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valzhanginator · 11 hours ago

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we approached them with nothing but RESPECT. leo valdez was so sweet and willing. the big headed bitch on the right had the CRAZIEST attitude. nd he was grasping onto leo like someone was trying to snatch him. girl relax.

and bitch you’re not even fitted. like yk your new quest just came out, you’re trending, your dad was just in new rome. don’t walk around argo ii looking this crazy. purple tracksuit zipped to the TOP and that barbarian ass crossbow. what’s going on?

idk if he was coked out or what???

#LMAOOOO #frank zhang #leo valdez #valzhang

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valzhanginator · 4 days ago

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crazy how some people are flabbergasted by valzhang. they're like "huh?? people ship the two guys who were bickering and bantering and getting on each other's nerves where one guy has fire powers and the other is afraid of fire??? and then they make up and the fire guy builds something that will always keep the other guy's life safe???" like YES. WAKE UP

#like DUUHHHH #shipping two characters with a mutually antagonistic “ugh he's so annoying!” relationship is so normal it's almost boring. like #if I'm being real I think there might be a mysterious reason why people are weird towards frank ships in particular 🤔#< prev tags #valzhang #frank zhang #leo valdez

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valzhanginator · 15 days ago

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Atlas and the Hesperides by John Singer Sargent (1921)

#greek mythology #art #atlas #hesperides

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valzhanginator · 20 days ago

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________________________

𖦹 - Flame and flicker

Pairing - Valzhang (Leo Valdez/Frank Zhang)

Important tags - mild SH, major character death

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‘Frank doesn’t quite remember when he grew so fond of fire. Who knows?’

Just a blurb😿

________________________

Frank doesn’t quite remember when he grew so fond of fire.

He used to despite it. It horrified him. His weakness for the natural element was a big part of his life. It was already bad enough at camp. One time, Hazel burned some fancy plant in her room while he was visiting. He hadn’t expected it and screamed like a girl.

In his defense, she didn’t ask.

It got a whole lot worse on his quest to save Thanatos. (He says ‘his quest’, but truly it was Percy’s. Percy’s the big hero.) He had to watch his childhood home get burnt down. He took his first steps in that house. He remembered every creak of the stairs, and how to avoid them. He remembered his mom making cookies that tasted terrible, and his grandma made him eat the charred baked goods anyways to be polite. Gods. How many pictures of his mother had he lost in that fire? Were there any left? What about—

‘Thinking about it doesn’t help,’ he chided.

Whenever he got nervous, he’d clutch the little bundle in his pocket. And that normally leads to sparks. Somehow. It doesn’t really have logic to it.

The ‘bundle’ he mentioned is a piece of firewood, tightly wrapped in cloth, a little band tied around it to keep it in place. It’s tied to his life.

Something about Juno, and him being declared ‘too powerful’ because of his divine parentage. If it caught aflame and fully charred to dust, he’d die.

So yes, he’s pretty protective over it.

He didn’t feel the need to tell anybody. Nobody would be able to gain that much trust from him. Not even Hazel.

…Not even Hazel.

He was a dumb teenage boy, and a crush didn’t equal life threatening trust. He wouldn’t do that.

Hazel’s sweet. She’s wonderful. Jeez, she’s amazing.

He wasn’t… quite sure about his feelings. All he knew is it didn’t matter. He’d never ever try anything with any crushes he’ll ever have, probably. He’d just humiliate himself.

When did romance come up? Anyways.

After that quest, he was declared a future hero of Olympus and thrown on a ship with six other people.

He was an odd one out. Of course he was.

Percy had Annabeth, Piper had Jason, and Hazel had Leo.

Hazel and Leo are… something. They’ve got something going on, let it be lore, romance, or detailed past stuff. Something about ‘Sammy’. Whatever it is, Frank hated it. Hated Leo. Despised him.

You’ll never believe what’s special about Leo.

He manipulates fire.

So not only is he an asshat that’s clearly stealing Hazel because he’s ten times more attractive, sly, and funny, he’s also the human equivalent to Franks biggest fear.

Leo was rude. Specifically to him.

‘I think I’m worth… say, three or four Franks?’

It ticked him off. He couldn’t have anything. Can’t be the main hero, can’t get the girl, can’t be anything of importance.

That’s not what this is about though.

Despite everything, all the cruel jokes, ‘accidentally’ dropping Leo about a hundred feet, and Leo almost setting him on fire (he almost sobbed, swear to hades), the managed to get along.

They had a whole talk underwater (don’t ask how). It kinda went like…

‘I hate you, why can’t you like anyone but Hazel?’

