#the upcoming solangelo book

[thejudgingtrash]

Ugh...

Like everything in that new story in regards to Percabeth felt stilted and grating. It’s giving fanfic from 2013 somehow? The interactions between Sally – Annabeth – Percy just feel ooc?

The biggest glaring problem: this is not how Annabeth and/or Percy would react when someone (especially Nico out of all people) would say they’d walk into the darkest pits of the godly basement for free. Tartarus almost tore them apart, they’d try to stop Team Solangelo FIRST before giving out survival tips! (Yeah, yeah, joking is a trauma response but STILL!)

AND — Percy would also defo inform his mom and Poseidon’s latest toddler about how college is going on a frequent basis. Let’s ignore that as well.

“Percabeth pep talk” — what the fuck? Shouldn’t Nico still be shitting his pants about the fact that you can watch movies anywhere anyplace anytime?? In this weird wonky timeline at least?

Where tf is Hazel??

MONTERO?? What is this book I’m so confused 😭 Mark Orangutan you will pay for this! You as well, Slicky Rick!

If this is the characterization for the upcoming Grovercabeth book we’re about to encounter… damn. They lost the original sauce I guess…

Percabeth has such an intricate and special dynamic as a ship which works best in Percy's honest POV and Riordan caring about providing a good story for his son back then. While this is the worst it has ever gotten, HOO (and TOA (???)) also had some parts that were off.

[cocrante]

Walking the Wire

[SOLANGELO FANFIC]

summary: The dreams at Camp Half-Blood have vanished. Gentle nights embrace the campers in their hours of sleep, but just as the dreams have disappeared, so have the prophecies. For a mortal, this might not mean anything—nightmares suddenly gone, sweet nights wrapped them in the warmth of the sheets—but for a demigod, dreams are the bridge that connects them between the mortal and immortal worlds, an annoying bell that keeps them constantly on alert, and without those to disturb their nights, it was like losing their compass. But not everyone is without dreams, if "dream" this can be called, one is still allowed to travel in the dream world, perhaps out of pity and compassion of the Fates.

note: this is the second part of the fanfiction "I Start Over with You" also quite old and written a few weeks after the release of the third book "The Trials of Apollo" series. It contains significant spoilers, so please do not read it unless you have read the books first. If you decide to proceed, I will not be held responsible.

additional note: the chapters will be updated every Wednesday. If you want to read upcoming chapters of the fanfiction in advance, I invite you to follow me on Patreon. Subscribing is not necessary, these chapters will be added for free on the platform on Saturday. Following me there is just a kind and free gesture to support my work c:

Reblogs are highly appreciated c:

[PROLOGUE]

BEING A DEMIGOD MEANS COMING TO TERMS WITH A FATE THAT ONE COULD NOT CHOOSE. Every half-blood has to come to terms with that as soon as they step through the camp gates. Each of them has their battles, their own wars to fight, and they're not always against monsters, often the worst battles are against themselves, and there's no retreating from those. You can't run from yourself, you can't hide, you just have to face your fears, face the person staring back at you judgmentally from the mirror.

Nico di Angelo had always faced such battles. He couldn't escape the shadow of his father reflecting in his eyes; he couldn't cling to fond memories because he didn't have any. For years, he had been alone, surrounded by ghosts and shades of the dead, searching among them for his lost sister, to see her again, to receive one last caress, to bid her farewell. He wandered alone through the mortal world, faced the Tartarus with his own strength, survived it, escaped the giants —children of Gaea— and heard the melodious voice of Cupid, which pierced him like a sword. For years, he had thought he was fighting alone, but he was wrong. He had been saved countless times by friends, reaching out a hand, warming him with a smile, standing by him when Cupid himself spoke to him and exposed him to who was a stranger to him. He was so angry with himself that he had to take it out on the one person who was with him that time, who was somehow trying to cheer him up, not knowing who he was facing "The only person who ever accepted me in my life was Bianca, and she's dead!" he yelled "I didn't choose any of this, my father, my feelings—" those words now swirling in his mind. Jason was there that day, the one everyone loved was there to help him, standing by his side, trying to be his friend. Jason had probably been a better friend to him than anyone else.

Yet Fatum in the life of a demigod can also be merciful. It sews small pearls of happiness into the colorful tapestry of life, allowing even the unluckiest of half-bloods a chance to be happy again, and Nico —that happiness— found it in Will's smile.

Will Solace, just one of Apollo's beautiful children, had managed to bring light into the darkness surrounding Nico with little effort. "You could have new memories" Will told him one afternoon at the bay, where they skipped stones across the flat surface of the sea. At the time, Nico almost laughed; the only new memories he had were definitely not the best ones to hold onto at night. Will knew this and was ready to be the architect of those new memories himself. He wanted to give him something to warm him at night, to embrace him in those moments of melancholy. He wanted to be the one, and only one, to bring him back to the light. They spent a month together at Camp Half-Blood, spending afternoons laughing, fighting in the arena, talking about themselves and the future that awaited them outside the camp. In those days, Nico felt like an ordinary boy, relieved of the burden every demigod was forced to carry. Will was a breath of fresh air, and Nico breathed in as much of it as he could: with Will beside him, he truly felt happy again.

Things were starting to go well for him too: he had friends who cared about his life, he had a friend to rely on and confide in when things got heavy, he had found new love, and one December evening he sealed that love with a kiss.

