#JASON IS GOING TO BE THE PERFECT DIONYSUS OH MY GOS

[quincywillows]

a scattered and overall supportive review of percy jackson season 1

let me just say first of all, it's extremely fun to be enthused about a tv show like this again. the adaptation isn't perfect, but it's a lot of fun, and you can tell there's plenty of heart and good intention behind what they're doing. i'm very much enjoying tuning in every couple of episodes and catching up -- and avoiding the relentless commentary of the internet while i do so lol.

but now it's time for MY commentary!! to preface, i was a huge fan of the books when i was younger, am a stalwart long-term advocate of the original five books as some of the best children's lit of our lifetime, but i also enjoyed the films a decade ago for what they were and think people (including cough rick cough) are way too harsh about them. justice for logan lerman. anyway

i'm not going to do like a play-by-play, but in summary, here are my takeaways from the first season -- what i thought worked, what did not, and things i'm optimistic about going into the future seasons.

the good

for an adaptation of the original series (which, to be fair, i have not reread in years), i felt this was honest and faithful. there were tweaks, obviously, but none that took me too out of it or felt irredeemable. there was a lot to like about this show, so i want to start right from the top with my highest highs.

the worldbuilding / production design. i absolutely loved getting to see how they imagined certain iconic characters, locations, and sequences from the books. it was so exciting to get to see camp halfblood for the first time on screen (at least, in this adaption) -- that moment in episode two definitely felt like a turning point where we picked up from the somewhat laggy pilot episode. i especially loved the design of mount olympus, aspects of the underworld (hades and his upside down castle were baller, though how did percy and grover get up there lol; and i absolutely loved the choice for asphodel and the ghosts being rooted like trees, i never would've thought of that myself but it was so chilling and unique... just wish i could see it better through the terrible lighting, but we'll come back to that), and of course, camp. even down to the small details, like the camp beads... it's just very cool to see it come to life.

the casting. i wasn't sure about some of the casting when the news was breaking, but i'm very happy to have been pleasantly surprised all around (and have majorly avoided people bitching about every single thing). there wasn't any role where i felt like someone was horribly miscast, and you could tell that everyone involved really wanted to be there and committed. i thought the casting of the gods was especially inspired at times. some of the highlights for me personally:

adam copeland as ares. i had no idea he was apparently a wrestler turned actor until my sister told me, but i thought he was absolutely spectacular. very charismatic, with just the right amount of cringefail that ares needed. i found him thoroughly enjoyable in all his scenes.

lance reddick as zeus. having just played horizon zero dawn recently, oh my lorde was this an inspired choice. he was absolutely brilliant. i'm so so sad about his passing, i don't know how they're going to recapture his performance, but i have faith now that they'll find a way.

timothy omundson as hephaestus. i love that they took a softer, more mad scientist approach to his role than like ugly basement blacksmith vibes... i just thought it was really refreshing. his scene with annabeth, where we got so much humanity from him in such a short span of time, was one of my favorite scenes of the season.

jason mantzoukas as dionysus. i mean. what else can be said. obvious choice, but he was so fun lol. i hope they give him more to do next season.

other standouts beyond the main youth cast for me were jay duplass as hades (his brief appearance in 107 was thoroughly enjoyable) and dior goodjohn as clarisse (she was by far the acting standout of the first couple episodes to me). also very happy to see jessica kennedy parker and sinclair from the 100 get work, lol.

walker as percy jackson. it was really wonderful watching walker grow as an actor even just through the first eight episodes. the difference from 101 to 108 is almost night and day. you can tell how much he cares about the project and percy as a character, and he upped his game with every episode. i cannot wait to see what he turns out in the coming seasons. to be fair, i thought all of the youth cast did a decent job, and i'm giving them a lot of leeway and room to grow since they are literally child actors -- it takes time to hone your craft, and im optimistic they're all going to do a great job as the series goes on. but walker was, definitively and thankfully as the protagonist, the standout.

charlie bushnell as luke. i was so excited when i heard he got cast because i loved him in diary of a future president, and he did not disappoint. i kind of wish he had more to do, but all of that was forgiven in the finale when he had his final confrontation with percy. oh, the acting popped off then -- i can't wait for him to get to chew up the scenery more in the coming seasons.

grover and percy's friendship. it was so sweet to see this come alive, and i thought walker and aryan had excellent natural chemistry together. they were so endearing, and i really believed their friendship basically from the start (them swapping their sandwich fillings is a tiny detail from the pilot that has stuck with me since; i just loved that choice so much). they definitely provided a lot of my favorite moments in the season, and i think evoked the most genuine "aw wow" moments from me.

percy's relationship with sally. since sally was, understandably, absent from the original novel, it was awesome to get the flashbacks here that allowed us to more deeply understand their bond. i thought walker and virginia did a great job with this, and the young actor who played little percy also did a surprisingly great job (he was actually one of the stronger youth actors in the pilot imo lol). you totally understood why percy was doing everything he was, because that mother-son bond felt believable. big shout-out to the absolutely baller line "i am sally jackson's son." one of the first writing moments where i was like oh snap!

the music. a good score really can't be understated, and this one did not disappoint. did just what it needed to do. i also loved the closing title sequence and the art direction there with the epic music -- just such a nice touch that i'm so glad they included.

some of the writing. i'll get more into some of my qualms with the writing below, but there were definitely some great moments that deserve their flowers. i thought they did a great job weaving in some early themes without being heavy-handed about it (percy having to define who he is for himself, mostly). there were some genuinely funny moments that made me laugh out loud, including "i am impertinent," annabeth's "i'm multitalented," and the entire exchange on the road side when the trio to ares are like no... we're fine... ahaha bye... oh and percy trying to drive the taxi out of the garage at the casino was absolutely hysterical.

pivotal scenes hitting their mark. when the show needed to deliver, i thought they really delivered. i absolutely loved the staging and acting in the final luke and percy confrontation -- the lighting of the fireworks was such a cinematic touch. percy's arrival at olympus and scene with zeus was also a big standout. i loved a lot of the st. louis arch episode, and thought the hephaestus golden chair sequence was really well done. overall, the episodes i thought were strongest were without a doubt 104, 105, and 108.

expansion where expansion was welcome. one of my favorite aspects of the series is how it's giving more nuance to the monsters and "villains" of the books. i loved that we got a little more motivation for alecto beyond evil -- that she clearly wanted to accomplish her own mission and retrieve the helm, whether out of loyalty or fear. i loved how medusa got much more depth and humanity, that we're sort of reexamining the fairness of how myths are told rather than just taking it all at face value. i'm really looking forward to seeing how that continues in the next seasons.

the decent

percy and annabeth. to be fair, i think my issue with this is more on the fan reaction than the show itself. i think the show is doing a decent, if somewhat awkwardly paced job, of building their friendship and offering small little hints of what could blossom in the future in classic youth awkward ways -- unexpected hugs, banter, etc. i think walker and leah are both doing a good job, and i look forward to seeing how it develops. but my god, people on the internet are really jumping the shark so hard here. i can't handle seeing more "uwu percy is in love" posts when it's like. y'all. THEY ARE 12. THEY JUST MET. LET THEM ORGANICALLY BECOME FRIENDS FIRST... i just hope the creators don't feed into that and also jump the shark. like yes, we all know where this is going, but can't we enjoy the actual journey to get there instead of forcing what isn't there yet? in any case, on the positive side, some of the moments between them i really enjoyed: the conversation on the train when grover was asleep, the hephaestus chair sequence, annabeth giving him her camp beads before going to olympus (that was a slay... that was a legendary slow burn start moment worth hyping up), the way percy smiled at her in their last scene... that's the good stuff. let's not rush through what we're getting folks. the water is fine.

lin manuel as hermes. here is the thing. i thought lin did a good job. i thought his casting was apt, and fun, and he did a great balance of hermes charisma and like, a darker edge. it's just... the thing about lin manuel is that he's lin manuel. and this is coming from someone who likes him, but it's like he shows up on screen and i'm just like. hey it's lin manuel. it's a bit of a "takes you out of the moment" stunt casting, but i'm not mad about it. i wouldn't call it a bad thing. hopefully it'll wear off (though i doubt it). i guess i'm just deciding that hermes is just lin manuel, which honestly, would kind of track.

the youth acting. mentioned this above, but again, some of that early delivery was rough. but i am giving a lot of grace, and i think they've already improved plenty in the first eight episodes. i felt the same way about shadowhunters back in the day when i thought kat mcnmara was hard to watch in season 1, but by season 3 she was my absolute favorite cast member and came so far. i have no doubt these kiddos will do the same. so very much looking forward to that.

the not so great

the pacing. this was definitely the weakest part of the story writing wise. it wasn't irredeemable, but it did hinder the first half of the show (which didn't lock in for me until about 104, when the stakes truly shot up at st. louis). and that also affected how dynamics and plot points were able to unravel. the biggest victim of this...

the luke reveal. from the start, i was worried about this. since luke was only really in episode 2, i had doubts about whether the reveal of his betrayal would be at all satisfying or earned. i don't know that i can speak on it for sure, since i knew what was going to happen as someone who read the books, but i still feel we should have gotten more of those luke-and-percy-bonding scenes and convos earlier in the series rather than tacked onto the finale as flashbacks. it worked there, but i think it could've been better. thankfully, all of that didn't hinder the delivery of the finale confrontation, which as i said, was a standout moment for me.

the fight scenes. with rare exception, i was pretty underwhelmed with many of the monster battles and confrontations this season. given that's such a huge gimmick of the novels, i hope they're able to revisit and polish up the pacing of these in the future... i just felt that scenes like the museum clash with dodds were so rushed and anticlimactic. or not even confrontations at all, like the scene with crusty. we got a bit more of this at the back half of the season, in the sword fights with ares and luke, but i wanted more of that epic feeling throughout. i'm hoping it's maybe just a budget concern and that it'll improve in the coming seasons -- especially as the bosses get bigger and the stakes get higher -- but i'm not sure i'm optimistic just yet.

some of the dialogue. it was... wooden, to say the least. i think the worst moments of this were when they were trying to force Kid Bants -- which just felt stilted in the earlier episodes -- and whenever they were explaining greek myths point blank to the audience. there were moments it worked, but many where it didn't, and i hope they flesh out how to better info dump in the future episodes. i didn't mind the change of having percy be more familiar with the myths and thus more aware, but they could afford to finesse how they relay that information to us in the audience without basically reading from wikipedia in percy's voice.

the ugly

oh my god i can't see. i can't SEE. this show went to the teen wolf academy of employing one lightbulb and it's actually criminal. there were so many scenes where i really wanted to see what was happening because the stakes were high or the scenery was so pivotal -- the entry into the underworld for the first time, the vastness of medusa's basement of stone, THE FIELDS OF ASPHODEL -- but the lighting was so god awful i legitimately couldn't see a thing. in asphodel i literally could barely see the trio's expressions, it was that bad / flat. the audience is smart, we understand it's dark out. we can suspend our disbelief so you can add some visibility to this thing. i was turning up my brightness constantly but it wouldn't go any higher. please, disney execs, rick, anyone -- GET ANOTHER LIGHTBULB. i'm losing key immersive aspects of the show to this and it's a bummer. when they were walking through waterland for the first time and annabeth was like "wow can you believe this craftsmanship" i was like i don't know, girl, I CAN'T SEE ANY OF IT. begging on my knees that they fix this next season.

well, that ended up longer than expected, but oh my gods it is so nice to be writing paragraphs about a tv show again. all in all, i'd say 7.5/10 from me in this first season. there's so much to be keen for here, and i'm really happy with how it's going so far.

friends and fellow demigods, what did we all think?

[booksanddarkchocolate]

So here are my live reactions on the pjo finale:

- I’m not mentally ready for this yet

- Long episode tho :)

- Omg Luke opening gave me chills

- OH THEY DID HAVE THE SWORD TRAINING I WAS SO CONFUSED ABOUT THAT FIRST

- But why are they flashbacks and not just something we saw in ep2?

- I’m still confused on why they chose to reveal the Kronos thing already

- Why is Percy not wearing Annabeths necklace yet 🥺

- Damn slay Percy

- The fight didn’t disappoint I’d say

- Wait are they on Montauk 🥹

- The “please” 😭😂

- “I’m done running from monsters” babes you only just started

- AWWW there is the necklace 🥹

- I feel like Luke mentioning Annabeths arachnophobia is so random even tho he explained it 😂

- Oh hello Zeus

- That is one hell of a good casting choice for Zeus, appearance wise

- Okay Zeus letting Percy go already felt way too easy lol

- Percy you are so lucky

- They’re making Poseidon way too good of a father tho I’m sorry

- Oh I’m gonna listen to their Ancient Greek convo later and slower because I love nitpicking hihi

- I’m not sure whether I like that they changed the Greek coming natural thing, because on one side it feels like an unnecessary change, but on the other side I can still be delusional and think I’m a demigod, because Ancient Greek does not come naturally to me at all sadly

- Wait but does that still mean all demigods have dyslexia (and adhd)? I don’t remember whether they talked about it earlier in the series

- I will be so mad if Annabeth doesn’t have dyslexia and adhd (and still is also a bookworm, we’ve seen her being a nerd but not necessarily a bookworm)

- Awwww Percabeth hug

- Annabeth and Lukes relationship in this interaction was done perfectly

- Does Percy already suspect Luke now?

- That’s one hell of an accusation Percy

- But you know since he figured out about Kronos too it makes sense

- Backbiter name drop yas

- “This isn’t you” okay but how long do you actually know him Percy lol

- I’m very confused on what Luke is doing honestly

- What is he opening? And is the H on purpose, supposed to represent Hermes?

- Oh oh Annabeth is here

- Oh don’t know how to feel about that

- I do know that Leah made me cry, gods the betrayal in her eyes 🥺

- Really not doing the “names are powerful” thing huh😂

- Jason is so perfect for Dionysus

- “It’s a tree, Seaweed Brain, it doesn’t express opinions” 😂

- Leahs hair is so beautiful

- It feels so sudden that she goes to see her dad now, but I don’t remember whether it was less sudden in the books lol

- Annabeth not know what Disneyland is, oh my baby 🥺

- FREDRICK YOU BETTER SHOW HER A MOVIE THIS TIME

- “Go, be a kid” Percy is saying what we’re all thinking

- The trio is trioing 🥹

- What is happening

- That is FOUL

- What is happening part 2

- Yes please listen to your mom, don’t call him grandpa 😂

- I am patiently waiting for the Medusa Gabe scene here

- Please tell me there’s an after credit scene and it happens then

- Every time I watch the credits and every time I feel like it’s not the same

- YES ITS HAPPENING

- I have thoughts on the changes of Gabe turning into a statue but I cannot formulate them yet lol

- Ohmygod there’s a documentary

- Watching that tomorrow

Now the season is done I do wanna make an actual review of what I like and dislike both adaptation and just as a show wise

[tending-the-hearth]

CASTING FOR SALLY, ALECTO, MR.D, AND CHIRON

[depressedacadamia]

Fight Me Part 2

Summary: Nico prepares for his date but it seems someone has forgotten.

Warnings?: Nothing much. A bit of kissing. Some fluff.

A/N: FJLKJLHGK, I completely forgot that i wrote this and that i was gonna write a part 2. Anyway, my exams are next week and i haven't revised so wish me luck. Little tribute for @thebigqueer and their old blog description of ‘people make fun of me because I’m short but I can reach their knees’ because lateron, Nico embodies that. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy! <3 from me!

Read Part 1 on tumblr       Read parts 1 and 2 on A03

It was 7:30

Will was late.

“Hello?” Nico turned around. “Anybody here?”

The sun was going to set in around an hour and half and somehow, the sky was already getting darker. Nico could feel the sun's rays getting weaker and the warmth slowly draining away.

He had a small bag clutched in his hand with a collection of his favourite mythomagic cards and a couple of sandwiches and some bottles of juice. It certainly wasn’t a banquet but at least it was something and Nico had assumed that Will would have had a tiring day after working in the infirmary during a day of capture the flag ( The Ares kids were always involved).

He lifted his wristwatch to his line of view to glance at the time, noticing that the time was moving annoyingly fast. If it continued like this, it would be sunset and Nico would have officially been stood up. He could feel his chest prickling in anxiety from the idea- that all along it was a sick joke, made only so everyone could make fun of him.

“Hello? Anybody?” It was almost eight and Nico was getting agitated. Sure it was normal to be a bit late, even if it was a date that Will had asked him on but 45 minutes? 45 minutes late to a date? Nico was finally so sick of pacing behind his cabin like a loser, he worked up the nerve to march over to the infirmary to give Will a piece of his mind.

As Nico entered what he believed to be the infirmary, he questioned if he was in the right place. Then it hit him. The infirmary was so crowded, Nico couldn’t even recognise it. It was full of campers, from many different cabins, all covered in injuries and blood. This room, to surgeons, was like candy but with blood, which as Christina Yang had said- was way better,

That was only, of course, if you weren’t meant to be on a date with your cute ex-patient.

To Will, the sudden influx of patients infuriated him. He was meant to be having the best date of his life with Nico but instead, he ws here treating all these stupid injured buffalos who were too incompetent to prevent themselves from being injured.

“Next time, if an Ares kid threatens to break your leg, you should take them more seriously,” Will sighed as he finished the cast on the Athena camper’s leg. Weren’t these ones meant to be smart, Will thought.

His eyes searched across the infirmary, for the next most urgent patient; as head of the Apollo cabin, he was in charge of the infirmary which at first had sounded great. Now, he realised, it was not.

He was about to assist on setting a broken arm but he saw another healer get there first and simultaneously, he saw a very recognisable set of onyx eyes that came with a stunning appearance.

Nico was wearing black skinny ripped jeans with a chain hanging by the waist of it. His stygian iron sword that never left his side was being held to his waist with a skull strap and Nico’s eyeliner was absolutely perfect. Winged and angelic, his eyes were standing out like never before. Nico had been a bit nervous about wearing eyeliner outside of his cabin, but after much persuasion from Hazel, Jason and Percy, he had agreed to wear it.

Will thought he felt his mouth drop. But then, he felt his heart drop. Why was Nico in the infirmary? Was he involved in the fight? Was he hurt? Will rushed over to Nico, pushing through the injured masses, ignoring their shouts and snaps of discomfort. He waded through them like thick oceans of blood until he managed to spot Nico’s hand, decorated with expensive looking rings.

“Nico,” Will gasped, his eyes running up and down, scanning his body for injuries. “What are you doing here? Are you okay?”

Nico’s winged eyes squinted. “ What am I doing here? Did you forget?”

Will’s mouth opened and then closed again, his brain clearly racking for what he had forgotten.

“Our date. You were meant to meet me an hour ago,” He mumbled, raising his wrist to his face, checking the time once again.

Will’s face dropped, his expression ghostly. “ No! No, no, I can’t have forgotten- it wasn’t today. I could have sworn it wasn’t today.” He turned to Nico. “ It wasn’t today, right?”

“It was today.”

“Fuck.”

“That’s a good response, at least,” Nico murmured, kicking his boots at the bloodied tile floor.

“I'm so sorry. I got hoarded with patients, like hoarded. The Ares kids had some new weapons made today and the Hephaestus kids thought it would be fun to mess with them. Somehow the Athena kids got involved and I think there are some Dionysus kids who got involved just for the drama.” Will grabbed Nico's hands, squeezing them with such intensity, Nico feared they might break.

When Nico looked at Will’s face at that moment, he knew he was going to say ‘yes’ to whatever was about to be asked of him. Whether Will just wanted some gum or if he wanted to burn the entire world; there was something alluring in those eyes that Nico could simply never deny. “Nico, fuck, please give me another chance. I know I shouldn't have stood you up like that and I really wasn't planning to. It’s just, we got so many patients all at once that it completely slipped from my mind and-”

“-I’m not mad. A bit annoyed, yes, but I get it. You have people to fix. Go do your job.” Nico paused for a moment. “But one thing. Next time you almost stand me up, a note or a messenger would have been nice.”

Will frowned. “I thought I sent a note?”

Nico paused again. Did he send a note? Nico’s memory racked- did anybody come to give him a note? He couldn’t distinctly remember it.

The only thing he remembered was someone running to his cabin, panting and him slipping himself into the shadows, avoiding whichever body had come wandering into his domain- he had not been in the mood to interact with anybody other than Will (Or maybe Hazel or Annabeth because they always knew what to say and when to say it).

Woops.

“Oh, That note you mean. I might have hidden from the messenger in the shadows…” Nico trailed off, looking everywhere but Will. Expecting a loud scoff or perhaps a jeer, Nico could feel his hands clenching up, ready to get him out of this situation. But when he heard a little giggle and saw Will giving him a genuine little smile and holding out his hand, he couldn’t help but be surprised.

“I know that I’m currently meant to be working but I guess taking a little break couldn’t hurt. Besides, I haven't eaten a proper meal all day and those sandwiches look delicious.”

Nico happily let Will lead him to the room reserved for the staff who were in this case, just the Apollo kids. But then he stopped.

“You haven't eaten all day? Will, what the hell? You were nagging me the entire of my stay here to eat and you don't even do it yourself?”

“I do eat, it’s just sometimes, I forget to because everybody is being stupid and trying to fight their healers,” Will huffed as he grabbed a sandwhich and stuffed a bite into his mouth.

“What idiot tries to fight their healers?” Nico asked as he took a sip of juice. They were sitting in the corner of the ‘staff room’ which in reality was just the back room. It just had 2 bare beds for quick resting and back up medical supplies. There was a bare sink and a couple of cupboards which were most likely empty. The freezer however, had several pints of ice cream.

“Oh who tries to fight their healer? Must I remind you of your behaviour every time you're in this infirmary?”

Will opened a pack of chips that he had managed to snag from one of the other healers; he doubted they’d notice. Well, he hoped they wouldn't notice.

“I can’t be that bad.” Nico batted his hand in the air, his hand reaching over to Will’s pack of chips and stealing one. Will smacked his hand and gasped, showing his mock offence.

“Oi! Those are mine!”

“Says who?” Nico argued. “ I happen to know you stole them!”

“Yeah but finders keepers!”

“I will fight you for those chips,” Nico snarled. Will, smiling wickedly, held his front; not in the least intimidated by Nico's violent demeanor.

“Perfect, now we finally fight. After all, I did tell you that I’d fight you later when you were recovering.”

“I’ll turn you into ashes.”

“Nu uh, I don’t think so. Remember I have regeneration,” Will boasted. They were both now standing, their food abandoned on the table.

“If I remember correctly.” Nico moved forward for the attack, “You told me you wouldn’t fight me because you knew I would win.”

Will gave a smirk. “You were ill. I couldn't tell you the truth.”

Nico squinted his eyes and waited for Will’s punch. He didn’t expect for Will to be waiting for his; Oh right, Will always fights defensive

But then he realised that this could be used to his own advantage. He went in for an attack, his leg going round to kick the back of Will’s knees, making him buckle to the floor. Nico was aiming to disable him from moving, not hurt him.

I may be short, but that just means I can reach your knees.

Will let out a rueful laugh, the game was on. Just as when Nico went to grab Will's arm, Will used his other arm to grab Nico and used all his strength and Nico’s momentum to flip Nico onto his back so that when Nico looked up, He saw Will's smiling face.

Nico rolled away, quickly forcing his way up. They both stood facing each other, none of them throwing a punch or a kick. They were dancing around each other, around their feelings. Nico ran into Will and used every force in his favour to force Will to fall onto the bare bed behind him. They landed safely with an oomph and immediately Nico got to work in immobilising him.

Nico quickly straddled Will, trying to grab his arms but Will, while not the fastest, was relatively strong. He managed to grab Nico’s arm, stopping him from being trapped. He then used all the strength he could summon from his abdominal muscles and managed to flip Nico so that it was him holding both of Nico’s arms above his head, effectively pinning him to the bed.

Nico struggled but Will was too strong. He had tried to flip Will back onto his back but it was too hard so he settled for trying to wrestle his wrists out of the blond boy's grasp. They were panting and their faces were close enough that they could feel each other's warm breath on each other's face.

Nico felt his eyes being drawn to Will’s lips and then his ocean blue, like eyes. It was a magnet being drawn across Will's face and Nico had no choice but to follow it everywhere. From the perfect slant of his cupid’s bow at his lips and the fullness of his lips to the half lidded eyelids that covered his deep eyes. The eyes that we're currently analysing Nico’s face, in the same way he was doing to Will’s, right this moment.

Will felt Nico’s wrists stop resisting as much in his grasp as his eyes slowly drifted to his own. Their eyes locked. Ocean Blue met Onyx. The sea had met the depths of the earth and it was only the roaring sound of their own blood being pumped ferociously by their hearts that acted as the soundscape of the ocean as Will lowered his lips to meet Nico’s in the most tentative of kisses.

