#they were really @ nico like. he IS your type and you WILL deal with it | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

chiiyuuvv · 3 months ago

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understands ★

down bad!nicholas 1.5k words

notes! inspired by song linked in 'notes!' "i'll admit that i'm scared / 'cause i've never really cared as much as this / it's worth the risk" screamed nico so ofc i had to write about it. warning!! this is very delusional, read at your own risk

▸ 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺?

“ta.. da..” nicholas pops out of his hiding place once he hears the rooftop double doors creak open. the huge grin plastered on his face shrinks to a shy smile, suddenly self-conscious now that you were in front of him. “hi..” he mumbles, the back of his neck suddenly itchy from embarrassment.

“hi,” you breath out in shock, your eyes darting past flustered nicholas to scan the deck he decorated just for you. it seemed unlike his character to put so much care in an objective, a picnic blanket placed in the center of the area with pillows surrounding the perimeter. a speaker was placed to the far left of you, soft rnb echoing from the device. there wasn’t a need for any lights, the cloudless stars being your source to see.

“do you like it?” nicholas’s voice releases the breath you didn’t even know you were holding, his chest pressed against your back as he drapes his arms around your waist. “i, um.. put a lot of time into it,” his deep chuckle rings in your ear, his chin resting on your shoulder.

“why?” you turn in his embrace, your eyes widening at the lack of space between you. nicholas looks down at you as you look up, the sparkle in his stare brighter than any star in the sky. if you examine closely, the tips of his ears match his hair, the small smile still adoring his features.

“you know..” he starts off timid, his voice small as his shoulders do a little shrug. “i just wanted to.. say thank you, for everything,” the way his voice trails off suggests there were more to his reasons, but for now, you nod in acknowledgement at his heartwarming gesture.

“you didn’t have to,” your voice was as small as his as you pressed your head against his chest. he takes it as a sign to bring you closer, his fresh scent invading your nose.

“i had too,” he defends. you could only chuckle at how persistent the boy was being, especially after the incident. you always found it to be no big deal, unable to realize how much you changed the boys' world.

nicholas was upset.

the joyful cheers of your friends and their video games fade into nothing once the male prances past the living room and into his room, slamming his door with frustration. the commotion makes harua jump in his seat, you and taki sending worrisome looks at each other. “don’t mind him,” euijoo chimes, placing his controller on his lap as he shakes his head. “he just needs some space. anyways, who’s up for another round of mario kart?!” and just like that, the happy energy resumes like nothing happened.

maybe it was your stubborn attitude telling you to do something after euijoo told you not to, but you found yourself in front of nicholas’s door moments after the boys passed out from their gaming.

“go away,” his voice was raspy compared to the soft knocks on his door.

“i brought some strawberries,” you squeak, still determined to make the male open the door. “i’m sorry if i’m being annoying, i just want to make sure you’re oka–” the door swung open before you could finish your sentence, hair covering nicholas’s sharp eyes as he looked down at you like you were some type of pest.

“if i take the food, would you leave me alone?” he sounded irritated, his words straight to the point.

“actually,” you give an awkward smile, “can i come in?”

nicholas was stressed.

“i feel like i’ve been trapped inside a box filled with impossible accomplishments, yet i have no one to turn to when i need help,” nicholas mutters, his head placed comfortably on your lap. you hum in response, giving him the opportunity to rant his heart out as your fingers comb his hair. “it feels so hard doing everything by myself.”

“who says you’re by yourself?” nicholas perks up at your words, your hands still in his hair as you give him a reassuring smile. “i’m sorry you feel so imprisoned, nico,” you begin, your hand sliding down to cup his cheek. your thumb rubs the skin. “it may not feel like a lot, but you have me to support you.”

“oh,” he breathes, shocked by your words. “thanks.”

nicholas was in love.

“are you good?” you turn your head to the boy in question, your elbow resting against the diner table. nicholas turns to face you with a smirk, jokingly raising an eyebrow.

“what, i can’t laugh at what my own best friend is saying?” he teases, suddenly glad you were sitting on the same side so he could itch closer to your body. his heart skips a beat when you lean even closer, your noses centimeters from each other.

“not when our nico sounds so cute!” yudai, the friend you forgot was accompanying you chimes. he leans his chin into his hands on the other side of the table, nicholas snapping his head to the older in annoyance.

“i’m not cute,” he nags, sending yudai a look. the boy only winks in return.

“yeah, you’re right!” you defend, playfully furrowing your brows at yudai as you wrap your arm around nicholas’s shoulder, bringing him closer to you. “you’re my cutie,” you giggle, pinching the boys cheek. unline how he reacted to yudai, nicholas keeps quiet, clearly flustered by your words.

“but i’m wrong when i say the exact same thing,” yudai bellows, raising his hands in defeat. “favoritism!!” he says, loud enough to get looks from across the restaurant.

…

“you’ve put so much time and effort into me, the very least i can say is thank you,” you appreciated his words, but deep down you knew there was something more to nicholas’s actions. especially since he’s been acting so differently around you. the way his eyes linger onto yours, how his lovesick smiles appear as soon as you enter a room. he makes you feel warm inside, like you were so special to him.

“you’re welcome but,” you stop to chuckle in disbelief, “no one sets up an entire date to show how grateful they are, nico. seriously, what’s all of this about? you’ve been acting so weird lately,” your fingers trace his jawline as you speak, determined to pry his mind apart.

“because i..” he stops to catch his breath, his heartbeat speeding up when he looks into your eyes. a hand lets go of your waist to interlock the fingers on his face, placing light pecks on the tips. “i’ve never felt like this before,” the boy finally opens up, squeezing your hand. “i never felt so carefree, so loved. you’ve taken me in like i was yours to begin with, you’ve been so sweet, so soft, so inviting. i can be myself without receiving any judgement, i can feel upset without having to be guilty about it. y/n, you help me realize that..”

“that?” you tilt your head, tears welling up at nicholas’s precious words. the boy keeps quiet, his nervousness getting the better of him. he feels as if he doesn’t deserve one drop of your undivided attention. you were an angel that flew from heaven who constantly put a smile on an unorganized guy like him. you had a life, yet you put it on pause to help regulate nicholas. all those late night calls filled with encouragement when you could have turned off your phone and went to bed, he didn’t know what it was that made him worthy of you. you were too good for him.

he must do something to show how much he appreciates you, right? even if that meant rehearsing his confession for hours in front of a mirror after he got home from work, or turning his rooftop into something you’ve always dreamt about. although he was scared, he still thought you were worth the risk.

his eyes stay glued to yours as you stand in the tense silence. his heart speeds up again because god, you were so pretty. he hates that he’s come to this realization now. in a swift movement, his hands let go of your body to gently cup your cheeks, lifting your chin so now he had a straight shot at your lips.

he licks his own in anticipation, your presence making his mind go blank, your soft breath erasing all the doubts in his head. he lets out a sigh before connecting your lips in a feverishly slow pace, his figure being sent to a world of bliss as your mouths move against each others. he starts to feel dizzy when you grip his shirt, pulling him closer like you were going to lose him if you didn’t. words couldn’t never express the amount of love you had for each other.

letting go of your lips, his hands circle around your waist again, ducking his head to kiss the salty tears from your face. if it weren’t for your soft giggle, you would have heard the boy sniffle. he pushes your foreheads together, closing his eyes in bliss.

“you’re the only one who understands.”

︴bonus! kinda got carried away, anyways i hope you enjoyed hehe

▸ taglist 📬 @cherrycolaberry , @wtfisgoingright . @slytherinshua , @luvnicho , @enhacolor , @lakoya

🎬 navi

@chiiyuuvv on tumblr . do not steal works/headers/line dividers

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daughterofapollo-official · 6 days ago

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Why I don’t ship Leo Valdez with anyone.

Edit: I use speach to text, and I didn’t prof read because I had to work and I didn’t have time. So if you are reading this edit, it means there are still some grammatical mistakes. I will correct it and delete this red paragraph after work. If it’s been over 24 hours. Someone remind me in the comments cause my dumbass forgot.

In all honesty it’s because since he is my favorite character and I heavily identify with him, it’s because I want him to be happy. And I don’t think there’s an option of a healthy relationship shown in the books.

OK, first let’s go one by one on the popular ships and I’ll discuss why I don’t like any of them.

Hazel

Hazel already has an expectation for Leo, yes, he does look very similar to his grandfather, and they do have similar sense of humor, but let’s be honest guys as I debunked in a very recent post. They are not the reincarnated soul, and even if they are people change souls, change and reincarnation that’s the purpose of them they grow and they become different.

If Hazel already has an explanation that means that something Leo already has something to live up to. And that’s not fair.

You shouldn’t start relationships with high expectations. You should have what you are looking for yes like if you were looking for someone who makes you laugh and looks a certain way and makes you feel safe and those are perfectly acceptable expectations. I mean the expectation for someone to act the exact same way as someone has been dead for 14 years, and like this person you have in your mind, you have to be able to understand that no one’s going to live up to your dream and you have to be able to like except that but Hazel has a very hard time looking at Leo as anything other than and that’s really not fair for him, it’s not healthy. Hazel does not Leo she does not even like Leo romantically she purely sees him as Sammy and that’s not a healthy situation for him.

Jason

Do you know those people that look like they might make a good couple but are just better off his friends? It’s not that I don’t think that there’s a chance that Jason or Leo are not attracted to men I don’t know if they are and if they are that’s great for them honestly.

I just feel like the vibe I get from Jason and Leo is that they work so well as friends and they are so functional as friends. I have such a healthy friendship and a healthy relationship platonically that I feel like romance and sexuality would ruin that and it would complicate things, sometimes just click platonically and you should cherish and lust and romanticizing in my opinion.

I do think they have an opportunity to be a good couple, but let’s say everything was exactly the same Percy Jackson, except Piper having the fake romantic memories. It was Leo.

And then Piper and Jason eventually becoming an actual couple it was Leo

That means Leah would have to watch his boyfriend die getting impaled.

And Leo already has so much trauma with people he loves so deeply dying before him that he would spiral and he would probably make another attempt if you know what I mean

Nico

Honestly, I think that Leo and Nico could be really good together. They vibe really well as friends. They do actually canonically have a very strong friendship despite not having a lot of screen time together they have similar body types. They both come from the family of immigrants. They both deal with things through humor, although in a very different way more distraction that doesn’t have to do with the trauma and, Nico sarcastically making fun of his trauma

I honestly can see them working out very well except for the fact that like a child Apollo, I have to support will and seeing that Will and Nico are the best couple for each other

But I don’t think they’d be a good couple because I personally strongly believe that both characters have eating disorders. Nico probably has Anorexia and Leo probably has either anorexia nervosa or bulimia.

And it’s hard to know whether or not this would be good for them romantically because they there is the option that they support each other and they understand each other so they know how to help each other and how to relate to each other, but there’s also the probability that because they feel this way, they will enable each other.

Calypso

The only cannon chip in the one I hate the absolute most

Canonically Leo is a minor he cannot consent to having a physical relationship or romantic relationship with Calypso

In the Percy Jackson universe, I personally believe that because the age of consent went higher that some gods may be not Zeus, but most god started waiting for humans should at least turn 18 before having affairs

Calypso was isolated from earth and Olympus so she doesn’t really know about the whole age of consent thing. She doesn’t even know about consent in Greek mythology. She is an actual rapist.

And putting someone with severe body issues and severe abandonment issues in the arms of the canonically toxic woman it seems so scary to me

Now this rape theory is very speculative of me, although it’s pretty obvious if you know any of calypso myths and you know recognize the fact that Leo is only 15 when they meet it’s very disturbing

Although the reason why I have like actual validation and hating their relationship is that she constantly body shame him, and body checks him and put him down for his physical appearance in anyway she says he’s unattractive. She’ll never find him attractive. She doesn’t refer to him. she doesn’t acknowledge him as her boyfriend that well she yells at him constantly. It’s just like a constant verbal aggregation and abuse to someone who’s already very insecure about their body and very mentally unhealthy and the fact that this is his first relationship is very alarming because he is learning that all of this abuse is just part of being in the couple and that’s not the truth it’s part of reality. It’s really sad to me.

