#I’m sorry Grover I do like you you just weren’t really one of MY kids

[totally-not-an-awkward-okapi]

When I first started reading I couldn’t find the Percy Jackson books passed The Isle of Monsters but could find the then publishing Heroes of Olympus, so I read those instead. Talking about the original portraits made me want to draw my kids.

[solange-lol]

"why don't we be friends (why don't we make out)" - (1/1)

words: 2,373

read on ao3

—

There are very few people that Nico forgets about. At least, as far as the people that have stuck around with him for most of his life.

He’s known Percy and Annabeth since they were young, remembering watching the two of them chase each other around the schoolyard and purposefully try and get desks right next to each other before they were inevitably separated by alphabetical last name seating. He remembers trying to convince Piper to do his french project and Jason sitting in the halls with him outside of the music room when they wouldn’t want to go outside for recess in middle school. He can still hear the alarm when Leo accidentally knocked over a bunsen burner in their sophomore year chemistry class, and the feeling of paint on his skin when Hazel tripped and sent half of her palette onto him in their art class.

Nico can even recall moments with the people he was never particularly close to, like when Rachel told him she loved him backstage of their winter concert after only having known him for five minutes (in a very lesbian/gay solidarity way, of course), or when Grover spent an entire hour hiding out in their school library to get away from their math sub.

It’s strange now, looking across such a large circle of people piled into Jason and Thalia’s house. They’re all people from his grade (or class , he supposes, now that they’re officially graduated), Each one of them, Nico can remember at least one conversation he’s had with them, one story he’s passed into his closer friend group that is laughed over and then inevitably moved on from.

It was supposed to be a big party celebrating all their friendships throughout the years.

Ironically, so many people that had such little impact on him, in retrospect.

Which is why it comes as a surprise to him when he sees a flash of blonde curls and freckled skin among the sea of people. He’s hit with what feels like a wall of memories of the two of them, laying in the same bed trading quiet secrets, and walks to the store to get an inhumane amount of candy that they can go share at the pier. Images of blue eyes, warm hands in his, and the sound of stifled laughter at midnight feel all too familiar. Nico is stuck on them.

He hasn’t seen Will in years.

It wasn’t exactly his choice. It wasn’t either of theirs, really. They had gone to middle school together, and from the ages of 10 to 14, Will knew the most about him.

And then their middle school graduation came and went, and Will left for a boarding school. Nico remembers, vaguely, Will asking him to come with them.

“They offer more classes, and there are more opportunities for help,” they had said, or something along the lines of it. “And we could be roommates.”

Part of him wanted to. All of him almost went. But it was the same year he lost his sister, and while moving to another state for school sounded like a fantastic way to avoid all his trauma, he had to stay with his family. Not that his father would have stopped him, but Nico knew he couldn’t go. Not yet.

So he stayed, and Will left, and it all worked out fine. They texted every other day, facetimed once or twice a month when their schedules lined up. Will came home for Christmas that year, telling stories about the other kids on their floor and their girlfriend. Then, when he came home for that summer, about their boyfriend.

Nico would listen, then catch Will up about what was going on at his public school. He had gone out on a date with one boy which was nice but didn’t turn into anything, and Will told him he would find someone eventually. They took trips to the mall together instead of the pier, mostly just to get milkshakes and have a place to walk around.

One morning, Will convinced him to bike to the beach in the morning to see the sunrise. The sky ended up being too cloudy, but they still sat together on the empty lifeguard chair, swapped sweatshirts and bagels with cream cheese, and talking about summer jobs and college.

Then Will left for their sophomore year, and school caught up to both of them and whatever kept them going was lost. The most Nico talked to them was through the occasional Snapchat sent to each other or on a group facetime

The last time Nico had called Will alone, it was in a panic to ask advice on how to break up with the boy he was dating at the time because he realized that relationships weren’t really his thing, at least not yet. Will had sat quietly, giving him occasional advice, and mostly just comforted him.

And that was it.

Nico had gotten a new phone later that year, and all their call logs and long text threads were lost into the depths of his phone memory.

It was bittersweet, in all honesty, and pretty painless for the most part. Maybe it’s because Nico never really forgot about Will. There was never any clear ending; no hard feelings between the two of them. He still sees their posts on social media, sees their mom in the store on occasion. He remembers passing Will at their local fair when they came home again for the summer of their junior year with their boyfriend that they were still dating, and then later again the next when he noticed that all posts had been removed from their Instagram including the ones with said boyfriend and nothing but will - they/them in their bio.

He wondered, briefly, where Will had gone when he didn’t even see him in passing over the following summer. Was he still going to the boarding school? Had his family moved out of the state entirely?

It never felt like a friendship breakup. It was clear now, though.

Nico wonders at which point it became one. He didn’t mean to stare at Will as long as he did. Everything had just come washing over him at once, and he was frozen in place staring at the person Nico had once called his best friend.

He doesn’t even realize he was staring until Will looks back. Their blue eyes meet his brown ones, and reality sets back in. The loud music he had drowned out in his daydream came filtering back through his ears, and he stumbles as people shove past him towards the kitchen. Still, his gaze locks on Will.

Neither of them makes a move towards each other at first.

Then, a moment later, Will is right next to him.

“Hey,” they say it slowly, almost like they were testing the waters, like they knew how long it had been since they had spoken.

Nico doesn’t know what to say. His first instinct was to hug them.

He withstands it, though, instead grabbing onto their wrist and pulling them past the crowd of people and into one of the rooms off of the main hall, which was miraculously empty. He can still hear the pounding music, but it was a little bit quieter with the door closed. Quiet enough that he can think again.

“Uh, hi,” Will tries again, and god, their smile never changed.

“Sorry,” Nico says once he realized he had just seemingly dragged them into a secondary location with no explanation. “It was just… loud. Out there.”

“I get it,” Will says, sitting down on the couch pushed onto the far wall and looking back up at Nico. They were wearing a pinkish-orange button-up Hawaiian shirt that looked straight out of their dad’s closet (Nico would know, he’s seen it before) that was half-tucked into mid-rise light wash jeans that were cuffed just enough that you could see a glimpse of where their socks met their Converse. Yellow, possibly the same pair they had bought at the mall two years prior when Nico was there.

They got taller, he thinks vaguely. Nico had too, but Will still has at least half a foot on him.

“So, what’s up?”

“Not much, I guess,” he shrugs, twisting his ring. “I mean, I graduated. I assume you did too.”

Will nods. “I did. Lou Ellen invited me as her plus one. You know her, right? Friends with Rachel.”

Nico nods. Shoulder length, cloud-like hair that was a different color every other week. Wore lots of random thrifted t-shirts over big pants. Loud personality, even louder voice. Band kid. Friends with Cecil; her good grades probably being the only reason he hasn’t been kicked out of the school yet. Once debated the legitimacy of gender binaries with him in an English class.

“Sorry for, like, staring at you before,” he says. “It’s been a while.”

They nod again. “All good. I was staring at you before anyway.”

“You were?”

“Yeah,” Will shrugs. “You’re easy to look at.”

Then, a moment later, “It has been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yeah. You’ve changed a bit.”

“Have I?” They ask. “I think just my look, maybe. I’m still just as obnoxious.”

Nico snorts. It’s comforting to know they could just slip back into it like this. Like no time had ever passed, and Nico is back in their bedroom creating each other in The Sims.

“Are you still dating Connor?” Nico asks, vaguely remembering the last conversation they had.

“Nah, we broke up last winter.”

“Any reason?”

Will squints a bit like they’re curious why Nico’s asking. It makes Nico blush, immediately regretting saying anything.

“Dunno. We just grew apart,” they say. Then, “Sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it?” followed by a laugh.

“I didn’t mean to stop talking to you,” Nico says quickly because he didn’t. There are days where he sees Will’s Instagram story or a tweet and knows that even though he could still comment, it wouldn’t quite be the same.

“Life got busy,” Will says. “It happens”

“I didn’t want it to. Not to us.”

“So let's restart.”

Nico blinks. “Just… start over our entire friendship?”

“No, just pick up where we left off.”

“Just like nothing happened?” he asks, sitting down on the couch next to them.

“Just like nothing happened,” Will affirms.

They’re both quiet for a moment, then—

“Do you remember what you told me when you first came out as bisexual to me?”

It was in the basement of Will’s house. Nico had come out as gay a few weeks prior, and when he was talking about the boy he liked, they just casually mentioned it. Being with Will like this again reminded him of something they had said, and something he later found out.

“I think I just, like… told you, right?” Will smiles. “And I said you were a big part of helping me figure out.”

“Yeah. I always thought you meant because I had already come out,” Nico said. “It wasn’t until, like, last year that Piper mentioned you meant that because you liked me.”

Will laughed again. “I figured you didn’t. You were always talking about what bad of a couple we would make.”

“Yeah,” Nico said, and his heart picked up pace as his knee knocked against Will’s by accident. Neither of them moved. “I actually had a massive crush on you for a while. I think I just said that because I wanted to try and get over it, so I wanted you to indirectly reject me.”

“Did you ever get over it?”

Nico laughs. “Not really. But I moved on.”

He notices Will shift closer, notices how their hands are now on top of each other and their legs are fully pressed together.

“Same,” Will says, moving their head closer to Nico’s until their foreheads are pressed together and their breaths mingle. They look at him for any sign to stop, and Nico doesn’t move.

“Good thing we’re starting over then, right?” they continue, practically a breath of a whisper before their lips connect, and god Nico did not think this was where his night was going but no way in hell was he about to stop it. (He’s not sober enough to care, anyway, and seemingly neither is Will judging by the strong scent smell of weed coming off of his shirt.)

Their hands laced together, subconsciously, almost like muscle memory from all the days walking hand in hand down the dock. (Nico wonders if his younger self was ever trying to tell his mind something.) Nico’s other hand comes up to rest on warm skin, brushing Will’s cheek with his thumb like he’s trying to wipe the freckles off.

Will wraps one arm around Nico’s waist, pulling him closer until he eventually just shifts so he’s in their lap. Will certainly doesn’t complain, only tilting their head to deepen the kiss and breaking apart their hands so they can run one hand through Nico’s hair.

They have to break apart after a moment, and Nico can help it when he laughs.

“Guess we were a little dumb when we were younger, huh?”

Will’s breathing heavy, but Nico doesn’t miss the familiar playful glint in their eye. “I don’t know what you mean. You’re still an idiot,” they say, pressing a kiss to the underside of Nico’s jaw, and another one right next to his ear.

He wonders if Will has thought about doing this the same way Nico has.

“Says you,” Nico says. “You were far more oblivious than I was.”

“I’m not the one who said we would make a bad couple,” they remind Will.

“Yeah?” he says, then leans back in to kiss Will again. Their mouths slot together, and god, they’re an even better kisser than Nico ever thought they could be. Something in his mind tells him maybe it’s not relationships he didn’t like, maybe he just knew it wasn’t the right person.

Perhaps Will’s that person he was always looking for.

Nico leans back, just barely so he can mumble “Lucky for you, I’m willing to test that theory,”  against Will’s lips just before they pull him in once more.

—

solangelo tag list (message/ask to be added/removed!)

@unicornsgomooo @anxiouswinter @soulangelou @number-of-fucks-i-give-0 @underworldystuff @theeloquentsnake @solangelover@thefandomsaretakingover @internallyexplodingrainbows​ @hairasuntouchedaspartoftheamazon​ @motivatedcryptidtamer @emilyfairchild @wherethewildthingsare-nt @hetapeep41 @blavk-dahlia

[musicallisto]

Ψ — 𝐩𝐮𝐬𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐥𝐮𝐜𝐤; (percy jackson x reader)

~ 2021 start of the year event ~

@jorjawrites​ requested: Hi! Your 2021 event seems like a really interesting idea! Can i request number 13 with Percy Jackson? Im so excited to see what it is☺️

song: lilianna wilde - grind me down (jawster remix) | 𝄞

summary: A delicious smell of lotus flowers and unbridled debauchery came to your senses each time the bass pounded from the speakers... and your friends had manifestly noticed it too. “We’re never leaving this place, right?” “Never.”

author notes: I’m sorry this is really not as good as I wanted ughhh I hope you still like this!

word count: 1.5k words

warnings: we are collectively assuming Percy & everyone else are 18+ in this, despite it making no sense in the context of Camp Half-Blood, because the song is SAUCY and drugging kids is NOT my kink. pardon my approximative recollection of TLT’s events. + this is based on the lotus casino episode so gambling, and ... magical drugs?

“𝐒𝐎... 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐀𝐑𝐄 we doing tonight?”

“Is sleeping not enough for you? Why do we need a purpose?”

“Shut up, Seaweed Brain.”

“I don’t know. We could ask around, look for some clues? Maybe someone knows something.”

“Oh, great. Now, if I were a lightning thief on the run hiding Zeus’ magical lightning bolt after stealing it from the literal Olympus, where would I keep it? Yeah, this random Las Vegas casino full of mortals seems like a great place.”

“You don’t sound like someone who’ll get blasted by Zeus in a week if they don’t retrieve this ancient and untraceable artifact, Percy.”

“Thank you, it’s all in the confidence.”

“Stop bickering, you two,” you interrupted, standing between your two friends as you followed the bellboy deeper into the hotel lobby. “We’ll get a good night’s sleep, and...”

Your words halted, just like your steps on the rich, burgundy velvet floor, just as the young hotel employee pushed open the large, white mahogany doors before the four of you. Your eyes widened of their own accord. You were certain that you heard Grover gasp on your right. Even Percy and Annabeth’s heads snapped toward the immense, domed room in front of you. Game machines and roulette and poker tables stretched as far as you could see underneath purple-colored neons. On each side of the hall, dozens of guests gathered at the tables, abandoning years’ worth of savings to the hands of a blackjack game, gritting their teeth in unparalleled concentration at the arcades, all while sipping colorful cocktails given out by smiling waiters scattered among the crowd.

“I hope you find the diversions to your liking,” the bellboy simpered with a smile.

The grin that crept on your lips was unbeatable. A delicious smell of lotus flowers and unbridled debauchery came to your senses each time the bass pounded from the speakers... and your friends had manifestly noticed it too.

“We’re never leaving this place, right?”

“Never.”

And so you never left.

It was never about never to you, at least. Time simply ceased to matter, as though the vibrant colors and dulcet smells had annihilated all concept of hurry and dread. All that mattered then to you was to see if Grover could hit the jackpot.

“Come on, you stupid thing,” he hissed through gritted teeth, giving the slot machine a few irritated taps. “I just want three cherries. How hard can it be?”

Surely enough, the colored symbols turned and turned and turned... until they settled on two cherries and a palm tree.

“Of course.”

You had kept track of his number of attempts, initially... but couldn't remember when you had lost count. Nor how many lotus-shaped petit fours you'd eaten by that time, for that matter.

“It’s alright,” you reassured him with a pat on the shoulder. “It’s not like you’ll run out of money anytime soon.”

How nice of the Lotus Hotel and Casino to give you unlimited access to the vastest sums of money you’d ever seen to spend on their games... and what a revolutionary business tactic, you might have added had you been a little more alert.

But you weren’t, and merely walked away from Grover with a soft and somewhat shaky smile.

“Can I treat you to another flower?”

She had emerged from nowhere in an instant, carrying a tray of pink and white delicacies and a few of those bubbling cocktails you had been eyeing all night. What an exuberantly fast service, and how keen were they on making sure every guest was content and fed at all times, you would have thought had you been more attentive.

But you weren’t, so with a radiant grin, you grabbed one more flower and savored the sugar and its liquid aftertaste on your tongue. The corners of your vision blurred ever so slightly with each step you took, somehow getting more purple... but you paid them no mind when you saw Percy at a roulette table off to the side of the main hall.

“Any luck so far?” you asked as you walked up to him, steadying yourself on his chair, your hand a little too close to his shoulder. Clearly, the heat and moistness of the packed room were getting to your head...

“Luck? Y/N, this is sheer skill.”

“It’s roulette, Percy.”

He clicked his tongue, and a smile made its way onto your face as your heartbeat sped up. Of course, Percy and his infamous detachedness and snark, exactly the ones that attracted you so much despite your better judgment...

“Details, Y/N, details. What do you think? Red or black?”

He lifted expectant eyes at you. Inexorably, you leaned forward.

“All on fourteen.”

Percy raised an eyebrow and a corner of his mouth.

“Really?”

“Trust me.”

He did, without question. Appraising you lengthily for one more instant, he slid all his chips to the croupier, before resting his hand right next to yours on the table, almost to appease himself. Your breath hitched in your throat, head pounding from the music and the swirling spirals in the corners of your vision, as you eyed the wheel spin and spin and spin... until the ball landed on a red square. 14.

“There you go! That’s what I’m talking about!”

In a deafeningly triumphant motion, Percy grabbed his winnings from the table and leaped to his feet, right by your side. You could hardly contain your laughter then; but you fully burst when he shot you the most radiant smile you’d ever seen on his face, arms full of lotus-stamped chips and pure, unbridled adoration in his eyes. There was the childish enthusiasm you loved so much about him, and it was entirely thanks to you; your heart soared at the thought.

“Did you get a prophecy or something?”

“Just a hunch,” you mischievously retorted, your grin mirroring his.

You both had mindlessly stepped away from the rest of the hotel guests, who were all too absorbed to even notice the pair of teens and their outrageous amount of money. Beneath the secludedness of a marble arcade, cloaked in pink and purple lights, you both counted your blessings... each your own; Percy the chips between his fingers, and you the colorful hues in his sea-green eyes.

“So, what do you want?”

“What?”

“You technically won this money, so it’s technically yours. Or at least half of it. I’m not going to keep it all anyway. I want to give you a little gift.”

“It’s not a gift if it’s paid with my money.”

“Don’t start it! One Annabeth is more than enough!” he laughed, and your chest whirred to the same vibration.

“I don’t want anything, Percy. I’m happy with what I already have.”

Despite the dizziness that still shook your head, despite the bright, blazing gashes spanning your vision like pulsing veins, despite the sounds and music coming to your ears in stroboscopic and unequal waves, you felt more peaceful than you had for most of the quest. Percy’s gaze was surprisingly tender on yours, as though he discovered you for the first time right then and there, far from the hustle and bustle of monsters and Camp and cities... only his eyes on yours and your hands imperceptibly brushing together, closer and closer.

“It’ll be a surprise then.”

“I didn’t think you were the type to give surprises. I’m not even sure you can keep a secret.”

“Oh, excuse you, I’m an excellent secret-keeper.”

Closer and closer...

“I bet that I can make you spill all your secrets.”

“Bet all you want, I’ll be tight as a clam.”

“Really? Because I think I can guess one already.”

Closer and closer... his breath fanning over your mouth, your hand scraping the collar of his shirt...

“Percy! Y/N!”

A thundercloud passed between you two, killing the lights in a second. You jumped back as though struck by lightning, cheeks flaming hot and eyes elusive. Annabeth, striding towards you with purpose, alarm, and just as little disequilibrium as you would have expected from her, was enough distraction to ignore Percy’s erratic breathing by your ear.

“Percy, Y/N, gods above, why’d you run off like that? We need to leave. This is bad.”

The blond girl grabbed you both by the sleeves and dragged you into the light and agitation; and despite the newly growing nausea that rumbled in the pit of your stomach, some part of you was grateful for her decidedness, enough to hide your fuming cheeks.

Of course, you should have known better than to push your luck too far with the gods watching - and most probably laughing at your heartened hopes.

[buoyantsaturn]

you don’t want this (trust me on this one) (1/1)

warnings: angst. its very sad folks. 

summary: Nico visits an old friend

word count: 1,513

read on ao3

“Hey.” 

Nico winced as his voice reverberated against the stone walls. He hadn’t even spoken loudly, but the echo seemed to amplify his voice. He was glad there wasn’t anyone else around to overhear what he was about to say. 

“I have some stuff I need to say, and I need to just get them out, so… Just bear with me, okay?” Nico took a deep breath, stuffed his hands in his pockets to hide their shaking, and dropped his gaze to his shoes. “I miss you.”

His voice stopped. He had so much more to say, and he’d thought that if he started talking, then he wouldn’t be able to stop. But now he had everything building up inside of him and threatening to push out, and he couldn’t manage to get his vocal cords vibrating again. 

Nico cleared his throat, and tried again. “I… I didn’t, like, script this out, but I know what I need to say to you, so hopefully I don’t skip over something important. I mean, the missing you part is probably the most important thing.” He reached up and pinched his nose as he huffed in frustration, and then ran his hand through his hair, tugging on the ends as if that would help him find the words. 

“It’s just that, if I’d known that the last time I saw you was going to be the last time, I would’ve, like, made it count, or something! I don’t even remember the actual last time I saw you, because the last time I remember seeing you definitely wasn’t actually the last time.” He huffed again. “Did that even make sense? Whatever. I just know that the last memory I have with you involved me snapping at you because I was tired and pissed off, and-- And I hate that that’s the last thing I remember. Because I know you wouldn’t have left without saying goodbye, but I don’t remember saying goodbye!” 

Nico took another breath, and slowly lowered himself to the ground until he was sitting. “I don’t...blame you. You had a lot going on, and I was probably more of an annoyance to you than a friend most of the time, but… I love you, and I miss you.”

His hands fidgeted in his lap before one finally reached out, tracing the J that had been freshly carved into the stone wall as part of a name. “I think… I think that’s most of it,” Nico whispered. “I know I probably should have summoned you, because I don’t know for sure that you can actually hear me, but… But there’s one more thing. And I needed to make sure you weren’t going to interrupt this next part, or try to talk me out of anything.” 

Nico drew his hand back, dropping his gaze to his lap again. He couldn’t even stand to look at his friend’s name as he said the words. “It’s, um. It’s two things, actually. Two very stupid things - or, maybe one thing that’s a little more stupid than the other - and if you were here, you would definitely try to talk me out of...well, one of them, for sure.” He took another pause, another breath, and started to smile. “The first one is… I’m gonna tell Will I love him, because… Well, first, because it’s true, and second--” His soft smile instantly flipped into a frown, and he had to force himself to swallow down the emotion he could feel building up again. “I don’t know that I’ll have another chance to tell him. Because the second thing is that I’m going back to Tartarus. We both are. I mean, I’m going back, but Will is coming with me. And… And if something happens to one of us… I don’t want to go without telling him.”

He forced himself to glance away, tilting his head up and blinking his eyes furiously as tears finally started to form. He wiped at his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket quickly, as if trying not to make it noticeable. “The Tartarus thing is the stupid part. Did I make that clear enough? I don’t want you to think that I think that telling Will how I feel is stupid. I mean, as stupid. Because he should already know how I feel without me having to say it. Like, I’m pretty sure I’ve made it clear by now, but… I guess it’s always a nice thing to hear confirmed.” 

Nico sniffed, pausing for a few moments as if waiting for a soul to manifest in front of him whether he asked it to or not, but nothing changed.

“So, um. I don’t really know how much you know,” Nico said softly, “so I guess I’ll catch you up to speed as best I can. Hazel’s a praetor now, so her and Frank are kind of like the ultimate power couple around here. Apparently Reyna stepped down sometime after you--” He swallowed down the word. “I haven’t seen her in a while, so I don’t actually know what she’s up to. Nobody will actually tell me anything, so when I leave here, I’m gonna go see what I can dig up.” He shrugged. “Or, I dunno. Maybe I don’t want to know. Nobody actually knows that I’m here anyway. Will and I are leaving in a week, and I wanted to make sure I had time to rest up after making this jump, so I didn’t actually tell anyone I was coming. And if they see that I’m here, then they might figure out that something’s up, and--” 

He tipped his head back, but it didn’t stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks this time. “I get it, you know? Why you didn’t make that goodbye memorable. I don’t want to… I’m scared to say goodbye. Because I almost didn’t make it out last time, so what if this time, I can’t? Like, maybe I should just let my last goodbye to Hazel be from the last time I visited - a happy goodbye, instead of one that’s going to leave her worrying about me for the rest of my life.” 