‘Whattt, nahhh, I’m likeee, wayyyy too cool for Hazel. She’s like, a sisterrrr, ya feel meee?’

‘Oh. Cool. Why do you sound like that.’

‘You’re ginormous.’

‘Oh. Cool.’

Yeah. It cleared up a lot.

And Leo shared his own secret. His own hate for his power. He spoke about how destructive it was, how painful, how it caused more wreckage than relief. He told the story about his mom.

Frank panicked out of guilt, and told him about his mom. And in the process of babbling, it somehow moved on to ‘I have a magic stick that’s like connected to my life and if it burns I’ll literally explode and that’s why I’m terrified of you.’

He hated himself for that. He didn’t trust Leo. He no longer thought he’d be out to kill him, but what if Leo catches aflame and accidentally stumbled into him and all hades breaks loose?

Leo disappeared for about a week.

They found him, obviously, a little raft on the shore of a little city. Frank called it out. Positive it was him. And they did find him.

Leo looked… confused. Off, through his normal spew of jokes. He gave Frank weird looks.

Then, one night, Leo approached him. He shared nothing about what happened that week, simply gifting him a baggy. A little fireproof baggy.

‘It’s fire proof.’ He’d said. ‘For your fancy deadly wood thing?’

Somehow, in Franks years of life, he never thought of a fireproof container. Living on the edge, y’know?

After Franks many, many nervous thank you’s, Leo opened up about what happened that week. He’d fell from the sky onto some goddesses island. Calypso. Leo knew the story of the Odyssey, panicked, and told her he was gay. She got a whole lot less pushy after.

A laugh had been forced out of Frank at that. It was a very Leo tactic.

Leo had brightened a lot. Probably nothing.

Frank sees Leo in the morning a lot.

Annabeth had mumbled something about how Leo wasn’t taking care of himself. How his mood was going down, how he wouldn’t leave the ships controls or engine room for a break. Frank hadn’t noticed. Huh.

He woke up early one morning in pajamas that didn’t fit right to wander through the Argo, ending up on the dock. Leo was stood at the controls, murmuring to himself.

Frank hadn’t meant to jumpscare him. But it was funny.

After a long moment of awkward conversation, Frank cleverly got Leo to hand over the reins by seemingly being so interested in how to drive the ship. Leo looked so proud of himself as he explained. It was a nice sight.

That happened a lot. Seeing him at random. Sometimes Leo even came to him at nights when he couldn’t sleep to rant. It’d disrupt Franks tricky sleeping patterns, but that’s okay.

Then Leo was gone.

He wasn’t sure what to feel. It was confusing.

He remembered being sat at the table with the other six—… other five. He had a hand on Hazels back as she explained through tears.

The look on his face as he told them his plan. It made Frank sick. He was never supposed to smile like that. It was wrong.

The look on the others faces had burned into Franks skin. And they were right to be upset. He let him die. It was his fault.

They had tried to move on from the subject. But Piper and Hazel were still in tears. Everybody was miserable. It made Frank want to crawl in a hole and die.

He tried to help. Said he could drive the ship. That Leo taught him how. Annabeth gave him a weird look (which was understandable, why would that happen?), but thanked him anyways. One problem down.

This was what Frank would’ve wanted way back then, right? What the voices in his head screamed for. Leo in pieces somewhere.

But the thought just made Frank sick.

He found Leo’s lighter at some point, after raiding his room. He assumed it was already dug through, he just wanted to… wanted to check. And check he did.

It was a nice lighter. He assumed Leo made it himself.

He flicked it open and a small red flame appeared. Brilliant.

It burned calmly, like it had all day, lighting up the mostly dark room. Frank could feel its warmth, feel its heat. The possible danger.

Leo would’ve scolded him. Something like ‘you’re gonna kill yourself! Stop touching my stuff!’ Which feels… ironic.

He stared at the flame for a while. He wasn’t sure why. It didn’t fix anything.

He brought his free hand up, holding the fire close to his palm. Not close enough to burn quite yet. It was a nice warmth.

Then he used his thumb and pushed a little closer.

It was just a tingle. Then an ache. Like he could feel his flesh burning, cooking. A dull, throbbing pain, that just seemed to get worse. Reminded him of something.

Annabeth had interrupted him before he could set his hand on fire. That was nice of her.

Hm.

Frank doesn’t quite remember when he grew so fond of fire.

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Again, beginning writer💔 I love them. Sigh. Criticism is appreciated !!

<33

#valzhang #leo valdez #frank zhang

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valzhanginator · 21 days ago

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