended in a lot of late nights with just the three of them after everyone else went home; their supervisor usually dozed in the back.

After one particularly long night, Will shooed off his bleary-eyes friends, saying he could clean up himself. During this cleanup, however, Will discovered the bucket of dirty paint brushes stashed in the corner, as if whoever put it there was trying to hide it. Setting a mental reminder to ask Rachel about it the next day, Will sighed and grabbed the keys to the janitors closet. As much as he was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to collapse and/or cry, he was stage manager. This was his responsibility. Not to mention he was the only one left here to do it. So, he picked up the bucket to clean them himself.

Here’s the thing: Will hated the janitors closet. Avoided it at all costs, in fact. For his entire four years in tech, he’s managed to only go in it four times. Of course, he already knew he was going to have to in order to get the mop for the stage. It just so happened he was avoiding doing it until he absolutely had to.

The closet had a certain smell to it, one that everyone in tech seemed to be immune to except for him. It was grout and mold mixed with old paint and cleaning supplies that somehow managed to combine into a smell Will could only describe as cat pee; it never failed to give Will a headache after more than 30 seconds of being in there. Not to mention that the sink water was freezing cold no matter how you adjusted it. When Will noticed there were paint rollers in the bucket as well, he nearly cried. (They were made of some cheap fluff material that took forever to squeeze paint out of. Lou had nicknamed the task “the shitty handjob”).

Will had only managed to clean one of the six rollers in the bucket before he was interrupted by an unexpected visitor. Clearly, said visitor was confused as well as to what Will was doing, judging by his first words.

“Will, what the hell are you doing?” Nico almost seemed exhausted with him by the way he said it, although maybe he was. Will was definitely exhausted with himself. God, he was so tired.

The blonde’s answer was barely a mumble over the loud spraying of the sink. “I’m cleaning brushes.”

“What?”

“I said, I’m cleaning brushes!”

“Why are you cleaning brushes at-” Nico checked the clock on his phone. “-7:00pm? Have you even gone home today?”

When Will shook his head, Nico just laughed under his breath. “I mean, I get it. I have a sister who pulls all-nighters to finish an art project she has all the time in the world for. You were in the zone.”

Will laughed quietly too, although it was shortened by a yawn. “The worst part? This isn’t even my fault. I’ve been building all day.” He was forcing his eyelids to not go half-lidded; he didn’t need Nico interpreting what was exhaustion for, well, something else.

He went back to the roller in front of him. Nico just stood there a moment, fiddling with the sleeve of his hoodie.

Finally, he spoke again. “My sister is supporting her boyfriend in some language singing competition, and I’m her ride home. So I’m going to be here awhile if you, uh, want some help?” he offered.

Will just smiled to himself. “You don’t know what you’re getting into. Trust me, you do not want to be doing this.” When he glanced up, his hand with the sink hose shifted and he accidentally splashed water all over his jeans. “I prove my point.”

“I mean, I could sort of guess by your expression when I walked up here that you aren’t exactly enjoying yourself-”

“Tell me about it.”

Nico snorted at Will’s eye roll before continuing. “-But, maybe it’ll be more fun with someone to talk to. Plus, four hands are better than two?”

“If you insist. Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.”

Truthfully, Will was terrified. He knew how stupid that sounded, being a senior nervous to talk to this random junior that he forgot about up until a few months ago. Sure, they were friends, but always backstage with a thousand other people. Neither had really talked to the other one-on-one, and there was nobody in this wing of the school.

It was quiet for a moment, only the sound of the hose running as Nico handed him brushes to spray down.

Will took the plunge and spoke first. “How did you get into acting? You always seemed pretty quiet freshman year.”

Nico looked surprised. “Yeah, I never really thought I would like it either. But Hazel heard me singing and told me I could try out for some local church theatre. Turns out I’m not bad.”

“You’re telling me,” Will chuckled. “I couldn’t have been only one blown away by your audition.”