So that’s why I don’t ship with anyone because I don’t feel like anyone would be either available or cause a healthy relationship.

I do want Leo to find love, although I really like the idea that he breaks up with calypso while living in Indiana with his new foster family and then he’s like has a mortal girlfriend that he meets at high school.

Personally, I feel like Leo dating would be the best thing for him because it gives a very strong sense of normalcy that he never had in his life and it’s a strong escape from the tragic immortal world

Something normal and loving and healthy and safe with just a human would be the best relationship for Leo in my opinion. I think that Leo needs to find someone he can settle down with like early in life and have a few kids while he still pretty young because I think that he’s the type of person to therapies his poor childhood by raising kids and a happy childhood and a happy home. Honestly, it makes me happy.

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0lshadyl0 · 2 years ago

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Do you think asl would work well together or would it end up as disaster? ( can it be Yandere please )

I'll assume darling is female since you didn't specify

Are you really asking this question? With Ace, Sabo, and Luffy? Let's be honest, they have the best sibling relationship without sharing blood ties in the entire series (and other series... I don't know, it's not like I can afford to watch other animes, besides the rest of my free time I spend playing Genshin Impact), so if what you are looking for is a polyamorous relationship, either platonic or romantic (in the latter rule out Luffy because he can only be yandere platonic, I don't see in my head how this guy could feel romantic desires for someone, no, just not), ASL is your best bet

Now if we go to the dynamics of how the relationship would work, it will depend a lot on how it is formed and in what sense, for example, if it is a healthy platonic relationship between siblings (and in the specific case that it was formed when they were all children being slaughtered by Garp and his fists of love), then we would be seeing that they will treat you the same as Luffy, or in case you are younger than them, (Ace and Sabo), they will be a little more overprotective of you, if you are even younger than Luffy (or if you are female), in the beginning of your adventurous years you will not be alone, at least you will be in a pirate group under the command of Ace or Luffy, (Sabo does not count because we will presume him dead at that time), girls cannot go outside unsupervised sea, not with all those perverts sailing the seas in search of beautiful young and fertile girls (I see you Shanks, Mihwak, caesar, DOFLAMINGO) and all those old bastards who didn't get married in time and feel lonely and misunderstood since their children ignore them (kaido)

Now going to the field where the beautiful stops being so beautiful and love becomes sick:

Yandere ASL Platonic Polyamorous Relationship

• In this situation, I assure you that it is 100% Luffy's fault and his ability to make other platonic yanderes

• Any chance of forming a romantic relationship with Ace or Sabo dies if the first of these three you meet is Luffy.

• Because, if he says that you are brothers, my dear, you are family

• And no, they are not the type of family where the brothers want to marry each other (disgustingly cool in fiction but fucking disgusting if it is in real life, say no to incest, there are many fish in the sea and many 2D men/women to simp (Nico Robin, my love))

• Get ready to always be accompanied by one of them, privacy? what is that? is it eaten?

• Also keep in mind that you are Ace's emotional support every time he has his attacks of “I'm Roger's son, everyone hates me, I hate myself too”, I think, out of the three, it's him that you will spend more time

• Until Luffy comes to steal you because he found a new island with very cool animals and he wants to go on an adventure with you.

• Really the one who has to manage everything in the relationship and be 'the older brother' is Sabo

• Poor him, considering all the extra work he has as a revolutionary, now he also has to deal with the fact that his brothers don't want to share (Luffy is the most possessive of the three and the one who starts the fights)

• So when you get frustrated go with Sabo, you will have time for yourself while you are watched by the piercing eyes of the revolutionary

I will not speak more about this dynamic because the post will be longer than it already is, besides that it looks like another request that they made to me, I will delve into it more calmly in that future post

Yandere AS, Romantic Polyamorous relationship Platonic with L

• The way in which this relationship occurs, is by following certain rules that, first of all, is doing the opposite of the platonic relationship, in what sense? you may be asking me

• Simple, Luffy shouldn't meet you first.

• If you meet Luffy first it's game over, from now on you have three brothers, live with it

• You can have the opportunity to be Sabo's darling, be part of the revolutionaries, or he saving you from some injustice (he has a hero complex, it increases if you are a woman)

• With Ace you can find him on Whitebeard's ship (maybe being his daughter? A nurse? Marco's apprentice? (I would be, I don't hesitate) are you stupid or ridiculously strong enough to face the yonkou?, I don't know, you tell me) or literally on any random island that he visited while looking for Teach (or you guys met in Wano, the possibilities are limitless)

• Or in an invented scenario where we are all happy, Ace did not die in marineford and was reunited with his brother who he presumed dead in a tragicomic scene with many tears, emotions, and heartbreaking flashbacks

• In any case, the second rule is that Sabo and Ace must discover you at the same time, note that this is important because although neither of them is possessive, Sabo is a jealous person and although he would never do anything to hurt Ace, if he chooses you first, he won't share you, what Sabo will do is manipulate Ace into looking the other way while he stays with you

• Let's remember, Sabo is a manipulative and protective yandere, Ace is another protective yandere, but he is also delusional and that is what puts him at a disadvantage compared to Sabo who thinks with a cooler head

• So if you stick to these rules, congratulations, you now have two very hot boyfriends and an annoying brother-to-be who is going to irritate his older siblings because he wants to hang out with his brothers's girlfriend.

• Basically this relationship is based on Sabo having control of the dynamics between the four of you (distracting Luffy, keeping Ace stable and his delusions, keeping an eye on you, you know, everything a manipulator can control)

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via-rant · 1 year ago

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Pt. 1

"Hey Leo?" Jason started and Leo looked away from his food he was stabbing multiple times. "Yeah?"

"Whens your birthday?" It's a normal question. A question anyone who didn't grow up running around cared about.

"Yeah. I think you're the only persons birthday we haven't celebrated." Piper added and Leo answered honestly, going back to eating his eggs.

"Oh. I don't know." Saying they were speechless was an understatement.

"You don't... know?" Percy asked as if it's the most unbelievable thing in the world and Leo stopped eating to look at them with a raised a brow.

"Yeah? I don't know, as in, I don't remember."

"Who doesn't remember their birthday?" Annabeth asked and Leo shrugged.

"Lots of people."

"You know lots of people who don't remember their birthday?" She pushed.

"Not personally but yeah. Met lots of them. Orphanages don't really care for that kind of stuff. So many kids we'd have a party every other week."

"What about foster homes? They had to have done something right?" Frank wondered out of pure curiosity.

"What is this? An intervention? Look, it doesn't matter. I forgot, I forgot, not a big deal."

"Dude, of course it is. That's the day you were born!" Percy exclaimed but Leo just shrugged.

"So?" Everything froze. It was such a simple word but held so much meaning. Oh...

When he realized what he said he just got up and left, not wanting to be questioned anymore.

"I'll be back." Nico said Shadow Traveling away.

------

"Oh, hello. What can I help you with?"

"Hi so I'm one of your sons friends and I was wondering when his birthday is?"

"You know my son?"

"Yes?"

"Is-is he okay? Is he safe?"

"Yes, yes, he's safe. He's at Camp."

"Camp?! But what about outside of it?! Does he have somewhere to stay when he gets out?! I..." He admired how much she loved him. Her voice was like applesauce, a little scratchy but mostly smooth and calming.

"Woah hey. It's okay. He's safe. Camp is a year-round place. He has a plan."

"He does?"

"Yes." He assured and she nodded wiping her tears.

"Lo siento, I've just been so worried."

"I completely understand ma'am. But we do only have ten minutes."

"Alright. Now what was the question?"

"When his birthday is."

"It's July, 7th. But why couldn't you ask him?" He told her what happened and she fell to her knees.

"Oh cariño, lo siento mucho. Debería haber estado allí."

"Ms. Valdez, you have nothing to be sorry for. You couldn't help it, people die."

"Oh, lo sé, lo sé. I just... was he at least safe? After I died?"

"Wish I could say yes." He said sadly and she sobbed. He held her.

"But he's safe now. We're taking care of him. I promise." He couldn't imagine being in her shoes. Being dead, hearing that your son is alive after all these years and finding out he hasn't been safe since, in any means.

"And he is such a wonderful guy. He's so funny, and kind, and selfless, and smart." She pulled away to wipe her tears.

"He was always the charmer." She said with a knowing smirk and he blushed.

"You know?"

"The whole underworld knows about you liking boys. I never thought it'd be with my son but if he's your type..." She said wiggling her eyebrows.

"Oh! No, we're not a thing. I just... really like him. Ugh..." He said covering his face and she laughed. Loud and unpredictable. Just like Leo.

"Well. I think you should tell him." She suggested and he shrugged. "Maybe one day."

"Gracias. I haven't felt this relaxed in forever. I should really take Emily up for that spa one day." She said and Nico smiled.

"Aye, I apologize. You should probably get back."

"Um... yeah..."

"Before you do, could you tell him something?"

"Yes, of course."

"Tell him it's not his fault. And I love him. More than he could ever know." Nico nodded with a small smile.

"Of course." Then she did something unexpected. She kissed his forehead.

"You're an angel." She disappeared and he stood there in stunned silence before smiling again. Now to talk to Leo.

-------

@moa-broke-me @thatgaydemigodnerd @im-always-lost-in-a-book @starlightshadowsworld @cabin12kid @stillcarmine

(Please lmk if you want me to take your tag off.)

#leo valdez #jason grace #nico di angelo #percy jackson #annabeth chase #piper mclean #frank zhang #hazel levesque #hoo #heros of olympus #reyna avila ramirez arellano #valdangelo #percabeth #esperanza valdez #rosa valdez

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tokiro07 · 8 months ago

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Undead Unluck ch.208 thoughts

[Beat Cute]

(Content: first impressions - Fuuko's parents, character analysis - Sean, lore - reincarnation mechanics, predictions - arc participants, thematic analysis - death and loss)

Okay, so I was right about the Union needing to replace members of Kaede's band, but I was NOT expecting it to be because Kaede hospitalized all of her friends!

With how ludicrously clumsy she is, I thought for a moment there that Kaede might have been a previous Unluck holder, but we know that can't be the case because Fuuko got it before Kaede died and Kaede wasn't present among the past Unlucks. Instead, I think it's more likely that Kaede was the reason that Fuuko was chosen as the next Unluck - she may have already been pretty good at dealing with and reacting to unlucky events, so the other holders might have thought she'd be able to handle whatever Unluck threw at her. They just didn't anticipate a plane blowing up

I'm really enjoying Kaede as a character pretty much right off the bat, there's a lot more flavor here than I was expecting. I kind of figured she'd be shy and quiet, and that's what would prevent her from performing, but instead she's bright and bubbly, always willing to throw herself into anything with a smile despite the fates clearly telling her not to. That little thumbs up she gives Fuuko's dad after accidentally choreographing a Jackie Chan fight scene was insanely endearing, this guy's got great taste

Fuuko's dad predicting and reacting to Kaede's antics gives us a solid impression of the kind of guy he is, too. He seems like the fastidious type, planning things out in advance to be prepared for anything, while also having the fortitude to press on even when he finds he was unprepared. I suppose one would need both of those traits to marry a woman who might accidentally send you to the hospital just walking forward to greet you

Beyond our new characters, this was a really good chapter for Sean, too, or at least seems to be setting up something really good for him. I like that his insecurity about his importance to the team hasn't just vanished after a few contributions, it's still a core part of his character to want to stand out and matter. Having his points redistributed over the rest of the team's, especially hearing that they're better to have on call for an emergency, is a great way for the narrative to revisit this concept. It probably doesn't help that Rip would actually have been the next reasonable option to drop, since previously Fuuko was dropping members from the top and had literally just booted Chikara and Enjin to bring in Top and Haruka, then dropped them to bring in Nico and Ichico. Though they have no beef this loop, Sean in L100 definitely hated Rip, and likely feels some kind of jealousy towards him here since he guy has two wives and he doesn't have a single girl that he knows of (rootin' for ya, buddy)

