#this stupid man! evil kayla!

[celineedcz]

Left on Celine's desk with just her name and nothing else. Secretly left by Jeremy

[mediumgayitalian]

It starts really…really stupid.

The Apollo cabin is having a movie night. Will’s DVD collection is bigger than his textbook collection, which is saying something, because he is a nerd. They baited Nico with a pirate movie: then, when he was comfortable and moon-eyed and unable to keep his mouth shut for a good twenty minutes after the end credits, they started phasing in the rom-coms.

Evil. Manipulators, the lot of them; so incapable of lying that they’re masters of bending the truth. Nico would leave, except they literally barricaded the door and keep all the lights on so there are no shadows for him to duck into (something he should have questioned from the very beginning, but unfortunately as soon as the Pirates of the Caribbean theme started playing, his reasoning skills hopped on a train and fled back to the Lotus Casino in 1938. So).

“This is stupid,” Nico grumbles, not that anyone is paying him any attention. Every single one of Will’s siblings stares at the TV with their chins in their hands, completely ignoring any and all of Nico’s (very valid) criticism.

Not that it stops him. “This is less realistic than Davey Jones,” he insists, largely just so his grievances are Known and Aired Out. The leading man says something stupid and cheesy, and three seperate doofuses in his company genuinely swoon. Nico scowls as hard as he can, pulling a blanket over his head. “Idiotic and cheesy.”

Nico pointedly isn’t following the plot — not that there is one — so he has no idea what’s going on. He squints. The leading man is wearing some ugly suit, too tight, and the leading lady collapses tearfully in his arms, thanking him about something.

Will sighs dreamily. Nico scowls harder.

“When is it my turn,” Will laments.

Kayla reaches over blindly and pats him on the head. She ends up more smacking him gently and lovingly on the face, but Will doesn’t seem to mind.

“Don’t we all want to know.”

“You don’t understand,” Will says dramatically. He flops backwards, hands flailing. Nico peeks over from under his blanket. His Head Medic camp shirt has ridden up in his dramatics, showing a sliver of skin. Nico flushes and intentionally looks away, focusing on his friend’s face.

“When will a rich, attractive older man come waltzing in here and offer to put me through med school, huh? When will my dream come true?”

Nico is 90% sure that Will is joking, but without his permission, be blurts out —

“You’d run off with some guy you don’t know?”

“Without hesitation!” Will cries. He yanks himself back upright, making Nico jump, arms thrown up and forehead creased. “You know how broke I’m gonna be when I’m done school?”

Nico doesn’t answer, but Will doesn’t wait for one.

“Very! I grew up on a pullout couch, which, I love my mom, and I love our apartment, but I want — I want —”

With his long, lanky limbs and flushed face, he begins to remind Nico of a kettle. He refrains from pointing this out. His siblings, on the other hand, openly snicker at him, dividing their attention between the movie and throwing popcorn at their eldest brother’s head.

“I want an Alaskan King! And — a mahogany desk! With lots of drawers! And windows! Floor to ceiling windows! And a rooftop garden!”

He glares playfully at his siblings, who are all giggling now, pointing fingers at them all.

“Lemme tell you right now. A man walks in here offering me that and a cheque for any school I want and it’s over for you people. I’m gone. You can fend for yourselves.”

“Yeah right,” Austin snorts, disbelieving. He reaches over and pinches Will’s thigh, cackling when he squawks. “We can’t even get you to leave the infirmary at the end of your shift. You’re stuck here forever, Rapunzel.”

“Just you wait! My prince will come!”

“As if he even wants a prince,” he hears Kayla whispering to a giggling Gracie, who responds with a cheeky, “Not when he’s got a king!”

Nico doesn’t know who they’re talking about, but the fact that there’s someone — his vision goes green. He has to tamp down a genuine snarl which is — ridiculous. And out of nowhere.

He cuts another glance to Will, who is still muttering petulantly. Every few minutes, he hears something about an “open floor plan” and “high pressure showers”.

He gets a very, very stupid idea.

———

The first mistake (because that’s what it is) is easy to explain away — the Hades cabin is still under renovation.

Well. Mostly.

“Please,” Will is begging, eyes big and pleading and painfully, beautifully blue. “Please? I’ll bring movies! And Yan’s Wii! And get Cecil to lend me some of the games he — uh, acquired! Pretty please!”

Nico has to bite back the you could be toting a pack of Lastrogonian giants with you and I’d still let you in that so desperately wants to come out of his mouth.

“Bring snacks and I’ll consider it,” he says instead.

Will beams. His eyes nearly squeeze shut, when he smiles like that, and there’s nothing Nico can do about the sharp inhale that rips through his chest. He blinks the spots away from his eyes, everything suddenly a little brighter, covered in golden sunlight.

“Yes!” Will cheers, pumping his fist and jumping up and down like a lunatic. Nico is so endeared that it aches something awful in his chest, and his cheeks smart from the size of his smile. “Sleepover! After my shift, di Angelo, I won’t be late!”

Yes, you will.

“I lock my doors and set a skeleton guard to watch it at eight,” he warns with a throat suddenly dry. “I mean it, Solace. I’ll sic the harpies on you.”

Will laughs as he jogs towards the infirmary, clearly not believing him. Nico watches him go the whole way, jumping when a hand lands on his shoulder.

“You,” says Drew Tanaka, blowing a bubble with her gum, “are a humiliating case, di Angelo.”

He shoves her, scowling. His face feels sunburnt. “Shut up.”

He absolutely does not spend the day moping after the infirmary, despite whatever rumours Drew’s lying mouth might spread. He has a job, thanks. He runs three separate sword fighting classes, and the younger kids are insane, so he doesn’t have time to be distracted.

Not that he is. But. Hypothetically, if he were to be distracted, he isn’t. Yeah.

He sits with Percy and Jason at dinner, distractedly wolfing down his food. Some kind of barbecue. He is not paying attention.

“No, Jase, we can say whatever we want, he’s not listening —”

“If he decides to stab you I am going to let him —”

“What’s going on?” Nico interrupts, looking up for the first time.

Percy smiles angelically, placing his hands under his chin.

“Nothing, Nico dear.”

Jason bangs his head on the table.

“I’m gonna…leave,” Nico says, slowly. “Y’all…do whatever you’re doing.”

“You said y’all,” Percy says gleefully. “You said y’all.”

Nico flushes hotly. “I did not. Shut up before I summon Jules-Albert to run you over.”

Percy cackles. Even Jason laughs. Nico throws his plate at them as he stomps away, sprinting extra quickly past the infirmary for no reason at all.

Time seems to slow down after dinner. For all Nico knows, it actually does. It wouldn’t make a difference. By the time there’s a knock on his cabin door, the sun has well past set, and Will is smiling sheepishly.

“I didn’t hear my shift alarm,” he says, the second Nico opens the door.

Nico sighs. He bites the corner of his mouth, hard, so it doesn’t do something stupid like turn upwards or something.

“There’s ADHD, and then there’s you, Solace.”

Will leans into his personal space and presses an over-exaggerated, smacking kiss to his cheek before he can stop him. Nico goes scarlet.

“But you love me anyway!”

There are no thoughts left in Nico’s brain to refute him. The only thing shaking around up there are alarm bells and KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS! repeated over and over again like a gong.

“Hngh,” he says, intelligently. Will doesn’t seem to notice, striding confidently right into the cabin.

“I brought the Wii and movies and stuff, like I promised, and I’ve been saving this chocolate I bought last time I went into the city — woah, when did that get here!”

Will freezes in the middle of the cabin, gaping. Nico nearly walks right into him.

‘That’ is the giant, brand-new bed tucked snugly in the far right corner — an Alaskan King.

Nico clears his throat, shrugging.

“Remodelling, remember? The coffin beds had to go. And no one else but me sleeps here, so. Hazel has her own bed on the other side.”

He gestures to the other corner, where Hazel’s — smaller — bed sits, empty, coral pink comforter straightened neatly. Will barely even glances at it.

“What! But I thought you already renovated the beds —”

“Temporary.”

Will squints at him for a moment. Nico squirms, trying to hold his gaze. He’s not lying — they were temporary. Of course, he only made the decision that they were temporary a week ago, but. Well. Truth is truth.

Evidently, Will decides that he isn’t going to get a real answer out of Nico or he doesn’t care to get one, because he quickly turns away and, with a running start, jumps and sprawls himself on the gigantic bed.

“Oh, gods,” he groans, and oh, gods, indeed, is Nico ever going to get a fucking break or is his face just going to be stuck like this all the time. “Gods, Neeks, I am going to move in here. I don’t even — look! I can stretch all the way and I don’t touch the edge!”

“I see that,” Nico says weakly. His shirt has ridden up again. Nico bites back the confessing comment he wants to make about undershirts and how Will should invest in them.

“Man, I feel like I could pass right out,” Will sighs, eyelashes — they are so long and so blonde who decided that who gave him that right — fluttering shut. He grabs on of Nico’s pillows and curls around it, content. Nico stares. And stares.

After too much time has passed, Will cracks an eye open, smiling slightly. “Well, don’t just stand there, Death Breath. Bed’s more than big enough for us both, now. Get over here.”

Miraculously, Nico does, managing to unglue himself from the floor and look anywhere but the long, languid stretch of Will’s body.

(They play four straight hours of Mario Kart — or, rather, Will spends four straight hours losing. When they finally fall asleep, they’re so far apart on the giant bed they might as well be in different countries — but Nico wakes up in the middle of the night with his arms around Will’s waist, and practically throws himself on the ground for the rest of the night.)

———

The next thing he does is just…embarrassing.

“I think you look hot,” Mitchell, Piper’s brother, assures him kindly. He pats Nico’s flaming cheek. “Honest. And it’ll work wonders! Will’ll be struck.”

“Why do people keep saying that,” Nico croaks. “I don’t even like him!”

“Uh-huh. Sure.”

With Mitchell’s unwavering — if teasing — assurance, Nico finds the courage to step out of the Aphrodite cabin and into the waning sun. He’s grateful he waited until after the summer ended to do this — the fewer people around the witness, the better. His reputation is hanging on by a string as it is.

A wolf-whistle rings out the second he steps off the porch, making him scowl. Cecil, unfortunately, is far too used to being on the receiving end of it and does not even flinch.

“Looking spiffy, Ghost King!”

“Bite me,” Nico growls back, and is only aware of the trap he’s walked into when Cecil gleefully says, “I believe that’s Will’s job, actually —”

He wisely scampers away before the skeleton Nico summoned can murder him.

The second he’s out of sight, Nico slumps.

What is he doing.

“Aw, jeez, aren’t you a sight for sore eyes! Lemme tell you the gar-bage I had to endure tod — Nico?”

Nico whips up to face the voice. Will stands a few feet in front of him, unmoving, wearing his scrubs today — heavily stained, yikes — and his favourite pair of ratty cargo shorts. The expression on his face is oddly inscrutable.

“Are you…going somewhere?”

“Yeah,” Nico says, flushing and repeating himself when his voice cracks three separate times. “Yeah, I’m. Um. Ambassador of Pluto duties, you know. I’m expected in New Rome in a couple hours.”

It’s not quite the truth — he is going to be in New Rome in a couple of hours, but his reason for being there is fabricated. Literally.

“I didn’t know you were visiting today.” Will steps forward, almost trance-like. His eyes are glued to somewhere around Nico’s chest, and he reaches out — hesitantly, although he’s never been hesitant to touch Nico in all the time he has known him — to brush his fingers over Nico’s collar. “This isn’t what you usually wear.”

Nico swallows. No, it is not. Usually, his Ambassador of Pluto uniform is his black toga. (It still is. If he was actually on duty and showed up in anything else, several Romans would have his head. Good thing he’s full of it.) But right now, he’s wearing a tailored, black silk suit made by hand by some dead Byzantine seamstress whose name Nico could not pronounce if he tried. Diamonds glitter in the lobes of his ears, freshly pierced, and his rings are more polished than usual.

“Special occasion today.”

Will doesn’t say anything for a long moment. His hand still curls at Nico’s collar, millimeters away from his neck, heat boring into his skin.

“You clean up nice.” An expression Nico can’t name flits across his eyes, and Nico’s breath catches, and then he’s grinning, too-wide and teasing, reaching up to dig a hand through his hair. “But maybe ditch the hair gel, Wilbur Robinson, and just let —”

“Gah! Get off of me! You’re the worst!”

Will stumbles back as he shoves him, weak from laughter, and Nico’s stomach flips.

———

The third thing is maybe the most ridiculous out of all of them — and almost gets him killed.

“I’m starving,” Will complains, apologizing to the random New Yorker who just walked into him. (Nico rolls his eyes. Will would get eaten if Nico wasn’t here — he is too soft for the city. He’s gonna get shoved into a puddle or something; he’s so unwilling to elbow his way through a crowd that Nico has to hold his hand so as not to lose him. Definitely not a city boy, that’s for sure.) “And we don’t have to meet Argus for another two hours — can we stop for food? I want something fried. Desperately.”

“I guess so,” Nico sighs, pretending to be more put-out than he is. Will doesn’t buy it for a second, rolling his eyes hard enough to hurt.

“C’mon, Nicholas Hoult. There’s gotta be a diner around here somewhere, and I still want to go shopping after this.”

He lets Will pull him around, even though they’d probably get somewhere faster if Nico leads. Will stops every three seconds to listen to a busker, or observe particularly interesting graffiti, or attempt to pet a pigeon. It shouldn’t be cute, it should be embarrassing because Will truly never gets out, but it is — endearing. A little. Even if Nico can feel his stomach eating itself.

Will brightens when he finally stumbles across some gaudy, mint-green painted, hole-in-the-wall family restaurant, beaming back at Nico like he won a sparring match rather than stumbled upon somewhere to eat. But his eyes are squished shut, the way they are when he’s genuinely excited, and some early January snow dusts his golden hair, and his nose is red from the cold, and it’s just —

It’s a lot.

They find a booth tucked in the back corner. Will slides in next to Nico, not across from him, and it makes him — flush, for some reason, cheeks glowing as bright as Will’s massive, dorky scarf.

The waitress brings them sodas. Nico doesn’t remember ordering them, but it’s cherry coke — his favourite — so he must’ve. Will has a water, because he’s annoying and pretentious, and he tries to blow his straw wrapper at Nico but he’s too fast and catches it. Will pouts.

“You’re no fun.”

“I’ll show you fun.”

He’s balled up the wrapper as tiny as possible and flicks it at Will’s face before he can stop him, except it hits him in the — eye, and Will shouts in surprise, and Nico jumps and rushes to apologise but he’s laughing too hard for it to be sincere, and Will scowls playfully at him, and Nico bangs his knee on the rickety table trying to move it and it only makes him laugh harder, and Will cracks soon, too. And he can’t sing for shit but his laughter is musical, low and baritone and a little raspy on the edges, like the country music he loves so damn much. And all the laughter gets sucked right out of Nico’s lungs as he watches him, bright-eyed, red-nosed and freezing, still wearing his stupid parka even though it’s barely below forty degrees, and he is suddenly achingly truly and obviously the most beautiful thing Nico has ever seen in his life, and he thinks oh, no. But it doesn’t hurt.

It doesn’t hurt at all.

———

(After the diner, they go window shopping, and Nico feels like he can’t function. His chest aches with new knowledge that he doesn’t know where to put. New York air is disgusting but Will smells like eucalyptus and sunshine, always, and the look on his face when they pass a dusty antique shop is blinding. He’s rambling about old anatomy textbooks and gods knows what else and Nico nods along with a stupid, endless smile on his face that he couldn’t tamp down if he tried.)

(In the back of the shop there’s a big, ancient, beautiful mahogany desk. It has a divot for an inkwell and more drawers than Nico can count. It’s nine hundred dollars. Nico pulls out the credit card his father gave him for emergencies, buys it before Will can stop him, and shadow travels all three of them — himself, Will, and the unbelievably massive desk — back to Cabin 13, passing out immediately after to the sound of Will’s shout.)

(His father is the first thing he sees in his dreams, arms crossed, legs tapping.)

(“I believe I told you that card was for emergencies,” says the Lord of the Dead, “not crises over cute boys.”)

(“You were down so bad you kidnapped your wife instead of talking to her like a normal person,” Nico blurts, and immediately wishes he would melt into shadows.)

(He wakes up to another arms-crossed, foot-tapping figure: Will lectures him for two and a half hours. He times it.)

(But Will does all his paperwork in the Hades cabin, now, skin glowing amber under the Greek fire torches, often falling asleep on the smooth wooden surface. He hasn’t spent a night in the infirmary in months. Often, if Nico can wake him, he’ll crawl into Nico’s massive bed, curling all six-two of him into a ball around the centre and puffing tiny little snores into his pillow.)