Nico didn’t respond, heat rising to his cheeks. Will wasn’t quite sure if it was him specifically or if Nico was just generally surprised by compliments. Honestly, he didn’t know which one he preferred either.

“Uh, thanks,” Nico smiled sheepishly before clearing his throat.“So, how did you end up becoming stage manager?”

“Dunno. I always wanted to be in one of the shows, but I figured out pretty quickly that I didn’t exactly have the voice for it, so tech crew was the next best thing.”

Nico lifted his head from the bucket and looked over at him. He wasn’t smiling, but he looked intrigued. “Usually when people say they can’t sing, they’re over exaggerating,” he pointed out. Without warning, he started pulled out his phone and pulled up the Addams family album. He tapped the screen a few times before “Pulled” started to play. When they got to the chorus, Nico started singing along.

“I'm being pulled in a new direction,

But I think I like it.

I think I like it.”

He gestured for Will to join. With hesitation, he did.

“I’m being pulled in a new direction

Through my painful pursuit,

Somehow birdies took root.

All the things I detested impossibly cute.

What do I do?”

Unfortunately, Will wasn’t exaggerating when he said his voice sucked. He had no sense of rhythm and was mostly tone deaf. Next to Nico, he didn’t sound any better. At least singing along to the recording made up for it a little bit.

He was pretty sure Nico was laughing at him, but that didn’t really matter. They went back to working on the brushes.

When the bridge came, Will accidentally splashed Nico with the hose as he mocked a violin at “string quartets,” which just resulted in an all out splash war. By the end of the song, both were completely soaked and nearly in tears with laughter.

Nico switched off his phone before the next song could play. “I don’t think you’ll be playing Wednesday anytime soon,” he said through laughter. “Though honestly, I wish you were. I would love to see that with a live band. Plus kissing you is probably easier than kissing Piper.”

Will chose to ignore that last comment for the sake of the sudden butterflies in his stomach. “You’d rather kiss me than Piper?”

Nico shrugged. “Kissing a girl is one thing. Kissing a girl who is also one of my best friends is another. That’s like kissing my sister.” They both shuddered.

(Well, at least he wasn’t being friendzoned).

“Could be worse,” he pointed out. “You could have to kiss your actual sister.”

Nico laughed. “You’re right, that’s so much worse than having to just kiss a girl.”

They finished up pretty quickly after that and said their goodbyes. Walking to his car, Will felt different. Lighter, almost.

It wasn’t until he started the engine when it clicked in his brain.

This wasn’t just some little crush on a guy he thinks is cute.

Will was falling.

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Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2 Episode 13: Our Own Radiance (Final Impression)

New Post has been published on https://hentaihun.com/blog/2017/12/31/love-live-sunshine-season-2-episode-13-our-own-radiance-final-impression/

Love Live! Sunshine!! Season 2 Episode 13: Our Own Radiance (Final Impression)

It’s not over! Not just yet!

Aqours’ story comes to a close, but only temporarily as a movie was announced right after the finale aired. Which probably surprised absolutely no one. But I’m sure fans are scratching their heads wondering what could possibly happen next. Sunshine received a much more final and finished ending compared to LLSIP’s ending which was a hook to the movie. There’s no “IT’S BIG NEWS!” at the end, just smiles and rainbows. I just hope for the movie they don’t go to New York. I’m still holding out on Italy. International school idols, anyone?

Really long review, coming up!

This episode was definitely a finale. It’s the last day of school at Uranohoshi and we see Aqours saying their goodbyes to the school. The graduation ceremony is held, the students grab paint brushes and write out happy messages on the school walls, and of course we learn that Aqours had won Love Live. We saw the girls in rooms significant to them, the first years it was the library, Riko and You in the music room, the third years in Mari’s office, and of course the club room. The girls closing the doors together was a nice touch, especially when they closed the gates of the school together. It was pretty bittersweet, where at first everyone was pretty happy but memories of their time in the school came back. Another very touching scene was when Dia and Kanan gave Mari her diploma in her office. Handing her a special diploma like that was basically their way of saying “Thank you so much for all that you’ve done. You shouldered so much for us and fought until the end, and we appreciate it”. More on that later.