Their lips brushed gently, as a taster and then, Nico slipped one of his supposedly trapped wrists out of Will’s hands and slid it around Will’s neck, pulling him to deepen the kiss. Will’s face felt heated as he moved his hands from above Nico’s head to cup his face; he could feel the heat radiating from it.

They broke apart- only for a second- but alas, even that felt like too much. Their lips found each other again, even in the darkness of the room, due to sunset and yet they were only in the dark for a matter of seconds. Nico, despite having his eyes closed, could feel the soft glow of Will’s skin.

“Hey Will, Where did ya g-” The startled young healer was stunned before cringing immediately at their older brother.

“-Oh god, Will, My eyes! My eyes have been scarred, dear, good gracious Gods, Help me!”

Nico’s hands flew to Will’s chest, pushing him off while Will himself made an attempt to scramble off Nico. They keyword there being attempt, because the next thing he knew, Will had stumbled and managed to trip Nico into falling face first into Will’s chest, straddling him and thus making their situation so much worse.

“What do you want?” Will groaned at his younger sibling, as Nico climbed off him, slowly burying his face in his hands out of embarrassment.

“You have another patient to fix.” The kid was now holding his hands over his eyes- something that deeply irritated Nico.

“Oh calm down, it’s not like we were doing anythi-”

“-Nico!” Will cried. “ Go out and find someone to cover for me. Tell Kayla she’s in charge; I’m off for the night,” Will declared as he grabbed Nico’s hand, kicked open the back door and fled into the early night with Nico, hand in hand.

[crow-in-a-teapot]

tower of nero spoilers

i have just finished the tower of nero. and before i go searching for other people’s thoughts and art and more of the characters i love so much, i want to write down some of my own thoughts because i know as soon as i delve into that ‘ton spoilers’ hashtag there are going to be complaints and criticisms and so much that i don’t want to hear, or essays that’ll make me upset, or things that’ll change my perception on the book (because on this website people really love to hate the trials of apollo).

i want to start with: i loved it. it didn’t feel earth-shattering or huge and momentous like some of my favourite riordanverse books (house of hades, the blood of olympus, the last olympian and maybe some of the magnus chase books take those pedestals for me) but it was satisfying. and i think it was satisfying because it in no way felt like an ending. whether because eventually rick will write that will-and-nico-go-through-tartarus-and-save-bob novella, or because we (or at least i) will continue writing and imagining and creating for this world i don’t know. he didn’t wrap up the story in a perfect little bow like ‘nineteen years later’, he simply put it on pause. gave us a glimpse of where every character was at at the end.

the only thing that makes me so angry and upset is that i did manage to get some spoilers for moments that i know would have been so good to experience for the first time if i hadn’t been spoiled for them. the moment where rachel mentions penguins in a mansion near her house, nico getting mental health advice from mr d, the fact that will and nico were going to be in the book for so much of the story, but the big thing was literally spoiled for me two days ago, it was the reason i sat down to read it as fast as possible because i was terrified of getting more spoiled and not being able to experience the moments for myself, was that piper had a girlfriend. i know that reading that for the first time would have been so cool and surprising, and the fact that when it came up for a moment in the last couple pages all i felt was disappointment because it was spoiled for me and because it was now tinged with whatever that person was saying about her having a girlfriend.

but i still had some warm fuzzy moments, the two parts where apollo thinks he’s going to die but nico comes up behind him - so good. impeccable. 

Leader Guy spat. ‘Now, I kill you.’

He raised his sword... and froze. His face turned pale. His skin began to shrivel. His beard fell out whisker by whisker like dead pine needles. Finally, his skin crumbled away, along with his clothes and flesh, until Leader Guy was nothing but a bleached-white skeleton, holding a sword in his bony hands. 

Standing behind him, his hand on the skeleton’s shoulder, was Nico di Angelo.

and

Nero raised his hand, ready to give the kill command, when behind me a mighty BOOM! shook the chamber. Half our enemies were thrown off their feet. Cracks sprouted in the windowsand the marble columns. Ceiling tiles broke, raining dust like split bags of flour. 

I turned to see the impenetrable blast doors lying twisted and broken, a strangely emaciated red bull standing in the breach. Behind it stood Nico di Angelo.

gods. poetic brilliance. i can’t believe i’m still a nico di angelo stannie in the year 2021. in five years i have not changed (ever since the tv show announcement last summer i have managed to morph into myself from 2017)

from here i’m not sure where to go next i kind of want to go through everything, except it’ll be more difficult than my tyrant’s tomb reaction because i wasn’t reading on a kindle and thus can’t just do funny little reactions to screenshots of quotes, so i’ll just skim through the book page by page and see what i can comment on (i’m not planning on doing analysis today, no thank you, just enjoying the end of my childhood and trying to squeeze as much out of it as possible)

i have an emotional attachment to mr. snake from the very first chapter, and am very upset that he’ll never get off on his baltimore stop and get to see his wife, lu had no reason to shoot and kill him like that.

that brings me to lu, i liked her, it was interesting to see how rick kind of brought in not only the overarching theme of abuse, but also people who let the abuse happen, i have more i could say on this i’m too lazy to right now, and i promised no analysis - or the fact that Lu had conspired to make the show non-lethal to spare Meg’s feelings rather than - oh, I don’t know - refusing to do Nero’s dirty work in the first place and getting Meg out of that house of horrors. 

And are you any better? taunted a small voice in my brain. How many times have you stood up to Zeus?

Okay, small voice. Fair point. Tyrants are not easy to opppose or walk away from, especially when you depend on them for everything.

the parallels to meg and lester heading to percy’s apartment, and then to camp half blood to the hidden oracle was so cool to read, every callback to the hidden oracle just there to remind us readers exactly how far apollo has come and how he’s changed; the entire chapter with sally, paul and estelle just felt sickly sweet, it just didn’t seem real how wholesome and good that family is, like i get why apollo broke down and just sobbed in that shower.

also rick really saying acab again in toa, i thought he was done after that elf cop chapter in magnus chase (the magnus chase series is a masterpiece) but apparently not, with A ‘good cop’ is still a cop... still a part of the mind game.

the grey sisters, i forgot about them completely but this threw me back into was it the sea of monsters when annabeth summoned them? i’m not sure, it could have been the lightning thief either, they really remind me of the disney hercules movie. the whole ganymede paragraph was gold, i love gods being canonically confirmed lgbt in the riordanverse. i also love the whole eye-tossing part - 

‘He will crush our eye,’ Anger cried, ‘if we don’t recite our verses!’

‘I will not!’

‘We will all die!’ Wasp said. ‘He is crazy!’

‘I AM NOT!’

‘Fine, you win!’ Tempest howled.

also, the explanation for why dionysus chooses to look the way he does was perfect, because it was something i often wondered about and wasn’t expecting to get an explanation for, and i imagine the whole mythological dionysus to look like.. well like a more feminine apollo i guess, beautiful in a gender non-comforming way.

Other Olympians could never comprehend why Dionysus chose this form when he could look like anything he wanted. In ancient times, he’d been famous for his youthful beauty that defied gender.

... 

In retaliation, Dionysus had decided to look and act as ungodly as possible. He was like a child refusing to tuck in his shirt, comb his hair or brush his teeth, just to show his parents how little he cared.

every scene with nico at camp just BREAKS ME, i would throw in screenshots of every damn quote but unfortunately, as said above, cannot and would rather not type every one; we’ll start with, obviously apollo confirming to him that jason is dead. 

He didn’t look angry exactly. He looked as if he’d been hit in the gut not just once but so many times over the course of so many years that he was beginning to lose perspective on what it meant to be in pain. He swayed on his feet. He blinked. Then he flinched, jerking his hands away from Meg’s as if he’d just remembered his own touch was poison.

ugh then will talking about how nico’s doing, confirming that he’s suffering with ptsd, mr d giving him advice, helping him sort though what voices in his head are real and which ones aren’t, then the paragraph that just recounts every horrific thing poor nico has been through, how will has to reassure him that he’s okay and ‘with friends’ when he wakes up after shadow travel

will’s kindness to apollo, buying him clothes, and apollo finding seymour the leopard’s head in his bed, put there by mr d aaaa AAAA A A A A A THE ORDINARY, EVERYDAY CAMP HALF BLOOD THINGS..

i could go on for years and years about how much i appreciate rachel having a big role in this book, and the visit to her apartment, everything, her art, the fact that she got what she wanted, she’s going to PARIS to study ART, she isn’t forced to be someone she’s not by her dad, and gets to be a big part of a demigod mission and not stand on the sidelines for once.

i love that her landscapes are still visions, that she still paints the quests demigods go on - the burning maze, jason’s funeral pyre, caligula’s ships; and how nico ~appreciates art~

‘And, hey, di Angelo -’ she pushed him playfully away from the canvas he’d been ogling - ‘don’t brush against the art! I don’t care about the paintings, but if you get any colour on you, you’ll ruin that whole black-and-white aesthetic you’ve got going.’

i. love. rachel.

WILL GLOWS!! THE HEADCANONS FROM LIKE FIVE YEARS AGO THAT YOU’D SEE FLOATING AROUND ABOUT HIM MANIPULATING LIGHT!! CONFIRMED!! CANON!! AMAZING

I AM  OBSESSED WITH THE TROGS, I LOVE THEM, THEY ARE GREAT, not gonna lie, i was expecting something more dramatic and spooky with how worried will was and how dionysus was going.. visiting the cavern-runners isn’t ♫ good for your mental health  ♫ but the little hat frog gremlins were a good addition. i like them very much and their funky little soup shenanigans. quoting the ghost king himself: trogs good. nice hats. (IM SORRY I KEEP MENTIONING HIM BUT I JUST) also how apollo starts wishing for breadsticks a s ajoke and theY STRAIGHT UP HAVE BREADSTICKS? HUH? WHERE DID THEY GET THE BREADSTICKS FROM??

yeah, i’m also still very much upset by every mention of jason grace, it’s funny how ever since his death in the burning maze i have grown to love him more and more and that’s not fun for me, for that boy to become one of my main comfort character’s and have his death and sacrifice and nobility mentioned every few chapters. i’m pretty sure i cried when he appeared to talk in apollo’s dreams, and this time the tears weren’t from the effort of keeping my eyes open and working for hours straight reading this book (i remember staying up until 2am to finish the sequel to beautiful, broken things, it was very much worth it)

‘All right, Jason. We miss you, though.’

ALSO. THE FACT THAT THIS KID. THIS CHILD. HAD TO THINK ‘BUT IF A HERO ISN’T READY TO LOSE EVERYTHING FOR A GREATER CAUSE, IS THAT PERSON REALLY A HERO?’ A KID ISN’T SUPPOSED TO THINK ABOUT THAT AND BE READY TO SACRIFICE THEMSELVES FOR THE GREATER GOOD,, i,, ugh,, he’s supposed to be finishing school and designing temples not being the perfect hero and soldier,, spain without the s,,

as @couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name said: ‘thinking about how ghost! Jason didn’t seem to understand why Apollo was so upset about his death because he’s been raised to believe a hero’s sacrifice is noble and his life doesn’t matter in the grand scheme and also if he doesn’t understand why the person who watched him get horrifically killed is so torn up over his death he probably doesn’t even realize his other friends are grieving him..’

IM SO UPSET THE ARROW OF DODONA IS DEAD D: IT WAS ONE OF MY FAVOURITE CHARACTERS ALL THE FUNNIEST MOMENTS WERE BECAUSE OF THAT ARROW AND IT'S DEATH WAS SO SAD WTH LIKE WE FIND OUT HOW USELESS THE ARROW FELT AND HOW THE GROVE OF DODONA ALL THOUGHT IT WOULD BE CRAP AND WOULD FAIL APOLLO AND THEN ONCE WE FEEL BAD FOR IT, IT DIES??

the entire python battle was pretty grim, there is a part of me that's like because this is the last book series i would have loved say the magnus chase and kane chronicles gang in a giant battle with everyone like the battle of manhattan but even more dramatic, but even so, i did appreciate that python battle and the whole almost-falling-into-the-depths-of-tartarus thing.

him talking to artemis was cool, but JESUS: 'I turned and strode out of my room, trying to recall how the god Apollo walked.' like that HURTS. it was such a huge culture shock for apollo to go throught this huge character arc and be so human and understand the pain of others, to be around gods again who are so.. apathetic. also, zeus. 'Interesting how he put that: I had done him proud. I had been useful in making him look good. My heart did not melt. I did not feel that this was a warm-and-fuzzy reconciliation with my father. Let's be honest: some fathers don't deserve that. Some aren't capable of it.'

OKAY OKAY SO THE END?? CHIRON TALKING TO A CAT (BAST) AND A SEVERED HEAD (MIMIR) ABOUT SHARED PROBLEMS WITHIN THE PANTHEONS!! WILL AND NICO RECEIVING A PROPHECY FROM RACHEL TO GO TO TARTARUS AND SAVE BOB!! THE HUNTERS OF ARTEMIS, INCLUDING THALIA AND REYNA BEING BEST FRIENDS (qpr.. qpr..) HUNTING THE TEUMESSIAN FOX!! PERCY, ANNABETH AND GROVER, THE ORIGINAL TRIO, GOING ON A CHAOTIC ROAD TRIP TOGETHER!! - SO MANY STAND-ALONE SET -UPS PFSJSJSJ

okay quick word on the reunions at the end: funny little elephant visitation program with livia and hannibal. love that for them. calypso and leo's relationship seems rocky and complicated, but that's to be expected, i think even if they do get properly back together again it might not last long, because it does pretty much feel like a teenage relationship where the two aren't very compatible, but we'll see. hazel and frank are so funny with their gold plated necklaces. lavinia - tap-dance icon. almost cried at the mention of jason's temple-extension plan again. percy not being sure about what he wants to do in college is accurate and i like that that's left to be up-for-interpretation (rick does THE MOST for the fanfic writers pfsjsj). i am OBSESSED with aeithales, like i hate deserts so the burning maze setting is not my favourite but GOD that HOUSE, the vibes are off-the-charts. i'd love a house made of living trees that's also a greenhouse filled with dryads. meg gets a unicorn. that is so great.

i kind of wish the book hadn't ended with 'Call on me. I will be there for you.' because every time I imagine the friends theme song and i don't think that's the vibe he was going for, BUT i do love him talking to meg, that was genuinely emotional - 'You'll come back?' she asked. 'Always,' I promised. 'The sun always comes back.' ; i really wish it had ended with that, but i guess apollo does tend to break fourth walls and talk to the readers, like a lot of the protagonists of riordanverse books.

[thebigqueer]

hiii! could you write a fic/headcanons of leo, nico and will. i had no idea that was a ship until recently and i love it!!! and i want to read how they get together. in my mind solangelo is already dating (bc leo is in no condition to date after canon) and after leo comes back (after toa5) they became friends and eventually they confess to leo (when he already got over calypso and is better emotionally y'know?). no pressure if you don't feel like writing this tho :)))

hhhh anon im sorry i absolutely would love to write this for you into like an actual fic but it takes me a long time to write fics :(

but! i can def give you headcanons! after all they’re like fics but in outline form and much less grammatically correct! but if i do make a fanfic, i’ll be sure to post it. maybe you’ll like it! can’t make any promises i’d write it anytime soon though cuz i have a few more projects on the line but you know... i’m def considering making one after everything i’ve written in this post...

okay exactly yes i totally agree that leo only gets with them after he’s emotionally stable & after toa5

this is straying from soldezangelo a little but i made a post here about what i personally think should have happened w/ leo’s ending in HoO, if you’re interested in reading it. i’m gonna make the following bullet points based on that

but tldr: i’m just basically saying that i wish caleo ended up leaving ogygia as friends so that leo didn’t get that forced romance on him

so he stays at the waystation for a while with calypso (only as friends; like they’re staying there and are really adorable friends) and all the while he’s really thinking only about himself and his well-being. he goes back to high school and keeps up with that project he’s doing w/ other kids and giving them opportunities to make things (GOD THAT WAS SO CUTE)

then leo decides that maybe for the winter, he’ll go back for a trip (i also hc that piper and percy and annabeth go to chb for the same winter so that some of the seven see each other!)

there, he meets will and nico, but i think mostly he’s interested in talking w/ nico. so they talk a lot. nico expresses how angry they were for leo dying like that and scaring everyone, and leo says he’s sorry but he had to. i think this also provides nico and leo the perfect opportunity to talk about jason, since they were both really good friends with him. and nico also understands that it was leo’s decision and his sacrifice. but they also talk about how leo’s sacrifice kind of... felt weird. since in the end, they still lost the storm but the fire lived on (ehehhehe idk if that made sense but i was tryna be smart lakjsdlfkj) 

i think that opportunity ultimately provides nico and leo to get along a LOT better with each other, and they both realize that they actually have been through a lot of similar feelings. by which i mean theyre both so fuckin mentally unstable and they relate to one another.

nico talks about how he’s been in a relationship with will for a while, and leo’s happy for him, really. but i think a small part of him is jealous, too. not because “oh god here’s another couple im supposed to worry about after ive just started getting over this ingrained idea of needing romance to solve all my issues and feeling like i belong,” but more because i think leo’s always been a little attracted to nico since they were on the argo II with each other. i don’t think he ever acted on those feelings, especially since a lot of the people on that ship were more judgmental towards nico and he probably felt like he had to be as well (by the way, none of this is an excuse to leo’s treatment of nico, or, by extension, an excuse for anyone’s treatment of nico on the argo II.)

leo apologizes to nico about how he treated him, and nico smiles and tells him it’s fine. like, nico has had his own bout of personal growth as well, especially in the past year. he doesn’t - and won’t - forget how people treated him, but now he’s learning to just let it go, in a sense. 

and i think this is when leo and nico kind of develop underlying feelings for each other. 

leo and nico probably hang out a lot, but will also joins becuase he’s nico’s boyfriend, and nico loves to have him tag along. so i think leo feels a little intimidated by will, like “damn my crush is really just bringing along their boyfriend huh??” 

and leo’s like. so jealous. like “ugh why does this hot golden ray of sunshine have to ruin everything. why is he always around. he’s so fucking distracting. like hello i’m trying to simp for nico but he’s so gorgeous for the both of us.” and then it hits leo that oh wait oh fuck he actually likes both of them and that “intimidation” he was feeling was mostly just him being attracted LMAO

leo and will get a bit closer through nico, and then i think the two of them are like very joke-y with each other, and they totally connect with each other about texas and being absolute fucking NERDS (since they are both canonically absolute dumbass nerds HSDHFSLFKDJ)

and leo’s struck with how cute he is omG 

and then nico’s like “wow they’re both so glowy aslkdjffdj HHHHH” 

and then will’s like “damn they’re both so dark and mysterious” 

and also not to mention they all totally relate about mental illnesses, abandonment issues, and the like. i mean, after everything that’s happened to all three of them (since will has been through like two wars, has lost two brothers, and has probably lost a lot of lives and feels guilty for it) they probably really relate to each other about always feeling... this dark uncomfortableness inside them. a void. they get really deep about mental health, and i think nico actually suggests to both of them that they should all talk to dionysus, just like he does (because, as we all fucking know, love cannot fix mental health and it doesn’t matter how much they’re all attracted to each other, they will not cure each other just because they’re in love) 

i think somewhere in the relationship between will and nico, a tension starts to build up a little. they’re not really sure how to exactly deal with teh fact that they like leo (and neither of them actually admits it to the other because they like the other as well and they really are not in the mood for a “”””love triangle”””)

but the funny thing is, they probably all talk about it with dionysus in their separate times. and Mr. D is just. he’s so done. 

SLKDJFKLSDHFLJSDKFSDKJFSFDLJK - Mr. D falling asleep at night thinking about this soldezangelo thing because he thinks it’s really funny that they all like each other but don’t wanna admit it

he totally suggests that nico and will talk about it together, and after lots of hesitation, will is probably the first one to come outright and say that he likes leo as well. and nico’s like “OMG WHAT ME TOO. like i really like you but i also really like leo...”

so they’re both actually really relieved, because they didn’t really want to break up with each other but they didn’t really want to keep lying to each other, either. 

and they tell leo, and then leo’s so happy because lKJSDFJLSLDFK YALL I LIKED YOU FOR THE LONGEST TIME

and bada-bing, bada-boom, ya got yourself a little soldezangelo!!!! 

i hope you liked that!!! i’m actually tempted to make this into a fic now, but since it’s already in headcanon form is there a point? hmm... imma think on this though. thank you SO MUCH for the ask!!!

[mka1098]

I’m Gay Panicking But It’s Fine - A Solangelo One-Shot Fanfiction

Thank you to @windbyfire for letting me use your fanart !

Might be a bit of OOC it's my first Solangelo piece; they are just too cute for me not to try and write them. Also, I'm straight (feel free to make fun of me like my friends, I take all the hits) so my attempt at gay panic is just not great. I just tried to think of my friend when they gay panic. Haha, hope you guys like this piece, and here's the link to the podfic/audio version

Audio listen along: https://youtu.be/xRLTIr6ZqwE

I'm Gay Panicking But It's Fine by Mka1098

Nico is a generally petulant, cold-faced, and stoic person. He smiles only during the darkest and latest of nights and barely grunts a word at people. His expressions are perceived as less than friendly and perhaps the only people who weren’t afraid of him and his ghost powers could be counted on one hand. (Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Hazel, and Renya). So it was a total shock to him when the golden-haired Will Solace bounced next to him right as he was leaving his cabin at 2 PM in the afternoon.

“Uh… hi?” He says in the quietest voice. Will smiles brightly at him.

“Hi, Nico.” The blonde says. Nico frowns. He feels as if he’s being smirked at. And oh, it is not a welcomed feeling, not for him. Enough people believe they can mess with him and those said people were sent right to Will’s own wing.

“What do you want?” He asks with a bit of bite in his tone. Will shrugs.

“Just wanted to say hi.” He says evenly. Nico scowls at him.

“That’s it?” His tone is harsh. “You just wanna pop over here and say hi? For no reason?” Nico says snarkily. Surprisingly, Will doesn’t run and scream in terror; he doesn’t start to shake either. Instead, his smile seems to grow infinitesimally bigger and he shoves his hands into his pockets.

“Yep.” He pops the P of the word before turning sharply left and away from Nico. The blonde doesn’t even look back at the confounded boy he had left standing. Instead, he smiles at some of the other campers and heads into cabin 6.

Nico stares back at him dumbly, even as he disappears into the cabin. “What the Hades?” He mutters quizzingly to himself. Nico crosses his arms tightly on his chest. There are some other campers, gossips for sure, who are staring at him. They are murmuring hush whispers while clearly pointing at him. He sends them a murderous glare; the point gets across and they scramble away quickly. Nico sighs. Sure being dark and broody is helpful when one wants to be alone but there are times when he doesn’t want to be alone. Alas, how on this earth is one supposed to make friends when they have the appearance of a walking skeleton. Nico keeps walking towards the mess hall. He needs food; he needs it now. His stomach shouts at him to hurry up. Hm, if only Jason was here then maybe he’d believe him that yes, the Nico Di Angelo does still run on sustenance-- well, something other than happy meals.

Few campers are still in the mess hall when he arrives. They stick to their own tables, their only sibling. Nico has no sibling, not any that are here at least. Sitting down, he summons plain salted noodles, slightly butter and light garlic; diet coke rather than water. He sighs as he smashes a forkful into his mouth. Pasta’s great and all but he eats it because they are simple carbs. Plain pasta isn’t overpowering, it isn’t too earthy or meaty or lettuce. It’s just enough to keep him upright. Nico sighs again as he finishes half the bowl, quickly getting sick of the dish. As he scrapes the rest of the pasta into the fire, he wishes he had a friend next to him.

-

“Welcome back.” Nico groans as the harsh light attacks his eyes. He attempts to get up but is shoved, gently at least, back down. “You just woke up; it’d be awful if you fainted again.” The voice chuckled. Nico’s eyes register just enough to see curly blonde hair next to him. The figure is wearing a white coat and holding a clipboard; it’s Will.

“What happened?” Nico says in a slight snarl.

“Shadow travel,” Will responds dryly. “Did you know you have a limit on distance and time?” He asks with an innocent voice but his eyes are letting on more than he’s saying. “It seems to me that your body uses a lot of energy to travel around that way and it lowers our blood sugar significantly.”

Nico scowls at him and blinks at the feeling of a hollow ache within him. “Yes, I did know that.” He says. Will makes a half-smile, half-smirk.

“Great, then I’m going to need you to manage your shadow traveling a bit better,” Will says. “I will come up with exact rules soon but know it’s going to be more limited now.”