For a week at Camp Half-Blood, all anyone talked about was them, the new relationship between the Ghost King and a son of Apollo. Many bet on a quick end to this strange relationship, others watched with interest and curiosity, only friends congratulated them. Jason, who spent a few days at camp that winter, couldn't help but spill the paranoia Nico had long before meeting him at the bay. Will, with a smile, told the same of himself.

They spent wonderful weeks together, weeks spent getting to know each other, trusting each other, letting themselves cry. It was the first time Will saw Nico cry, and in those tears, there was nothing but the suffering of years spent repressing it, but with it there was also freedom; Nico was finally free to start again, and he was happy that Will was giving him this opportunity.

Slowly, December came to an end—some of the half-bloods had to go back to school, or so it should have been if one day Chiron muttered "The air is shifting" looking thoughtfully at the leaden sky, about to unleash a storm that didn't want to break.

The demigods now had a choice to make, to stay at camp and wait or to return to their homes. Chiron wouldn't stop them.

Nico knew he had to stay. Reluctantly, he informed Reyna at Camp Jupiter that he couldn't return to New Rome at the beginning of January, he didn't even know when or if he would ever be able to return. Then it was Will's turn to decide, it wasn't an easy choice for him either, but his place was with Nico:—"I'll stay" he said those words with the lightness of someone who hadn't had to think about it, squeezing the no longer so cold hand of the son of Hades. All of Apollo's cabin followed their head counselor, and they stayed at camp—if another war broke out, they would need archers and healers.

Most of the demigods stayed at camp to train, to wait for something or someone who would soon enter at Camp Half-Blood.

[CONTENTS]

prologue

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7

↬ masterlist

[pjo-worshipper]

Welcome to my blog

I'm late but whatever.

I love PJO and everything about Rick Riordan . My favorite characters in the series are Percy, Nico, Annabeth and Jason.(My Boy needs more love)

This blog will mostly be about the PJO verse and the show.

I will share my headcanons about my favorite ships and characters etc and my hopes for upcoming books and seasons of the show.

My minor interests are Stranger Things and the show Merlin.

My favorite ships are Solangelo, Merthur and Percabeth.

So yeah, that's basically it.

[sniggerwarning]

Not me realising Solangelo is KimChay with a different flavor after reading the chapter excerpt for the upcoming book The Sun and the Star!!!

I'm crying 😭 Solangelo was my first queer OTP!! I just can't control myself from kicking my legs in the air and screeching into my pillow!!!!

SPOILER AHEAD!!!!!!!!

Not Nico being a sap for Will and thinking he melted his iciness is so Kim- coded!! Not him questioning how a very sunshiny person is his bOyFrIeNd??!!

And I don't even have to start explaining about Will being Chay-coded !! He's literally the child of the Sun god!!!

[olympusrox]

Hiiiiii

how have you been💛💛❤️ opinions on upcoming solangelo book

until later <3

Omg hiii!!!!

Ive been really good thank you!! I just found out that i got a B on my RE exam which is a lot higher than i thought i would get lol

Oh god i honestly cannot wait, I have been trying to act like i dont care but omg im so excited

Honestly most of my happy emotions arent even cuz of solangelo im just happy we might get to see Reyna again (and possibly nicos reaction to her being in the hunters)

<3

[iadoresolangelo]

I want to have a solangelo kiss in the upcoming book about them.

A peck on a cheek.

Or on a forehead.

SOMETHING.

We had a whole make out scene for percabeth.

Why should we let the gays out of this???

[bulletproof-arista]

Potential powers/abilities Will Solace could have/gain in the upcoming Solangelo books:

Plague– the ability to make his surrounding people fall ill. How ironic would it be, Will Solace, best healer of camp, but also the only one able to inflict illness to his ennemies? I believe such power could be awakened if Will snaps, out of anger, or near death situation, anything, you pick! And like with training, he could also decide which illness to inflict on people– chickenpox, a fever, a cold, anything. How amazing would it be if he could even inflict DEADLY diseases? Bonus part, he can blow the illness into a ballon and use as a trap or something.

Will: *Gets angry* The other campers: *Gets a fever*

We all know Will’s iconic ultrasonic whistle–but get this: ULTRASONIC VOICE. Yes. He can sing Adele (horribly) and the entire camp will be there to suffer through it. And it’s not like the high volume, microphone amplified kind of voice, but the ear piercing, deafening kind of voice, you know? Like, if you’re right next to Will while he uses this ability, you’ll literally go deaf. And the windows will be breaking. And I feel like such a power would be awakened in a near death situation too! Picture this– Will cradling Nico’s injured body while screaming in agony, not realizing his scream was a tad too loud.

It would just be SO funny how the other Apollo children would sing like angels then you have Will.

Will is actually good with a gun. Before you say “oh but isn’t he horrible at archery?” But like, what if the problem is not actually his aim? What if Will actually has a very good aim, the only problem is the way he holds the bow/releases the arrow (I’m not an archer okay) is incorrect? You might wonder why I’m saying he’s be good with a gun– reason: he’s from Texas y’all. And the reason he never uses a gun is cause for some reason there’s no gun at CHB. Then before his quest with Nico, the Hephaestus cabin makes a celestial bronze gun for him!

POV Will going to the archery range with a gun instead of a bow and arrow

[dreamstar-moonlight]

Okay, this has gotten to the point that I feel like going on another one of my Tumblr rants. 

In response to these notes:

I’m genuinely curious to know how exactly Percy gives off queer vibes. No, seriously. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community myself, I fail to see book-canon!Percy as anything but a cishet male.