The episode itself is pretty straightforward. Chika still struggles with not knowing Aqours’ radiance and her mother gives her a little push to not give up and figure it out. Chika throws the paper airplane, which was there as a symbol in the show that many fans couldn’t figure out (the path to their “radiance”), and it flies so far it lands on top of the school’s roof. As Chika walks the halls she hears her friend’s voices from memories in certain areas and when reaching the roof, finally starts to cry. After hearing a noise, she heads to the gym and finds all the students there, even the third years even though they were supposed to be gone? Wanting to sing together one last time, that’s exactly what they do, and Chika realizes that the radiance she was looking for was always there with her, in their struggles and singing and dancing. It was literally “Maybe the radiance was the friends we made along the way”.

I hadn’t felt emotional until that point. The way the final song was constructed, with going back to Aqours’ beginnings and showing them in every single outfit and performance they ever did, it definitely made me emotional. Seeing how far they’ve come made me smile. Plus, the song’s lyrics were really sweet.

Aqours isn’t completely done as of yet, but we won’t be seeing them for awhile until the movie releases which I’m guessing probably won’t be until the end of 2018. So now, we need to look back on this season and Love Live Sunshine in general.

This season was easily much better than the first season. It goes to show how much more enjoyable the show can be when they completely drop the Muse references. In the first season, and I know this was the whole point, Aqours was too dependent on Muse and trying to emulate them, that Aqours didn’t even feel like an actual group. They didn’t have their own identity so in some ways it was hard to really care for them. However in season two that’s been rectified and you can see how Aqours is their own group now. We’ve seen their struggles and how they still continued to have struggles when it came to interpersonal relationships, money issues, winning Love Live, and their school. Some characters got to shine and show different sides to themselves with some much needed growth, and we also had the treat of getting to have a connection with the rival group! There were things that this season did right, but not without its shortcomings.

One glaring issue I had with Sunshine was the plot: the closing of the school. For LLSIP I understood the significance Otonokizaka had, such as the school being a tradition for the females in Honoka’s family, it would mean Kotori’s mother would lose her job, and so on. When it comes to Uranohoshi…why? Why do they care so much about the school? What is so significant about it that they want to save it so badly? Their school is being combined, it’s not like they’re going to be separated. There was never this huge reason why us as viewers can understand why they wanted to save the school. While of course the third years would leave, the second years and first years would still go to the same school and still be friends, so why was this so hard for them? I guess the only reason would be a sense of community. They live in a tiny rural town where all the kids that live there go to the school. Uranohoshi was one of the few things they felt that really belonged to them and made them special, but this was never outright said making the message unclear or just not powerful enough. And speaking of the school, it felt like that was more of the plot than Love Live was. So much more attention was placed on saving the school than on the actual Love Live, showing significantly less idol activities. Which is pretty funny to say considering that we had a huge number of insert songs, but not all having to do with the actual Love Live competition. I really felt this way in last week’s episode with their finals performance not having enough emotional backup because so little time was spent on building up to their song. In a show called Love Live, there was…so little Love Live. Drama could also be a little cheesy, and there were moments that I didn’t like (look at my review for episode 7).

One of the main things that I had wanted when coming into this season was more development and intermingling among the girls, and to an extent, that’s what I got. Many characters had gotten their time to shine, with much needed episodes for Dia and Ruby and a bonding episode. But I felt like the series didn’t push enough.