Nico feels fury well up inside of him. “Not over my dead body.” He growls. Wills chuckles at his threat, annoying Nico even more.

“One-” Will puts a finger up. “-if you were a dead body then I did my job wrong. Two, as if you’d go so quickly. And three, doctor’s orders.” He says firmly, leaning in. Nico crosses his arms indignantly.

“And what if I don’t listen?” He snaps.

“You will.” Will sounds so sure of himself. Nico’s eyes darken.

“And how do you know that?”

Will leans in; he leans in very much. Nico gulps subconsciously and for a moment is shell-shocked by the smug look on Will’s face. His eyes are full of bright lights and mirth. His mouth is pink and completely sure. Nico never really talked to Will before… well yesterday when he had randomly said hi when Nico woke up. He had always known the blonde, how could one not and vise versa. He knew Will was smart and capable and a wicked good doctor; Nico just didn’t know how commanding and snarky he was either.

“Oh, I have a feeling.” With that, Will leans back and rips off a piece of paper, and hands it to Nico. The boy stares at it; it has times and measurements. “Your rules,” Will says easily. “Doctor’s orders.” He leaves with a flourish of his coat and Nico is left still on the bed with shouted orders to rest.

Nico is surprised-- pleasantly surprised. Everyone at camp is afraid of him and his ‘scary’ powers. But Will is not. It’s a nice change. A hint of a smile appears on Nico’s face. He actually listens for once (because he is not Percy Jackson)

-

“What is that?” Nico stares at the cards in Will’s hands. He shrugs. Nico scowls at him deeper. “What is that?” He repeats.

“Mythomagic cards.” Will smiles brightly; Nico wants to put on sunglasses. “I was playing with a couple of my patients when I remembered that you used to be a huge fan of the game. That was how you identified Dionysus right?” Will teases. Nico feels his face warm up, something that never happened before. Indignantly, he turns away with a huff. “Huh? Don’t like it? Mm… could’ve sworn you still liked the game; oh well, see you later then.”

Will only takes about 3 steps before Nico caves. “Wait,” Nico calls out quiet but Will hears and spins around as if he had shouted at the top of his lungs. “I- I still like the game, okay?” Nico says, trying to act hardened but it wasn’t working as well as he was hoping it would.

“Perfect!” Will says with a grin on his face. “Come join me.” He puts a hand out between them. Nico stares at it. What? Noticing that Nico didn’t move a muscle, Will quirks an eyebrow up. “Huh? Too much for you to handle?” He teases. “Sorry, just say it.” He brings his hands back to the pocket of his sweatshirt but smiles welcomingly for Nico to follow him. Nico frowns before giving in and following the blonde. He still catches the smirk residing on Will’s face.

“You don’t need to look so smug; I still like the game,” Nico growls. Will tilts his head to the side.

“I hoped so.”

They enter the hospital healing wing and there is a group of kids in clean white robes that seem to light up when their eyes catch on Will. They are young-- ages 9...10...11...12 perhaps. “Dr.Solace!” They chorus before even noticing that Nico stands next to him. Will smiles brightly; he looks almost like an angel of medicine with the sun shining through the window. “You’re back!” The kids continue. Will laughs and leaps onto one of the empty gurneys. Nico walks and stands awkwardly next to it. The kids don’t spare him much of a glance-- he wants to melt into the shadows to escape but finds that the wing is so lit up with light the nearest shadow could barely cover his entire hand.

“I am!” Will says, eyes Twinkling. “And… I brought a friend.” He presents his arms out like a magician showing his newest trick. The kids stare at Nico. Nico stares back awkwardly. Uh… what is he supposed to do now? He waves; a tight forced smile is on his face. The kids look at him intently and then back at Will. They smile, a move Nico did not expect, and nearly giggle out. What on… what? “Guys…” Will says with a head shake. Nico looks at him with a head shake. Is there a blush on his face or has Nico forgotten breakfast again? “-don’t laugh. This is Nico.”

A kid falls over, chortling. “Oh… we know.” He says mischievously. Will sends him a hard look. The kid turns back to Nico and thrusts a stack of cards in his hands. “You’ve ever played?” Nico looks at the cards… amateur set.

“Yeah.” Nico grunts. The kids here are all too young to know his past-- they don’t know what these cards mean to him. “Course I do… I’ve got seven of these.” He continues. The kid’s eyes widen like saucers; the other kids gasp dramatically.

“No way!” The kid lights up like a firework. “That’s so many! I only have that one of everything. But I do have two Apollos!” The kid explains.

“No, you don’t! You don’t have Athena.”

“It didn’t come with!”

“That’s no excuse.”

Nico is confused and stares at the bickering kids, unsure of what to do next. WIll seems to have noticed his discomfort because he leans over slightly. “Tanner, he’s one of Ares’s kids. Lara’s mom is Athena. They like to fight a lot but they’re friends.” He explains. Nico quietly nods, observing as Lara and Tanner begin to shove each other's shoulders. Will allows them to fight for a minute longer before cleaning his throat and stenly glaring at them. Lara sheepishly takes her hands off of Tanner’s shoulders. “That’s enough; do you want to start the game now or what?” Will smiles, holding his cards up. Nico copies the motions, inspecting each player carefully.

“I’m ready to win.” Lara brags. Without meaning to, a rare smirk raises to Nico’s face; it feels equally foreign and nice.

“That’s funny because I’m sure I’m going to win,” Tanner shouts at her. Lara stickers her tongue out at her.

Nico lowly huckles, hiding it behind his stack of cards. Will seems to be the only one who notices it. The blonde looks at him with a smile and eyebrow quirk. Nico scowls. “What?” He snaps.

Will shakes his head. “Nothing. Just nice to see that look on your face.”

Nico stares at him, unsure of what he means. So instead of worrying about it, he resorts to slamming these kids at Mythomagic. No one knows it better than he does.

“Woah! How’d you do that?” Lara shouts at him when Nico unsurprisingly wins. He shrugs.

“Easy move.” He says lazily. Lara glares at him but it’s nothing like her older sister’s stare so he’s not fazed at all. “You’ll learn it in time.” He all but teases. She snarls at him; he slightly grins back.

Will laughs and forces Lara to put her cards back in the pile. “He’s a big fan of the game, don’t take it personally.” He tells her. Tanner looks back at Nico with wide and impressed eyes.

“Really?”

Nico feels awkward-- never once has anyone looked at him in awe. Why was this kid doing these? What did he want from him? “Uh- yeah. I have most of the extra packs. You know, it’s fun.” HE babbles out, wanting to melt into the ground. Tanner leaps up onto his gurney.

“That’s awesome!” He cries. “Can you play with us more?” He asks. His eyes go big and wide and Nico finds it in himself to not shut him down with a harsh no. tanner looks excited, Lara looks interested and Will looks smug. Nico snarls at him.

“What’s got you all happy and sunshiny?” He asks. Will just keeps smiling, still looking like a medicine angel or whatever.

“It’s nice seeing you have fun. I’m so used to you groaning in pain on one of these.” He motions to the gurneys. “You should play with us more. Lots of the kids love the game.” Will asks. His smile seems welcoming. Nico is still unsure if he should or shouldn’t agree. “Besides… how else will those extra card packs come into use?” Will teases.

Nico decides that he’ll agree to play with him more often. “Touche.” He mumbles and Will knows he’s won. The kids are a bit loud for his taste but the game is fun. It’s nice playing with people who love Mythomagic almost as much as he does. And Will… he’s nice… a little too nice but not awful. He’s a nice friend. Maybe…

When Nico leaves the hospital wing to retreat into his own cabin to nap the day away, he leaves with a new ten-year-old fan, a planned gaming session next Tuesday, and Will’s touch lingering on his shoulder. He buries himself in his four blankets and knocks out for twenty hours.

-

He admits… it’s weird having a friend-- at the same time, it’s so nice. Will is friendly and bright; slightly annoying but sometimes it makes him smile in a way that makes him also want to bury himself into the ground. How could a person look so sweet yet not disgusting? It didn’t make sense! The last time a person had smiled like an angel and been cute without being awful was Percy and Nico didn’t need another round of that.

“Hey… Will, can you- do you think you can help me with something?” Nico says, very nervously. The feeling’s very odd for him; he’s more brooding than awkward on a day-to-day basis. The young patients behind Will seem to giggle slightly. The blonde smiles back at him, looking as golden as his father in a tiny way.

“Yeah… with what?” He asks, leaning forward on the gurney.

Nico opens his mouth to respond but is distracted for a second. Who on Gaea’s earth gave Will arms like that? They’re strong, that’s clear but not overly muscled and big. Lean but firm and oh dear Zeus, why can’t Nico stop gaping at them. Why are they so gorgeous? Why are they so distracting? Oh gods. Nico swallows and forces his eyes away from the view. If Will had noticed him staring, he certainly doesn’t show it. His smile is as serene and pleasant as ever. Nico swears his face isn’t bright red but it may be.

“Um- Per- my dad wants me over for dinner and… I don’t know, I wanna make a good impression on my step-mom; she’s not trying to smite me so I think it’d be nice.” Nico admits, fighting the urge to shadow travel away. God, he’s so awkward. Nico blames Will’s newfound arms for the feeling-- technically though, Nico had been awkward since he called out Will’s name while walking slowly into the room.

“Yeah, of course!” Will smiles brightly.

“Really?”

“Definitely. My shift’s wrapping up anyway so I have the time.”

“Oh.” A smile sneaks its way up on Nico’s face. He hates it. “Thanks.” He says meekly. Will shrugs, calling that it’s no problem and that he’ll meet him at his cabin in about ten minutes.

When Nico closes his cabin door, he questions his own sanity.

He further questions it as Will explains which fork is which and which spoon goes where. Oh if he thought his arms were a distraction before then it was the entire center star of a solar system now. With his doctor coat, most of Will’s arm had been covered and only the forearm showed and a sliver of upper arms-- now his entire arm is on display and Nico’s mouth is basically probably drooling. It’s all lean muscle and beautifully tanned skin.

“Nico? Hello~?” Will waves his hand in front of his face and Nico jumps about a foot in the air. Will snickers; Nico does not.

“I hear ya, salad, soup, all that,” Nico growls in an attempt to hide his gaping. Will chuckles and folds his arms over his chest. Huh, wow… biceps-- very nice. Nico feels dizzy.

“Great, then I will be on my way then,” Will says easily, walking towards the door.

Everything in Nico’s mind and body screams at him to not let the boy leave. He steps up and puts a hand on Will’s shoulder and wow, it’s an equally terrible and glorious idea. He jerks back like he’s been burned; Will takes notice and looks at him like he’s gone insane. He probably is a third way there.

“I- I need help picking something nice to wear.” Nico blabbers out, a very unlikely thing for him to do. “Pure emo black probably isn't the best impression.” He continues like an idiot. He secretly asks for the earth to open up and swallow him whole. Then again, he could probably have that arranged if he really wanted it to happen. “I don’t know what to do, you know…?” Cue awkward grin. Cue facepalm. Cue Will’s weirdly cute head tilt.

“Well your father is Hades so I don’t think she’d really mind this-” Will looks him up and down; Nico’s face becomes red. “-ensemble. But I do get where you’re coming from. I’m thinking… nice but still My Chemical Romance?” Will teases him. Nico scowls at him. “I kid-- actually no I don’t.” Will makes a quick turn and thrust open Nico’s closet. It’s a total mess and explosion of black clothing. He’s unsure if he should be embarrassed or not. Either way, he is. “This… not bad...this one is actually better-- okay, I got one.” Will throws his newfound sartorial choice. Nico catches it in his hands and looks quizzingly at them. “Nice non-ripped jeans, striped black and white button-up… just wear black sneakers and comb your hair out of your face a bit,” Will instructs him.

Nico nods. “Not a bad choice.” He laments. WIlls rolls his eyes and scoffs.

“I’m gay-- course I have some style. What’s your excuse?” He says snarkily.

Nico can only blink back at him. Gay, gay, he’s gay. Oh of course he’s gay! His inner monologue is stupid. I’m gay, he’s gay. Oh my gods, we’re both gay. I could date him! I wanna date him? Do I? No! I don’t! Maybe? Yes? No? He has great arms… it wouldn’t be bad. And a pretty cute smile-- plus he’s gay. Wait… why is he staring at me with that look? Nico opens his mouth but no words come out. Wills starts to full-on laugh. He’s laughing, oh my gods, I’m dead. It’s cute… AH, I’M EVEN MORE SCREWED! Wow, his arms… I should watch him do his blood tests one day. Nope...that’s weird. But would it be hot? Probably…AUGH!

“Are you okay?” Will gasps in between his chuckles. Whatever is happening in Nico’s mind is the mental equivalent to a keyboard smash.

“Yep,” Nico says, preparing to shadow travel. He steps backwards into the shadow and begins to melt away.

But much to his shock, Will’s eyes widen and his hands shoots out, grabbing Nico by his hoodie sleeve. Will drags him back into the light and aggressively points a finger in his face. His expression is a mix between worry and lots of anger. He’s never been like this before. Nico is shocked and weirdly intrigued.

“You’re not getting away with that-- not from me at least.” Will scolds him. Nico stares at him blankly. He’s mad… it’s lowkey hot. Uh- should I be breathing right now because I don’t think I am. I mean, he’s a doctor he could fix me. NO! BAD IDEA! I’ve never seen him so mad. Or mad at all. Huh. Huh... I don’t think my brain is functioning. “-as your doctor… it is an order.” Will finish but Nico caught only 10% of what he said. Nico gulps, not out of fear but out of… well he doesn't even know.

“Noted,” Nico says dryly. Will huffs and nods, looking at him with a fierce glare. It’s now he understands why Percy gets that stupid dazed look on his face when Annabeth is yelling at him. He’s really hot right now and I don’t think that's okay. Nico wants to shadow travel again but it would probably be risky. Not that he doesn't want to see angry Will again, it’s more so… he’s already pushed it.

“Good,” Will says haughtily before leaving the cabin.

Nico stares out his window till Will’s curly blonde hair is no longer visible. He then falls into his bed, face-first into a pillow. He blinks into the pillow-- and does so for a very long time. His brain is fried and it is because of Will.

I’m panicking

-

“I need your help.”

“Really?”

“Yes! Please help me now!”

“Okay, okay, what for?”

Nico looks around him and then back at the IM. “I think I’m panicking.” She raises a brow at him and drily says, no duh. He glares at her; Renya isn’t phased in the slightest. “But really-- I feel like my heart is about to explode.”

“Is your heartbeat really going that fast?” Renya questions. Nico throws his arms up in the air.

“Maybe? Probably not?” Nico sighs and drags a hand down his face. “...I saw Will.” He admits.

Renya’s face turns into an interested smile. “Go on.”She says. Nico feels his face heating up and the following urge to jump into an ice bath. Gods, he hated blushing like a ten-year-old girl.

“Everyone was going swimming…” He continues. The smirk on Renya’s face grows. “-and I decided that maybe I should go too, you know, for fun.” He mumbles.

“Nice to hear you’re not hermit-shelling yourself.” Renya teases. Nico glares at her. SHe only shrugs.

“But-” Nico points up a finger. “Will and his sibling decided to go swimming in the lake too. Which I guess makes sense or whatever, everyone in camp is burning up today but I still wasn’t expecting it.”Nico ignores Renya’s snickers.

“You didn’t realize that he: as a part of the camp, was going swimming in the lake?”

“Shut up!”

“You literally called me to freak out over this.”

Nico just nearly swipes at the message. “I discovered his arms a couple weeks ago and I couldn’t look at him the same; now I’ve seen him without a shirt and I can’t look at him, full stop. He’s hot-- like really hot. Literally looks like his dad; what do I do?” Nico walks around in a circle in his cabin, tugging at his hair in a frenzy. “I stared at him for a complete minute. I don’t think I breathed or blinked or moved at all. Just- I stood there.” He continues.

“Nico,” Renya says seriously. “You’re panicking.” She deadpans. He turns to scowl at her. She raises a brow in defiance.

“I know that!” He cries out. His eyes catch to the uncovered window where there is a perfect view of bare-torso Will ran by. He is silently laughing, hair flying back and eyes nearly closed. Nico gulps and his brain pauses for a minute or two. How are the campers around him even functioning!? It’s like watching a piece of art but not in an objectifying way. “I’m gay panicking but it’s fine.” Nico sputters out. The words are a total mess that falls in front of him. Renya cackles like a witch.

“Will walked by?”

“Yes!”

Nico grabs a blanket from his bed and huddles it around his body. He groans loudly and falls to the ground. Renya’s eyes trail down with him, quietly witnessing his breakdown. She doesn’t even make a sound as he mutters deliriously about how Will is affecting him and that his brain is now melted.

“You know, it may just help to tell him you like him. Might stop the panicking.” Renya offers. Nico glares at her from the ground and forces an arm out to wave around madly.

“What part of-” His arms are now a helicopter rotor. “-this makes you think I could confess.”

Renya rolls her eyes. “You’re an emo-depressed boy, not an emo anxious boy.” She says drily.

“I could be both!”

“But you’re not.” Reyna chuckles. “It’s fine to tell him you like him. He’s not as blind as Percy; he’s as gay as you are so that means he knows what he’s doing. You’ve said it before, he’s very clearly smirked while you blushed. Why not tell him? Will’s not the type to lead a person on. He probably is just waiting his time and having fun with it. It’s more torturous for you than him.” Nico makes a sound of pure gay panic for an impressibly long time. Renya allows him to do so. “I gotta go soon.” She looks off the IM for a second and nods. “However, you still need to at least consider it.” She points at him threateningly.

Nico nods meekly from the floor and watches wordlessly as the IM disappears.

If anyone is able to die from gay panicking, Nico’s unwilling trying to accomplish it.

-

Nico wants to die but he can’t seem to turn off his mouth. The words he was spilling weren’t the ones he had practiced with Renya but Will is smiling at them nonetheless. He’s sure the red on his face has taken over and he’s become a tomato head. Nico feels miserable and thanks all deities for making sure no one else is walking onto the scene.

“-so yeah that's kinda what I wanted to say...yeah.” Nico prays for his father’s realm.

Will lets out a laugh and if it wasn’t so horribly sweet and cute, Nico would have shadow traveled away. “That’s very nice and brave of you to say,” Will says. He leans out and presses a kiss to Nico’s cheek. Nico nearly falls over. “And I like you too. But I’ve been waiting for you to make a move since you started staring at my arms like a lifeline.” Nico gasps and points at Will accusingly.

“You noticed?”

“How could I not.”

Nico glares at him harshly. “I don’t like you no more.” He mutters. Wills sighs but with a smile on his face. He opens his arms and closes them around Nico’s form. Nico is shocked by the fact that he is still standing. His inner mind is frozen still. “Oh.” He says dumbly.

Will chuckles, the sound resonates lowly and vibrates from his chest to Nico. “Does this make up for it?”

Nico scowls but doesn’t deny anything. His heart is beating much faster than it should but it’s kinda okay with him. He decides that, yes the hug makes up for the torture Will put him through: freaking arm tease. It’s warm and comforting and he really likes how Will smells.

“Yeah. It does.”

Awe... aren't they just so cute? I wrote this pretty late at night so my own speech patterns ended up slipping in. By the way, the emo-depressed/anxious boy thing is literally a thing I put in from my own personal conversations. I have a very wonderful NB emo anxious depressed boi in my life. I hoped you guys liked this story and found it either funny, cute, or slightly relatable...maybe. - Mka1098

[blackholesandlions]

SPOILER WARNING

So I was reading ToN and I got to the part about not being able to destroy the fasces, and my mind started racing with ideas so I got down my idea of how the book would end before reading the rest of it, just to see how wrong I was. Anyway I ended up liking it a lot so here’s my alternate ending to the Tower of Nero

Warning this makes no sense if you’ve read any point in the book past where I stopped, so keep that in mind.

Nero’s words still rang in my mind. “You haven’t destroyed it yet, because you can’t. Even if you could, you’d release so much power it would burn you to cinders.” After he said that we ran, fast. He didn’t even bother calling the guards on us. He knew Python would get us first.

I was at the back of the group, because I was carrying the fasces, and it weighed me down. This thing had Nero’s soul in it, it was the only way to kill him, but breaking it would destroy everything around it. And even then, there was still no way to defeat Python. I’m not strong enough to take him out. If only there was some way to… oh. It’s so obvious, why didn’t I think of it earlier? Well, I don’t even want to think about it now, but it’s my only option that gets everyone out safely.

I stopped walking, and the rest of them turned to face me. Rachel asked, “Apollo, what are you doing? We need to keep moving.” I steeled my nerves. “I have a plan to take out Nero and Python in one move.”

“Great, let’s hear it,” Lu said. “No. No time. I need all of you to run, run as far as you can. I’m going to take them out, but you need to be out of the blast zone. Don’t come back for me.” I half wished somebody would protest, say no Apollo, we can’t let you sacrifice yourself, but they nodded, and ran.

Except Meg. Meg was holding back tears.

“Let me help, Lester. You can’t do it on your own.”

“I know.”

“Then how-”

“Destroying the fasces will incinerate anything around it. I’m not strong enough to break it, but he is.”

Meg wasn’t even holding the tears back at this point. She was crying. Over me. “Lester, you can’t,” she sobbed. “You’ll die!”

I pull her into a hug. “Hey, that’s the price of being human.”

“Now go.” She nodded, and gave me a weak smile before turning to run.

I rummaged through my bag, looking for anything to secure the heavy fasces. After a bit of searching I find what I’m looking for. Oh, thank the gods for Duct Tape, truly one of mankind’s greatest inventions. I strap the fasces to my back and shuffle onward towards my doom.

When I finally got there, my old enemy Python has wrapped his way around the entire chamber. His eyes are closed, so he doesn’t see me approaching, and for a second I have to admit, I’m tempted to just flee. Give up this lapse in judgement and live the rest of my mortal life hiding in shame.

But Jason didn’t think like that. Or maybe he did, I guess I have no real way of knowing. Maybe he was just as terrified as I am right now, hesitant to sign his own death warrant. But nevertheless, he jumped into the fray and sacrificed himself to save his friends. So had all the heroes I’ve met on my journey. They were so brave, much braver than I will ever be. But I owe this to them.

“Python!” I yelled into the echoey cavern. Names have power, especially for immortals. Calling the name of someone who wants to kill you is a death wish. But it sure got his attention.

The enormous serpent opened its eyes, the size of lakes, and stared right at me. “Little Lester,” he growled in that horrible voice. “You appear to be all by yourself, but that can’t be possible. I’m sure you have a whole cavalry hidden with some sort of magic. You might as well reveal yourselves, it won’t make a difference.”

I was frozen, shaking. I remember Python well, he terrified me back when I was a god, as a human teen his presence was simply too much. “No,” I squeaked out. I held on to any courage I had. “It’s just me.”

Python smiled, but tilted his head in confusion. “Then how on Earth do you intend to fight me?”

I dropped my bow and ukulele. “I’m not here to fight.”

Now he was incredulous, and angry as well. “I am going to consume you, your entire essence. You will be destroyed, and I will control this world’s future, and you mean to say you aren’t going to fight it?”

“I’m doing this so my friends can survive.”

Python reeled his head back. “Are you sure you’re Apollo?” He hissed. “No immortal in their right mind would be so cavalier with their existence.”

At that I had to laugh. “I don’t think I was ever in my right mind until I was cast down here. I was arrogant, selfish, and cruel. I cared only for myself. But worst of all, I treated mortals like they were expendable. Insignificant humans, good for a laugh, or a duet, or to fetch me something.

“But these people, they live lives that are so full of value and meaning. They form connections that I’ve never had, bonds stronger than anything you or I are capable of. And then… they end. And humans come to terms with it, they accept it. Their lives are so short, but more full than mine ever was. And if sacrificing my life means that they can live another day, then I am fully willing to do so.”

Python was quiet for a moment, looking almost contemplative. Then he curled his sharp teeth into a menacing grin. “Well, Apollo, one thing certainly hasn’t changed about you. You’re still a fool.”

He unhinged his terrifying jaws, and I dove in without hesitation. In the moment before we collided, I could see myself reflected in his eyes. My face was determined and resigned, but my eyes were the real. They were glowing bright orange, two burning orbs, bright and harsh like the unforgiving desert sun.

I could see Python, my oldest enemy, finally recognize me. His mouth didn’t move, but his expression morphed into one of pure terror.

And then he clamped his jaw down.

A fang came down right on top of me, the impact puncturing my body and shattering my spine. The pain was searing, I was probably a few seconds away from death, when I heard a hum from near me. My plan had been a success after all, the fasces was shattered as well, and was slowly getting brighter and brighter, and I could hear Python screaming out in pain. In a burst of light, we were both gone.

