#grover is her best friend too and i think we should all remember that

[94badbye]

i love the fact that the pjo tv series has given us a better insight into grover and annabeth's friendship. since the books are all in percy's pov, we have such a limited view of how connected annabeth and grover are, how important they are to each other

grover was one of annabeth's first friends ever. it was not only thalia and luke who protected her, but also him. grover was there and, even though he was young and scared, he fought for annabeth alongside two of the most important people of her life at that time

and even more than that, in a way grover was the only one who really stayed with annabeth. luke turned his back on her, he betrayed her in the worst possible way. thalia died and came back to life years later, and then she became a hunter and no longer stayed at camp. but grover, even though he had his own goals and responsibilities, stayed

he stayed, not just because he wanted to or needed to, but because he loved annabeth and percy with all his heart. grover may have seen his first job as a protector as one of his greatest failures—for thalia's death and for annabeth's suffering and, somehow, for who luke became in the future—but imagine how he felt knowing that annabeth managed to survive. that thalia got to come back. that percy is alive, after everything. that they won a literal war

grover is percy's protector, but he's also annabeth's. he's percy's best friend, but he's also hers. always and forever

[ajbullet]

My thoughts on PJO episode 3: part 2

Part one:

We have no food so I’m back

-Having Alecto outside the Garden was such a clever way of adding intensity to the scene and answers the question of like why didn’t they just leave?

-I loved the changed to them knowing who Medusa is right away. It fits the characters and the vibe of the story so much better

-MEDUSA Omgs

-She was perfect. Her outfit and voice and presence was just absolutely intimidating while also almost nurturing? I was confused as where I should trust her or not, which is the point.

-the way they changed her story was astonishing and all the better for it. Her devotion to Athena. The parallel to Annabeth and how they both worshiped a god who has never recognized them (besides the cap). Medusa’s blind faith and her hatred towards Poseidon after he used her.

-“I’m a survivor” 😘👌🏻 perfect delivery

-Medusa calling Poseidon a monster and it reminding Percy of what his mother said.

-HIM TRUSTING MEDUSA BECAUSE OF HIS MOTHER

-The parallels between Medusa and Sally. The unity Medusa believes they share.

-“I don’t think she’s like that” The only one who can speak about Annabeth like that is HIM

-The INSTANT Medusa mentions killing Percy’s friends he is out of there. Like most people have pointed out: a great nod to his fatal flaw of loyalty.

-The labyrinth was so freaking cool guys. Like wtf. That was amazing. I kept picturing the scene from the movie and it blew that out of the water (even tho that’s my favorite scene from the movie. I mean come on, the iconic iPod reflection? Shall never be forgotten) But the invisibility cap was really cool too

-Grover flying of into the distance, screaming his head off, and Percy and Annabeth just being like “whelp, new plan”

-THEM WORKING TOGETHER

-Annabeth watching Percy kill Alecto. Again, wasn’t sure exactly what she was feeling when I first watched it but looking back I think she’s finally realizing like, oh, this boy is more capable then I thought. Maybe he can be useful. Maybe he can do this. Maybe I have a crush on- wait no not possible. Eww.

-Them finally reconciling after Grover broke.

-Oh and I love that they made the uncle Ferdinand a more sad, meaningful moment. I mean, that part in the movie was funny, but that wouldn’t have fit the vibe at all and I think it really added to Grover’s character. I wanted to hug him.

-Leah’s expression after Percy says he picked her cause they could never be friends. She was hurt and it broke me.

-THOSE TWO ARE GOING TO FALL IN LOVE

-Percy not realizing Annabeth’s hat is so important. Then immediately giving it back.

-“I am impertinent” This boy is Percy incarnate.

-LIN MANUEL MIRANDA wtf I wasn’t ready. Jump scare bro. Like give a girl a heads up.

I’m sooooo excited for next episode!! I think it’s going to be one of the best yet. This episode was perfect in its changes and implications. It was a new take on what we’ve read and seen before and even tho some people are mad about it, you have to realize that they have to keep it new. They have to adjust and change and ADAPT! I knew what was going to happen but yet I didn’t and it kept it interesting to me. It was a job well done. Again, please comment or reblog with any other takes or add one because I love seeing everyone’s perspectives. Just please remember to be kind!