(His cabin smells like eucalyptus and sunshine all the time, now.)

———

He tells himself that this will be his last thing.

(It isn’t.)

It takes him four separate times to muster up the courage. It’s — humiliating, is what it is, and he’s never been a coward except for maybe about this one thing.

“Dude,” says Katie Gardener, the fifth time he walks by her cabin without saying something, “this is getting embarrassing. Pull yourself together.”

“I’m — pulled,” he defends, wishing he didn’t get red so damn easy. “And — what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be at college, or something?”

“College ends in April, stupid,” she says, as if Nico has more than a fourth grade education and would somehow know that. He refrains from sticking out his tongue because that is Undignified, and clearly he is the more mature one of the two of them. “What do you need, flowers for Will or something? You don’t need to bother. He likes dandelions.”

“I know what flowers he likes,” Nico snaps, and wallows in immediate despair as she snickers. He should consider having Will remove whatever part of his brain is responsible for Stupid, Emotional Outbursts. Or just get a lobotomy. Whatever’s faster, honestly.

“I need — a garden.”

“…A garden.”

“Please don’t make me say it again,” he begs.

Perhaps college has somehow made her merciful — which he doubts, anyone who sustains a relationship with Travis freaking Stoll stopped worrying about mercy long ago — or perhaps he truly is that pitiful. But she relents, rolling her eyes and muttering something about stupid teenagers and refusal to communicate, blah blah blah. Nico knows he’s a mess. He would appreciate it if everyone else politely pretended he wasn’t. She comes back minutes later with a truly massive bucket of soil, a handful of gardening tools, and several packets of seeds.

“Well, you don’t have a lot of space for it, kid, seeing as your cabin is kind of tucked —”

“I want it on the roof,” Nico interrupts. He manages to keep his face in check. “Uh, that would make the most sense, anyways. It’s flat and I can get there easy and — yeah.”

She narrows her eyes at him. Years of Hermes cabin pranks have left her with a truly magnificent BS detector, but after a moment she sighs.

“Whatever, kid. Let’s go. Nothing will grow for a couple months, anyways.”

———

The last thing is what, eventually, gives him away.

The issue is that camp is crowded in the summer. And, really, he would have gotten it done in the spring, except he needed help — he needed an architect.

And he only really knew one, and her school year was kind of packed.

“You want,” says Annabeth slowly, “to entirely restructure your cabin.”

Nico squirms. “I just want to change the windows,” he mumbles.

She stares at him, fingers steepled, for what feels like ten solid minutes. At minimum.

“Kid —” Nico scowls, she is barely three years older than he is and technically almost a century younger — “installing floor to ceiling windows in your cabin will restructure it — entirely.” She pulls out a paper and pencil out of, as far as Nico can tell, absolutely nowhere, and begins to sketch. “There are foundations here, see? So everything has to be moved and reorganized to keep the structure standing. I can’t just, like…knock out the wall. It doesn’t work that way.”

Nico slumps. “So it’s not possible?”

“I didn’t say that,” she snaps, offended. “I just said it won’t be easy. Gimme a couple hours, I’ll have blueprints.”

She barely hears him as he thanks her, nose already pressed to the paper. Nico smiles at her anyway. She’s the best and brightest of them for a reason, after all, and he appreciates her help.

The walk back to his cabin is a surprisingly pleasant one. A lot of his friends (which, woah) are finally back, and Nico is realising he’s missed them, and it’s nice to see them again. It’s also nice to see camp as busy as it is, as much as he likes the quiet chill of the winter months. All the cabin doors are wide open as people sweep out the dust, shake out sheets, air out the staleness that has been locked inside some of them for months. Chatter fills every corner, and the air smells like strawberries.

His small smile widens as he approaches his own cabin — the flowers he and Katie planted a few months back have started to bloom, and with them comes the memory of Will’s gasping excitement when he’d seen them, the smile that lit up his face. They’re regular plants, but Katie — enchanted them, somehow, protected them; even when Nico is having his worst days, they don’t wither. (And they keep growing, too. Nico has taken to picking a flower every morning and leaving it in his (Will’s) desk — to brighten up the room, on paper, but the flower always ends up whenever Will is by the end of the day. (And, more often than not, tucked behind his ear, locks of golden hair caught among brightly coloured petals; a crown of his own making.)

The cabin is empty when he walks in, unsurprisingly considering how often Will is usually locked in the infirmary for the first week of camp.

(He’ll be back tonight, to do his paperwork before heading back to his cabin. Nico’ll have to be sure he actually makes it back to his cabin — Chiron has been turning a blind eye, because Will needs more sleep and Kayla and Austin can handle themselves, but the little kids need their counsellor. Well, most days.)

Nico stands in the door and realises: things have changed.

Maybe a silly thing to think. But — a year ago, this place was unliveable. Dark, and dreary, coffin-shaped and miserable, it was no wonder it had never felt like home. But the sight of Hazel’s bed (and the sketchbook she left on it last time she was here) fills him with warmth, and the windows are always open, now, so even the air feels lighter. Dozens of Will’s textbooks are strewn around the room, Lou Ellen’s jacket hangs on the back of the desk chair, a deck of cards is sprawled on the floor. A sun lamp is plugged into the wall. Nico’s giant bed is unmade. He’s got laundry peeking out of the closet doors, and he needs to clean his bathroom. A pair of obnoxiously patterned flipflops sit by the door.

It looks lived in. It looks like somewhere that can be lived in, and most of all, his friends — Will — have been living in it with him.

He swallows the lump in the back of his throat, stepping in and shutting the door behind him.

It takes him time to tidy up. He leaves Hazel’s sketchbook where it is, along with most of Will’s stuff — although he shoves a couple textbooks in random drawers when he trips over them. He puts the rest of his friends’ stuff by the door so he doesn’t forget to return it, and makes his bed (which, frankly, he hardly does, because it’s a massive pain — he tucks in one corner of the mattress cover and has to freaking summon Jules Albert to get to the other. But it was worth it). He barely makes it to dinner, too distracted to hear the horn.

“Finally,” bursts a voice sometime around nine, throwing open the door and flopping on the bed. Nico smiles, setting down his game and running light fingers through Will’s frizzy hair. He groans, leaning into it.

“I hate the first week of camp!”

Nico snorts. “No, you don’t.”

“Yes I do! It’s miserable! It’s all —” he contorts just face, mocking — “‘Will, do this.’ ‘Will, do that.’ ‘Will, I forgot how hard the climbing wall was and incinerated myself.’ ‘Will, we need you to treat the group of kids Clarisse beat up.’ Will, Will, Will! Constant!”

“How dare they take up all your time,” Nico says, grinning.

“Right! They should be less — I dunno, disastrous! I am one person! I can only be pulled in so many directions at once!”

Despite all his complaining, the slightest of smiles pulls at Will’s mouth — as Nico would expect. He’s exhausted and perpetually overworked, sure, but there’s nothing in the world Will relishes like being needed.

“I just —” He sighs, leaning further into Nico’s touch. Nico’s throat goes dry. “Man, I’m so glad we have this place to ourselves. It’s the only privacy I get. Sometimes I just wanna close the blinds and never come out, you know?”

Nico freezes. “Uh.”

“And it’s — nice, in here. Smells like you. And it just, well —” He smiles, broad and soft, and, suddenly, Nico understands his father on a level he never thought he would. If Will looked him in the eye and asked him for all the riches under the Earth, asked him to defy Zeus, asked him to rule the dead — Nico would bend time and space to do that for him. He understands, abruptly and wholly, why loving mortals ends in tragedy, why the gods promise more than they can give. He wants to give Will everything. “I like when it’s just you and me sometimes,” he says, softly. “It can be nice to disappear.”

There’s so much love bursting out Nico’s chest he doesn’t know what to do with it. He feels like every part of him is screaming his affection, every molecule is straining to meet with Will’s. He’s dizzy.

“I,” he starts, then freezes again. He doesn’t know what — what. Every thought he’s ever had hits him at once, and he can’t pick one out, can’t think with all the clutter in his head.

Will perks up. “Yes?”

“I have to. Cancel. My plans. With Annabeth.”

Will deflates. “Oh.”

There is something here, something charged, something about to change — and Nico is losing it. He panics.

“I asked her to restructure the cabin!” he shouts, startling Will. He squeezes his eyes shut instead of looking at those wide, wide blue eyes. “To! Make. Floor to ceiling windows.” He waits a bit. “Apparently you can’t just bust down the wall. You have to. Restructure.”

It’s silent for so long Nico is half-convinced Will left, if it weren’t for the faint sound of him breathing and the heat Nico can always feel leeching off of him. He peeks his eyes back open.

“Why?” asks Will quietly when their eyes meet.

Nico swallows. It takes several tries to moisten his throat enough to speak. “Why what?”

“Why do you want to…have floor to ceiling windows?”

“Same reason I wanted this massive bed,” he admits, quiet, whispering, near silent. “Same reason I — changed my Ambassador uniform. Same reason for the desk and the —” he stumbles over his words, blushing — “the garden and the flowers and — this, right now.”

“Nico,” says Will, very very quietly.

“I just. Well. You were joking, you know? And, gods, it’s been a year, now, but I think you were telling the truth? A little bit? And anyway, I want you to have the things you like, and —”

“Nico,” Will says again, louder this time, a particular quality to his voice Nico can’t name. He falters.

“…Yeah?”

“Shut up.”

Nico doesn’t even have the chance to be offended. He doesn’t even have the chance to think. Before he can rationalize the situation and connect the dots in front of him, Will’s hands are sliding into his hair, his face is inches away, and then they’re kissing.

They’re kissing.

Will tastes like Blistex, like mint gum, and like the breath he sighs into his mouth. His eyes are closed, and for a full six seconds before Nico recovers enough to close his, he has the best view of his pale, fanning eyelashes that he’s ever seen — long enough to think: oh, this is a child of the sun. He smells familiar and — intoxicating. Nico never wants to know pure air again, never wants to move without the brand of Will’s over-heated hands on the back of his neck. Never wants to forget the rough scrape of Will’s chapped lips, the tiny little sounds and sighs he makes every time Nico moves their mouths, the slightest curl of his lips when he smiles, unable to hold it back. The rapid beat of his heart, pressed against his own chest.

“Nico,” he says again, slightly more urgent, pulling away just enough that their lips still brush every time he speaks, “Nico, I love you to death.”

“I would do anything for you,” Nico chokes out. He meets Will’s eyes and tries to — communicate it to him, tries to beam his thoughts into his head. “I would — move the moon and stars for you, do you understand that? Do you know how precious you are to me? My tesoro,” he says, feeling Will’s breath hitch. “Il mio cuore. Il mio cuore battendo, sole.”

For a second Nico frightens himself. He’s never spoken words like that to anyone in his life — not his mother, not Bianca, not Hazel, nobody.

But Will’s smile is radiant. And he still holds Nico, gently, and says over and over, “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.”

Something slots back into place in his chest.

[inkedmyths]

S2: E2 "Everybody Loves a Clown"

Brought to you by Today's 70's Heardle, which was exactly what you think it was and I figured I was legally obligated to watch at least one episode

This episode featuring: car maintenance, funny mullet guy, Dean continuing to put his foot in his mouth, and, you guessed it, clowns

This is already looking to be a great ep by title alone

Is the clown Dean. His clown shoes squeaking. Squeak squeak squeak

[ Silas says I'm the clown. Harsh, but fair. ]

OH BOY! THE FAIR!

Murder clown time? Is that what's going on? I bet it's murder clowns

Oh that clown looks creepy

Aaaand it's gone!

I think it was kind of funny how it just waved back at her whshsy

He just wants to be friends!

This kid has absolutely zero sense of self preservation hello

Oh fuck a whole funeral pyre?? I mean I guess in their line of work fire is like, a precaution and a way of assuring they're at peace or someth

[ Kayla: salt n burn em ]

He is fixing his car and dropping the parts

WJSHSHSH SCREAMS DEAN

Just. Being a snarky brat about Sam trying to talk to him abt what happened

Oh a voicemail?

Who's Ellen?

[ Kayla is excited for this bit. More cool characters I assume. ]

Oh they are borrowing an old van GDHSGSGS "This is humiliating. I feel like a friggin' soccer mom."

Oh this is a bit funky a bit weird

Is he drunk and passed out or is that guy dead

LMAO AT GUNPOINT

Hi ladies how are you

SCREAMS just puts the guns down "Hey I'm Ellen"

She's got fire I like that

:(

"We're alright" Dean buddy that's a lie

"Ash!" (drunk guy) WHUUUH

STATISTICAL OVERUSE

This guy's hilarious actually

51 hours

"All business up front, party in the back"

DEAN YOU WHORE STOP

[ Silas asks if he's standing gayly. No, he's just being bad at flirting again. Melon says asking him to stop is asking him to go against his nature. I know. I know. ]

SCREAMS SAM IS AFRAID OF CLOWNS??

So Dean hates planes and Sam hates clowns. Someone put them on a plane full of clowns

[ Silas says I'm evil for this. Melon muses that it sounds like something the show would do, but he has no recollection of if they have or not. Then she says that she's sure Dean at some point dressed as a clown and stood over baby Sam's bed at some point. I agree, because that is peak older sibling energy. ]

"Great. Paranormal scavenger hunt. Woo."

Look I think killing a monster or whatever is good for keeping you idiots active and not wallowing in your inability to process your feelings in a normal way

I saw a clown! The clown probably

I actually think the clown isn't evil or at least that it's not that simple? There has to be some kinda twist here

Anyways man imagine ur kid walking in with a clown

ARE THEY GOING TO TRY AND JOIN THE CIRCUS

[ Melon: Clown assimilation ]

SCREAMS DEAN KEEPS SAYING SHIT AND THEY ALL START YELLING AT HIM AND SAM JUSTS STARTS LAUGHING

This is wild

They are joining the circus

[ Kayla: nikolacore ]

Sam's daddy issues have increased sevenfold

HAHAHA TRASH CLEANER SAM

Oh there's a child seeing a clown

Interesting interesting...

I still feel like the clown thing isn't as simple as they think

What the hell

Well u guys fucked that up

"Mommy Daddy they shot my clown :("

Yeah John did seem to have a fallout with literally everyone

Dean u r bottling up shit

NEITHER OF YOU ARE BEING HONEST WITH YOURSELVES

They are stupid

Rakshasa! I have heard of that because of Trails

"You go check if Cooper's got bed bugs" ok this wasn't the turn I was expecting but it IS interesting

ohhhh OHH

PLOT TWIIIIST BABY

WHAT was that cgi face melty

Sorry Cooper

They are now trapped in the clown maze

Ohhh the pipe organ! Smart

Knives! Knives! Knives!

Pterodactyl screaming

Ok well that was fun

"We were working a job. Clowns?" "Clowns?! What the f—"

I like Ash he's funny

Yeah he has to go finish his car

WOAH smashy breaky?

BESTIE NOT YOUR CAR

Oh in memory of Peter Ellis. I don't know who that is but rip

---

So surprising no one the boys are Not Coping. But they have a guy with a demon radar so that's something. Still working on the car though, that'll take a while, good job Dean.

[myastrouniverse]

September/2024🌒♍️I hope my brother Jason, GROWS UP, on his birthday.

♇︎ ☌ ♑️ We don’t have a country if our political leaders refuse to conduct themselves in a rational, honest and diplomatic manner. If leadership refuses to overturn Citizens United and end these horrific genocides; international leadership will eventually intervene and put a stop to this evil.

♂️ Λ 🎸 I don’t care whether or not my father lives or dies. I am tired of trying to speak to him. He never listens to me. He has always been a misogynist, because he hated his mother and his sisters. He is a hateful bastard who hides behind his hatred with a Bible. My mother is trained to blame everything on her kids, while she constantly verbally abuses everyone. They sit and scream at me for NOT dying and then call me crazy, for not participating in their fucking CULT WHORE DELUSIONS.

☿︎ < 🌽 I have cried and prayed that everyone in my family is safe and healthy. It hurts to realize no one cries or prays for me. You call me hateful, when YOU commit hate crimes against me. I have fucking poisonous debris in my back. I am CONSTANTLY tending my many wounds for YEARS due to NON-STOP violence against me. YOU fucking assholes call me dirty, WHEN YOU CAUSED THIS FILTH, you disgusting fucking pigs.

🌒 Λ ♆︎ ALL I do is stay the fuck away from people, meditate and tend my fucking wounds, while I sit in pain, barfing and pissing myself. STOP FUCKING HURTING ME YOU SADISTIC FUCKING ANIMALS. YOU WHORES ARE NOT CHRISTIAN FOR MURDERING PEOPLE.