I don’t quite remember being dead. I didn’t have any thoughts, not even a haiku crossed my mind. The only reason I knew I was still there was the pain. It got duller and fuller over time, and I started to worry if that meant I was fading away, out of existence. But even then, that barely concerned me. I knew Python was gone, I had done my job. If I faded away now, it didn’t matter, my friends were alive and safe.

And then suddenly I was alive. The first thing I saw was my sister. She was sitting next to me, arm around my shoulder like she did when we were little. “I’m glad you’re here.” I had never heard those words from Artemis before. I started to tear up. “Zeus wants to see you.”

It took me a while to remember how, but I appeared in my father’s palace, right in front of him. I saw his glowering expression. Then I heard his stern, familiar tone. “You were not supposed to die. It took all I had to bring you back this much, but even now…

“You’re still a god, but not powerful like you used to be. You’re on the level of the most minor of deities, not an Olympian. I know this must be very upsetting to you.”

The strangest thing was, it wasn’t. I had lost my status, most of my power, I should be furious at how diminished I’ve become, but it didn’t bother me in the slightest. Alarming, to say the least.

For some reason, my mind kept drifting back to Camp-Half Blood. My children, all the others I had saved, and my brother, Dionysus, still stuck there. It was odd how happy he had been, just to have someone else to work with. I hadn’t seen him that excited since he was first sent to that camp. I had laughed at the time, but now I think his punishment was no better than mine.

Zeus cleared his throat. “Well, at least you’ve learned your lesson now.” I looked at my father, the man who had caused all of this in the first place. “I’ve learned many lessons, Father.”

“I’m glad you’ve learned how to respect me now, Apollo.” Suddenly I was overcome with anger. This… god consistently refused to take responsibility for his actions, and never took into account anyone’s feelings but his own. He was callous, and egotistical, and awful.

But, that’s just what I was like before my journey, wasn’t it? I was just as awful as he is. But I’m better than that now. I don’t have to go back to the way I was, I can make changes. We gods always said we were stuck as we were, that we needed mortals to change things, or we would keep repeating our history forever.

But the truth is, we could have changed at any time, we just refused to accept that we were the same as humans. We refused to accept that we could be wrong, in need of changes. We just continued pretending we were perfect, because we are cowards. I was a coward. But not anymore. And I am going to write my own prophecy, change my future.

“No, actually, I think that’s the one class I skipped.” He furrowed his brow. “What. Did. You. Say.”

“You need to release Dionysus from his post at Camp-Half Blood. Now.” Thunder roared throughout mount Olympus. “That insolent child hasn’t served his full punishment yet!”

“Doesn’t matter. I’ll be taking over his post effective immediately.”

When I appeared at Camp-Half Blood that day, I kept myself invisible at first. I wanted to see what was going on at camp before I made my presence known. The scenery was always beautiful, but now I looked at it with a sense of nostalgia. Not just as a place to pop in and show off to the young demigods. But as a home.

The first thing I spotted was, in fact, spotted. It was my brother, in his usual ugly leopard print shirt. The second thing I spotted was Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase, at camp. I had last heard they were at Camp Jupiter, but they were here now.

Percy and Dionysus were arguing loudly with each other. I caught a snippet of it. “Look Mr. D, me and Annabeth were on the other side of the country, you can’t just teleport us here on a whim!” Dionysus sighed. “It’s not a whim, Peter Johnson, I brought you two here so you could hear my big announcement! Ah, speaking of!”

He amplified his voice, and began. “Attention campers! Please proceed to the courtyard immediately, I have a very important announcement to make!”

Head counselors shuffled kids out of their cabins until everyone was in the courtyard. I heard some kids muttering things like “ugh, this better not be another end of the world.”

Mr. D cleared his throat. “Now that I have your attention, see you losers!” There were cries of confusion from the crowd. “That’s right, Zeus has lifted my punishment early, which means I don’t have to take care of you brats anymore!” He looked almost giddy. He looked to where I was standing, invisible, because of course gods can see each other, and gave me a nod of gratitude, before disappearing in a flash, leaving behind a cluster of grapes. I had the feeling he wasn’t coming back.

The camp fully erupted into chaos, children freaking out left and right. Even the oldest around were confused, this was new territory even for them. A young child ended the chaos by crying out “who’s gonna be in charge of the camp?” The campers paused for a moment, before turning their heads to all look at Percy Jackson.

The poor boy looked almost ready to cry. He so desperately wanted to be done with everything, to have a normal life, go to college with his girlfriend. He didn’t want to spend his whole life at this camp. But he sighed, and said “if I have to step up, I will.”

In a flash of golden light, I made myself visible. “That’s very noble of you, Percy, but it won’t be necessary.” The whole crowd was stunned. I had to smile. Despite it all, I still loved a good dramatic entrance. I heard a familiar voice from the crowd say “Lester?”

I had never been so happy to see a little girl with a terrible pageboy haircut. I did a little wave and said “hi Meg,” weakly.

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE DEAD WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?” She yelled across the courtyard, but I could see she was smiling.

It occurred to me that I still looked like Lester, and even more surprising, that I hadn’t cared to check. I used to spend hours a day agonizing over what form I took, but it hadn’t crossed my mind this whole time. Even stranger, I didn’t feel like changing to someone more handsome. This Lester form felt somehow fitting to me, like I wouldn’t want to change it at all.

“I kinda did die, but I’m back now, and immortal again. But I’m not Apollo. I’m not anywhere near as powerful as I used to be. I’m not even on the Olympian council anymore.”

“Wait, then there’s an empty spot?” Annabeth asked. “An unbalanced council isn’t good.” I nodded my head. “Yes, that’s why I yielded the post to Hestia. I figured she deserved a turn back in the spotlight.”

Percy grinned. “Wow, man, that’s a lot to give up.”

I sighed. “Yes, it is.” I turned back to Meg, tears welling in my eyes. “It’s good to see you again.” She wiped a tear away from her eye. “Well, are you gonna lead us or not?” I smiled. Never change, Meg, never change.

“Right. I’m running this camp now, and you will see some major changes.” The campers looked nervous, probably remembering Mr. D and all his ideas.

“For starters, I’m creating a parents day here at Camp-Half Blood, twice a summer. I understand that some of you don’t have great relationships with your parents, but there are many who do and wish to see them. For those campers, we will provide safe travel so your parents can be here to see you.”

Some kids looked very excited, especially younger ones who had just been pulled away from their parents. I looked up to the sky for this next point. “And also, attendance from godly parents is mandatory!” The sky rumbled with loud thunder. “Don’t try to fight me on this! You all have infinite time and can be in multiple places at once, there’s no reason you can’t be there for your children for a couple of hours!”

The younger campers definitely all looked ecstatic at that, the prospect of meeting their godly parents. The older campers, though more jaded, still smiled at the idea of their parents being there for them. The kids were all chattering excitedly amongst themselves, until one piped up. “What about quests?”

This was the question I’d been dreading, because I didn’t have a good answer for it. I paused. “Quests and prophecies are an unavoidable part of life as a young hero. However, I am aware of how dangerous and traumatizing they can be. So I am instating a policy. If you have gone on a quest, you do not ever have to go on another. You are allowed to opt out, and the gods have promised they will not hold it against you.”

A half-hearted clap of thunder pulsed through the camp. Percy and Annabeth gave me grateful looks.

“Any more questions?” I asked the camp. My son Will raised his hand. “Yeah, what do we call you? You’re not Apollo anymore, and I’m guessing Mr. A isn’t right either, so who are you exactly?”

That was tricky. I didn’t quite know yet. I was certainly still immortal, yet I felt human, so human. But I think I was starting to get the idea.

“I’m Lester. God of Camp-Half Blood.”

[forevfangirlwrites]

I'm obsessed with the actors au! first date/kiss for that au?

Part 1: Here (Part 2: Here)

The best thing about Percy’s life is that he has managed to score a date with The Annabeth Chase.

The worst thing about Percy’s life is that he has no fucking clue how he’s supposed to pull this off.

She’s a famous actress. So it’s not like he can just take her to Olive Garden and he does not have the budget for something super fancy and oh, did he mention, she’s famous, so going out in public is going to be an issue and—

He calls Grover.

“I can’t tell if you’re joking,” Grover says in utter disbelief over the line.

Percy groans as he plops down on his couch. “I almost wish I was, this is too stressful. I can’t do it, why did I even say anything?”

Luckily, Grover is his best friend and completely used to rambling that’s usually just a tad dramatic.

“You just need to play to your strengths.”

“Did you just quote a sports movie?”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Yes, please, sorry.” Percy's too desperate. “Continue.”

Grover sighs. “As I was saying, it seems like she just wants to spend some time with you--though I'm still having a hard time believing that you actually scored a date with Annabeth Chase, are you sure it was her?"

"Grover!"

"Sorry, just making sure. Anyway, you should do just that: spend some time with her. And do what you do best.”

“Which is?” he asks, but he thinks he knows the answer. His oven is already on.

“Don’t play dumb, I have no doubt you’re stress baking cookies right now.”

“Okay, okay, but…” he trails off, another thought coming to him. “What if she doesn’t like baked goods?”

“Oh my god Percy, it’s baked goods, who doesn’t like them!”

Grover makes a fair point. (Plus, he’s pretty sure she’s posted stuff on her Instagram that was baked goods.)

So, miraculously, with some help from Grover and the okay from Cali, he manages to pull together something that he hopes is at least halfway decent.

The small, cramped café is already cute, but Percy hopes that by drawing down the blinds and lighting some candles and lamps he’s made it cozier. (He even bought a table cover for one of the two lone tables at the place.)

The bell rings just as he’s finished setting out some plates and his head snaps up as Annabeth Chase, in all her dark jeans and crème blouse glory, walks in. (Seriously, jeans never look that good on anyone and what probably really famous designer thought it was a good idea to have off the shoulder blouses because he might be choking a little right now).

“Hey,” she says softly while he stares.

She laughs and crosses the distance between them to smile sweetly. “Percy?”

“Huh? Yes? Hi, Annabeth, you came, I mean, of course you did, have a seat.” He gets the words out all in one breath and turns towards the counter where he’s laid out some food.

A hand on his arm stops him and forget Jason Grace’s eyes, her touch is electrifying.

“Percy,” she says slowly and he’s afraid he’s fucked things up and the date hasn’t even started. “Does it help to know that I’m nervous too?”

What?

She offers a small smile. “Believe it or not, I don’t normally do this, and I don’t know what’s going through your head but right now, I’m just a girl on a first date, and I’m nervous too. So,” she takes a breath, “let’s just be nervous together, okay?”

He wants to slap himself in the face for being an absolute (insensitive) idiot. But he doesn’t think that would help the situation, so instead he nods.

“Yeah, okay, sorry. Can we start again?”

Annabeth smiles, her first real true smile so far and Percy feels a warmth in his chest. She nods and he thanks every deity in the world

Squaring his shoulders, he turns properly towards her, taking in her appearance with a wide smile, and takes her hand. “You look beautiful,” he says, raising her hand to his lips. “And thanks for, you know...” His brain kinda short circuited when he kissed her hand, but he tries to power through anyway, “joining me tonight.”

She giggles as he pulls out a chair for her. “You look pretty cute too,” she replies with a wink and Percy tries not to have a heart attack.

“You’re cuter,” he argues back, as she slips into her seat. She makes a face and he shoots her a grin as he turns around to get the food.

“I don’t know about that, my view is pretty great,” she calls, and he almost drops the dish of enchiladas he’s made.

He tells his brain to come up with a quick and witty retort. His brain returns an image of Annabeth kissing him that is entirely unhelpful to the situation.

Turning back around with the dish firmly grasped in his hands, all he can manage is making the same face as she did fifteen seconds ago. But at least he doesn’t drop the food. Baby steps.

She laughs and he places the dish in between them, maneuvering around the drinks he’s already set out.

“Clearly you haven’t looked in a mirror,” he retaliates.

Annabeth rolls her eyes and smiles. “How about I call a truce and say that the food looks the best out of all of us. Did you make it?”

 And the nervousness is back as some heat flares up to his cheeks and his hand comes up to rub the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry if it’s not the best, it’s my first time making them, really and—“

“I’m sure they’re going to be good, now please sit down and have some too, I’m feeling kinda lonely here,” she jokes, but he catches the look behind her eyes. 

He quickly sits down, wiping the palms of his hands on his jeans. Nodding towards the food, he aims for the casual that he had lost the moment he had served the food. “Well? Don't leave me hanging.”

Truthfully, he had already taste tested (he couldn’t serve something bad) and from the little he had, it seemed pretty okay. But that doesn’t stop him from anxiously looking over at her as he serves himself.

Annabeth's eyes widen as she chews and he hopes that's a good sign. “Percy," she says as she finishes up her bite. "This is so good! There’s no way you made them for the first time!”

He blushes again and wonders when he went from being 26 to 16 again. “I had help, my best friend Grover makes it even better.”

“Still. Do you like to cook?” she asks, taking another bite.

“Yeah, but I like to bake even more.”

Seeing her questioning face, he laughs, the tension finally easing from his shoulders. “Yeah, you’ll get to taste some of that later.”

She beams at him. “I can’t wait!”

“What about you? Do you like cooking?”

It’s kind of bizarre to be talking about cooking with Annabeth freaking Chase, but if there’s one thing he’s learned, she’s only human (an amazing, beautiful, talented human in his eyes, but still just human) and he needs to get over himself.

“I wish, I am horrible in the kitchen though.”

“What? No way? You’re telling me the guest star on Cooking with Dionysus can’t actually cook?” He jokes back.

She groans, leaning back in her chair. “Oh my god, that was so nerve wracking. Thankfully, I had a recipe and some help, even if it was snarky help.”

He leans forward. “Is he actually that snarky?”

Annabeth shrugs, her exposed shoulders rising and falling, and he represses a sudden urge to kiss the freckle on her right one. “Hard to tell. I don’t think he hated me though.”

“It must be tough, being around all these famous people, must be a lot of drama.”

She sighs. “Yeah, I mean, it’s a tough industry, but there are some really good ones out there.”

“Like Jason.”

“Like Jason,” she agrees. “I’m glad he told me about this place.” Her eyes wander the room and the nervousness about his choices crops up again.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he blurts, causing her focus to shift back to him.

“Mind what?”

Well now that he’s talked himself into a hole, he has to talk himself out of it. Nervous together, that’s what she had said right?

“That our date is here, I didn’t think being out in public would be the best so I tried to make it as private as possible and this was the only place I could think of that—”

For the second time that night, she cuts him off. “Percy, it’s perfect.” She lays a hand on his across the small table. “You’ve clearly put a lot of thought into this and I really appreciate it, thank you.”

He smiles, the anxiety slowly melting away. “Good, I’m glad, I was just kinda worried about it, you know, and I’m glad that you don’t mind this, so um, thank you,” he ends lamely.

“Don’t worry,” Annabeth assures, squeezing his hand, “I’ll make sure to plan the next one.”

“Next one?” Internally, he’s dying a little, but he has to play it cool you know. So naturally, his voice totally definitely doesn’t crack.

“We’ll see, depends on the baked goods,” she teases back.

He shoots her a conspiratorial smile. “How do you feel about cupcakes?”

As it turns out Annabeth Chase (like most people, as Grover would say) loved the cupcakes and Percy Jackson loved the way the frosting tasted in her mouth when he stole a kiss.

A/N: Thank you for sending a prompt! This AU is the most requested one that I get so I’m glad I was able to write a little first date bit to establish it a little more! I hope you liked it and thanks again!

[lifeofroos]

ToN Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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The valentinesday special, made in November. Rest of the story is on Tumblr and on AO3! 

This Might Be Crazy Part 4 - Strawberry Coca-cola

Valentines Day, combined with all the imagery of the fat baby version of Cupid, was coming dangerously close when I encountered a bottle with strawberry flavoured coca-cola in the grass. I sighed, took the bottle and walked over to the Big House. Yet, when I got there, I could not find Dionysus. ‘Hello?’

Chiron trotted into the main room. ‘Hello, Nico. Are you, by any chance, looking for Dionysus?’

I nodded. ‘Yes. I found this bottle, so I assumed he would be here, but…’ 

‘He said something about the beach this afternoon. You could go take a look there, but I cannot promise you you’ll find him.’

‘I’ll see. Thanks, Chiron.’ Chiron smiled, walked forwards a little and patted me on the arm. 

‘Good luck, Nico.’

The grand god Dionysus was, in fact, at the beach. His back was turned towards me. I took a moment to inhale the salty air - every single time, I am surprised about how good that feels. 

‘Nico di Angelo.’

Damn, he noticed me. ‘Sir.’

‘That is a very rare flavour of coke.’

I nodded like I actually knew anything about it. Which I did. ‘Yes, exclusive to Japan for a few months.’ He raised his eyebrows while nodding, clearly surprised that I knew that. Jokes on him. I had shadow travelled to Japan a few weeks ago to get sushi for me and Will and I learned that right there. 

I walked further, until I was standing next to him. The sea was calm today. We watched for a little while. The sun was setting - shades of orange, red and pink were beginning to be visible. 

‘We are nearing Valentines Day,’ Dionysus remarked. I did not answer. I could feel in my bones where this was going. Hint: he had probably also noticed all the fat, baby Cupids everywhere. 

‘Are you planning on doing anything with mister Solace?’ Yes, actually, I wanted to shadow travel us to Wills’ favorite restaurant in his home state. ‘Not yet.’ 

‘Sure.’ He looked at me like he did not believe me at all.  ‘Yet, you know what I want to talk about.’ 

‘...Ye.’ 

‘Let me start off by asking how you have been feeling lately.’

Well, seeing Cupid as a fat baby everywhere feels kinda good, not gonna lie. But the rest? ‘Not amazing.’ 

He took a moment to look at me in a way that signaled it was going to be heavy from now on. ‘Have you experienced any homophobia in a concrete way?’

Huh? ‘Uh… a couple of times. Once when walking in the city with Will. And when I went to his house with Christmas and got to meet his aunt Natalia. A few other times, which I don’t recall exactly.’ 

‘How did it make you feel?’

I stared at the sand. Not because the question was difficult, but because I had no idea when this guy would finally rip off the bandage and bring up Cupid. 

‘I mean… it’s not nice, but I know that aunt Natalia lives alone and only ever goes out with Christmas to scold her sister and Will and everyone else in the family. I always think that if every homophobe is such a loser, than it can’t possibly bother me for long. And so it never does.’ 

‘That’s good. I thought you’d have more trouble with it. You seemed more down than usual the last few days, that’s why…’ At that point, I stopped listening. I stood there with a blank expression for an undefined amount of time, until I snapped. My throat began to hurt as tears of frustration rose up.

 ‘Are you going to ask me about Cupid or what?’ I spat it at him, before wrapping my arms around my stomach. A few angry tears rolled down my face, while I sobbed softly. After a few seconds of silence, I looked at Dionysus, who seemed… very surprised. 

‘...what?’ 

‘C-cupid. Rome. Jason! The scepter. You know exactly what I am talking about, you always do.’ My shoulders rose, although the surprise and confusion was enough to make the sobbing less violent. 

‘...I must say, I do not. Is this about the death of mister Grace?’ 

Utterly dumbstruck, that is how I felt. I loosend the grip on my stomach, while I stopped sobbing. My fit ebbed away.  ‘...Ah-ha.’ Good, good job, Nico. Absolutely wonderful, the way you just told on yourself. You know exactly what he is going to say next.

‘Yet, it sounds like something that should not go unacknowledged.’ There it is.

‘I…’ - certainly would not mind if we did not acknowledge it - ‘Think you might be right.’ I sunk down into the sand and took a small sip of coke. It prickled on the inside of my mouth. 

‘You called him Cupid.’ Dionysus sat down next to me. 

‘It was Cupid. Not that he looked like one of those Valentine babies. He was the Roman version of Eros, but still very much Eros. You know…’

‘Yes, yes I know, trust me, I know.’ He sighed deeply, just as I did the same thing. Dionysus smiled, before continuing. 

‘Do you want to tell me what happened?’

I put an arm around my stomach again. My first thought was that I did not want to tell him what happened. I jumped into resistance mode and it took quite some time before I could reply. ‘Well… I was in Italy with the others. Jason and I were searching for the scepter of Diocletian, which we needed for...’ Yeah, what for again? ‘We needed it. We figured out that it was in Diocletians’ old palace, which turns out was also Eros, or Cupids, whatever, his old place. We got there and the god of love himself catches on to us. He starts to… fire arrows at us, although it was not his intention to make us fall in love.’ I paused for a second. No, I was quite positive Cupid did not want to make Jason and me fall in love. ‘He wanted me to tell the truth. Only then would he give us the scepter. The truth about…’ I halted right there when I remembered exactly what truth. In a split second I decided that there was no way I would be telling Dionysus that I was once in love with Percy Jackson. ‘...the truth about me liking guys.’

I looked into his eyes. He knew there was something I was not telling him. He did not ask about it, however. ‘Did you feel ashamed of being gay?’

Oh, another obvious one. You know what, I can actually appreciate that right now. ‘Yes, yes I did. In 1930’s Italy, even as a nine year old I came across propaganda that told me liking guys was wrong. I would not say that my mother really enforced that idea. I think.’ Actually, I did not remember. She might have. ‘Then I came to this new America and… that did not just go away, even though…’ I tilted my head sideways and back again. 

‘I know exactly what you mean.’

Thought so. ‘Gay rights were and are, not, like, perfect.’ We both nodded, which made me relax a little more. 

‘The god of love made you tell something you did not want to tell anyone, or not yet at least. Not just because you were afraid of not being accepted, but also because you did not accept yourself. It is no wonder that you are still disstressed about it.’ I let my shoulders hang. ‘Sometimes I still do not know if I…’ I gestured at myself. Dionysus nodded. ‘That’s understandable. It takes a long time to accept that liking guys is a part of who you are. And also that it does not degrade your value as a person.’ 

‘I find it weird, though. How can you… dislike yourself, or part of yourself, so much?’

‘If it is constantly implanted that it is bad to be or feel or like a certain way, you will start to believe it. You’ll feel guilty for being what you are, even if what you are is not wrong.’ 

I fiddled with the bottle. ‘Still… why did Cupid force me to tell…’ alright, he did not force me to tell everyone I was gay. ‘...well, just that. Why did he force me to tell?’ Dionysus sighed deeply. 

‘If I ever find out anything about Eros, you’ll be the first to know. Except that I won’t find out anything, so I don’t know why I promised you that.’ He seemed to think for a second. ‘What I can tell you is that Cupid operates on his own wavelength…’ Yeah, and so do you, that’s not a weird thing for gods, ‘...and he’ll do what others would deem unreasonable stuff. To him, it is not.’ He shrugged. ‘That’s the only thing I learned about him from living on Olympus for a few thousand years. It excuses absolutely nothing and still makes the experience you had horrid, of course.’ I nodded. What I did not know was if he understood that to a mortal, a lot of gods were like that. I decided that know was not the time to ask.

‘I think I now know that being gay is nothing to be ashamed of.’

‘Good. That’s a good thing. I talked to more people who thought that their existence was a sin…’ His eyes could not have rolled farther into his head when he said the word sin, ‘... as if Jesus would give a flip, as if he isn’t too busy curing sick people and cuddling puppies, that’s beside the point, I wanted to tell you that a lot of people thought and think like you did and they could not almost get rid of those thoughts in a year or two. It’s admirable, Nico.’ 

I was sensing there was more that this man could tell me about Jesus. On one hand I was dying to know, on the other hand that was not what we were talking about. ‘That might be because the people around me were mostly accepting, if we forget about aunt Natalia for a moment. Some people poked fun at me for liking…’ Yo, yo, yo, Nico, shut up. You have already said way to much. Dionysus looked like he knew he should disregard that I had been about to say something, except that he really did not want to. ‘...some people…’ Now he seemed torn between telling me that it was alright and that I need not say more and pushing me to finish that sentence. ‘...might advise me to say that it has been enough for today. I… understand what you explained to me.’

Slight disappointment. ‘If you really feel like that, Nico. Yet, I’ll have to come back to Cupid next time. I don’t think we have talked about everything there is to talk about.’ He turned his gaze towards the sea. It was still calm, although I could swear it was slightly roudier than it had been before. As if Poseidon knew what I had been about to say before I cut the session off. ‘You are a valid person, Nico. And your love for that Solace-boy is real, even if it is beyond me why you would date anyone directly related to Apollo.’ As said by his half-brother. ‘Do not let anybody tell you otherwise. Now go, forget what both Will Solace and I keep telling you and shadow travel to France to get him a box of chocolates.’ He stood up, and I did the same.

I took a few big gulps of Japan-limited Strawberry flavoured coke. ‘I was thinking of a different country.’