[nighttimeebony]

A collection of my thoughts, reactions, predictions and whatnot that I had and wrote down while I was reading The Sea of Monsters. So spoilers for that under the cut.

EDIT: part 1, part 3, part 4, part 5

Ah, I just now realized that Percy’s sword, Riptide, is another nod to his Poseidon heritage

Where the hell was this kind of school when I was Percy’s age? You don’t get grades, and you just get to blow shit up in science class?? I fucking wish

Tyson kind of reminds me of some of the special ed kids I knew in elementary school. Or kids with low-functioning autism. That’s probably what Percy figured, too, since he didn’t know that Tyson was a cyclops at first. Percy is such a sweetheart, and he does his best to treat Tyson kindly and to protect him from bullies. And he does it not to feel better about himself but because he wants Tyson to feel better. And he doesn’t just protect Tyson and leave him alone afterwards and hope he doesn’t talk to him. He genuinely considers Tyson to be one of his friends and he cares about him. I just. I love this kid.

Ah, yes. Tantalus. I remember you. Your son had sex with Percy’s dad.

I like that whenever Percy sees Grover in a wedding dress, he says nothing about the fact that Grover is a boy wearing a dress, he’s just like, “bro, that does not fit you at all, you need a size 9 at least before we can call it kosher”. I love these kids.

I like Silena Beauregard and Charles Beckendorf. I imagine that they're a couple, because it would be a cute reference to the fact that Aphrodite and Hephaestus are technically married. In a very crack shippy kind of way.

I just now realized that the name of Luke's sword (Backbiter) was foreshadowing for his inevitable betrayal. Backbiter is a term used to describe someone untrustworthy, or used to describe a traitor. It’s basically a synonym for “backstabber”. The trickster Norse god Loki is actually frequently referred to with the epithet Backbiter. It could also be a reference to the fact that Hermes is not only a trickster god, but also the god of liars and thieves, which would make sense considering that Luke is a son of Hermes.

Holy shit, Luke is trying to Voldemort this shit!

“‘Percy,’ Annabeth said, trying to keep her cool, ‘we’re going to Polyphemus’s island! Polyphemus is an S-i-k… a C-y-k…” She stamped her foot in frustration. As smart as she was, Annabeth was dyslexic, too. We could’ve been there all night while she tried to spell Cyclops.” I love this book.

Percy’s like, a donut shop in the middle of nowhere is a little weird, but donuts aren’t all that high on my list of threats to worry about. Percy, last book you were almost murdered by Medusa at a diner. I think you should know by now that free food is sketchy as hell when you’re you.

“‘I DON’T CARE WHAT IT SAID!’ Ares bellowed with such force that his image shimmered. ‘You will succeed. And if you don’t…’ He raised his fist. Even though he was only a figure in the steam, Clarisse flinched.” Oh, baby…

I think Clarisse should swear. She deserves it.

Annabeth talking about weaving and Athena’s skill with weaving specifically makes me wonder if we’re ever going to meet or get some other mention/reference to Arachne.

“‘But…’ Annabeth’s voice sounded hurt. ‘What’s wrong with my hair?’” Annabeth saying this broke my heart, but then I remembered that she’s going to be Black in that new live action series, and thinking about this scene with that context in mind hurt me even more considering how Black kids are often shamed and punished for their natural hair texture. I’m just imagining little Annabeth getting made fun of by other kids for her hair and teachers punishing her for being “dirty” or “ungroomed”, and then thinking about the way this cunt is manipulating Annabeth to feel like she’s lesser than because of it. That new live series Disney+ is making better not mess this up.

Holy shit, did C.C. also invent the concept of Instagram?? Why is she obliterating these thirteen-year-olds’ self-esteem???

Oh, because she’s a witch. Yup, Circe, that checks out

Amelia Earheart was a half-blood? I love that. Also, yes! Thank you for mentioning Atalanta, I adore her! She’s one of my favorite characters in Greek mytho-history.