Of course, revisiting the roots of Sean's character flaws doesn't need to define his involvement in this arc, it just gave an extra layer to his presence this time around. By giving him a reason to be downtrodden, Tozuka necessitated a way to get him invested in this storyline, and fittingly that touches on his other root: the loss of his father. Julia thought that Sean was excited to help out because it might help him meet cute girls, but that's definitely just a cover. Sean knows exactly what it's like to lose your parents and only be able to reconnect with them via memories, so knowing that Fuuko not only lost her parents but has the chance to reconnect for real, it's natural that he'd want her to take advantage of it. In fact, in L101, he's the only member of the Union who understands what Fuuko's going through

Chikara's parents were saved, Tatiana's not a Negator yet and her parents will almost certainly be saved, Enjin got to cook for his mom like he always wanted, Phil didn't lose his mom...the loss of Sean's dad was completely unrelated to his tragedy, it was just something that happened in his life, and while I'm sure Fuuko would have liked to have prevented it, she likely just didn't have the information to do so. Narratively, this at least provides that point of connection between him and Fuuko, and I'm so glad we get to capitalize on it

Sure, Gina still lost her grandma, Void was still a street urchin, Shen was still an orphan, but they all have their own circumstances that make that a little bit different, and Gina's off helping with Tatiana in Russia, so Sean's easily the best choice to be present here

Julia's presence is to be expected since she hasn't awakened Unjustice yet and she needs as much screentime as possible to establish parallels and distinctions from Juiz. I also think this will be a good time to help us understand the difference between her circumstances, Juiz's and Fuuko's, since Juiz never had parents, Julia was retroactively assigned to parents, and Fuuko is retroactively parentless

Not only will that establish narrative connections, but it's looking like we're going to get a deeper understanding of the mechanics as well. By all logic, Sean's supposition that this is a New Game+ rather than literal time travel should preclude the need for Kaede and Mr. Izumo to procreate, and yet Fuuko's is Back-to-the-Futuring somehow. I have no idea what Tozuka's logic is here, but my best guess is that it's tied to either the Rule of Soul or Parents. Juiz, Victor and Andy would obviously be exempt from this, but Fuuko's soul may be tied to the world on the assumption that her parents will one day provide a vessel for that soul

In the event that the current Fuuko dies, she could well be reincarnated as herself within the same loop since her soul would be available, but perhaps by the mechanics of the Rule in question, there is an almost contractual obligation for her parents to at least be together in the first place? Or, since Fuuko is worried about time paradoxes, it's not that the Rule is endangering her, but her interpretation of it. She thinks that her parents not getting together could erase her, so while mechanically that makes no sense, it seems to make sense to her, and thus affects her regardless. I'm sure Tozuka will explain it, but for now I'm sticking with the theory that Fuuko's doing it to herself

As for the backing band Fuuko's going to throw together, I expect that this will go similar to the space mission where we're going to dedicate a chapter to picking three members rather than having the whole group participate. I say three because when Kaede discusses her band being hospitalized, we see three beds; what looks to be a male guitarist, a male drummer, and another female member, presumably a backup singer or dancer

As far as I'm aware, the only Union members we know have musical experience are Tella (who can't sing thanks to Untell) and Rip, who can play piano. I don't believe we know if anyone on the team is gifted in guitar or drums, though if I had to guess, Enjin strikes me as someone who might be able to do a mean drum solo

I think Julia's a must, since like I said she needs more screentime to get acquainted with the cast and audience, so to that I think it would be extremely funny if she was on guitar and said something to the effect of "it's like a violin you play with your fingers, right?"

I'm on the fence about whether Fuuko will be the third member, since she's near identical to Kaede and wouldn't want to distract from her performance, but it's also such a good opportunity for them to bond and I wouldn't want Tozuka to drop it. Maybe she'd use Nico's memory machine to hypnotize people to think they're the original backup band? Whatever the lineup ends up looking like, I'm sure I'll be able to write a whole post dedicated to it

The final thing I want to touch on is a line that Sean says that I think is meant to be the thesis statement for this arc, and arguably one of the series' greatest overarching themes: "You never know when or where will be the last time you see [someone]."

[TRIGGER WARNING: DEATH]

I think it's pretty self-explanatory how that relates to the theme of enjoying life, that you should spend time with the people you care about while you can and make the most of that time. It's so self-explanatory that I debated whether or not I should talk about it here, but...it's relevant to me right now

A friend of mine died this week. It wasn't exactly sudden, but it was also looking like it was going to be okay for a minute there, so I got a little complacent, I suppose. Reading this line immediately rang true with me. I'll never see that friend again, and I can't even remember what the last thing I said to him was. Did I make him feel like a friend, or was he worried that I was just humoring him? I'm sure at the end I wasn't even on his mind, I'm pretty sure we weren't close enough for that and he was more concerned with his wife, but still, I worry whether or not I treated him right in the time that I knew him

While we weren't super close, my family and his had a lot of plans for spending time together, and now they're just...gone. No more games, no more dinners...nothing. Even if we weren't close, we were trying to be, and however close we could have become, now we'll never be. It doesn't feel like a tremendous loss of what we had, but certainly of what could have been

I take solace in knowing that I did things to the best of my ability. I went out of my way to spend time with them when I could. I tried to make the most of my friendship with them with the time I had, it just got cut short by circumstances outside of anyone's control. I don't know what's going to happen next, but I feel like if nothing else Tozuka and the Union would be proud of me for how I tried to enjoy my time with my friend

Maybe that's a stupid thing to say. Maybe I'm being silly. But I've always believed that art is meant to be a way to explore our relationship with the world, and I really don't think any series I've experienced has done so much to prepare me to deal with loss. One Piece is close, of course, but I've gone on and on about parallels between UU and OP a thousand times by now

Anyway...I haven't really gotten the chance to talk about any of this out loud, and I don't think I've really gotten to process my feelings on it. I'm sorry to dump it on you folks who read this far, but also thank you to anyone who did

And to anyone else experiencing loss or grief right now, I hope that me talking about my experiences or reading Undead Unluck helps you process it too. Even if it's just me or a manga, I hope you can find peace through other people. That's certainly what Tozuka wants for us

Until next time, let's enjoy life

#undead unluck #fouryearsandananime #4y1a reviews #i wasn't expecting this chapter to make me get heavy but here we are

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11queensupreme11 · 7 months ago

Note

Me: I'm going to read Arsenic blues, wishing to see what the queen has to us ❤️

After reading the note: The fuck!?

Can't believe people are really stealing your job and asking why they haven't the right to it. People are crazier every time I check is half concerning and half amazing how their brains work

Have to be nice, living in that fantasy world for free and without Isekai yourself.

Be for real and growth. Write your own stuff and don't come here asking yourself why the author is mad when you literally just committed a CRIME

Anyway, great character as always queen! ❤️

It is amazing how Loki has one type, defender of rights only person here that knows about human rights and thinks they deserve it.

Loki's the "fuck around and found what happens" god and is always hurting him but he can't scape the consequences of his own actions

Dumb bitch, you're lucky you're hot

Baldur was the first to say: they deserve to live cause you created them and if they're bad it is because you all are worse, maybe if you all learn a minimum of moral they would be better ❤️

I love him, Loki really didn't deserve him, he doesn't deserve Percy either but Baldur is... *Chef kiss*

He was the first, if you know what I'm saying, it is even wonderful how a person (god) can be so kind without knowing what it really is. It is hard to be kind, but without an example!?

Made him the god of humanity and sent him far away from Loki's (too late)

Loki: what's wrong here? Him or me?

Me: You have one chance, and hint, it isn't Baldur you asshole

(That hint of karma. Poseidon is going to lose his daughter, one as loved as Baldur and it's just his fault cause he doesn't have a heart. Love that for him. I love him but I also love the drama)

(Maybe we're more like the gods that we like to think I guess)

Thinking about it, maybe Percy being too gremlin with him IS a good thing.

No matter what, that side of her, the way she's always ready to fight but also being ready to relax with him is his... Well, Loki is always on the edge, but her giving so much kindness to him is also pushing him away.

She chooses to spend time with him and genuinely enjoy that time when he isn't tricking her (to the surprise of EVERYONE including him)

(Percy, being too kind is one thing)

At least he's learning that maybe killing and hurting your loved ones isn't the best decision.

Took him millennials but progress is progress

For now, act 4 is going to give him a ticket express to that fall to madness

Beelzebub...

Well, his trauma is stopping him right now, but I trust him to find a way, it's the smartest one so I'm going to wait before saying something

(For once, the author's favorite is one of my favorites)

(Just laughed cause that is karma right there, you were the one always making the deals with bad ends, now is your turn babygirl. Still rooting for you king ❤️)

Thanks for the chapter Queen and remember, a alive Nico is the best kind of Nico ❤️

bro omg that plagiarizer was weird af. did you see the old ask asking for permission to make an hp x pjo x ror fic inspired by mine? THAT TURNED OUT TO BE THEM. they made a third wattpad account sfahdvbjhv 😭😭😭

i made another chapter calling them out on wattpad and they deleted the books and fucked off (they'll probably be back with a fourth account 💀) but yeah, that's just weird behavior fr 😭

and also.... the thing i wrote about poseidon getting karma? yeah, that's a big ass hint for the future HEHEHEHE

and yesss percy actually does enjoy loki's company most of the times, he just ruins it by... you know, being an asshole to her sometimes, but other than that, she likes hanging out with him! she actually considers him as a friend (but beelie is her #1 bestie in the ror verse LMAO)

#👸🏻| asks #👸🏻| arsenic blues

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demigod-shenanigans · 4 months ago

Text

Triremes over Europe

Summary: “But isn’t it weird that it took me so long to realize this?” Jason asked, his expression still terribly vulnerable. “Shouldn’t this be something I just… know?”

“Sometimes it’s not,” Piper said, trying to keep the trembling out of her voice. Something in her chest was resonating, threatening to spill out, and she wasn’t quite ready to face it. “You know how the Mist works? How it will make people see what they’re expecting to see? It can be like that, too.”

It had been so easy to lean into it and ignore all evidence to the contrary. Piper McLean was in love with Jason Grace. There wasn’t a giant trireme flying over Europe.

Or: After the events in Split, Jason breaks up with Piper. Piper’s world shifts, but not in the way she expected.

Word count: ~ 4.5k

Rating: Teen and Up

Posting some more of this little fic universe! This time featuring Piper and Jason having a very amicable breakup. Piper and Jason are both queer and confused (there’s some level of comphet and internalized homophobia going on here for anyone who doesn’t feel like dealing with that right now), main focus is on the two of them being friends.

Piper has a crush on Reyna and doesn’t realize it and Jason has some perfectly normal platonic feelings towards Leo, thank you for asking. Please note that the tagged ships are pining only for this fic and this is a friendship fic first and a ship fic second.

Quick story note before we begin: for this universe I’m ignoring the whole Calypso situation (Percy can go yell at the gods to get her off the island when they’re done), so if you’re wondering why Leo is on the Argo during the Notus part, here’s your explanation!

———

Piper was about to get ready for bed when someone knocked on the door to her cabin.

She rubbed her eyes, confused, wondering if maybe she’d started drifting off and imagined the noise since it made no sense.

It was after midnight, way past the time when anyone except whoever was on watch was supposed to be walking around the ship. If it had been some sort of emergency, she couldn’t imagine her friends knocking instead of yelling about whatever was trying to kill them for the whole corridor to hear. And there hadn’t been a ton to report since they’d gotten stuck with Notus, anyway. Most likely, the main danger to Leo and Frank right now was that they’d bicker each other to death.

Hedge had already done his rounds, and he didn’t knock, exactly. He just yelled about how they all better be sleeping and banged his baseball bat against the door so loudly that if you really had been asleep before, you wouldn’t be after.

This only left Hazel, Nico or Jason, except Hazel had headed to bed early because she had a headache, Piper and Nico weren’t exactly friends, and Jason… he just wasn’t the type to break the rules, for any reason, no matter how much Piper wished he was.

The person knocked again, making it pretty clear that she hadn’t, in fact imagined it the first time, so Piper got up to open the door.

She was baffled when the door opened to a really sheepish, obviously anxious Jason.

“I didn’t wake you, did I?” he asked apologetically, looking at a point past her head.

“This might shock you, but I don’t usually sleep in jeans,” Piper joked. She raised an eyebrow. “Are you bending the rules to spend time with me? Who are you and what have you done to my boyfriend?”