‘Don’t you dare.’

‘Try to stop me.’ I did not even care - I began to run. It made me feel free, free from homophobia and Cupid, and so I kept running. Valentine's day was coming up. I might not be proud of me all the time, but I would be some day. And until thatn I still had Will. Will, and soon a box filled with real Japanese sushi.

[haec-est-fides]

Tower of Nero Reactions

Tower of Nero absolutely wrecked me, exactly as I knew it would, but I can now say -- without a doubt -- that Trials of Apollo is my favorite Riordan series by far. It feels like a fitting ending in many ways, a capstone to an amazing journey that started back in 2005 (not that I’ve been around quite that long, lol).

Anyway, below the cut are some of my thoughts on this last book. Emotional roller coaster is an understatement, and I am still very much processing. (Also, I will keep tagging Tower of Nero spoilers until the end of November, just fyi.)

I don’t even know where to begin. This is going to be a long post...

I’ll start with the good news: ✨💜✨💛✨NERO✨💛✨💜✨

Not even kidding, I will never shut up about Nero. Trust me, if you told past me, at the very beginning of ToA, that in 2020 I’d be stanning Nero, I wouldn’t have believed you. Nevertheless, here I am.

Obligatory shout out to Pajama Nero, the moment I knew there was no going back 💜

I actually high key appreciate how the Triumvirate’s power was handled. I assumed as much at the end of Tyrant’s Tomb, but for Commodus and Caligula’s power to consolidate in Nero was perfect.

I’m trying not to scream about Nero, I promise. He’s just? God tier. Literally. 💛

The ultimatum? Throwing a party while NY burns? Even Dionysus said Nero has panache. His interior decorating and architectural sense? Impeccable. 💜

Ngl, Luguselwa betraying Nero had me VERY nervous until he completely called them out. His entire monologue? “I’m afraid your hands have offended me.” ??? 😳

Let’s be honest: every throne room scene killed me. Every line Nero had killed me. Why is he Like That?

How Nero made himself a metaphorical Kronos? Poetic cinema.

FaceTime Nero TM

The Sassanid gas was an absolute Power Move just btw

THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD 💛

Nero and his fucking Purple Sofa TM

THE REMOTES !!! Dumb tech boiiiiiii 💜

When Lucius stabbed Apollo? So fucking proud of him. Next time, hit something vital, sweetheart. 🗡

You don’t know how hard I laughed when Apollo shot Nero directly in the face and Nero just glared at him and yelled “stop that!”

The Bee Gees TM

WHEN NERO CATCHES NICO’S SWORD WITH ONE HAND ?

HE BLEEDS ICHOR. ACTUAL, GOLDEN ICHOR.

WHEN HE BACKHANDS NICO ACROSS THE ROOM !

WHEN IT SEEMS AS IF HE PUSHES THE RIGHT BUTTON AND EVERYTHING IS OVER ?

Perfect Moments Do Exist 💜💛💜💛💜💛

Ofc, Will and Co. had to show up and ruin everything. Nero Panics TM and he is such a Baby TM ???

His fasces tho,,, ✨

HE GLOWS ? SHINY RADIANT SUN BOI ? ✨☀️✨ Commodus who? Caligula who? Nero said fuck Will Solace rights. How dare anyone outshine him in his own throne room? 💛

I should say something other than “Nero is a god” huh,,,

Making Nero tear apart his own fasces? I’d noticed that Riordan included the fact that Nero committed suicide in the glossary since book 1, and,,,yeah I was scared something like this would happen. Not this. This was worse.

His death scene? Oh my gods, I was a complete mess. How dare Apollo revoke Nero’s divinity? How dare Nero be burnt by his own divine power? How dare his last moments be spent sobbing, terrified? How dare Python literally drag Nero’s essence to Delphi and absorb it? *on the verge of tears*

I’m not going to get super into this rn, because it’s complicated and I’ll start crying again, but Python being the evil behind it all? The snake playing his own game, using both Apollo and the emperors as pawns? Whatever horrific power he had over the Triumvirate, and over Nero specifically? Nero taking it upon himself (for selfish, terrible reasons, yes) to step in and make sure that Python didn’t destroy humanity? When Nero, even with all his power, was fucking terrified of Python? I-

In Other News

I’ll be nice. Good for everyone who got their happy ending. I think Apollo’s “check-ins” were written fairly well. I think his personal feelings regarding being a god again were handled well in relation to his story arc.

How Apollo addresses the reader in closing? Oof.

Me @ Nico, Will, and Rachel specifically: Never Talk To Me Or My Romans Ever Again

Oh btw, I Am So Tired Of Hearing The Name Jason Grace. We get it. He’s a hero. Pls shut up.

What hurt the most, I think, is the way Triumvirate Holdings / the Imperial Household was handled. I knew it wouldn’t be done well. It still hurts.

We get some throwaway lines about Meg maybe inheriting the tower, CHB getting the Greek fire, the Germani being “regular people” but like,,, No?

Triumvirate Holdings is the largest, most influential company on the planet. Nero directly mentions the issue this poses: “You can’t destroy bank accounts with a bow and arrows.” All of that? Just? What? Isn’t a big deal?

I refuse to believe the Germani are just peachy integrating into society.

I refuse to believe the Imperial children are just peachy potting cacti in Palm Springs.

^ All of this will get its own post, because I’ve written posts about it before that I should follow up on. I’m just Bitter.

When Dionysus said “it appears some of us do get happy endings” I Felt that.

I suppose that’s the general overview. I’ll start posting my trash memes soon and work on like,,,real posts. This is also an open invitation to come yell at me btw!

[nicostolemybones]

The Battle of Area 51

“This is not a game,” Nico lectured sternly, and Percy snickered. “This is no laughing matter, Jackson! Okay, let’s run through the plan one last time! Ares cabin, Clarisse, you’ll lead the charge, take down the guards, lay down cover fire for the Naruto runners! Poseidon Cabin, Zeus cabin, you guys whip up a storm to help the Ares cabin! Apollo cabin and Hunters of Artemis, you’re the snipers, I want you on high ground firing arrows at them! Aphrodite cabin, charmspeak those guards to let us past and to give us access codes to all the rooms and spill all the secrets! Hecate cabin, use the mist to make decoys! Nemesis cabin, remember, this is vengeance for all the imprisoned aliens and that’s why you’re here! Demeter cabin, slow the guards down with thick vines and poisonous plants! Athena cabin, you’re working on infiltrating and hacking all the computers! Hephaestus cabin, burn down gun stations, jam missiles, Festus can burn down doorways, I want to see you guys working on all the technology we steal and I want you all to figure out all the machines inside and use them for our advantage! Dionysus cabin, get them drunk, make them temporarily mad, weaken their defences! Iris cabin, use your abilities to disorientate and distract the guards! Hypnos cabin- CLOVIS WAKE UP- send the guards to sleep when you can! Hermes cabin, you’re stealing and sneaking in whilst the guards are distracted! Hades cabin- well Hazel- summon obstacles and summon weapons, shadow travel aliens to safety. The rest of you, just fuck shit up with your abilities! Romans; same rules apply, and follow the orders of your Praetors, do not go against orders unless necessary!”

“LET’S CLAP SOME ALIEN CHEEKS!” Connor yelled. Nico glared at him, whilst the younger campers plus Percy erupted into giggles.

“There will be no clapping alien cheeks,” Nico sighed in exasperation, “no alien cheeks will be clapped by anybody, by Olympus what the Hades is wrong with straight people?”

“Wait you’re gay?!”

“Yes but that’s not the point, just- go blend in with the mortals! Solace- you’re with me, we’ll go in with the Naruto runners and you need to make sure we don’t infect the aliens and they don’t infect us, and treat the wounded.” Percy wolf-whistled, so Nico summoned a skeleton to smack him round the back of the head. The group of demigods dispersed amongst the mortal army- which wasn’t much, but between the Kyles, weeaboos, tumblr trash, and Naruto runners, there was a fair few, and some cosplayers, DnD players, and medieval recreation nerds seemed to have a fair amount of weapons and armour- even if most of it was plastic light sabers, Klingon Bat’leths, and various other fantasy weapons.

Everything was quiet for a while, and the battle was more a staring down contest between the guards and the civilian raiders. Phones were beginning to live stream, and that’s when the Stoll brothers yelled the immortal battle cry “DO IT FOR THE VINE!!!” and the mortal crowd roared and cheered, repeating the battle cry.

“PEANUT BUTTER!!!” Tyson yelled as the crowd surged forwards. Nico screamed, Naruto running as fast as he could towards the guards, summoning skeleton armies of Naruto runners to back them up, but as soon as the guards opened fire, many Naruto runners gave up and turned away running back, or decided it best to run “normally”. One dedicated man had turned his electric wheelchair into some kind of turbo charged mini tank shaped like a Dalek. Fortnite dancers fortnite danced as they charged, Harry Potter fans desperately yelled out Unforgiveable Curses. Stargate fans dressed as Jaffa and Goa’uld warriors charged with staff weapons and pellet guns, some wearing “Free Thor” t-shirts- but not Marvel’s Thor or the Norse God thor- but rather the tiny alien guy Nico recognised from when Will made him watch Stargate. The Stargate Atlantis fans came dressed as Wraith instead. Marvel fans were clad in full superhero gear, although some fights had broken out between them and the DC fans. Star Wars fans dressed in Jedi robes. Clad in armour, the demigods didn’t look out of place. Nico was pleased to see the Egyptian magicians being lead by Sadie and Carter Kane, Magnus Chase and Samirah al-Abbass leading the Valkyries, Alex Fierro next to Frank Zhang shapeshifting into whatever they could. Alex stopped occasionally so she could spray mace into the eyes of Terfs.

Nico shadow travelled at the last minute, grabbing hold of Will and pulling him through the shadows. Will didn’t slow down when they emerged, and the image of Will Naruto running headfirst into a wall was going to be a source of laughter in Nico’s mind for many years to come. Thankfully, he didn’t do a Jason and knock himself out. “Ah fuck, I can’t believe you’ve done this!” Will gasped, and Nico raised his eyebrow. In the distance, they heard Grover cause a Panic- although it didn’t affect the guards about to shoot Will in the face, so Will let out a shrill whistle and Naruto ran for it.

“Dork,” Nico jibed, pulling Will into the shadows again. Nico meant for them to land inside an aircraft hangar- but it soon became clear that they were inside some kind of alien spaceship.

“Holy Hera,” Will gasped, “Nico THIS SHIP HAS A STARGATE! NICO LOOK THAT IS A STARGATE, IMMA DIAL ABYDOS-”

“Focus, Solace,” Nico warned, “we can do that once we get this back to camp. I wasn’t allowed to drive the sun chariot so I’ll drive this time.”

“I get the feeling I’m gonna die if I let you drive,” Will replied, and Nico huffed.

“That’s if I don’t kill your stupid face first,” he retorted proudly, and Will snickered, looking around the ship.

“OH MY GODS NICO THERE’S A LIGHT SABER HERE!”

“DIBS THE RED ONE,” Nico yelled, rushing over and grabbing one, almost decapitating Will in his excitement.

“We should summon up a certain ghost,” Will grinned.

“Are you suggesting we prank call Castellan?”

“Nico, dude. You have to, for humanity. Do it for our children.”

Several runs to McDonald’s later and Luke Castellan’s ghost was confronted by Nico in pitch black armour and a light saber to speak the immortal words: “Luke, I am your father.” Luke’s ghost laughed. The gods applauded from Olympus. Will was unable to get up off the floor through his raucous laughter.

After several minutes of exploring the craft, the two demigods were armed with phasers and now possessed the infinity gauntlet- although they both agreed not to let Percy near it in case he dabbed rather than Thanos snapped at monsters. Nico shadow travelled a fair amount of the loot back to camp, where Chiron stood facepalming and shaking his head. This is when Nico learned that the Party Ponies had joined the raid and found out that Monster Donut were sponsoring Area 51. Nico returned to find Will making a flower crown for a baby alien he’d found hidden in the glove compartment. “Is that what I think it is,” Nico questioned, and Will smiled.

“An alien? Well yeah.”

“No, I meant a baby. Are you seriously holding a baby?”

“Yeah, a cute little alien baby, I made them a flower crown and put a bow in their hair! Well I hope it’s a baby otherwise I just told a whole-ass adult I’m their daddy now.” Nico choked- Will didn’t appear to realise the innuendo his words would have turned into if the alien was an adult. Will appeared to have adopted an alien child and that somehow melted Nico completely. Stupid son of Apollo being a perfect dad to an abandoned alien baby found in the glove compartment of a space ship.

“You can’t just raise a child, Will, the parents won’t pay child support and you’re like- fifteen and you look- you look twelve, okay, you look like a foetus!”

“Nico I’m only two months older than you,” Will laughed, “I’m still fourteen like you are, idiot. Although technically you’re ninety, you can be the grandpa.”

“I’m not going to be your daddy, Solace,” Nico replied, forgetting how it may have sounded like an innuendo, and Will choked and spluttered.

“That word is officially banned,” Will squeaked, and Nico quickly nodded in agreement. Thankfully before it could get any more awkward, the alien child started to cry. “Oh my gods Nico what do I do with it?”

“Does it have an off switch or batteries you can take out like the babies they give you in school?”

“Um- I can’t see any off switch, Nico, what do I do?!”

“You’re the doctor! Sing to it! Just don’t do a Hera and yeet it off a mountain or out of a window, I don’t need you Percying this into a worse situation than it already is!”

“Oh my gods I’m a single parent before I’ve had the talk,” Will whined, trying to hum a lullaby to the alien baby, which screeched, turned into a bug, and ran. Will shrieked and Nico accidentally summoned a pile of alien skulls. “Hey! My singing isn’t that bad,” Will protested, and the alien bug screeched again and shot some kind of web at Will’s face. Will squealed, trying clumsily to wipe the webbing off his face. Once Nico stopped laughing, he helped to pull the webbing out of Will’s hair, although once he managed to detangle the last of the webbing, he found himself enthralled by the soft bouncy texture of Will’s hair. It was curly like Nico’s, but dryer to the touch, probably a testament to the hours of sunbathing Nico figured Will had to do in order to stay tanned all year round. He didn’t realise he was obsessively caressing his best friend’s hair until he felt Will’s hand on his shoulder. Nico gasped, snapping his hand back and muttering an apology, but Will merely smiled and gods that smile melted Nico. “Fellas, is it gay to kiss your homie at Area 51,” Will asked to nobody in particular, and Nico found himself turning puce as Will leaned in, placing a gentle but certainly not platonic kiss on Nico’s lips. Nico’s brain seemed to short circuit, skeletal butterflies resurrecting down his spine and in his stomach.

When Nico’s brain finally managed a coherent thought, all he could manage to say was “that’s gay.”

Will snorted, resting his head on Nico’s shoulder as he laughed silently. “You’re gay,” he finally replied through giggles.

“Well you kissed me, you’re gay,” Nico retorted with a huff.

“Yeah, but is it gay if it’s your homie and you’re in Area 51,” Will asked with an impish grin, lifting his head and giving Nico a mishievous grin.

“We are gay, you dumbass,” Nico replied, lightly shoving Will’s shoulder.

“I guess we are,” Will replied with feigned thoughtfulness lacing his voice, “maybe we should make out just to be sure.”

“Don’t push your luck, Solace,” Nico said sternly, and Will pouted comically. Nico stood on his toes and leaned up, but he was too short to reach, so Will leaned down and Nico was finally able to place a rough kiss on Will’s lips.

And of course, that just had to be the exact moment to hear a chorus of “two bros, chillin’ in a space ship, five feet apart ‘cause they’re not gay!” They broke apart immediately, startled by the presence of an Iris message showing Percy, Jason, Leo and Piper all grinning stupidly at them and Annabeth rolling her eyes.

“I’ll kill you all if you dare tell anyone,” Nico warned, raising skeletons to chase after them- although the skeletons were certainly not human. Leo and Percy screamed and ran, whilst Piper and Will laughed loudly. Jason merely raised his eyebrow, and Nico shrugged in response.

“So, that’s your type, huh,” Percy grinned, “I never thought we’d share a type!”

“What,” Nico snapped.

“Bossy blondes,” Percy replied, and Jason and Annabeth glared daggers.

“I agree,” Piper chimed in, “bossy blondes are worth the trouble.” This time, Jason and Annabeth both blushed.

Nico shrugged, looking back to Will, who seemed to be pre-occupied with the Stargate behind them. “Well, this one’s my bossy blond,” Nico replied fondly.

“Troublemakers are my type,” Annabeth replied, and Percy and Piper bowed proudly, “and Jason’s.”

“My type is pouty emo kids with long hair and sexy accents,” Will replied, and Nico blushed darkly.

“Your type is troublemakers,” Piper replied, “the ideal OTP formula is bossy blonde and troublemaking brunette, you can’t change my mind.”

“Whatever,” Nico protested. The Iris message cut off when a fight broke out between a Star Wars stan and a Trekkie.

“So,” Will began immediately, “can we be boyfriends now?”

“Only if you keep PDA to a minimum,” Nico replied, and Will beamed, glowing a warm amber light. Before they could do much more, however, a loud explosion ripped their attention away from each other. They both ran out to find the source of the explosion, and that is where they found Clarisse refereeing a battle between Shaggy and Thanos. The Stolls were running a betting ring, and Nico was sure they were all gonna die. But hey, it was a room full of Millennials and Gen Z, so nobody seemed particularly bothered by the danger of the situation, because this footage would certainly be legendary. Thanos snapped, and Shaggy disintegrated, only to reform using 1% of his power and steal the gauntlet. Shaggy dabbed, and Thanos was no more. Clarisse blew her whistle and the fight was over- the most epic showdown in human history and it had only taken seconds. Within minutes, lightening struck, and that was the moment Percy groaned loudly in realisation that the gods had been responsible for Area 51 all along.

“FUCK YOU, ZEUS,” Percy yelled, and the lightening would have struck him if it wasn’t for Shaggy eating the lightening bolt and letting out a loud burp.

“Do you have any wisdom, O mighty one,” Kayla asked, bowing at Shaggy’s feet.

“Sometimes you just gotta eat the enemy, man,” Shaggy replied, and the demigods let out a collective awed ‘ooohhh’. It was that moment that Shaggy burped out a heart-shaped arrow, and Nico realised that Shaggy had vored Cupid. Nico felt a smug grin break through his usually stoic expression, and Jason cheered loudly from the sidelines.

“Anyway, Shaggy said gay rights,” Will grinned.

“Actually, young man,” Shaggy said, gently resting his hand on Will’s shoulder, “I say gay and trans rights. And on that note, I think I might assassinate the president! Until next time, guys, gals, and non-binary pals!” And with that, and a wink to Alex Fierro, Shaggy dissipated into the wind, enraging the bigots and empowering the queer kids.

The raid continued into the night, the Stolls helping to take technology back to camp and Clarisse leading the charge against the military. It was only when Nico and Will made their way to the middle of the camp, all of the aliens freed and all technology liberated, that the end of the raid was in sight. Nico opened the final door, the entire raid party behind them, to find Rick Astley tied to a chair, singing Never Gonna Give You Up. It was then that they realised: they had been Rickrolled by the government.

[flightfoot]

Memories of Godly Selfishness Ch.4

So I meant to get this out by April Fool’s Day. Clearly I missed that deadline. Still, maybe it’s for the best. I ended up having more to say than I thought, and it’s more angsty than funny. 

“Why did I agree to watch this again?”

“Because it’s a marvelous educational film directed by and starring moi.”

Meg stared at me. I relented. “...and because you lost a bet.”

We’d arrived at Camp Half-Blood a few days ago to recuperate and sort out our next move. I’d been delighted to see my children again. If they tell you I blubbered like a baby and couldn’t string three coherent words together though, they’re lying.

The Demeter Cabin welcomed Meg with open arms. She hadn’t had much chance to get to know her siblings due to... ah... circumstances, but from the tears in the corners of her eyes, I could tell she was happy to see her family too.

We’d each sat and ate at our respective tables and got to talking. I’d mentioned to my kids how proud I was of the orientation film I’d made, and how Meg had deprived herself of it. They had some weird screwed-up expressions on their face after I said that, which I still haven’t figured out what they meant. Austin came up with a brilliant idea to get Meg to watch it; have a small capture the flag competition between just the Demeter and Apollo Cabins. If we won, anyone who hadn’t already seen the Orientation film would have to watch it (both cabins insisted on that condition. Apparently both had seen it recently and didn’t want to rewatch it for some reason) while if they won, the Apollo cabin would have to muck out the Pegasus stables.

Naturally we won, because my children are brilliant and wonderful. The Demeter cabin put up a fair fight though. It took me half-an-hour to pick all the burrs out of my hair.

For some reason, the Campers acted like Meg was about to die. They all said that they’d work on making a shroud for her. I still can’t understand why. Sometimes I think I understand demigods, and then they do something like that. Perhaps it’s an inside joke?

In any case, the demigods had helped us set up the viewing equipment and then hastily left before the film could start, leaving just me and Meg.

The movie started with darkness, as all good movies do. A spotlight turned on, illuminating my divine self.

I nearly cried. My long, golden, flowing hair! My cheekbones! My flawless skin! My eight-pack abs! Oh, the cruelty of Zeus knew no bounds! He couldn’t have let me keep my hair at least? The medium-length hair I was now sporting was no good for flipping dramatically, or waving majestically in the breeze! Ah, and that chiton I was wearing. I could never pull it off in my current form, but it showed off my muscular godly thighs so well!

On the screen, I held out a book. I cleared my throat, “A poem by Apollo, recited dramatically by... Apollo:

O Immortal Chiron, Centaur wise and true, Trainer of our heroes, Just remember who taught you. “

Speaking of heroes....

I glanced at Meg, gauging her reaction to seeing my divine self. Her eyes were wide with shock, her mouth slightly agape. “That’s YOU?!” she exclaimed, looking back-and-forth between my appearance on-screen, and now.

“Yes,” I said wistfully. “That’s what I normally look like... mostly. I change things a bit, sometimes appearing older, sometimes younger, changing eye colors and hairstyles too, but that’s a pretty typical look for me.”

She studied me some more, looking less shocked and more inquisitive now. “You look nothing like that now.”

I groaned. “I KNOW.”

She looked back at the screen with some trepidation, as I gave narration. “You’re not gonna bend over, are you? I don’t wanna see your butt.”

I huffed. “I’ll have you know, my butt is perfect.”

“Don’t care, don’t wanna see it.”

I grumbled a little, but secretly I agreed. I’d seen enough of my butt when the gigantic statue of me - with Nero’s face plastered on it - rampaged around Camp Half-Blood.

The next segment started up a few minutes later. This time I was dressed in a glittery suit and my hair was slicked back. An a cappella choir of demigods stood behind me, all dressed in suits. I pointed to the boys and then the girls side, directing them to start singing the background tune I needed. In the present day, I appreciated their ability to harmonize. Clearly none of Hermes’ children were in this segment. I still remembered Cecil’s complete inability to follow rhythm when we needed to appeal the Mama Myrmekes.

After they were properly warmed up, I announced:

“Ladies and Gentlemen... the Lyre Choir!”

As the choir sang a soft, slow background melody, I began singing.

“Marble may be marble-lous,

And wood might be good.

Stone’s a sturdy choice,

for this half-blood neighborhood.

But for my children’s cabin,

I demand something more divine.

so give me precious metal,

and make it GOLD every time!”

I hummed along to the melody. I’d forgotten I’d put in musical segments, but I was glad I did. Nothing could make an educational film entertaining like music!

[Everyone sings]: Gold, gold, gold, gold - there’s nothing quite so bright!

Gold, gold, gold, gold - it reflects Apollo’s might!

I stared at my hands for a moment at that one. I certainly didn’t feel mighty now. And not just because I’d lost my power. I hadn’t been able to protect my children. They’d been kidnapped because of me. Jason had died because of me. The Emperors were still out there, still intent on subjugating all the demigods, like how Nero kidnapped Meg. And Python, my old nemesis, still waited for me, plotting my destruction.

But even if I’d still been a god, what would have changed?

I would have gone after Python, scared as I was of him. I would have defeated him or died trying.

But not much more than that.

Maybe I would have intervened when my own children went missing - if they went missing. That had at least partly been to bait me. I could see leaving a hint to their location, assuming I knew where they were.

I wouldn’t have intervened prior to that. Demigods go missing? Who cares! They go missing or die all the time.

The battle at the Waystation? The struggle against Caligula on the boats? Maybe I would’ve watched. But I wouldn’t have intervened. For all my supposed might, for all the difference in power between my godly self and my mortal self, My mortal self had done more good, made more of a difference than my godly self would have. Just because I was more powerful as a god, didn’t make me mightier.