Nico drew his knees up to his chest and hugged them. “Except, I know, I know, that’s a bad idea. Because then I’ll have her showing up at my empty gravesite, yelling at me just like I’m doing to you right now.” 

He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, sorry. Where was I? Um. So, Percy and Annabeth are here now, too, with Grover-- Did you ever meet Grover? He’s their best friend. I was on a quest with him once. He’s cool. I think you’d like him, but you Romans always had a weird relationship with fauns, so I dunno how you’d feel about a satyr. Um, and Leo’s doing good, last I heard. Staying out of trouble. I think he’s teaching shop classes to homeless kids in Indiana, or something. And Calypso’s going to high school. I heard you tried that, for some gods forsaken reason. Why would you voluntarily put yourself through that? Will just told me that when we get back, he’s going to start studying for AP tests, whatever those are. He says they’ll help him get into college, I guess.” 

He paused, as if realizing what he’d said a second too late. “He’s...so certain that we’re both coming back, but… You know what happened when Percy and Annabeth were there. Somebody has to stay behind, and… If it comes to it, I’m going to do whatever it takes to get him out. He’s got so much potential to do anything he could ever dream of, and I… I’m just an old man who missed my shot at a life the first time around.” 

Nico groaned, hiding his face in his hands again. “Gods, I can practically hear you lecturing me. Okay, I’m moving on. Who did I miss… Oh. Piper. She’s...good, I think, if what Apollo said can be trusted - and isn’t that weird? I’m actually listening to what a god has to say. And on top of that, a god is talking to us. Apollo visits, like, once a week. I think he’s going to try taking over when Mr. D’s sentence is up at camp. Sorry, anyway. Piper, she has a… A girlfriend, I think, but people usually say partner when talking about Shel, and I don’t really know what the difference is. I’m trying to learn, still, but there’s just...so much.”

He stopped to think. “I’m...pretty sure that’s everyone. Everyone that I’ve heard something about, anyway. So, um, I should probably get going if I want to see everyone before Will realizes I’m not at dinner. If all goes well… If I’m still alive after all of this, I’ll summon you, and we can catch up for real.” 

Nico got to his feet. “And, um. If not…” He chuckled sadly to himself. “If not, then I guess I’ll see you in hell, Jason.” 

He turned and left the tomb.

thanks for reading!!

buy me a coffee

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 13: I Have Trust Issues But Okay

We spent two days on the Amtrak train, heading west through hills, over rivers, past amber waves of grain. We weren't attacked once, but I didn't relax. I felt that we were traveling around in a display case, being watched from above and maybe from below, that something was waiting for the right opportunity. We tried to keep a low profile because Percy and I's name and picture were splattered over the front pages of several East Coast newspapers. It seemed like when they saw me with Percy they realized me and my family are gone. The Trenton Register-News showed a photo taken by a tourist as we got off the Greyhound bus. Percy had a wild look in my eyes. His sword was a metallic blur in his hands. It might've been a baseball bat or a lacrosse stick. I was holding his hand with my knife on the other hand. The picture's caption read: Twelve-year-old Percy Jackson, wanted for questioning in the Long Island disappearance of his mother two weeks ago, is shown here fleeing from the bus where he accosted several elderly female passengers. The bus exploded on an east New Jersey roadside shortly after Jackson fled the scene. Based on eyewitness accounts, police believe the boy may be traveling with three teenage accomplices. It has been found out one of which is Y/N L/N, a twelve-year-old girl who went missing with her family during a trip. Percy Jackson's stepfather, Gabe Ugliano, has offered a cash reward for information leading to his capture.

"Don't worry," Annabeth told Percy. "Mortal police could never find us." But she didn't sound so sure. The rest of the day we spent alternately pacing the length of the train (because I had a really hard time sitting still) or looking out the windows. Calm Once, I spotted a family of centaurs galloping across a wheat field, bows at the ready, as they hunted lunch. The little boy centaur, who was the size of a second-grader on a pony, caught my eye and waved. I looked around the passenger car, the adult riders all had their faces buried in laptop computers or magazines, Percy and I saw an amazed look. Another time, toward evening, Percy said he saw something huge moving through the woods. He swore it was a lion, except that lions don't live wild in America, and it was the size of a Hummer, then it leaped through the trees and was gone. I told him he might have been seeing things and Annabeth agreed. Our reward money for returning Gladiola the poodle had only been enough to purchase tickets as far as Denver. We couldn't get berths in the sleeper car, so we dozed in our seats. My neck got stiff. I sat between Percy and Annabeth. Grover kept snoring and bleating and waking Percy up. Once, he shuffled around and his fake foot fell off. Annabeth and I had to stick it back on before any of the other passengers noticed. "So," Annabeth asked me, once we'd gotten Grover's sneaker readjusted. "Who wants Percy's help?" "What do you mean?" "You heard it too didn't you? When he was asleep just now, he mumbled, 'I won't help you.' Has he told you what he's dreaming about?" "Gossiping about me?" Percy yawned. "Pretty much everyone is. So I think we'll join." I said. "Annabeth wants to know about your dream. I could tell he was reluctant to say anything. It was the second time he'd dreamed about it. Then he finally told her. Annabeth was quiet for a long time. "If you think it's Hades, that doesn't sound like Hades. He always appears on a black throne, and he never laughs." She pointed out. "He offered my mother in trade. Who else could do that?" We could. If you bring us together we could trade. "What?" Percy and Annabeth looked at me in worry. "Something on my face? Is there something close?" "Y/N, you did it again." Percy said. "Did what?" "You... Talked. Differently. Like weirdly." "Your definition of weird doesn't describe me. I did nothing wrong. I haven't even given an in put on your topic. Which we should get back on." I don't know why I had no idea what they meant by me talking weirdly, but I felt like I should stay away from that topic. "I guess ... if he meant, 'Help me rise from the Underworld.' If he wants war with the Olympians. But why ask you to bring him the master bolt if he already has it?" She explained looking at me as if I was the one that needed convincing. I shook my head, wishing I knew the answer. I thought about what Grover had told me, that the Furies on the bus seemed to have been looking for something. Where is it? Where? Maybe Grover sensed my emotions. He snorted in his sleep, muttered something about vegetables, and turned his head. Percy readjusted Grover's cap so it covered his horns. "Percy, you can't barter with Hades. You know that, right? He's deceitful, heartless, and greedy. I don't care if his Kindly Ones weren't as aggressive this time-" "This time?" I asked. "You mean you've run into them before?" Her hand crept up to her necklace. She fingered a glazed white bead painted with the image of a pine tree, one of her clay end-of-summer tokens. "Let's just say I've got no love for the Lord of the Dead. You can't be tempted to make a deal for your mom." "What would you do if it was your dad?" "That's easy," she said. "I'd leave him to rot." "You're not serious?" Annabeth's gray eyes fixed on me. She wore the same expression she'd worn in the woods at camp, the moment she drew her sword against the hellhound. "My dad's resented me since the day I was born," she said. "He never wanted a baby. When he got me, he asked Athena to take me back and raise me on Olympus because he was too busy with his work. She wasn't happy about that. She told him heroes had to be raised by their mortal parent." "But how ... I mean, I guess you weren't born in a hospital...." "I appeared on my father's doorstep, in a golden cradle, carried down from Olympus by Zephyr the West Wind. You'd think my dad would remember that as a miracle, right? Like, maybe he'd take some digital photos or something. But he always talked about my arrival as if it were the most inconvenient thing that had ever happened to him. When I was five he got married and totally forgot about Athena. He got a 'regular' mortal wife, and had two 'regular' mortal kids, and tried to pretend I didn't exist." I stared out the train window. The lights of a sleeping town were drifting by. I wanted to make Annabeth feel better. I don't know but the only way I could think of was a hug. So I wrapped and arm around her shoulders. She stiffened unsure of what I'd done. "My parents, they loved me all the same. The closet I got to talking about Gods was when they thought me. Not a single hint was dropped about me being a halfblood. I mean if you count my grandma Hestia. Which I think is just named after the goddess. I mean yeah, you had a not so wonderful life... But at least you're who you are now." I smiled at her. Eying Percy I gave him a nod towards Annabeth telling him to comfort her since he'd started it anyway. "My mom married a really awful guy," he told her. "Grover said she did it to protect me, to hide me in the scent of a human family. Maybe that's what your dad was thinking." Annabeth kept worrying at her necklace. She was pinching the gold college ring that hung with the beads. It occurred to me that the ring must be her father's. I wondered why she wore it if she hated him so much. "He doesn't care about me," she said. "His wife-my stepmom-treated me like a freak. She wouldn't let me play with her children. My dad went along with her. Whenever something dangerous happened-you know, something with monsters-they would both look at me resentfully, like, 'How dare you put our family at risk.' Finally, I took the hint. I wasn't wanted. I ran away." "How old were you?" "Same age as when I started camp. Seven." "But ... you couldn't have gotten all the way to Half-Blood Hill by yourself." "Not alone, no. Athena watched over me, guided me toward help. I made a couple of unexpected friends who took care of me, for a short time, anyway." I wanted to ask what happened, but Annabeth seemed lost in sad memories. Luke had already told me some of these part where he went here with Annabeth and Thalia. So I gazed out the train windows as the dark fields of Ohio raced by. Toward the end of our second day on the train, June 13, eight days before the summer solstice, we passed through some golden hills and over the Mississippi River into St. Louis. Annabeth craned her neck to see the Gateway Arch, which looked to me like a huge shopping bag handle stuck on the city. "I want to do that," she sighed. "What?" I asked. "Build something like that. You ever see the Parthenon, Y/N?" "Only in pictures." "Someday, I'm going to see it in person. I'm going to build the greatest monument to the gods, ever. Something that'll last a thousand years." Percy laughed. "You? An architect?" Her cheeks flushed. "Yes, an architect. Athena expects her children to create things, not just tear them down, like a certain god of earthquakes I could mention." "Percy! I think she'll be incredible." I pinched his arm. We watched the churning brown water of the Mississippi below. I took Percy's hand in fear that the water would just grab me and drag me down. "Sorry," Annabeth said. "That was mean." I nudged Percy to apologize as well, "I didn't mean to make fun of you. I'm sorry." "Can't you two work together a little?" I pleaded. "I mean, didn't Athena and Poseidon ever cooperate?" Annabeth had to think about it. "I guess ... the chariot," she said tentatively. "My mom invented it, but Poseidon created horses out of the crests of waves. So they had to work together to make it complete." "Then you two can cooperate, too. Right?" We rode into the city, Annabeth watching as the Arch disappeared behind a hotel. "I suppose," she said at last. We pulled into the Amtrak station downtown. The intercom told us we'd have a three-hour layover before departing for Denver. Grover stretched. Before he was even fully awake, he said, "Food." "Come on, goat boy," Annabeth said. "Sightseeing." "Sightseeing?" "The Gateway Arch," she said. "This may be my only chance to ride to the top. Are you coming or not?" Grover, Percy and I exchanged looks. I wanted to say no, but seeing the stars in Annabeth's as she watched, she was too adorable to say no to. Grover shrugged. "As long as there's a snack bar without monsters." The Arch was about a mile from the train station. Late in the day the lines to get in weren't that long. We threaded our way through the underground museum, looking at covered wagons and other junk from the 1800s. It wasn't all that thrilling, but Annabeth kept telling us interesting facts about how the Arch was built, and Grover kept passing me jelly beans, so I was okay. I kept looking around, though, at the other people in line. "You smell anything?" Percy murmured to Grover. He took his nose out of the jelly-bean bag long enough to sniff. "Underground," he said distastefully. "Underground air always smells like monsters. Probably doesn't mean anything." I took a peek at my knife and saw there was a very weak glow, or maybe a sunlight reflection. Somewhere in between. "Guys," I said. "You know the gods' symbols of power?" Annabeth had been in the middle of reading about the construction equipment used to build the Arch, but she looked over. "Yeah?" "Well, Hade-" Grover cleared his throat. "We're in a public place.... You mean, our friend downstairs?" "Um, right," I said. "Our friend way downstairs. Doesn't he have a hat like Annabeth's?" "You mean the Helm of Darkness," Annabeth said. "Yeah, that's his symbol of power. I saw it next to his seat during the winter solstice council meeting." "He was there?" Percy asked. She nodded. "It's the only time he's allowed to visit Olympus-the darkest day of the year. But his helm is a lot more powerful than my invisibility hat, if what I've heard is true...." "It allows him to become darkness," Grover confirmed. "He can melt into shadow or pass through walls. He can't be touched, or seen, or heard. And he can radiate fear so intense it can drive you insane or stop your heart. Why do you think all rational creatures fear the dark?" "But then ... how do we know he's not here right now, watching us?" I asked. Annabeth and Grover exchanged looks. "We don't," Grover said. "Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better," Percy said. "Got any blue jelly beans left?" Someone else could be watching. Hades isn't the only one to blend in the shadow young vessel. But worry not, all in the darkness, shall be your ally. So Hades will also be my ally? As air and water refuse, land and all there is shall be your ally. Can't I be allies with all? Hades, Zeus, Poseidon. Everyone. The three of them looked at me in surprise. "Don't say their name!" Grover whispered loudly. "Whose name? I haven't said a name!" I could talk through you young vessel. Is this the first time this happened? How can you forget about our conversation? Talk through me? Who are you? I am one of which that'll make sure you become one with yourself. "Y/N!!" Percy yelled. "What? Geez, you're too loud." "We've been calling your name for three minutes." Annabeth said. "Are you... Okay?" "Yeah why wouldn't I be?" When the tiny elevator car came. We got shoehorned into the car with this big fat lady and her dog, a Chihuahua with a rhinestone collar. I figured maybe the dog was a seeing-eye Chihuahua, because none of the guards said a word about it. We started going up, inside the Arch. I'd never been in an elevator that went in a curve, and my stomach wasn't too happy about it. "No parents?" the fat lady asked us. She had beady eyes; pointy, coffee-stained teeth; a floppy denim hat, and a denim dress that bulged so much, she looked like a blue-jean blimp. "They're below," Annabeth told her. "Scared of heights." "Oh, the poor darlings." The Chihuahua growled. The woman said, "Now, now, sonny. Behave." The dog had beady eyes like its owner, intelligent and vicious. I said, "Sonny. Is that his name?" "No," the lady told me. She smiled, as if that cleared everything up. At the top of the Arch, the observation deck reminded me of a tin can with carpeting. Rows of tiny windows looked out over the city on one side and the river on the other. The view was okay, but if there's anything I like less than a confined space, it's a confined space six hundred feet in the air. I was ready to go pretty quick. I could see Percy was too. So I took his hand and gave him a reassuring squeeze to calm him down despite my breakdown. Annabeth kept talking about structural supports, and how she would've made the windows bigger, and designed a see-through floor. She probably could've stayed up there for hours, but the park ranger announced that the observation deck would be closing in a few minutes. I steered Annabeth while Percy with Grover, toward the exit, loaded them into the elevator, and we were about to get in myself when I realized there were already two other tourists inside. No room for me. The park ranger said, "Next car, sir." "We'll get out," Annabeth said. "We'll wait with you two." But that was going to mess everybody up and take even more time, so I said, "Naw, it's okay. We'll see you guys at the bottom. I'll keep an eye on him." Grover and Annabeth both looked nervous, but they let the elevator door slide shut. Their car disappeared down the ramp. Now the only people left on the observation deck were me, a little boy with his parents, the park ranger, and the fat lady with her Chihuahua. Percy and I smiled uneasily at the fat lady. She smiled back, her forked tongue flickering between her teeth. Wait a minute. Forked tongue? Before I could decide if I'd really seen that, her Chihuahua jumped down and started yapping at Percy. "Now, now, sonny," the lady said. "Does this look like a good time? We have all these nice people here." "Doggie!" said the little boy. "Look, a doggie!" His parents pulled him back. The Chihuahua bared his teeth at me, foam dripping from his black lips. "Well, son," the fat lady sighed. "If you insist." Ice started forming in my stomach. "Urn, did you just call that Chihuahua your son?" "Chimera, dear," the fat lady corrected. "Not a Chihuahua. It's an easy mistake to make." She rolled up her denim sleeves, revealing that the skin of her arms was scaly and green. When she smiled, I saw that her teeth were fangs. The pupils of her eyes were sideways slits, like a reptile's. The Chihuahua barked louder, and with each bark, it grew. First to the size of a Doberman, then to a lion. The bark became a roar. The little boy screamed. His parents pulled him back toward the exit, straight into the park ranger, who stood, paralyzed, gaping at the monster. The Chimera was now so tall its back rubbed against the roof. It had the head of a lion with a blood-caked mane, the body and hooves of a giant goat, and a serpent for a tail, a ten-foot-long diamondback growing right out of its shaggy behind. The rhinestone dog collar still hung around its neck, and the plate-sized dog tag was now easy to read: CHIMERA-RABID, FIRE-BREATHING, POISONOUS-IF FOUND, PLEASE CALL TARTARUS-EXT. 954. I immediately pulled out my knife. And waited for the moment to jump in front of Percy who was ten feet away from the Chimera's bloody maw, and I knew that as soon as I moved, the creature would lunge. The snake lady made a hissing noise that might've been laughter. "Be honored, Percy Jackson and Y/N L/N. Lord Zeus rarely allows me to test a hero with one of my brood. For I am the Mother of Monsters, the terrible Echidna!" Percy and I stared at each other for a second stared at her. All he could think to say was: "Isn't that a kind of anteater?" She howled, her reptilian face turning brown and green with rage. "I hate it when people say that! I hate Australia! Naming that ridiculous animal after me. For that, Percy Jackson, my son shall destroy you!" The Chimera charged, its lion teeth gnashing. I managed to take Percy's arm to pull him aside and dodge the bite. We ended up next to the family and the park ranger, who were all screaming now, trying to pry open the emergency exit doors. I couldn't let them get hurt. I positioned myself able to parry any oncoming attack. Percy uncapped his sword, ran to the other side of the deck, and yelled, "Hey, Chihuahua!" The Chimera turned faster than I would've thought possible. Before he could swing my sword, it opened its mouth, emitting a stench like the world's largest barbecue pit, and shot a column of flame straight at him. Percy dove through the explosion. The carpet burst into flames; the heat was so intense, I could feel it where I stand and it was like I was in a sauna. Where Percy had been standing a moment before was a ragged hole in the side of the Arch, with melted metal steaming around the edges. Great, I thought. We just blowtorched a national monument. As the Chimera turned, Percy slashed at its neck. That was a fatal mistake. The blade sparked harmlessly off the dog collar. I saw the serpent tail lifted it whipped around and with all I could I ran and raised my knife to block it. Percy tried to jab Riptide into the Chimera's mouth, but the serpent tail wrapped around his ankles and pulled him off balance, and my blade flew out of my hand, spinning out of the hole in the Arch and down toward the Mississippi River. I pulled a weaponless Percy behind me and raised my small one. We backed into the hole in the wall. The Chimera advanced, growling, smoke curling from its lips. The snake lady, Echidna, cackled. "They don't make heroes like they used to, eh, son?" The monster growled. It seemed in no hurry to finish us off now that we were beaten. I glanced at the park ranger and the family. The little boy was hiding behind his father's legs. I had to protect these people. I couldn't just ... die. I was facing a massive, fire-breathing monster and its mother. And I was scared. There was no place else to go, so I stepped to the edge of the hole. Trust our hero. Jump with him. He had sworn to save us. Far, far below, the river glittered. Percy and I shared a reluctant and fearful look. If we died, would the monsters go away? Would they leave the humans alone? "If you are the son of Poseidon," Echidna hissed, "you would not fear water. Jump, Percy Jackson. Show me that water will not harm you. Jump and retrieve your sword. Prove your bloodline. Maybe your small friend could survive with you." We both knew the water hated me. But I trusted Percy. I'd jump if he told me. The Chimera's mouth glowed red, heating up for another blast. "Either you have no faith," Echidna told me. "You do not trust the gods. I cannot blame you, little cowards. Better you die now. The gods are faithless." Percy took my hand and backed up, he looked down at the water. Percy looked at me and smiled. I knew what he wanted. Holding his hand tighter, I got closer to him. "Die, faithless one," Echidna rasped, and the Chimera sent a column of flame toward our faces. "Father, please," I heard Percy say. "Don't hurt her. Help us." We turned and jumped. Our clothes on fire, we plummeted toward the river.

Previous |Masterlist | Next

Taglist?

@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @the-natureofme @booknerd-3000

[gingersaremytype]

Out of Place - Percy Jackson x Reader

Masterlist

Prompt List

Percy Jackson x Reader

Requested by Anonymous

Can you make a x reader with Percy Jackson were the reader is feeling insecure and Percy makes her feel better?

Word Count - 1.8k

The summer after your 16th birthday, everything had changed. You'd discovered the truth about your parents after living with your dad your whole life with no mother. Your dad was a regular human and your mum... Well, your mum just happened to be a Goddess. The Goddess of the Hunt and Wilderness to be specific; Artemis.

You'd always been good at Latin in school and then, after realising your true identity, it made sense. The knowledge you had was already rooted deep inside of you and the legends and myths you learned were now your reality. That summer you had gone to Camp Half-Blood and met others like you. People with the skills you had and who were also children of Gods. You moved into Cabin 8 and became a Hunter of Artemis along with your siblings.

~

You had now been at Camp for at least a year and you understood more about your mother and being a hunter. Being a child of Artemis meant that you were extremely skilled with a bow and arrow, just like your siblings, and that you were quite quick on your feet.

Although you spent a lot of time with your siblings, you were also close to some of the other campers. Including Percy Jackson, the son of Poseidon. You were sat at dinner with Grover, Annabeth and a couple of your siblings when Percy walked over, having been talking with Chiron for a while. He sat down in the empty spot next to you and reached for some food, smiling at you.

"Hey, how's your day been?" Percy asked lightly.

"Yeah, good thanks. Yours?" You replied, smiling at him. He nodded in response but gave you a strange look you couldn't quite decipher.

The truth was it hadn't been much of a good day but you didn't need Percy to know that. He already had so much going on his life and you didn't want to complicate it more by overloading him with things he didn't need to worry about. One of those things being that you liked him...

You'd been crushing on Percy pretty much since the day you'd met him but never had the courage to tell him. It was stupid, there's no way the Son of Poseidon would be interested in someone like you. Or at least that's how you viewed it. Sure, you and Percy were close but he was close with everyone, you weren't an exception.

Anyway, you'd struggled through your day no matter how awful it was. First off, one of your younger siblings had borrowed your favourite bow and broken it. You knew you could find another one but you'd liked that one and it was annoying to go through the process of finding another good one. Then you'd had to face a whole load of Ares' kids in one-to-one fights and had pretty much lost them all. Being a Hunter meant you were good at long-distance fighting; shooting and running for example. Up close, you weren't quite as quick as other campers and you hated it.

You continued to tuck into your dinner until one of the Ares campers walked past and shoved you slightly, causing you to spill your drink.

"Oh sorry, Y/n!" She said, full of sarcasm, "I didn't see you there." She smirked, walking on to her table.