🌒▪️ ♅︎ Sorry Jason, Mom told me to mail out a card for you and one for Kayla. (I don’t know why she sent a card to Kayla. She isn’t having a birthday.) I reminded Mom that she did not send a card to Nicky. She said she didn’t have his new address. I guess I’ll mail out your birthday card Jason, but you don’t deserve anything for being a GAY PSYCHOPATH who married an inbred. I would appreciate it if you gave us Nicky’s new address. I understand Jayden is living with him, so you must know it. You are a real piece of shit to raise your kids to be in a cult. The good news is your own children are not stupid. I hope one day they are able to understand how fucked up you and Angie are.

🌒🔺🚑 I’m always healing, but I would like to be healed one day.

🌒 < 🦚 Ben used to play the He-Man version of ‘What’s Going On’ over and over again and laugh. If Ben is alive and still human, I am sure he is a psychopath for leaving me abruptly to die.

🌒 ☸︎ ♃︎ I’m sure we would have hung out before Mascis, if people weren’t so mean.

🌒 < ♀️I wish things weren’t so bad ALL the time, over ego issues.

He-Man - HeyYeaYeafortenhours

Here is a story from Lon:

[greywoodrpg]

𝕜𝕒𝕪𝕝𝕒 𝕓𝕒𝕦𝕕𝕖𝕝𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕖

she appears as though she was born twenty-nine years ago but is actually seventy-seven, is a vampire and lives in mystic grove as a ghost writer, and is in sanguine liguria. she looks an awful lot like lily collins.

"I think I've seen this film before, and I didn't like the ending."

tw: mental health, domestic abuse, alcoholism, death, illness

The story starts in Louisiana for Kayla, who was born and raised into a relatively simple family, times had always been tough for them but the family did what it could to sustain their only child and support her through schooling. The real drama happened when she married soon after graduation, if anything there was a worry that the marriage would happen before the graduating of school but Kayla was certain that she needed to reach the finishing line before the alter. At first everything was okay, it wasn't the best and the signs and cracks of an abusive marriage was there, the bubbling of a temper when things didn't go his way, initiating as verbal comments which would progressively get worse over time. She was stupid to think that a child would fix that, prevent it from happening, the timeline and pacing of everything happening so quickly but she was just thankful that there was someone else in her life that she felt like actually and genuinely love her, after all it was at this point that Kayla was starting to think that her husband married her to assert his dominance to feel like he was a real man, after all that's why he hit her right? To prove he was worth something? That's when the abuse really got worse when the dreams he once had came crashing down to the ground like a bird shot out of the sky. It was like Kayla foresaw what was going to happen because there was an attempt to consolidate him, prevent him from doing what he eventually ended up doing and that was turn to alcohol. There was already a fear for her life in that marriage and the alcohol was like gasoline to a lit match, but if there was one thing that she feared most of all was for Joseph's life, after all there wasn't really anyone she could turn to, her family lived a fair bit away and the life sentence of a marriage kept her from making any real friends, and she wasn't stupid enough to contact the cops, the real tactic she had was to keep the tightest lip possible, see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil, that along with hoping for the best. Being bed ridden was one of the things that was the absolute hardest for Kayla, especially since it meant that Joseph at the age he was needed to learn how to do basic things that a mother like her should be doing, he really was her everything and if there was anyone who was taking care of her it was him, in fact her sickness got to a point where Joseph was taking care of both her and Bastien and it was in her heart that she absolutely hated herself for the fact that she was not able to physically do what she wanted to do. Bastien came into her life when seven years after Joseph had been on this earth, she was addicted to the love that Joseph once provided her, that attention, to know she was wanted, that she had a purpose in her life, after all the role of a wife wasn't exactly panning out for her, she really would do anything for the both of her boys, as much as that would look to change later on in her life.

This went on for years, at least until Joseph was nine or ten the memories for her are a big blurred and foggy as was the next part of her life, the chapter that again was unforeseen and unpredicted, two words that kept popping up when used to describe her life, along with fast pacing and that wasn't about to stop not when an ancestor of the family entered their lives; it really was the point that changed everything for Kayla, but it would reflect consequences in her life that she was still paying for. Adapting to a new life as a vampire meant that she was no longer sick, that everything had been cured, she was no longer in that burden of a marriage and on the fore front it seemed like everything was blissful, but it did also mean that she didn't have her kids, her children, the one thing that she considered to be the revolving axis and rhyme and reason, but being in the baby vamp stages there was just no way it was even remotely possible to feed and learn the ins and out of her new species and be around them without potentially harming their lives. It was the hardest thing she ever had to do but a decision had to be made and as much as there was a disagreement. it was mainly to keep them safe.

Her life these days is a lot more quieter, simpler, seeking out Greywood in attempts to reunite with her family, it was always her intentions, always something she wanted to do but she knew it wouldn't be easy and it was something she needed to have the mental strength and patience to endure but the timing is right, she's ready and even though Kayla is aware that everyone who shares a bloodline with her may be hostile there is a determination there that to some day make it work, that is her dream now, it's her vision. It's evident in the books that she writes for others, it's evident in her dreams and it's in her aura, but it takes time and Kayla knows that. While she waits with much anxiety and anticipation she writes, mainly for other people, the fame was an opportunity that she dismissed only because it would risk her family knowing about her when she wasn't ready and well she would much rather have her story told through little passages of fiction and through someone else that isn't her own. The story has never been told in full but there are definitely elements of inspiration that are clear in the stories under her pseudonym. Even though the abusive relationship is long behind her these days, there are still haunting memories that she can't seem to escape or leave behind.It's affected her personality and there are small things she does that are still a slight trait of the PTSD that she faces on a daily basis, it's not paralysing but it is more of an annoyance to her hoping for a slice of normalcy in amongst the chaos. She caught wind of her husbands passing a few years ago now, not that there was a care in the world for it, but it was nice to know that he couldn't come back and haunt her, start up something that she had tried so hard to burry in the darkest corner of her mind, if anything it was relief to know that she could now have the title of being a widow. All that's left to do now was attempt to stitch her family back together as best as she could and hope for the best.

“what power did she attain when settling in greywood?”

Power of Time; Also known as Time Bubbling, Kayla can create a bubble between herself and another person, sometimes multiple and adjust time to her liking, sometimes she can slow down time or sometimes speed it up, often leaving the person exiting feeling woozy, dizzy and mentally affected. If kept in the bubble too long it could affect aging but Kayla has never fully learnt how to trap someone in a bubble itself, more so altering everything inside of the bubble.

penned by... harls

[thebluesideofmyworld]

A Good Guy - A Solangelo One-Shot

Summary: Will might be a lot of things. And among those things, Will would dare to say that he’s a good guy. But when it came to Nico di Angelo, would he ever be good enough, though?

Word count: 3900 words || Rating: Teenage and Up Audiences || Read on AO3

Notes:

1. Based on the song "good guys" by LANY 2. My contribution for @after-everything-pjo-zine project. Check out other fics (each fic is accompanied by great fanart so you just HAVE to check it out) in the zine here.

***

Will might be a lot of things. And among those things, Will would dare to say that he’s a good guy. And he would proudly say that it’s because his family raised him to be one. His Mama made sure that he never forgot to say please, sorry and thank you, and his grandma taught him to respect people. Even though Apollo wasn’t around to be an ideal father as Will was growing up in Tennessee, his grandpa showed him how to be a Southern gentleman.

So yeah, he might come across as a young man who with a sassy attitude. But heck, Will knew that he was a good guy. And he’s proud of that.

But here’s the thing. Here’s a thing about being a good guy. Being a good guy might sound like it’s a good thing to do. But being a good guy also sometimes meant that you’re almost as invisible as a wallflower. Because even though you’re good, there were always be better guys. And one thing that Will learned about being a good guy? Good guys never win.

***

“It’s been almost two weeks, you know,” Will said as he kept his eyes at the monthly medical report that he (pretended) to be reading.

“Two weeks since what?” Kayla asked, but didn't bother to pretend that she's actually interested.

“Since Nico went for that quest, remember? Something about Persephone’s parrot or something?” Will said, still trying to keep his eyes at the notes. Because he knew that Kayla might still see the worry in Will’s eyes. (Sometimes it’s almost scary, how his siblings knew him too well).

“Oh? Really? Has it been two weeks yet?”

“Almost,” Will said, decided to leave the detail that it’s actually has been 11 days and since Nico had left the camp early in the morning and now it was almost dinner, it’s been almost twelve freaking days since Nico left the camp for that stupid quest.

“I mean, of course, it might be nothing but well, I thought it was supposed to be a short, simple quest?” Will continued. “Usually if it’s just this small quest, it never took him this long before. Usually it would just be like, three days, five, at the most, and like, a week if he took a detour to impulsively do something unnecessary, but never this long.”

Will lifted his head and turned to look at Kayla, who didn’t seem to share the same worry as Will. Her eyes were still fixed on the glossy pictures of the magazine that she was looking at. A non-committal hum coming from her was the only sign that she was (kind of) listening.

Will tried to focus on the lines of writing in front of him, but the letters were all jumbled and he couldn’t make himself try to read anything. His mind was too busy thinking about different reasons and scenarios of why Nico wasn’t back yet from the quest.

“Do you think I should ask Chiron about it? Probably he’s heard from Nico, y’know. Like, maybe something came up and I don’t know, maybe Chiron knew or maybe even Rachel got a vision or something, or-“

“Or you could have just contacted me, Solace. Pretty sure that it doesn't hurt to try IM me”

Will stood up and spun to face the direction where the voice was coming from. He did it so fast, he got dizzy because of it. It took him two seconds before his eyes could fully focus on Nico di Angelo, who was staring at him. His face looked nonchalant, but his eyes glinted with amusement.

“Uh, hey,” Will greeted, gripping the desk as he suddenly needed to get a hold of himself. “You’re back.”

Nico gave him a single nod, brushing away some strands of hair from covering his eyes. “Yep. I just got back.” He shrugged his shoulders before continuing. “Thought I’d drop by here before I report to Chiron.”

Will tightened his grip on the desk, trying his best to hold himself from closing the distance between him and Nico just to pull Nico into his arms.

“And uh… What brings you here?”

The emotional part of him wished that he was the reason why Nico came straight to the infirmary after the quest. But the rational part of him shushed him. That damned rational part of him told him that hey, it was him who wanted to see Nico, not the other way around.

Nico kept his eyes at Will and there was something in those dark eyes that Will couldn’t really put his fingers on.

“I thought you wanted me to have a check-up every time I got back from a quest?”

Of course.

Will tried to ease the dull pain in his heart by giving Nico a small smile. “Yeah. Of course. Need to make sure that you won’t fade into the shadows again, huh?” Will let out a nervous chuckle. “I mean, I am your doctor, and a doctor only wants the best for his patients.”

This time Nico stayed silent as he nodded. Will gestured to a nearby cot with his chin.

“Now, if you could just sit down over there, please?”

Still saying nothing, Nico strode to the cot and quickly sat there. Will took a deep breath, mentally telling himself to be professional, and let it out in a long exhale. He made his way to where Nico was waiting for him.

The check-up was a regular one. And there was nothing new about how touching Nico made stupid butterflies do some stupid dancing in his stomach. He ached to ask Nico questions about what happened in the quest and why it took so long. He wanted to know whether Nico ever thought of him while he was on the quest the way Will kept on thinking about him while he was away. He wanted to listen to Nico talk to him, with that slight accent that made his voice so melodious, almost like he was singing.

But it would only scare Nico away.

So he kept his eyes at the board where he jotted down the notes about Nico’s vitals.

“So, uhm… This quest was a bit longer than usual, huh?” Will asked, almost proud of himself that his voice sounded normal.

Nico hummed as he put his jacket back on. “Yeah, we had an unexpected encounter with some empousai. Luckily, David is unexpectedly good at fighting.”

At the mention of the name, Will lifted his head up. “David? You mean the new camper? That Athena kid?”

Nico nodded. “Yeah. For someone who never held a sword before, I have to say that I’m impressed.”

A strange, nauseating heat flared inside Will’s stomach. “Really?”

“Yup. In fact, I promised to give him an extra lesson in sword-fighting tomorrow.”

That strange heat swirled even more inside Will. He stretched his lips into a lame attempt to smile at Nico.

“Oh,” Will said. “Nice.”

“In one way, he strangely reminded me of Percy, you know? The way he held his sword.” And Nico continued talking for a while about that stupid new guy. Will listened, humming every now and then just to show Nico that he’s listening.

Half of his mind wished that the harpies would find that David kid to be a nice target for their dinner. The other half of his mind scowled at him for having that kind of evil wish.

“Okay. Everything looks good. Just make sure that you drink enough water,” Will said as he wrote the date and signed his name on the bottom part of the report.

“So I can go now?”

Will nodded. “Yeah, you’re free to go now,” he answered as he walked back to his desk to put the record in the folder.

“And you’re not even offering to walk me back to my Cabin like a good Southern gentleman?”

Will spun on his heel quickly. He stared at Nico with wide eyes, thinking that he might have been hallucinating.

“What?”

Nico snorted and slid down from the cot. “Never mind. I need to report to Chiron first anyway.”

Will blinked, and it took him a full two seconds before he had his voice again.

“Nico-“

But Nico was already one step away from the door. He stopped and looked at Will over his shoulder. The left tip of his lips curled up, just slightly, forming a ghost of a smile. He gave a two-finger salute to Will.

“I’ll see you around, Solace.”

Not waiting for Will to answer him, Nico stepped away. And just like that, he’s out of sight.

Will stared at the open door. There is this hollowness inside his heart that he couldn't explain. Like he just missed a chance.

He always thought that he’s a good guy. Or at least, he’s trying to.

But would he ever be good enough, though?

***

“What are you doing here?”

Lou Ellen’s voice startled Will.

“Me? Uh…” Will scrambled to pick up the book that he just dropped and showed it to Lou, like he was trying to prove something. “I was reading!”

Lou Ellen stared at him with a glint of amusement in her eyes as she gave Will the Look. The ‘don’t-give-me-bullshit’ Look.

“What, am I not allowed to read in peace?” Will said, a bit defensively.

“Hey, it’s cool dude,” Lou said. “In fact, it was nice to see you somewhere else aside from the infirmary,” she added.

Will relaxed a bit, going back to lean his back on the tree.

“I can see why you choose this spot. It’s much quieter than the infirmary on your busy days,” Lou said.

Will hummed.  His eyes flickered to the far left, to the clearing a few yards away, just for a split second before he opened his book.

“And the view from here is also… decent.”

Lou Ellen’s tone made Will quickly look up again at the daughter of Hecate. She’s now grinning at him, like she just figured something out.

“How long have you been spying on those two?” Lou asked, gesturing with her chin to two demigods in the clearing who seemed to just finished sparring.

Will gaped at her. He blinked and quickly shook his head. “What? No! I’ve told you, I was reading here!”

But Lou Ellen didn’t seem to care about Will’s reaction as she waved at the demigods in the clearing.

“Hey, Nico! David!”

Will’s eyes widened in horror this time as he turned his head around, only to see that Nico and the new Athena kid walked towards them.

“Lou!” he hissed in annoyance.

Lou Ellen just gave him a teasing smirk. “What?”

Will groaned and quickly stood up, his book abandoned on the grass as he unconsciously ran a hand over his wild locks.

“Hey,” Nico greeted. “What’s up?”

Nothing’s up aside from his heartbeat, Will would like to answer. But of course, he kept it to himself as he tried his best to school his face into a relaxed, nonchalant, I’m-just-chilling-here expression.

“Nothing much,” Lou Ellen shrugged her shoulders. “You two are sparring together here? Why? Is the arena too mainstream for you?”

The new Athena kid gave a half-smile as he brushed off some hair from covering his eyes. “It was my request, actually,” he said. “I just want to have a...” he waved his right in a vague circular motion, like trying to find the exact word to say. “A more… realistic view when fighting a monster?”

That didn’t really make sense to Will. But it seemed to be an acceptable reason for Lou Ellen as she nodded at him.

“And has Nico been a good teacher for you?” Lou Ellen asked.

Will didn’t miss the way Lou gave him a quick glance.

David’s half-smile turned into a full one. “He is!” He turned his head to Nico and smiled at him, like he was pleased at Nico. “Thanks for teaching me, Nico. You are very good at sword-fighting.”

Nico returned David’s smile with one of his small smiles. A smile that could have filled Will’s chest with warm air. But since he’s not at the receiving end of that smile, it turned Will’s chest into lead instead.

“Anytime. It was a pleasure.”

“You will teach me more, yes? And ah… We also need to talk more. About football.”