Besides Nico stating Percy is straight in the upcoming Solangelo book – even if you disregard that as just Nico’s POV and him being an unreliable narrator and only assuming Percy to be straight –

There’s numerous evidence throughout the books, even from Percy’s POV that is clear evidence that he is straight.

***

First of all, we have this excerpt from a Read Riordan article. 

If you choose to accept that, cool. If not, that’s fine. Moving on to Percy’s POV: the way he describes the girls he’s interested in.

He describes Rachel as looking like a million golden drachmas when they were heading out to the beach. 

And, Calypso as more beautiful than the Goddess Aphrodite herself.

And multiple times, he’s said that Annabeth looks cute or beautiful and later, hot.

These are all his love interests and he’s never described any guy like that. Calypso wasn’t even really a love interest, considering she was cursed to fall in love with him and he was planning on leaving anyway, and he still described her as more beautiful than Aphrodite.

Percy was the narrator of the PJO series, so if he found one of the guys attractive, he would have easily said so, the way he clearly states his attraction for Rachel, Calypso and Annabeth.

Let me give a few other very specific examples:

His Meeting with Aphrodite

In The Titans Curse, Percy meets Aphrodite. When describing Aphrodite’s looks (who constantly changes her appearance) Percy mentions the word actress specifically. It’s also worth mentioning she was referred to as she or her this whole time.

He also sees multiple actresses he says he had a crush on. Yes, he admits he’s had crushes on those actresses. He’s never said that about any guy or described them in that way. Yet again adding more women to the list of people he has been attracted to. With this quote and this:

Thinking back on it, I can’t tell you who she looked like. Or even what color her hair or her eyes were. Pick the most beautiful actress you can think of. The goddess was ten times more beautiful than that.

And, this,

When she smiled at me, just for a moment she looked a little like Annabeth. Then like this television actress I used to have a crush on in fifth grade. Then...well, you get the idea.

We see no indication at all Percy saw a boy. If he was bi, he would’ve.

Percy was also the narrator of Percy Jackson’s Greek Gods and Percy Jacksons Greek Heroes and even there, there is clearly no interest in any guy. He even says he doesn’t look at guys.

When He Described Eros

In Greek Gods, when describing Eros from Psyche’s point of view, he says this.

She’d touched his face. It felt like a perfectly normal human face—handsome, in fact. Very handsome. His arms were smooth and muscular. His. . .well, you know what? I think that’s good enough. I’m doing my best here, but I’m just not used to describing a dude from a lady’s point of view. Sorry.

As you can see here, Percy is pretty bad at describing how an attractive male looks. He stops half way through. You’d think that if he was bi, he’d know how to point out a male’s attractive traits.

His Description of Adonis

When describing Adonis, he says this:

No, that’s an understatement. Adonis grew into the most handsome dude who ever lived. What did he look like exactly? I don’t know. I don’t pay attention to other dudes, sorry. Just imagine the coolest, most stylish, most awesome A-list celebrity you can imagine. Adonis was hotter than that.

This one is self-explanatory. He outright says he doesn’t pay attention to other guys.

Even in the Heroes of Olympus series and his short scenes in Trials of Apollo, there’s been no hint as to attraction towards guys.

And then there are also the short spinoff stories with Percy and the crossover with Kane chronicles (Demigods & Magicians) and he still hasn’t shown any interest in guys. With more than 15+ books, if Percy liked guys, it would have been shown by now.

Also as mentioned before, when Percy thought Reyna was coming on to him, he quickly shuts her down with a girlfriend excuse but when Nico admits his crush, he’s just surprised. He doesn’t even feel the need to use a girlfriend excuse. It’s just not something he considers.

Source

***

There’s another reason as to why I personally dislike the headcanon that Percy is bi or pan (other than lack of evidence in the books) and that is because when Nico’s unrequited love is addressed, there’s another unrequited love going on.

The only difference is Nico’s is towards a guy and Reyna’s is heterosexual. It’s obvious that Reyna handled unrequited love much better than Nico, who let Percy guilt himself thinking Nico still blamed him over Bianca’s death when he didn’t and was overall grouchy towards him because of his crush.

Nico wasn’t mad at Percy over the Bianca thing and it’s not acceptable to be mad at someone because they don’t return your feelings. It would be stupid if I went around being mad at all the people that I’ve had crushes on.

Mad at myself, sure. Mad at the world that they can’t return my feelings, sure. Mad at the person just because I like them and they don’t, definitely not. And if Percy was bi or pan, then that would be what Nico is - Mad at Percy just because Percy doesn’t feel the same way about him and that’s not acceptable.

Nico doesn’t even consider Percy to be attracted to guys and that’s why he’s so reluctant to confess to Percy but he had no trouble with Will, who he has known for less time.

So, I refuse to turn Nico, the first LGBTQ+ demigod to come out in the books into that.

I much prefer that Nico represents all those crushes on people who just can’t love you back which does happen in real life. Be it a gay person towards a straight person and also, for some reason lesser known, are when straight people have crushes on gay people who can’t return their affections.

Conclusion:

So yeah, I see Percy Jackson as the cishet male he’s described to be in the books. But I’m obviously not gonna stop anyone who wants to think otherwise even though I hate how it feels like reducing Nico or as if saying the canon LGBTQ+ characters aren’t good enough. Obviously, this is just my perspective and you can think what you want.

So, by all means, headcanon Percy as bi, trans, ace, pan, blue, green, a merman, a fairy, a tortoise – whatever. But please, for the love of Celestia, don’t hate on Rick Riordan or Mark Oshiro for explicitly referring to him as straight, or the other fans who see him as such and dislike the bi/trans/pan headcanons.

