#the age difference sometimes gets to me but if i ignore that. percy nico’s dynamic is the most compelling to me

[rosesradio]

this is kinda random idk but u might find it funny. as my involvement in the pjo fandom, i have curated my experience away from the "main" fandom- the puriteens, book purists, those against multishipping, antishippers, ect, following ppl who are ok with ideas that are out there, and yk, not "moral" (<-very important phrasing later). When one of my friends was like, oh i'm into pjo too! i was very excited to talk to them. HOWEVER. i was quickly reminded how my experience is very different 😭. they ask me what my favorite ship is. i say valgrace. they give me a questioning look. it's fine, whatever, not everyone is gonna like my ships. i ask them. they say, percabeth and solangelo. i say, oh cool! me personally i like to ship nico w other ppl. they look at me. "what...other people." so now, im feeling a little unsure. i say i like percico. almost immediately, a look of disgust forms. "how?!? how could u like that? that's so disgusting... percy is so much older, ew!" now, i'm kinda affronted. i say i usually interact when they are aged up, and i really like the dynamic. however, they still say it's "disgusting" and "morally bad" (<- this is the phrasing). i question how it can be morally bad. they say that bc of how nico is infatuated w percy earlier in the books, it's inappropriate. atp, im so confused, and frankly, done w the convo. i don't even want to MENTION lukabeth. anyway, it was just a shock for me to see how some people in the fandom think. so, ig thank u for ur fics and posts! i always love seeing them. srry for the long ask!

“what other people” is diabolical 😭 as if nico’s not the metaphorical blunt being puff puff passed around the shipping circle of Percy, jason, leo, piper—hell, i even reblogged art of him and luke once. one important key to a (alloromantic) character being meow meow is that they’re so shippable.

honestly i get kinda burnt out on the discourse and scorn, the “no wait if i change this dynamic would it be okay? would i get into heaven? 🥺” (not saying that’s what you’re doing, this is commentary on fandom as a whole). the only reason people should alter things in their creative works is for their own convenience and comfort, no one else’s. in some of my works, i alter things for my comfort (example: aged up lukercy smut where percy is 19 & luke is 26—the age gap is still in play but it’s legal within the context and world of the fic), sometimes i don’t alter things if i’m writing darkfic (example: basically the entirety of spoils of war). neither one is “illegal”/“morally wrong”, they’re both equally fiction.

i get so lost in the depths of the “problematic” things that i write sometimes, a lot of the times i forget that there are layers above me in which people consider the most mundane things blasphemous—it kinda surprises me, though i tend to look the other way and ignore it.

Tbh i don’t even see anything wrong with that percico dynamic, even from a potential darkfic angle. There are ways to make the ship dark, but that’s not it—it’s actually very normal to have a crush on an older person when you’re younger (as long this isn’t an irl, they return the feelings, “you’re mature for your age” situation if ykwim), get over the crush, and then when you’re both older you drift back to each other, and it’s sort of like a rebirth. percico isn’t even my favorite ship, though i do enjoy that dynamic.

idk, my advice would be not to take what your friend says to heart. If this is an irl friend, keep them close and try to be chill and avoid arguments, even if you know that your take on fiction is actually correct and normal, lol. chances are from what you’ve sent you guys are young, maybe high school, which is when i was deep in my anti beliefs. chances also are, at some point, your friend is gonna take interest in something outside of the mass-pre-approved “appropriate” ships and topics (tbh i wouldn’t be in this fandom anymore if i was limited to 1-2 “allowed” ships, much less “allowed” content (yk all their smut is only in missionary after marriage 🧍), i would have lost my mind lmao). at that point, they might start coming around to broader horizons, who knows.

thanks for stopping by & talking with me though !! 💌