This was the first time for Will to really listen to David talking, and he couldn’t help but notice how David’s voice had quite an accent. Especially when he pronounced football, the way he stretched some syllables.

Nico’s face lit up. “Yeah! We should! I know that Cecil played football! Right?” His eyes darted from Will to Lou Ellen, like asking for confirmation.

“Cecil? He does. I can take you to talk to him. Come on,” Lou Ellen quickly pulled the sleeve of David’s shirt and led him away from the other two demigods.

Will watched the backs of Lou Ellen and David who were walking away from them. He could feel nervousness starting to creep in on him as their voices slowly faded away, as he realized that he’s now alone with Nico.

Not that he hated to be with Nico. It’s just… this wasn’t his plan. He wasn’t prepared. And Will hated it when things didn’t go as he planned. He hated it when he was unprepared.

“David played football,” Nico said just when David and Lou Ellen disappeared from their sight.

Will angled his neck to look at Nico. “And when you said football, did you mean soccer?”

“I mean football,” Nico answered, turning on his heels a little so now he was facing Will. “The real football.”

Will snorted and slid down to sit on the grass. “They’re the same,” he said, leaning his back on the tree.

Nico followed Will, sitting on the grass. “It will always be football for me,” he said. There was a melancholic tone lacing his voice. And it made Will wonder, maybe it’s something that Nico used to play. In the streets in Venice, when he was just a kid who had no idea that Greek gods and goddesses were real.

“We, David and I, we were talking about playing here. I mean, it would be great, you know? David said he played midfield. I’m usually,” Nico paused, but quickly continued. “I mean, I used to play as a striker. If we can connect well, that would be really cool.”

Will closed his eyes while his stomach churned with a strange, unpleasant feeling. So, not only was this David kid good in sword-fighting, he’s good in soccer too?

“Do you play too? I mean, you can be the goal keeper. I guess you would be great. I mean, you’re tall and it would be a great asset for a goalkeeper.”

Will huffed. Stuck between the goalposts while watching Nico and David scoring goals? Yeah. No, thank you.

“We’ll see about that,” Will said, still with his eyes closed.

For a while, none of them said anything. Will opened his eyes when he heard Nico sighed. He turned his head, watching Nico stand up. Nico brushed his pants, and gave Will a small smile.

“I’ll see you around, Solace.”

Will wondered why that smile looked a bit strained, but returned it anyway. “Yeah. I’ll see you around.”

He watched as Nico walked away.

Someone would be a good guy for Nico, he thought. And even though Will was a good guy, maybe he just wasn’t good enough. So of course, someone would be a good guy for Nico. Someone else. Not Will.

***

Will didn’t even know why he was here, standing awkwardly near the table where the food and drinks were.

Oh, yes. Because Cecil and Lou Ellen practically dragged him here, to this stupid Halloween party organized by the Aphrodite Cabin.

It’s not that Will disliked Halloween. And it wasn’t like he hated Halloween parties either. What he didn’t like, was seeing Nico talking with David at the other corner of the room. Just looking at the sight made a strange, nauseating fire flame inside of him.

“Pining over di Angelo again?” Lou Ellen nudged him on his shoulder.

“Yeah. How long are you going to act like this Will? Playing it cool while we all know how you wish you’re the one talking to di Angelo instead of David?” Cecil joined Lou Ellen in interrogating Will.

Will only rolled his eyes. “I don’t know what you guys are talking about,” he mumbled, and took another sip of Coke from his cup. He tried to watch the campers who were dancing in the middle of the floor. Some kids from the Hermes cabin somehow got a hold of speakers. And of course, with a little help from the Hephaestus kids, the party had a cool sound system that was now playing pop music.

Lou Ellen sighed. Will stole another glance at where Nico was standing. David was leaning a little to whisper something at Nico. The proximity between those two made it a little bit harder for Will to breathe. He wondered what it was that David was telling Nico. But then Nico turned his head to Will. And no matter how cliché it might sound, Will’s heart skipped a beat when their eyes met. Will quickly looked down to the floor.

Next to him, Lou Ellen clicked her tongue.

“You know what? I can’t take this anymore. It’s been MONTHS. This has got to end tonight,” she said. Ignoring Will’s protest, she grabbed Will’s wrist and pulled him along with her, walking towards Nico and David.

A few seconds later, Will was standing with a flustered face in front of Nico and David.

“Hey, Nico, David! You guys enjoying the party?”

David gave that half-smile again. “Ah, yes. The party is nice.” He angled his neck just a bit so now he was looking right at Will. The half-smile subtly transformed into a knowing smirk. “And you? You… You are the healer, yes? Will?”

Will forced himself to smile politely at David. “Yeah. That’s me.”

David gave a single nod. “Nico talked a lot about you. A lot of good things.”

Will blinked. His eyes darted to Nico, but the raven-haired boy looked away from him. Still, his cheeks were a dark shade of red.

“Is that Cecil over there? I think I want to talk to him,” David suddenly said as he pointed at Cecil with his chin. “Lou Ellen? Come with me?”

Lou Ellen grinned as she nodded and made a 90-degree turn on her heels. “Yeah, come on, David. Let's leave these two idiots.”

And just like that, they left Will again, standing awkwardly less than two feet away from Nico.

“Uh… I didn’t expect to see you here,” Will said.

Nico turned his head at Will, an eyebrow slightly raised up. “Oh? I thought you were the one saying that I need to work on my social skill.”

Will gave Nico a small smile. “Yeah. So. Good to see you here, then. I mean, for your social skills and all.”

Nico stared at Will. And there was just something behind those dark eyes. Something that Will couldn’t put into words. Something that made him unable to look away.

“Aren’t you going to ask me to dance, Solace?”

The question got Will off-guard. Of all the questions in the world, it’s probably the most unexpected one.

“Huh?”

Nico held his eyes at Will’s for another second, but then he looked away. “Never mind,” he said, half-mumbling. His cheeks blushed again into dark cherry color.

“But… do you want to, though?”

Nico’s head turned back to Will. “Want to do what?”

“Dance? Do you…want to?”

Nico bit his lower lip and he looked down for a second. When he looked up back at Will, his charcoal eyes were soft.

“Depends.”

“On what?”

“On who’s asking me to.”

Will’s heart started to jump around in his chest.

“What if it’s me asking you?”

The eyes that were staring back at him were now smiling.

“Then I guess, it depends on the song, then.”

Will’s heart was probably doing some crazy somersaults right now, but his lips curled up without him even thinking about it.

“Well, it’s my favorite song that they’re playing right now. I hope it suits you?” he asked, carefully offering his hand.

Nico’s smile was as soft as the look in his eyes. And the moment their fingertips touched, Will’s heart soared high and suddenly his chest was filled with warm, light air.

As Will led Nico to the floor, he thought about how long he has been wanting to do this, to hold Nico’s hand in his.

They swayed along with the music. Nico’s left hand felt perfect in his right hand. Will’s left hand rested on Nico’s hip and Will couldn’t care less about the other people dancing around them.

“Your dancing is better than your singing,” Nico said, a playful smile on his lips.

Will chuckled. “My grandma said a real Southern gentleman must know how to dance. And I remember my Mama dancing with me when I was a kid.”

“Your Mam raised you well, I have to say.”

Will hummed. “I’m a good mama’s boy, I can promise you that.”

“I can see that, Will. Everyone can see that.”

“See what?”

“That you’re a good guy.”

This time Will held his eyes at Nico. “I try to be,” he said. “But… Would I ever be good enough for you?”

Nico huffed. “And you said I was the dense one.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean…” Nico stopped, but his feet kept on moving. He sighed. “Gods, do I really have to spell it out to you?” He asked, sounding exasperated as he looked away from Will.

Hope bloomed inside of Will and he grinned and oh, how he wanted to shout and laugh. He took his hand off Nico’s hip so he could gently cup Nico’s cheek, guiding him to face him back.

“Do you mean you like me?” Will asked.

“Well, do you like me?”

Will chuckled and he could feel a stupid smile creeping in. “Why do you even have to ask?”

Nico shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Because you’re nice to me but you’re also nice to everyone? Because you don’t seem to care even if I talk about someone else? Because you…” Nico stopped again and shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe because I just…don’t know?”

Will squeezed Nico’s hand just a bit tighter. “I was just… I was just afraid that I’m not good enough for you.”

Nico rolled his eyes. But his lips twitched, like he tried to hold back a smile.

“You’re a good guy, Will. You’re a good guy to everyone. But sometimes I hope that you can be my good guy.”

It’s like a thousand birds were singing inside of Will now as he felt like he was floating in this bubble of happiness.

“Then I’ll be yours, Death Boy.”

Will wrapped his arms around Nico, and pulled him into his embrace.

“I’ll be your good guy, then. I’ll be your everything.”

Nico pulled himself a little away from Will. He looked up at Will and the light in his eyes was like the most beautiful star in a dark night.

“Everything?”

“Everything. Anything you need.”

***

Additional Author's Notes: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it :). Reblogs, replies or any other feedbacks are much appreciated. Also please don't forget to check out the zine!!!

[doebt]

my dreams were discombobulated so heres a list of separate events instead of the usual

- i worked at an evil candy shop. 1 of our main attractions was, you bring out a bowl of tapioca pearls, and the customer has to guess how many are in there. if theyre wrong you kill them. a really funny and cute gay girl came in for this and i was praying so hard she guessed correctly and also our fingers brushed when she gave me the money

- i carried a mans dead body (in a bag) to his funeral bc his family couldnt afford a hearse or coffin. it was super heavy and disturbing to me

- i was walking around town w a friend and he was gonna show me this abandoned house he had been exploring, but when we got to it, a man w a gun jumped out at us, and we were SOOOO scared, bc he rly was gonna shoot us...we explained that we were just stupid kids exploring the house and he told my friend he could go, but he kept me there and like, ordered me to take my clothes off, i was SO scared and i just made eye contact w my friend across the yard but we had no idea what to do

- kaylas grandma gave me a 5000dollar bill at a dinner party

- i helped a nice college professor take care if her fishtank bc someone had like vandalised it

- helped my dad relocate GIANT trashbags full of smaller walmart bags??? they were heavy and smelled bad bc it was all bags he had 'cleaned out' and reused

[speedybooksandcreativeheaven]

The Temptations of My Family

Part 1

Story Summary: Sometimes all connections soon break eventually. Harold Anderson the CEO of Anderson Toy Factory had a secret, he sold his own soul to study and perfect demon magic. It soon took all of his free time studying the effects of the magic leaving their son, David to grow up without a father figure. When David was a small boy he was shocked when he found his father badly beaten due to the demon magic. Since that moment, he made a vow that demon magic would never touch him or his family. Fuelled by rage, David makes sure to protect his daughters from his wrath, as he claims that bad things happen with magic. Sadly, he can't control everything as he kicked out his first born, Kayla due to spending time with their grandfather learning demon magic. Soon enough Kayla becomes head of the household as she is left with five attractive incubus to take care of and her innocent sister, Mika.

Word Count: 2,753

Trigger Warning: Getting kicked out for misunderstandings

AN: Italics are flash backs

Ever since (Y/N) found five wounded men lying on their lobby floor she never would have thought that after a long year and six months later they would be the best roommates that she could ask for.  It was a rough start for a while as she was learning to live with five very attractive incubi. Learning about their past, being able to provide enough energy for them, and the boys learning about certain human world customs. But soon enough, they all started to feel like a real family when she was around them.

Mika never knew of the amount of magic that her grandfathers house had. Due to the control that father had on Mika. When Mika first moved in six months ago, Kayla had to tell the boys to keep their alias to themselves and only come to her for energy. She later told them the story of how their father hates their grandfather, aka the Warlock, for learning demon magic and using it for himself. She knew that what father said was not true since Kayla would help him with his spells, and she never once heard of him using magic for his own fun. The boys agreed since they are grateful to him for saving them that they wanted to protect her at all costs. Father was stuck inside his head, and having Mika as bait was helping him cope with the use of demon magic.  

They never really felt like a family at home since Mika was the older sister, being forced to take the Anderson Toy Company. Mika never wanted to be forced as she wanted to explore her own path after she and father take care of Anderson Toy’s. While (Y/N), was tossed aside from her father, only to find comfort with her grandfather teaching her demon magic. She was happy that she was able to explore other options, and away from her crazed father. She still remembers the day where her own father kicked her out of her once loving home at sixteen.  

It all started like a normal afternoon, coming home from school with just enough time to unwind before she makes her way to her grandfathers for more magic practice. What she didn’t expect was to see all of her hard-magic work at the side of the road destroyed, burned and broken. She started to weep as she was really excited to show him all of her hard work, to be only left in ashes. Kayla slammed open the door to see her father sitting in a chair facing the doorway as she stomps angry towards him.

“How many times do I have to tell you old man to stay the fuck out of my room!” she spat as her father’s eyes burned with a cold fire.

“Well, the sooner you can get out of my house then I will go as I very well please.” He stood up to face the angry teenager as his words were adding to the small fire underneath.

“How many times did I tell you that demon magic is bad! It ruins this family and I told you to never learn. Where did you get this from?” He lifts up her demon magic book that Harold gave her.

“Grandfather..” she mumbled knowing that was the one rule in this house, never learn demon magic.

“You broke my one rule Kayla! I can’t believe that you can’t follow a simple rule! Mika is a better child than you are! You have tainted our bloodline thanks to that old man! You don’t deserve to be an Anderson!”

He threw his arms up in the air as he started to lose his cool.

“Oh, so its all about Mika! I guess that Mika is the loved child in this broken family. Well, I like learning about demon magic, and you can’t stop me from living my life!” She proudly stated as the next sentence took her by surprise.

“Get out!” David stood firm on the decision as he finally had enough of his daughters’ disobedience, “I’ll give you 10 minutes to grab your shit but then you can’t step foot back in this house!”  

She was shocked as her whole life could be summed up in a suitcase. She quickly looks at the time to see that she is late for another magic lesson at her grandfathers. Given the circumstances, she slowly made her way towards her new home, she hopped. After a short while she opens a stone door creaks as she makes her way inside while angerly muttering to herself as she didn’t notice that Harold turns with a large smile that quickly turns to a frown as he notices her distress. He sees her magic book all ripped and damaged as she clutches it for dear life. She wordlessly takes off her jacket and leans in against the wall looking down.

“Ah, you are late..” he clicks his tongue as he turns to see her tear stained face, “What’s wrong my flower?” he asked as she sighed and leaned her head on his chest, not wanting to look up, “Was its David again?” he asked as he felt her twitch in annoyance at the name.

“Oh no. You poor thing. I can’t believe that my son would kick you out just because you found something you enjoyed.” Harold rubbed her back as she wept freely. He comforts her through her tears as she finished covering her eyes with her palms. Harold held onto a silent rage as he couldn’t believe that his own son would be so cruel.

“Where am I going to go? I’ll be picked on as the new homeless child.” She panicked.

“No, you won’t be the ‘homeless child’ you will live with me and learn demon magic under my care.”

It was when her grandfather became her saviour as he took her in and cared for her like his own. She managed to live life without seeing her sister all the time, but he made sure that Mika would still be in the young girl’s life. When Mika entered grade twelve she offered Mika to live with her and her servants that Harold had hired since his passing. To her surprise she said yes, and soon enough Mika started living with her sister and five very attractive men.  

Speaking of their father, Mika heard her phone go off and she rolled her eyes went she saw ‘Dad’ on the call display. She was hesitant to press answer as she was worried that she was going to have to go back to that company. She heard horror stories about her grandfather from her father, so she never wanted to go inside the main doors.

Flashback about a week later…

“This will be the last time you lie to me, Missy. Am I understood?” My father, David yells at me as I try to defend myself from coming home late when I told father a lie so I could go with Kayla to see grandfather. I notice that he had a look of disappointed as I slammed my hands on the counter-top clearly annoyed.

“No! It’s not! Why can’t I go see grandfather and stay here to learn boring business while Kayla gets to go have fun!” I screamed back at my dads shocked expression.  

“You think you know everything do you?” Dad sneered down as I stood my ground, wanting to know exactly why, “You don’t know him like I do! You don’t know what he is powerful of!”

“What is he powerful of? You are not making any sense! Why can Kayla go, and I can’t!” I whined

Dad sighed as he pulled a chair to sit and motioned me to as well, “You want to know, fine, I’ll tell you. But don’t say that I didn’t warn you.”

I nodded as he explained, “My father is a terrible man, the weirdest person you could meet in this world. Harold first got into demon magic when I was a little boy, he wanted to make the world a better place. His stupid magic took hold of him, he wanted to please it and make it proud. I never thought that he would stoop so low that he used this type of magic for his own selfish reasons! He had to make sure that Anderson Toys would never die, he made the company using this method. He never had time to actually built something by hand. This is why I want you, Mika to take the company away from my insane father and put it back together with our bare hands! Magic, in the hands of evil means destruction and death. My father thinks that he can make something out of nothing! Ha, I disagree!”