Jason didn’t smile. He looked exhausted. The only benefit of the Notus situation should have been that Jason got some rest, since they weren’t constantly dealing with venti trying to crash the ship. Apparently he hadn’t been getting very much sleep regardless.

“Piper, listen, I… can I talk to you? It’s kind of important.”

She knew the instant the words were out of his mouth that this was it. They were done.

She’d been dreading this breakup for a while. Part of her had always known it was coming—that their relationship came with an expiration date. It was hard to put into words why. She just had. The way he’d been acting since his last mission had only made her more sure of it.

“Come in.” Piper forced a smile, trying to swallow the acid in her throat. She stepped aside to let Jason through, shutting the door behind him. “If you’re going to break up with me, I’d rather not have an audience.”

Jason didn’t argue. He wouldn’t even meet her eyes, dashing any hopes she might have had that she was misreading the situation again.

She sat back down on her bed, and a moment later Jason sank down next to her with obvious reluctance, far enough away that they weren’t touching. Great. Like this situation needed to get any more awkward.

“Listen, Pipes, I’m really sorry.” Jason was looking down at his hands, fidgeting uncomfortably. “It’s not that you’re- You didn’t do anything wrong. You’ve been great, actually. We’re just- I’m just not-” he broke off with a sigh, pressing his hands to his face. “Gods, I’m a disaster. I can’t even get the words out.”

“Here, I’ll help,” Piper huffed, crossing her arms. “It’s Reyna, isn’t it?”

She felt… she wasn’t sure what she was feeling, actually.

Not surprised, exactly. She’d need both hands to count all the times she’d thought Jason would break up with her in the last few weeks. She wasn’t even sure she could blame him, really. Reyna was gorgeous. She didn’t need charmspeak to control a crowd—her general air of authority was more than enough. She was an awe-inspiring force of nature. If Piper could gather all that from the short time they’d spent together and a few flashes in her dagger, she couldn’t begin to imagine what years with her would be like. Of course Jason was in love with her. It seemed utterly impossible for anyone not to be.

So what was it that Piper was feeling? Jealousy, maybe? Anger? Neither of those felt like the right way to describe it.

There was a pressure in her chest that she couldn’t explain. All she knew was that it hurt. That it had been hurting ever since she’d started thinking about Jason and Reyna together, hands linked as they walked through the streets of New Rome.

It hadn’t been an issue when he’d first told her—when Reyna had been a vague idea of a person that had meant something to Jason in a different life. But that had been before she’d actually met Reyna.

Everything felt different since.

“It’s not Reyna,” Jason choked out. He looked more upset than she’d ever seen him, despite the fact that he was the one who’d decided to break up with her. “It’s never been about Reyna.”

Piper’s heart did something weird and awful, then. It unclenched slightly. Some of the tension went out of her shoulders, like it fundamentally wasn’t as bad if it was anyone else.

“Then who is it?” she asked, because she was supposed to want to know. Because she wanted to go on ignoring the confusing ball of emotion in her chest that told her maybe it didn’t matter.

She wanted to shove those feelings back in the box and never look at them again.

“It’s not about anyone. It’s just me.” Jason looked like he might cry. Piper wasn’t sure she’d ever seen him cry before.

He’d never been good at letting his walls down around her.

Despite the hurt and confusion, Piper reached out to put a hand on his shoulder. It felt like the natural thing to do. He’d been her friend before he’d ever been her boyfriend. “Hey, Sparky. Look at me.”

“Something happened. In Split,” Jason admitted after a long moment of silence. He did lift his head, then, but he still wouldn’t meet her eyes.

“Yeah, that much is obvious from how weird you and Nico have been acting.”

Neither of them had talked about what had happened or how they’d gotten the scepter.

For the first few days after, Piper had barely seen Nico. He hadn’t even shown up for meals. He’d always been withdrawn, but not like that. And Jason… he’d been acting different around her. Pulling away when Piper tried to hold his hand, sincerely apologetic and terribly awkward at the same time. She’d hoped he was just stressed. The threat of the end of the world would do that to most people.

Apparently not.

Jason also seemed to have a newfound soft spot for Nico. He’d gone from jumpy every time Nico moved like he kept forgetting he was there to being protective of him whenever the subject came up, like he’d suddenly decided Nico was his younger brother and any bad word about him was a personal offense.

Piper wasn’t sure what Jason had done to change Nico’s mind, but whatever the case, as of two days ago he was back to eating with the rest of them.

“Tell me what happened.”

Jason shook his head. “I can’t. I’m sorry. It’s not my place to talk about it.”

“So tell me what you can talk about,” she said, not forcefully. She didn’t want him to tell her because she’d accidentally used her charmspeak. She wanted him to tell her because they’d been dating for months at this point and she deserved to understand what was going on, even if she didn’t like it. “Because if you’re going to break up with me, I’d at least like to know why.”

“I’m sorry.” He did cry, then, his eyes pressed shut like that might make the pain go away. “I'm just really confused right now. I know my timing is awful. But it wouldn’t be fair to just keep dating you when I…” Jason clenched his hands into her blanket, apparently trying to steady his breathing. He didn’t quite manage. Then he looked directly at her, his expression more vulnerable than she’d ever seen it. “When I’m not even sure I’m into girls. I. Uhm. I think I might be gay?”

Piper couldn’t stand the fear in his eyes. Before she fully registered what she was doing, she’d looped her arms around Jason’s midsection and pulled him to her chest. “It’s okay. You’re okay. Breathe.”

Jason made a surprised noise, but he obeyed, steadying himself against her as his breaths evened out against her shoulder. She wasn’t sure she’d ever held him like this before. It felt intimate, maybe more than any of their kisses had.

“You’re not mad?” he asked when they broke apart, looking at her like he was still expecting her to change her mind and start yelling at him.

“Why would I be mad?”

“Because I just broke up with you?” He sounded more confused than anything now. “Because I wasted a bunch of your time?”

Piper blinked, momentarily baffled by her own reaction. Jason was right. Maybe she should feel mad—not at his sexuality, obviously, and probably not even at him, but definitely at the situation. At the very least, she should probably feel bummed out, especially considering how long they’d been dating.

Somehow, she wasn’t feeling either of those things. She had, for a brief moment at the beginning, but not for the reasons she was supposed to be feeling that way. By now, any upset she’d felt had vanished completely. The confusing knot of emotions in her heart had unspooled into a treacherous feeling of relief.

For weeks, she’d assumed Jason breaking up with her would be the worst thing that could happen. Now that it was done, it felt like someone had removed a weight from her chest. Like she could breathe freely for the first time in months.

“I’m not going to be mad at you for something you only just realized about yourself,” she said, squeezing his shoulder gently.

“But isn’t it weird that it took me so long to realize this?” Jason asked, his expression still terribly vulnerable. “Shouldn’t this be something I just… know?”

“Sometimes it’s not,” Piper said, trying to keep the trembling out of her voice. Something in her chest was resonating, threatening to spill out, and she wasn’t quite ready to face it. She thought back to the conversation she’d had with Hazel a few nights ago. “You know how the Mist works? How it will make people see what they’re expecting to see? It can be like that, too.”

It had been so easy to lean into it and ignore all evidence to the contrary. Piper McLean was in love with Jason Grace. There wasn’t a giant trireme flying over Europe.

She thought about how she’d told Jason she loved him when she assumed they were going to die, only to feel the same treacherous relief she did now when she’d realized he hadn’t heard it. She’d rationalized it by saying it would have been too soon.

It was starting to click that that hadn’t been the reason for her relief at all.

Piper had an actor for a dad. Maybe it made sense that she was just a little bit too good at pretending.

Jason looked at her, surprised, and then he smiled, tiny and fragile and like he could see right through her.

He hugged her again, and Piper felt like her chest might cave in—like all the things she’d refused to let herself feel might come tumbling out for everyone to see.

It terrified her. But something about this—about the fact that she wasn’t terrified and confused alone—made it easier to breathe.

“I’m glad we’re friends,” Jason said softly. “I like you so much. I think you’re awesome. I just… I don’t think I ever saw what I was supposed to when I looked at you.”

Piper’s head hurt, the way it sometimes did when she knew she was going to start crying. This was why it had been so perfectly easy to pretend with Jason. Why it might have been even without the fake memories and her mom telling her they were meant to be.

Jason was nice and brave and conventionally attractive. He was her friend, and Piper cared about him. Why wouldn’t she want them to be more? He was like a cardboard cutout of the love interest in every high school romcom she’d ever watched.

He was everything she was supposed to want in a boyfriend. She was supposed to fall asleep thinking about him. She was supposed to want to be alone with him. Instead, every time they were, she wished Leo was there to bridge the awkward silences. When she closed her eyes, she thought of Annabeth and their game of domestic breakfast theft. She thought of Reyna’s determined expression reflected in her knife.

But Annabeth was her friend, and Piper was worried. Of course she was thinking about her.

And Reyna… Reyna wasn’t anything to Piper. She was just a girl Jason had never dated, a girl he’d repeatedly stated he didn’t see as anything more than a friend. She wasn’t a threat to the relationship that Piper had convinced herself she wanted. There was no reason for the amount of space Reyna had taken up in Piper’s head.

She’d taken up residence regardless, and whenever Piper let her thoughts wander, her fingers wound up tangled in long brown hair.

Gods, fuck.

“Well, turns out we’re both kind of a mess,” she choked out, rubbing at her eyes, and yep, she was definitely crying now. It was as close to the truth as she allowed herself to get.

Jason swayed a little as he held her, like they were the strangest pair of dancers in history. It was weirdly soothing.

“And we’re both going to be okay,” he said, like it was the most certain thing in the world.

Piper held on tightly and let herself sink into that feeling. She wasn’t in love with Jason, but gods, she did love him. Curled up against his chest, that was one of the few things she felt certain about.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked quietly, after she managed to get a bit more of a handle on her emotions again.

They’d never been great at the talking part. They made a decent questing team, sure, but the moments before and after, when it was just the two of them… Piper never knew what to do with those. Jason didn’t seem to have much of a clue, either.

Needless to say, she was a little surprised when Jason nodded.

“It’s confusing. It’s been confusing since Hera took my memories. They still don’t really feel like mine. They’re more like a movie I watched a few times—I know the plot and remember all the important bullet points, but that’s it. I’m not attached to them in the way I’m supposed to be.” Jason sighed. “I don’t remember ever seriously thinking of dating anyone, but maybe I had crushes. Some of the emotional parts didn’t carry over great. Maybe I was getting there, and then Hera decided it was inconvenient for what she had in mind, and now I’m confused all over again.”

Piper cringed. Having to do this once was bad enough. She couldn’t imagine what it’d feel like to have to go through it twice.

“I’m sorry.”

Jason was back to wringing his hands.

“I’d never even kissed anyone before you, which is probably part of why I didn’t figure things out sooner. I have no idea how it’s supposed to feel. Just that whatever I am feeling probably isn’t… that.”

This seemed like something Piper was supposed to know. She was the daughter of the goddess of love, for crying out loud.

The truth was, she didn’t. Not really.

Jason was the only person she’d ever kissed, in whatever moments she felt warranted a kiss. That in itself maybe should have told her something a lot sooner—how she’d thought of kissing him not as something she wanted to be doing, but as a task to be checked off a list.

It was incredible what the Mist could hide if you didn’t think it was there. If you weren’t ready to see it. How well your brain could pull wool over your eyes when it came to things you weren’t willing to process.

It was one thing to risk being all over the tabloids with a stupid stunt she'd pulled to get her dad's attention. If people judged her for that, she could brush it off because they didn't truly know her.

Because that behavior was a choice she made, and one she could stop making at any time. But she already had enough people who judged her based on her heritage. If she could at least take this part of herself and package it up until it was unrecognizable so she never had to deal with what anyone else thought of it, wasn't that worth it, even if it made her miserable?

But you couldn't will the Mist back once you'd seen through it. And here, with Jason, who got her even if she still couldn't get the words out, Piper didn't think she wanted to.

She wanted to hold that piece of herself to her chest and just be, damn it. The world might end in a few weeks. And if they couldn't stop it, she'd so much rather live these last few weeks as herself. And if they did manage, well… she would cross that bridge if Gaia didn’t blow it up first.