Everyone knows that Hanamaru’s character was completely twisted to something else, and that You was basically insignificant but I’ll touch more on that later. While there was development for some of the girls, there was still a lack of unity. And by that, I mean that the girls still stuck to their year groups and didn’t branch out. While we did have the first and third years bonding in episode two, it still stuck with the usual pairs of Kanan/Mari and Yoshiko/Hanamaru with the Kurosawa sisters in the background. We did have that wonderful Riko/Yoshiko episode that was a step in the right direction, but that was the most we got. The first years stuck with each other, the second years stuck with each other, and the third years did the same. This is something the original did much better, where I thought of Muse as a little family. We had Nico and Hanayo as the ultimate idol experts, Nico, Honoka, and Rin as the baka trio, Eli and Umi watching over the group in practices, Nozomi and Maki having their moments when Nozomi helped her fit in with the group, Honoka and Hanayo’s solidarity of loving food and having to diet, Nico and Kotori working on costumes together, we had the subunit episode, and we also had that episode where they acted like each other. They didn’t just stay in their groups, they actually spoke and interacted with one another. Aqours was not like that. We could have had You and Ruby work on outfits together, Riko and Dia being the responsible ones of the group, Chika and Yoshiko being the baka duo, or something! But they were just so separate and clung to themselves that there was this sense of family that I didn’t feel from them that I felt from Muse. This could also be seen in their songs where the second years would sing together, the first years would sing together in another part, and so on. It’s too late to fix this problem, and it’s pretty disappointing.

Now, when it comes to individual characters I’ll leave that to my rankings.

Enough with the bad, there was still a lot of good in this season. Visually, it was stunning. The animation was starting to dip in the last few episodes and I don’t blame them considering how much work they put into this series. It’s amazing how much the CG has improved from the original series. I felt like each performance was more beautiful than the last, with sparkles and shiny and colors. The CG models look fantastic, not having the problem of porcelain doll face the original had and instead having natural expressions. It looks almost seamless with the 2D animation so that’s a major win, especially with more and more CG shows popping up trying to achieve quality like this. And when it comes to music, Love Live always nails it. This had to be the best set of songs we’ve ever gotten. I know I said at first that I wasn’t a fan of MIRACLE WAVE, but the song has grown on me a lot. However, my favorite song is still MY Mai TONIGHT and the full version is great. We also got the full versions of Saint Snow’s songs and…they left me speechless. The girls are cute and shiny, their outfits are cute and shiny, it’s all just cute, colorful, and fun. It was always a treat to watch their performances because of all the work that was put into it. So, shoutout to the animators.

And just like with my final review of the first season, I have to give my rankings on the girls. I’ll try not to make it too long as I talk about them individually, but man my ranking sure has changed.

Riko continues to be best girl. Previously Mari was my number one but after the anime I had this sudden realization of my love for Riko. I’ve always identified with her and see a lot of myself in her. I love that she she’s polite and sweet but also isn’t afraid to show a more assertive side, and in this season we also see a more silly side to herself. We knew she had her little guilty pleasures, but seeing Yoshiko kind of rub off on her was entertaining. She finally was able to get rid of her fear of dogs, and knowing people in real life that do fear dogs, I’m so proud of her! She was able to conquer her fear and move on, so much that she actually has her own little dog now! Riko had nice moments, her little discussion with Yoshiko being my favorite. She had most of her development in the previous season, but Riko was still there to put a smile on my face and make me happy. She’s cute, silly, responsible, and just so sweet. I just love Riko to death.

Dia shoots up from her previous seventh spot to second, surprising me still. I hadn’t liked Dia last time because I thought she was too rude and harsh to the girls, even though I knew how she was watching out for them. I didn’t find her likeable and I thought her sudden change to the silly character was off putting. However, that changed completely in this season. It turns out that Dia is awkward as hell and can’t really make friends easily. She’s strict, sure, but she puts up this responsible leader type because she felt like she needed to act that way. Because of that, it shaped her to be distant among her peers. Dia is socially awkward, something to which I relate to, and I found it endearing when she tried so hard to get the others to call her Dia-chan. Under that harsh exterior, she’s an incredibly sweet person. She’s also a great older sister to Ruby. Just like Riko, she’s responsible, sweet, and a little silly and her episode made her one of the most relateable characters in the show.