“Magic makes a mockery of the strength of the human spirit, demon magic just wiping out the humans entirely. If my father, the warlock, could build a complete company out of nothing than what is stopping him from bringing in everything from heaven and hell into our perfect world.”

“Your sister on the other hand, doesn’t believe me no matter how hard I try. She goes against my protection as a father and goes sees that traitor! This is why I kicked her out and is now living under the care of him.”

I look up at father, wishing that this was all a nightmare, “Mika, my dear sweet child this is the reality of breaking my rules that I have in place. I only wish to protect you, from the horrors that magic and magical creatures can do to you.”

“Creatures?” I squeak as I become nervous, father slowly nods, “The demon magic that my father uses has their own world and the creatures that live there. There are demons, angles, fairy’s, sex demons just to name a few. I have no clue if that bastard has brought anything into our world yet.”

My green orbs look away as I hope that I never have to face a demon, especially a sex demon, I look to see father crouching at my feet as he looks up at me with sincerity, “Now, are you going to be a good girl and follow my orders?” he questions me as I lean into his arms nodding. His musky scent provides me comfort as I will never disobey father again.

After the quick phone call, Mika looked pale as a sheet of paper as she pressed the end button. Kayla was concerned as Mika turned her phone upside down and walked away quickly making her way upstairs. Kayla followed her as she stormed away, watching how James eyes brighten when he saw Mika, only to be pushed aside to go hid upstairs.  

She yelled up at the stairs, “What did he say!” but she got no answer but a slammed door that echoed through the lobby. She turned to James as he put his hand on her shoulder to provide comfort.  

“I’m sure when she’s ready her will talk to you about it.” He told her as she shifted from him, “Are you sure James? Mika usually tells me everything that when our parents call us.” She breathed a sigh as he nodded.

“Trust me,” he gave her a hug, “If I know Mika well enough she will come around. Don’t worry miss.”

Kayla accepted the hug as she felt calmer when she was with James. What they didn’t see was Sam gritting his teeth at the two. He wanted to be the one who made sure that she was okay. James had no right to take his place.  

A couple of hours passed until it was dinner and Mika was ready to tell what happened in the afternoon. She cleared her throat as everyone at the table looked up to see her cold face as she looked at Kayla.

“Now,” she started, “I’m sorry for running out after that phone conversation from father.” Kayla nodded as she continued, “Tomorrow our father wish to speak to us at a private event that’s going to be provided by the Anderson Toy Company.” Kayla saw how hard it was for Mika to speak about the toy company, “He wants me to be ready to speak to investors about what happened with Harold passing away and who will run it.” Mika’s lips were trembling as she turned to their roommates at the table. She sighed as she blinked her eyes and looked to James.

“Miss? If you need anything you know that we are here to help you.” James comforted her while Sam just scoffed at his brother’s kindness.

“He enjoyed our servant’s hospitality that he wants us to bring you guys along to help out the wait staff at the event…”

“What!” Sam bellowed from across the table as Kayla sighed from his outburst.

“You got to be kidding me! We have to pretend to be your servants again!” Sam yelled as Mika flinched due the sudden outburst.

“Sam, be nice, your constant yelling is scaring the poor girl.” Erik commented as Mika calmed down as   she sighed in defeat.

“Well, she should! I’m not going to be around fancy ass people pretending that I give a crap to be spat on and thrown aside like garbage!” Sam continued his rant as he was pacing back and forth in the dinning room.

“Well, we can’t just ignore him you know how father is when he wants to present the heir of the company to investors.” Mika rolled her eyes at that as Kayla looked to James for some kind of balance to calm Sam.

“Sam, enough!” James yelled at Sam as he growled and stepped back from the girls as everyone was silent for a while.

Kayla walked up to where Mika was sitting as she ruffled Sam’s hair as he yelled out as she smirked at him.

“It’s going to be okay Mika.” She gave her a long hug, “I’m sure that the boys would be more then happy to help us out, well, expect for Sam.” At the mention of his name Sam retorted back, “Hey!” as he looked all insulted. Which Kayla found adorable.

Mika’s face picked up at the mention of their roommates help, “The party is tomorrow night at 8pm.” She spoke as she excused herself from the table as she brushed some tears from her eyes.

“What’s her problem?” Sam scoffed at Kayla elbowed him at the comment, “Hey! Can you move somewhere else so that you can stop picking on me!” Kayla stuck out her tongue at him before she answered his question.  

“Well you see, Mika has been forced from our father to run the Anderson Toy company as our grandfather has died. Unfortunately, our father told Mika many horror stories about our grandfather learning about demon magic and soon enough he became a powerful warlock in which he used his powers to start the company. Which is not true, he kept his magic studies and his work separate. Ever since father told her these stories she has been scared to enter the company since she thinks it haunted due to his studies on demon magic.” Kayla looked up at the surprised faces of the incubi

“So, Mika doesn’t know that we are incubi or the fact that your grandfather brought us here?” James questioned

“Correct,” she nodded her head, “She’s been brainwashed by our father to hate all magical beings, the only reason that I know is because Harold taught me himself to learn about all different types of magical beings. Like you incubi. Alas, my father tosses me aside as I remind him of Harold. A young, stupid woman who doesn’t know anything expect how to stand alone.” She finished as she silently wept covering her hands. She left the table as Sam took a double take at her flowing brown hair as she left.

“So,” James took the stage after a long silence, “We now know that Mika doesn’t know who we are, but Kayla knows our story and we now understand why her father was hesitant when he met the new servants.” His brothers nodded with Sam making non-verbal comments.

“We need to help these girls as I think that this event is more than just making Mika the CEO and Kayla standing aside from the action.” He ended the conversation when the girls came back to the table exchanging apologies for leaving as they began to eat in silence.

[haven-gypsygossip]

You need to pick a story and stick to it. First not only did you add more attention to this matter. You blamed Lottie Wells for posting up your child's number when you did the same thing too. I just had to hide all the numbers. So practice what you preach. All of this stupid ass drama because your meddling ass daughter was inserting herself in drama that did not involve her for someone liking a photo of another guy. A real man won't be insecure about his relationship he can trust his lady. She can have friends of whoever but she kindly liked a photo.

Anyways--if you would of seen the comments that Nettie said on our page about Jennifer because she liked a photo you would just shake your head. In her own way she pretty much called this girl a hoe. And even said "Let the kids be kids." Meaning allowing her daughter who is 18 and not a kid meddle in a feud that doesn't involve her. One of the admins couldn't take it and banned her. She was just taking it to another level. So Lottie Smith had nothing to do with any of this beef. Lottie had accidentally liked a post about Nettie and she unliked it. A follower saw it and called out Lottie on it and Lottie defended herself and just said I swear it was an accident and others instigated and tried to come for Lottie S. So Nettie saw the comment and that set her off. Lottie had NOTHING to do with it. Wanna know what's so upsetting? Is for the first time ever I finally see all the stress and bullshit Nettie has put onto other people. We judged the fuck out of Sissy for being with Bruce at 15 and Nettie would come dogging them for it but had Chasitie dating or hooking up with Bill Broadway Jr. and she was the same age as Sissy. I made myself and the page look so one-sided and I'm so sorry for that.

I blasted all of Kayla and Annie's business while I made Nettie look like a rose. Again, she can push whatever narrative she chooses to but at the end of the day the ONLY time Lottie has made herself known was whenever she was mentioned. Anything she said about Nettie she did it right on the page or on her own account. She steadily had to stand up for herself because Nettie had a good amount of followers that automatically took her side and that girl did her best not to say much but I finally see what she has put others through because now I am going through it myself. She'll talk how Kayla's kids dress but let's be real her girls dressed the same way. 🙄 Back to the main issue though. Lottie Wells did not know whose phone number that was. She should of got on Chasitie for calling Lottie Wells on her 10 year old daughter's phone. How the fuck was Lottie Wells suppose to know who's number that was. She was trying to prove a point that your daughter called her she never called your daughter. Lottie had left her number for Kayla & Annie to call her on and Chasitie called her. Then Nettie texts me and pretty much wanted me to say on there that Lottie Wells body shamed her and she deactivated her account. Nope! That's complete bullshit. I got screenshots of Saul and Chasitie going at it and Saul was talking mad shit on her weight and the girl held her own. Chasitie deactivated her account because she got caught saying n*gger lover and her damn mama didn't say a damn thing and when Lottie asked did she call her a n-lover I heard Nettie's flat out say "So what!" So stop with the lies and manipulation.

As for your son and Lottie, why can't you just let them be a family and let this shit go? Would you allow your mother in law do that to you? Bet you won't. You're telling your son you're gonna stop and you keep on going. They both love each other to death and you know your son loves you too. Everyone saw how she held it down for your son while he was away. And to allow someone to share a screenshot from her pregnancy involving someone who just passed away was evil. And you even knew how hurt your son was when he found that shit out. Like I just don't understand how come you just can't get along with her. Then to put that shit on me saying that you heard me and Lottie are best friends was such a manipulation tactic that I could of punched you in the throat if you were in front of me. I always defended you before anyone else. But you know what unlike you. At least when she did reach out to me she always asked me how I was. You not ONCE did that to me. It was only your drama and what you wanted me to know to post to build your army of brainwashed twits. You only think of yourself and how and what you can do to use someone. I learned the biggest lesson of my life and I want to thank you because I will never ever trust a snake again. Slither back into your hole and be bitter by your damn self.

Love Always,

Ex-Brainwashed Twit 🖕🏾😘

[xteenwolfwritingsx]

You Know Better - Part 33 - Final Preparations

-gif source-

Story Description: Peter and the reader develop a slow relationship.

Part Description: The pack makes their final plans to end this.

Warnings/Labels: None

Approx. Word Count: 2,000

A/N: Slowly but surely, we keep going! Things are going to be coming to a close fairly soon, but there’s still so much to come.

Story Masterpost

Peter holds onto your hand as you wait outside the hotel. The day is cold, the threat of snow tickling the air. His thumb runs over your skin, leaving a trail of warmth as it glides back and forth.

He’s on alert, eyes watching each person as they come and go and keeping you close. You’re not entirely sure if he’s holding your hand simply because he wants to, like his touch implies, or if he’s preparing to yank you back from anything that might appear and try to snatch you away. You’re not complaining either way.

It doesn’t take long for Chris to pull up in his SUV. Peter opens the front passenger side door and ushers you inside quickly, putting his hand on your hip as you climb in. He shuts the door for you and quickly hops into the backseat, sitting in the middle and not bothering with a seatbelt.

“No problems, I assume?” Chris directs his question to you as he drives away from the hotel.

“None that I know of.” You twist in your seat to look at Peter. “Your werewolf senses go off at all?” you tease.

“No.” His tone is firm, but you catch the way his lips hint up into the smallest smile. You flash him one of your own before turning back front.

“So where do we stay tonight?” you question. “Something tells me we’re not going to take this woman out in a day.” You see Chris glance in the rearview mirror to catch Peter’s eyes. It’s some kind of quiet communication, checking with him before he responds and you can feel the mood in the car shift.

“Depends on what happens.” Chris is a little too vague for your liking and you wonder exactly what answer he would have given if Peter wasn’t in the vehicle. You brush off the feeling that they’re hiding something from you, hoping it’s nothing. “If things work out, hopefully you can stay in your own home tonight. If it’s not safe, we’ll get you another hotel room.”

“And Peter?” you press, not missing the way Chris aimed his answer at you only. You turn to look at him. “Am I still staying with you?”

“At this point I don’t really intend to let you out of my sight unless there’s a damn good reason.” There’s something off about the way he says it. He tries just a hint too hard to make it sound sincere and caring and while there’s an honesty behind it, it only feels like a half truth. You lower your brow at him, a silent question which he refuses to answer or acknowledge. You swing your eyes to look at Chris, hoping to see something in him that will tell you what’s going on, but he just stares straight ahead at the road.

You make the decision not to push it just yet. You sit back in your seat and try to put any pieces you can find together to predict what kind of shoe is going to drop.

The rest of the ride to Deaton’s is quiet and slightly tense. Thankfully, the ride isn’t too long and before things start to feel awkward, Chris pulls up to the back of the clinic. By the looks of the cars in the parking lot, you’re the last ones to arrive.

Peter doesn’t take your hand when you walk in, but he stays nearby, his arm brushing yours as you walk. You almost slip your arm around his waist, but you’re not sure if you’re quite at the “public displays of genuine affection” stage yet.

Everyone is scattered around the back room, some standing and some, particularly Stiles, sprawled out in chairs. It looks like they’ve been there a while, but that could just be the tension and exhaustion of the upcoming fight weighing down on them all. You notice Derek standing next to Deaton and smile widely.

“Thank God,” you say, relieved to see him not tied up to tubes in a hospital. You break away from Peter to throw your arms around him in a tight hug. He returns it warmly. “You’re doing alright then?” you check as you pull away.

“I’m fine. Still a little sore in places, but healing should be back up to normal in an hour or so.” He pats your arms and releases you. His chin tilts up in the smallest motion, both ushering you back to Peter and giving him a greeting at the same time. It would be insignificant to just about anyone else, but it’s the first real indication that he’s accepted you and Peter as… a thing.

“Keep it that way this time.” Peter tells him in his usual fashion. Derek scoffs and turns back to the table in front of him. “We’ve got a plan as I understand it?” This is the first you’re hearing about it, but you hide your surprise well.

“Details should be worked out a little, but yeah,” Scott confirms. “We’ve got a plan.”

“Let’s hear it,” you say, coming up to the opposite side of the table as Derek, ready to get this worked out.

You spend the entire conversation watching everyone carefully, trying to pick up any signs of someone withholding information. Peter stays by your side and mostly silently, not contributing much more than occasional snark. Nothing seems to be out of place though.

“Sounds like killing this witch is going to be as simple as killing a human,” you chime in part way through. The sentence sounds strange as you say it. “I mean, she essentially can be killed the same way a human can,” you rephrase. “We don’t need a magic bullet or an ancient weapon, right? An ordinary rock to her head would even do the trick.” Peter smirks at your choice of murder, but you notice the way Scott shies away and cringes. He still wasn’t fully on board with killing, but even he saw there wasn’t another viable choice.

“Essentially, yes.” Deaton sounds just slightly amused with your way of putting it as well.

“Alright, so Peter!” Stiles points to the man next to you, volunteering him. “You just walk up to her and rip her throat out, yeah?” You find it humorous that both Hale men give Stiles the same you’re stupid look.

“Strategically, Derek and Peter need to be used for distraction.” Chris interjects, squashing Stiles’ plan to sacrifice Peter.

“Stiles,” you chuckle. “Quit trying to kill my men.” There’s a moment after the words leave your mouth that you panic and you wait for the weird looks, the surprise and awkwardness at the fact that you claimed Derek and Peter.

“They’ve both threatened to kill me before,” Stiles responds quickly not even giving the room a chance to take in what you said. “It’s only fair I reciprocate!”

The room goes back and forth for a few moments, getting off track and either scolding Stiles or giving him merits for his quip. Peter looks down at you and you see that softness in his eyes and a slight small dancing on his lips. As the conversation moves back towards an actual plan, his hand slips behind you and around your waist for a brief moment before running up to rest on your lower back. You find yourself trying not to blush at his touch.

“What about the Cerberus?” Allison speaks up. “What do we do about it?”  

“Fortunately, killing the witch is actually the first step in sending it back to the spirit world,” Deaton explains. “Breaking the bond between owner and pet.” He pauses. “Unfortunately, without that bond, the Cerberus is untied and wild. It won’t need a reason or command to kill, but will likely kill anyone it comes across.” The optimism in the room starts to fade quickly.

“So, we need to contain it?” Derek speculates, looking down at the books scattered around. “Make sure it’s with us when Kayla dies so we can take care of it right then and there.”

“Preferably.” Deaton reaches out and points to a page in one of the books. “After she’s dead, someone will have to wound it with a sword laced with blood.”

“Any kind of blood?” you ask hopefully. Deaton’s eyes flash up to you as if there’s a small part of him that enjoyed leading you on.

“Hades’ blood.” There’s a collective sigh from most of the room. The Hales roll their eyes.

“That’s the literal translation,” Lydia clarifies, scowling at Deaton. “Blood from anyone who has done evil things will suffice and since evil is a loose term it can be assumed that anyone who has committed murder will do.” Everyone’s eyes, including your own, instantly drift to Peter.

“I’m not the only one with blue eyes here,” he defends, looking pointedly at Derek. “And you,” he points to Chris. “Have made a living off of killing so don’t everyone start slicing me up here.”