Piper let that decision settle, with all the mixed emotions that came with it. It felt mostly good.

Then she gave herself a moment to really consider what Jason had said about kissing, thinking back to the campers who’d come to her for advice. In retrospect, that felt terribly ironic. Who was she to give romantic advice to anyone when she’d made herself so blind to her own feelings?

“I think there’s supposed to be sparks,” she finally said. “Not that I’ve got any more experience in that department than you do.”

“What, like I should fry them?” Jason raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t sound safe.”

“Not literal sparks.” Piper paused, thinking about the gems that appeared whenever Hazel got nervous, or the way Leo would sometimes catch fire when he was stressed or excited. Maybe Jason’s thought wasn’t completely absurd. “Actually, there might be literal sparks, with your powers. But for most people, it’s more metaphorical. A warmth in your chest whenever you think about kissing them. Your heart flutters, and you want to keep doing it, today and tomorrow and maybe forever. Everything just feels right. It fits. Like you’re two sides of the same coin.” She laughed. “Oh Gods, I sound like a cheesy Valentine’s Day card.”

Jason snorted. “A bit. But thanks for trying. I think I might just be hopeless when it comes to this stuff.”

“You’ll figure it out. At least one of us has to,” Piper said, elbowing him gently. “It’ll probably get easier once we’re done constantly worrying about how the world might end in a month.”

“Yeah. Or maybe I’ll just be dead.” Jason bit his lip. “I hate this stupid prophecy. I don’t want to die. But I could never let it be Leo.”

There was something so determined in his expression that it scared her—like Jason had already decided how this was going to go, and the Fates should just try to lay a finger on Leo instead. Piper understood the sentiment—Leo was her best friend, and the thought of something happening to him just about killed her. But Jason was her friend, too, and she wasn’t any more okay with losing him than she was with losing Leo.

“Even if I’m right about the prophecy, we’ll find another way,” Piper said, trying to sound reassuring. They had to. It didn’t seem fair that a bunch of sixteen year olds would have to make that kind of choice. “Besides, you know how Leo is. Tell him he can’t do a thing and he’ll take it as a personal challenge. One time, back in Wilderness School, one of the other kids told him he couldn’t possibly eat fifteen Jell-O cups. Made himself sick for two days, but he ate twenty just to spite that person.”

There were few scenes from that time Piper remembered clearly, thanks to Hera’s Mist memories. Why this was one of them, she had no idea.

The corners of Jason’s mouth ticked up. “Yeah, when Leo sets his mind to something, he’ll do it, laws of the universe be damned. The Fates won’t know what hit them.”

Jason’s voice was soft and fond. He had an expression like he’d follow Leo to the moon if he asked—over a stupid story about Jell-O cups, of all things.

“You like him a lot, don’t you?”

“I mean, obviously.” Jason smiled softly. “Leo’s kind of the greatest person I’ve ever met.”

“Aw, you sap.” Piper elbowed him again. “Please don’t tell him that, though. I’m not sure he needs his ego even more inflated,” she joked.

Jason rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “It… might be a little too late for that.”

Piper raised one eyebrow. “What did you do?”

“I maybe told him that he was important, and that people with special gifts like his show up when they’re needed the most. Half a year ago, in the sewer.”

“Oh my gods.” Piper couldn’t help it. She burst out laughing. “That’s really sweet, don’t get me wrong, but I cannot believe I fell asleep early one time and you immediately started hitting on my best friend.”

“That’s not- I wasn’t-” Jason’s face turned crimson. “I didn’t say anything I didn’t mean.”

“I wasn’t saying you didn’t mean it.” She didn’t push him, no matter how much she wanted to point out that this was the most romantic thing she’d heard him say since they met. It would have been too much, too soon, even if they hadn’t had the prophecy hanging over their heads. “I am, however, saying that you are the corniest person I know. If I was boring enough to be genuine, I’d say Leo probably really appreciated it, though. He’s not the best at admitting when he’s having a hard time, and you saying sappy stuff like that is sometimes more helpful than me joking with him.”

“Good.” Jason’s shoulders slumped in something that looked like relief, and he gave her a tentative smile. “I’m glad. I’m sure he appreciates you joking with him just as much, though.”

And somehow, after all the breakup talk and the half-spoken truths about themselves and each other, this was almost easy.

Piper believed Jason when he said that it wasn’t about anyone in particular. That he was just confused and this didn’t feel the way it was supposed to.