At the end of the day, Percy Jackson is a fictional character. He. Doesn’t. Exist. In. The. Real. World. And going to war as the fandom’s been doing recently over his sexuality is just plain stupid. And…

@eastoniablogs , @seekingxanadu , @galactica-leopard , @fins-illusion ​ 

Also tagging @riallasheng ​ to weigh in on an autistic aroace experience on Tumblr. Because, well.... see my tags.

I get how people project their own identities and wants into characters, and how fanon takes over sometimes. But I don’t get why it’s a problem for people that Percy could just be straight. What’s wrong with that? If you’re someone who’s voicing displeasure about Mark/Rick confirming Percy as straight, tell me why you’re feeling that way. I want to understand.

[rvieskie]

why do you like solangelo? the relationship is super toxic and weird because of the age gap and will is literally nicos doctor. they didnt have any development at all and nico would have been better off with percy or even leo their personalities make much more sense than just a random occurring character. also, wills behavior towards nico is super toxic and doesnt respect him at all.

hi who are you and did u post this as an anon because u didnt want fangirls to come for u?

okay moving on “the relationship is super toxic” im gonna need some evidence for that because from what we’ve seen so far both nico and will are so so supportive of eachother and honestly one of the least problematic ships in the pjo fandom imo

for the age thing i think we can all pretty decently agree that despite rick being an amazing writer he is so bad at ages and even so, wills age is never canonically mentioned. rick also addressed this saying that will is the same age as nico so i think its pretty much accepted by now that the “age gap” is not a valid argument

next, will being nicos doctor is definitely not an issue in their relationship because a) will is literally EVERYONES doctor b) he technically doesnt have a professional interest in nico because he is just someone who patches people up when needed and c) according to this logic, basically none of the apollo kids can date

next point, “they didnt have any development at all” solangelo was definitely one of the ships that we didn’t see alot of canonically and hopefully we’ll see more in the upcoming book, however, you have to consider that there were, in the rr timeline, at least 6 months in between them having a *thing* and them seen dating. this is actually quite enough of time for relationship development especially considering they’re teenagers and if you look at some of the other ships in the fandom (mostly caleo)

now lets look at the other ships you have suggested as better for nico - these include percy and nico (percico) and leo and nico (valdangelo). i would probably need more of what you mean by “their personalities make more sense” but I’m pretty sure that both leo and Percy are 16-17, and age difference is obviously something aforementioned by you to be “weird”.

as as for will being “toxic” and “not respecting nico” well, the most common arguments for these two are in the last few scenes where will is urging nico to not shadow travel because if he does, nico will literally melt into shadows and die??? so, looking at it in this angle, was will really being “toxic” and “disrespectful”? doubtful, really

i mean, of course you are perfectly entitled to your opinion but personally i think given all of the arguments stated above we can saely say that solangelo might not be the most well written ship, but honestly, thats not a valid reason to hate solangelo or the characters in this ship

[solangelo]

ICYMI: the upcoming Nico and Will novel has been finished by Mark Oshiro and Rick Riordan and sent in for copy edits. As stated, the book doesn't have art or a cover yet, but there is a yet-to-be-revealed title!

Any guesses on what the Solangelo novel will be called?

[cocrante]

Walking the Wire

[SOLANGELO FANFIC]

warning: it contains significant spoilers, please do not read it unless you have read the third book of "The Trials of Apollo". If you decide to proceed, I will not be held responsible.

summary: The dreams at Camp Half-Blood have vanished. Gentle nights embrace the campers in their hours of sleep, but just as the dreams have disappeared, so have the prophecies. For a mortal, this might not mean anything—nightmares suddenly gone, sweet nights wrapped them in the warmth of the sheets—but for a demigod, dreams are the bridge that connects them between the mortal and immortal worlds, an annoying bell that keeps them constantly on alert, and without those to disturb their nights, it was like losing their compass. But not everyone is without dreams, if "dream" this can be called, one is still allowed to travel in the dream world, perhaps out of pity and compassion of the Fates.

note: the chapters will be updated every Wednesday. If you want to read upcoming chapters of the fanfiction in advance, I invite you to follow me on Patreon. Subscribing is not necessary, these chapters will be added for free on the platform on Saturday. Following me there is just a kind and free gesture to support my work c:

Reblogs are highly appreciated c:

[CHAPTER 7]

Jason is dead.

NICO KEPT REPEATING IT TO HIMSELF, UNABLE TO STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. It was all absurd, he kept telling himself it must be a dream –another nightmare– that he had passed out in the arena and Will had taken him to the infirmary, and now he was still dreaming. He couldn't be dead, not in such a gruesome way as he had dreamed: marked by all those wounds that would have brought anyone to their knees, while he continued to fight like a true hero. At that thought, more tears began to streak his face. Will continued to hold him, protecting him in his arms, stroking his hair. Nico wanted to disappear instantly from there, to run away somewhere, but he remembered he couldn't do that, he couldn't bear the thought of Will despairing because of him.

Slowly, Nico stood up, helped by his boyfriend who continued to support him. The son of Hades felt no strength in his body anymore, actually, he felt nothing but pain. Will told him they needed to go to Chiron, that he would want to see him. Nico said nothing, he simply let himself be guided.