You looked up at the rest of your table, hoping no one had noticed. Luckily, they were all deep in conversation and you didn't think anyone had.

Then another Ares girl came along and shoved you just like her sister, a little harder this time. You looked up at her and glared.

"What? Are you gonna get angry little Hunter? I'm sure I could push you to the floor easily just like earlier in the arena." She raised her eyebrows at you and smiled wickedly before moving on.

You'd had enough and mumbled something to the rest of the group about needing to re-string your bow before standing up and walking away. You felt tears threatening to fall. You knew you shouldn't listen to them but you couldn't help it. You felt like you didn't belong here, at all. You weren't good enough to be the child of a Goddess and you knew your mother would never be proud of you. Yes, she had claimed you when you'd arrived but, since then, you never felt a strong connection with her. You wanted to go back to how it was before you knew you were only half human. Things were better then, you'd had loads of friends at school and been on loads of sports teams due to your enhanced speed and strength. Even more, you were happy.

You weren't miserable at camp, but you were far from happy. The first few months it had been excusable, you were new. But now, it was just a joke and you hated how useless you felt. 

Wandering through camp lost in your thoughts, you eventually found yourself in the forest by a small stream. You sat down and put your head in your hands, closing your eyes and letting a few tears begin to fall. You didn't want to feel like this but you didn't know how to fix it. You'd tried to train to be better but it just seemed like you weren't improving at all. If anything, the extra training you put in just made you feel even more tired when you had to actually fight. You were so lost in your head that you didn't hear someone in the woods until they sat down next to you, causing you to jump out of your skin.

You knew straight away it was Percy, his distinctive smell floating into the air around you. "I wondered where you'd run off to but I had a feeling it would be here." He muttered, nudging you slightly.

You lifted your head and looked at him. His expression changed to worry when he saw your red puffy eyes and tear-stained cheeks.

"Y/n? What happened?" He asked, his voice laced with worry.

"Nothing," You whispered, shaking your head and trying to wipe the tears away, which was no use because the taps were open now and they just kept falling no matter how hard you tried to stop them.

"You're a terrible liar, you know. You have a tell." He chuckled slightly as you raised your eyebrows questionably.

"Whenever I ask if you're okay or how your day was, you tell me it's good but you always look away straight after and don't look me straight in the eye. You just put on a smile and keep going." He said, smiling sadly.

You looked at him, not knowing what to say.

"So, Y/n... Are you okay?" He asked, taking your hand in his.

You looked into his eyes and knew you couldn't lie to him.

"No, not really," you murmured, looking down at the ground "I... I just feel useless, Perce. Sure, I can fire an arrow but that's about as far as my skill set goes and I've tried so hard to be better but I'm just not. And the Ares girls they just..."

You trailed off trying to fight back a fresh fall of tears.

Percy didn't say anything for a moment, instead, he wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into a tight hug. He rested his head on yours, "Y/n, you are not useless. And you have way more skills than firing arrows, although you are pretty amazing at it. I've never seen anyone hit the middle of a target every time like you." He said, causing you to smile slightly. "And who cares about the Ares kids, they're a bunch of arrogant a-holes with pea-brains." You laughed slightly as he retracted his arms to look at you.

"There it is," He smiled, "that amazing smile." You blushed slightly and looked away.

"Y/n, I'm so sorry it took me so long to realise you were feeling this way. I wish you could see how awesome you are."

"No, it's okay. I didn't want to dump it all on you, you have a lot on your plate." You replied, placing your hand on his.

"I wouldn't mind having more if that meant spending time with you..." He answered, his cheeks flushing slightly pink as he looked at you.

You looked up at him through blurred eyes and your eyebrows moved together as you tried to find out what he was feeling. Normally you could read him like a book because his poker face was not very good but right now, you couldn't read him at all. 

His hand moved from yours to your cheek as he wiped away the last few tears that fell.

"You're so beautiful, Y/n. You're unlike anyone I've ever met. You're the kindest, funniest and most brilliant person I know." He whispered, staring into your eyes. You could feel the heat rushing into your cheeks as he looked at you.

His eyes flicked down your lips, only momentarily but you'd caught it. You took the leap and leaned closer into him and closed your eyes. He followed, closing the rest of the gap and pressing his lips onto yours. Your hands moved to the back of his head, tangling in his dark hair, his arms snaking around your waist. The kiss was slightly salty and you thought it was probably a mixture of your tears and the fact that you were kissing the Son of Poseidon.

Percy pulled away and looked at you, seeming mesmerised.

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that," He smiled down at you. You shook your head and smiled back, "I was just about to say the same thing..."

He kissed you again before pulling away and standing up.

"C'mon, I saved the rest of my dinner for you," He offered his hand and pulled you up.

You suddenly realised that you hadn't really touched much of your food before leaving dinner and you were still hungry. The two of you walked out of the forest and over towards Percy's cabin, where he'd stashed the rest of the food. Once inside, you sat on Percy's bed and rested your head on his shoulder whilst you munched your way through the rest of your meal.

"Y/n," he started, "you know what you said about fighting and everything..." 

You looked up at him and hummed in response, your mouth filled with salad.

"What if I trained you?"

You sat up and looked at him, raising an eyebrow.

"Only if you want to, of course." He added, seeing the quizzical look on your face.

The look quickly morphed into a smile as you nodded, "that would be amazing. Thank you, Perce."

"Hey, anything to show those Ares girls who's boss right?" He chuckled as you wrapped your arms around him and hugged him tightly, sighing happily.

You smiled as he rested his head on yours. He was here for you and right now, that's all you needed.

[greekgeek21]

A Percabeth Holiday AU

Hello, readers! I decided to write something last minute before xmas and it wasn't finished being edited until now, so I'm sorry about that. This might have a Part 2, Idk. It depends on the response to this. This is mostly just to give to my followers to hold them over until my Avengers/PJO fanfic is ready (early march?). It's kinda a Goodgirl!Annabeth and Punk/Badboy!Percy fanfic. Mortal au. And a special thanks to my amazing beta reader, JJ (nightskywithrainbows on Ao3). You are a really great person if you can sit through my unedited stuff, trust me. *shudders* Go check out their stuff on Ao3!

I hope you like this! Comment, like, and follow me pls! 

– your author

DISCLAIMER: Sadly, only rick has the pleasure of owning pjo.

Ω❖Ω

Annabeth wasn't sure who she offended, but it had to be somebody. There was no way her luck was just THIS BAD.

First, she found out that she's required to go to her family's Christmas dinner. You know, the one with the whole extended family as well. Then, her stupid pride got in the way again. Her evil stepmother was interrogating her on her nonexistent love life, and Annabeth, being stupid, said that she was bringing a date to dinner, even though she hadn't been planning on it. Now, Annabeth had one week to find someone willing to go to Hell with her.

Unfortunately, Annabeth wasn't exactly what one might call "popular." She had a group of friends at school, but they were all like her. They were smart and tended to act like know-it-alls. For that reason, she was having trouble finding someone good enough to go with. There was no way Annabeth was going to show up with anyone ordinary. If she was going to go through with this, it had to be spectacular. She had to show it to her judgemental extended family that she didn't care what they thought of her (even if she definitely did).

Her only option so far was the one boy at her table, Octavian and that was NOT an option she was willing to take. Nobody knew why he even sat with them, but they were too afraid to even ask him. He always just sat there staring at people. He was a real creep.

So that was a no.

Annabeth was stuck. She was desperate, and she would probably ask the next person who walked into their shitty school quad.

Just her luck that it was the school's resident bad boy, Percy Jackson.

Ω❖Ω

Annabeth decided to corner him after school, where there would hopefully less students around. Percy tended to hang around the more forgotten parts of the campus, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Not that Annabeth had been watching him, or anything. She just liked to observe the people around her. In her opinion, you can learn a lot about a person when they don't know you're looking.

As soon as the last bell rang, she was up and out of her seat, speed-walking out the classroom door and into the hallways. She didn't run, though. Even if what she was doing was the most stupid idea she'd ever had, it was the best option in the short amount of time before the dinner.

Her only worry was that he would say no. Of course, Annabeth was the best at manipulation, but she'd rather not use that. It made her feel sick inside.

So, her plan was to just ask first and MAYBE use some manipulation if necessary to get him to agree.

Percy ended up being right where she suspected: the roof. She had seen him and his friends heading up that way multiple times, so she thought she should start there. As always, her deduction was correct.

He was up there with his group of friends, so Annabeth figured she would need a way to separate him from them. It was already embarrassing enough to be asking this of him, let alone three others as well.

They hadn't heard her open the door, so Annabeth took a second to compose herself before approaching them. She evened out her expression and stood up tall, exuding an air of confidence. She was about to approach the "most dangerous" kids in school, so she had to be strong.

With a deep, calming breath, Annabeth strode over to the group. They noticed her when she was about half-way there. They were all either sitting on the ledge, or they were leaning up against the small wall. The group had just laughed at something one of them said, but their laughter died out at the sight of Annabeth.

Percy's friends were Nico di Angelo, Thalia Grace, and Grover Underwood. Grover wasn't like the other three in his fashion sense or personality, but he had been friends with them for longer than anyone knew, so nobody really questioned it. Annabeth suspected something, but she didn't want to delve too deep into the inner-workings of the clique.

They all stood up in a sort of defensive stance. None of them knew what to do with someone like Annabeth Chase walking up to them. They were ALL in undocumented territory here.

She walked right up to Percy, standing with her arms crossover in front of her. He raised his eyebrows and looked down at her, amused and confused at the same time. What would ANNABETH CHASE want with him. He didn't remember doing anything to piss her off.

"Yes?" he asked with his signature troublemaker smirk.

"Come with me," Annabeth ordered, turning around and starting to walk away.

When he didn't follow, she looked back at him and spoke again, this time with a more icy tone, "If you want to talk here, that's fine with me, but I'm not so sure you want your friends to hear what I have to say. Unless you want them to know how you're failing–"

"Stop! I'm coming," he interrupted, briskly following her through the roof-access door.

Sure, he trusted his friends, but he was still capable of embarrassment. It wasn't his fault that his Math teacher didn't care that he had dyslexia. So what if he was failing, anyway? He was barely passing in his other classes, and that was mostly because the teachers thought he would fight them or something if they failed him.

Percy didn't know how Annabeth knew he was failing, and he wasn't planning on keeping it that way. He knew her reputation. She had probably manipulated it out of the front office lady or something. She was known to be cold and ruthless. He wasn't afraid of her, but others were. That's part of the reason she was never asked out by any sane guys.

He didn't think she knew that, though. She had always acted indifferent when others whispered crude names about her, so he believed she had no idea what others thought about her. How she managed to miss that, he wasn't sure.

She just kept walking ahead of him, expecting him to follow. She never said a word the entire time. It was really getting on Percy's nerves.

"Hey, Blondie! Where are we going?" he asked, grabbing her arm to stop them as they were passing through one of the hallways.

Annabeth ripped her arm free of his grasp, a murderous look on her face. She didn't answer, but instead looked around their surroundings before her gaze sharpened on a door leading into a janitor's closet. Percy got even more confused when she grabbed his arm and pulled him into the closet with her.

This girl was so confusing.

"What are we doing here?" Percy asked, noting how close they were forced to be in the small space.

Annabeth had noticed, too, but she was determined to not let it bother her. She had already sacrificed all pride even walking up to the group, let alone shoving Percy Jackson into a closet with her. There was no turning back now.

"I have a proposition for you," she said.

Percy raised his eyebrows in amusement, "And what do you think you have that I would want?"

This was Annabeth's secret bargaining chip. She would never go into a confrontation without one.

"I'll tutor you," she stated simply.

She knew that Percy was failing Math. Annabeth was one of the students who offered to tutor others in lower classes. She was in Honors Calculus, and Percy was in Pre-Calculus. It would be easy to tutor him in a class she had taken last year.

Percy was still skeptical, though. Nobody did things like this without some serious reciprocation. Besides, he had long since given up on doing better in school. It was better to just make other think you weren't trying than to let them know you were stupid.

Still, he was interested. "And what do you want in return...?"

"A date." If Percy had been drinking something, he would have done a spit-take.

"I'm sorry, WHAT?!" he exclaimed.

Annabeth sighed. This is going to be harder than I thought.

"I want you to be my date to a family dinner," she over-pronounced every word to make sure he heard it all.

Percy was gaping like a fish out of water. He couldn't believe this! Why would someone like ANNABETH CHASE want HIM of all people to be her date, to a family dinner no less!

"You're joking, right? This was some sort of prank?" he said.

Annabeth wished that were true.

"No, this is not a prank. I really need you to be my date. I'm desperate," she sighed. "Why do you think I'm asking you?"

It was still pretty hard to believe, but Percy was trying to warm up to the idea. He really didn't want to see that same disappointed look on his mother's face the next time he came home with another failing grade.

"Alright, I'll consider it. I need more information first," he said.

Honestly, Percy was even surprising himself. How he was managing to not make a fool out of himself right now was a mystery and a miracle.

"We can't do that here," Annabeth pointed out, glancing around the tight space they were in.

"You're right," Then an idea came to Percy, "What if we go to your house. I'm gonna have to get to know you better, anyway."

Plus, Percy had a feeling that it would get under her skin to have him around her things, and annoying people was apparently what he did best. Even if this little deal did go well, he still had a reputation to uphold. He was the bad boy, the kid who you don't want dating your daughter, or whatever. For that reason, he wanted to make sure he knew what he was getting into first.

"Fine," Annabeth ground out through clenched teeth.

She was already regretting this decision.

Ω❖Ω

"Oh, no. I'm not getting on that thing," Annabeth planted her feet onto the ground.

After Percy had texted his friends saying he was heading home, him and Annabeth had gone out to the parking lot, and since Annabeth had missed her ride, their only options were walking or taking Percy's motorcycle. She would rather walk.

"Come on, blondie! Let's just get out of here!" Percy was getting agitated.

He did not want to be seen letting Annabeth onto his bike. He was known for not letting anyone touch it, let alone ride it.

"Do you know what the fatality rate for motorcyclists is?" she exclaimed.

Percy sighed, "No, and I really don't care. You can wear the helmet. We'll be fine. It's only, like, three miles, right?"

She had told Percy her address when he asked, and he had known the neighborhood. However, she was still refusing to get on that death trap.

Percy let out an almost animalistic growl, "Chase, get on the damn bike before someone sees you doing it and thinks we're going to hook up, or something."

Her eyes widened in fear. From him or the idea of hooking up with him, Percy didn't know, but it got the job done. She grabbed the helmet from his hands and slid onto the bike seat behind him.

He kicked the bike into gear and the engine roared to life, "Hold on!"

Tentatively, Annabeth wrapped her arms around his torso. Once she was secured, he hit the gas and they drove off campus.

Annabeth didn't want to admit it, but Percy was really warm and comforting. It was intoxicating just to be this close to him. His scent reminded her of a warm day at the beach, and she had to hold herself back from hugging him close when he sped up. She did not like Percy Jackson, and that was the end of it. This was just a business deal.

Percy was going through a similar problem. He thought that having Annabeth Chase's arms wrapped around him would make him flinch away, but he found himself leaning back into her embrace. It was so confusing. They had barely talked. The last time he had held something resembling a conversation with her was in Freshman Orientation four years ago.

He was lost in his thoughts, but he was still able to navigate his way to her house. He had lived in New York his whole life, and it was almost muscle memory getting everywhere by now.

"We're here," he told her as he turned the bike off in front of her apartment building.

She had subconsciously tucked her face into his back as the wind whipped against it on the trip. As soon as she realized, she jumped up from the bike and started taking the helmet off.

"Well...let's get inside," she said, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet.

Percy cleared his throat, "Right."

He climbed off, grabbed his bag, and followed Annabeth into her building and up the stairs. She hadn't spoken again, so he just followed her lead.

Stopping on the third floor platform, she silently walked into the hallway. She led them to apartment 3E before taking out a set of house-keys from her pocket and unlocking the door.

Before they could get farther than the entryway, she rounded back around at him, "Stay quiet. I don't want anyone knowing you're here."

"Got it," he nodded, resisting the urge to make a sarcastic remark. For some reason, he felt that it wasn't the right time to.

They tiptoed their way to the third door down before Annabeth once again shoved him into a room with her. Except this one was larger, cleaner, and brighter. Annabeth's room was nothing like he would expect. It was clean in the sense that there were no clothes sitting around in random places, but it was cluttered like nobody's business. Her desk was overflowing with blueprints and pencils and pens, and her large bookcase was bulging with more books than Percy had even heard of. She had an old fashioned, white dresser on the right covered in lotions and perfumes and other girl products. And then her bed: a white frame with a fluffy grey comforter and two marshmallow-like pillows. Even looking at it made him want to pass out. Upon further inspection, Percy saw that there were already three books sitting on the mattress, and two more on the nightstand. He knew she was smart, but not that she was a bookworm, though he supposed that came with being smart. You enjoyed doing things that others struggled with.

That just made him bitter towards her again. People like her used to patronize him all the time for his dyslexia and ADHD, and it pushed him to become who he was today. What right did they have to act all high-and-mighty just because they were a part of the few who did well in school?

Annabeth's voice broke through his thoughts, "Sorry for the mess. I didn't expect company today."

"It's whatever," he grumbled, crawling back into his rock-hard, badboy shell.

"Oh. Alright," Annabeth muttered, confused by his sudden change in demeanor, "Why don't we sit down and get started?"

She plopped herself down on her fluffy rug and learned back against her bed, staring up at him in wait. With another grumble, Percy sat down next to her, pulling out an old pen from his pocket. Annabeth didn't want to question it, but it was so tempting, and she's never been the best at curving her curiosity.

"Why do you have that?" she pointed at the ballpoint pen.

"It was a gift from my dad. I guess I just keep it around now," he shrugged, trying to downplay the actual enormity of the meaning it held.

It was the last thing his father had given him before he died, and he cherished it. Only his close friends knew why he kept it with him, and that was because most of them were his cousins.

"Oh. That's cool, I guess," Annabeth tried to get back on topic, "What do you want to know?"

"Um...I guess who's going to be there, stuff about them, and stuff about you. I feel like I should know more about you if I'm meeting your family. That usually means you're important," Percy answered, surprising himself and Annabeth with the unusually strategic answer.

"Well, it's going to be this immediate family, two of my dad's sibling's families, and my dad's parents," Annabeth said, and Percy noted how she never said her family.

"I have my dad, step-mom, and two half-brothers, respectively Fredrick Chase, Helen Chase, and Bobby and Matthew Chase. Dad is a US history-buff, so just ask him about his model-planes and he'll talk your ear off for the rest of the night. Helen is kinda a prude, but if you compliment the food or decor, she'll probably love you. Bobby and Matt are pretty simple. They're thirteen-year-old twin boys, and they're not that hard to impress. Just talk about your motorcycle or video games or something, and they'll never stop asking questions," she took a big breath of air, "That's the immediate family."

"Now for my aunt and uncle's families. My Aunt Darcy is divorced with one son in college, Malcolm. He's great, but he might be a little overprotective, so just be prepared for that. And my Uncle Casey has a wife and two daughters. His wife is named Carol, and she's a lot like Helen, but much worse, so avoid her at all costs. Their kids are alright, if not a little spoiled. Their names are Alexandra and Cassandra, and their 14 and 16 respectively. Alexandra goes by Lexi, and Cassandra goes by Cass," Annabeth said.

She could tell that everything she was saying was overwhelming Percy, but they were almost done, so she kept explaining the inner workings of her messed-up family.

"My grandparents hate me, so that will automatically transfer to you. Their names are Mary and John Chase, though they'll probably tell you what they want to be called," she informed, "And that's it! The dinner is in 7 days, so the third day of winter break."

It was the Wednesday before break as they were talking, so they had a while to prepare. Some might think Annabeth was overinforming Percy, but she wasn't exaggerating on anything. She was the mistake her father made in college, and nobody wanted her, not even her own mother. Annabeth hadn't even seen her mother in two years. The most she got were impersonal birthday cards and two hundred dollars into her college savings account. She was not winning in the motherly-love department, that's for sure.

"What about you? Or us? We need a reason for why you're bringing ME to a family dinner," Percy said.

"I've planned for that. You're a friend from school named Percy. We'll figure more stuff out at the dinner as we come up with stuff. And what do you want to know about me?" she said.

"Basic stuff, I guess. Like your favorite color, animal, what you want to be, middle name, favorite song..." he started listing off.

"Grey, owl, architect, I don't have a middle name, and I guess Immortals or The Run and Go," Annabeth answered.

That shocked Percy. Annabeth didn't seem like the kind of girl to listen to Fall Out Boy.

"You listen to Fall Out Boy?" Percy questioned.

"Sure, they're great," Annabeth shrugged, getting up and grabbing her backpack before sitting back down again, "But I feel like we should get a grasp on your studying situation now."

Percy really didn't feel like studying, but he knew he had to, "Fine."

"Great! Let's get started. Now what unit are you guys on right now?" she exclaimed, feigning excitement.

Honestly Annabeth didn't know what to expect going in besides a struggle. She had a pretty good idea of Percy's grades at the moment, and it would be a journey getting them to rise. However, she never backs down from a challenge, so she grabbed an old textbook, some scratch paper, and a couple pencils before sitting next to the mysterious bad boy of Goode High.

Little did she know, Annabeth was in for a lot more than she bargained for...

Ω❖Ω

"Annabeth!" Percy called out, running up to her in the hallways.

Annabeth's friends all turned to look at her in various degrees of shock. She just gave them a sheepish look in return. So what if she had conveniently forgot to tell them about her deal with Percy? It's not like it was that important, anyway.

It was the last day before break, Friday, and Percy was stressing about the test he had next period. It was in Math, and he knew that him and Annabeth had worked really hard getting him prepared the days before, but he was still convinced he was going to fail.

"I'm so screwed," he said as he reached her, not even paying a mind to her friends watching this interaction in confusion, "I'm so gonna fail!"

"Percy, you are going to do fine. You are prepared for this," Annabeth assured.

"No, I'm not! Everything you taught me is gone! It ran away in fear!" he protested.

Annabeth tried not to laugh, but a small smile graced her lips, "Just take a breath and relax. You're going to do great."

Personally, Percy thought that was a load of crap, but at that precise moment, he realized that almost everyone around them was staring at the baddest boy in school talking to the nerdiest girl, so he shut up. He turned and gave everyone his best wolf glare before walking away.

Annabeth watched him go with a fond sigh.

Then, she mentally slapped herself. Get a hold of yourself! You do NOT like Percy Jackson, she thought. There was no way.

It was hard not to, though. Annabeth didn't like lying to herself, so she admitted that she thought Percy was pretty hot. But they would never work. For starters, there was their respective social statuses. And then there's also the tiny part about how they even started becoming "friends" or whatever else you call their relationship.

So, she took a deep breath before walking to her first class, ignoring her friend's threats about interrogations later.

At lunch, before Annabeth could even make it to the cafeteria, a hand latched onto her arm and pulled her up to the roof. Of course, she realized it was Percy pretty fast, but she was still confused on what was going on.

When they got up there, he pulled up to the same spot from Wednesday and took a piece of paper out of his bag. He held it up proudly in front of her face without a word, displaying the large red B- on the paper.

Her face broke out into a grin and before she could realize what she was doing, Annabeth jumped up into his arms.

"Oh my god! You did it! Congrats!" she exclaimed.

He chuckled, and put her down before saying, "Thanks! The teacher graded it for me right after. I don't think I've gotten this good of a grade ever!"