She was also pretty sure she now knew something he didn’t.

~~~~~

It was the middle of the night by the time Jason left her cabin, and Piper was glad no one was around to witness it. Frank probably would have had a stroke. Coach Hedge would have promptly beaten them both up with his baseball bat before either of them got the chance to explain that they’d actually just needed some alone time to break up in peace.

Piper was still kind of shocked about how well things had gone. Despite the circumstances, it had been her and Jason’s first non-awkward solo conversation in what felt like forever. Go figure that breaking up would somehow make things less weird between them.

They hadn’t exactly decided what to tell the others, or when they would. Piper had joked that they could just wait for someone to awkwardly point out that they weren’t kissing anymore. With them all constantly trying not to die, their friend group really had more important things to worry about than the non-existent relationship drama between Piper and Jason.

Sure, it would probably take them a moment to figure out how to properly go back to being friends after they’d dated for months, but amicable as their breakup had been, they’d manage.

Piper really should have tried to sleep now, considering the fact that she was supposed to be on watch in the morning and it wouldn’t be great if she slept through that.

Instead, she sat at the edge of her bed and got out Katoptris. It hadn’t shown her any new visions since Rome. She’d been hoping to get confirmation Annabeth and Percy were alive, at first, but it vehemently refused. The only thing it bothered to show her now was a still. Every time she looked at the blade, the same stupid image of Reyna on her pegasus stared back, like the blade had gotten stuck on it somehow. Like someone had pressed pause on this exact frame and then decided to lose the remote.

Reyna looked exhausted. Her hair had come loose from her neat braid and was completely disheveled, but there was a grim determination in her eyes like she could handle anything. When Piper looked at her, she really, truly believed that.

She wanted to reach out and brush the stray strands of hair back behind Reyna’s ears. Maybe redo her braid, despite the fact that she wasn’t great at braiding and Reyna probably wouldn’t want her to even if she had been.

This was the part where usually, Piper’s brain would kick in and start trying to rationalize things away. Girls were objectively pretty. Piper admired Reyna. She needed to know the competition. She wanted to be friends with her. There were perfectly heterosexual reasons for why she wondered what her palms felt like and why she really needed to figure out how well Reyna’s jaw fit into her hands.

But it was three in the morning, and there wasn’t a Jason-shaped weight pressing down on her chest, and for the first time, Piper let the thoughts linger.

————

Some notes:

-My favorite interpretation of Jason and Piper’s relationship will always be one of them breaking up with the other because they figured out they’re queer and the other promptly going “oh thank the gods I thought it was just me”

-Split actually went down a lot like it did in the book, it didn’t change in any massive way, except afterwards Jason just kind of looked at Nico confused because “is that not a perfectly normal reaction to have to Percy Jackson” and Nico just kind of stared at him for ages. Jason is still sorting out a lot of stuff (it turns out getting your memories and entire sense of self ripped away from you will mess with you in some pretty severe ways. Who’d have thought). He does not have his feelings for Leo figured out even slightly. But he’ll get there. Once I feel more confident writing Nico I’d really like to do a little prequel fic about him and Jason bonding, but we’ll see how it goes.

-Piper trying to be heterosexual for all of HoO while describing Reyna in the most romantic terms imaginable and tenderly pressing her forehead to Annabeth’s is highly comedic to me. Piper doesn’t even know Reyna and I swear she’s on her mind more than she is on Jason’s, lol

-The way Piper’s visions dagger works in the series has no actual consistency and therefore if I want to use the plot convenience dagger for queer purposes I can and I will.

@poppitron360

#piper mclean #jason grace #fate and other technicalities #Jason and Piper #pjo Piper #pipeyna #valgrace #hoo #heroes of olympus #house of hades #pjo jason #hoo fanfic #my writing

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happyk44 · 1 year ago

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Look. I know that like. Pluto is not the god of business and that wealth is not equivalent to business but like 1) the meaning of wealth has changed over time and differs among people and I'm pretty sure now when you think of wealth and wealthy people, you think of people who own fortune 500 companies and know what stocks are, and 2) I love the concept of tired businessman Hades/Pluto who just wants to spend a quiet day with his spreadsheets and a pencil, and not have to deal with whatever nonsense is currently being drummed up by his employees

Anyway -- Nico's wealth being generational due to his grandfather (and I want to assume that politics was a family thing so likely also before him) vs Hazel's wealth being hard earned, which, at least in the current age, means business know-how and being able to file a tax report and reconcile a balance sheet sheet and understand excel (I might be slightly projecting here lol)

Hazel being almost an obsessive accountant, monitoring bills, income, every single expense and penny off the street vs Nico who knows the value of things, like antiques, stuff with history. He can do surveys of property, anything that has the potential to be passed on. He's good with valuing a will - splitting assets between family members. Or managing a trust, devising different funds for the future. I think he's probably very good at looking at the long-term. And thus pretty good at noticing when someone is scamming another person with the whole "it'll be cheaper in the long run" thing, or "it'll increase in worth over time".

And since generational wealth is mostly familial, I don't think all of it has to be specific to monetary value either. Emotional wealth, the value something carries emotionally, is also something he can sense. A cheap wedding ring passed down from generation to generation could be more valuable than a standard cut diamond bought today.

Like he could look at old vase on sale at Goodwill for $2 and know it's monetarily cheap, but emotionally it's valued in the thousands. I think it could be kind of cool for things that carry high emotional value and were a part of a family's lineage for generations, if he could touch them and see the history behind it - but that doesn't really fit in with the scope of his current powers or the general theme of the Underworld so :/

They're both good at investments as investing is kind of the core of wealth management and plays a big part in building generational wealth these days, although, I'd gather that Hazel is probably better at it.

Nico, however, is very good at being able to calculate future value of a long-term investment (at least 20+ years).

Hazel can calculate future value of any kind of investment - short term fixed deposits, long and short-term investments, property changes (she absolutely hates house flippers, especially when they change or cover all the older original work, because it cuts the value down so much more than they realize), other stuff that has slipped my mind because my brain is stalling, etc.

Hazel's your go-to for reviewing the split of assets during a divorce. She's extremely meticulous and can track down even the most hidden of accounts. She's also the one you want to talk to about getting the most out of filing your taxes. She will go through every single one of your purchases, no matter how minor, to find a loophole she can work with to shave even only a couple cents off.

(disclaimer: bermuda does not have income tax so i have no idea how filing taxes actually works, other than the two canadian tax classes i took over five years ago as part of my degree)

Hazel can also assess depreciation somewhat automatically. Someone trying to choose between types of equipment can go to her and be like "which one will depreciate in value faster if I do X with it" and she'll look and point and if you ask her why, she can sprout off some nonsense at the top of her head without thinking - like percy with sailing, or my hc about jason/thalia and their inherent diplomatic schmoozing skills.

However, unlike them, she maintains understanding of what she's said when she's exited the environment, either because the power just does that or because Hazel is an amazing busy lady. if you casually said "hey hazel, between X brand and Y brand, which will drop in value faster" she'd have to think about it because it's not really "business" related.

In that sense she's also REALLY good at noticing trends. most of it is subconscious - what brands are becoming more popular, what clothing styles are losing touch. I put this in a previous fic, but she's very receptive gemstone trends. She can tell which stones are moving up in popularity and which are going down. In my headcanon about her business with Walt, this is very useful.

Her ability to notice trends, especially from a monetary standpoint, also helps with her managing stocks, and allows her to invest in high interest but riskier equities with very minimal loss (trends aren't set in stone, you know? Sometimes things happen and everything sudsenly shifts)

Plus back to the whole wealth is conflated with succesful business these days concept, putting Hazel in charge for just a day can boost a business's ability to turn a profit. In just a few hours, she can have all major flaws analyzed.

In New Rome, if someone is opening up a shop or whatever, they'll ask Hazel to review their plans because she can immediately point out all the issues and devise a better way to go about things. A couple times she's just taken them gently by the shoulders and said in the kindest voice ever, "This is going to fail. Do not put money into this." Sometimes it's the business concept, sometimes it's the person behind the concept. They either listen or they don't and if they don't, Frank is there to listen to all her complaints about them going against her advice.

Also - as an U-turn back to the splitting assets in a divorce concept, I'm not sure about pre or post-nuptial agreements. I think pre-nuptials are pretty straightforward in a "this is what im bringing in and want to keep separate from marriage" kind of thing, which Hazel could handle easily. I know in both cases it's important to declare all assets - which again Hazel could easily handle.

Post-nuptials are probably more of Nico's thing because at that point the assets in question have become merged and become familial, and much of generational wealth is in the idea of building wealth to leave behind to your family so they may have a better opportunity to build wealth to leave behind, etc, etc. Especially since post-nuptials, I think, are typically created after children are born, and those are the people who wealth is supposed to be left behind to.

This also kind of plays with my idea that the underworld is inherently familial/communal - as a person cannot bury or perform the proper funeral rites on themselves. Plus the Cocytus is the river of lamentation (aka grief and sorrow) and I imagine some of that comes from the people left behind, crying over their lost loved ones.

Also I think the idea that children of Pluto are resistant/immune to monetary greed. Since Hades was never technically the god of wealth, and was only conflated with him over time (to which, I would imagine some things and behaviours began to pop up, like they'd always existed and then becoming Pluto in the Roman era just solidified that conflation), his kids don't really have this innate resilience, but their dad is also rich and loves them, so their ability to fall prey to it is lower.

Oh! Oh! And Hazel can inflict plutomania on people, which is a word I discovered just now that means "the excessive desire for wealth". I don't know how this would be helpful but idk - social wealth is something I found popping up a lot so maybe if Hazel needs information on something that a person won't give, she can utilize plutomania to inflict a desire for social wealth in the person to get them to spill the information

(Social Wealth is about connection and network, having a sense of belonging and trust essentially. Someone with a lot of social wealth will have a lot of connections versus someone with no social wealth)

(oh yeah in my hasty google search to fact check my understanding of generational wealth when I started this post yesterday, I discovered there are many types of wealth. The number kind of varies from result to result, but essentially the 4 mains ones are: Financial Wealth (obvi), Social Wealth, Time Wealth, and Health Wealth (haha, it rhymes). But anyway yeah. Not sure how it could all loop into her without making her too all powerful but like. Hazel is also super cool and deserves to be godlike in consideration so 🤷‍♂️)

I love that when I started this yesterday it was a lot more clear cut and then I came back to finish it and ended on a ramble 😂 I do not have the energy to go and tidy everything up into something more coherent and uniform so this is what it be 👍

Oh, also, Hazel is amazing at gambling and poker. Nico is also good at poker but that's because he's reading people's souls to figure out their tells. Hazel is good at it because she attracts cash money and therefore always wins. That's why whenever anyone plays poker or places a bet with her, money can't be involved.

#happy talks pjo #nico di angelo #hazel levesque

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anticomedygarden · 1 year ago

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solangelo marching band au part 2

i'm not typing out the whole title

part 1 | ao3

this is drastically shorter than the first AND last chapter, but it wouldn't make sense plot wise to not break it up like this, so sorry about that. the next chapter will probably be much longer, and it was almost done, but for some godforsaken reason i decided to add a few scenes so that probably won't be up for a little bit. again, i'm sorry.

here you go

Four hours, 5 minutes since

The bus took off out of the highway rest stop the same way all buses do: jerkily, and with little regard for the safety of the students it contained. It was exactly how Nico felt as he held back tears.

He couldn't believe that he'd let Will get so close so fast that he'd actually considered telling him about Bianca. How fucking stupid.

He was just about to take his phone out of his pocket to ask his stepmom to pick him up so that he didn't have to deal with his friends when a shadow fell across his seat.

"Hey," Will said. "What the hell?"

Nico didn't even look up at him. "Go away."

"No, not until you tell me what's going on," Will said.

If he thought that would make Nico talk, he was sorely mistaken.

After a minute of silence, Will threw his hands up in the air. "Okay, what the hell! One minute we're having a good time, bonding and whatever, and the next, what, you hate me? What happened?"

Nico could have laughed at that. Who was Will to yell at Nico when the golden boy was only in it for a bet? Already, he'd had enough. "Is that what we were doing? Bonding?"

Will raised his hands in a yeah gesture. "I thought so."

"Then tell that to Octavian. Keep your position. I don't care." He turned back around to the window and stared unseeing at the dark trees whooshing by.

"What are you talking about?" Will said with enough consternation that Nico began to believe he didn't know what Nico was talking about.

"The bet you made with Octavian," he explained. "I know he bet you for section leader that you couldn't talk to me."

"What?" Will's mouth was gaping now, true confusion lining his face. "That definitely never happened."

At this point, Nico's head was really filling with uncertainty. "In the bathroom, two guys came in and said it."

Will looked down, brows furrowed. "I never..." He trailed off and muttered incoherently. "Wait." He looked up, realization dawning on his face. "The guys who went in after you-"

Jostling the entire seat, he shifted to his knees without finishing and turned toward the back of the bus. "Bryce!"

Nico immediately slunk down in his seat. This was exactly the kind of social situation he liked to avoid.

"Solace! How's the bet going?"

Nico felt more than saw Will's entire body tense up. "There is no bet! I would never associate with Octavian."

That was fair, though Nico thought the personal insult to himself was the greater offense here.

Or the fact that the section leader position couldn't just be traded away because of a student bet, not without Chiron or Mr. D signing off on it, yet both Nico and Bryce had been so quick to believe it. Was he really so self-destructive?

Yes, apparently.

"But I heard-"

"From who?"

Bryce didn't answer that time.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. And, hey, if you're so close with Octavian, you can tell him I said to go fu-"

"Hey!"

Nico was pretty sure that was Mrs. Knowles from the front of the bus because a second later, she said, "Actually, I don't care. Just don't start fighting."

"It's fine," Will responded, swiveling back around until his ass touched the seat once more. "I'm done."

As soon as he was down, he turned to Nico. "I'm so sorry, I would never-"

"I believe you." He said it with such certainty and vehemence that Will's mouth snapped shut. He even surprised himself a little bit, though he knew the words to be true (and he didn't want Will to start yelling again). There was no shred of doubt in his mind anymore that Will was telling the truth.