At the camp, everyone had stopped, no one dared to do anything after that devastating shock that had also spread outside the arena. Half of the camp had heard that vibration, coming out terrified from the cabins as if they could collapse at any moment. They knew who was responsible for it all. Nico felt the eyes of the other demigods on him, who had come out to see him, trying to understand what had happened, to know why he had almost wanted the earth to split in half suddenly.

Some of the demigods began to mutter about his battered appearance, whispering among themselves without being able to look away. The boy had no idea how horrible he might look to the campers who were staring at him curiously, but he didn't care. Nothing mattered anymore now that Jason was gone. The tears stopped falling at some point. It was too much pain for one body to bear.

Among them, curious murmurs arose, and words were flowing like a river from the lips of the campers, enveloping the two boys who were heading to the Big House. Will felt overwhelmed by having everyone's eyes on him, talking about things they didn't understand and laughing among themselves At those words, the son of Apollo turned to them, ready to confront them and shout at everyone present to go back to what they were doing; the show was over, there was nothing more to see. Nico, as if he had sensed his actions, put a hand on his arm. "Will" he spoke with a subdued voice, unable to lift his gaze. "Let them talk, I don't care" Nico knew he would never be welcome at that camp, and those dark gazes were reminding him of it. He knew he wasn't the only one there with one of the Big Three as a parent, yet everyone looked at him with a strange fear, as if the same shadows cast by the demigods seemed to want to move away from their owners, fleeing to take shelter elsewhere. At that moment, it was hard for him to hold back his power; maybe he wasn't even aware that he was still emanating that destructive force that had almost leveled the arena.

Will simply nodded at his request, putting an arm around his back, enveloping and protecting him from prying eyes.

Together they entered the doors of the Big House, where Chiron was waiting for them seated in his magical wheelchair. Will helped Nico sit down, sitting beside him, not letting go of his hand for a second.

"What happened, my child?" Chiron asked gently, encouraging him to tell him what had happened.

"I'm sorry" he apologized, unable to look into those ancient eyes. "Jason is..." the words choked in his throat, he squeezed his boyfriend's hand, having him close gave him the strength not to cry.

The centaur didn't speak, letting Nico take all the time he needed to explain what had happened at the arena that afternoon. Nico's breath trembled, he couldn't get out those harsh words that were drying up his throat.

"Chiron" he raised his gaze, it couldn't be said for sure if he was looking at the teacher or if he was still lost in looking at the souls, those eyes chilled the blood of both present in that room. "Jason is dead" those words he had held back for so long were like a stab.

A black veil descended in that room, no one spoke anymore, those were the last words heard for many minutes. Nico closed his eyes, distancing himself definitively from his father's realm; when he opened them, he looked at Chiron seriously, also telling him about the dreams he had during those days. "I can't leave him without seeing him one last time, Chiron" the centaur stroked his beard, thoughtful about what the boy was asking him.

"I should give you permission to leave the camp" the centaur thought aloud, looking with his deep, old eyes at Nico's face, which was slowly stiffening. "In a moment of tension like this, it wouldn't be wise to leave these boundaries"

Nico frowned, he knew better than anyone else that innocent blood was being shed out there, that the best choice was to stay at the camp and train, but how could he stay idle when his friend had died to surely save Apollo and ensure the mission continued?

"I will leave. With or without your permission, you can't stop me" everyone in that room knew it was true; he could disappear even at that moment. Nico just wanted to inform him of his decision. "Hey, wait! If you're leaving, I'm coming too" Will exclaimed, looking scared into Nico's eyes, almost fearing he would leave him.

"Will..." he was about to stop him, but the boy was faster. "No, listen to me! You always think you're alone, that you have to rely only on your own strength, that others can't understand you in any way, but that was before, now you have people who care about you and love you. I love you, Nico" he said all at once, tears starting to prick his eyes. "And I won't let you go without me" he forced himself to adopt a stern expression, the same one he used in the infirmary when he told the children of Ares to behave and stay quiet on the cot.

Nico blushed, both out of embarrassment and because in that outburst of anger he had forgotten about Will. He was right, he couldn't –nor did he want to– leave him.

He sighed weakly, in the end, the ultimate decision belonged to Chiron. "I suppose there's a reason the Fates showed up" the centaur's tone was frighteningly calm, as if he were pondering what the boy had told him about those dreams. He was a son of Hades after all; the thing shouldn't even surprise him, but there was a thought nagging at him. "You have my permission to leave the camp" he stared at Nico's impassive face, convinced that he too was having the same thought as he was.

"Thank you, Chiron" the son of Hades lifted his lips into a smile. "Are you sure you want to come too?" he turned to his boyfriend, hoping he would say no, but Will smiled challengingly. "I told you, you're not alone anymore" he said, touching Nico's hand with a kiss, not even wanting to leave him.

The son of Hades sighed, but he was happy to have Will by his side. Whatever happened at Camp Jupiter, they would face it together.

They both thanked Chiron, leaving the Big House. The centaur watched the two boys, happy walking towards the camp and without waiting any longer, he brought three clawed fingers to his heart and, sighing, pushed them out.

The next day, Will and Nico would leave for New Rome.

Prologue

1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7

↬ masterlist

[tsarinatorment]

Pspsppspspspss tsari can you give us the essay :tm: as to why Apollo is instrumental in solangelo :)?

Oh boy, here we go. So, anyone who speaks to me regularly about TOA/RRverse knows that I have opinions on all things Will (and a few on Solangelo, and Apollo) and you've just invited me to dive into a real rabbit hole here.  (Warning, this is long.  Approx. 3k words long.)  I’ve done my best to stick with canon facts rather than go too far down the spiral of headcanons and extrapolations (otherwise this would be at least twice as long again), but as always I can’t claim complete unbias in my interpretations of the canon material.