Ruby was in dire need of another episode, because while I always loved Ruby and had her in fourth place last time, she still had this baby side of her personality the anime kept shoving in our face that made many people just dislike her. Again, I always loved Ruby but her two episodes with Saint Snow had to be the best episodes this season and made her even better than before. Ruby was given this opportunity to really shine and step forward by herself. She was always dependent on her older sister and she knew this herself, and she also knew that her sister would leave. Ruby took the initiative to console Leah, a person Ruby normally wouldn’t associate with (at least alone) and decided to make a song with her. Ruby stood on her own two feet, learned to be more self-reliant and independent, and even more confident. She’s grown from little shy Roobs to the more grown Ruby we know now. I’ve seen more people love Ruby more and it makes me real happy. She’s a great character that deserves a lot more love.

It hurts to move Mari down two places from second to fourth, but it’s just that Dia and Ruby shone brighter than her. Yes, other people shone more than Ms. Shiny. Well, only slightly. Honestly, I love Riko, Dia, Ruby, and Mari pretty much equally. They all make me feel so happy the same way, which is how I feel with the Muse third years. Now, Mari didn’t really get her own episode but she got lots of great moments. Sure we had the fun meme-y Mari we all know and love, but we also got lots of serious moments. Serious moments where she showed her vulnerable side. Mari was one hell of a trooper this season as she carried ALL of the stress and weight of the school’s closing. She tried her hardest to convince her father to give them more time, to not close the school, etc. What Mari didn’t want to do was disappoint everyone in the school, so the school’s closing probably hit her the most out of everyone as we saw her shed tears many times. Seeing this caring side of Mari was great because my one fear for Mari coming into this season was that they were going to make her into the meme character and nothing else, and thankfully they did the exact opposite. She’s a strong girl that dealt with so much stress that I wish the anime had mentioned maybe a little bit more, but either way I’m happy with how they treated her. Also, no washi washi! Thank god!

Kanan went from third to fifth. I’m disappointed that she didn’t get her own episode, I still think MIRACLE WAVE should have been about her but whatever. I wanted Kanan to get an episode because she had the least amount of time in the first season. I liked Kanan a lot though because I thought she was really cool, I liked her simple design, and her friendship with Mari and Dia was nice. This season Kanan had good moments but it wasn’t enough. We did see some surprising funny moments with her, such as her being afraid of heights and the dark, giving her a suddenly cute side. I still think she’s cool and her friendship with Mari and Dia is still great, but I just wish there was more to her.

Yoshiko actually stayed in the same spot in my list at sixth, which is kind of hilarious. Yoshiko is a disappointing case. I had wanted her to get more development, which I thought we had gotten in the dog episode. In that episode she explained why she stuck to her fallen angel persona, believing in invisible forces, and destiny and all that. And it was all to cover up, or explain her bad luck. It showed this sad and vulnerable side to Yoshiko we had never seen, and I thought that would have been the start to her gradually letting go of her chuuni side and working her way to accept herself. Because using her fallen angel shtick to cover for her bad luck isn’t exactly accepting or loving herself, it’s more of an escape. Yoshiko putting her chuuni side away would have done wonders for her character, but instead she stayed completely the same and stayed in the background as the comic relief character with dumb one liners who never really contributed to anything. It’s sad because I was starting to like her a little more but seeing as how she’s stayed completely the same, she’s staying the same in my list too.