Will blinked. "Well, I'm still sorry that you had to hear it."

"I don't need pity," Nico snapped, practically on instinct. That's all people ever seemed to have for him, anyway. Pity and irritation. Even if the stuff about the bet wasn't true, this still was. Not even Will was exempt.

That wasn't fair. The other boy had been nothing but kind, even empathetic when Nico told him about his dad rather than pitying. Maybe he really did feel guilty. The thought was enough to make Nico a little guilty himself. "I'm sorry for believing it."

Will smiled and shook his head. "It's fine. I know you haven't had the best day."

Nico bristled, then narrowed his eyes at Will. Were his social skills really so bad that Will thought that, even when he was actually having a good time? "What?"

Will looked at him, seemingly confused. "You got up at 3:30 a.m. to sit on a bus for three hours, then got stranded at a rest stop in the middle of nowhere, and you barely even got to see your friends all day."

Through special effort, Nico kept his mouth from dropping open in surprise at Will's perceptiveness. Everything he said was true, almost more so now. The rumors and emotional morning had run him ragged despite how much better the afternoon with Will had left him. Even so, he didn't like being so easy to read. With anybody else in his life, he wouldn't have this problem. It was something he prided himself on, his consolation prize for all the nights sitting alone in his bedroom.

"Plus, I don't know what happened, but I know something did because you've been avoiding your phone all day."

Nico's mouth really did drop open at that, though he refused to give Will the satisfaction. "Maybe I just didn't want it to die."

Will cocked his head, then shook it. "Is that why you told Percy to keep your friends from calling you and turned on 'do not disturb'?"

Nico really did start to get annoyed then because this was ridiculous, not least of all because Will was absolutely right. Something had happened, and it sucked, but that was none of Will's business.

Probably sensing Nico's uneasiness, Will held his hands up. "Hey, I'm not asking what it was, I'm just saying it's okay to be upset."

"I know that," Nico said hotly. He'd had a damn lifetime of being upset. The problem was that he didn't want to be anymore. "It's stupid."

"I doubt that."

He said it with such certainty, such abject belief, that Nico ripped his phone out of his pocket, opened his messaging app and clicked Jason's text chain, scrolled through the last 40 or so texts, and thrust his phone out to Will. "Here."

1 minute before

59 minutes into their three hour ride home, Nico's eyes were held open only by the feeling of the stiff, bumpy old leather seat of the school bus rattling under his sore ass. He'd tried playing on his phone to distract himself, but, like an idiot, he'd forgotten his earbuds. For now, he could watch the orange and yellow trees race by the cold, hard window.

A sign passed by, too fast for Nico to focus on. For all he knew, they were in Albany.

He rested his head in the corner where the window met the back of the seat. It made his temple hurt, but it was better than trying to stay awake.

His phone vibrated in his hand with a text from Jason. Without thinking, he clicked on it.

Jason

Hey, I know you hate this stuff, so I'll keep this short

You did great today, and I'm really proud of you for going for section leader. I'm gonna miss you a lot. Love you

That was it, just 35 words of kindness. It was too much, and for a moment, Nico just sat there, paralyzed. He couldn't think past the roaring in his ears.

I'm gonna miss you.

Because Jason was about to graduate. Because almost all of his remaining friends were about to graduate and leave him behind.

This felt too much like a goodbye.

Suddenly, the bus stopped, and Nico realized they'd pulled into a rest stop, forcing him to drag his attention to the front of the bus. Oh-no.

Thrusting his phone in his pocket, he sat up to see Mrs. Knowles standing by the driver. She turned. "Everybody out of the bus!"

Hushed murmurs grew into panicked chatter as all three dozen juniors filed through the narrow bus hallway and out the door, all the while Nico followed behind, not quite processing what was going on.

When he stepped out onto the pavement and saw the smoke coming up from the engine, his only thought was, It's cold.

4 hours, 11 minutes since

Nico watched nervously as Will read Jason's text, resisting the urge to rip the phone out of his hand.

Finally, he finished and handed the metal object back, and Nico waited for Will to tell him was being stupid and overreacting. Instead, he said, "Damn, that's a lot."

If literally anything else had come out of the blond's mouth right then, belittling, condescending, or an apology and asking if he was okay like Jason's last 40 texts and Nico probably would have exploded, jittery energy escaping his body like gunfire. As it was, laughter bubbled out of his mouth, surprise holding back nervous tears. He tried to form words, but the lump in his throat stopped him, and he just kept laughing.

Will made an odd noise. "What's so funny?"

Nico's fingers splayed on the seat and he clutched his stomach, laughter drying up. "I-" He stopped, then tried again. "That's been haunting me all day, and you just-" He gulped, unable to continue.

"I just what?" He sounded so confused, Nico laughed again. Alarmed, Will said, "What did I do?"

Damn, that's a lot, like this whole shitty situation could be summarized like that, like Nico hadn't been overwhelmed with what he was supposed to do with his life now that his friends were leaving all day long, like his problems could be sorted through if he let himself feel instead of avoiding everything and hiding like normal.

What did I do?

You did what you've been doing all day, Nico thought. You made it easier.

He scrubbed his wet eyes and looked back at Will. "You don't suck."

"Uh..." Will paused, blushing. "Thanks?"

"You're welcome."

After a moment, Will cleared his throat awkwardly. "You can talk to me, you know, about what's really going on."

Nico actually considered it but ended up shaking his head. He'd thought about it enough today. Instead, he asked something else that had been on his mind since they crashed at the rest stop. "Why me?"

"What?"

"Why did you hang out with me all day?"

"Oh, uh." Will's ears turned beet red, and he looked down. "I kind of, um, like you."

Nico almost choked. There was no way he heard that right. "Um. What?"

"Yeah, I've liked you pretty much since I first saw you," Will said, oblivious to Nico's growing panic. "But you're always with your friends, or it was a bad time, or something else, so finally today, I said I was just gonna do it, but then you were so upset, and then there was the whole thing with the bet, and I'm making a huge fool out of myself, aren't I? Oh my god, you think I'm insane. I'm gonna go. Yeah, I'm gonna go."

He started to rise, but in a move surprising himself most of all, Nico pulled him back down. "No! You should stay."

When Will continued to look embarrassed and vaguely shellshocked, Nico made a noise of panic. "What I mean to say is," he started, then stopped for a minute, thinking. "Do you remember the first time we saw each other?" Nico asked.

Will shook his head no.

"It was the day I moved to Olympus. Percy was showing me around, and we got into the band room, and I heard this horrifying squeaking noise. It was you. You must've still been learning the piccolo because it really sounded horrible." Will made a face, but Nico kept going. "I remember seeing you and thinking, 'Wow, he's gorgeous. I better not get attached or he'll just be another person to let me down.'" Nico hugged his knees closer to his chest. "So I spent the next two years talking to know one except my cousins and their friends even though I knew they would all leave before me and even though Hazel had her own circle and didn't need me. Because I wasn't ready for anything else. I wasn't ready for anybody to need me or expect things from me." He took a deep breath, thinking about Bianca. He'd spent so long wishing she were still here, obsessing over her death and thinking about how different he would be if he still had her, wondering if she would accept him. It never mattered, in the end. She was still gone, and he was alone, practically of his own volition. But he didn't have to be.

Slowly, he uncurled, sitting up and resting one foot on the floor with the other still folded beneath him. "I'm ready now."

In front of him, Will's blue eyes flashed in surprise, but he didn't resist when Nico leaned forward and pressed their lips together.

It tasted like chicken nuggets.

Six hours since

When they finally touched down in the band room around 7:30, it was dark outside. The temperature had dropped even further, too, and Nico pulled the sleeves of his under shirt over his hands to keep his fingers from freezing.

After he kissed Will over an hour and a half ago now, they'd pulled away quickly, hyper aware of being two boys on a high school bus.

They hadn't done nothing though. Afterwards, Will had given Nico a small smile and whispered, later, then pulled out his phone, handed Nico an earbud, and turned on Shrek.

Now, stepping into the band room, he took a deep breath. He wouldn't go as far as to say that it felt like coming home, but it felt pretty damn good.

The familiar blue carpet and red walls greeted him alongside the smell of sweat lingering in the air, even two hours after everyone had gone. Chiron could be seen in the office looking the same as he had the last time Nico saw him, though with a few more bruises under his eyes.

Then, of course, there was the tall blond with glasses barreling towards him, still wearing his bright orange band t-shirt and grey joggers.

"Nico!" Jason said, barely stopping within two inches. "Are you okay?"

Nico blinked. "You're still here?"

Jason frowned. "Of course I am. I'm your ride."

"Oh." He looked around to see if everyone else was still there. “Have you been here the whole time?”

Jason shook his head. “No, I took Piper, Leo, and Hazel home, then came back about a half hour ago. Why did you tell Percy to tell us not to call you?”

Maybe he really should've texted his cousins back because this was going to get awkward fast.

Will had already gone off to the instrument closet to put his piccolo away, leaving Nico to break the news to Jason that he was going home with Will (and probably spending the night, but that was besides the point).

Of course, at that very second, Will walked up behind them and said, "You ready to go?"

Jason raised an eyebrow, probably attempting to draw his own conclusions. "Is there something you wanna tell me?"

Nico didn't answer, but Will's face went suddenly blank. "Oh. Hey, Jason."

"Hi." The senior narrowed his eyes. "Are you taking Nico home?"

"Actually, we-"

"Yes! He is taking me home. We are going home." Before anyone could process his obvious lie, he took off towards the instrument closet, Will following behind, leaving Jason staring confused after them.

"Hey, just so we're on the same track, does that mean we're not telling people yet?" Will asked.

Nico paused to look at him, suddenly afraid he did something wrong. "I just kinda assumed."

Will nodded. "That's fine. We should probably talk, anyway, before anything else."

Thankfully, he didn't see Nico gulping because Jason came up behind them. "Hey, can I talk to Nico for a second?"

Will's face went pale again, and Nico realized he was actually nervous which was kinda ridiculous. Of all Nico's friends, Jason was not the one to be afraid of. "Yeah, I'll just...go put our uniforms away."

With one last nervous glance between Nico and Jason, he took Nico's uniform bag and walked away, leaving Nico alone with his cousin and what was sure to be a very unpleasant conversation.

"I feel like I freaked you out earlier, with the text," he said bluntly. Cutting right to the chase.

Nico didn't say anything. It didn't seem like Jason's words required a response, obvious as they were.

He was still holding his trombone, though, so he continued on to the instrument closet, and Jason kept pace with him.

"I hope you know that it's all true, and I wasn't trying to make you feel bad or anything." He was starting to sound rambl-y now, like he wanted to make Nico say something, but he wasn't sure how. He really should know by now that there was no point.

Anyway, Jason must've realized that, because the next thing he said was, "Please say something."

They reached the instrument closet, a square room the size of a small classroom lined with cubbies of different sizes. Nico's was on the far end in the back corner. He walked towards it. "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, just..." He shrugged. "How do you feel about all this?"

Nico almost laughed. If Jason asked him that this morning, he certainly would have spiraled, caught up in his horrible feelings and catastrophizing about spending a year alone, but now? He didn't really feel anything. The idea of his friends graduating still scared him, yeah, but it didn't feel the same as it had just a few hours earlier. "I feel fine."

Jason gave him a disbelieving look, making Nico roll his eyes. "Really?"

The black haired boy threw his trombone in his cubby, and they walked back into the band room where Nico immediately found Will waiting by the door, still looking nervous. It made him smile, and he realized why he suddenly felt okay. Everything going on stopped feeling like an ending, but a beginning.

That thought in mind, he turned to Jason. "Look, I know you're all worried about me, but seriously, I'll be fine. It had to happen at some point. It's okay."

Jason still looked unsure but nodded anyway.

"Now go home. You've been up since like 3 this morning."

Jason studied him again but finally took his keys out of his pocket. "Fine. Are you going home?" He knew better than to assume Nico would actually go to bed, but it was a nice thought.

And he looked forward to blowing Jason's mind. "I think I'm going to Will's actually."

Jason's mouth dropped. "For real?"

Nico nodded. "Yes, now you can stop worrying about me."

"That's nice, but I'll never not be worried about you." He dodged Nico's punch and scurried to the door. "See ya!"

Shaking his head, Nico walked up next to Will. "You ready to go?"

Relief shone in Will's pretty eyes. "Yes."

Nico grabbed his hand, and together, they left the band room behind.

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im-suchanicegirl · 4 months ago

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Inspired by that interview clip where Kevin said he's become useless now they have a manager 😂 what type of co-workers do you think the EC boys would be?

like Daniel is that one quiet guy that EVERYONE loves, if a customer were to shout at him, he could 100% deal with it himself but everyone is also ready to raise hell for him because it's ✨️Daniel✨️ lmaoo

Omg i love this question.

I do think that Daniel is the sweet coworker, but i feel he could also be the dry humor IT guy that you only like if he’s your friend.

Dan is the one avoiding the coffee machine / small talk and would rather walk to a coffee shop than endure talk about weather. He’s efficient but he’s doing only what’s asked of him, not more or less.

Kevin is definitely the manager who’s friend with everyone amd you wonder if he’s ever working, but your pays are always correct, your vacations accepted and he’s quick to reply to your emails, so really, he must be good.

David has been found more than once asleep in the employee’s room but he somehow never got in trouble. He’s a good worker but… yeah. He’s the one doing small talk at the coffee machine.

Pascal is working a lot and in every committees in the workplace and he never says no to helping anyone. Please someone check on Pascal.

Nico works far from customer service, his temper could not. Hes friends with a few people from the office and readily accept all of pascal’s happy hour

#ask #anon

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wake-me-up-inside-imagines · 2 years ago

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HELLO THERE, ARE YOU ABLE TO DO ANY LEVI X MALE READER HC'S SPECIFICALLY ONES WHERE IT TAKES PLACE IN THE KILLING GAME?

Yay more Levi requests! I hope you enjoy!

Levi with an S/O in the killing game

Warnings: Mentions of death

Male! reader

-He's definitely one of the safest people to be with during the killing game

-For starters, he's physically pretty strong so as long as you're near him you don't have to worry about getting hurt

-And you don't have to worry about him killing anyone to get out because that's not the type of dude he is (I pray to God this statement doesn't backfire in the future if drdt continues)

-Even if he was willing to kill to escape, he couldn't just leave you to be executed if he succeeded and he couldn't bear the thought of you watching him get executed

-He is VERY protective of you during the game

-Normally he understands that you need personal space and he really does try to give you that during the game, but he's terrified something will happen to you if he's not there so he does hover quite a bit when your with others

-He probably rarely if ever leaves you with others without him tbh

-He tries to keep you away from the more sketchy people in the game (Arturo, Veronika, Arei, David after trial two, and Nico after their attempted murder)

-He also doesn't like you being around Ace, not because he's a threat but because he's kind of an ass to people

-If you really want to talk to any of the people listed above he won't stop you, but it does make him nervous

-During investigations he sticks to you like glue, the crime scene unnerves him and he would prefer if he had you in his sights