For general context, to me this subject is relevant and important because of the upcoming Solangelo book, and there are fears in the TOA discord about how badly Apollo's characterisation is going to be butchered and his entire character development retconned in order to actually make the Tartarus Quest a feasible plotline for the boys. The epilogue of TON in particular has some glaring red flags for this, where Apollo talks Will (and Nico) about their upcoming quest.

I frowned. I still didn't like the idea of my sunshiny son skipping off into the land of monster nightmares. My recent tumble to the edge of Chaos had reminded me what a terrible travel destination it was. Then again, it wasn't my place to tell demigods what to do, especially those I loved the most. I didn't want to be that kind of god any more.

"I wish I could offer you help," I said, "but I'm afraid Tartarus is outside my jurisdiction."

Now, that sounds... vaguely reasonable, I suppose, although even this bit I don't like because it sounds a lot like Apollo's already falling back on making excuses for not being able to interfere considering he spent the last couple of books, no, not telling demigods what to do, but definitely not sitting back and letting them throw themselves headfirst into danger, either. But then, right at the very end, we get this:

"Did you hear it?" Nico asked me. "The prophecy she whispered?"

"I - I didn't," I admitted. "Probably better if... if I let you two figure this one out."

This? This, from the perspective of someone who loves both Apollo's character development throughout the series, and his relationship with his children (especially Will, because yes, I admit my bias), is terrifying. This isn't him reluctantly admitting that there's limits to the help he can offer like he was pre-prophecy, this is him willingly stepping back and washing his hands of the whole situation. This line goes directly against the last five books' worth of character development (and even his baseline self during PJO/HOO, to say nothing of THO where Meg has to physically Order him not to throw away his life trying to blindly save Austin and Kayla).

Anyway, I'm going to get seriously off-track if I continue diving down that line because that's not actually what's being asked here, so I'll leave it there for general context of where this is coming from and get started on answering the question proper now.

Why is Apollo so important to Solangelo’s relationship?

The answer is, mostly but not exclusively, his relationship with Will. He also has an interesting, although far more minor, relationship with Nico which does not entirely revolve around their mutual love of Will, but it is predominantly Will, yes, and that’s what I’ll talk about here (I can poke more at Nico’s relationship with Apollo later, if there’s interest). And this brings me to my first point, which underlines my entire opinion on this thing:

Relationships do not exist in a vacuum.  They just don’t.  People are shaped by their relationships with various people, both good and bad, and the situations that arise from each of these situations - Nico is very shaped by his relationship with Bianca, her (in his eyes, not that I don’t agree) abandonment of him, and her death, to name the obvious example.  It wasn’t being a son of Hades that made him stop being the bubbly kid we saw and loved in TTC, it was Bianca’s death and then Minos’ manipulation that jaded him.  Likewise, Will is certainly influenced by other people in his life.  Apollo makes specific mention of his mother, Naomi, in TON:

Will hadn’t inherited his thoughtfulness from me. That was all his mother, Naomi, bless her kind heart.

(I personally think that Apollo is selling himself very short here, considering how he’s been acting in the entire series himself, but regardless, if Apollo says Naomi was thoughtful, then we can probably trust him on that.  I have a lot to say about how I think Will&Naomi’s relationship is, too, but that’s an essay for another time if anyone’s interested.)

However, Apollo is a god, and we’ve spent the first ten books looking at how much gods fail at being parents, especially the first five books where that was basically Luke’s entire original motivation (albeit later hijacked and twisted by Kronos), as well as the reason so many demigods defected to follow Luke, so how does this fit in with Apollo&Will?

Primarily, we’re looking at the fact that Apollo is, canonically, one of the best godly parents.  It’s a very low bar, I admit, but we get a hint of this during Clovis’ recounting of the war council in BOO:

‘We don’t know what’s going on at Delphi,’ Will continued. ‘My dad hasn’t answered any prayers, or appeared in any dreams ... I mean, all the gods have been silent, but this isn’t like Apollo. Something’s wrong.’

This isn’t like Apollo, Will says, making specific mention of the fact that, yeah, the gods are all silent and that’s pretty normal overall, but that’s not like Apollo.  Apollo is, usually, present in Will’s life to some extent.  He answers prayers, he pops into their dreams.  Admittedly we don’t know exactly what he does in those dreams (and yes, it’s a high chance he’s just reciting new poems at them that they may or may not actually want to hear), but it’s confirmed, repeated, canonical interaction with his kids.  That’s a lot more than we hear about or see from most of the Olympians.

This passage, to me, also reads like he’s worried about Apollo to at least some degree.  Nothing like the levels we see later on, in TOA, no, but there’s some concern going on there and it’s not purely at their general situation.

Will also has an unwavering faith in Apollo, as evidenced very plainly in his well-known interaction with Octavian:

‘No!’ Will Solace shoved Nico out of the way and got in Octavian’s face. ‘I am a son of Apollo, you anaemic loser. My father hasn’t shown anyone the future, because the power of prophecy isn’t working. But this –’ He waved loosely at the assembled legion, the hordes of monstrous armies spread across the hillside. ‘This is not what Apollo would want!’