This is a surprise as You was previously “worst girl” but now she’s bumped herself up a couple places to seventh. Last season You was at the bottom of my list because I thought she was boring and bland. Her episode was terrible and there wasn’t much You content other than her being a good friend and being good at pretty much everything. Unfortunately this season did her wrong. Let’s be honest here, if You was taken out of this season it wouldn’t change the show in any way. That’s how insignificant she is. It says a lot when the rival characters get more development and spotlight than You. It’s just…really sad. I feel bad for the fans though I never understood the popularity in the first place. But, believe it or not, the very few You moments we got in the last few episodes bumped up her ranking for me. The way she stood on the box when they were preparing for the closing festival and acting like Chika did on the very first episode, and her response to Chika’s question in episode 12 were good additions. She has a strong bond with Chika as they’ve been friends since childhood and she always wanted to do something with her together but Chika was never good at sports. So to finally do something with her best friend made her really happy. She loves Chika a lot and always watches over her, so yes, she’s a good friend. But I like that we got to see how strongly she felt about being in Aqours. It’s small, but it’s something at least. It’s just sad that You was pretty much ignored this time. It’s so telling how ignored she was because it took me awhile to find a You screenshot to use here. I only found this one. Yikes.

Hanamaru took the biggest dip from being fourth/fifth to eighth and this is another sad case. She suffers pretty much the same problem as Yoshiko as being the comic relief character in the background, but much worse. I liked Hanamaru in the first season because I could relate also to her social awkwardness and her love of books. She was a little snarky but she showed a strong side to her when she confronted Dia when it came to Ruby wanting to be a school idol. She was sweet and a little naive, but at the same time very mature with her love of difficult literature. But for some strange reason, the anime decided to change her character completely to be nothing but the girl that says zura and eats. all. the. damn. time. There’s nothing wrong with eating, we had Honoka and Hanayo who loved to eat but that trait wasn’t their entire character. Hanamaru was literally only there to eat and talk with her mouth full, and also there to play off of Yoshiko. Speaking of which, I thought she was really mean to Yoshiko. There’s nothing wrong with playful teasing among friends but sometimes her teasing was just really mean, like talking shit about Yoshiko being fat, how she’s bad at talking to people, that she’s weird, etc. Sometimes she would really just cross the line and I found myself getting really annoyed with Hanamaru. And again, that makes me sad because I had liked her before but now sometimes I don’t want to even look at her. Why? Why did they have to do Hanamaru so wrong?

And, it comes to no surprise that Chika is dead last. I never was a fan of Chika honestly, as she was eighth last time. I never like characters like Chika who are too loud, brash, a little dumb, and impulsive who don’t think before acting. Now don’t get me wrong, I know Chika has a good heart. She cares about others. One thing I always liked about Chika was that she thought herself as a normal girl, to which I can relate. She found something where a normal girl like her can shine in, but the thing with Chika is that there was an oversaturation of her and not much development. I know Chika thinks she’s normal, I know that she wants to save the school and make others happy, but what else is there to her? The anime would constantly tell us this about her but it just because repetitive and boring, and instead of seeing more interesting sides to her, I just kept finding how annoying and selfish she can be. The episode where the school didn’t get enough applicants still bothers me because of how easily Chika was ready to give up the Love Live because they didn’t save their school. Again, read that review to understand. And just because Chika is the main character, she gets the most screentime, she gets the most centers, the most solos, so much that she sometimes takes up too much screen time. Like, get out of the way! There are eight other girls there, give them a chance! This is more of the anime’s problem and not exactly Chika, but I’ve already made it clear why I can’t just stand her.

It bugs me to hear people say that it’s hard to give equal development to nine characters, when the original, while not perfectly, did a much better job at it. There’s some decisions in this season that were very questionable and aggravating, but I still had fun watching this season. I’m looking forward to the movie because we still don’t know what’ll be of Aqours. Will they continue, or disband to give us a chance at the Perfect Dream Project girls? That…seems like the best bet. All in all, this season was better but I’m still unsure of the rating I’d give this. For now, I’ll stick with a 7/10 and give myself more time to think. Hopefully the movie will come soon, but until then this’ll be the last one. Thanks for reading this far!

Aqours! Sunshine!

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