It reminded me of a story my old friend Aesop told me, about a miser and his gold.

A miser had acquired some gold and buried it in the ground. He visited it for years, digging it up to stare at it and then re-burying it. One day it was stolen. Grief-stricken, the miser cried and wailed, making such a fuss that a traveler stopped by and asked him what was wrong. The miser confessed that someone had stolen the gold he’d hidden. The traveler had asked why he put it in such an inaccessible place, where he’d have difficulty getting it out when he wanted to spend some. The miser, affronted, replied that he’d never even think of spending his gold. At that, the traveler had tossed a stone into the hole, and told him to cover it up, that it had just as much worth to him as the gold he’d lost.

I had not appreciated the moral when I first heard the story. After all, the gold was lustrous and valuable. The stone was not. Even just possessing that gold made the miser feel powerful and rich.

Now I had another view on it. My divinity was like the gold, hidden away, jealously guarded, to be obsessed over, not used. Even as a god, an Olympian, I had done little good for my children, or the people I now counted as my friends. I had power, but I’d hardly used it to help, even when the problems plaguing the demigods were divine in nature, not mortal.

Now... now it was like the gold was stolen, and replaced with a handful of drachma. Not nearly as valuable as the gold, but every piece was actually being used to better the world, instead of being merely stared at.

I was mightier now, as a mortal, than I had ever been as a god, because I was willing to try my hardest to help - something I would either not do as a god, or not do much of.

[Divine!Apollo cuts off the choir, restarting his solo]

Silver suits my sister,

But unattended, it can tarnish.

Roofs of thatch are fine, I guess,

But why not add some varnish?

Vines of wine are creepy,

Meg snorted and rolled her eyes at that one, giving a look as if to say ‘Really? you said that’? Out loud, she said, “Wine isn’t a vine. And grapevines aren’t creepy.”

And abalone smells like fish,

As my divine self continued singing, I replied, “I needed a rhyme. And they are creepy. Why, I remember this one time with Dionysus...”

She shushed me. On the one hand, I was annoyed that she didn’t want to hear my story. On the other hand, it meant that she wanted to hear my singing.

Hah! She could claim she didn’t like my singing as much as she wanted, but I knew the truth.

Red’s too strong a color,

And gray is boring-ish.

That’s why my children’s cabin,

Is made of something more divine.

I’m worth that precious metal -

So make it GOLD every time!

[All] Gold, gold, gold, gold...

I saw Meg mouthing along to the last line. I tactfully did not mention it.

Another segment started up. This time, I wore a white T-shirt, jeans, a leather jacket, and some awesome-looking sunglasses. I lounged on a throne beneath a neon sign proclaiming “Fortunately Apollo’s Here!”

I frowned. What was this segment about?

On-screen, my godly self shouted, “Next!”

A female camper entered and asked, “O, Great Apollo, god of prophecy, tell me, will I ever find love?”

“Find love? I didn’t know it was missing?”

Beside me, I heard Meg groan as she buried her face in her hands.

Meanwhile, I winced at the reminder of my being the god of prophecy... or rather NOT being the god of prophecy.

Back on the film, I cried out, “Next!”

A male camper entered this time.

“O, Great Apollo, god of prophecy, tell me, will I ever be rich?”

“What’s your name, child?”

“Albert, Great Apollo.”

“Well, Albert Greatapollo, I foresee only one way for you to be rich...”

“What is it?”

“Change your name to Richard.”

At that, Meg let out an even LOUDER groan. “You make such dad jokes.”

I didn’t know what that meant exactly, but I had the feeling I’d just been insulted.

A second male camper entered and asked, “O, Great Apollo, god of prophecy, will I ever discover who my godly parent is?”

“Dear child, the answer is right in front of you.”

“Really? Where?”

My divine self stood up and spread his arms, “Right in front of you.”

“I don’t get it. Am I missing a clue?”

“You’re missing a clue alright. One might even call you clueless!”

Meg frowned slightly as the segment ended. “You hadn’t claimed him before that?”

I frowned, hoping I could remember the child. Luckily, my memory felt like cooperating. “I’d claimed him years before that. This was all scripted, he just pretended not to know I was his father.”

Meg nodded, the frown disappearing from her face in favor of a thoughtful expression.

In another segment I jogged backwards across the beach, shooting arrows from my favorite golden bow, campers in full battle gear jogging behind me in military formation. I flashed a blinding smile at the camera as my golden hair flowed behind me. In the present, I bit back a sob.

My godly self began a rousing military chant, the campers repeating each line:

“I don't know but I've been told!”

“We don't know but we've been told!”

“The sun god's got a bow of gold!”

“The sun god's got a bow of gold!”

“He's the best shot in the land!”

“ He's the best shot in the land!”

Suddenly, my godly self tripped and landed on his butt. Meg erupted into giggles. I couldn’t help joining her. At the time it was kinda embarrassing, but with what I’d been dealing with the last few months, I was kinda used to that now. And it WAS pretty funny.

“ Augh!  I've fallen in the sand!”

No longer being able to follow my godly self, the campers improvised, jogging n circles around me instead.

“ Augh! He's fallen in the sand!”

“ I meant to do that, so don't laugh!”

I snorted. Like anyone had actually believed that.

“He meant to do that, so don't laugh!”

My divine self attempted to get back up. Key word being ‘attempted’. He fell back down on his butt.

“Ow! I hurt my godly calf!”

At this point, both Meg and I were guffawing so hard our sides hurt. I couldn’t BELIEVE I left this in, but I was glad I did. I needed a good laugh, even if it was at my own expense.

“Ow! He hurt his godly calf!”

My godly self glowered at the campers and started to glow. The laughter died in my throat. “If you want to live another day ...”

“ If we want to live another day ...”

My godly self glowed brighter. I sat back heavily, mirth forgotten. Meg had also quieted down, choosing to glare at my past self. I joined her. REALLY? There just HAD to be an appearance of stupid murderous Apollo. I highly doubt I would actually have hurt those campers, but THEY didn’t know that, and I wasn’t COMPLETELY sure I wouldn’t have. Gods I was a jerk.

“STOP REPEATING WHAT I SAY!” my divine(ly stupid) self shouted.

“STOP - um... “

I breathed a sigh of relief. At least they knew better than to purposely antagonize my godly self. I really, REALLY wished I could reach through time and smack myself. A lot.

Meg was quiet.

I looked over at her, worried.

"I shouldn't have said those things."

Meg looked back at me. "Yeah. You shouldn't have. It was stupid."

"I won't do it again," I promised.

Meg's face softened slightly. "I know."

New segment, this time with myself as a game show host. I stared longingly at the open shirt, bright gold lamé jacket I wore. Oh how I wished I could wear some of my old attire! Alas, glittery golden lamé anything had fallen out of fashion for some inconceivable reason. I’d tried to convert Meg to the lamé side, but she kept misunderstanding and thinking I was saying “lame”. ...Or she was teasing me. I honestly wasn’t sure at this point.

I (by which I mean my godly self) opened up the segment:

“Welcome to our first annual Camp Half-Blood quiz show! Please give a warm welcome to our contestants. From Athena cabin... Bea Wise! From Ares cabin... Arnold Beefcake! And representing our cloven-hoofed friends... Ferdinand Underwood the satyr!”

Wait, what?

Underwood? Like GROVER Underwood? 

I perked up, listening intently. 

Meg leaned towards and whispered, “Is he related to..?”

I whispered back, “Probably. Shh.”

I was still talking on-screen. “Contestants, you know the rules. I ask a question. If you know the answer, ding your bell. Are you ready?”

Wise tapped her temple. “I think, therefore I am.”

Beefcake flexed. “Do your worst!”

Ferdinand, meanwhile...

“Um, I ate my bell.”

Meg giggled. I smiled. Ah, satyrs and their insatiable appetite. That’s one thing Grover had in common with his maybe-relative!

On-screen, my godly self cried, “Excellent! Then let’s begin. First question. Name the serpent I slayed.”

I sat back and scowled. Really? Did I HAVE to remind myself of Python? It’s not like he occupied my nightmares enough already. Nope. He HAD to crop up during the day too. That serpent, always popping up when he wasn’t wanted. For a moment I fantasized about asking Hephaestus to make some sort of serpent-killing machine. Alas, there was no way it would be that easy.

*Ding ding*

Bea hit her bell. Of course she did. Athena’s kids were usually the most knowledgeable of all the demigods. She had this in the bag... right?

I frowned. That didn’t seem right... I couldn’t think of what happened though. I stopped trying to remember and just watched. It’s not like I’d have to wait long for answers.

“Wise?” my divine self called on her.

 “That’s not a question.”

I snorted. That also wasn’t an answer.

My past self agreed. “Sorry, ‘That’s not a question.” is incorrect.”

“No, wait, I meant-”

*Ding, ding*

“The serpent was Python!” Beefcake declared. 

“Correct!”

Beefcake flashed two thumbs up. “Ayyyyy!”

“Next question-”

Ferdinand chimed in. “So should I just say ding-ding if I know the answer or-”

My godly self ignored him. “Who falsely accused me of flaying him alive after a music contest?” 

Really? WHY would I bring that up? Especially since it was my fault I was ‘falsely accused’ of that anyway. I spread that rumor in the first place! I hadn’t wanted people to think I was ‘soft’. Nowadays I regretted it and had been trying to quash it. 

Ferdinand’s eyes went wide. He withdrew slightly, looking freaked out. Scared.

I felt terrible. I should’ve known that would freak him out. Why did I include that question, KNOWING that I would invite a satyr?

Of course I knew the answer to that. I hadn’t cared. A satyr was scared. So what? Why should I care about his feelings? 

Heck, even AFTER I’d turned mortal, I didn’t care much for a while. I’d freaked out Woodrow. I hadn’t meant to, but me being in his class, playing music, caused him to beg me to not flay him. I’d reassured him at the time that I wouldn’t, but I hadn’t really absorbed WHY he’d been so freaked out. Now I did. I was the satyr’s boogeyman. I didn’t want to be. Not anymore.

What could I do to change that?

Maybe I should ask Grover. I was planning on apologizing to him for that Celedon business anyway. Now I had two more things to add to the list. Ask about Ferdinand so I could apologize to him, and come up with a way to put the satyrs fear of me to rest.

Ferdinand blanched, “Blaa-blaa!”

My godly self ignored Ferdinand’s freak-out. Of course he did. “I’m sorry, ‘Blaa-blaa’ is incorrect. Also, you didn’t ring in. The correct answer is Marsyas the satyr.”

Wise was indignant. “Hang on! I knew that! You didn’t give me a chance to answer!”

“He thought he was so great on those stupid twin pipes, but I sure showed him.”

I glared at my past self, wishing I could shoot lasers from my eyes into the past. Sadly, nothing happened.

Beefcake cheered, “Yeah, you did!”

Wise was annoyed, “I thought you were falsely accused.”

Ferdinand continued freaking out, “Blaa-blaa!”

I felt a pang of guilt. I REALLY hoped this part wasn’t dragged out much longer.

Mercifully, my past self gave me a break. “Final question: Do you know what time it is?”

*Ding-ding*

Wise looked at the sun’s location, clearly using it to tell time. “Two twen-”

“It’s dancing time!”

My godly self ripped off his jacket and shirt and started Hula-hooping.

“Hit it boys!”

Satyrs danced in, flailing ribbon sticks, playing reed pipes, and cavorting around my divine self.

Meg stared at the scene. “This is SO stupid.”

I just grinned. 

Beefcake was thrilled “Oh yeah!” He ripped off his shirt, twirling it in the air. “Now it’s a party!”

Wise rubbed her temples, thoroughly exasperated. I’d seen that same look on Athena’s face several times, along with her descendant’s faces. I had long been convinced that it was as much an Athena trait as overly detailed plans were. “I can’t believe I studied for this.”

“Ding-ding?” Ferdinand chimed in as the segment ended.

“That was awful.”

“Well the style was a little... dated, I admit, and maybe it COULD have been more informative, but...”

“Nope. Don’t try to save it. That was horrible.”

Okay, yeah, I could see where she was coming from. Looking back on it now, it wasn’t really the BEST way to present the info. I winced. Especially since most of it came off as an ego trip for me.

It wasn’t just the style of the video that was outdated anyways. Between Thalia’s tree, the Golden Fleece, all the additional cabins and the new rules regarding gods claiming their kids (I winced slightly, thinking of that one. It REALLY shouldn’t have taken a young demigod FORCING us gods to claim all our children and to give recognition of non-Olympian demigods), the Athena Parthenos, and the Grove of Dodona, there had been a LOT of changes. Not to mention the existence of the Roman camp.

Hmm... if it needs an update...

“Well... when this quest is over, if I survive, why don’t we make a NEW orientation film?”

Meg looked over at me cautiously, though her eyes glinted slightly. “This won’t be an excuse to stroke your ego this time, right?”

“Why, I never!” I cried dramatically, clutching one hand to my chest. “I am the pinnacle of modesty, I would never dream of it!”

Meg giggled. I grinned.

Still smiling, she warned, “I’m not sticking around if you rip off your shirt.”

“But I pull it off so well!”

She stared at me.

“Fiiiiine,” I crossed my arms and pouted. Secretly I was happy we could relax and banter like this. The past few weeks had been stressful. We needed to decompress.

“Maybe we should get everyone’s help with the new video?” Meg suggested.

“I was planning on it,” I replied, slightly more seriously. “Being mortal has shown me that there are some things you don’t realize are important unless you’ve been in that situation. The demigods will probably have a better idea what sorts of things other demigods need to know, the sorts of things they WISH they knew when they started camp.”

Meg nodded.

I grinned, adding, “We’re keeping the Hokey Pokey border song, though.”

She groaned, “It was TERRIBLE, no!”

“Oh, come on! I saw the way you smiled while I and the demigods were singing it. ‘It lets the demigods in! It shuts the monsters out! It keeps the half-bloods safe, but turns mortals all about! It’s Misty, and it’s magic, and it makes me want to shout: the border is all about!”

Meg covered her ears, steadfastly ignoring my existence as we exited the Big House.

A few hours later, I stood near the Woods, watching Grover chat with some dryads. Meg had offered to come with me for this, but I’d turned her down. I wanted to have a private chat with Grover. Besides, I didn’t want to eat into her time with her siblings. She hadn’t gotten to know them very well last time, and I didn’t know how much longer we’d be here this time.

Whatever chat Grover was having with the dryads appeared to be winding down. I approached him.

He turned around. “Apollo? What is it?”

I sucked in a breath and slowly exhaled. No need to be nervous. I was just apologizing to a friend.

“Grover? Can we talk in private? Please?”

He looked confused and a little worried. “Um... okay. Where do you want to go?”

“My kids are all out right now, so we can use the Me cabin... if you’re okay with that.”

Silently he mouthed ‘the me cabin’, looking confused. Realization slowly dawned on his face. “OH. Oh right! That makes sense. Yeah, that’s fine.”

We walked over to the cabins. I fidgeted slightly. Come on, I apologized to Percy, and he’s MUCH more intimidating! This shouldn’t be so hard!

That had been more natural, though. I didn’t have to go out of my way to make it happen.

I closed the door behind us and turned to face Grover. 

“So Apollo, what’s going on?” he asked.

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out. Yeah, that seemed like a good way to start.

He looked confused. “Um, for what?”

I rubbed the back of my head. “You know how I sometimes had flashbacks, re-experiencing the past?”

“Yeaaaah...?”

“Well lately, Meg and I have gotten sucked into flashbacks together, sometimes with others. First time it happened, we were sucked into my memories, and I saw how I acted as a god from an outside perspective. One of the things I saw was that quest I sent you and Percy on. You know, when you got back my Celedon for me?”

“Oh. Oh yeah, I remember that. Heh. It’s only been two years, but so much has happened...”

“Yeah...” they’d been through so much... “so I... just wanted to apologize for... you know... forcing you to go on a quest on your birthday.... and forgetting it was your birthday... and forgetting your name... and threatening to kill you if you damaged my lyre.”

Awkward. This was SO awkward.

He grimaced. “I was scared at the time. I really thought you might incinerate me. That was the WORST birthday I’ve ever had.”

I avoided his eyes, a lump forming in my throat.

“Still,” he continued. “It wasn’t that bad, as far as quests go. At least you made sure to choose people who could definitely do it without dying. And it’s nowhere NEAR the worst thing that a god’s thrown at us.”

“I’m... I’m not going to do that again. It wasn’t right to make you endanger yourselves when I could have done it just as easily. She was my responsibility, not yours. I’m going to try to stop other gods from doing that too. Endangering mortals unnecessarily, I mean. If I can’t stop them, I’ll try to help as much as I can. I... I’m sick of people dying needlessly.”

Grover blinked and studied my face, as if seeing me for the first time.

He exhaled, smiling slightly. “I am too. Thanks.”

I suddenly remembered the other revelations I came to while watching the orientation video. “Do you know where Ferdinand Underwood is? I rewatched the orientation video I made recently. I really freaked him out when I talked about Marsyas, and I wanted to apologize to him too.”

“Oh, uh... he’s not around anymore. Percy, Annabeth, and I stumbled across him years ago. Apparently he’d stumbled into Medusa’s lair and been turned into a statue.”

“My condolences.”

An long pause followed. How do you continue on from that?

Eventually I decided to just plow on through with what I was saying.

“I didn’t flay Marsyas. I just made that up to sound scary. You know that, right?”

“I wondered. After traveling with you for a week, I couldn’t imagine you doing that.”

“I want to put that myth to rest. Stop satyrs from thinking that I’ll skin them if they offend me. And REALLY put it to rest, not the mixed signal thing I was doing before. Will you help me?”

He thought for a minute. “...Okay. I think I know how to do that. We can start now, if you like.”

Now?

“How do you propose I do that?”

He smiled. “Being a Lord of the Wild has privileges. The satyr school is having classes right now. We can talk to the teacher about allowing you to be a guest speaker. I’ll warn you, though. A lot of the kids will probably be scared of you. The Marsyas story is used to warn us about the consequences of getting on the wrong side of a god, starting from an early age. Some of them might freak out a little.”

My chest tightened. For a minute it felt like I was being squeezed by Python. I was used as a warning to kids, to tell them that they had to be good, or else the big, scary god would kill them slowly and painfully. I really WAS the boogeyman. I didn’t like it.

“I don’t... I don’t want to freak them out. I’ve caused them enough distress. Any advice?”

“Be gentle. Don’t get angry or upset. They’ll calm down when they realize that you won’t hurt them. Nowadays, you’re nothing like what we were warned of. They’ll realize that too.”

I breathed out, relaxing slightly. This was fixable. And I could start fixing it NOW, on my own. I could make things better even BEFORE I regained my godhood.

“Thanks.”

As we exited the Me cabin, Grover looked back at me. “I know I didn’t say this before, but... Apollo, you’re a good friend.”

A warmth filled my chest as Grover walked towards the Satyr school. 

‘You’re a good friend.’ 

I never thought those words would matter to me so much.

I’d change things with what little power I had.

I’d do my best.

But I didn’t have to do it alone.

I had friends to help me.

[depressedacadamia]

De Humani Corporis Fabrica

Chapter II: Experience

Word count: 6.9K

Summary: Pjo dancer AU! Drama, drama and more drama. Old relationships and new ones continue to bear the weight of the upcoming auditions all while a special person makes a guest appearance.

A/N: I didn’t mention it before but they are aged up in this series! I picture them to be in their pretty early 20s but I like to think that they’ve known each other for a long time and other characters joined during their teen years. Make sure you enjoy, comment, like, share, reblog- yall know the drill. <3 from moi!

Taglist: no one :( [send a message and get on my taglissstt]

Read Chapter One here!

Le Studio Royal Jupiter was becoming competitive again. The members were still getting used to hearing that. To Nico, it was like a miracle; he had trained since the petit age of 2, waiting for this moment and now he was finally getting it. He wished his sister was here to celebrate such a moment but he knew that if she was here, the studio would have never stopped competing in the first place. The tragic incident had occured at the studio years ago and it had forced them to temporarily stop competing.

Everything seemed better- the sky (which was always a depressing sight) seemed brighter, the studio mirrors were cleaner and Dionysus was less lazy and more salsa-y. Studio 2 was empty on a Monday afternoon- as always because Dionysus would never schedule his lessons on a Monday as he saw it to be ’too drab’. Hazel and Leo however, who were dedicated to the studio, were almost always in on a Monday.

Hazel- in her De Luca heels- was practising a spin that she hadn’t been able to get down for ages while Leo was practising his ballet technique. While he was normally a salsa dancer, every dancer in LSRJ, including himself, was relatively well versed in ballet; Leo knew that working with Calypso would mean a lot of technical work. He was trying to get at least 3 turns in a row without feeling like he was going to fall- one more thing, Leo hated pointe shoes.

“Leo, what on earth are you doing?” Hazel's voice cut through Leo’s thoughts.

“I’m working with Satan, take a wild guess.”

“Yikes,” Hazel cringed. “How’s that going for you?”

“She walks out at the beginning of rehearsal, refuses to talk or work cooperatively and insults me as well as Salsa itself at every chance she gets- so Hazel, you tell me. How do you think it’s going?”

“Leo I’m sor-”

“-And it’s not even the fact that she insults me, it’s the way she treats me and salsa. Like all of a sudden, I’m inferior because salsa has no ‘proper technique’. Like wow, ballet is so sophisticated and you’re so cool. Congratulations, you and your pretty arms and pretty legs and fancy, snazzy vocabulary!” Leo ranted. Hazel, who was more used to the more creative and funnier side of her partner, frowned; she was slightly worried about him.

“Maybe consider dropping out on her?” Hazel offered.

“What will I do though? We both know that I can’t get on the team with a solo. Salsa works best with a partner. Besides, sure Calypso is the devil spawn, but that does not mean I don’t appreciate good technique.”

Hazel raised her eyebrow. “Didn’t you say that Luke, Annabeth and Nico all had better technique than she did?”

Leo, who was smiling smugly and had both his eyes closed, cracked one open and let his smile grow across his face.

“A small lie never hurt her nor anybody else.”

Hazel, who seemed quite unconvinced, nodded as Leo continued.

“What about you?” Leo asked. “How’s things coming up with the B-boy?”

Immediately, Hazel lit up. “It’s pretty good actually. I think Frank and I actually have a good chance of making the team!”

Leo noticed how Hazel had seemed so keen to talk about Frank and took this as an opportunity to tease her.

“So does that mean you won’t need me to fake being your boyfriend again?”

“What?” Hazel took a glance at Leo’s smirk. “No! No, we’re just friends. Friends, yes, yes. Just friends. He’s just a friend.”

“Sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself more than me.”

“I’m. Not. Crushing. On. Frank,” She gritted out with her fists clenched.

“Okay,” Leo said in a sing-song sort of tune.

“I’m not!” She shouted before lowering her voice to a small whisper. “ Not after Sammy.”

Leo’s features immediately softened at the mention of his older brother. Hazel talking about Sammy had opened up old wounds that Leo thought had healed- he thought he was over this!

“After all this time Hazel? Still Sammy?”

Leo half expected her to say ‘always’ as if they were re-enacting Harry Potter. Secretly, he hoped that she didn’t. What had happened with Sammy was long ago and Leo never wanted to see Hazel in such pain again. They weren’t just dancer partners like himself and Calypso, they were friends. Hazel, to Leo’s avail did not respond; they remained silent the entire rehearsal.

In Studio A... Nico had never wanted to punch someone in the face as much as he wanted to punch Jason in this very moment. Afterall, it was Jason’s fault that Nico was partnering with Will. It wasn’t that Nico didn’t like Will, it was just that working with someone who was annoyingly attractive (Nico’s exact words were a hot piece of ass) often resulted in not working as well as one should.

It also meant Nico had to wear his tap shoes.

“Will, do I have to wear these?” Nico complained.

“We’re testing out ideas. We start with tap and then we’ll do ballet.”

“So that means I will see you in pointe shoes then?” Nico inquired, his voice suspiciously innocent and his eyes battering too fast. Will, in response, grimaced and nodded reluctantly.

“Perfect!” Nico hummed happily. The pain of tap shoes was nothing compared to pointe shoes. As Will laughed slightly at Nico’s taunting, they began going over the basics. Nico watched as naturally the corners of Will’s lips twitched upwards as he danced and taught. His smile was perfect, his moves in sync with the music blaring in the background- practically flawless.

Nico however, struggled a bit with certain parts that Will taught- not that he was surprised; he expected tap to be overly energetic. While they both took their break, Nico began spinning round and round on his tap shoes. He couldn’t really help it- they were so easy to spin on- it was like they were just begging him to turn.