"Well, now you have," Annabeth couldn't help it, she gave him one more, sweeter, hug.

"I couldn't have done it without you," Percy said, placing a calloused hand on her cheek.

Annabeth blushed and shook her head, "No, you did this all by yourself. I just helped push you along a little."

And, GOD, she smiled that cute smile and Percy really wanted to kiss her. Then he realized what he had just thought and quickly pulled his hand down. No, Percy was impulsive, but he wasn't that stupid.

Inside, Annabeth was a little disappointed, but she didn't show it on the outside. She just smiled at him once more before taking a step away.

Percy cleared his throat, "Well, I've gotta get going...somewhere. I'll see you Wednesday."

"Oh! Right. Yeah. See you Wednesday," Annabeth responded before remembering, "Oh! I almost forgot, dress nicely."

Percy grimaced, but he figured he owed her for helping him get this grade, so he nodded while opening the roof access door.

Both of them had a lot to think about. There was no way they were developing feelings for each other. It was impossible. Percy was Percy, and Annabeth was Annabeth. There was no Percy and Annabeth or Annabeth and Percy. They were two separate people in two completely different parts of the high school caste system.

Ω❖Ω

Annabeth was freaking out. It was a stupid idea to begin with, but she still did it. She let her emotions control her, and it led her to that morning; the morning of the dinner.

She was pacing back and forth, running a path along her carpet in her bedroom. She had two outfits laid out on her bed, but she wasn't too worried about those yet. What she was worried about was Percy. Annabeth had started to somewhat trust him, but as soon as she had woken up that morning, every possible way he could let her down popped into her head.

Sure, she kinda wanted him to surprise her father by his appearance, but that was only as a small act of rebellion. Her father had mentioned that he hadn't seen any boys around ever, and that he was concerned about her social life. Therefore, she decided to give him the opposite of what boy you bring home to your parents. She was giving him Percy Jackson.

Oh, she was such an idiot!! There was no way Percy was going to follow through with his side of the deal, he had already gotten what he wanted. She helped him pass his math test, and now she wasn't needed anymore. He could cut her loose, just like her mother.

Annabeth felt her chest constrict in anticipation of an anxiety attack. She knew what was going on, and how to handle it. These weren't uncommon with her. So, she sat herself down on her bed and started counting her breathing. Inhale two three four, hold two three four, exhale two three four, repeat. Soon enough, she was calming down, and then her mind realized how irrational she had been acting. There was no reason to doubt Percy until he gave her one. She had to put her trust in him, something she had done to hardly anyone.

But she had already committed, and Annabeth Chase does not back down from challenges. She could do this.

Ω❖Ω

Percy was also freaking out.

Okay, so not as badly as Annabeth, but it was bad in its own right. He had admitted days ago that he felt something more than friendship towards Annabeth, but he still refused to believe it was a crush. Percy Jackson didn't get crushes. Or at least, that's what everyone in school believed, and in high school, your reputation is hard to get rid of (mostly because nobody wants to). So what if he let everyone believe he was a womanizer? It's not like it was true, and he and his friends knew that. He respected women more than probably every boy in Goode. Being raised by Sally Jackson tends to do that to you.

So there he was, freaking out over not having anything to wear. Don't get him wrong, Percy had plenty of clothes, but not one of them was appropriate for a "formal dinner." And if he had any chance of furthering his relationship with Annabeth, he had to be perfect. This night had to be perfect, for her.

Oh god, he sounded like a lovesick puppy!

He took one last look at his closet before falling back onto his bed in defeat. That was when an idea struck him. Thalia, his cousin, had a brother (who could also be classified as a cousin), and he was dating Piper, a total fashionista. They had only really interacted a couple of times, but he knew that she was a nice person. If anyone could pull him out of the ditch he had dug himself, it would be her. The only problem with his plan was how he was going to convince her. He hadn't even told his mom about the deal with Annabeth, let alone his little cousin's girlfriend!

In his typical Percy way, he decided to just wing it.

He grabbed his phone off his bedside table and pulled up Jason's contact, which was labeled "Sparky." Percy quickly sent a text asking for Piper's number, and it took a while to convince Jason that he wasn't trying to make a move on her, but he eventually got it.

With speed his dyslexic brain didn't know it was capable of, he texted Piper, letting her know who he was and telling her it was urgent for her to get to his apartment. She responded with a question mark, and he let out a groan of frustration.

Didn't she understand that this was a life or death situation?!

Finally, he just decided to call Piper. His tone of voice would hopefully sway her.

"What do you want, Jackson?" she answered on the first ring.

"I need your help," he answered.

"Too bad. I don't feel like committing any felonies today, sorry," she said.

"No, nothing like that! I need you to come to my apartment," he responded.

She scoffed, "I'm definitely not doing that. What's this about?"

With a sigh, Percy relented in a whisper, "I need your fashion advice."

"Sorry, what was that? You need to speak up," she said.

"I said, I need your fashion advice. Actually, I need your help dressing for a formal dinner," he answered.

She actually burst out laughing.

"This isn't funny, Piper," he grumbled.

"No no, you're right. This is hilarious! Percy Jackson, asking for fashion advice for a formal dinner!" she broke out into another bout of laughter.

"McLean! Are you gonna help me or not?" Percy snapped.

The girl in question took a deep, calming breath before answering, "Sure. I'll be there in 20."

Without waiting for his response, she hung up.

Percy had the strange feeling that he had just made a huge mistake as he settled onto his living room couch, waiting to open the door for Piper.

Ω❖Ω

"Annabeth! Come down here! I need your help!" Helen called from downstairs.

Annabeth had managed to distract herself for another couple of hours with homework and reading, but now her step mother wanted her to help with preparations, which would only remind her that the dinner was coming up. She didn't want to be reminded, but she also wasn't in the mood for a fight with Helen. So, she pulled herself up from her desk chair and went downstairs.

What she found was not the downstairs of her home. It was completely different. Decorations were set up everywhere, and the living room had been stripped clean of any of Bobby and Matthew's toys. The dining room was where she found Helen, who was hurriedly setting the table.

Annabeth was a little confused. Last she checked, they still had an hour before anyone would be showing up, so why was Helen acting like they had five minutes?

"Helen?" she asked, "You do know we have another hour, right?"

Her step mother's head snapped up, "Yes, I do know that. That's why I'm rushing. I still have to finish making the food, and put more presents under the tree, and finish setting the table, and get your brothers to clean up upstairs. We're running out of time!"

Annabeth really didn't want to comfort Helen, but she seemed like she really needed it.

"I'll help you. We'll get it all done, okay? It's gonna be okay," she said, "Why don't you go finish dinner while I finish setting the table? Then we can get ready while the boys clean up upstairs. We'll figure out the rest after."

"O-okay. Just make sure it all matches! Lord knows I have enough issues with your grandparents already," Helen agreed with a deep breath.

"Bye," Annabeth nudged when Helen didn't move.

"Right! Bye," she walked into the kitchen.

With a sigh, Annabeth continued her stepmother's work. She knew that this dinner had to be perfect for more than just her now.

Ω❖Ω

"Thank god you're here!" Percy pulled Piper through the front door and to his bedroom, ignoring her sounds of shock and protest.

"What are you doing?!" she exclaimed.

"I told you. I need your help," Percy answered.

He pointed towards his closet, which was disappointing him more with every passing minute. Why couldn't he just be a good closet and produce some nice clothes to wear? Was that so much to ask?

"Okay, I know that, but can I have some background info? Like who you're doing this for?" Piper said.

"No," he answered on instinct.

No way was he telling her that it was for a sorta-date with Annabeth Chase. He knew her reputation of being a total matchmaker, and he was not in the mood for her canoodling. It was just part of a deal. He had to keep that mindset if he had any chance of getting through the night.

Okay, so he wasn't being completely honest with himself! So what?

"Percy, I need to know what kind of event I'm dressing you for," Piper said in a gentle, but urgent tone, "I promise I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to."

She seemed to be serious, so Percy relented, "I'm going to a formal dinner with Annabeth Chase's family."

Whatever she had been thinking, his answer clearly wasn't it. Her face split into one of shock and then giddiness.

"I knew it! Jason said I was crazy, but I knew it! You like her! Oh, you guys are such a cute couple!" she exclaimed, practically jumping up and down in excitement.

Percy rushed to correct her, "No no no! We're not dating! We made a deal. I would go to this dinner with her if she became my tutor."

Piper's face fell.

"Oh. Well, I guess I can still help you," she muttered, "But I still think you guys would make the cutest couple!"

Percy let out a sigh of relief. He had started to get really worried there.

Some might think it was odd for him to put this much effort into a date, but this was just the real him; the one he hid from the world. He refused to let anyone take away his power now; to hurt him. No more Gabes.

But that was all in the past.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" he yelled.

"No problem," Piper responded before walking up to his closet and starting to file through his clothes.

Every so often, she would make a click of disapprovement, or she would sigh in exasperation, but she never looked up at him. For the longest time, Percy had to hold in his comments. He figured that it was best to be silent while she worked.

This was her specialty, after all.

Piper pulled out a couple of random clothes and tossed them onto his bed.

"This is the best I could do. You seriously need some new clothes, by the way," she said.

By the way she was gazing at his clothes, it almost seemed like Piper was physically hurting for his lack of style. He wasn't sure whether to laugh or be offended.

She had pulled out a black button-up that he never remembered buying, and a pair of new, dark jeans. He would've never worn any of the items, so he concluded that his mother must have bought them for him when she still thought his choice of clothing was just a phase he was going through.

"Put them on!" Piper ordered when she saw him just staring at the outfit.

"Alright, alright. Can you turn around please?" he said, going to lift his shirt off.

She scoffed but complied.

Once he had finished, he told her she could look, and then they just stood in silence for a second. It worried Percy that Piper hadn't said a single word, and was just staring at him.

"Well...?" he prodded.

"Damn! You clean up good, Jackson," she exclaimed, finally.

He let out a laugh, but a slight blush was dusting his cheeks. So what if he wasn't actually a punky badboy? That was for him to know, and for nobody at school to find out.

The only reason he let Piper see this side of him is because it was obvious that Jason was going to marry her eventually. It was kinda sickening how cute they could be sometimes.

"Alright, how long until you need to be there?" Piper asked.

He checked his phone and let out a noise of panic once he saw the time: 4:30 PM. He had to be there at five, which meant he had to leave, like, now.

"Crap, I'm late!" he yelled, rushing around his room gathering his phone, wallet, shoes, and keys.

All he recognized was Piper's muffled laughter as he hurriedly left and told her to lock up on her way out. He didn't even care that he was walking in socks on the New York City sidewalks, just that he got into the car as soon as possible.

The car he was driving was an old, beat-up, blue Prius that his step-dad, Paul, owned. Percy had asked to borrow it for the night so that he would look more meet the parents-like.

It seemed he was starting to come to the conclusion that he really wanted something real with Annabeth. Maybe even accepting it, screw his reputation!

Ω❖Ω

He was late. That's all Annabeth's mind could focus on as she tugged on her nude, strappy heels for the night. She had decided to go with a lacy, burgundy, off-the-shoulder dress that ends at just above the knees. She was, of course, wearing her lotus flower necklace (a gift from her mother years ago), and her ears had some simple diamond studs. She had given herself a slight grey smokey-eye and a nude lip. Annabeth wanted to go with her natural curls, so all she did was make them slightly more organized.

To some families, this might seem like a bit much, but to the Chase's it was normal. They prided themselves on regalty and opulence. Annabeth had never liked that, but it was easier to comply with her father's wishes rather than fight them.

But back to Percy's tardiness.

He wasn't actually late, but he wasn't there when she told him to be. She told him to be there at five, rather than 5:30, because she wanted to get the immediate family introductions over with first. Plus, Annabeth liked to plan for things. Planning meant no possibilities of mistakes, and Percy was messing-up her plans.

Just as she was ready to call him and chew him out for being late, there was a ring from the doorbell, and Annabeth was dashing downstairs. She had hoped to beat Bobby and Matthew, but apparently, luck wasn't on her side that night because when she got there, she saw the twins standing in the doorway looking up at Percy in confusion.

Her half-brothers hadn't yet learned how to not be blunt, and it was showing in that moment.

"Who are you?"

"You're not supposed to be here."

"I'm Percy, Annabeth's date," Percy replied in his perfectly smooth voice.

"Bobby! Matthew! Go away!" she ordered before they could ask more questions.

Percy's head shot up at her voice, and his mouth literally fell open. His eyes tracked up and down her body slowly, growing wider by every inch while Annabeth just stood that with a light blush coating her cheeks.

"You're drooling," she joked.

"You look beautiful," he said.

She gave him a big smile and grabbed his hand, "Come on, let's meet the 'rents."

"Yay..." he cheered half-heartedly.

She pulled him over to the kitchen, where her father and step-mother were finishing up dinner preparations. She cleared her throat to get their attention and they both looked up, shocked at what they found.

Clearly, they hadn't believed Annabeth when she told them she was bringing a date.

"Dad, Helen, this is Percy Jackson. Percy, this is my dad and step-mom," she introduced, awkwardly waving her hand between the two groups.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Chase," Percy shook both their hands.

Annabeth, internally, was shocked, but she just beamed proudly on the outside. Who knew Percy Jackson had manners?

"Nice to meet you too, Percy," Helen said.

Mr. Chase just nodded, skeptic eyes analyzing every bit of Percy. His eyes locked onto something peeking up from under his shirt collar.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the blemish on the boy's skin.

That was the last thing Percy wanted to answer. He had tried to hide his tattoos, but the one on the back of his neck was hard to hide. It was trident.

"Oh," he glanced at Annabeth before answering, "It's a tattoo."

He might as well just get straight to the point, right?

Fredrick Chase raised his eyebrows at his daughter, who chose to not be phased. She had known Percy had tattoos going into this, and it just added to the appeal of rebellion against her parents.

"Any special meaning?" he asked.

"Um...it's a trident. It's for my father, who died in the Navy," Percy answered, shocking even Annabeth.

She hadn't known his father had died, or that he had been in the Navy. She had just figured he was one of those teens who got tattoos with no meaning. Guess even she could be wrong sometimes, and a lot of that was happening around Percy.

She guessed it just proved the "don't judge a book by its cover" thing.

"Interesting," Mr. Chase mused, but didn't comment any further.

He instead chose to continue cooking, so Annabeth grabbed Percy again and pulled him into the living room, where her brothers were playing.

"Boys, this is Percy," she said, getting their attention.

Their heads snapped up in almost-perfect sync.

"We know," Matthew answered, "We met him at the door."

"Right," she said, unsure of what else to say after that.

"Are you guys dating?" Bobby asked.

"No, we're not," Annabeth answered.

"Cuz Percy said that he was your date," Bobby continued.

"Well that's not the same as dating," Annabeth clarified.

"You guys seem like you're dating," Matthew said.

Annabeth and Percy looked at each other, noticing that they had gravitated to sit right next to each other on the couch, with Percy's arm resting behind her. It felt so natural, that they hadn't noticed their bodies doing it.

Neither of them knew what else to say to that statement, but they didn't have to because there was another ring of the doorbell soon after. Annabeth hopped up to go answer it, and she found that it was actually the entire rest of the family, punctual as always. The funny thing was, she didn't even bat an eyelash at it; just welcomed them in and took her grandparents' coats.

As they were walking further into the house, Malcolm walked up to her and whispered, "And so it begins."

She let out a snort, but tried to hide it with a cough.

Unfortunately, he wasn't so far off. Family gatherings were one of two things in her household: loud and full of anger, or silent and awkward. There was no in- between.

As they got into the living room, she noticed that everyone was staring at Percy, who hadn't even noticed it yet. He had gotten down onto the floor and was playing cars with Bobby and Matt. That sight brought a smile to her face for a moment, before she realized that she had to explain why there was a "stranger" in the house, playing with her little brothers.

She walked up to Percy and pulled him up, "Guys, this is Percy. Percy, this is my Aunt Darcy, Malcolm, Uncle Casey, Aunt Carol, and Lexi and Cass."

He waved awkwardly, making Annabeth do an internal face-palm. He had done so well up until that point!

Nobody really introduced themselves, and that was fine by Annabeth. The less confrontation, the better.

The group dissipated and spread throughout the house, with only Malcom staying in the living room. He had a major scowl going on, and he was staring down Percy, who seemed pretty intimidated by it for some reason.

Honestly, he was intimidated by Malcom. He wanted to impress Annabeth's family because he kinda wanted to date the girl! It was crucial that at least some of them enjoy his presence, or at least tolerate it.

"Hey, I'm Percy," he held out a hand for Malcom to shake.

He ignored it and just continued to analyze every inch of the teenager who was "dating" his little cousin.

"I'm Malcom, Annabeth's cousin. What are your intentions with her?" he got straight to the point.

"Um," Percy swallowed, "I would like to continue hanging out with her. She's really nice."

He wanted to punch himself. 'She's really nice'?! Stupid, Percy! Stupid, Percy!

Malcom still still didn't seem happy with Percy being there, but he decided to not continue any interrogations, so that was a plus.

Annabeth let out a sigh of relief, and pulled Percy down onto the couch with her. Not even caring about the implications of it, she rested her head against his shoulder and intertwined her fingers with his. It was all very coupley, but she didn't care. That was what she wanted this to lead to, right? And it seemed like Percy was the kind of guy who needed clear signals, and this was about as clear as she could get without straight-up kissing him.

Percy didn't end up commenting on it, but he did let a small, discrete smile slip onto his face. He had gotten the signals, and now he had a plan.

Ω❖Ω

Dinner ended up going relatively smoothly, for a Chase dinner at least. The adults held a sorta-steady conversation, while the kids occasionally talked. The most-common topic amongst the teens was Percy. Cassandra and Alexandra were extremely happy to learn more about the boy, as they so-obviously were attracted to him. Annabeth wasn't sure whether to be jealous or amused that Percy played along with them.

When the night was drawing to a close, and the extended family members had finished saying their goodbyes, Annabeth led Percy to his car. She wanted some privacy for this conversation.

But it was a little distracting that Percy Jackson, badboy, owned a blue Prius. Sure, it was his step-dad's but still!

"This is too great! Leo's gonna love this!" she exclaimed, laughing.

"Haha, so funny. Are you done?" Percy deadpanned.

"Sure, sure," she gasped, and then moved to a more serious tone, "But I do want to talk to you about something else."

"What is it?" Percy asked, leaning back against the car door.

He didn't want to worry, but his mind jumped to conclusions he didn't even know it could. What if she didn't want to talk to him ever again? What if she needed him to commit a murder? What if she was pregnant?! Okay, that last one's a little far-fetched, but his mind is a little odd, okay? Leave it be.

"I was wondering..." she started.

"Yes?" he nudged her with his foot..

"Would you maybe want to go on a real date?" she sped out.

Percy grinned, "Are you sure you wanna go out with rebellious teen Percy Jackson? Won't I be a bad influence?"

Annabeth smirked, "That's what I'm counting on."

And oh god, that was not the right thing to say to him unless she wanted to be kissed. Absolutely not.

Percy said in a very serious voice, "I'm going to kiss you now."

Annabeth smiled, "Okay."

Then his lips were on her, and the metaphorical fireworks were going off, and confetti was being thrown, and everything around them was blocked out, and it was perfect. Their lips fit perfectly with each other, one slightly-chapped and the other plump and moist.

Percy could kiss Annabeth all day, and it felt like they did when they pulled away, breathing heavily and trying to catch their breaths. They had basically just started making out eventually, but people (unfortunately) have to breathe at some point.

"Wow," is all Percy could come up with.

Annabeth giggled, and it was the best thing Percy had ever heard, "Very intelligent, Seaweed Brain."

"Seaweed Brain, huh?"

"It just slipped out, but I think it kinda fits," she answered.

"Fine, then I get to call you...Wise Girl," he declared, settling his hands lightly on her hips.

"You know that's a compliment, right?" Annabeth said.

"Whatever, it fits," he said.

And that was such a Percy statement that Annabeth had to give him one more peck on the lips. Then, she pulled away and started to walk backwards towards her house.

"I'll text you!" Percy called.

"I'll be waiting for it!" she called back.

And, okay, so maybe the dinner wasn't how they planned, but it was better.

Ω❖Ω

Part 2? This can also be found on FF, Ao3, Inkitt, Wattpad, and Webnovel.

[solangelover]

AUctober: Day 2 - Pirates

Mermaid/Pirate AU

For @solangeloweek AUctober and to continue my AU!

Ch 1 | Ch 2 | --

Read on AO3 or FF.Net

A/N: You all loved this fic so much (and tbh I read it back and impressed myself lol), so I’ve been wanting to continue for a while! I had like half of this in MerMay, so I finally finished lol. I have a rough chaptered plan buuuut we’ll see!

Will could practically feel the nervous energy of his fellow shipmates right outside the infirmary door. They all tried looking casual, but he saw many people try to peek in through the tiny door window to get a glimpse of what was going on inside.

After all, no one ever thought they’d meet a mermaid.

Well, merman was the proper term (merboy?), but still. Merpeople existed. They’d seen a lot of crazy things out at sea, but they never actively sought out mythical creatures—those things usually came to them anyway. So, no one was surprised, per say, but everyone was definitely curious.

“Grover, Will,” Captain Percy began as he entered the room. “Talk to me.”

Will was finishing his preliminary check of the merboy—Nico, Will reminded himself—though his limited knowledge of merpeople anatomy and physiology was not enough to fully assess Nico’s condition. Grover had come to help at the captain’s request. He had a way with all kinds of creatures, animal or mythical, though usually the non-humanoid kind. He had not done much so far besides smile, but Nico seemed to be more at ease with significantly less people crowding around him.

“Captain,” Will began, still looking at his clipboard as he finished writing notes down. “I’ve just completed assessing Nico’s condition. I don’t know much about his kind, but Nico agreed to receiving more assistance and that he could help fill in knowledge gaps.”

“Oh!” Percy was pleasantly surprised at the merboy’s cooperation. He looked past Will toward the boy on the cot, no longer cooped up in a cage. He smiled at him, earning him a scowl in return.

Nothing fazed the fearless captain, however, as he addressed the merboy. “That’s great news! I hope our doctor here can heal most of your wounds. He’s pretty good at it.” Percy smirked as he cast his eyes toward his best friend. “I also hope Grover did something helpful. He’s probably the nicest person aboard this ship.”

Grover sputtered at the compliment, spitting out, “I didn’t do anything! I mean—I just—I’m just, here to help.” He rubbed his neck, slightly embarrassed as he smiled bashfully at Nico.

Nico nodded at the human. He did seem kind, in a different way from the golden-haired boy that was helping him. The first boy had darker-colored eyes, though not as dark as Nico’s own. But the second boy, the “doctor,” apparently, had bright eyes—the color of the ocean as light filtered in from above. They seemed to sparkle in the same way, too. That actually comforted Nico the most. Before, he would have lashed out and quickly made his escape back into the sea, just as he’d imagined doing on the other ship. But here, the boy with ocean-blue eyes made him feel… not safe, not yet, but safer than he’s felt in a while.

And, now that Nico was looking at the captain of this new ship, he noticed that his eyes were similar. If the doctor, Will, had eyes blue like the deeper parts of the ocean, the captain’s eyes were the color of shallower areas, with green hues mixed in with the blue. Again, it made him feel safe in a way that the cruel, pale blue eyes of his captor had not.