“It doesn’t need to be much,” Deaton assures the group. “Even just a few drops will do.”

“You can take mine,” Derek volunteers if for no other reason than to prevent finger pointing and useless arguments. “What needs to be done after that?” he moves on, leaving no room for debate.

“It needs to be encircled in these symbols,” Deaton points to another book page showing a circle of Greek lettering you don’t understand. “Ideally, if you can prep the containment area with them beforehand, then things can move a bit quicker.”

“And then?” So far it didn’t sound toobad. Maybe not the easiest thing in the world, but it was all doable.

“Recite some Latin and throw some mountain ash on it and it’ll be gone.” Deaton closes a book for what you assume is dramatic effect.

“Why does this sound too easy?” Stiles asks, echoing your own thoughts.

“Yes, because everything about coordinating two locations, a murder, and the containment of a mythical creature from hell just sounds so easy,” Lydia responds sarcastically.

“Okay, well maybe not when you put it like that.”

The rest of the meeting revolves around smoothing out details and assigning tasks, most of which it seems had been previously decided among the eldest men in the group. Derek, Peter, Scott, and Allison would be dealing with Kayla while the rest of you dealt with the Cerberus. You try to object about being separated from Derek and Peter but they point out that while Kayla would go after the Hales herself, she’d send the Cerberus for you which gave the opportunity to get them apart.

You’re surprised when Peter agrees with the plan, but you’re floored when he volunteers you to be the one to wound the Cerberus. He throws your name out so casually that it takes you a moment to even realize what task he gave you.

“Not that I’m not willing,” you chime in, cutting him off. “But why me exactly?”

“Lydia and Stiles aren’t trained with a weapon,” Peter tells you, ignoring the offended look from Stiles. “And I’m sure as hell not trusting Argent to do it right.” Chris looks down, not engaging or arguing in any way which you’d question more if Peter hadn’t turned to face you and put his hands on your shoulders. “You know how to handle a blade and I’ve trained you to evade. All you have to do is stab and run which I know you can do.”

You glance at Derek, looking for some sign of… anything, but he’s blank. He’s manipulating you. You can hear his warning from before echoing in your mind. He’ll say he needs you to do something because he trusts you, only you.You start to feel a little nervous. Something doesn’t feel right. And you’ll do it.

“Yeah, okay,” you agree, pushing down that anxious, hot feeling in your gut. “Just give me the sword and tell me where to go.” You were being paranoid. If there was anything to worry about, Derek would be pouncing all over it. And you know Peter wouldn’t do anything like that. Not after everything you’ve been through.

Peter squeezes your shoulders lightly before letting you go. His hand slips back to your waist, still keeping you close and whether he means to or not, the gesture reassures you. You look down, trying to stop that blush again, completely missing the brief, conniving look and nod between Peter and Chris.

[flightfoot]

Delos Days Ch. 7-END

Thanks to @grace--the-fangirl for betaing!

Day 6

Apollo’s POV

I’m falling, falling, panicking - Why am I falling? Why can’t I fly? - and land roughly on some garbage, knocking the wind out of me. My ribs feel bruised, maybe even broken. I feel ashamed and raw, but I don’t know why. It’s weird, like I should know what’s going on, why I feel like this, but I don’t. But it seems so familiar…

YOUR FAULT. YOUR PUNISHMENT.

The words boom through my mind. I know this voice. That scary man, that mean man, the one who used to hurt me, who hurt Meg! That was his voice! I want to scream. I want to flee. I want that voice to go away to somewhere else, somewhere it can’t hurt me or the people I care about.

But I don’t do any of those things.

Instead, as YOUR FAULT tears through my head again, I hear myself say “No! No it wasn’t!”

Huh?

Why is my body doing things I haven’t told it to do?

This all seems very familiar…

The world jolts, and I’m on the ground, being kicked and beaten by some guys. Why?! What did I do to deserve this, to deserve being kicked and being hit with garbage, to deserve hearing the cracking sound as my ribs (DEFINITELY broken at this point) give in?!  I black out, only to be forced into consciousness again as I throw up.

You’ve done so many things to deserve this. Don’t you remember all the people that have been endangered, suffered, that died because of you?

A whisper echoes from the back of my mind. It sounds like me.

I don’t know what it’s talking about - what I’m talking about? - but a heavy weight falls into my stomach anyway. It sounds like the truth. I deserve this.

*flash*

I’m standing up now, heavily injured, but alive. My tormentors are nowhere to be seen. Instead a young girl stands in front of me, the rhinestones on her glasses glittering in the light.

Meg!

My protector!

Maybe I deserve their punishment. But I know she’d disagree.

The thought fills me with hope.

More flashes. This time more rapid, only fleeting glimpses.

A raven-haired teenager with sea-green eyes (the name “Percy” springs to mind) opening the door, looking annoyed.

Meg walking out in her oh-so-loved, oh-so-important green dress.

A peach baby biting the heads off some nasty spirits.

Meg trying to drag me through some woods, my young protector struggling so hard to help.

A longer scene emerges.

A young man with golden hair and blue eyes looms above me.

Will.

His name is Will.

He’s my son.

I frown. What was that? Who is Will to me? I know I had it!

I’m Will’s father.

I can’t figure it out. It’s there, but muffled.

I try one last time to recall. He’s important to me! Will’s my son child family.

Yes. That last time I could recall it! I know I’m missing some things, but he is my family. I’m certain of that!

I suppose that’ll have to be enough for now.

Two more enter. They appear slightly younger. One with dark skin and woven cornrows, the other a young girl with ginger hair dyed with a touch of green.

Immediately I felt like I should know them, my son and daughter, my children, but the only word that stuck was “family”.

They are my family.

Tears well up in my eyes.

They’re here because they care for me. Because they love me. Because they think I’m worth it, despite all evidence to the contrary.

I can’t let them down.

More flashes, more scenes.

My children family sitting with me at a table, reassuring me that they’ll help me, protect me. Before I can break down sobbing, the scene changes again. I wish it didn’t. No, please, I want to be with them some more! I think. But it’s no use.  The scene is gone, and my memory of it fades as a new present takes its place.

I’m frustrated and miserable. Useless at skills I was once the god of. I make a rash vow, a foolish vow; no wait please don’t do this don’t promise this   i f   o n l y   I   h a d n ’ t   p r o m i s e d -

“I swear upon the River Styx - until I am a god again, I will not use a bow or a musical instrument!”

The world appeared to freeze. I knew I just did something terrible, something foolish, something that would cause death to the people I care about, though I didn’t know who those people were.

I rocket ahead. Chiron stands in front of me, looking grim.

“I fear one more team is still missing… your children, Kayla and Austin.”

My stomach twists into knots. They are gone because of me. I know they are. Because they tried to protect me.

I have to find them. To get them back. They have to live. They HAVE to. I will save them, no matter what. I owe them that at least.

More images, more pain, more evidence of my failures.

Meg being carried off by a myrmekes, because she had distracted the myrmekes from me. Stumbling towards the ant who has her, only to fall and vomit, unable to move. Gone because I had been stupid enough to swear on the Styx. Gone because of me. Another person dead because of me.

No.

She’s not dead.

I know she’s not!

This time I willingly push forwards through time. I know that can’t be the end for her, I know it!

I’m running back through the tunnels, bow and quiver slung over my shoulders. And I sing.

Memories crash back through me. Daphne slowly turning to wood, Hyacinthus’s eyes glazing over as he falls onto the ground, dead.

I had forgotten them again.

The pain of their deaths, of my failures, of my inability to even properly honor them by REMEMBERING them, crashes over me, crashes through me.

I sing out my pain, I beg for forgiveness. The myrmekes stand down, overcome by my grief.

But at least I won’t lose another precious person here.

Meg is ahead of me, constrained, but alive. This time, I wasn’t too late. This time, I did not fail.

My relief does not last long.

Meg is now beside me as we face off against a man, an evil man. I know, somewhere in the back of my mind, that this man has caused her untold pain, has hurt her in ways that will take a long time to heal, if they ever do.

Something tickles in the back of my mind.

A realization. One that feels familiar, but I was sure I hadn’t had before now.

This man - he was like that evil man, that awful man, that one who promised pain.

A man that should have protected Meg, like that evil, awful man should have protected me, because both of them are our fathers.

This time I didn’t push to remember. I didn’t want to remember him. He didn’t deserve it.

More jolting.

Trees burn around me. Several young demigods (and one geyser spirit), including Kayla and Austin, are tied up, unconscious and helpless as the flames inch closer. I CANNOT let them die. I WILL NOT. I pick them up, one by one, and drag them away. But it’s not enough. I only bought them minutes. They’ll burn too. I can’t save them. I can’t save myself. I need help. But who could help me? I’m alone. By myself, without my powers, I’m useless. I can’t save my precious people as a god, why would I think I stood a chance as a mortal?

I call for help, not expecting any.

My call is answered.

Dryads appear out of the trees, the beautiful nymphs marching resolutely towards the fire, faces placid, their fates decided. They quench the fire, but at a cost. The fire sears their skin, turning it black and hard (like how Daphne’s had turned to bark, like how her skin had turned dark and unyielding) until they crumbled away.

More dead because of me.

But somehow I always survived.

It doesn’t seem fair, that so many die so I can live.

I don’t deserve it.

I turn towards the hostages. My grief and guilt would have to wait. The demigods are depending on me. I have to try to help.

Small surge forwards, only by a few minutes.

Meg and I are in a grove of whispering trees. She’s backing away, saying that she needs to go back to the evil man, the Beast. She calls him something else, says that he’s not the Beast, tries to convince herself that he’s not as bad as he appears.

My heart breaks. The Beast has twisted her so far, has his claws in so deep, that he’s gotten Meg to do some of the work FOR him, to convince HERSELF that he can be reasoned with, if only she goes back to him. That it’s her fault for angering the Beast, that anything bad he was going to do, was because of her.

Absolving himself of any responsibility for his actions.

Something starts tingling in the back of my head again, a sense of familiarity. I ignore it. It He doesn’t deserve my attention or remembrance.

Meg runs away, back to her abuser. I wish I could help her, keep her away from her abuser. But I can’t catch her. She disappears, leaving an ache in my heart.

I will find her again. I will free her from her stepfather’s clutches. She protected me. It’s time I protect her.

I skip forward, in flashes again, instead of the small jolts I’d been experiencing.

*flash*

Myself crying over my son, relieved that he’s okay.

*flash*

Singing to the ants again, but this time trying to befriend them, instead of merely calm them.

*flash*

A giant golden statue of myself, buck-naked, running around squashing things (This one takes me aback for a moment).

*flash*

The battle’s over. The Demeter cabin is destroyed. The camp’s in disarray, many demigods sick or injured. But no one’s dead.

The campers are all alive and the injured and sick will make full recoveries.

If I leave, hopefully they’ll stay that way.

But I don’t want to. My family… Will, Kayla, and Austin… I want to stay with them. I want to be with them. I want to be there for them.

But I can’t endanger them anymore.

My feet don’t move. Even now, I’m still selfish and fearful. I can’t make myself leave, make myself go out on my own. I can’t do this by myself. I need friends. I just… I don’t want to be alone. Even though that’s safest for everyone around me. I can’t be alone. Please, don’t leave me alone.

Another flash forward, this one longer than all the previous ones.

I’m with a beautiful young woman, yet instead of feeling flirtatious, my stomach knots up. I’m responsible for something bad happening to her, an injustice she didn’t deserve. And I didn’t care until now. Why didn’t I care?

I can’t remember what I did. But knowing that in some way I had harmed her… I didn’t deserve her help. Yet she was helping me anyway. I am amazed that she wants to be around me.

We’re facing off against a young man holding a sword. He was a handsome young man, though his features were marred by many, many large scars across his face.

He’s trying to kill me. I’m about to die.

So why do I feel hopeful? Like I’m anticipating something.

Then a small girl drops in front of me. Meg!

She’shereshe’shereshe’sOKAYandshewantstohelpme

She holds him off, yelling at me to go, that she’ll hold him off. I can’t leave her. She’ll die. Yet I don’t have a choice. Try as I might, my legs walk me away from her, towards some griffins. My stomach turns. Something bad happens to these griffins. But now is not the time. My young protector is in danger. I WILL NOT allow her to die.

I hop onto one of the griffins, my female companion getting on board the other one. We fly them towards Meg and the swordsman. Thankfully, Meg’s order only applies to me, not what (or rather who) I’m riding. I hoist her up onto my griffin as we fly by. She turns to me and exclaims “You were supposed to go!” before wrapping her arms around me, sobbing into my shirt.

At least I’ve been able to do something right. I saved her. She didn’t die.

*flash*

It’s chaos around me. Ostriches running around, myself riding an elephant, Sis’s Hunters fighting. And then there’s the Emperor.

He looks exquisite in his fine purple robes, though he could’ve been naked and he would’ve been just as handsome (as I can attest).

My focus is not on him however (mostly); it’s on the young man he’s holding. Lit. His name is Lit. The man who tried to kill me and my friends earlier. Yet I can’t stand to see him die now. Not at Commodus’s hands.

He’s like me. He’s like Meg. Hurt, controlled by the people who should support him, seeing him only as a tool, not caring whether he lives or dies, only mourning the loss of some of their power. And making bad decisions, ones that hurt others. Though this is a similarity that only I and Lit share.

I could write him off. No one would blame me if I did. But I can’t. I just can’t. I have to try to help him, to find him a family. I can’t leave him like this, bleeding out, ready to be killed by someone who’s supposed to be on his side.

He deserves a chance.

*flash*

Meg’s dying in my arms.

She came here to help me. She’s dying because she refused to allow the snakes to kill me. I cannot let her die. Please, let this one live.

I tried everything I could think of - reassuring her, singing to her, telling her sternly that she must live - but none of it worked. I only had one recourse. I must share the poison with her.

If she dies, at least she won’t die alone.

*flash*

A bespectacled young man is standing in front of me. My heart attempts to fight its way into my stomach while my stomach tries to relocate up my throat.

Jason.

This is Jason.

My little brother.

Remember.

But

I

can’t.

I zone back in. My body is moving again, doing and saying things I am not in control of.

I heard Jason speak.

“I tried to talk some sense into Zeus. I told him he was wrong to punish you. He didn’t listen.”

I couldn’t comprehend the sentence fully. I knew this, though: Jason had put himself out there to try and protect me, even though he didn’t know me. Even though he’d had no reason to do so. I had done nothing for him. Yet he risked his life for me. He gave his life for me.

He turns to me, puts his hands on both my shoulders.

“Promise me one thing. Whatever happens, when you get back to Olympus, when you’re a god again, remember. Remember what it’s like to be human.”

I broke my promise.

I forgot.

I forgot.

I have to remember. Please, please, PLEASE, let me remember this. I can’t… I can’t let him down again. Let him down more than I already have. Let him down like I let Daphne and Hyacinthus down.

*flash*

Jason’s fighting against an Emperor - Caligula. Arrows are embedded in all of his limbs, but he still keeps fighting.

No.

NO.

NONONONONONONONONONONO

Not again… please… don’t make me watch this again…

Jason turns to me, looks me straight in the eye.

“GO! Remember!”

He’d used his last words to drive that promise into my soul, to ensure that I would never forget.

But I still forgot.

Caligula drives his spear through Jason’s back. He falls, blood soaking through his clothes.

He’s dead.

I couldn’t save him.

My brother is dead.

*flash*

My essence is being torn apart, converted. Dissolved. I will disappear.

Will anyone miss me?

I try to hold onto something, anything. My memories. But they are treacherous. My twin sister! What’s her name? What’s her name?! Please, leave me this. Please.

The woman next to me tells me to hold on, that help will arrive. But how can I resist? Even my most precious memories are slipping away now.

But I have to. For the sake of the dead. Of those who died to allow me to get this far.

I speak senseless words, words that I don’t understand. Yet they seem to help. As I speak, tiles rise up in front of me, blocking the heat just a little.

It’s not fast enough.

But it doesn’t have to be.

A young white furry creature with big ears (Crest! He has a name!) strums on a ukulele.

MY ukulele.

The one I gave him.

The one I promised to teach him how to play.

He’s beaten up, his fingers are broken, but still he plays.

He wants to be a musician.That’s his dream.

He could have left us. I only asked him to save Meg and to show us the entrance to the Labyrinth, nothing more.

Yet he CHOSE to stand guard.

He CHOSE to try to fight off Medea and his minions, despite how outmatched he was.

He refused to relinquish my ukulele, his ukulele, no matter what.

And now he is throwing away his chance of survival, his chance of attaining his dream, in order to save me, a person he’s only known for a day.