He has no doubt at all that Octavian is at the very least mistaken, if not outright lying using his dad’s name, and that Apollo would not, ever, want the Romans to wipe out CHB - wipe out several of his own children, not to mention the camp he prodded Chiron into starting up in the first place (Apollo is, effectively, the patron god of CHB, after all, and there are a few tell-tale lines in TOA that let slip more than I think Apollo meant to on the subject).  He doesn’t hesitate, he gets properly angry (and we don’t see Will angry much, usually just stubborn and refusing to roll over as he sticks to his beliefs and morals) at the insinuation that anyone could believe Apollo would do that.  He’s not just protesting to Octavian here, he’s also proclaiming his faith in his father to his peers - to Nico, Lou Ellen, and Cecil, who are also his audience there.

Will truly believes in Apollo, and he’s never shown to be ashamed of that fact, not even - or rather, especially - when Apollo is being held up as the reason for the Greco-Roman war.  That level of faith is incredibly solid and deep for a demigod, especially in the aftermath of the PJO books, where there’s shown to be very little faith in the gods’ morality or actions.  Even Apollo projects himself as being self-centred (even though, when you read between the lines and look past his words to his actual actions, he’s never done anything but help the demigods).

“Tsari, this has nothing to do with Solangelo,” but it does, not just because, again, relationships don’t exist in a vacuum and Will is undeniably shaped by his relationship with his father anyway, but because of the timing of their relationship.

We don’t know, exactly, when Will and Nico became friends, let alone when they became boyfriends.  It’s somewhere in the timeskip between BOO (early August) and THO (mid-January), but we have no exact timeline for it.  I’d say from how they interact that they do seem settled enough in the relationship that’s it’s likely to have been at least a month from the ease of the banter that they share, and the way Nico is clearly not at all threatened by Paolo:

“You’re staring,” Nico noted.

“I am not,” Will said. “I am merely assessing how well Paolo’s arms are functioning after surgery.”

“Hmph.”

(He points this out as a statement of fact, not an accusation; we know what Nico’s like when he gets defensive or worried and “hmph” is not it.)

But we don’t know for sure exactly when they first became friends, rather than a doctor-patient dynamic (it’s heavily implied canon that they didn’t meet until at least BOTL, judging by the fact that there are no Apollo kids in camp during TTC and while I acknowledge the potential is there for Will to have been unclaimed at the time, that doesn’t fit with what we know of Apollo’s personality - he likes showing things off, he likes showing his kids off (look at how much he waxes poetic about Will, Kayla and Austin in THO, even before we start with the character development, look at how much he likes bragging about what previous kids have gone on to do).  If he had any unclaimed kids in camp while he was dropping by in TTC, it would be very out of character for him to not claim them and show them off, but he doesn’t, so Will was almost certainly not in camp then).

What we do know is that the entirety of the canonical Solangelo relationship, from the ambiguous “when exactly did they get together after BOO” to the events of TOA, has one, consistent backdrop to it.

Apollo.

Or, more specifically, Apollo in trouble.

We’re not told if Jason or anyone else from the Seven ever recounts to the rest of the camp about Zeus blaming Apollo for the rise of Gaia and threatening punishment, although considering Jason’s clear sense of duty, I feel like he would have at last sought out Will, as the head counsellor of cabin seven, to tell him what’s going on with his dad, but even if Will doesn’t know that Apollo is actively in trouble, he does know two things.

Thing one - prophecy is still down, Python alone of the Gaia-era resurgence enemies has not been defeated.

Thing two - Apollo is still not answering prayers, dropping in on dreams, or doing any of those other things we’re told he did pre-HOO.

That adds up pretty conclusively to something is still wrong, even though the general air is that the war is over, everything can go back to normal now.

Now, I’m not saying that Will has spent the entire time he’s been in a relationship thinking solely about Apollo and worrying about what’s going on with him, but I am saying that it will have been something in the back of his mind, resurfacing at times, even during the time gap before he gets confirmation of what’s going on with Apollo.  That’s approximately four months, at most, of Will navigating a new relationship with Nico (both platonic and romantic) with the lurking knowledge that something’s not right with his father.

Nico has only known the Will who’s always worrying in the background about a literal god.  He knows Will trusts Apollo - he was there for the Octavian speech - and that Will seems to have at least a decent view of his father (which is more than most campers can say), and he knows that Will is worrying (maybe not to start with, but certainly by the time THO rolls around, Nico knows Will well enough to recognise it).

So even during the timeskip when they’re getting together, Apollo has a degree of relevance.  This only increases once we reach TOA and Will is reunited with his father for the first time in a year.

TOA spans six months.  Will (and Nico) are only actively present in THO and TON, but that’s enough to show us that Will isn’t at all reassured by his father’s presence in his life again.  On the one hand, at least the uncertainty of not knowing is lessened (not gone entirely, because most of the time, Will isn’t with Apollo and doesn’t know exactly what he’s going through, but he knows it’s a dangerous quest), but on the other, his father is very, very, mortal and very, very fragile.

Will learns this the hard way, we’re told.

“Whoa, there.” Will steadied me. “I tried to heal you, but honestly, I don’t understand what’s wrong. You’ve got blood, not ichor. You’re recovering quickly from your injuries, but your vital signs are completely human.”

“Don’t remind me.”

“Yeah, well...” He put his hand on my forehead and frowned in concentration. His fingers trembled slightly. “I didn’t know any of that until I tried to give you nectar. Your lips started steaming. I almost killed you.”

And, honestly, things don’t get any better.  Apollo’s a mess, Nico himself is the one to point out later on in THO that Will, especially, is worried:

Nico rested his hand on Will’s shoulder. “Apollo, we were worried. Will was especially.”

Seeing them together, supporting each other, made my heart feel even heavier.