Still, Nico didn’t plan on staying for long. He believed these humans had good intentions, at least as far as healing him went. But beyond that… Nico wouldn’t stick around to find out what they planned to do with him.

Will was going on to say some things about Nico’s condition that Nico himself didn’t fully understand. While he had always been curious about the human language and hung around ships to understand some things, his vocabulary was limited.

“… Anyway, I think I should keep him here for a few days to be sure he heals up okay.” Nico’s head whipped up to stare at the back of Will’s head. A few days was… more than he had anticipated.

Percy nodded, glancing up when he saw Nico move. The bandages on Will’s arm were noticeable, especially considering that Will himself didn’t get hurt very often. Percy was wary of leaving him alone with the merboy. Though the scumbag they rescued him from was vile and cowardly, he might have had the creature locked up for a reason. But after his initial strike, Nico hadn’t moved to hurt anyone outside of scowling and glaring viciously. Plus, he trusted Will’s judgement.

Percy took a step toward the cot, not venturing too close but showing that he wasn’t afraid of the kid. “Nico, right?” The merboy nodded once. “Nico, I’m truly sorry that you were captured and hurt on that other ship, but on my ship, we’re all friendly. I’m sure you don’t trust us yet, and that’s totally fine and understandable. But please know that we will do whatever we can to help you out. After Will gives the ‘okay’ on your health, we’ll take you where you need to go. Got me?” Percy had no idea if Nico was fluent in their language or not, but he hoped his message got across properly.

Nico sat there for a moment, both surprised and suspicious at the man’s words. He stared into those sea-green eyes, coming to the conclusion that, at least for now, his words were genuine. Nico nodded once more, then cleared his throat. “Thank you,” he sounded out carefully, hoping that was the proper usage.

Percy smiled immediately, big and bright. “Okay!” He turned and clapped Grover and Will on the shoulder. “Will, I’m trusting you to fix up our friend, alright?”

“Aye, captain.”

“Grover, I could use your help relaying our situation to the rest of the crew. Tell Kayla and Austin to come in and give Will a hand as needed.”

“Aye Aye, captain.”

“And Nico,” Percy glanced back over his shoulder before heading out, locking eyes with the merboy once more. “Please be nice to the good doctor. He’s the best we’ve got.” And with that, the two friends stepped out and shut the door behind them.

Will swallowed nervously, glancing at Nico, who was still staring at the closed door. Though Grover had not done much, his presence did ease Will’s nerves and allowed him to focus on assessing Nico’s condition. Now that they were alone, however, Will really had time to process the fact that he was here, with a mermaid, acting as his healer. He just shook his head. What a life I have, is all he could think.

He cleared his throat, effectively gaining Nico’s attention as he whipped back towards him, dark eyes boring into Will’s own. “Um, so, your condition is… not great,” he began oh so eloquently. Nico nodded seriously anyway. “You appear to be malnourished, physically injured though not critically, and sleep-deprived. Um,” he glanced nervously at the merboy’s tail. “I also think you’re probably dehydrated if merpeople need more water than humans to survive. The overall condition of your tail doesn’t seem good, though obviously I don’t exactly have a frame of reference for that.”

Will waited as Nico processed his words. His understanding of English was pretty amazing since it obviously was not his native language, but he probably didn’t get to practice it much.

Nico spoke up, voice a bit rough due to disuse and dehydration. “I understand,” he said. “You are correct. My tail should be… lighter? Less… dark.” His face twisted in confusion, and maybe a bit of frustration, at his limited vocabulary.

The doctor hummed as he tried to understand what Nico meant. “Do you mean shiny? Like,” he tapped his chin in thought. “Kind of how the ocean looks when sunlight hits it?”

“Yes!” Nico exclaimed. He wasn’t quite smiling yet, but his eyes lit up at learning a new word. “Shiny,” he said experimentally, tasting the word on his tongue. Will did his best to tamp down his own grin at how pleased Nico looked in this moment.

“Okay,” Will said, making a note on his clipboard. “So, with all of that, I think it’s best if you stay with us for at least three days. There’s a lot of healing that needs to be done for me to feel comfortable sending you home. Octavian really did a number on you.” He frowned down at his notes, upset at how awfully his cousin treated this poor merboy. It was almost amazing that he could become even more disgraceful in Will’s eyes than he already was.

Nico took note of the way Will looked angry when discussing his treatment on the other ship. He did not think the anger was directed at him since Will had been nothing but helpful the entire time he had been here. But he couldn’t quite grasp why Will seemed so upset on Nico’s behalf. They didn’t even know each other—they weren’t even of the same species! Yet, somehow, the way that both the captain and doctor of this ship seemed to care for Nico’s wellbeing brought him a bit of comfort. Not that he trusted them—yet—but he knew genuine actions when he saw them.

Even with all of that, though…

“Three days?” Will’s head snapped up at Nico’s voice, like he had been lost in thought previously. “Is that needed? I can heal on my own.”

The blonde took in the stubborn pout that graced his patient’s face. On the other crew members, Will would have been annoyed. But with Nico… well, he couldn’t help but think it was kind of cute. “Three days is the minimum.” Cute or no, Will always drew the line at someone’s health. “Really, I’d rather keep you for longer, just in terms of your wellbeing. However,” his eyes softened, “I also want to be able to get you home as soon as possible. I’m not sure how long you’ve been away, but I’m sure you must at least miss being in the water.”

Nico glanced away from the kind eyes of the healer. He had not been home in some time, not just due to his capture. But that wasn’t for this human to know.

The merboy didn’t know what to say, but luckily, Will continued on. “So, if it’s okay with you, I would like to keep watch over you for three days to monitor your health so that you can make a full recovery. Is this acceptable?” He desperately hoped that Nico could trust him enough for that to happen. Honestly, the fact that Nico hadn’t put up much of a fight aside from the very beginning shocked Will completely. Perhaps Nico had had good experiences with humans prior to Octavian. That would explain his knowledge of the English language.

Will was also bursting with questions about Nico’s species, which he hoped to get answered over the course of the three days. Because how could he not?

After what felt like an hour of silence, Nico finally seemed to find what he was looking for in Will’s eyes. He nodded, more to himself than the doctor, and said, “Okay, I agree. One condition.” Nico pointed to the door without taking his eyes off Will. “Keep this door locked.”

“What?” Will cocked his head to the side in confusion. That’s probably the opposite of what he would have expected the merboy to want.

“Locked,” he said again, like Will didn’t understand. “I do not think you will harm me. But I do not know the other humans.”

Ah, that makes sense and is actually pretty smart thinking, Will thought as he nodded in understanding. “Understood. I’ll clear that with Percy and make sure it is always locked. I can leave a key in here as well, if that makes you more comfortable. I don’t want you to feel,” caged, he nearly said, “held against your will.”

This earned Will a tiny smile and a nod, which he counted as a major win for the day. “Okay then. That’s settled, so let’s continue on…”

 A/N: I’m going to cut this here. Next chapter will be the next day, or day one of the three days. (Who knows when that’ll be up—)

[allfandomxreader]

After Dust Settles

Pairings: Steve Harrington x Reader

Summary: As a teenager, you never could’ve imagined the life you and Steve would share together. 

Warnings: Language, minor blood and anxiety mention, but I think that’s it

Words: 2.1k

A/N: So this could either be a one shot or if you guys like it I could make it into a mini series, let me know if you'd like me to continue it!! Not my gif!

Masterlist

Cold tile was pressed against your cheek. Steve murmured somewhere next to you in and out of conscious from his drugged state. You desperately wanted to reach for him, to hold his hand, to escape. God, you really wanted to escape.

When the Russians returned, they yanked your fallen bodies from the floor, asking once again “Who do you work for?” for the thousandth time. You couldn’t answer, your eyes fixated on the blood smears where Steve laid just moments ago. You’ve survived the Demogorgon and even his army of dogs, but you were going to die in a secret fortress beneath your part time job. It was almost comical.

The doctor, which by now you’ve decided wasn’t an actual doctor, reached for tools on a metal try. The scraping of metal sent chills down your spine, his footsteps that grew louder as he reached for Steve’s hand didn’t help either. The boy pressed against your back squirmed to get away from his grip, it was only then did you scream about the code.

The Mind Flayer roars, his hands swarmed around the open area trying to capture anything that dared to move. Your eyes were trained to the floor, trying your hardest not to stare at the creature that stood only a few yards away. You can’t hear anything, not Steve who tried to snap you out of your daze, not Robin who demanded answers to questions you couldn’t quite answer, even the fireworks sounded like they were miles away.

You needed to breathe. Air. You needed air.

It’s been years since the supernatural had left Hawkins, the small town is now deemed safe. There aren’t any more Russians, no sign of monsters, all the fighting ceased after Starcourt. Dust that the lab and the Upside Down kicked up has since settled.

It had been ages since you’ve woken up gasping, hands trembling, and coated with sweat. Nightmares haven’t been so common lately, you almost forgot they existed. Almost.

On any given morning, you’d reach for Steve. Usually, he’d still be sleeping, his lips always parted, his hair messy and fanning the pillow beneath him. Today however, the spot beside you is abandoned by Steve and stolen by four paws and a wagging tail. You smile at Grover, gently running your hand along his spine as his tail thumps softly against the mattress, eyes pleading to stay in bed just a second longer.

Steve would flip if he saw the sight, complaining for days about shedding and muddy paws. The beagle knows he’s not allowed in bed. Steve drilled that memo in his head the second he sprinted through the door, sniffing all his new surroundings. It only took him a few nights to understand the concept. But you let it slide, just this once.

It took only a moment to regain your bearings and be brought back to reality. The room around you is dark despite sunlight trying to invade the room behind closed curtains. Pictures hang neatly on the walls, a pile of Steve’s clothes in the corner, two stray cups litter the bedside table. You are home. You are safe.

Sighing, you pull yourself out of bed and into the kitchen, Grover’s muffled footsteps trailing behind you. The house is oddly silent, Steve clearly isn’t home, the note on the fridge only confirms it. “Store run, be home soon -S”

There couldn’t possibly be anything either of you needed for the day, grocery shopping has always been a Sunday errand. You haven’t even made the list yet, there’s no telling what that clueless man will bring back.

It’s Saturday, the day reserved for sleeping in and movie marathons with your husband. Saturday isn’t a day for waking up alone, weekdays are. Well, not for you, your job demands early mornings whereas Steve’s alarm goes off an hour after you leave. For years, Steve’s always been there the moment your eyes open. Of course, on the day you needed it most, he’s gone. You’ve always had shit luck though.

Grover eats happily while you brew a pot of coffee and scrub away the grime from last night’s dinner off dishes as it brews, quietly humming to yourself. You can’t help but bask in the comfort of your home.

There’s only two bedrooms, a quaint kitchen, a decently sized living room, and a small dining area. It’s nothing like the grand house Steve lived in before, there’s no way you could afford a three story abode and both of you refused to take money from his parents. But it’s away from Hawkins, just a few states away from bad memories.

The life you know now is nothing you could’ve dreamed of as a teenager. Married to your best friend, each of you pursuing dream jobs, being a home and dog owner, with a white picket fence to top it off. It’s all you could’ve asked for back then, and at the time it seemed so untangable, so unrealistic. It was hard picturing such a happy and bright future when you were surrounded with death and gore.

For the most part, both of you have healed. Your wounds are now faint scars, nightmares are a rare occurrence instead of every night. You don’t jump when the phone rings or panic when there’s a knock at the door. You don’t have to worry about saving the world anymore, only bills and what to cook for dinner, or whose turn it is to lock the door. For some, such a simple life would be excruciatingly boring, but for you and Steve it’s paradise.

“Hey sleepy head,” Steve calls from the front door, keys and plastic bags dangling from his hands. “You weren’t supposed to be up yet, I wanted to surprise you with breakfast.” He explains, kicking the door shut with his foot.

“I was wondering why you went to the store so early.” You smile, shutting the tap off and drying your hands. He sets the bags down on the counter, leaning in to peck your cheek.

“I didn’t want to wake you, you looked so peaceful even if you were snoring louder than Grover.” You bat his shoulder as he scratches the beloved dog behind his ears. “How’d you sleep?” You shrug, looking away only for a moment but Steve knows your mannerisms too well. His face softens as he pulls you into his arms. “Nightmare?”

“Yeah.” His hand combs through your hair as he holds you close, just his touch and the scent of his cologne put your mind at ease.

“I’m sorry, if I had known, I wouldn’t have left.”

“It’s okay, I’m a big girl. I can fight monsters all by myself.” You giggle pulling away and emptying the contents of the groceries.

“When have I ever let you fight on your own?” Steve helps place the food items on the counter, pancake mix, chocolate chips, and syrup are now placed neatly on the laminate. “I rented a few movies for tonight, I got The Princess Bride, The Labyrinth, and Alien 2.”

“We’ve already seen those.” You laugh, grabbing a mixing bowl from the cabinet above.

“And we loved them so we’re watching them again --hey stop that, it’s my turn to cook.” He says gently tugging the bowl out of your hands. You raise your hands in surrender as he begins to follow the instructions printed on the box.

Steve and you have always gone back and forth with household chores. You made it abundantly clear that you’d never be the kind of wife to do all the cooking and cleaning the second you said “I do”. It wasn’t a shock that Steve was okay with this, he was already used to caring for himself since his mother was barely around to do it for him. Hence the chores list hanging on the fridge, each of you having an even number beneath your names.

While Steve cooks, you set plates and silverware on the dining room table before flicking through the mail. You don’t open the ones labeled for Steve or even the bills, that can always be a problem for Monday.

One stands out amongst the rest. To Mr. and Mrs. Harringtonyou smile at the scribbled handwriting, you don’t know if you’ll get used to being Mrs. Harrington. “I think the kids wrote us.” You pad back into the kitchen, waving the crisp envelope in the air. You tear into the paper as Steve cranes his neck, hand still mixing pancake batter.

A single polaroid falls into your hands, each kid dressed in their cap in gown. Their arms are thrown over each other’s shoulders, grinning at the lens, their happiness frozen in time. “Miss you both, can’t wait to see you.” You read aloud, smiling at the faces you miss more than anything. “They’ve gotten so big, I can’t believe they’re graduating.”

“They’re about to be adults like us.” Steve chuckles, scooping batter into the skillet. You don’t look away from the tiny photo, tracing their faces with your fingertips. You can only imagine Mrs. Wheeler ordering them to pose, to stand up straighter, to smile for “just one more!”the same way she did when it was you, Steve, Nancy, and Johnathon graduating.

“They look so happy.” You whisper. Steve looks up then, noticing the falter in your smile. He sets down his spatula, ignoring the pancake that will most likely be burnt by the time he returns.

“Are you?” He asks, weaving his arms around your torso.

“The happiest.” You kiss his cheek, passing the photo into his hands for him to get a good look.

“Do you think that’s why you haven’t been sleeping well?” He nods towards the invitations plastered onto the fridge, “Your nightmares usually come back before we visit. Do you think it’s anxiety?” He asks, walking towards the fridge and placing the picture right in the middle of graduation party invites.

“Maybe,” You shrug, flipping the forgotten pancake, only earning a glare from your husband. “It was burning!”

“I told you it was my turn to cook!” You laugh and hop onto the counter as he takes over once more.

“I get scared sometimes,” You admit, Steve doesn’t turn away from the food but you know he’s listening. “Like, I get it, it’s over and it’s been over. And life has been so,so good, you know? But I feel like I’m always waiting for the other shoe to drop. For us to have to fight again and I’m so tired of fighting.”

“Hey,” Steve whispers making his way towards you, his fingertips absentmindedly stroking your arms, “It’s been over for a long time. And I understand, returning to Hawkins has always been hard, but we’ve done it many times and everything has been okay. We see the kids, we spend too much money at the arcade, we eat dinner with our parents, and then we come home. We come home without bruises, we come home without something new to give us nightmares.”

You sigh, leaning your head against Steve’s chest knowing he’s right. It’s just anxiety, it had to be.

You and Steve eat in a comfortable silence, the only noises are from your forks scraping against plates or him asking if you could pass the syrup. You’re lost in your own thoughts, feeling excitement to return to the kids but dreading the “Welcome to Hawkins” sign once you enter city limits.

“Steve?” You ask, he only hums in response as he shovels another bite into his mouth. “Let’s say it isn’t over. When we go home and for whatever reason the Mind Flayer is back and they asked us to help… Would we do it?” Steve ponders for a moment as he chews, swallowing before he answers.

“Yeah, I’d like to think we would. It’s not really in our nature to sit back as our friends save the world.” He smiles, although there’s a hint of pain evident in the way he curls his lips. “We’d fight how we always do… Together. All of us.”

“Yeah,” You nod, pushing your now empty plate forward. “Can you do me a favor?” He quirks a brow as he stands, grabbing both dishes to clear the table. “When we leave, can you make sure to pack that bat?”

“The bat? You want me to pack the bat?” He laughs.

“Yeah, you know, just in case.” You shrug.

“Anything for you.” He kisses the top of your head before heading into the kitchen to start the dishes, leaving you alone at the table, once again lost in your thoughts.

You hope visiting Hawkins will be like the last one, a vacation spent smiling, laughing, eating Mrs. Wheeler’s home cooked dinner after the kids’ graduation ceremony. You hope the door is closed like everyone told you, you hope El won’t have to use her powers to defeat a greater evil again. You’ve already saved the world twice; you hope you won’t have to do it a third.

Forever Tags: @superfrankie111 // @rueinn // @lemonadeorange73 // @simplechicwithacrazedheart // @youshutthefuckupville // @captainpeggy40​ 

[seavoice]

in the end, we lie awake (and we dream of making our escape)

(click on title for AO3 link, or read more to continue here)

They could go to Alaska.

Annabeth wasn’t sure when she’d woken up. She’d been asleep at some point, of that she was certain, because Tartarus’s poisonous, suffocating air had been a heavy shroud on her senses, and for a moment she had borne it with a dreamlike paralysis before gasping awake to a sky full of glittering stars. Then she had lain there in one of Camp’s rolling fields, breathing in the sweet scent of strawberries. Safe, the scent said. Familiar. Safe. Just a nightmare like any other, and she could feel Percy sleeping next to her, warm and still.

They could go to Alaska.

They could. They totally could.

Percy rolled over in his sleep, hands pillowed under his head. Annabeth traced Andromeda in the stars. Bound and gagged and sacrificed by her parents.

“Percy?” Her voice came out a whisper. “Percy, do you want to go?”

Percy didn’t stir. She knew she only had to ask and he would wake, but she didn’t want to. Sleep was so hard to come by these days for both of them, and she could not rob him of it, no matter how viciously her throat burned with tears.

What would they do in Alaska? What would they not do in Alaska? The gods’ bidding for one.

They couldn’t get there by plane. Or boat, to be honest. It was okay. They’d drive, make a road trip out of it.

“Annabeth?” Fuck. There was a shifting noise next to her. Fuck. It seemed she had woken him, despite everything. She didn’t turn to look at him. “Hey, Annabeth, you okay?”

“Go back to sleep.”

“I could say the same thing to you,” Percy said, and now he was starting to sit up, hair adorably mussed. “Wouldn’t be an easy feat for you either.” True enough. Since Tartarus, once they were awake, they were awake.

“I’m okay,” she said. Hushed, she repeated, “Percy, do you want to go?”

Andromeda had probably screamed. When her parents had told her, she’d probably screamed. Begged. Fought.

Annabeth had never been able to place how the ancient heroes might have looked. She had stared at grainy old pictures in the mythology books, heroes of old rendered in colour, but Chiron had said the pictures were an imperfect likeness, and he had said this sadly. He had said he remembered them in crystal clarity—Achilles’s swift frown, and the sharp glint in Atlanta’s eyes and the sad slope of Heracles’s shoulders and Perseus with his bright smile—but he hadn’t volunteered any more than that. He had told her that it didn’t matter, how they had once looked, because he remembered them well enough in his mind. It was enough.

But Annabeth saw the photos in Chiron’s office, taken in careful focus, marking the end of every summer, meticulous in record. She saw it in his old eyes.

Annabeth had never been able to place how the ancient heroes might have looked. No mortal rendition did them justice.

There was one exception though, an ancient face who Annabeth had been unable to distinguish in her mind from a modern replica—Andromeda. Her face cleaved in sorrow and anguish, affixed on the mast of a monster infested cruise liner. A masthead that screamed through her gag, screamed through centuries.

Princess Andromeda. Let down by the gods, and her parents.

A stifled yawn. “Go where?”

Annabeth waited only a beat. “Alaska.”

It was a long, stilling moment in which Annabeth had thought Percy had fallen asleep, after all. Then—

“You?” Percy asked, lying back down. He blinked blearily at her. “You with the Yankee’s cap? You want to leave New York?”

“I just—“ Annabeth shrugged, a move made complicated by the grass and her lying down. “They can’t find us there.”

“Hm,” Percy said. He tugged her closer to him. His eyes were closed, but he was clearly very awake. He rested his chin on the top of her head, arms around her in a loose embrace. “The gods?”

Annabeth laughed. It sounded a little helpless. “Who else?”

“Alaska’s cold. And far.”

“We’d manage.”

Percy hummed in acknowledgment.

“We’d be leaving behind the gods,” Annabeth said.

“We’d be leaving behind a lot of people.”

“We could take them with us,” Annabeth said. “We could take them all with us. We’d grab Grover, and your Mom, and Paul and your baby sister and just go. We’d leave in the dead of night, but we’d write letters to everyone else, explaining. I know what I’d say to each person already.” Thank you, she’d scribble. I love you. I’m sorry.

I hope you understand. They’d understand. They’d wish they’d got the plan before, for themselves, but they’d say, in resigned commiseration, Well, that’s Annabeth. She’s always got a plan.

“Plane?”

“No. Car. We’d hammer out those Pegasus hoof prints from the Prius and drive. Take the long way.”

“And we’d go to school there?”

“If you want,” Annabeth said. “Or we could just—we could not. We could just live there. Live out the rest of the days. Send postcards to Thalia. It would be boring. Really boring. But we could go.”

“Sounds like you’ve thought about this a lot,” Percy mumbled into her hair.

She had. She had and she hadn’t. Her brain hadn’t put two and two together until tonight, but the pieces were always there, ripe for taking. Percy had told her about New Rome when he had told her about his quest to save Thanatos, breathless and disbelieving and triumphant, a life for us! Undeniable proof of a life for people like them, a whole life and death in peace. In happiness. With cafes and libraries and a University and a house and friends and old age. But Annabeth had paid attention to the wrong parts of the story, had caught herself on Alaska and land beyond the gods and escape.

In the Cocytus, miserable, she had thought about New Rome. At the Acheron, inconsolable, she had thought of New York. But with every unbearable sip of the Phlegethon she had thought to herself: stop. Stop. Stop.

Alaska was where it would stop.

Would Andromeda have run?

“New York’s a—“ Charnel house. My safe haven. A graveyard. The only land I’ve ever loved. Home and hollow, somehow both at once. “New York’s just a place. We’d be able to be happy anywhere.”

Percy loved New York. With every fibre of his being, he loved it, she knew that. Of course she knew. She loved it just as much. But they had lost so much already, walked across minefields of loss anyway; losses far greater—the absence of innocence, the absence of family, the absence of the weight of the world on your shoulders, the phantom of a beloved knife gripped in your empty hand, the places in your heart where friends who you should have grown up with lingered, because they could no longer linger in the living world. So much they had lost already. Leaving behind a place was nothing in the face of that.

“Do you want to go?” Percy asked.

“Would you come, if I did?”

He’d followed her into hell. Alaska was nothing.