I watch on, helpless, as Crest continues to play.

I force out more words, dampening the heat slightly. Crest is buying me this time. I have to use it.

Medea stabs Crest in the chest. Still he plays defiantly.

She stabs him again. But he will not stop.

A third strum of the ukulele, a third stab from Medea.

Somehow he’s still alive, still clutching that ukulele.

*flash*

I’m on the ground, kneeling next to Crest. His fur is matted with blood. His chest is a mess of blood and viscera. But still he clutches that ukulele.

He locks eyes with me (just like Jason did before he died). “Music. God.”

He wanted to be a god of music. Like I was.

I talk to him, try to give him reassurances, convince myself that this cannot be happening, that Crest would be okay.“Yes, my young friend. You are a music god! I- I will teach you every chord. We will have a concert with the Nine Muses. When- when I get back to Olympus…”

Crest slowly relaxes, collapsing into dust. The ukulele remains, the only remnant of the brave young pandos.

I’d forgotten Crest. He had no one else to remember him. I was the only one who really talked with him. I was the one he looked up to. I had taken him on as my student. He had died to save me from a fate worse than death.

I had repaid him by forgetting he ever existed.

0-//O\-0

I woke up sobbing for the second day in a row.

Will. Kayla. Austin. Jason. Crest.  Hyacinthus. Daphne.

I’m sure there’s more that I’ve forgotten, more friends that I made, more lives lost. But these are all that I can remember right now.

My memories… I HAD to remember this time. My memory was growing fuzzy, but more slowly this time. I COULD NOT allow myself to forget. Not again.

I pull myself up using the bars of my crib, trying to stand, trying to walk.

I trip over an object.

My ukulele. The one that Artemis had retrieved for me.

I had always felt great sorrow and guilt looking at it, but I couldn’t bear to part with it.

Now I knew why.

…

That’s it!

Artemis, Leto, and Meg came rushing into the room. I burbled and pointed at the ukulele, trying to get them to understand my idea. They mostly just seemed confused, unfortunately.

At last I screwed up my face and concentrated. I pointed to the ukulele and said “Kest!”

Mother and Sis still looked confused, but light dawned in Meg’s eyes.

“Crest?” she asked. I nodded vigorously.

“You remember him? What else do you remember?”

I concentrate, trying to form the words, get the names out there. “Will. Kayla. Aw-tin. Da-nee. Hya… Hya-si… Hya-si…” I tripped up on “Hyacinthus”. Meg came to my rescue.

“Hyacinthus?”

I nodded, and then forced out the last name. I promised to remember…

“Jay-son.”

Meg’s face fell as she heard the name. She knew what remembering him meant. The guilt was written on my face.

“It wasn’t your fault, Apollo. You tried. He CHOSE to help, KNOWING that he would die. You did everything you possibly could.”

It didn’t make me feel better. He was still dead because of me. I HAD to fulfill his wish, his wish to… what?

Remember

I jolted. I needed to do this NOW, before I forgot more, before my memory faded again.

I quickly crawled out of the tent, into the outdoors, and more importantly, over to the dirt.

Mom, sis, and Meg followed, perplexed.

“Where are you going, brother?” Artemis asked.

I clawed at the dirt with my useless little baby hands. “Hya! Hya!” I cried.

Artemis looked at me sadly. “Hyacinthus is dead, Apollo. Even I can’t bring him back from the Underworld.”

‘That’s not what I mean!’ I wanted to shout. But I couldn’t.

I crawled over to Meg, using her dress to pull myself to a standing position. I pawed at the pouches on Meg’s belt, trying to open them.

Meg opens a pouch, taking out a packet of seeds. “You want this?”

I grab the seeds, not opening it, but shaking it up and down over the hole I had dug. “Hya!” I cried again.

This time, she got it.

“You want to plant Hyacinths?” she asked.

Success!

I nodded vigorously… and then fall over. Need to work on my balance.

Mom summoned a flowerpot. I carefully poked a hole in the soil, and Meg handed me a seed. I dropped it in and covered it up.

Now normally, this might not be enough to get a hyacinth flower to sprout and grow. Normally there weren’t several gods on hand who really, REALLY want that hyacinth to grow.

It grew rapidly, reaching full bloom in a matter of minutes.

I hugged the pot to my chest, crying a little. I won’t forget. I could never forget what this flower means.

There are more people I have to remember though, more I can’t afford to forget.

I tore myself away from the pot.

“Da-nee!” I shouted.

This time, they got it immediately.

Meg summoned a laurel tree seed. Artemis handed me one of her arrows.

I poked a hole in the ground, dropped it in, and covered it up, just like I did with the Hyacinth seed. Within minutes, a fully grown laurel tree had grown outside of the tent.

I sat back and stared at the two plants for a moment. My two loves. They had stopped fading from my mind. Even when my mind reverts back, I was certain that I’d still remember them.

I still felt antsy, though. I’d enjoyed being here, but I felt like I was missing people now.

Like there was somewhere else I wanted to go, some people I wanted to see.

Faces flashed before my eyes.

A young man with blond hair and blue eyes, looking down at me, concerned.

Another young man with dark hair in cornrows, playing the saxophone.

A young woman with ginger hair tinged with green, giving me advice on shooting arrows.

Family

“Ca’p Haf-bud,” I say. They look over to me.

“Ca’p Haf-bud, Ca’p Haf-bud!” I exclaim more urgently.

More of my family was there. I wanted to see them! I wanted to see them so badly!

“You want to go to Camp Half-Blood?” Artemis asks. I nod.

Meg cartwheeled around a bit. “I’d like that. I was getting bored. Plus they’ve got some good food.”

“Ok, let’s go,” Mother said.

Artemis broke down camp, and summoned her chariot. “You’ve never ridden in my chariot, have you, little brother?”

I hadn’t. I tried to look unimpressed and aloof.

Then one of the deer nuzzled me.

SO. CUTE. SO SOFT. And such pretty golden fur!

I immediately forgot that I was trying to be cool and patted their heads, squealing. The deer huffed, and the other three deer joined in, deciding to lick me. I laughed and squealed, it was so fun!

Then I glanced over and saw Artemis with a video camera. I tried to look aloof, but it was too late.

She smirked at me. I tried to be angry, but then one of the reindeer nuzzled me again and I couldn’t.

We entered Artemis’s chariot. I watched as Delos became smaller and smaller, clutching my ukulele (Crest’s ukulele) to my chest, hyacinth in a pot at my feet. The laurel tree grew smaller and smaller as we flew away.

“We’ll plant a new one,” Meg promised. “To remember her by.”

I nodded, tearing up as we flew towards more of my family and friends.

[reallyqueenkay]

All my enemies deserve nothing less than death and never to be rembered I don't ever mention the names of the wicked you want to stay dead unless I have to. I have never hated with my entire heart as I do these four tyrants I don't see humans at all they are the lowest scum that belong in the depths of hell burning forever. I used to be nice and try to see decency but there's nothing in these four I like nor want around. These four black people disgust me. Rapist, sexually sodomizing elderly people is awful, anyone that would ever harm their family deserves death. I have never in my life been a dirt bag and these four I honestly don't know. I met one briskly and it was hell I had to get rid of him because two weeks was to much for a good woman like me. Just trash the earth accidentally had. Won't be rembered is best. It's such a shame this happened. Over jealousy and their lack off. I honestly don't care just solution based. Three out of four I never met but they want to do things on the low and the stupid bitch that keeps stealing I can tell she was born poor who cares I don't. When so many people dead or alive hate you and someone that used to be nice will take your life's it's game over. Today was another day of disrespect from my race being attackes I don't play that shit I don't like you I don't want your evil near me. I'm doing any and everything to eliminate these scum bags the world lost GOOD people. It's not fair so many decent humans who didn't deserve to die passed and the four who rwpe lie steal and kill and torture didn't. It's clear those are the ONLY people that need to go and should if went. I will handle this evil. I hate that this shit is alive and tryna be other people to harass someone. Make sure you know someone before you stalk and kill their family.

My dumbass dead stealer didn't know me. Stole when I was in jail but talks shit 24/7 I have so many people that don't understand why she so wack. Shooting people up in their sleep isn't gangster whatsoever it's bitchy I said the same shit from last year only this year I don't care. I never met anyone like this stupid ass woman that acts hard and confessed to the murder of Frances Anita Moore Smith my dear mother that she shot up. Funny how she had the balls to come mess with me and never met me. I'm not the one to mess with ever. But robbing a man's house when I'm in jail got you world wide attention government attention and a lot of hate from others. The fact this woman stole my restraining order against her and her boyfriend. So stupid how dumb this used to be living creature is. It's best to hide these four the same way they did others it's the best thing to do.

I don't want to know it see it ever be around it. My power is only protecting me. My room knows me well I'm not in the mood for anything fancy I have no issues than with the evil niggas but something tells me they will get there's

I'll hide anthing under the carpet that eliminated these criminals.

Death is around the corner no cross roads no heaven never a burial that's to fancy for world evil.

I get a vomit feeling when I hear the voice I guess that's the sign

Times over!!! 0000

I'm tires of being harassed And annoyed And this bum near me I clearly hate and will eliminate. Nothing looks like a friendship or a joke my heart is pure. Can't miss or like something you never met. A man tried to overdose me.. goodwrittensm I can care less if they ever existed. I rather kids be safe and have a good future. Innocent decent hardworking human beings with MORALS. No more shit.

Wipe it out

Erased

Delete

They never existed

Kayla don't help enemies she saves herself and her man :)

My face and his face forever

[inkedmyths]

S1: E10 "Asylum"

Another one bc people won't shush and I GUESS I owe you guys. Blah blah blabbity blah

Oh an Asylum. Very classic horror ofc

Police officers? Interesting

Classic ghost story about a haunted asylum. Seems pretty par for the course

Of course they split up why wouldn't they

Oh! Look there are actual kids in here! Lol

WOAH he just appeared hello. I don't think that's him. Or he's possessed.

[ Kayla makes an allusion to her getting bullied by asylum ghosts last week. I know she works at an abandoned asylum, so I do not question this. ]

OOOH MUUUUURDER! SLOOOKIKY MURDER

[ I meant to type spooky. I have no doubt this mistake will be immortalized. ]

The man can barely work a toaster! Sam what's the context. Sam did your dad set a toaster on a fire

Oh are they having some kind of schtick. Sam smacks Dean and then gets more info that way

"Good cop" sure

[ Crepe says she can never tell if Supernatural is copaganda or not. My assumption is its a mixed bag, because what 2005 show starring white men would lean into any kind of ACAB concept. ]

Dean making fun of Sam for being psychic lmao

Dean if you keep making Shining jokes ur gonna get smacked. Again.

Bestie that's noooot a healthy relationship to have with your daaaad

[ Kayla laughs. I know enough about this show prior to watching to know that Dean has extremely pronounced daddy issues. ]

A PSYCHIATRIST? HELLO

This is so. Oh my god.

The psychiatrist is listing off issues in his head as Sam is trying to needle info

"You took forever" Sam had an actual appointment with a psychiatrist lmaooo

Oh look teens. Stupid teens

Please girl you should just LEAVE if he doesn't tell you that he's taking you to an abandoned asylum that's your sign to leave!!! Leave his ass!!!

OH HEY WHAT THE FUUUCK DOPPLEGANGER SHIT?? HE MADE OUT WITH A GHOST???

UH GUYS I THINK I SAW ONE OF YOUR MISSING BODIES OR SOMETHING

Obviously a lot of ableism happening here but that was expected

Kinda loving the music and atmospheric noises

OH HELLO

He shot a ghost

[ Crepe says its the lore. I know. Its still objectively funny. ]

Didn't hurt him, huh? Interesting

Oh its the teen! Hello teen gal

Oh ofc white blond girl dedicated to her kinda shitty boyfriend. Just like in real life

LMAO DEAN "Pay attention to horror movies"

SHE KISSED ME and Sam is like "Hwuh"

UH OH SHES BEEN YOINKED

Face it! Look at it!

Oh? Whats it saying?

137?

Going it alone is probably not a great idea

"I had a crappy guidance counselor" djdhsgsg

I figured. Something doesn't want them leaving.

Ok, so something bad happened to the patients, maybe this doctor was evil or something. The spirits are trying to... warn them? Get justice?

[ It's generally agreed that this is pretty much the standard for spooky asylum stories. ]

Oh cool the gal knows how to shoot a shotgun! Good for her

Was that even Dean calling? It was all choppy...

Oh this is where the cop guy went and lost it

Ohhh whisperssss spoooky

OHHH yep evil doctor ghost. This is just that one Dead by Daylight villian

[ There is now a brief moment of distraction, as Crepe said she thought the villian was "latex suit guy". After some discussion, it is revealed that she had mixed up Dead by Daylight with Until Dawn. ]

Oh there he is. He's not fine though. He's lying he's lyyyying

Oh boy Sam's got his head messed with and just rock salted his brother

Well I mean its like. Its like all his problems and issues have been brought to the surface

Man this is a scene

So much brotherly drama

Getting shot with rock salt has gotta hurt like a bitch

BEHIND YOUUUU

Ewwww there's the body

Gooooodbyyyyye evil doctor

You did mean it on some level Sam

Oh boy! There he is! On the phone! Bastard mc Bastard!

[loyalbreed]

      Cent has decided to back away for the time being; because he feels that it is effecting people he has come to appreciate. That he doesnt know how to return such kindness that was given to him in full. And much like the beginning when the catfish thing first happened, he is overwhelmed and doesnt know where to begin to reach out to people. Again like the beginning, the only people who spoke to him about it wanting an answer. Were the people directly effected by it? Myself included, versus people who just kept using it against him?          The Catfish thing was resolved and ended well between many people who were effected actually. The person who owns the blog that is being linked about him is scrambling to delete it since it was kept by her and a lot of others. To make sure it was out there that what had done, did happen. And that it wasn't over looked either; the fact Cent asked to keep that blog up. Should be important notion alone over who he is as a person. It was not to be brought up negatively again and used as a tool to populate someones obsession and anger over him. Since it seems to continue to happen by the same people staring a new issue every so often when he has people comfortably having fun with him. Which makes me upset because it seems that if a community is happy; unhappiness needs to happen.