Also, Blackbeard being a son of Ares makes way too much sense

Percy being good at sailing is amazing. Finding that one interest that’s very niche and obscure that’s almost useless in modern society and nailing the hell out of it is very neurodivergent of him and I’m so proud of him for that

“I looked over, expecting to see Annabeth, but the girl wasn’t Annabeth. She wore punk-style clothes with silver chains on her wrists. She had spiky black hair, dark eyeliner around her stormy blue eyes, and a spray of freckles across her nose. She looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure why.” Wait. Is that Thalia?

"'But… you're still getting married?' Grover sounded hurt." Grover, baby, he was going to kill you. This is not about you not being hot enough for him.

Annabeth calling herself Nobody to get Polyphemus's attention—I remember that myth; I read it in elementary school. I thought it was hysterical. It still is. Also Annabeth's burn game is on point.I didn’t know that that hero was Odysseus specifically, but now that I do, it makes a lot more sense.

By the way, isn’t Odysseus related to Poseidon? I can’t remember, but I could swear that Odysseus was a grandson of Poseidon… (two Google searches later). Nope, it was Hermes. He’s a grandson of Hermes, which, yeah, that makes more sense than Poseidon.

"'Not a traitor,' Tyson said. 'And you are not my kind.'" YES, BABY!!

Percabeth. Just Percabeth. I love these children and I love them together.

Percy is one of the best protagonists ever. When Polyphemus was crying and asking Percy not to kill him, Percy spared him. Not because Polyphemus didn't deserve to die, but because Percy didn't want to kill him and felt bad for him. He sympathizes with Clarisse when she's upset, even though she's insulting him and Annabeth is angry with her. He remembers the way Ares had treated her on the boat, and instead of yelling back at her, he treats her with kindness and patience. He lets her complete her quest and have the glory that comes with it, because Percy doesn’t care about getting recognized by the camp for what he did—he just wants the camp to be saved, and as long as the Fleece is delivered to do that, he doesn’t care how. I just. I love him so much. He's such a sweet kid.

I love that Annabeth is the bloodthirsty, petty one between her and Percy.

Holy shit, Tyson's watch thing!! Damn, Tyson!

Percy proudly calling Tyson his baby brother is everything to me.

I love that at this point in the story, Percy is only 13 and has canonically been wanted by the police on two separate occasions.

HOLY SHIT!!!!! THALIA'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!! I AM READY TO LOVE HER!!!!!!!!

[thepjoarchivist]

My Mother Teaches Me Bullfighting

This chapter starts off in a bad storm with Grover, Percy, and Sally in the Camaro. Percy says that he can’t see where they’re going but Sally can. She really is an interesting character and I’m not yet convinced that there isn’t something mythical going on with her. 

Percy is using the lightning to steal looks at Grover, who was revealed to be a satyr in the last chapter. Percy once again wonders if he’s insane. Percy reassures himself that Grover really is a mythical creature because Grover smells like wet wool and barnyard animals, which is a scent Percy remembers from the petting zoo when he was younger. Scents and smells seem to be a really big deal for Percy. He reacts very negatively to Gabe’s scent but finds Sally’s scent to be made of all “the best things in the world: chocolate, licorice, and all the other stuff she sold at the candy shop.” If I remember correctly, there was a part in chapter one about how Mrs. Dodds smelled too. It’s cool that RR uses scent so much in his writing. 

Percy wonders if Grover and Sally know each other and Grover’s answer doesn’t really satisfy me. 

“Not exactly,” he said. “I mean, we’ve never met in person. But she knew I was watching you. Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn’t faking being your friend,” he added hastily. “I am your friend.”

Some things stand out. First, Grover doesn’t say no to this question, and specifies that they haven’t met in person. Sally is also aware that someone is watching Percy, keeping tabs on him. Since this is a story about gods, I’m not surprised at all that someone is spying. 

What I would like to know is what Grover’s standard is for ‘okay’. Because Percy clearly isn’t okay. His home life isn’t okay, his school life isn’t okay, his social life isn’t okay. Grover already said that Percy is his mission, and he’s willing to gaslight Percy over a period of months, so I don’t believe that he is Percy’s friend. 