One more loss: a hand in hand, knuckles white with effort. The loss of land against foot, a weak ankle dragging you into hell. The loss of your grip on a ledge, a hand clawing at empty air.

“Yes,” Percy said simply. “I’d come.”

They didn’t need a car. She would run there, if she had to. Dead of night. Hand in hand.

“What do you think you’d be,” Annabeth asked, “if you weren’t a demigod?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Percy said, smiling dopily. “Untraumatized.”

They laughed. It wasn’t a funny joke, but there was a bitter edge to it that dug out a laugh from her.

“What would you want to be, if you weren’t a demigod?” Percy asked.

“I don’t know. An architect itself, maybe?” She didn’t know where her interests started becoming an Athena kid’s interest. She didn’t know how much of it was just her and her life experiences, and how much of it was her mother’s influence. “Or...oh god, I don’t know. Sky diver? Who knows.”

“I can actually see that,” Percy said. “See you, I mean. Skydiving.”

“Really?”

“Sure. You’ve fallen off enough cliffs.”

Annabeth let her head thud gently against his chest, laughing. “Oh, screw you.”

Percy grinned. “Hey, it’s true.”

“And you’d follow me then? As a skydiver?”

“Oh, you betcha. Zeus wouldn’t even be trying to kill me, so there’s like, zero danger.”

“Except diving to your death.”

“Right. Except that.”

Annabeth could feel her chest loosening, Tartarus’s stench lifting. She smiled. “Do you think we’d have met each other?”

“If we weren’t demigods?”

“Mm.”

Percy frowned as he stared up at the sky; he was staring up at Andromeda too. “Well, I hope we would have.”

“Yeah, no duh.”

“I’d never have learnt about constellations otherwise,” Percy said. “Or appreciate how many times a person can get into an argument about gothic revival architecture.”

“It happened twice.”

“Well, it happened in the first place is the point. And I’m not complaining.”

“I’d never have been able to appreciate blue food,” Annabeth said. “No one to debate about orcs with.”

“Uh, no debating either way? It’s usually me just telling you facts, you arguing about them, and then me finding an orc to settle the score. So.”

“Fuck off,” Annabeth said, grinning, “you’ve been wrong about sea creatures before, too, and you’re literally related to most of them.”

“Well, you’re wrong about gothic revival architecture apparently, since you keep fighting about it with people.”

Annabeth shook her head, smiling. Percy laughed and laid his head back down, closing his eyes. They were like that for a while, content in a smiling silence.

“I don’t want to actually go to Alaska,” Annabeth said finally. “I just want to—I want to go to a land beyond the gods.”

Percy’s hand stroked her hair. It was cold, soft. “You had a bad dream.” It was not a question.

She sighed and closed her eyes, bundled against his chest. “It’s a good plan though. Alaska.” It was not an answer.

“Was it Tartarus?” This was not a question either.

She didn’t answer.

“You know,” Percy said. “I didn’t—I never wanted this. To be a demigod. I would come with you Annabeth, if you asked.”

“It was Tartarus,” Annabeth said. “It was a bad dream.”

Percy kissed her forehead. He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. Annabeth could feel tears trail down her cheeks, a burn like the Phlegethon.

“I wish we could go away,” Annabeth said. “I wish—I wish we could escape the gods.” She could not escape her mind. This was the next best thing.

“Tartarus,” Annabeth said. “Tartarus was beyond the gods too. I want to believe that beyond the gods can be good, too.”

Percy was quiet next to her. “We could do it too,” Percy said. “Together.”

It was tempting. There was no guarantee it would work, and there was no guarantee it would end with both of them happy, but it was tempting.

“I’m going to buy a postcard,” Annabeth said. “Of Alaska. Just to remind me that there’s a place. Beyond them.”

“Print one off the net.”

“Hm. That’d be better. Cheaper.”

“Yeah.”

“It was a good plan, though,” Annabeth said, sighing. “Shame it’s never going to happen.”

“You’ll make a new one. A better plan.” Percy smiles at her, eyes crinkling in the corners. “Hey, you’re Annabeth Chase. You’ve always got a plan.”

It was a safety net, freely offered. So many losses, so many absences, in a short life, but Annabeth felt, at once, a thousand different presences: a life saving hold at the bottom of the Siren Sea, a hug in an empty cabin, a kiss in the swirling volcano of their youth, a squeeze of pain and prophecy, the sweet kiss of blue frosting, the pressure of a hand in hers, knuckles white with effort. A warm body tucked into her on a lazy night, the air sweet as strawberries.

“Okay, for now, Plan B,” Annabeth said. “I’ve got it. It’s temporary, but it’ll do.”

“So soon?” Percy looked curious. “What is it?”

Annabeth cupped his face and closed the distance between them. Grass tickled her cheek. “Kiss me.”

[flowerfan2]

Group Texts Are Ridiculous (Or, Five-0 Starts a Group Text)

McDanno, T, A03

Summary:  After Steve leaves Oahu to go find himself, Five-0 starts a group text to keep in touch while Steve’s away.  Picks up after the end of Season 10.

Notes:  This story is set in the present, following 10x22, but there’s no COVID in it.  I wanted it to be fun.  The story is complete and will be posted over the next few weeks.  Many thanks as always to my awesome beta, @perryavenue. And apologies in advance for any formatting errors on tumblr, I spent forever fixing it up for A03 and it probably won’t translate easily at this point!

Chapter 1

April 2, 2020

Group message:  Tani Rey, Junior Reigns, Lou Grover

TR:  You guys going over to Steve’s to say goodbye tomorrow?

 JR:  Yeah.  Still think we should have a party.

 LG:  The man’s had two parties and a lunch already – how many send offs does he need?

 JR:  I don’t know, he didn’t seem to like them very much.  Maybe he needs a better one.  With just us.

 TR:  He’ll be fine.  Plus, there’s not really any time left.

 JR:  What about tonight?  He’s not coming in today, right?

 TR:  He’s got plans, Junes.

 JR:  He does?  I thought he said he had work to do around the house?  We could bring pizza and beer, help him out.

 LG:  He’s got plans with Danny.

 JR:  Danny won’t mind the help – he’d be happier supervising, anyway.

 TR:  Lou, what are we going to do with him?

 LG:  No idea.  Nothing’s worked so far.

 JR:  Are you guys talking about me?  That’s not very cool.  At least fill me in.

 TR:  Sweet Junes, if you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m not sure we can help.

 LG:  But bring that beer over to my place tonight, and I’ll do my best.

 TR:  I’ll bring chips.

  April 3, 2020

 JR:  Okay now I feel really bummed out.  Why did Steve leave Danny down on the beach like that?  We should have had a party.

 TR:  Chill, Junes, he’ll be ok.  He’s just sad.

 JR:  Do you mean Danny or Steve?

 LG:  Yes.

 JR:  But Steve is the one who decided to leave, he shouldn’t be sad – I don’t get it.

 LG:  It’s not a straightforward situation.

 TR:  Good one, Lou.

 JR:  I feel like I’m still missing something.

 TR:  Wouldn’t be the first time.

 JR:  Hey, should we add Adam to the text?  Because he’s standing over there petting Eddie and it feels kind of awkward that we’re all texting.

 TR:  Sure, Adam is definitely sort of not really barely on Five 0 these days… why not add Jerry while you’re at it?

 JR:  Okay.

 LG:  I think Tani was joking.  But we should add Danny and Steve, it’ll give us an easy way to keep in touch while Steve’s away.

 TR:  You think it’ll work?

 LG:  Look at that sad boy down there on the beach.  It couldn’t hurt.

 TR:  Sounds good.

 JR: …so should I add Adam or not?

  April 5, 2020

 JR has changed the name of the group text to Keeping in Touch with Commander McGarrett

 JR:  How’s your trip so far, Commander?

 SM:  No need to be so formal, Junior.  And good, thanks.  Ran into an old friend.

 TR:  Wow, so we’re going to start with that, are we?  You know Danny’s in the chat, right?

 DW:  How do you think Chin knew Steve’s flight info?

 TR:  Wait, so the old friend was Chin?

 SM:  Yeah, Catherine was surprised, too.  She thought I was going to Tahoe with her.  Not sure where she got that idea.

 DW:  Careful what you say, there are kids present.

 SM:  I didn’t say anything bad.

 DW:  You were thinking it.

 LG:  Not to change the subject or anything, but how are Abby and Sara doing?

 SM:  They’re great.  Sara’s adorable.  Smart as a whip, too.  

 DW:  You gonna stay in San Fran a while?

 SM:  Yeah, a week or two.  See the sights.  I hear they have some great Italian restaurants.

 DW:  Now you’re just being mean.

 SM:  Nothing could rival your lasagna, Danny.

 DW:  Aw, you’re forgiven.

 SM:  Anyway, thanks for giving Chin the heads up that I was coming, Danny.

 DW:  No problem.  Had to make sure you weren’t going to immediately start free climbing rock faces or something.  Need to at least let the jet lag settle.

 LG:  Say hi to the Kelly clan for me, will you?

 SM:  Of course.  Gotta go, Abby and Sara want to take me to Alcatraz.

 DW:  By boat, right?

 SM:  Danno, people swim away from Alcatraz, not to it.

 DW:  Leave it to you to start a new trend.

  <b>April 24, 2020</b>

 <i>JR has changed the name of the group text to</i> <b>Keeping in Touch with Steve</b>

 SM:  Hey, just want to let you guys know that I’m going to be out of contact for a while.

 DW:  As opposed to the past few days, when you answered approximately 5% of my texts?

 LG:  You headed out into the woods?

 SM:  Desert, but yeah.  Gonna do some camping.

 DW:  Maybe you’ll see a bear.  Beat some sense into you.

 JR:  Are there bears in the desert?

 TR:  No, but there are snakes.  And spiders. Be careful, those things can be vicious.

 DW:  Yeah, careful is his middle name.

 JR:  What’s Danny so mad about?

 TR:  Not the time, Junes.

 DW:  I’m not mad, I just know how he is.  He’s probably hoping to see some snakes.  Maybe shoot a rattler, cook one over his campfire.

 SM:  I have no intention of shooting anything, I’m just going camping.

 DW:  Since when is going anywhere without shooting something fun for you?

 SM:  I’m not exactly here to have fun.

 TR:  Um, Steve, you okay?

 SM:  Signing off.  Talk to you guys later.  Give Eddie a hug for me, I miss that big guy.

  April 25, 2020

 TR:  Junes, you awake?

 JR:  Yes, are you?

 JR:  That was a joke, I know you’re awake, you texted me first.

 JR:  This is just a text between us, right?

 TR:  Yeah, it’s just us.  Lou and I are done with the stake-out, we handed it off to HPD.  Lou’s driving me home.

 JR:  Did you talk to him about Danny and Steve?  Danny seemed pissed in the group text.  What’s going on?  

 TR:  I tried, but if Lou knows what’s going on, he’s being unusually tight lipped.

 JR:  I wish Danny was back at work.  It’s weird with both him and McGarrett not there.

 TR:  He’s got at least another two weeks until his ribs heal enough to get cleared to return to active duty, at least that’s what he told me yesterday.

 JR:  Can’t he come back to headquarters, though?  I would have thought he’d want to come back, especially with him being in charge now.

 TR:  Temporarily in charge.

 JR:  Yeah, whatever.  Didn’t really sound like that when the governor stopped by, did it?

 TR:  I don’t know, Junior, I really don’t.  But Danny doesn’t really seem eager to get back to work.  Maybe he’s had it with us.

 JR:  With Five-0?  You think he’s gonna do the restaurant thing again?

 TR:  No, that was a disaster.

 JR:  Well, I hope Danny comes back to Five-0.  Otherwise Adam might think he’s got a permanent spot.

 TR:  You really don’t like Adam much, do you?

 JR:  I don’t know, he seems to have an explanation for everything.  But I don’t trust him.  Not like Steve and Danny.

 TR:  I miss them too.  But Danny’s around anytime you want to talk to him.  He whispered in my ear for two hours yesterday when I was questioning that record store owner who tried his hand at money laundering.

 JR:  But Steve’s been pretty out of touch.

 TR:  I think that was the idea of his trip.  It’s definitely going to be a long summer.

 JR:  You think Steve won’t be back until fall?

 TR:  That’s my bet.  September, refreshed and ready to go.  But I really don’t have a clue.  What do you think?

 JR:  Sooner than September, that’s ages, Tani.  Why does he need to be away so long?

 TR:  You’d have to ask him.

 JR:  Tani?

 TR:  Yeah?

 JR:  One more thing… I think we forgot to put Quinn in the text group.

 TR:  Shit.

 May 4, 2020

 LG:  Grace has got skills, Danny.  She’s beating Steve at his own game!

 TR:  Um, what are you talking about, Lou?

 LG:  Steve and Grace went surfing in L.A.  Big waves, too.  Didn’t you see the pics on Facebook?

 DW:  You’re showing your age, Lou.  Facebook is for old people.

 LG:  Grace posted on it, she’s not old.

 DW:  She only puts pics on there when she wants her parents and grandparents to see them.  They’re carefully curated.

 TR:  Why am I not Facebook friends with Grace?  I feel left out.

 JR:  Ditto.

 DW:  You should both feel free to friend her.  I’m sure she’d friend you back.

 TR:  I’ll look for her insta instead.  Probably get better stuff.

 LG:  Do you even know Grace?

 TR:  Rude.

 JR:  Ditto again.

 DW:  That’s the same thing.

 JR:  No, I’m actually saying ditto for the second time.

 LG:  This group text is more ridiculous than Grace’s sanitized Facebook page.  

 TR:  At least if Steve’s surfing we know he made it out of the desert.

 LG:  On a horse with no name.

 DW:  Now you really sound old.

 TR:  Dad joke alert.

 LG:  What’s wrong with dad jokes?  I am a dad, after all.  I’m quite proud of being a dad.  I deserve to make dad jokes.

 TR:  Try making better ones, at least.

 LG:  Danny, you’re a proud dad.  Back me up here.

 DW:  Proud, yes.  As uncool as you, no.  

 TR:  Settle down, you’re both old and uncool, no need to get worked up about it.

 DW:  Fine.  This old guy is staring at some very nice looking steaks, and was planning on lighting the grill soon.  Assuming you’re still willing to eat my food despite my advanced age.

 JR:  Tani and I are getting in the car now, we’ll stop for beer on the way. Jerry said he was coming, too, and bringing fruit salad with no pineapple, just for you.

 DW:  Yet another reason I like Jerry.  And did you guys talk to Quinn and apologize for not including her in the group text?

 TR:  I did, and she actually seemed relieved not to have to deal with us all outside of work.

 DW:  Seriously?

 TR:  No, of course not.  I already added her.  She’s on now.

 QL:  Hi guys.  Danny, thanks for inviting me.  I’m bringing margaritas and guac.

 DW:  See, already glad you’re in the chat.  Sorry Tani forgot you.

 TR:  I did not forget Quinn!  

 LG:  Tani has been suitably repentant, Danny, don’t worry.  And do put my name on two of those steaks - Renee made her special chocolate cake with mocha buttercream.  We’ll be there soon.

 DW:  Does your wife think I’m dying or something?  She only makes that cake when someone’s sick.

 TR has changed the name of the group text to Chocolate Cake For the Detective’s Soul

 TR:  Maybe she thinks it’ll make your ribs heal faster, so you can come back to work and make sure Lou doesn’t do anything stupid.

 DW:  Tani, not for nothing, but it’s not Lou I’m worried about.

 TR:  That building wasn’t that tall.  I landed in the pool, and apprehended the suspect on the way down.

 DW:  I rest my case.

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader

-Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 12: Hello Poodle

We were pretty miserable that night.

We camped out in the woods, a hundred yards from the main road, in a marshy clearing that local kids had obviously been using for parties. The ground was littered with flattened soda cans and fast-food wrappers.

We'd taken some food and blankets from Aunty Em's, but we didn't dare light a fire to dry our damp clothes. The Furies and Medusa had provided enough excitement for one day. We didn't want to attract anything else.

We decided to sleep in shifts. I volunteered to take first watch.

Annabeth curled up on the blankets and was snoring as soon as her head hit the ground. Percy took the spot beside me and was laying on my lap. Grover fluttered with his flying shoes to the lowest bough of a tree, put his back to the trunk, and stared at the night sky.

"Go ahead and sleep," I told them. "I'll wake you guys if there's trouble."

He nodded, but still didn't close his eyes. "It makes me sad."

"What does? The fact that you signed up for this stupid quest?" Percy hissed.

"No. This makes me sad." He pointed at all the garbage on the ground. "And the sky. You can't even see the stars. They've polluted the sky. This is a terrible time to be a satyr."

"Oh, yeah. I guess you'd be an environmentalist."

He glared at him. "Only a human wouldn't be. Your species is clogging up the world so fast ... ah, never mind. It's useless to lecture a human. At the rate things are going, I'll never find Pan."

"Pam? Like the cooking spray?"

"Pan!" he cried indignantly. "P-A-N. The great god Pan! What do you think I want a searcher's license for?"

A strange breeze rustled through the clearing, temporarily overpowering the stink of trash and muck. It brought the smell of berries and wildflowers and clean rainwater, things that might've once been in these woods. Suddenly I was nostalgic for something I'd never known.

"Tell me about the search," I said.

Grover looked at me cautiously, as if he were afraid I was just making fun.

"The God of Wild Places disappeared two thousand years ago," he told me. "A sailor off the coast of Ephesos heard a mysterious voice crying out from the shore, 'Tell them that the great god Pan has died!' When humans heard the news, they believed it. They've been pillaging Pan's kingdom ever since. But for the satyrs, Pan was our lord and master. He protected us and the wild places of the earth. We refuse to believe that he died. In every generation, the bravest satyrs pledge their lives to finding Pan. They search the earth, exploring all the wildest places, hoping to find where he is hidden, and wake him from his sleep."

"And you want to be a searcher."

"It's my life's dream," he said. "My father was a searcher. And my Uncle Ferdinand ... the statue you saw back there—"

"Oh, right, sorry."

Grover shook his head. "Uncle Ferdinand knew the risks. So did my dad. But I'll succeed. I'll be the first searcher to return alive."

"Hang on—the first?"

Grover took his reed pipes out of his pocket. "No searcher has ever come back. Once they set out, they disappear. They're never seen alive again."

"Not once in two thousand years?"

"No."

"And your dad? You have no idea what happened to him?"

"None."

"But you still want to go," Percy said, amazed. "I mean, you really think you'll be the one to find Pan?"

"I have to believe that, Percy. Every searcher does. It's the only thing that keeps us from despair when we look at what humans have done to the world. I have to believe Pan can still be awakened."

I stared at the orange haze of the sky and tried to understand how Grover could pursue a dream that seemed so hopeless. Then again, was I any better?

"How are we going to get into the Underworld?" I asked him. "I mean, what chance do we have against a god?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "But back at Medusa's, when you were searching her office? Annabeth was telling me—"

"Oh, I forgot. Annabeth will have a plan all figured out."

"Don't be so hard on her, Percy. She's had a tough life, but she's a good person. After all, she forgave me...." His voice faltered.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "Forgave you for what?"

Suddenly, Grover seemed very interested in playing notes on his pipes.

"Wait a minute," I said. "Your first keeper job was five years ago. Annabeth has been at camp five years. She wasn't... I mean, your first assignment that went wrong—"

"I can't talk about it," Grover said, and his quivering lower lip suggested he'd start crying if I pressed him. "But as I was saying, back at Medusa's, Annabeth and I agreed there's something strange going on with this quest. Something isn't what it seems."

"Well, duh. I'm getting blamed for stealing a thunderbolt that Hades took."

"That's not what I mean," Grover said. "The Fur—The Kindly Ones were sort of holding back. Like Mrs. Dodds at Yancy Academy... why did she wait so long to try to kill you? Then on the bus, they just weren't as aggressive as they could've been."

"They seemed plenty aggressive to me."

I shook my head. "They were screeching at us: 'Where is it? Where?'"

"Asking about me," he said.

"Maybe if you haven't steered, we could've found out."

"Maybe ... but Annabeth and I, we both got the feeling they weren't asking about a person. They said 'Where is it?' They seemed to be asking about an object."

"That doesn't make sense."

"I know. But if we've misunderstood something about this quest, and we only have nine days to find the master bolt...." He looked at us like he was hoping for answers, but neither of us had have any.

"Maybe... Had--- the big guy isn't actually that bad."

"I haven't been straight with you," Percy told Grover. "I don't care about the master bolt. I agreed to go to the Underworld so I could bring back Y/N's parents and my mother."

Grover blew a soft note on his pipes. "I know that, Percy. But are you sure that's the only reason?"

"I'm not doing it to help my father. He doesn't care about me. I don't care about him."

Grover gazed down from his tree branch. "Look, Percy, I'm not as smart as Annabeth and Y/N. I'm not as brave as you and Y/N. But I'm pretty good at reading emotions. You're glad your dad is alive. You feel good that he's claimed you, and part of you wants to make him proud. That's why you mailed Medusa's head to Olympus. You wanted him to notice what you'd done."

"Yeah? Well maybe satyr emotions work differently than human emotions. Because you're wrong. I don't care what he thinks."

Grover pulled his feet up onto the branch. "Okay, Percy. Whatever."

"Besides, I haven't done anything worth bragging about. We barely got out of New York and we're stuck here with no money and no way west."

Grover looked at the night sky, like he was thinking about that problem. He turned to me, "How about I take first watch, huh? You two get some sleep."

I nodded and turned to Percy who wanted to protest, but he started to play Mozart, soft and sweet, and he turned away. After a few bars of Piano Concerto no. 12, I was asleep. He was sleeping.

"You're still awake?"

"Barely. I call the next shift okay?"

Grover nodded so I slept.

Believe in them.

Where is this coming from?

Water is our enemy, air is our demise, the darkness shall be our ally and the land should be haven. You should befriend Hades. We need someone on our side. We've already angered Poseidon and Zeus.

Why'd have to be him? He seem like the reason we're in this quest.

Trust your allies.

I was woken up. It was still dark and I could see Grover was droopy. Percy held my hand tight as he was trembling in his sleep.

When Grover saw me awake he just passed out on where he was sitting.

"Percy," I called him trying to keep quiet not to wake up the others. "Wake up." I slowly shook him.

His eyes shot open and looked at me in fear.

"Y/N..."

"Are you okay?"

"Nightmare..." He whimpered snuggling closer.

"Want to tell me about it?"

"Well... I was in a pit and someone was talking to me I think. I saw your parents' last moments... And my mom's then... I saw you drowning... desperately trying to save yourself. The voice told me to help them rise. I couldn't do anything..."

It is not us. I dare not hurt our hero.

"It's okay. Percy, don't worry. You should continue sleeping. Come on, I'm on watch."

He looked at me in hesitation and slept while I ran my hand on his hair.

~

"Well, good morning to you Peabody." I greeted Annabeth.

"Weren't you the first watch?"

"Grover went first watch. I went to sleep with Percy."

She turned to look at Percy who was asleep holding my hand. "Isn't it weird that he's so attached?" She grimaced.

"Well, to be fair. I feel like I have to stay with him no matter what. Like my subconscious telling me, don't leave him and stay. I'm not sure about his case though."

"Where's Grover?"

"I don't know he said he's going to look around. I'll look for him. Stay with Percy without killing him will you?"

"Eh, I'll try." She smiled.

"Good enough for me." As gentle as I could I remove his hand from mine and stood up to look for Grover.