“Nico, stop spinning like that, you’ll fall and get hurt,” Will warned as he sat in a corner, sipping at his water bottle. Nico ignored him and continued mucking about- only stopping to stick his tongue out at Will who on countless occasions, continued to attempt to warn Nico. Will could feel his own heart fluttering at the thought of an injury.

“Fuck!”

Will’s head snapped in towards Nico who lay on his butt, clutching his ankle. The ballet dancer was hunched over his foot, cradling his ankle with both hands.

“Shit! Nico I warned you! Where does it hurt?” Will asked with a thick layer of concern in his voice as he ran over. Slowly, Nico began shuddering, his body almost shivering as he made whimper-like noises. He refused to meet Will’s eyes as he continued shaking.

‘Shit, he probably injured himself really badly if he’s crying’ was the first thought to cross Will’s mind.

“Oh my God,” Nico said shakily. Will gently rested his hand on Nico’s shoulder comfortingly.

“Nico, it’s going to be okay. It’s probably a minor fracture at the most. You will be fine.”

Unexpectedly and out of nowhere, Nico threw his head back and began laughing.

“Holy moly, I can’t believe you actually fell for it!” Nico wheezed as he clutched his stomach. “And your face!”

Will in utter disbelief, took about 30 seconds to fully understand the situation and yet these were the first 5 words.

“You were lying to me?”

“It was a joke! I was just trying to prove that Ballet dancer’s aren’t as uptight as everyone thinks we are!” Nico laughed. Will could not believe this. He should have never partnered with Nico especially considering he was friends with Percy and Jason of all people. He started packing up, aggressively shoving his stuff into his sports bag. Nico’s laughter died down as he turned to Will, confusion growing on his face.

“Hey, where are you going?”

Viciously, Will turned on him. “I’m going to go dance. I’m not going to hang about with an immature and undedicated dancer.”

“Surely a small prank doesn’t change anything. I mean, there’s a reason you chose me-”

“- I chose you because I wanted a hardworking and professional partner, not some bumbling idiot who walks around like they own the place and does what they want!” With that, Will left and Nico sat on the floor.

Welp, Nico was never socialising with Will again.

In Rehearsal room 4... “Turn, turn, push back and drop!” Piper yelled over the loud music. Jason and Piper had been working hard- taking turns in choreographing different parts of the routine. They held their freeze for 5 seconds before relaxing and agreeing to take a break.

“So what was that earlier with Nico, huh?” Piper started.

“What d’ya mean?” Jason innocently responded. “ He needed a partner.”

“So I was imagining the look you guys had?”

“What look?” Jason sounded shocked.

“You guys had a look.”

“Like you and Annabeth?”

Piper could feel the immediate blush rising to her cheeks. She couldn’t help the way she felt- was it her fault that he best friend had gorgeous curly blonde hair and dazzling blue eyes? She turned her head slightly away so Jason couldn’t see her face.

“Nico and I go way back- we trust each other,” Jason chose his wording very carefully.

“Well… So do Annabeth and I…”

“Good… wanna go over the Hip hip section again?” Jason offered, desperate to change the awkward tension that had suddenly appeared in the air. Piper eagerly nodded.

In the Cafe... “What do you mean she’s with Leo? Frank, they’re just dance partners, nothing more,” Annabeth re-assured. She sat in the elegant armchair opposite Frank with Percy on her left. They were in the cafe that was underneath the studio- it was custom for the dancers to meet up here during lunch.

“But… are you sure?” Frank asked for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

“I give you my word Frank- they’re just good friends.”

At these words, Frank relaxed. That was until Leo and Hazel both walked in silently; their bodies close to each other but their faces catatonic. As they came to sit down, they both moved towards the same seat and exchanged a series of bumps, ‘ouches’ and ‘errms’ until they managed to sit down. Annabeth and Percy exchanged a wary look as the awkward silence between the two stretched out.

Nico stormed in, his face scrunched up as he ordered a coffee and plopped himself on the armrest of the chair that his ballet partner, Annabeth, was sitting in. He had a dark, raging and violent aura around him and carried on sulking until Annabeth spoke up.

“Nico, is that coffee?” Her voice had a hint of worry.

“Maybe.” He shrugged. “What’s up with you two? Lovers quarrel?” Nico pointed to Leo and Hazel who both immediately froze up. Leo, who was mid- sip, choked and began wheezing for air while Hazel gently patted him on the back. Frank, subconsciously, flinched.

“Dancers quarrel,” Hazel sighed after Leo had stopped choking before turning towards her brother.

“Wait, you’re drinking coffee? Again?” Hazel raised her eyebrows at Nico. The last time she recalled him drinking coffee… Well family tensions had been higher than ever, Nico was a literal caffeine addict and Hazel had been helping the ‘love of her life’. Nico had gotten over the caffeine addiction, well at least, she hadn’t seen him touch the substance in years so the sudden appearance of it alarmed her- What had happened to him that drove him back to coffee? Nico on the other hand, simply batted his hand signalling ‘later’.

“Does anybody want to break the awkward silence?” Percy murmured out of the corner of his mouth, looking down at his fidgeting hands.

“I heard an awkward silence needs breaking?” Jason appeared before them. “ Guess what?”

Almost immediately, the entire crowd perked up and asked ‘what?’

“Nu uh, I actually want you guys to guess.”

“Did your new pointe shoes break in?” Annabeth suggested.

“Please get to the pointe,” Leo tutted. Jason shot his roommate, a playful scowl, as he was used to the terrible jokes. Everyone else (except Percy) groaned, throwing their heads back and Hazel face palmed at the terrible jokes- sometimes she asked herself why they were friends.

“You guys are pathetic,” Jason hummed, his arms folded smugly.

“Bro, just tell us!” Percy pleaded, sick of the timely wait.

Jason took a deep breath, holding the tension out for as long as possible. “Well… Chiron’s returning!”

“Like returning returning or just visiting returning?” Annabeth immediately cut in, stopping all the whoops that had erupted from the happy news. Well mainly happy. After the incident, Chiron was left without half a leg which stopped his dance career. It had been hard for him and the dancers around him- tensions had never been worse within the studio and so for the sake of the dancers, Chiron had left to teach dance theory. He had visited every once in a while but if he was ever going to come back- since he was the owner of the studio- no one really knew.

“He didn’t really specify…”

“On the plus side, he’s probably gotten like what 14 new stories about the wheelchair?” Annabeth exclaimed. Percy, who knew about the wheelchair, threw his head back laughing as he remembered the previous stories of it. As they fell into a conversation recalling all the previous stories about the wheelchair, Leo had to clutch his stomach while laughing.

“I love that dude- he’s the only one who doesn’t take Calypso’s bullshit.”

A piercing voice came out from behind them. “Well, Calypso had been looking for you this past week. Where have you been?”

Outraged, Leo retorted, “Where have I been, where have you been?”

As the two started shouting their heads off at each other, the group of people fell silent and everyone agreed to leave them to it. Before Hazel left, she noticed the darker undertones of Calypso’s normally flawless skin as well as her red rimmed eyes.

“So, where have you been?” Leo repeated, almost drawling. Calypso ignored the question and instead told Leo to meet her in Studio A (Leo rolled his eyes at the choice of studio) in a half hour. Leo had to clench his hands to stop himself from making some sort of witty smart- alec response; he wanted to try his best to get along with Calypso because the sooner they finished the routine, the quicker he’d be able to get on the team and avoid her.

Back in Rehearsal room 4... Jason was very lucky to have Piper as a partner- mainly due to her great ability to adapt to new styles. Having a famous father who could easily (and would happily) pay for anything she asked, Piper was gifted. From her good looks, her various talents and her sparkling personality, one could say that Piper Mclean had it all.

Oh, how wrong one could be.

They had agreed to perform a musical theatre routine focusing on hip hop and tap- the styles which moulded together best. They were doing well with their choreography and had finished their routine and were now going over it- making sure everything was clean and worked.

“Hey, let's take a break here,” Piper panted lightly with her hands resting on her thighs. Jason nodded with a brief smile on his face- could you blame him? He had managed to improve his tap by miles compared to the small amount of improvement he would have made with any other person. He jogged towards their bags and pulled out both of their water bottles;he threw Piper’s bottle at her. Perfectly, she caught it .

“Our routine is great, we totally have a chance at making the team,” Piper told Jason as she took a sip of water and plopped herself on the bean bag in the corner of the room by their bags.

“Percy and Annabeth’s chemistry may blow everyone out of the water,” Jason said mindlessly as he sipped water. Piper visibly flinched at the statement- it was small but noticeable for Jason.

“What? What’s wrong? If it’s those two, trust me- they’ll be too busy fooling around to perfect their routine.”

Again, Piper seemed a tad uncomfortable. She had tried to not cringe at the mention of Annabeth but it was quite hard when Jason kept on mentioning it like it was simply nothing. Her face had momentarily scrunched up before she quickly attempted to smooth it out. Jason frowned with an expression that simply read ‘What’s wrong?’

“Well… uh, Annie,” Piper hesitantly started, trying to find an easier way to explain. “I have really short nails.”

“Okay…?” Jason, utterly confused by the random fact, frowned again. Piper sighed at his innocent persona and tried to emphasize what she was implying.

“There’s a reason I have short nails…”

“Because you don’t like long nails?”

Piper, impatient, facepalmed and decided to find a better explanation. She turned to his sister as an easier topic.

“Why does your sister have short nails?”

Jason’s face scrunched up for a few seconds, looking up towards the ceiling before his eyes bugged a bit and his lips pursed into an ‘o’ shape.

“Oh! Oh… so like lesbian or-”

“Bi.”

Jason took a deep breath. “ Well, I'm happy you felt comfortable enough to tell me and I’m proud of you...and I hope you’re happy Pipes.”

She nodded, more confident and happy that Jason hadn’t made too much a deal of it- he was a dear friend whose opinion she cared about dearly. She felt she could truly trust him.

“Soo… Annabeth huh?” Jason wiggled his eyebrows. Piper smacked his arm before retorting back.

“I’ve seen how you look at Percy- looks like a budding bromance to me.”

Jason choked on his water, sputtering everywhere and was left absolutely speechless.

In Rehearsal room 1... “5, 6, 7, 8!” Calypso calles as they started the sectioned choreography again. Leo internally groaned as they started again with practically no enthusiasm behind his moves. While the dance wasn’t bad, Leo wasn’t afraid to call out the dance so far was bland. It was all classical ballet and no spice. It was too boring for him and if he were an audience member he would take away points for lack of creativity. After what seemed like 4 days but was actually 40 seconds, they finished.

“Make sure your turns are in time with mine,” Calypso pointed out as she paused the music. Leo had to physically hold in the urge to make a remark. He glanced at his watch and his eyes almost bugged out of his skull. It was 4pm? Already? He knew he had to leave now or else he was going to be late. He grabbed his bag and started changing his shoes ino more suitable footwear. He snacthed his jacket, slipped it on in a rush and almost walked into the door due to the rush he was in.

“Hey, where do you think you’re going?” Calypso’s voice coming from behind made Leo freeze. Shit. What was he going to say? Where were his excuses?

Breathe Leo, make a simple lie- can’t be too hard.

“Uh.. just grabbing something from the cafe. I think I left something there.” He jutted his thumb towards the door before slipping out to avoid Calypso’s questions. He had one more stop to make before he left.

In Studio B... Frank was learning a lot from working with Hazel. Other than the obvious (like her beauty being even greater up close), he also learnt more about salsa than he ever had in his entire life. Their routine was finally complete but they were trying to find the perfect place to insert a lift. The timing for it had to be perfect. Too slow and Frank gets injured. Too fast and Hazel falls.

As they rehearsed the routine and approached the final move, Hazel slipped- effectively pushing Frank on his back and Hazel falling right on top with her body pressed against him; practically straddling him. Frank’s head made a loud ‘thud’ sound on making contact with the solid floor- clearly it had won this battle between head and floor.

“Oh my goodness! Are you okay?” Hazel rushed out, still unaware of the compromising position. Frank nodded meekly, not wanting to further aggravate the pain in his head and reached his hand to rub the back of his head. It was only then did their eyes meet, Hazel’s eyes widening at the realisation of the position. Just as she was going to scramble off, Leo busted through the door. Frantically, Leo sputtered,

“Oh, sorry… er am I interrupting something?” Hazel almost flew off Frank and quickly made her way to Leo who now bore a small smile on his face,

“Just friends huh?” Leo mumbled. Hazel ignored the comment and instead asked what Leo was doing here.

“I gotta leave for work and Calypso is on my ass. Do me a favour- if she asks where I went say I had an appointment or something,” he whispered, his mood changing rapidly. Hazel nodded, loyal to her friend and ran to her sports bag. She whipped out her purse before waddling back to Leo, her fingers mindlessly rifling through the notes in her purse as if it was worth nothing more than paper.

“How much do you need for the bus fare?”

Leo’s hand immediately pushed back at Hazel’s purse, who again, ignored it. He was not about to take her money- not again at least, not until he paid her back for the previous times. It was hard though, because Hazel always insisted everything be on her and refused to allow him to pay her back in any way.

“Hazel, I’ve told you. I don’t want to take your money,” Leo pleaded, his face seemingly uncomfortable. Sure, he didn’t want Hazel’s money but he did want money.

“Ridiculous.” Hazel shook her head as if the mere idea of her caring whether he paid her back or not was utter ludicrous. She pulled out a thick wad of cash. “I don’t care. Here. Should be enough for the bus fares, lunch and other stuff.”

Leo hesitated. He needed this money. Bus fares, food expenses, new dance clothes and his share of the rent along with other things. But the idea of taking Hazel’s money always left a bitter taste afterwards- he hated feeling guilty over her money. Hazel on the other hand, was not going to let Leo refuse and shoved the cash into Leo’s pocket before pulling him in a tight and surprising hug. Her arms were wrapped around Leo’s back and in return, he closed his arms around her and rested his chin on her shoulder. She smelt like flowers- no doubt from the expensive products she could easily afford along with the fact that her step-mother, Persophone, owned a fragrance line among other things.

“Gracias,” he muttered, squeezing her shoulder in an affectionate manner.

With the short knowledge of spanish she knew from her best friend, Hazel replied, “De nada.”

Confused, Frank watched the entire interaction.

Back in Studio A... Annabeth and Percy were not practising. While every dancer, perhaps excluding Nico, were nervously practicing every beat of a move they performed, Annabeth and Percy were not really stressing. In fact, they hadn’t worked much on their routine in general. Annabeth was lying on her stomach with her face in her hands and her legs dangling back and forth. Percy sat next to her, with his arms around his legs. They were both listening to their ex-mentor who was in a wheelchair. Chiron was simply talking about something that had recently happened with his two favourite students.

“He did what!” Percy and Annabeth shouted in sync.

“I told him that if he performed, he would have been scouted, but alas- Luke refused. He came with me but it was a true shame I didn’t get to see him perform. He’s been with the studio for so long now, I do find it odd that he has yet to move to a professional career,” Chiron sighed- slumping slightly in his wheelchair.

“How’s the leg doing?” Annabeth asked, hoping the subject was no longer sore.

“Which one?” Chiron smiled mischievously as he pulled the blanket off his legs- showing both legs seemed present. Normally, the bottom half of the left leg would seem empty unlike what they were seeing now. Percy looked a bit confused for a few seconds.

“But… but Chiron, you only have one leg.”

Annabeth slapped her head before breaking into fits of laughter. Both her and Chiron were laughing their heads off until Annabeth kindly explained.

“Prosthetics Percy! Prosthetics!”

Chiron flexed his left foot, showing off his new leg. The dancers were awe-struck. As far as they had known- Chiron had refused prosthetics since the accident. They felt an insurmountable amount of pride swell inside of them- This was good right? Chiron was moving on! He wasn’t being stuck in the past anymore. It wasn’t that fact that he got a prosthetic, it was the reason he used to refuse it. Annabeth and Percy knew that he didn’t want a prosthetic at first because if he couldn’t dance using it, he’d consider himself a failure and after the accident, he did not want to face any more failure than he had to- he wanted to protect himself.

And for a while, that was okay! The studio was supportive- they truly wanted him to heal. But Chiron was stubborn. He was -what one may dare even say- traumatised. But no one could truly blame him- Nico, someone who was barely conscious during the accident, suffered. No one could blame Chiron for what had happened but there looks. People who weren’t even relatively involved whatsoever casted glances. Gave their fair share of judgemental looks- despite not even knowing the truth. However, Chiron learnt better than to acknowledge said glances.

“Woah, Chiron, when did you get it fitted?” Percy asked in awe.

“A while ago. I wanted to manage a few steps in it before showing you all.”

Annabeth and Percy looked at eachother, the same thoughts, concerns and hopes crossing their minds.

“Can you take a few steps in it?” Annabeth said tentatively. Much to the students' hopes, Chiron nodded and both dancers ran to his side to help him stand. He held both of them as he heaved himself up and momentarily wobbled. He then pushed away their arms as he slowly made a few steps across the dance floor. He made his way towards the ballet bar, his hand stretching towards it. At this moment, Nico walked in, his jaw dropping before immediately resuming to a neutral facade.

“Nice leg,” Nico commented before making his way to the bar. Percy and Annabeth, once again, made eye contact thinking ‘what's up with him?’.

“ You ask him,” Annabeth hissed.

“No you ask him,”Percy mouthed as he nodded his head towards Nico.

“No, you!”

“I’m not asking him. Besides, he’s your dance partner,” Percy whispered. At this, Annabeth knew that Percy made a valid point. If there was anybody Nico trusted, besides Hazel for some apparent reason, it was Annabeth. The two danced together their entire lives, Nico couldn’t hide anything from her- not even his crush on Percy which many other people had seen as a crush on Annabeth herself. Annabeth on the other hand, could clearly tell the difference between jealousy and having a crush. Other than Annabeth and Jason, Nico refused for anyone else to know.

Annabeth sighed, shooting daggers at Percy as she got up and walked towards Nico. For the next 5 minutes, Nico and Annabeth stretched side by side in silence while Chiron and Percy chatted on the other side of the room.

“Soo.. how are things going with your routine?” Annabeth started as she leaned over her leg at the bar. Nico grunted something incomprehensible as he tried to avoid her by doing a plié. Annabeth joined him, asking him to speak up.

“Will walked out.”

“Why?”

“I played a dumb prank on him about getting injured.” Annabeth had to pinch herself to prevent herself from gasping. Nico? Her lifelong dance partner made… a joke? Pranked someone? Was this actually Nico?

“Well, why did you do it?”

“I was tryin to prove that Ballet dancers aren’t so uptight.”

“What exactly did you do?” Annabeth’s tone dipped and sounded slightly suspicious but either way, Nico did not notice.

“...Pretended to get injured… but that isn’t even the problem. My problem is that my chicken of a partner called me a bumbling, incompetent, priveleged idiot and then, then… they just bailed on me!”

Later, when Annabeth, Percy and Jason were in the cafe, Annabeth retold Percy and Jason about her earlier conversation with Nico- not sparing a single detail about the clear distress the situation was causing him.

“Happy now Jason? Paired Nico up with a damned jerk,” Percy said aggressively.

“I didn’t think he was such a big a bitch as you did!” Jason argued. Annabeth could sense the tension between the two men and decided to push them apart. She stood between them with her hands resting on her hips.

“I told you two so we could help fix what happened; not just argue over it and point fingers.”

“I never liked the damned sunflower anway,” Percy huffed. Annabeth resisted a giggle from Percy’s terrible insult.

“Anyway, someone needs to talk to him- see his point of view, try and get them over the petty argument.”

“Petty? Will insulted him over nothing!” Jason almost shouted, his aggressive and protective side shining through.

“Which we can all agree was wrong. But.” She glared at the men. “We also know that Nico can and will hold grudges over anything as long as time lasts.”

In agreement, they decided to all visit Will because there was no way in hell that Annabeth was letting Percy and Jason talk to Will alone.

Somewhere in the Dance studio... Calypso was pissed. It seemed that most days, she was thinking more about Leo than she’d prefer to. Sure, he was gorgeous- naturally gifted in the looks (and don’t tell him this but also the personality department) with his lucious brown curls that framed his face perfectly and the beautiful glint he’d have in his eye when he danced and they way his teeth would glimmer when he smiled like the true definition of pearly whites. But, she was also wondering about his whereabouts, more and more frequently.

She had checked the cafe, Studio 2 and Dionysus’s office (she did not know what to think of him) with no sign of Leo whatsoever. She knew that there would be only one person who would know where Leo was- Hazel. However, it seemed that Leo and Hazel both had something in common- the inability to be found anywhere.

Finally, she found her about to head out for the day entirely.

“Hey, Hazel.” Calypso tapped her on the shoulder, pulling her away from her conversation with Frank. “Have you seen Leo anywhere?”

With no tact whatsoever, Hazel stuttered out a ‘no’ that had Calypso raising her eyebrow in suspicion at her- clearly not believing the lie. Internally, Hazel forced herself to calm down and think. What had Leo mentioned, what could she use, what could she lie about?

Think Hazel, think!

Leo had mentioned saying something about an appointment- yes! Hazel mentally prepared herself and the words came magically stumbling out of her mouth- rolling off her tongue as if she lied on a daily basis.

“Well… you can’t tell anyone okay?” Hazel whispered convincingly, drawing Calypso's attention in. “ You can’t let Leo know that I told you this but he’s at an appointment, for his knee. He injured some time ago when we attempted a lift badly and well, you know…”

Calypso immediately felt regretful. It was like she was truly the villain half of the dancers here thought her to be. No wonder he was barely putting any effort into the dance! Not only was he injured but he was injured and doing ballet- a style he wasn’t so regularly familiar with. And she had been treating him like shit about it as well! She could feel the guilt slowly creeping into her.

“Oh my, Hazel.... I’m so, so sorry,” she managed to say. Hazel, also overwhelmed with guilt, wanted to take back the lie and just say the truth. Leo was at work to pay for his dance fees- why was he so ashamed of it! Hazel offered to pay for him but he would refuse everytime. She wished that he’d let her pay for him- her father had more money than he cared for and oftentimes, Nico and Hazel found themselves paying for everything they and their friends could truly desire- not that they minded. This was the one thing she could do for Sammy but not Leo and for it, her thoughts taunted her.

At least Sammy accepted her money, her help. Gods, don’t think like that Hazel. Money can’t save everyone, you know that Hazel.

Hazel glanced back up to see Frank waving at her and could only manage a small sullen smile.

On the way to Studio A... Calypso needed to get back to Studio A and perhaps find some edits for their routine- maybe lighten the ballet on Leo. Maybe Leo preferred Salsa because it was easier on his knee? It didn’t make sense to Calypso but despite not wanting to admit it, she had seen how happy it had made him. She’d have to ask Hazel or Dionysus about the technique of it but she had taken a few classes in it before and so she tried a few steps she’d seen Leo do before.

She soon realised that he made it look a lot easier than it actually was- she remembered how she had insulted salsa and it’s supposed ‘lack of technique’. But then, she also remembered how he’d insulted her by saying she wasn’t the ‘best ballet dancer’. What did that even mean? Her- not the best? Impossible. She had worked too hard her entire life for that to be possible.

For the sake of Leo and his knee (and reliving some of her guilt), Calypso persevered and tried to teach herself some basic salsa moves. The basics weren’t too hard, it was simply that trying to com[pletely abandon her ballet technique wasn’t very easy and subsequently, she found herself looking very stiff.

“What are you… doing?” a seemingly alarmed voice, that belonged to none other than her rival, called out. Flawless teeth, truffles of soft hair and glass like eyes- Luke Castellan walked in, his lips pulled into a smug smile that truly tempted Calypso to smack him.

“None of your business, Castellan,” Calypso quickly snapped.

“Castellan?” He turned towards her with an innocent look that quickly turned malicious. “That’s not what you were moaning under me whe-”

“-Shut up. That’s over, we’re over. We were over ages ago. It’s not happening again. Not after you lied to me.”

Luke frowned, his features seemingly cute but Calypso knew better than to trust what he portrayed on his face. When it came to Luke, the quote ‘there is no art to find the mind's construction in face’ should really be taken seriously. He moved himself so that he was working at the bar that was in front of the very mirror that Calypso was using. Calypso ignored him, going over the routine over and over again. However, Luke seemed determined to get in her way so he continued to stretch in front of the mirror until Calypso completely snapped.

“What?” Her hands were on her hips in a threating manner and face looked like she was ready to commit murder.

“Oh nothing.” Luke shrugged before quickly speaking again. “It’s just, I’d never imagine you’d actually partner with such… scum I guess.”

“A, why do you care who I partner with? B, Leo isn’t that bad,” Calypso reluctantly defended him. Leo to her definitely was that bad, but she sure as hell was not letting Luke know that.