        I do not like long posts--and honestly this didnt stay short. But I want say how upset I am this happens again. Considering I was one of the close to him when Cent Catfished; its really stupid to see people who had nothing to do with him at the time. Bring this up as if they were really the ones effected most directly from it? Further you are bringing up bad feelings that many people have already come to let sit on their chest and deal with ultimately.        To further delve into my own sense of okay this post is about me, even though this isnt. I need you all to know how Call Out Culture is ineffective and Bad. From my stand point with my experience I want to leave you with a short burst of information about myself and how we handle it along with DCF, a separate government branch, DDS, and her therapists.         My sister is severely mentally disabled. For the rest of our lives we will be taking care of her. She cannot wash herself. She thinks that Star Scream from Transformers is real and often comes to talk to her. I told her once she couldnt date a toaster as a joke, and she threw the toaster at me screaming about it. She really thinks star scream is attractive, and often details herself with obsessions with Aliens and outer space. She thinks God is evil-- because God made her this way. And cant understand why that is a sad thing to say. She just gets frustrated; frustrated is her essence of living. And acting out on it is how she is derived of.          To continue, she has pushed me down stairs. Abused me. Told me to die. Tried killing me several times. Has emotionally abused my little brother to the point we have a separate staff of people in and out of our house for him.           This is nearly every day for me; every day it is. Is kayla alright? did she do something? Did she hurt someone? did she hurt herself? no? Good good. Today was a good day.          How is this relevant toward this situation and pertaining toward things going on; the thing is rather then take my sister out of the house considering how constant this is. The government stresses on keeping her in the home and helping us all as a whole keep together. When a break is needed; and it can be afforded. She goes into Respite Program where she leaves for a week or so. She is actually going to one soon, and is very excited because they are going to go out a lot!            To reiterate the government keeps disabled individuals who may be a threat to the family within the home. With emergency issues and things that need happen--and yes when she says she wants to kill you she means it. As someone she has tried to I can say that much alright.           To make a point; People who are an issue you do not merely remove them and or kick them out. Indeed themes need be addressed and if their are serious manners of which Pedophila is being actually done then we and you. Need to contact police enforcement. They will take you seriously; it is a serious endeavor. You can involve Tumblr Staff as well, there are channels to pull with if there is something volatile that need be addressed. I implore you to. Yet often times it seems when posts are made, the latter is true.              To highlight the issues where, Cent condones or romanticizes these things that are being said. If you read these rules it is not the case. He states that he will participate in these things but does not want just anyone asking him. Nor does he want anyone shipping with the character as he doesnt understand why it is you would? It is weird to think that from these text alone you would take context otherwise-- Especially knowing before this post was presented. Cent talked about how on his Bel blog he doesnt want to make people feel like his Bel is pushing on them or making them uncomfortable. And that he would never participate in noncon. Or that on King Arthur; he does not do any of these themes what so ever. That these themes are only present on the villainous character he does not even participate in roleplaying anymore.              To round this over; it is getting upsetting seeing how this is effecting one another when the general idea is ‘ i just want to be happy and want people to talk/do things with.’ Rather then ‘ i want nothing to do with this person. ‘ So many people are stressed out and want to talk to cent. Reach out to Cent. But are constantly being told otherwise; its sad and im happy to know that people exist out there that know in actuality how dealing with problems work. Versus adhering the idea that you need kick someone out.                    I fear those people. Because i fear letting my sister do something around someone and someone not understanding and condoning her for it when they only have a minuscule of the story. Seeing as people cant even understand someone who makes sense how would you understand someone like my sister? Its cool you can say now ‘ oh But no we arent talking about that. ‘ Yet the only reason why you can feel this way is because you know the story behind my sister, many of you dont know anything about Cent save for interacting with him and that he makes you laugh.          So Im going to Tell you one thing about Cent that for me now that you know my story makes me happy to share.           Seeing that Cent came out from such a bad place, being such a bad person, doing such horrible things but choosing to do better made me believe in others again. It made me believe that even if my sister does all the things she does. There is always a spot and place for her to truly come about and make a better decision too. True, Cent is a more able bodied man and isnt disabled like my sister. But its just the fact that he does and he could and he can. That makes me believe anyone can.           It makes me feel like no matter who you were in the past; you can always chose to be better then that. And no matter how many times or who wants to believe who you are in the past dictates who you are in the future. Wont ever mean as much; That anyone despite the things they have done can always chose to be a better person then what they had been. And cent really does solidify that fact. As someone who knew him from the time as a cat fished. That got catfished by him. Literally back stabbed by him. Only to come down and talk again as friends.                   I feel like I get to say that not anyone else, and Im really glad to be able to say that lmao. He is my closet friend and will always remain to be.             I don’t mind if you feel you do not want to talk to me or think I romanticize his issues as someone who has gone through so much. So much and more, you would not begin to understand. I feel you are more then welcome to believe that but I know there are people who talk to him and know what he does and feels the same. And are comfortable with the rounded world they have created with friends.              And I really ( SHOUNEN VOICE ) I really just believe in people--people change. And Cent makes me realize that this is possible. And you cant just remove people out of your life thinking they wont. And because I know better and because I am an adult with my head well on my shoulders. I can make that decision, i understand if you cannot yet or are afraid or uncertain. I implore you to keep yourself safe just know that some of us feel chill. and we are all alright btw!! So dont feel like we are being attacked or manipulated by cent. 

But I insist you stop thinking that trying to get rid of someone is going to solve an issue. People continue living and breathing every day regardless of what you think or want to happen? No one is ignoring the issues or ignoring the fact that stuff happened if you are scared or uncertain as well about them feel free to add me and we can always group convo and you can let your feelings bare. Or anyone really? just be mindful and fair?

This isnt going to make Cent come back i really just feel like. I want these feelings to be known and that if you are ever called out personally I will gladly give you a chance of your own. I can only hope to god, that he would give that chance to my sister one day if something happened. And to anyone and everyone, as well as  teach other people that everyone deserves that much.

[destinationweddinganovel]

Monday Afternoon - No More Denial

MARISSA

Gemma will lecture me for the rest of my life, but I have to unload. No more being blind to Alex’s hints, both of us living in denial. I’m still not convinced, but Alex is, so what does it matter. The day now a total write-off, I called in sick and came home. Gemma’s nursing a sprained ankle, so I phone her and tell her the entire story through bouts of sobbing and crying fits. Alex is the only thing that makes living in Dorchester tolerable. With all my loans to pay off it’ll be years before I can afford to move away from here again. Never mind that time is running out for me. If I’m ever to have kids of my own it has to be soon. Every time I check Facebook, some new friend is expecting. Even Stephanie has reproduced.

“How does he know it’s his?” she asks, the biggest thing I’ve been wondering since he told me about the ultrasound over breakfast. Alex had tried his best not to worry until he had tangible proof.

“He says she’s never been with anyone besides him, and he believes her.”

“Lord, men are so stupid!”

I love it when Gemma gets as enraged as I am. “He is going to demand a paternity test,” I say, pacing around on my knotted carpet, “and he has no interest whatsoever in getting back together with her no matter what the outcome is. Not after what went down earlier. She is psychotic.”

“If it is his, he might change his mind once the baby’s born.”

I know she means well, but that is not what I need to hear right now. “He even asked me if I’d be cool with him fighting for custody, so I seriously doubt it. He says she’s not fit to be a mother. Not with the temper she has. She nearly threw his stereo out of a twelfth-floor window! With no regard to who might be walking along the street below!”

“What about you? Do you honestly think you are ready to be a mom in a few months, helping raise someone else’s kid with a man you barely know? Are you insane?”

Easy for her to say. She hasn’t been single since high school. I’ve lost out on countless promotions to working moms. Money they go spend on shopping and spa treatments and luxury cars because their husbands pay all the bills. So many evil thoughts swirl in my head, ones I do my damndest to push out again. Most involve Chris finding herself in the path of an oncoming truck or ingesting an untraceable poison. I blow my nose and say, “I have to think about it. I don’t know what to do!”

“Same when you had problems with him before. Ask your followers. Alex doesn’t know about the blog, so who would ever link it to you? Let it all hang out. Whatever you’re feeling, get it out of your system. You can always delete it later.”

“I guess,” I say, letting out a deep sigh. So much for The Dream, which is becoming a nightmare.

“Anyway, I need more Percocet and no one’s here to fetch it for me. I have to go. Call me later?”

“I will.” A spiteful rush surges into me. I return the handset to the charger and fetch my laptop. The next hour flies by as I type it all out. Christine has just pulled the oldest trick in the book and I am so going to call her on it. Enough with that psycho. Enough of me playing fair and always being the good guy. Every day I don’t fight back, I’m the one who gets screwed over. Not this time. Not over the same trick Kayla had pulled on Connor.

My cell phone buzzes. Finally building security has tracked down the intruder and sent me a screenshot. A heavy-set woman with a beaked nose was bolting through the lobby at about the same time that Friday night. Definitely not Christine. I can’t view Chris’s friends on Facebook, but I can see Reggie and Alex’s, and maybe she was dumb enough to use someone they know in common. I scroll through dozens of old group photos until I find one that I’m sure is the same person. The tag says Lina Horvat and a chill spreads into me. Reggie’s wife?

I’ve never even met the woman! Alex said she and Chris couldn’t stand each other, but I’m not so sure. While Reggie told me all about what styles of clothing Alex likes, his taste in music and books, and what drove him nuts about his ex, I realize, in hindsight, I should have asked way more questions about Christine. Not about the crazy stunts she’s pulled, which I’ve heard plenty of, but what she does in her free time, her friends or hangouts, and what on earth attracted him to her to begin with. Bridget must know. They’ve worked in the same department for at least two years.

She answers on the third ring. “Marissa McLaghty! What a pleasant surprise!”

“Hi! My boyfriend works with you and I thought to myself, I really should give you a buzz. I heard you recently got a big promotion,” I say, testing the waters before revealing anything to her.

“Alex told me he was seeing you. He is such a sweetie. We’re all sad for Chris, but that’s how it goes. We should do lunch,” she says. “I’d love for us to catch up.” We make tentative plans for Wednesday since Alex will be out at a seminar for most of it, and she hangs up. I cannot wait.

She’s also confirmed something I’d long suspected, and yet another issue Alex has been cagey about. He and Christine work for the same company. And they know about me, I try to reassure myself.

Nevertheless … They may not speak now, but what about in a few months’ time once the bitterness of their breakup has passed, or after Alex and I have had our first fight and his memories of his earlier relationship turn golden? He has no intention of changing employers or starting his own company and for all I know, neither does she. Even if she’s not pregnant, they could still be co-workers ten years from now. Co-workers going on conferences together. Getting drunk together. Remembering the good old times. Sharing hotel rooms. My mind becomes a flurry of paranoid thoughts.

With luck, Bridget will assure me I have nothing to worry about. She always had a relaxed outlook on life that I envied. She may know of job openings at other companies too, since she’s been in Dorchester her entire life. She must have tons of business contacts. Whatever happens, I cannot let my future hinge on Alex alone. I can get back on my feet without him, I just have to keep trying. It’s a big world out there.

For now, I need to vent. I open the admin page of my blog to create a new post.  

[speedybooksandcreativeheaven]

CEO Troubles Series

Chapter 7

Summary: Back in the demon world, James the eldest demon was told to use his mark to find his soulmate, but he soon discovers that his mate is human and wants nothing to do with him. He is also in charge of a large toy company that was previously run by Mr. Anderson the warlock that brought his brothers to freedom. Now 1 year later, James took the position as Mika is now his VP. Will Kayla accept her fate or will she fight?

Chapter summary: Tony finally meets the one who gave him demon powers as he teaches him how to use his new gifts. Back in the Anderson household, Mika, Kayla and the brothers are all confused as to see another mark on her. As they try to figure out what is going on they might be a little bit too late.

Word Count: 1,840

Tony's POV

“Ugh, what the hell happened to me?” I groaned in the quiet room as I slowly stand up from the floor and take in my surroundings.

I see that my living room is destroyed with large black demon markings all over the walls. As I get closer towards these marks, I see that they are burned and smell like rubber. I shudder as I remember how I got here in the first place. I made my way towards the bathroom as I wanted to take some painkillers for my massive headache. I walked into the bathroom as I take a double look at myself in the mirror as I couldn’t believe what I turned into.

I saw that my once white hair turn brown as my eyes have a ginger tint. I look towards my body as I see my apricot pointed horns on my head. I see some dark orange lines all over my body that made their way down to my legs. I look down as I saw hooves. Did I have hooves!? I screamed as the current memories flooded back reminding myself what I have done.  

“I made a deal with a demon to destroy James Anderson. I am a demon-human hybrid with the powers of seduction and rage.”

Again, as I spoke aloud as I heard no response I only saw my reflection. Before I could make another sound It heard like something was burning in the living room. I quickly ran towards the noise to see the burned pentagram glowing along with the demon markings on the wall. I glance around the room to see no active fire, but the room smelt like burned wood. I make my way towards it only to be pushed back towards the wall. There was a loud thud as all of my family pictures fell off creating a crashing sound that echoed around the small room. I saw a large built man in front of me, with black hair, fur and hooves. Before I could cower in fear the creature spoke.

“Earth to stupid. It’s me. The demon you made your deal with. Now, lets get introductions out of the way.”

He cleared his throat before speaking again, “I’m the Demon Lord, the king of hell! I have given you the powers to stop my son, Reastreo, from leaving and coming to this chaos of freedom.”

“You mean James right?” I questioned the lord as he rolled his eyes back, clearly annoyed at my question.

“Yes! That’s his true name! The name that I gave him! They must have ‘human’ names now.” He mumbled the last part as he glared towards me.

“Why did he leave?” I asked again, but I got shot down with an evil glare.

“That’s not part of our deal!” He gave me a cocky grin as he ignored my question, “You wanted to gain the power to win Kayla back and take your rightful place as the new CEO of Anderson Toys.”

I nodded but looked down at my demon form, “How will this, help me?”

“Come with me,” he formed another portal that he walked in backwards. I silently followed as we ended up in a dark alley way behind a seedy nightclub.

I looked down to see my human form with my white hair but my same coloured eyes. I looked puzzled at the demon, but I saw that he wore human clothes that was jeans with boots that showcased his slick black hair and his abs were clearly noticeable that barred his large black lineage marks.

“Sorry, it’s not everyday when I see a demon with abs and no shirt.” I snickered as he caught on that I was starting.

“You fool! Back in the Demon World we are shirtless, baring their lineage colours on their body’s is a sign of power and pride! As I am in the human world for the time being I wear this.” He looked at his outfit, “Now, to explain how this works.”

“You were given the main powers of seduction, rage, and manipulation. These will be your three keys to get what you want most in life. You can seduce any man or women to get them to do anything that they deeply desire. With manipulation you can be able to smooth talk to anyone to get your way. You also get my rage and you are able to collect Kayla’s energy through this mark that I bared to you. You are also stronger, faster, and clever than before as a demon.”

I rolled up my sleeve to see a sliver crown with demon symbols of revenge. It flickered in the light as it looked like a tattoo.

“Just one more thing,” he exclaimed, “If you can’t destroy Reastreo in two weeks your soul and body will be mine. I will bring you back to the demon world for you to pay for fucking me over! Don’t make me wrong, human pig!”

He then disappeared into darkness as I am left alone back in my bedroom.

‘So, I have two weeks to get Kayla, my dream job and to kill James for taking it away from me.’

I walked towards the broken glass as I lifted up a photo of my parents, “Don’t worry, I’ll make you proud of me. No matter the cost.”

I burnt the photo in my hands causing ashes to form. Before it hit the floor I snapped my fingers and the ashes blew into the air. I decided to pay James and Kayla a visit since I wanted to explore my new demon side.  

MEANWHILE BACK AT THE ANDERSON HOUSEHOLD…

It’s been a couple of minutes since Mika expelled the old mark we are all looking at the new mark confused; I saw Kayla back away on the couch clearly scared. The silence broke when Mika cleared her throat in the large room.

“James,” Mika started as she looked worried, “Could you lift up your sleeve, to see if you have the same mark?”

I nodded but as I lifted up my jacket sleeve to show my bare arm, I noticed that it was gone. Mika eyes widened as well as mine.

“But, if you’re not the one who marked you.. Who did?”

I could sense that something was wrong. I tried to shake off that feeling as we were trying to figure out what was going on. In the corner of my eye I saw Kayla jump off the couch and screamed in pain as we all turned our heads towards her to see shaking while in front of a mirror while we all gathered around her.  

“What the hell happened! Mika! I have another mark, I thought that you removed the one on James!” her brown eyes were in tears as she growled at the new mark on her soft skin. Mika’s greens eyes cast downward as she didn’t have an explanation as to what was going on.  I slowly approached her as she turned to the mirror in shame. I could feel her shallow breathing as I turned her around to comfort her as she leaned in my chest.

“Can I see the new mark?” I questioned, “James,” she looked at me with a sad smile as she took her right arm. It was almost the same as my mark like before, but it was a sliver crown that was circled around demon symbols of revenge.

I start to think about all of people that could have marked my flower. My mind was blank as I looked around the room to see my brothers and Mika considering who would do such a thing but to no avail. As I held Kayla in my arms I felt like something was burning. She pulls away from me as she grips her marked arm to see the mark glowing and letting off steam. Before I could calm her down we all looked towards the ground to see the familiar pentagram, under Kayla’s feet.

“James?” her voice was scared as she looked towards me. My eyes widen as I scream towards her as she is falling into the darkness.

“Don’t you worry, my flower! I will find you! I will always find you!” My frantic body spring into action as I tried to grab her. My strong hand found hers, but a strong force pulled her down further into the darkness. I wanted to jump inside to save her, but Mika pulled me back with her dainty hands on the back of my shirt. I face here with her green eyes full of worry.

“What the hell!” I start to rage as I can feel my golden markings slowly come onto my body as I was slipping away from the human form, “Why did you pull me back!” I roared.

I see her straighten her stance as she marches towards me. Everyone in the house remained silent as all of the attention in the room was on these two.

“James!” I hear her start as she is able to block out my demon magic, “If you went in that portal than you and Kayla would have been trapped in the darkness! I know you want to save her but at what cost will be enough for you Reastreo!”

As soon as I heard my true name I appeared right before her as all of my anger was gone. I was more relaxed as I remembered that Mika is not my enemy here. She wants to save Kayla just as much as I do. I felt my magic slowly disappear as she touches my arm where the previous mark was.

“See James,” she coos at me, “I am not your enemy here. We are going to bring Kayla back. I have a plan.” I perked up as soon as she said plan.

“Since you have marked her before you can still smell her energy even after I removed your mark. Despite everything that happens you are her soulmate James.” She walks up towards me as she touches my forearm where the mark was, “You were able to sense her in pain before she got the new mark and even now,” she slowly rubs her fingers to see some golden dust, “You knew that she was going to be harmed and yet you were going to risk your life for her.”

I smile down at her as I nodded to answer her statements. I look at my previous mark, knowing that I never meant to hurt Kayla like I did.

“What’s the plan Mika?” My voice becomes dangerous as I clutched my fists so tight my hands appeared to be white.