It didn't take me long to find Grover who was sitting in the middle of no where in front of a pink poodle.

"Uh, whatcha got there?"

"He's our ride west." He looked at me. "His name is Gladiola."

"Uhm... hello." The dog looked at me then barked. "Well, let's bring him to Annabeth then."

Annabeth was as confused as I was when I found Grover. She greeted it hello reluctantly.

I shrugged at her as a response.

Grover sat cross-legged on a blanket with the dog on his lap.

I walked up to Annabeth and laughed, "I have no idea."

Percy stirred awake and sat up.

"Good morning." I smiled.

"The zombie lives." Annabeth tossed him a bag of nacho-flavored corn chips from Aunty Em's snack bar.

Percy eyed Grover confusedly and back at me and Annabeth.

The poodle yapped at Percy suspiciously. Grover said, "No, he's not."

Percy blinked. "Are you... talking to that thing?"

The poodle growled.

"This thing," Grover warned, "is our ticket west. Be nice to him."

"You can talk to animals?"

Grover ignored the question. "Percy, meet Gladiola. Gladiola, Percy."

He stared at Annabeth and I, as if we were kidding.

"I'm not saying hello to a pink poodle," He said. "Forget it."

"Percy," I said. "I said hello to the poodle. Annabeth said hello to the poodle. You say hello to the poodle."

The poodle growled.

He said hello to the poodle.

Grover explained that he'd come across Gladiola in the woods and they'd struck up a conversation. The poodle had run away from a rich local family, who'd posted a $200 reward for his return. Gladiola didn't really want to go back to his family, but he was willing to if it meant helping Grover.

"How does Gladiola know about the reward?" I asked.

"He read the signs," Grover said. "Duh."

"Of course," I said. "Silly me."

"So we turn in Gladiola," Annabeth explained in her best strategy voice, "we get money, and we buy tickets to Los Angeles. Simple."

"Not another bus," Percy said warily.

"No," Annabeth agreed.

She pointed downhill, toward train tracks I saw last night. "There's an Amtrak station half a mile that way. According to Gladiola, the westbound train leaves at noon."

Previous |

Masterlist | Next

Taglist?

@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @the-natureofme @booknerd-3000

[percabeth4life]

Grover Unexpectedly Loses His Pants

First Chapter || Previous Chapter || Next Chapter || AO3

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Naturally I ditched Grover as soon as we got to the bus terminal.

I know its rude, but I’m still nowhere near able to trust him. I’m getting really mixed signals from him.

Ugh, I wish I could talk to Triton. He’d know what to do.

I fingered my bracelet and caught a taxi uptown.

“East One-hundred-and-fourth and First,” I told the driver.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

Now, everyone of course knows how amazing my mom is.

Her name is Sally Jackson and she’s had a sucky life, but she deserves the world.

She’s really the best person I know and an amazing mom, even if she’s a little overprotective of me.

Her parents died in a plane crash when she was five, and she was raised by an uncle who didn’t care much about her. She wanted to be a novelist, so she spent high school working to save enough money for a college with a good creative-writing program. Then her uncle got cancer, and she quite school her senior year to take care of him. After he died, she was left with no money, no family, and no diploma.

The only good break she’s gotten was meeting my dad, probably Oceanus.

She won’t tell me about him, and I don’t have any memories of him except for the dreams I’ve had of being in his palace. My mom doesn’t like to talk about him cause it makes her sad. She has no pictures too.

They obviously weren’t married, Oceanus has Tethys, and Tethys is really nice, so I can see why he wouldn’t want to leave her. But I can’t understand why he would cheat on her with my mom. Unless Tethys was okay with it? Immortals don’t make any sense.

Mom just tells me that he’s rich and important, so their relationship was a secret. Then one day, he set sail across the Atlantic on some important journey, and he never came back.

Of course, Oceanus is a sea king. He’s extremely busy. And has a bunch of kids, even if most are fully grown and immortal. Of course, he can’t visit. That doesn’t make it hurt any less.

The myths speak highly of him from what I can find, and he was nice when I was there. I still wish that I had a dad here though, then mom wouldn’t need to marry Smelly Gabe.

She’s raised me all alone, taking odd jobs and taking night classes to get her high school diploma. She never ever complained or got mad, not even once. I know I’m not an easy kid, but she’s amazing.

I did my best to ignore the faint buzzing tugging at me and walking into the apartment.

Unfortunately, mom was not home from work. Instead, Smelly Gabe was in the living room, playing poker with his buddies. The television blared ESPN. Chips and beer cans were strewn all over the carpet.

Hardly looking up, he said around his cigar, “So, you’re home.”

“Where’s my mom?”

“Working,” he said. “You got any cash?”

His greeting wasn’t a surprise, that was his usual response.

Looking at him I could see he’s gained weight. He has like three hairs on his head instead of the previous five, and all are combed over his bald scalp. As if that could make up for the rest of his ugly.

He manages the Electronics Mega-Mart in Queens, supposedly. I have no idea how he hasn’t been fired previously, seeing how he’s never gone into work as far as I know.

All he does is collect paychecks, spend money on cigars that made me nauseous, and buy enough beer to drown in. Whenever I’m home I’m expected to fund his gambling. Thankfully the river has lots of money so all I have to do is give him a little and that covers it.

The few times I’ve refused… Well let’s just say it’s a good thing I have healing in water.

“Here,” I grumbled, tossing a five at him, “I hope you lose.”

He sneered as I stalked out, “Your report card came, brain boy!” He shouted, “I wouldn’t act so snooty!”

Jerk.

I slammed the door to my room, which currently smelled like cigars and beer.

Gross.

Gabe was using it as his “study” while I was at boarding school. All the more reason to never go to another ever again.

I pulled Carl, in his newly adapted portable fish tank, from my enchanted back and settled it (and him) on the desk.

He swam in circles happily, until he noticed the mess. Then he grumbled about Gabe.

Honestly the smell was almost worse then the feeling that those old ladies gave me, definitely worse than the nightmares I had about Ms. Dodds. She’s okay now after all.

I shuffled, scratching at my arms, the feeling from the old ladies itching at me, my breathing sped up.

“Percy?” My mom called.

She opened the bedroom door and suddenly everything felt better.

She can make me feel good just by being there, it’s always been like that.

Her and Triton are safe places, I know I’m okay when I’m with them. Nothing could ever go wrong around them.

Her eyes sparkle and change in the light, her smile is as warm as a quilt, she’s got a few gray streaks mixed in with her long brown hair, but I never think of her as any where near old. Whenever she looks at me it’s like she sees all the good, all the things that make her proud, she never sees the bad. I’ve never heard her raise her voice or say an unkind word to anyone, not even when I was younger or to Gabe.

“Oh, Percy,” She hugged me tight. “I can’t believe it. You’ve grown since Christmas!”

I blinked, had I? My clothes from Triton fit the same. Though, my normal clothes were a little tight…

“And your hair is so long now, we’ll have to cut it later.”

I touched my hair.

“Oh and it’s still so blue, it looks nice.”

I smiled.

Mom looked well though. Her red-white-and-blue Sweet on America uniform smelled like the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop in Grand Central. She’d brought me a huge bag of “free samples” it looked like, just like she always did when I finished school, or like she did when I came home for winter break.

“Sit,” she tugged me to sit beside her on the bed now, before starting to question me.

We sat together on the edge of the bed. I attacked a thing of blueberry sour strings and she ran her hand through my hair demanding to know everything that had happened to me while I was away for the last few months that hadn’t made it into my letters.

She didn’t mention me getting expelled, she didn’t seem to care. But was I okay? Was her little boy doing alright?

I leaned into her while laughingly saying she was smothering me. Her presence made everything so much better. I’m… I’m really, really glad to see her.

I blinked back tears, everything has just been so much I don’t know what to do.

From the other room, Gabe interrupted, “Hey Sally—how about some bean dip, huh?”

I gritted my teeth, I really just want to drown him.

My mom is the nicest person in the world. She should’ve been married to a millionaire, not some jerk like Gabe.

For her sake, I kept my last days at Yancy Academy happy. I told her I wasn’t down about the expulsion, I’d lasted longer than usual this time. I’d made a new friend (even if I ditched him now), and I’d done good in Latin and Pre-Calc. Honestly the fights hadn’t been anywhere near as bad as the headmaster said.

I put the best spin on the year that I could, pasting a smile on my face and keeping my voice light.

“Until the trip to the museum…”

“What?” my mom asked. Her eyes tugged at my conscience, trying to pull out the secrets. “Did something scare you?”

I couldn’t lie, not to her. But I also can’t tell her about Ms. Dodds.

“No Mom, just… Nancy pushed Grover and I lost control of my waterbending a little. It shoved Nancy into the fountain. But no one seemed to really notice!”

She pursed her lips. “But no one noticed?”

I nodded, “Yeah.” No one that could do anything at least.

She relaxed, “I have a surprise for you,” She said. “We’re going to the beach.”

My eyes widened. “Montauk?”

“Three nights—same cabin.”

“When?”

“As soon as I get changed.”

I was excited, we haven’t been able to go for the last two summers. Gabe said there wasn’t enough money, as if we didn’t get a massive discount because my grandmother had been close friends with the person that owns the land the cabin is on. I doubt we’d be able to afford it if we didn’t have that discount, but we did so there.

Gabe appeared in the doorway and growled, “Bean dip, Sally? Didn’t you hear me?”

I wanted to punch him, or better yet, drown him. But I met my mom’s eyes and I understood the deal she was offering me: be nice to Gabe for a little while. Just until she was ready to leave for Montauk. Then we would get out of here.

“I was on my way, honey,” she smiled at Gabe. “We were just talking about the trip.”

His eyes narrowed, “The trip? You mean you were serious about that?”

I bit my tongue to keep from snarling at him. Mom wouldn’t let him stop us, she never broke her promises and she’s probably already paid. If I snap now, then he might try to stop us out of spite.

I just glared.

“Of course, I’m serious,” Mom said evenly, “You won’t have to worry about money. And besides,” she added, “You won’t have to settle for just bean dip. I’m going to make enough seven-layer dip for the whole weekend. Guacamole. Sour cream. The works.”

He softened a bit. “So this money for your trip… it comes out of your clothes budget, right?”

“Yes, honey” she said.

I made a mental note to use some of the money I have hidden in my magic bag to buy her something nice to wear.

“And you won’t take my car anywhere but there and back.”

“We’ll be very careful.”

Gabe scratched his double chin. “Maybe if you hurry with that seven-layer dip… And maybe if the kid apologizes for interrupting my poker game.”

Maybe if I kick you in your soft spot and see how long you can hold your breath under water, I thought.

But mom’s eyes warned me to not make him mad.

I wanted to scream, I can’t understand why she puts up with this guy.

I put on my princely face just like Triton taught me and turned to him, “I’m sorry. I’m really horribly sorry for interrupting your incredibly important poker game. Please go back to it right now, don’t let us keep you from it.”

Gabe’s eyes narrowed, probably trying to use his jellyfish sized brain to look for sarcasm.

“Yeah, whatever.” He decided.

He went back to his game.

“Thank you, Percy,” my mom said. “Once we get to Montauk, we’ll talk more about… everything.”

For a second, I saw a fear in her eyes, the same kind that I saw in Grover’s. A nervousness, as if my mom could feel the buzzing too.

But then she smiled again, and I could almost believe I’d imagined it.

But the image didn’t leave my mind.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

We were all ready to leave, I didn’t bother to unpack my bags, just put Carl’s magic portable fish tank back in my magic bag. I don’t trust Gabe to not mess with my stuff so I’m just bringing it all with me (except my school books). My magic bag holds all of the important things, my books from Triton and my friends, all their gifts, and a few changes of extra clothes (the nice ones from Triton and one pair of normal mortal clothes).

Gabe took a break from his poker game long enough to watch me lug my mom’s bags to the car, griping the whole time about losing her cooking—and more importantly, his ’78 Camaro—for the whole weekend.

“Not a scratch on this car, brain boy,” he warned me as I loaded the last bag. “Not one little scratch.”

I rolled my eyes out of his sight. Obviously, I was planning to drive the whole way, I’m already twelve, might as well get the practice in. I snorted.

I watched him lumber back towards the apartment building. I felt the well of anger in me, just needing a release somehow, and I did the same symbol that Grover did before, only this time I channeled a bit of my power into it, just like I do purification powers.

The screen door slammed shut so hard it whacked him in the butt and sent him flying up the suitcase as if he’d been shot from a cannon. I hid a smile and got in the Camaro, telling my mom to step on it.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

The rental cabin is on the south shore, way out at the tip of Long Island. It’s a little pastel box with faded curtains, half sunken into the dunes. There’s always sand in the sheets and spiders in the cabinets, most of the time the sea is too cold to be considered swimmable.

I love the place.

We’ve been going here forever, since before I was born even. My mom met my dad here, even if she never told me I know that’s why it’s so special to her.

It’s special to me because it’s where I waterbended for the first time.

I smiled at the sea and could almost imagine it was welcoming me back.

My mom almost seems to grow younger as we get closer to the sea, years of worry and work disappearing from her face. Her eyes turned the color of the sea. They change color a lot, but this spot, here at the beach, is when they look the most like the ocean. I think it’s where they’re prettiest.

Sometimes I wonder if she has immortal blood in her somewhere, it almost seems like it with how she changes based on the place.

We arrived at sunset, opened all the cabin’s windows, and went through our usual cleaning routine. We walked on the beach, fed blue corn chips to the seagulls, and munched on blue jelly beans, blue saltwater taffy, and all the other free samples my mom had brought from work. I left Carl’s portable tank in the bag for now, I’d pull him out tomorrow (though I did remember to feed him).

When it finally got dark, we made a fire.

We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. Mom told me stories about when she was a kid, back before her parents died in the plane crash.

She told me about how her dad was so very handsome, she’d inherited his eyes, and how her mom had eyes the color of seafoam and had loved the sea just as much as my mom does.

She told me about all the books she wants to write someday, I really want to read them too. Fantasy books are more fun to me, if there’s audio books of her books I’m definitely reading (listening to) them.

Eventually I pulled together the nerve to ask about my dad, maybe she’ll say something new, something that would help me be sure that Oceanus is my dad. I’m almost positive of it but… but a little more confirmation wouldn’t hurt.

I mean though, who else would be a danger for me, even at the camp, to have as a parent? I would think Poseidon, but the myths are filled with his kids. He wouldn't be a danger as a dad at all. So it has to be Oceanus, he's the only one strong enough that would also be someone the gods might not like.

“He was kind, Percy,” she murmured. “Tall, handsome, and powerful. But gentle too. You have… had,” she gave a small laugh as she glanced at my blue hair, “His black hair, and his green eyes. Yours is a bit longer than his though.” She ran a hand through my hair.

Mom fished a blue jelly bean out of her candy bag. “I wish he could see you, Percy. He would be so proud.”

I wondered if he would. In terms of sea magic, he might, I know Triton is proud. He tells me he is, that he’s very pleased with how far I’ve come. Oceanus might be pleased with me by sea standards, but would he agree with Triton that land lessons are dumb and shouldn’t count? Or would he see me, a dyslexic, hyperactive boy with at D+ report card, kicked out of school for the sixth time in six years and be ashamed.

“How old was I?” I asked. “I mean… when he left?”

Does he just not recognize me?

She watched the flames, “He was only with me for the summer and a little into the fall Percy. Just the one short time. Right here at this beach. This cabin.”

I blinked, I swear I have a memory of a smile, something…

“But… he knew me as a baby?”

He had to… right?

“No, honey. He knew I was expecting a baby, but he never saw you. He had to leave before you were born.”

My heart sank, but also lightened.

If Oceanus had never seen me then I suppose it makes sense that he couldn’t recognize me, even if he could tell that I was something familiar to him based on his comment in my dreams.

“I sense my power on you, you’ve interacted with something of mine.”

Was he recognizing me? Did he not expect me there and assumed I was someone else that had met… me?

I’m not sure but… I was still sad.a

He obviously has his duties as a king, Triton is so busy as a prince being a king must be so much worse, but still. He couldn’t even come to check on mom?

The ancient laws that Zeus made wouldn’t apply to a Titan, would they?

I only know the basics of these laws but…

“Are you going to send me away again?” I asked mom now. “To another boarding school?”

She pulled a marshmallow from the fire.

“I don’t know, honey,” Her voice was heavy. “I think… I think we’ll have to do something.”

Does she not want me around? I just… I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to leave again.

“Are you… are you sending me away because you don’t want me around?” I whispered.

My mom’s eyes welled with tears. She took my hand, squeezing it tight. “Oh, Percy, no. I—I have to, honey. For your own good. I have to send you away.”

But why.

“Because I’m not normal? Because… Because I can waterbend?”

“Oh, oh Percy, you not being normal isn’t a bad thing. And your waterbending is wonderful. I just, I just want you safe. I thought Yancy Academy was far enough away, I thought you’d be finally be safe.”

Safe from what? The monsters? Does… does mom know.

I’ve been assuming she didn’t, but maybe that was dumb.

Does she know? Know who dad is? Know what I am? Does she know about the myths?

“Safe from what mom?”

She stared at me for a long moment…

“I’ve tried to keep you as close to me as I could,” My mom said. “They told me that was a mistake. But there’s only one other option, Percy—the place your father wanted to send you. And I just… I just can’t stand to do it.”

I frowned, Oceanus wanted me to go someplace special?

“He wanted me to go to a special school?”

“Not a school,” She said softly. “A summer camp.”

Camp Half-Blood. Grover had a card for it.

Triton told me about it, though not the name, the camp for Half-Bloods, half immortal, half mortal.

That had to be what mom is talking about.

“I’m sorry, Percy,” She said, her voice breaking. “But I can’t talk about it. I—I couldn’t send you to that place. It might mean saying goodbye to you for good.”

I frowned, Triton didn’t tell me much about the camp, but for good?

“For good?”

She turned towards the fire, and I knew from her expression that if I asked her any more questions she would start to cry.

OO OO OO OO OO OO OO OO

I stood on the beach, a storm raging overhead.

I know that I fell asleep, that I was in the bed in the cabin. But now I’m on the beach.

Another one of my dreams? It’s not someplace familiar.

There were two beautiful animals, a white horse and a golden eagle, trying to kill each other at the edge of the surf.

The eagle swooped down and slashed the horse’s muzzle with its huge talons. The horse reared up and kicked at the eagle’s wings.

A low, familiar, chuckle rumbled from beneath the earth. The chuckle from the pit. I could hear whispered goading, urging the two animals to fight harder. The ground rumbled. Sand curled around me. Salt rubbed at my skin, lightning sparked over me.

None of it was there, but the sensations were clear.

I moved toward them, they shouldn’t fight!

“Stop it!” I called, “Stop it Mr. Pit Guy. Stop!”

I was moving so slow, like time was slower for me than for them.

The voice laughed again. “Stand away little Half-Blood,” It crooned. “Let them fight, do not interfere.”

I reached out as the eagle dive down, its beak aimed at the horse’s wide eyes.

I screamed.

I woke up.

For once there was no peaceful sunlight to wake from my dream to, a storm raged outside. Lightning crashed, the wind howled, the waves pounded the dunes.

There was no horse or eagle fighting.

With the next thunderclap, my mom woke. She sat up, eyes wide, and said, “Hurricane.”

It’s crazy, Long Island never sees hurricanes this early in the summer.

But the ocean was like salt rubbing into my skin, rough and course, like there’s an open wound. The lightning was crackling across my skin. My senses are on fire. This was no ordinary storm. And it’s a very bad one.

Over the roar of the wind, I heard a distant bellow, an angry, tortured sound that made my already frayed nerves worse.

Then much closer, another noise, like mallets in the sand. A desperate voice—someone yelling, pounding on our cabin door.

My mom sprang out of bed in her nightgown and threw open the lock.

Grover stood framed in the doorway against a backdrop of pouring rain. But he wasn’t quite the Grover I knew, or… now he was showing the Grover I’d been suspicious of all year.

“Searching all night,” he gasped.

Creepy.

“What were you thinking?”

Obviously that you were out to get me?

My mom looked at me in terror though—she wasn’t scared of Grover, that much was clear. She was scared of why he was here.

“Percy,” she shouted over the storm. “What happened at school? What didn’t you tell me?”

Where should I start!? Why did it seem like I was in trouble? I’ve dealt with everything before! There was nothing really new!

“O Zeu kai alloi theoi!” Grover yelled. “It’s right behind me! Didn’t you tell her?”

Tell her what.  

Grover is standing there, a satyr, mom isn’t surprised at all, there’s a storm raging filled with so much blazing power that I’m shocked it didn’t wake me sooner, and no one seems to want to explain anything.

My mom turned to me though and talked in a tone she’d never used before: “Percy. Tell me now.”

I blurted out that Ms. Dodds had turned into a vampire bat lady and attacked me, my mom listening with a deathly pale face, visible in the flashes of lightning that scorched my skin with their power.

She grabbed her purse, tossed me my rain jacket, and said, “Get to the car. Both of you. Go!”

I grabbed my magic bag, and hurried to the car, following Grover.

[mariesunflowerchild]

dating pernico would include: (PERCY JACKSON)

so..i kinda ship pernico now..lmao, it’s really cute but sadly won’t be canon,

so take these headcanons, :D

and yes, this is pernico x reader poly-

don’t @ me, 

also i literally head smashed my keyboard to come up with the name furuhani lmao 

warning, there is homophobia in this, if you can’t deal with a lgbtq+ couple being excluded, i suggest you don’t read this. 

also my next update’s probably gonna be an angst, can’t wait to write that- heheheheheh

requests are open btw, dm me for requests, 

~so, you’re a year older than nico, and a year younger than percy.

~as an aphrodite kid, you look a bit older than you actually are, 

~most people assume you’re 16, maybe even 17.

~but then- once they get to know you, OHHH BOYY-

~you’re quite childish ngl, you absolutelu love board games and video games, just games in general,

~you came from an extremely wealthy family so, you had basically everything you could ever want.

~an xbox? you had it. tv? you had it, a phone? you had it.

~you didn’t get your father or step mother’s attention though,

~so you did have your issues.

~once you arrived at camp halfblood, you were ecstatic, 

~”i’m finally gonna meet people like me!”

~you became quite close with silena beauregard, she introduced you to annabeth.

~”hi, i’m [y/n]! it’s so nice to meet you!”

~”okay,”

~later on annabeth introduced you to percy and grover,

~cue the lightning theif!

~you went on the quest, you were really useless ngl, but you were able to charm people into giving you money, so you guys could buy food.

~”wow [y/n], you’re manipulative.”

~”ehh, not really..i just wanna see us survive this.”

~you and percy became closer, staying up ‘till 12 am, and things of that nature.

~”yo, why is water tasteless?”

~”don’t look at me, i’m the son of the sea god, not the sea god.”

~once nico came along, you were attached to the hip.

~”i’m gonna sit this adventure out, make sure nico doesn’t get into trouble,”

~”oh okay..”

~percy was bummed out but, meh, they were already a large group.

~once he returned and told nico about bianca, you went after nico.

~you two went on adventures together! for like a year or two,

~once you guys were reunited with the squad, you couldn’t stop smiling,

~”oh my god, it’s been so long! god i missed you guys,”

~”we did too, believe it or not, it wasn’t as lively without you,”

~so, some time later, you and nico started going out-

~it was a wholesome relationship right, but..dun..dun..dUn

~nico had a crush on percy too!

~you were shocked, but you did too.

~”uhh..i kinda like him too.”

~”oh my god, we’re the same garbage.”