-He also defends you during trials if you get accused, he's a lot louder more forceful when he argues for you then he normally is during trials

-Lord help anyone who threatens you/tries to kill you because Levi is not having it

-He gets scary real quickly when your safety is concerned

-At some point (if you haven't already told everyone) he may suggest telling the others that your together (so they know not to touch you) but he's fine with keeping it a secret if your worried about the others being homophobic

-He also suggests you sleep in his room at night or vise versa just so he knows your safe during the most dangerous part of the game

-When you feel upset over the lives lost, or afraid of dying, he'll cuddle you and assure you that nothing's going to hurt you, not while he's around

-If you were to kill anyone he would feel super betrayed

-Like he understands your desire to leave, but your throwing way the lives of everyone else there, including his? Were you that desperate that you cared more about escape than his life?

-And if you were to get killed... he couldn't deal with it

-He would lock himself in his room (or your room) and leave as little as possible, he'd become more hostile during trials, and he'd stop looking for a way out

-So please don't die, for his sake. He still needs you, even if he doesn't express his worry often

#x reader #danganronpa #danganronpa x reader #danganronpa despair time #drdt #drdt x reader #levi fontana #levi fontana x reader #levi x reader

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tooxmanyxships · 1 year ago

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“i'll never be what you truly want” with princess cake (can be implied brocedes etc)

i love your writing!!

Oh you really want me to go there....

Get ready 😂

And thank you! I love this prompt 🖤

Just because he and Nico are together, it doesn't mean that he doesn't see it.

He's not a complete idiot.

He's been one of the people who's been first hand viewer of those longing looks for years.

Which longing looks you ask?

Well, the longing looks between Nico and Lewis of course.

Especially those looks Nico sends Lewis' way when he thinks no one's watching.

He tells himself it's okay. It's him who's together with Nico, not Lewis.

But truth be told, sometimes those looks are really hard to deal with.

No one wants their partner to look at someone else. Especially not like that.

The only redeeming thing was that Nico and Lewis had a past together.

But--- that actually really didn't help to calm Jenson's mind.

At all.

It only made him wonder even more of what happened between these two.

It felt like they spent eternity together.

Seriously.... Something must have happened between them at one point, right?

Or maybe it was one of those 'what if' type of thing.....

That was even worse.

Because now they didn't know what it was like and they never would.

Knowing them----it probably was exactly that.

Jenson had stayed silent. Just let Nico watch Lewis with longing in his eyes.

In the end, he was the one who Nico called his partner.

Him. Jenson. Not Lewis.

That's what was important. Or at least that's what he told himself.

But sometimes... Sometimes he couldn't stop himself from being short with Nico.

Nico most of the time didn't even notice. Too wrapped up in his own head. His own bubble.

But this time he noticed Jenson's snappy, snarky remarks and asked him what was wrong.

Normally Jenson would answer with "nothing," or say he didn't sleep well or something like that.

But this time he couldn't do it.

"You were staring at him again."

"Huh? Staring at who?"

Jenson closed his eyes for a second, willing himself to have some strength.

"Oh come on, Nico."

"I literally have no idea who or what you're talking about."

"Lewis!" He snapped and saw Nico recoil from him a little. "I'm talking about Lewis! Don't play dumb with me."

Nico looked away. Jenson knew he got him trapped in a corner now.

How was he gonna talk himself out of this one?

Or was he gonna lie?

"I don't---" lie it was then. "I don't know why I was looking at him." or not. Not a complete lie anyway. He probably really didn't know why he was looking at Lewis.

Or the way how.

"I'll never be what you really want."

It was painful. And even painful was an understatement.

But he's learned to live with that. As ridiculous as it sounds.

"Jense---"

"It's okay ," but the smile he tries to put on his face doesn't reach his eyes at all. "I still have part of you. That's enough."

It's not okay.

But he can pretend that it is.

#princess cake #Implied brocedes #f1 rpf #f1 fanfic #Nico rosberg/Jenson Button #Angst #Don't expect something happy

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takeshitakyuuto · 2 years ago

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Trigun Book Club Update Trimax volume 2

Oh sweet Jesus just look at what I have to deal with here

These are THE SCANS. KMSSSSSS

Also, despite being intimately familiar with reading right to left, the fact that the next arrow is still the right one instead of the left one completely breaks my brain. Let’s see how this goes. Although I will say that this is a slight upgrade in that the last volume scanned two page spreads separately so I kinda had to imagine how they were supposed to look put together. I should’ve just bought the books

Ch 1. That’s also how I feel whenever I hear the saxophone my dad was a jazz saxophonist, I have a degree in classical oboe performance. How did this happen? idk

Jesus being crushed to death by the weight of other humans is a horrific way to die

Ch 2. Eat like a dog, Kaiba

Sorry I’m incapable of thinking about media outside of the contexts of other things I’ve read or seen, it’s in my nature. Remember that part in Hiraeth The End of the Journey where even though Hibino had a side cart for his motorcycle, he refused to let anyone ride in it because he was saving it for his soulmate? Yeah.

Totally obsessed with Raidei’s outfit

They say don’t bring a knife to a gun fight but they said nothing about a sword!

Ooooohhhhhhh it’s the last page of chapter two and I finally figured out that it’s supposed to be Raidei the Blade. I was like braid? Why braid what’s that supposed to mean?

Ch 3. Loving the title page art for this chapter

I will not make dirty jokes about Vash’s arm gun, I will not make dirty jokes about Vash’s arm gun, I w

Ngl, this fight reminded me of (oh god im doing it again) the coliseum chapter of Kino’s Journey. I’m leaving it at that but it seems like I’ve got a penchant for human-loving gunslinging protagonists

Ch 4. Chapter called Wolfwood? LETS GOOOOOO

Vash: I don’t kill people

Wolfwood: I do, get out of my way

The more interactions between Vash and Wolfwood I read, the more I understand why people ship them. Who doesn’t want someone to put your gun to their head and tell you to shoot them

Meryl and Millie! 🥹 It’s been so long!

They say lost technology a lot but this technology certainly doesn’t seem lost

Ch 5. Nico nii chan :3c (side note: totally forgot his first name was Nicholas for a second and thought it was a joke on him always smiling)

don’t click

I really do love how large of a role family plays in the story and the characters’ motivations and personalities. I still feel like we’re in the “early” part of the series, but to be already picking up on so many of these themes and motifs is really cool, and I’m definitely keen to see how they all come to a head in the series.

Love when there’s a kanji near the page fold and the scan makes it look like ▉

I’m still not sure what Y is... it seems like a group of bad guys? Maybe? Is it Kaiba’s group?

Ch 6. Gung Ho Guns just loves toying with Vash’s emotions huh

Ch 7. Sorry I’m laughing at Wolfwood’s sultry little pose in the chapter title art here

I’m on the verge of wringing the puppetmaster’s neck holy shit just speak Japanese for once please. All of you reading a translation- know you’re lucky

Final thoughts: This was definitely a lot more interesting than the last volume, and the pace seems to be picking up. I’m still kinda waiting for it to get out of “villain of the week” type plot, but at least we’re getting more depth out of it. Also, it seems like we’ve completely abandoned those twelve coin assassins at this point? There are some things I’m still unsure about, like Y, but I also know that I struggle to pick up on more indirect things in my second language, especially when it’s referencing something that we’re just supposed to figure out. So that’s my assumption on Y, but I still don’t have any ideas on why Wolfwood has such strong ties with it. Also, I feel like my thoughts were pretty short for this volume, but that’s also definitely because there was lots of action and fight scenes this time around, and my brain just kinda shuts off for those lolol

#trigun #trigunbookclub

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write-for-the-moment · 2 years ago

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PJO characters as your ex

Ft. Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Jason Grace, Piper McLean, Leo Valdez, Nico di Angelo

Warnings: mention of character’s death (spoiler from Trials of Apollo), so much angst, traumatazed teenegers who take a full taste of their first break up, mention of curses, petty acts, grammatical errors. I don’t care if it too much ooc, I was under the sad vibe and wanted to write. Reader’s gender/pronounces aren’t mentioned.

This kinda inspired by this post https://www.tumblr.com/noisyalmonddreamer/688263161860833281/toxic-relationship-headcanons-with-hoo-and

@noisyalmonddreamer hey, you inspired me. Love your work. Hope you don’t mind that I tagged you.

Reader is the one brought up the break-up talk and fully explained everything to characters on why, when and how they lost feelings for them. They don’t have whole “it was miscommunication” or “you cheated”. Reader just lost feelings for them. That’s all.

Percy Jackson — the confused ex

Doesn’t understand the reasons for the break up. He is not the type to give up on the relationship. You can blame his fatal flaw, but let’s be honest — Percy lost too many people in his life via death, betrayal or both.

He never experienced this type of loss of a loved one, when they just gave up and left him.

Even after the break up, he can't accept that you cut every tie with him. Wants to be your friend, because he’s tired of losing everyone and you were… There. You were always there with him. Every danger, every monster you both faced them together. You fought alongside him. You were his first in everything: first friend, first love… and now his first ex.

And you want nothing to do with him. Not even spare a glance in his direction.

Percy was heartbroken, scared and so damn confused.

Now he just feels a little empty without. Hoping that one day you will came back and became his friend again.

His mother was in shock, when he came back home without you.

Annabeth Chase — the bitter ex

You were the only person in her life that she trusted with her heart.

It was easy, really. So horrifyingly easy to trust you, because you were always there for her. You smiled at her and her stupid heart was going insane.

Now her heart is going insane not from love, but from endless rage. Now your smile brings her misery, because you don’t smile at her, not anymore.

By betraying her trust, her love, you brought on yourself a very bitter ex.

Annabeth is quite a petty person. She won’t be gentle with you, like Percy. She doesn’t want to talk to you, yet spits poison every chance she gets when she has to deal with you. Cuts painfully with her knives during a Capture Flag, eyes burning with anger.

She always thought that you will be hers forever. The only one who will cherish her scarred heart and prideful nature. So many betrayed her trust, so many managed to break her apart… and you were no different.

And the worst part?

She still loves you. Loves you with her whole being, even though you stop looking at her. And you make it worse by being so damn understandable! Never angry at her for petty acts, because you know her more than anyone in her life.

And it hurts so much.

Jason Grace — The understanding ex

He knew from the beginning that this won’t last.

Doesn’t mean your words hurt him less. Jason was visibly fine, just a little stiff. But you knew this facade. This fake calmness in blue, stormy eyes.

Yet you walked away from him, just like his mother did.

The unwanted one. The one, who is destined to be abandoned again, again, again and again until he stops breathing. Whose body will be burned in sacred flame and whose soul will go to the hands of Hades.

The Roman warrior with the heart of a Greek tragic hero.

At least, you were gentle with him. You didn’t leave without a word, no. You weren’t angry at him. You loved him.

He wasn’t a toy for you to cast aside when he breaks.

Sometimes he pretends that he was a toy for you to play and break. It was easier to lie that you were just using him, because he was the son of Jupitar.

But Jason knew you loved him.

And he loves you, even when you cut him out of your life.

Yet again — abandoned.

He cries your name when a golden spear pierces through his body.

Now his only hope in the afterlife is to meet you again — arms spread for the welcoming hug and with a gentle smile on his young face.

Leo Valdez — the desperate ex

You knew it was cruel to hear that after being resurrected.

He was happy to see you again, so eager to be with you, yet you stopped him from touching you. His confusion started to form into horror.

You knew you would break him. But you didn’t know that it would be so devastating to watch it from afar and how quickly it would happen.

Leo was an insecure, desperate boy, who lost too much and got too little to do. He cried, asking why. He came back to life! We were fine before, so what changed?

Leo pleaded with you, promising to never die, to never separate from you. Asking if this was some sick joke, asking for a chance to be better, asking for you to not give up on him.

Explaining to him your reasons wasn’t easy.

“We can still do it! I can be better, I-I can…”

But you made a choice. And you let him go.

Ignoring the desperation, ignoring the tears on his pained face, ignoring his pleas.

He still hopes for the better. Even though it tears him apart to know that you will never love him again.

Funny, isn't. Leo made a miracle, came home and yet, the person he loved the most didn’t want him back.

What a pathetic love story he has!

Piper Maclean — the hopeful ex

She wasn’t ready for the pain to be so overwhelming, even though she saw how slowly you started to lose feelings for her.

The child of love saw the end of the stick… yet remained hopeful.

Love is not logical. It ignites and disappears, like wild forest fire.

Piper loved you for your honesty. You didn’t sugarcoat anything. You gave back her heart to her.

But she still cried. Then again, she didn't bargain. The only selfish thing she asks you to do is to have you for the last time. Let her taste your lips for the last time, hold you in her last embrace and say her confession of love to you.

You wiped her tears away and gave her everything she asked for.

And then left her, when the sun started to rise on the horizon.

Hope is dangerous. It makes you wait for some kinda wonderwork to happen, that will fix everything wrong in your life.

But Piper couldn't do anything, but be hopeful that one day you will love her again.

You still have her heart.

You just stopped caring for it.

Nico di Angelo — The cutthroat ex

He thought they were stupid — your supposed reasons.

“Why did you bother me, if you wanted to end it?”

Nico hates how his voice sounded — quiet and strained. You sounded so sure with your words, no hesitation to cut him out of your perfect life.

“Why did you do it at all? To laugh at me with your friends?”

He hated that his eyes sting with unwanted tears. Hated the fact that you chose to break up with him in Camp, when he planned to visit Bianca's grave with you. You didn’t know about that, but still—it hurted him.

You smile at him. “Nico…”

He hated so much how gentle you were with him.

So, he tries to flee through the shadows. But you knew what he would do in this situation and at the last moment tossed a ring to him.

The golden ring with skull, a perfect replica of his own ring. Nico gave it to you on your last birthday. And you gave it back to him, still smiling.

It was your goodbye.

Nico clenched his teeth, tears streaming across his face.

“I hate you so much.”

You chuckled. “And I loved you more than anything in this world, mio re.”

And then you left so quietly that Nico thought for a blissful moment that this was just a nightmare episode. That you didn’t dragged his heart across the mud and left him alone. That you are still waiting for him to come back to the Camp.

That you and him still have a future together.

Yet, your ring in his shaky hands is physical proof that this isn't a nightmare.

Nico chokes on his angry tears.

How dare you? How. Dare. You!

Loved you more than anything in this world, my ass! Why lie to him?

You made him comfortable in his own skin, welcoming his shadows, accepting him without a fear in your eyes and then you just… walked away from him. Just like that. Like that was the easiest thing you ever did in this life.

Nico in rage curses you. Now every flower dies in your hands way too quickly; animals avoid you, smelling the curse of the son of Hades on you; and you can no more seek comfort in shadows, they flee from you.

He knows deep down that it was a cruel act, to curse your soul.

But his grudge was strong and unyielding.

And till his last moment, he will curse your name under his breath.

#pjoverse #pjo fandom #pjo series #percy jackson #annabeth chase #jason grace #leo valdez #piper mclean #nico di angelo #headcanons #angst #spoiler for toa #my writing

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