“It’s a bit sad how you really downgraded after me… and I doubt that your nachos boy will be able to guarantee you a spot on the team…” Luke trailed.

Calypso had to admit that the name ‘nachos boy’ was hilarious and she definitely intended on calling Leo that some time.

“Are you okay?” Calypso’s concerned voice immediately threw off Luke. “Or have you just not seen a mirror in a while? Because anything could be considered an upgrade after you. Leo? That’s like what? A Triple upgrade in the least- Let it be known, when it comes to how good looking people at this studio are, you are like basically the last person.”

“And yet, you dated me. No, you pursued me even,” Luke teased, his voice with undertones of malice like a poison laced apple- sweet talking with a bitter aftertaste.

“People make mistakes.”Calypso shrugged casually as she grabbed her bag and left the room.

In the musical theatre office... “We just… wanted to make sure you and Nico were doing well with your routine,” Annabeth urged Will who refused to talk to Percy or Jason.

“So Nico sends other dancers to talk for him now?” Will frowned, relatively upset that Nico didn’t come to him. Sure, he had been really harsh and Nico did deserve an apology from him but he was hoping that Nico would come to him, not his three older and more experienced friends who seemed very threatening.

“He um, well Nico didn’t send us..” Jason said, slowly realising their mistake.

“So you decided to come and talk to me about our problem on his behalf without his permission or his acknowledgement? Did he even directly tell any of you what happened?”

“He told Annabeth!” Percy defended.

“And you wonder why we don’t get along,” Will sighed and facepalmed. “ Well, if it makes you feel any better, me and Nico are perfectly fine.”

“You guys… have talked?” Annabeth asked warily.

“We will.” And with that, Will waved them off.

9PM- Rehearsal room A Nico’s turns were consistent and his warm breath was forced out of his chest and he heavily breathed. The lights of the studio were all turned off except for the rehearsal room he was occupying. He could feel his leg muscles burning, telling him to stop but he ignored it, forcing his body into a state of pure divinity- his arms spread like a black swan, ethereal and elegant. His olive skin was shiny, a thin layer of sweat across his body and beads of perspiration forming on his forehead as he carried on moving. His feet pranced, hopped, turned, kicked, swept and jumped. In the lighting he looked like a god with his onyx eyes, framed by his dark eyelashes and messy hair that moved with his every step.

Click clack. Click Clack.

Immediately, Nico stopped, recognising the sound. He turned down the classical music and took a few bows, the sarcasm in his movement clear.

“Thank you, thank you,” Nico drawled, clearly slightly pissed.

“I didn’t even get to clap.” Will pouted. “Did my shoes give a good reminder?”

Nico nodded but refused to continue speaking to him. He refused to speak to Will until he felt like talking to him again- he wanted a decent apology which should include Mcdonalds and wine. Speaking of wine, Nico definitely wanted some after the day he’d had. He knew Hazel always had something delicious but she lived near their parents and that always presented the possibility of his father popping in- not that he really hated his father, it was his wife, Persephone (who had given Nico a perfume that had a flower that he was allergic to).

“Are you not gonna talk to me?” Will asked, his hands in his pocket and with a slightly disappointed tone.

“Okay. I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I overreacted to something that was seemingly innocent and I shouldn’t have been such a…”

“Bitch?” Nico filled in.

Will let out a whole hearted laugh. “ Yeah, I guess bitch is the right word. Anyway, I’m really sorry that I called you that…I shouldn’t have judged you based on your friends.”

“Being forgiven will not be so easy.”

“Do you need a Happy meal?” Will teased until Nico’s silence filled the room. “Wait, seriously, just a happy meal? Deal.”

“Well, now that you mention it, some wine would be nice. Maybe a day away from the studio,” Nico mused as he stuffed his stuff into his bag carelessly. He’d hate himslef when he had to organise it at home but it was really late and Nico was hungry as fuck.

“I hear that Chiron is taking out some students to the beach this week. I’m pretty sure Calypso is coming, she’ll let me tag along and I’m sure Annabeth will drag you there anyway. We can have our… reunion then,” Will decided as they walked out of the studio. Nico stopped as he fished out the studio keys and locked up the font doors. Nico wasn’t truly fond of the beach but it was free food and a chance to hang around his friends.

“Sure.” Nico nodded. “It’s a date.”

Will watched as Nico got into his car. For some reason, Will felt himself blush at those very words- It’s a date.

Those words ended up replaying in Will’s head until they met again on Saturday.

[david-was-here]

Songs of 2017

So like last year I’m listing my favorite songs of the year in no real particular order. And this year I think I listened to more music than I have ever for this entire year! So expect this to be BIG!!! The critera here is songs released in 2017, which includes singles and deep cuts, as well as songs that were released in 2016 but are hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and songs that were technically released in 2016 but are singles in 2017. Link to a playlist I made on Spotify. So without a further adieu...

Little Bubble, Cool Your Heart (feat. Dawns), Death Spiral, Up the Hudson, Work Together, I See You - the Dirty Projectors

(No One Knows Me) Like the Piano, Plastic 100°C, Kora Sings, Under, Blood on Me, Reverse Faults, Timmy’s Prayer, What Shouldn’t I Be? - Sampha

Hot Thoughts, WhisterI’lllistentohearit, Do I Have to Talk You Into It, First Caress - Spoon

Dangerous, A Violent Noise, Replica, I Dare You, A Violent Noise (Four Tet Remix), Say Something Lovely, Lips - the xx

Pure Comedy, Ballad of the Dying Man, Total Entertainment Forever, Leaving LA, WHne the God of Love Returns There’ll be Hell to Pay - Father John Misty

Avalon, Mrs. Adams, Trauma - Foxygen

In a Body Like a Grave - Japandroids

Things Are Right with You, Enter Entirely, Strange Year, Up to the Surface, Internal World - Cloud Nothings

My Old Man, This Old Dog, For the First Time, One Another, A Wolf Who Wears Sheeps Clothes, On the Level, Watching Him Fade Away - Mac DeMarco

That’s What I Like - Bruno Mars

Scared to be Lonely (feat. Dua Lupa), There for You (feat. Troye Sivan) - Martin Garrix

Call Casting, Bad and Boujee (feat. Lil Uzi Vert), Get Right Witcha, Slippery (feat. Gucci Mane), T-Shirt, Big on Big, Brown Paper Bag, Stir Fry - Migos

Nyakinyua Rise, Enigma - Jlin

Show You the Way (feat. Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins), Friend Zone, Uh Uh, Lava Lamp, Where I’m Going  - Thundercat

Thinning, Dirt, Slug, - Snail Mail

So Close - Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness

Doomsday, Shiver and Shake, Anything I Say to You Now, Breakdown, Outbound Train, Broken Anyway - Ryan Adams

Undercover, Keep On, Advice - Kehlani

Big for Your Boots, Cold - Stormzy

Minnesota, Country Song, Tour, Virgo - the Courtneys

BagBak, Big Fish, Love Can Be..., Homage, Crabs in a Bucket, Party People - Vince Staples

Leila 20, Nothing Feels Natural, No Big Bang, Nicki - Priests

Sleepwalker, Melting Grid, All the Land Glimmered - Julie Byrne

For You (DJ Koze Mbira Remix) - Michael Mayer and Joe Goddard

Slide (feat. Frank Ocean and Migos) Heatstroke (feat. Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, and Ariana Grande), Holiday (feat. Snoop Dogg, John Legend, and Takeoff), Feels (feat. Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, and Big Sean), Cash Out (feat. ScHoolboy Q, PartyNextDoor, and DRAM) - Calvin Harris

Love, Change, Get Free - Lana Del Rey

Green Light, Liability, Homemade Dynamite, Sober II (Melodrama), Supercut, Perfect Places, Homemade Dynamite (Remix) (feat. Khalid, Post Malone, & SZA), Sober - Lorde (really just the album Melodrama but still...)

Bleeding in the Bus - Code Orange

Not This Time, Anything Could Happen, Breathing Room - Bash & Pop

Chanel, Biking (feat. Jay-Z and Tyler, the Creator) - Frank Ocean

Third of May/Ōdaigahara, Fool’s Errand, Cassius, -, Kept Woman, One Another Ocean (January/June), Mearcstapa - Fleet Foxes

Slip Away, Otherside, Go Ahead, Wreath, Braid, Every Night, Choir, Die 4 You, Sides - Perfume Genius

Tellin’ Lies, Midwestern States, House on Fire, After the Party - the Menzingers

Shake Em Off - Syd

Pleasure, Get Not High, Get Not Low, Lost Dreams, Any Party, A Man is Not His Song, Century (feat. Jarvis Cocker) - Feist

Kinda Bonkers - Animal Collective

Free Smoke, Get it Together (feat. Black Coffee and Jorja Smith), Madiba Riddim, Passionfruit - Drake

The Heat Part 4, HUMBLE., ELEMENT., FEEL., LUST., XXX. (feat. U2), FEAR., DUCKWORTH., DNA. - Kendrick Lamar

Crazy Crazy (feat. Charli XCX & Kyary Pamyu Pamyu) - Yasutaka Nakata

Ran, Cave, Time on Her Side, Through the Roses, North Star, Ancient Water, Day Glow Fire - Future Islands

Ascension (feat. Vince Staples), Andromeda (feat. DRAM), Strobelite (feat. Peven Everett), Momentz (feat. De La Soul), Out of Body (Kilo Kish, Zebra Katz, & Imani Vonsha), Let Me Out (feat. Mavis Staples & Pusha T), Sleeping Powder, Garage palace (feat. Little Simz), Saturnz Barz (feat. Popcaan) - Gorillaz

Daisy, Animal, Exercise, Dreams of Grandeur - Wavves

This is the World of the Theater, Whiteout Conditions, Colosseums - the New Pornographers

Limerence - Yves Tumor

Seaweed, Ravens, Swims - Mount Eerie

Sugar for the Pill, Slowmo, Star Roving, Don’t Know Why, Everyone Knows, No Longer Making Time - Slowdive

Cold Cold Cold - Cage the Elephant

Don’t Take the Money, All My Heroes, Dream of Mickey Mantle, I Miss Those Days - Bleachers

Stay (feat. Alessia Cara) - Zedd

iSpy (feat. Lil Yachty) - KYLE

Sign of the Times, Two Ghosts, Sweet Creatures, Ever Since New York, From the Dining Table - Harry Styles

The Cure - Lady Gaga

FOR MY PEOPLE, TEMPTATION, RING THE ALARM (feat. Nyck Caution, Kirk Knight, & Meechy Darko), AMERIKKKAN IDOL - Joey Bada$$

‘71: I Think I’ll make Another World, ‘88 Ethan Frome, ‘92: Weird Diseases, ‘01 Have You Seen It in Snow?, ‘05: Never Again, ’66: Wonder Where I’m From, ’67: Come Back as a Cockroach, ’68: A Cat Called Dionysus, ’69: Judy Garland, ‘73L It Could Have Been Paradise, ’77: Life Ain’t Bad, ’98: Lovers’Lies, ’04: Cold-Blooded Man, ’12: You Can Never Go Back to New York, ’14: I Wish I Had Pictures - the Magnetic Fields

Broken Halos, Either Way, Last Thing I Needed, First Thing This Morning, Millionaire, Scarecrow in the Garden - Chris Stapleton

Executioner’s Tax (Swing of the Axe), Nightmare Logic, Waiting Around to Die - Power Trip

Minneapolis, 100 Years, Cleaning House, Cold Apartment, Alive and a Well - Vagabon

The Bus Song, 1 Billion Dogs, Take It - Jay Som

Halfway Home, Skyline, Stay Happy, Hug of Thunder, Towers and Masons, Victim Lover - Broken Social Scene

Truth, Humility, Integrity - Kamasi Washington

Want You Back, Nothing’s Wrong, Little of Your Love - HAIM

In Cold Blood, Adeline - alt-J

Hungry Ghost, the Navigator, Rican Beach, Pa’lante - Hurray for the Riff Raff!

Feel it Still (even though I grew sick of it by the end of 2017) - Portugal. the Man

French Press, Julie’s Place, Fountain of Good Fortune - Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever

Gone, Gone, Gone, Time Will Tell - the Feelies

Wedding in Finistere, What’s That Perfume That You Wear?, How We Met, the Long Version, How Can I Tell Him - Jens Lekman

Thinking of a Place, Holding On, Up all Night, Pain, Strangest Thing, In Chains, You Don’t have to Go - the War on Drugs

call the police, oh baby, other voices, tonite, emotional haircut, american dream - LCD Soundsystem

The System Only Dreams in Total Darkness, Day I Die, Born to Beg, Guilty Party, Carin at the Liquor Store, Turtleneck - the National

Close But Not Quite (feat. Sampha) - Everything is Recorded

Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson) - Clean Bandit

Heavydirtysoul - Twenty One Pilots

Love on the Brain - Rihanna

Wild Fire, Nouel - Laura Marling

Mildenhall - the Shins

Renato Dall’Ara (2008), Here’s to the Fourth Time!, For Whom the Belly Tolls, Hung Empty - Los Campesinos!

Yer Killin’ Me, Art School, Crash Test Rating, Strawberita, Trying 2 Fool U, I’m My Own Doctor - Remo Drive

God Bless Ohio, Window Sash Weights - Sun Kil Moon

Darling, Serve the Song, Stained Glass, White Light - Real Estate

3AM (Pull Up) (feat. MØ), Roll With Me, Boys, Backseat (feat. Carly Rae Jepsen), Femmebot (feat. Dorian Electra and Mykki Blanco), Out of My Head (feat. Alma and Tove Lo) - Charli XCX

Lucid, Anxi. (feat. Jenny Hval), Evolution, Bird - Kelly Lee Owens

Paradise, Ricochet - ANOHNI

Cut to the Feeling - Carly Rae Jepsen

Golden Cage - Nilüfer Yanya

Bad Liar - Selena Gomez

Can’t Help It - Baba Stiltz

Forever Young (feat. Diplo), Better (feat. Stefflon Don), Dirty Mouth, All Around Me (feat. YG and Kamaiyah) - Lil Yachty

Run - Foo Fighters

Everything Now, Signs of Life, Put Your Money on Me - Arcade Fire

Strangers (feat. Lauren Jauregui) - Halsey

Met Gala (feat. Offset) - Gucci Mane

J-Boy, Ti Amo, Goodbye Soleil, Tuttifrutti, Fleur de Lys - Phoenix

Hard Times, Told You So, Forgiveness, Idle Worship, Rose-Colored Boy - Paramore

Open Water, Melting, Billabong Valley, Anoxia, Doom City - King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard

Something Just Like This (feat. Coldplay) - the Chainsmokers (I’M SO SORRY)

You Never Loved Me, Rollercoasters - Aimee Mann

Alexys, Crushed Glass - Freddie Gibbs

The Call, Wondering, At Last, At Last - Xiu Xiu

Castle on the Hill - Ed Sheeran

Chelsea Hotel #2 - Kyle Craft

My Old Man, All the Best - Zac Brown Band

Build You Up - Kamaiyah

Praying, Let ‘Em Talk (feat. Eagles of Death Metal), Rainbow, Hunt You Down, Boots, Spaceship, Bastards - Kesha

911/Mr. Lonely (feat. Frank Ocean and Steve Lacy), Foreword (feat. Rex Orange County), Who Dat Boy (feat. A$AP Rocky), Pothole (feat. Jaden Smith), Boredom (feat. Rex Orange County and Anna of the North), I Ain’t Got Time!, November, See You Again (feat. Kali Uchis) - Tyler, the Creator

New York, Pills, Los Ageless, Happy Birthday, Johnny, Fear the Future, Slow Disco, Sugarboy - St. Vincent

Trees on Fire (feat. Amber Mark and Marco Mckinnis) - DJDS

Exhumed, Siphon, Veka, Wiseblood, Remains - Zola Jesus

Never Been Wrong, 8 Ball, Silver, Brass Beam - Waxahatchee

I Promise - Radiohead

I Don’t Wanna Die in This Town, Bad Luck Charm, She Hates Everybody - Old 97′s

In Undertow, Plimsoll Punks, Not My Baby, Lollipop (Ode to Jim), Foreget About Life - Alvvays

Cario and Southern - Son Volt

Magnolia - Playboi Carti

I Don’t Like You, Jucebox Baby - the Regrettes

Give me a Reason, Quiet - Ibibio Sound Machine

Speakerbox, Bait Face (feat. Scratchy), Laptop (feat. Manga) - Wiley

If We Were Vampires, Cumberland Gap, Anxiety, Molotov, Hope the High Road - Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

One of Us - New Politics

Saunter, Urchin, Castration, Whip, Desafio - Arca

If You’re Here – Cornelius

The World’s Best American Band, Judy French, Little Silver Cross, the Satch, Party Next Door, Another Day – White Reaper

The Violence – Rise Against

G.K.A.C., I Only, Bangladesh (feat. Heems), Help (feat. Edan and Wiki), You Can Do It! (Give Up) – Your Old Droog

Nickelodeon Girls, Meme Machine, I Do It for My Hood, She’s So Nice, Uber Pussy, High School Blink193, I Will Get a Vasectomy – Pink Guy (RIP)

Sixteen, Bite Back, Leo, Barf Day, Tummy Ache – Diet Cig

Forrest, Birhtdays, Song for You, Shine – the Smith Street band

Misery, Black Rain – Creeper

Long Time, Fragments – Blondie

123, Sleepless, Your Heart, Powerplant, It Gets More Blue – Girlpool

Proud, Bobby, Witch, Judge, Powerful Man – (Sandy) Alex G

Déjà Vu, Picture That, Broken Bones – Roger Waters

The Great Debate, Lost Without You, Wandering Boy – Randy Newman

Street Power, Knuckle Up – Ho99o9

Love Galore (feat. Travi$ Scott), Drew Barrymore, Prom, Garden (Say It Like Dat), Broken Clocks, the Weekend – SZA

Shark Smile, Watering – Big Thief

Lights Out – Royal Blood

Cry of the Martyrs, the Underside of Power, Cleveland, the Cycle/the Spiral: Time to Go Down Slowly, Walk Like a Panther, Death March – Algiers

Crybaby, Tin Can – Kevin Morby

Da Next Day (feat. Big Rube), Order of Operations – Big Boi

No Halo, A Portrait Of, Disappeared, Second Letter from St. Julien, Leave the Fan On – Sorority Noise

Met me in the Street, Just Can’t Get Enough, Rank and File, Turn it Up, Milk and Honey, Pure desire, Can’t Play it Cool – Sheer Mag

Boyish, 12 Steps, The Body is a Blade – Japanese Breakfast

The Moth, Lead, SD, the Wolf – Manchester Orchestra

SHC, Static Space Lover – Foster the People

Just Like Love, Weakness, Wild Woman, All American Made – Margo Price

Dean’s Room – Allison Crutchfield

S.A.D., Bravado – Kirin J Callinan

For Cypresses, Three Rings, Systole – Grizzy Bear

War is Coming (If You Want It), Beach Life-in-Death – Car Seat Headrest

The Way You Used to Do, Domesticated Animals, Feet Don’t Fail Me – Queens of the Stone Age

Call it Dreaming, the Truest Stars We Know – Iron & Wine

Less Than, the Background World – Nine Inch Nails

Nomadm All I C is U & Me, NVR 4EVR, Holy Books – Death from Above

No Fear – DeJ Loaf

Four years and One Day, Blue Train Lines (feat. King Krule), Audition, Delta, You Look Certain (I’m Not So Sure) (feat. Andrea Balency), SP12 Beat – Mount Kimbie

Delta, Feels Like Heaven, Dedicated to Bobby Jameson, Bubblegum Dreams, I Wanna Be Young, Dreamdate Narcissist, Acting (feat. Dâm-Funk), Santa’s in the Closet, Time to Live, Another Weekend, Kitchen Witch – Ariel Pink

Half-Ligth (feat. Kelly Zutrau), Gwan – Rostam

Mi Gente (Remix) (feat. Beyoncé) – J Balvin and Willy William

The Man, Run for Cover, Out of My Mind, Have All the Songs Been Written? – the Killers

Don’t Delete the Kisses, Space & Time – Wolf Alice

Righteous Woman – Torres

Prey, Say it First – Sam Smith

Lush, Daughter, Planet – Four Tet

Frontline, Take Me Apart, LMK, Onanon, Waitin – Kelela

I Wanna Be Like You, Numb – Ibeyi

You’re Dreaming, Flies on the Sun, Baby Blue – Wolf Parade

Roots Remain – Mastodon

Medicine, Flowerchild – Citizen

Up All Night, Colors, Seventh Heaven, Square One – Beck

Over Everything, Blue Cheese – Kurt Vile & Courtney Barnett

Biscuit Town, Dum Surfer, Vidual, Half Man Half Shark, the Ooz – King Krule

Processional, the Spaniards, the Long Goodbye, Half-Life of an Autodidact – William Patrick (Billy) Corgan

You Used to Say (Holy Fuck), Grand Finale, Vacation Town – the Front Bottoms

WE KNOW WHERE YOU FUCKING LIVE, Saturnalia – Marilyn Manson

Gone, Double Helix, Want Me Around – Knuckle Puck

Laila’s Wisdom, Power (feat. Kendrick Lamar and Lance Skiiiwalker), Pay Up, Nobody (feat. Anderson .Paak, Black Thought, Moonchild) – Rapsody

In the Morning, Tinseltown Swimming in Blood, Saw You at the Hospital, A Light Travels Down the Catwalk, La Regle du Jeu – Destroyer

16 Psyche, Vex, The Culling, Scrape – Chelsea Wolfe

Little Dark Age – MGMT

Happy Hour, Weekend Woman, Mexican Fender – Weezer

Appointments, Turn Out the Lights, Sour Breath, Televangelist, Even – Julien Baker

Mustn’t Hurry, IDK About You – Fever Ray

Pills – Joji

90’s Kids, Blooming, Cloudy, Float, Straight Boy, Astral Plane – Shamir

Should I – Little Dragon

Mirage, Labyrinth – Toro Y Moi

Do U Love Me, For Y’all (feat. Jacquees), Liger (feat. Carnage)– Young Thug

Sylvia Says, Rest – Charlotte Gainsbourg

Lemon (feat. Rihanna), Voilà (feat. Gucci Mane and Wale), 1000 (feat. Future), Don’t Don’t Do It! (feat. Kendrick Lamar), Rollinem 7’s (feat. André 3000), Secret Life of Tigers, Kites (feat. Kendrick Lamar and M.I.A.) – N.E.R.D.

Jupiter, Ode from Joyce, Quintessence – Benjamin Clementine

The Gate, Body Memory, Courtship, Losses, Tabula Rasa, Claimstaker – Björk

Red Flag Day, You’re the Best Thing About Me, the Little Things That Give You Away – U2

Sky Walker (feat. Travi$ Scott), Banana Clip, Told You So – Miguel

GOLD, STAR, TRIP, SWEET, FACE, GUMMY, QUEER, SWAMP, JUNKY, BOOGIE, RENTAL, ZIPPER,JOHNNY, BLEACH, ALASKA, HOTTIE, HEAT – BROCKHAMPTON

Another Sad Love Song, Young Dumb & Broke – Khalid

Highway Tune – Greta Van Fleet

Gucci Gang – Lil Pump

We Were Beautiful, Sweet Dew Lee – Belle & Sebastian

All I can Think About is You, A L I E N S – Coldplay

Havana (feat. Young Thug) – Camila Cabello

Unforgettable (feat. Sway Lee) – French Montana

Rain in Soho, Andrew Eldritch is Moving Back to Leeds, Unicorn Tolerance, Paid in Cocaine, Abandoned Flesh – the Mountain Goats

Walk on Water (feat. Beyoncé) – Eminem

Strange or Be Forgotten – Temples

Runnin’ Outta Luck, Country Figs, Strangers Kiss (with Angel Olsen) – Alex Cameron

Tonya Harding – Sufjan Stevens

The One to Wait – CCFX

Crossifre/So Into You – Nai Palm

Still Serving – 21 Savage, Offset, and Metro Boomin

Neon Guts (feat. Pharrell Williams), XO TOUR Llif3 – Lil Uzi Vert

Mask Off (Remix) (feat. Kendrick Lamar) – Future

Lay It on Me – Vance Joy

Perplexing Pengasus – Rae Sremmurd

Midnight – Jessie Ware

Blanket Me – Hundred Waters

The Pathways of Our Lives – Mark Barrott

Find Me – Porches

Kill Jay-Z, Smile (feat. Gloira Carter), Caught Their Eyes (feat. Frank Ocean), 4:44, Family Feud (feat. Beyoncé), Bam (feat. Damien Marley), Legacy – Jay-Z

Global (feat. Ilovemakonnen) – Lil B