~ after the epic battle between kronos’ forces and camp halfblood, you and nico confessed to percy.

~”it might be weird, but. we both like you, like, like like, like you.”

~”yeah,”

~percy was SHOOOK.

~he nearly fainted,

~”i like you guys too, but aren’t you two together?”

~then, dun dunn! nico had the idea of a poly relationship 

~you were 100% onboard,

~all you needed was percy to be okay with it and boom! happily ever after.

~”i’m in,”

~lots of handholding,

~cuddles like, every other day.

~you guys have the messiest of cuddle piles, 

~”who’s arm is that?”

~”that’s mine.”

~”oh okay,”

~random hugs, and kisses-

~”you guys are too nice- oh my god-”

~even aphrodite herself ships you guys.

~”hm! this is the first time i’ve ever seen 3 halfbloods fall inlove! what a phenomenon!”

~some people hate though, smh.

~one time, you guys were at this high end restaurant with some of your mortal friends from primary, and the waitress skipped you guys, just because you were poly!

~”hi uhh, my boyfriends and i have been standing here for 15 minutes, and by the looks of it you’re not doing anything, can you please attend us?”

~you were so polite ngl, but this lady just, looked at you like, ‘bitch are u serious?’

~ “i’m sorry ma’am, but we’re packed,” 

~oh HELL NO, they weren’t packed, like at all. they had a bunch of tables open, this lady was being rude smh.

~”but..why are there tables open? can’t we sit there?” 

~nico was beginning to get impatient, percy took notice of this and put his arm on nico’s shoulder.

~if it wasn’t for you and percy, nico would’ve already bitch slapped the lady, he decided to cut to the chase and tell you why she wasn’t serving you guys.

~”she doesn’t want to let us in, cuz we’re poly.”

~you’re school friends over heard and demanded she let you guys pass, 

~”guys! it’s okay, we can just have takeout and watch a movie, this restaurant’s over-priced anyway.” 

~okay so like, even percy was pissed at this point, being the eldest he was protective over you two, (especially you ngl, you’re an aphrodite kid, your cabin doesn’t really do sports)

~nico whispered something in your ear, you had an evil idea. 

~“listen, ms. do you know who my father is?”

~the woman scoffed, 

“probably some low life drug addict if he raised a whore like you.”

~nico was seething with rage, and so was percy, even your friends were mad, they were quiet though, knowing what you were gonna do.

~”well, ms. my father is the C.E.O of furuhani enterprises, unless you want to be fired, and black listed; i suggest you let us in, and stop treating customers differently for their sexuality,”

~the woman paled, 

~”r..r..ight this way miss! please excuse my actions!” 

~nico, percy, and your friends were so proud of you 

~”that’s my girl!” nico and percy wrapped their arms around you, your friends awwed and smiled, perhaps this evening wasn’t completely bad. 

remember to please follow my tumblr and share! ^^ 

[chaseandjackson]

Do me a favour

chapter three 

What every mother wants for her son, a nice girl

 Annabeth had officially agreed to be my fake girlfriend and we had a contract that suited us both, I personally looked forward to not being asked a million questions about why I’m single and rather Annabeth being asked a million questions as to why she’s dating me, cant wait to hear her fake reason.

I left the coffee shop and headed home, I knew I was late for dinner, but it was take out night, so when I got home my loving family had thankfully saved me some pizza. We did our usual rounds of chatting. I asked my mum how the new book was coming along and she asked me how school was going, Estelle told us about a new boy in her kindergarten class that was left out so she asked him to play with her dinosaurs, I’m telling you she a great kid, nothing like me, at her age id already been in my first fight at school. Some things never change.

Whilst helping my mum clean up after dinner, she mentioned her book release party

“its next Saturday and the whole family’s going Percy which includes you and you need to look nice maybe a jacket and tie, and you will tuck your shirt in” she laughed

“ I promise mum ill look nice” I told her “anyway about the party I was hoping…”

“you’re not getting out it Percy”

“yeah I know mum I wanted to ask if I could bring someone” mum didn’t even bat an eyelid at my request

“yeah of course Grover can come you know he’s always welcome” she told me. You see Grover is my oldest and closest friend we’ve known each other since we were dorky losers at the age of 11. Both of us were new to the school and had no friends, we quickly had each other’s back and have ever since.

“no mum not Grover” I laughed “ I want to bring my girlfriend” that got mums attention

“girlfriend” she questioned

“yeah mum you don’t need to sound so shocked” she laughed

“I’m not shocked just surprised and pleased for you Percy that’s great it’s about time”

“muuuuummmm” I complained she only laughed at me

“what’s going on in here” Paul asked as he kissed my mum on the cheek. Yes, its gross but its much better than what the last guy she was married to did.

“Percy’s got a girlfriend” my mum proudly told him

“oh really” Paul asked “ who?”

“umm Annabeth chase” I told him

“wow really” he sounded really shocked like it wasn’t real, which obviously it wasn’t but he did know that

“whose Annabeth chase” mum asked

“she’s one of my students, a good one too, high grades she’s very popular at school as well, how did you become her boyfriend exactly” Paul laughed as my mum whacked him, though she was also laughing

I was offended that they thought she was out of my league; she is hence the fact that were not really dating but still.

“she happens to find me funny and charming” I told them

“I don’t believe that for second” Paul laughed “but good on you anyway”

“yes Percy of course Annabeth can come” mum said finally moving on from the fact that she was to good for me “any chance we could meet her first”

“umm yeah maybe” I answered

“why don’t you invite her for dinner this week” Paul suggested

I told them I would and disappeared upstairs with the excuse that I had homework which needed doing (which was true) so I could avoid talking about the fact that I have a new girlfriend (which was not true)

 I didn’t talk to Annabeth over the weekend and I wasn’t planning on talking to her until lunch, however those plans were thrown into the wind when I shut my locker and was greeted by Selina

“good morning” she said sweetly though it felt like she was about to end me

“uhh morning” ok good I sounded confident (not true)

“so what’s this I hear about you an Annabeth” right Annabeth must have told her

“what” I was coming off really dumb in this conversation

“she told me perce” I was really confused now, did Annabeth tell her we were dating or that we were fake dating

“look dumbass” rude but fair “ if you’re gonna be my best friends boyfriend you have to pass my test, Annabeth has a self destructive streak and I need to make sure you’re not the detonator”

I had no idea what she meant when she said self destructive streak, but what I did get from that conversation was that Annabeth had told her best friend that I was her boyfriend, step one of my plan complete.

“uhh ok shoot” I was not ready to be questioned but I had a feeling Selina wasn’t leaving without a interview.

“ok I use to have an intensive questionnaire but I worked out that there’s only one question that really matters and that’s why do you want to date Annabeth”

the question hit me like a train, I wasn’t expecting something so deep, the answer clearly meant a lot to Selina, and I guessed what other people had said before was, she’s hot or she popular or maybe even that she’s smart. And I may be oblivious or not the smartest guy but I’m not an idiot. I knew that they weren’t good enough reasons to want to be with someone.

To be honest with you I’m not really the type of guy to date because its fun or because I can. Even at this age I believe in dating someone to fall in love or spend your lives together however sappy that sounds, and i haven’t met anyone that I want to fall in love with yet, maybe because I’m only 18 or maybe because I’m a dumbass.

And I know that Selina has similar beliefs, I don’t know her well but I’ve know her for a long time and I knew the answer to this question was important because it’s the kind of question I ask myself when I started dating anyone, so I gave her the only answer I could

“because Annabeth isn’t like anyone else I’ve met, she doesn’t look at me like I’m a loser, or a dumbass even though I am. I wanna be with Annabeth because I’ve known her for along time and she never stops amazing me, or growing as a person, she’s hands down the nicest, smartest most thoughtful person I know, (all true) why wouldn’t I want to date her”

Selina looked satisfied by that “nice answer perce��� she smiled a real genuine simile “but I’ve got my eye on you” and with that she flipped her fair and walked away

“yeah seaweed brain that was a good answer” if I was more observant I would have picked up on the fact that Selina kept glancing past me or that when she flipped her hair she threw a wink to whoever was behind me, if I paid more attention I would have noticed it was Annabeth stood there

“what can I say I’m an excellent boyfriend” I joked, Annabeth and I both knew I meant what I said but neither of us needed to say it

“apparently so” she laughed

“anyway, I was gonna ask you later but since you’re here, are you free after school at all this week”

“umm yeah I’m free Wednesday, why”

“did you wanna come over for dinner, you know meet the family and stuff”

Annabeth laughed “yeah I can do that”

“ok great ill drive you home on Wednesday then” after that we both headed to our classes.

 The next few days ran smoothly Annabeth and I talked in the morning and in between classes, we got our food together at lunch but we didn’t sit together which was ok, finally Wednesday rolled around, and the final bell rang.

In the time it took me to get to my locker Annabeth had somehow been to her locker, gotten rid of all her books, put a jumper on, said goodbye to her friends and made it to my locker, man that girl was quick.

“man, you’re slow” Annabeth laughed as I finally reached her

“yeah whatever” I laughed as I shoved my books into my locker “so ready for dinner”

“yes I will be on my best behaviour” Annabeth told me in a joking tone

“you know you’re having dinner with me right, you can be on your worst behaviour but still better than me” that made Annabeth laugh and she pushed me (in a friendly way) as we left the building.

Luckily we beat my parents home as we went straight to my house. My plan was to dump our bags in my room then go hang out in the living room, Annabeth however had other plans when she got in my room.

You don’t realise how much of yourself you revel in your room until you have someone stood in there judging it and essentially you. Annabeth turned to my open wardrobe mainly filed with hoodies and flannels, she eyed the photos of my family and friends on my desk, including photos of me holding my baby sister, and spending time fishing with my half-brother, Tyson. She looked at the posters on my wall, the marvel comics going back through the years, the office poster of Michael Scott’s movie threat level midnight, she did a double take at the worn out guitar in the corner, and the laptop which was still playing the good place on Netflix. It felt like she was judging my soul then she simply said

“cool room” I didn’t realise I was holding my breath until I breathed out. “I didn’t know you played guitar”

“umm yeah it was Pauls, when he started dating my mum he wanted to find something we could do together so he taught me, on my first birthday after they got married he gave me his guitar, he told me he always wanted to teach his kids, it was a big moment for us” I told her closing my wardrobe

She smiled at me “wow you really are a big softie aren’t you” I laughed. Annabeth spent the next half hour questioning basically everything in my room, we even got onto the topic of Tyson, Annabeth only stopped when she heard Estelle’s voice screaming for snacks

“ahh the family’s home” I joked as we walked downstairs.

“hello mother, Paul. This is Annabeth” I pointed at her; my mother hugged her instantly

“hi Annabeth, its so nice to meet you” Annabeth took a moment to recover

“umm its nice to meet you too Mrs Jackson”

“oh sweetie just call me sally”

“oh umm ok nice to meet you sally” id seen Annabeth be confident in every situation ever, but for the first time she seemed nervous, she would soon realise that my mum is the easiest person on earth to talk to

“and um hi Mr blofis”

“hi Annabeth, you can call me Paul here if you want”

“hi Paul” Annabeth smiled, mum and Paul went to put the shopping away in the kitchen

“your parents seem nice” Annabeth let out a nervous laugh

“yeah sorry about them being weird and everything, they’re just over excited I’ve never bought a girl over before” Annabeth looked surprised

“really why”

“I’ve never really had you know a proper girlfriend, I’ve been on dates and stuff but you know” I rubbed the back of my neck ( a nervous habit)

“that surprises me”

“umm yeah we’ll talk about it later” I laughed nudging her into the living room

“hi Estelle, this is Annabeth, you know the one I was talking about” Estelle was playing with her dinosaurs on the floor, she turned to look at Annabeth

“this is henry my dinosaur” she told her

“hi henry nice to meet you” Annabeth said sitting down to play with Estelle

“are all of these dinosaurs yours” Annabeth asked, Estelle nodded

“but you can have Tina so you can play as well” Estelle said holding up a stegosaurus which Annabeth happily took and played along with her

“you’re good with kids” I told her

“yeah I have little brothers, they’re twins so they needed twice the entertainment” she laughed

“I didn’t know you had brothers”

“I dint know you had a brother” she countered with

“fair point” I laughed.

Annabeth and I played with Estelle for about an hour before dinner was ready. I could tell you everything that happened over dinner but all you really need to know is that I absolutely made the right decision when I asked Annabeth to be my fake girlfriend. She was incredible, smart, funny my parents just loved her so much. It was a lovely evening.

I drove Annabeth home after dinner. I parked outside her house.

“thank you, Annabeth, for tonight. I mean really it went so well” I told her

“you know what your family are so nice and friendly I really did have a good time.” She said, I thanked her again as I walked her to the door, we hugged good night and I drove home

I walked into the living room where the rest of my family was and asked

“so, what do you think of Annabeth”

(this was my favourite chapter to write so far, thats why its slightly longer also sorry for the long wait, i started writing this chapter ages ago then it deleted its self then i moved to uni so havent really started writing again, sat down this evening and wrote the whole thing in one go. hopefully more chapters to come soon and please let me know what you think of the book so far. lots of love and all that crap)

[toutorii]

Broken Pieces Chapter 3

Warnings: Mild language. Small mention of abuse. Unedited writing. 

Broken Pieces Masterlist

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

Once we escorted Percy to where Chiron and Mr. D were, I had to go help someone in the infirmary.

"Good luck kiddo," I whispered to Percy. The poor thing looked terrified. I walked to the infirmary, only to be greeted by Luke Callestan.

"The hell did you do this time, Luke?" I asked.

"I fell off of a pegasus." He answered sheepishly.

I shook my head and treated his wounds.

"So, hows the new kid?" He asked while I checked out his purple wrist.

I shrugged, "He's in shock, denial, scared like hell. Pretty normal after finding out your mom died."

Luke nodded wordlessly. We sat in comfortable silence while I wrapped my hands gently around his wrist, a glowing light peeked from the cracks of my fingers. I let go of Luke, while he moved it around to test it out.

"Are you sure you aren't a child of Apollo?" Luke asked.

"Luke, two men can't biologically have a child. Do I need to give you some sex ed?"

"Gods no! It's just, you're a talented musician, and you have healing powers, who else has that?"

"Um, a lot of minor gods?"

"Oh," yeah, oh. See, at camp, if you are the child of a major god, you have a low chance of getting claimed. And it's an even lower chance if you're the child of a minor god. Cause there isn't even a cabin for Hades, much less than any of the other gods that don't have a throne on Olympus.

"Why do we even make our lives revolve around them?" I looked at him with a questioning glance, prompting him to go further.

"I mean, look at you, you've been at camp how many years? You've come back from two quests alive, and you've been nothing but faithful to the gods. And what do you get? Being crammed into the Hermes cabin, having to deal with new campers, and having no clue who your godly parent is."

I just sat there, taking in what he was saying. I never really thought I had a bad life. I mean, my stepmom was awful, she used to hit on my dad and me all the time. And I found camp when I was 5, so I could escape her for summer. And the only reason he married her was to hide my scent from monsters. So when I found camp, he divorced her and kicked her out of our small apartment a year later. So I don't really remember her much. Then when I was seven, he met Fineas Laurel, a really good guy that became a really good family friend. About a year later, they started dating. They got married when I was 12, and adopted my precious little sister, Sofia, a year later. So my family life is great, and the two quests I went on weren't traumatizing or anything. I mean, the four people I went with, hated me and only had me come along because I had healing abilities. And on the first one, they tried to sacrifice me to save their own asses. The second one I blocked out of my memory, cause it was so bad. But I have no clue why exactly it was so bad. And being crammed in the Hermes cabin, well I don't really know a life in camp that I wasn't crammed in that incredibly small cabin. I guess to an outsider my life isn't that great, but in reality, I'm one of the lucky ones.

"ellooo. Phoebe? Earth to Phoebe" Luke's voice snapped me out of my trance.

"My life isn't bad, Luke. And what complications I've had, I don't blame on the gods. Even they don't have control over everything. The only thing is, why are you trying to turn me against the gods?"

"I just think the whole thing is stupid." I couldn't disagree with him there.

"Well, I'm gonna check up on the kid. He's playing Pinochle with Mr.D."

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

As I walked on the porch of the big house, I saw Mr. D fill his goblet with wine. Percy's jaw dropped. I almost laughed. But the poor thing must've been so confused.

"Mr.D, your restrictions," I warned casually, looking at the ongoing game. Mr.D looked up at me before saying,

"Dear me." He looked at the sky and yelled, "Old habits! Sorry!"

Thunder boomed.

Mr. D waved his hand again, and the wineglass changed into a fresh can of Diet Coke. He sighed unhappily, popped the top of the soda, and went back to his card game.

Chiron turned to Percy. "Mr. D offended his father a while back, took a fancy to a wood nymph who had been declared off-limits."

"A wood nymph," he repeated, still staring at the Diet Coke can like it was from outer space. It was almost comical.

"Yes," Mr. D confessed. "Father loves to punish me. The first time, Prohibition. Ghastly! Absolutely horrid ten years! The second time-well, she really was pretty, and I couldn't stay away-the second time, he sent me here. Half-Blood Hill. Summer camp for brats like you. 'Be a better influence,' he told me. 'Work with youths rather than tearing them down.' Ha.' Absolutely unfair."

Then he looked at me, saying, "Who are you, my mother, Penelope?"

"I have no comment to that sir."

"Wait- I thought your name was Phoebe?" Percy asked. I smiled nodding.

"He has a problem with names."

"No, I don't Patricia. I'm fantastic with names. You just have a weird one, Percy."

Percy's head shot up, filled with confusion.

"Sir, my name isn't Patricia or Percy."

"Well, what is it?"

"Phoebe."

"Bah, Perry is a better name. Isn't there a pony named Perry the Pony or something."

"Perry the Platypus, sir."

"See, Polly is a better name for you instead of Patty."

"W-wait" Percy butted in, stammering, "y-y-your father is..."

"Di immortales, Chiron," Mr. D said. "I thought you taught this boy the basics. My father is Zeus, of course."

I just shook my head. Watching Percy wrack his brain to figure out who the hell Mr.D would be.

"You're Dionysus," He finally said. "The god of wine."

Mr. D rolled his eyes. "What do they say, these days, Grover? Do the children say, 'Well, duh!'?" "Y-yes, Mr. D."

"Then, well, duh! Percy Jackson. Did you think I was Aphrodite, perhaps?"

"You're a god."

"Yes, child."

Ah yes, the epitome of conversation.

"A god. You."

Mr.D just started at the child, probably sending a silent threat of, "If you test me, you get turned into a dolphin."

"Would you like to test me, child?" he said quietly.

"No. No, sir."

The poor kid looked terrified.

Mr.D turned back to his card game. "I believe I win." "Not quite, Mr. D," Chiron said. He set down a straight, tallied the points, and said, "The game goes to me."

"Ooh, good hand Chiron," I said, congratulating the man.

Mr.D looked at me like he was gonna vaporize me, then looked at Chiron, before he gave up, sighing through his nose, already used to losing to the centaur.

"I'm tired," Mr. D said. "I believe I'll take a nap before the sing-along tonight. But first, Grover, we need to talk, again, about your less-than-perfect performance on this assignment."

Grover's face beaded with sweat. "Y-yes, sir."

Mr. D turned to Percy. "Cabin eleven, Percy Jackson. And mind your manners." He walked into the Big house, Grover following miserably. I felt bad for the satyr, he just had the worst luck sometimes.

"Will Grover be okay?" He asked Chiron and me.

I nodded, "Old Mr.D isn't really mad. He just hates his job."

Chiron continued saying, "He's been ... ah, grounded, I guess you would say, and he can't stand waiting another century before he's allowed to go back to Olympus."

"Mount Olympus," Percy said. "You're telling me there really is a palace there?"

"Well now, there's Mount Olympus in Greece. And then there's the home of the gods, the convergence point of their powers, which did indeed used to be on Mount Olympus. It's still called Mount Olympus, out of respect to the old ways, but the palace moves, Kiddo, just as the gods do." I explained to him.

"You mean the Greek gods are here? Like ... in America?"

"Well, certainly. The gods move with the heart of the West." Chiron answered.

"The what?"

Chiron furthered explained. "Come now, Percy. What you call 'Western civilization.' Do you think it's just an abstract concept? No, it's a living force. A collective consciousness that has burned bright for thousands of years. The gods are part of it. You might even say they are the source of it, or at least, they are tied so tightly to it that they couldn't possibly fade, not unless all of Western civilization were obliterated. The fire started in Greece. Then, as you well know-or as I hope you know, since you passed my course-the heart of the fire moved to Rome, and so did the gods. Oh, different names, perhaps-Jupiter for Zeus, Venus for Aphrodite, and so on-but the same forces, the same gods."

"And then they died."

I snorted. Chiron silenced me with a look before continuing, "Died? No. Did the West die? The gods simply moved, to Germany, to France, to Spain, for a while. Wherever the flame was brightest, the gods were there. They spent several centuries in England. All you need to do is look at the architecture. People do not forget the gods. Every place they've ruled, for the last three thousand years, you can see them in paintings, in statues, on the most important buildings. And yes, Percy, of course, they are now in your United States. Look at your symbol, the eagle of Zeus. Look at the statue of Prometheus in Rockefeller Center, the Greek facades of your government buildings in Washington. I defy you to find any American city where the Olympians are not prominently displayed in multiple places. Like it or not and believe me, plenty of people weren't very fond of Rome, either America is now the heart of the flame. It is the great power of the West. And so Olympus is here. And we are here."

"Who are you, Chiron? Phoebe? Who ... who am I?"

I gazed at him with sympathy, being thrown into the world of gods is a lot for anyone.

"Who are you?" Chiron mused. "Well, that's the question we all want answered, isn't it? But for now, we should get you a bunk in cabin eleven. There will be new friends to meet. And plenty of time for lessons tomorrow. Besides, there will be s' mores at the campfire tonight, and I simply adore chocolate."

"Bleh," I said under my breath.

"I still can't fathom how you don't like chocolate, Phoebe."

I shrugged. Chiron rose from his wheelchair. Turning into the half-man, half stallion I grew up with. Percy looked like he was about to combust. I laughed slightly at the bewildered expression on the child.

"What a relief," the centaur said. "I'd been cooped up in there so long, my fetlocks had fallen asleep. Now, come, Percy Jackson. Let's meet the other campers."

I helped him up saying, "So uh, it's a lot isn't it?"

"uhhuh"

"Don't worry kiddo, the first time I met Mr.D, I accidentally thought he filled his goblet for me, so I took a sip of it. I quickly found out it was weird tasting fruit juice. I still don't think he's forgiven me."

Percy looked at me with an open-mouthed expression that said, "Huh?", "How?", and "What the hell" at the same time.

I chuckled, "I was five, and I didn't know any better."

He just nodded, his mouth still hung open, so I said in a British accent, "Now, now Percy, close your mouth, we are not codfish."

His face filled with relief, probably because something finally made sense to him. "Mary Poppins?"

"Of course."

With that, we followed Chiron, who was waiting for us to follow.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

A/N: Wow she updated! :0 Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. Just so you know, I don't own any of the characters or plot, except for Phoebe, Her dad, Fineas, and Sofia. But I will try to update more frequently. And just to let you know, I will be doing the entirety of the Lightning Thief. And I'm going to try and do the rest of the series. Cause I have a plan, but at the same time not really. I mean, I know how I'm going to end The Last Olympian. But its the in-between I'm worried about. But I hope you enjoy it!