(I also love this scene because Apollo explicitly points out that Nico is supporting Will just as much as Will is supporting Nico - this relationship is not one-sided, or uneven.  It’s not an unhealthy doctor-patient dynamic disguised as romance; Nico is aware that Will is struggling, and he’s being there for him.  In fact, it reminds Apollo of his best romantic relationship.)

And while we don’t see Will in person for the next three books (although he crops up in Apollo’s thoughts from time to time), when we do meet him again in TON, this is his first encounter:

‘Dad!’ Will shot to his feet. He ran down the steps and tackled me in a hug.

That’s when I lost it. I wept openly.

My beautiful son, with his kind eyes, his healer’s hands, his sun-warm demeanour. Somehow, he had inherited all my best qualities and none of the worst. He guided me up the steps and insisted I take his seat. He pressed a cold glass of lemonade into my hands, then started fussing over my wounded head. ‘I’m fine,’ I murmured, though clearly I wasn’t.

His boyfriend, Nico di Angelo, hovered at the edge of our reunion – observing, keeping to the shadows, as children of Hades tend to do.

Now, I have thoughts on why Will was hanging around the Big House, sipping lemonade and apparently being taught pinochle rather than helping new campers settle in as is both his duty as the head of cabin seven, and very much his personality (remember how he happily and thoroughly introduced Leo to CHB back in TLH even though he wasn’t Leo’s head counsellor?), and they mostly boil down to Will being overwhelmed with worry, but there isn’t any real explicit canon evidence for that so I’ll skip over that for now.  However, Will is clearly absolutely ecstatic to see Apollo again, and Nico steps back and lets Will have that without any sort of interference (in fact, he specifically turns to help Meg, leaving Will to handle Apollo by himself without needing to also slip into Camp Healer Mode and treat Meg as well, which again shows his keen awareness, even under the weight of Jason’s death, of what Will needs right then - and Will needs his father, not his boyfriend).

This scene ends rather abruptly with Apollo passing out, much to Will’s distress, and then we’re back in the throes of obviously worried Will again:

I tipped sideways in my chair as Will’s voice receded down a long dark tunnel. ‘Dad! Guys, help me!’

(Note that throughout this scene, he explicitly calls Apollo Dad, despite generally tossing up between the two throughout the story.)

And if we want canon proof that Will was actively thinking about Apollo during the time between THO and TON, it’s right here, in one of my favourite little exchanges because they’re both so adorable (and yet, both so insecure in each others’ feelings):

Here’s all you need to know about Will Solace: he had clothes waiting for me. On his last trip into town, he’d gone shopping specifically for things that might fit me.

‘I figured you’d come back to camp eventually,’ he said. ‘I hoped you would, anyway. I wanted you to feel at home.’

It’s not even a passive, back-of-the-mind, worry.  Will actively did something for Apollo, in the hopes that he’d come back - and feel welcome when he did - while he was away.  The specification that it was his “last” trip into town, not his first, also shows that this wasn’t Will wandering down into NY a few days after the events of THO, picking up some clothes, and then forgetting about them until Apollo popped back up again six months later - this was Will mulling over what he could do to help Apollo for some time, before finally making a decision and acting upon it.

So, to answer the question of why Apollo cannot be ignored or dismissed in regards to Solangelo:

For the entire time Will and Nico have been friends (let alone boyfriends), the uncertainty of Apollo’s condition has been hanging over Will.  Will is worried about Apollo in BOO (and likely HOO as a whole, but BOO is where the canon evidence begins), he is worried about him in TOA.  He’s arguably more worried in TOA, which spans six months and is the majority of the time Solangelo have been together in canon so far, to the point where he’s actively acting on this worry even when Apollo isn’t around.  Apollo’s disappearance and subsequent trials are a key influence on Will’s life, and have impacted his relationship and dynamic with Nico, purely because that’s how relationships work.  One relationship causes ripples that then affect another, and so on.

It’s also important because it gives a clear view into how their relationship is healthy and balanced.  Nico is spending a lot of time being Will’s support, just as Will is also supporting Nico, and the main reason we’re being shown that Will needs support at this point in his life is, yes, Apollo.

So yes, Apollo is an integral part of how their relationship has developed so far, both platonically and romantically, and I really wish more people were talking about this.

I’ll stop waffling for now, but as always if people want my takes on things, my askbox is always open!

[multiworldiary]

Manifesting that we’re gonna get a back story on how Will and Nico got together in the upcoming Solangelo book

[thesungod]

idk man the idea of writing percy jackson in the search bar and seeing only tv show related stuff and the actors and the scenes and the updates on upcoming seasons and people commenting on the show’s plot instead of fanarts and shit posts about Solangelo is kinda bittersweet ngl… i love this fandom and i love the books and i’m not totally ready to let go in favor of a new version

[smol-stardust]

Uncle Rick once said he believed the term for PJO fans is "long suffering" , and maybe I'll feel that way if someone dies. But at the moment, I feel like the whole PJO fandom has just been blessed and that 2023 is gonna be OUR year.

PJO TV show on Disney

Solangelo book

The sixth PJO book

Looking forward to seeing what the OG trio has got going on. And solangelo content sounds good to me.

It's giving me good vibes (unless uncle rick trolled us again and the 90% chance he won't murder someone was all lies) and I'm looking forward to 2023 now :)

Thanks Uncle Rick for all the upcoming content

[readriordan]

Updates on the upcoming “Solangelo Book” - THE SUN AND THE STAR!