Percy changes the subject to Grover’s species and Grover tells him it doesn’t matter. Excuse me? What are you hiding from him?! Percy, he is not your friend. This liar doesn’t deserve to be your best friend. 

In this scene, Grover makes a noise that Percy always thought was a nervous laugh but turns out to be an irritated bleat. Now I wonder how often and what the context for this is. How many times was it directed at Percy? 

Percy’s only context for satyrs is learning about them from Mr. Brunner in class like they’re myths. Grover comes out and admits that the Fates and Mrs. Dodds were real, “of course”, and this just grinds my gears. Because Grover has been lying to Percy about both himself and traumatic events that happened to Percy, but now he’s treating Percy like he’s stupid. 

“Of course.” 

My goodness. 

“The less you knew, the fewer monsters you’d attract,” Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. “We put Mist over the human’s eyes. We hoped you’d think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are.” 

Not only is Grover still talking to Percy like he’s stupid, he’s also wrong. There was the snake and the cyclops, Mrs. Dodds the Fury, and ‘other weird, creepy stuff’ that were all attracted to Percy when he ‘knew nothing’ and it’s not like Percy suddenly knows himself. Percy Jackson does not ‘know who he is.’ I don’t live in a box, so I know this story is about demigods, but Percy is not anywhere near close to coming to this conclusion. He knows nothing, to the point that his brain actively tries to forget all of the unsettling things that happen to him. If knowledge attracts monsters, then I just don’t know how he could attract any monsters when he simply doesn’t know anything. 

Percy asks who he is but no one tells him. I am noticing a theme here. Grover is more than happy to tell Percy that they’re being chased by “the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions.” 

How does Sally know Grover’s name?! 

Percy is mentally reeling. He knows he isn’t dreaming and he thinks he isn’t creative enough to come up with this on his own. I think he could if he took shrooms. 

Percy wants to know where they’re going and why but Sally begs him not to question it. 

“Those weren’t old ladies,” Grover said. “Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means - the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you’re about to…when someone’s about to die.” 

When Percy points out Grover said he [Percy] was going to die, Grover lies again and gaslights Percy about it. This is not best friend behavior. 

Sally is really going through it. I imagine it’s difficult to listen to your son talk about dying while you’re driving him somewhere you might never see him again, to escape a monster trying to kill him. 

She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she’d swerved to avoid - a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm. 

Grover and Sally ignore Percy asking what that was but I want to know too. Could it be another Fury? 

Sally is now praying to get to the camp on time. It’s making Percy even more antsy to get there. Percy is full of adrenaline making his limbs numb while he thinks of Mrs. Dodds and how she really wanted to kill him. He calls this delayed shock but he’s been having nightmares because of it, so I think this is actually a panic attack. That’s number two, so far, I think. 

The car exploded! No, it was struck by lightning and they crashed. 

Has anyone seen that PSA about wearing your seatbelt, where the person in the back seat of the car doesn’t wear their seatbelt and they crack open the  back of the passenger’s head with their forehead? It’s graphic so beware if you go searching for it (on youtube) but this scene where Percy peels his forehead off the driver’s seat headrest made me think of it. Thankfully, Sally seems to be just fine. 

Percy just described Grover as a “big motionless lump” and I wonder if taking off his human disguise made Grover less scrawny. Percy is worried Grover is dead and Grover only cares about food. I  guess that was a goats always eat joke but in the midst of a panic attack and a car accident, it falls very flat. 

A figure approaches! Percy’s skin is  crawling! A huge furry man with horns? That must be the Minotaur! Or Pan, but the chapter title leads me to believe it’s the Minotaur. Now all of the ominous distant bellowing makes sense. 

It’s so funny to me that Percy is looking at the broken roof as a second escape route rather than the passenger side door. 

Sally tells Percy to run to a pine tree on the crest of a hill because it’s the property line of the camp. But how does she know that? Has she been there before? She must have been if she’s picking one tree out of the whole forest. Sally’s eyes are sad when she looks at the ocean. Aw. 

Percy looks into his mom’s eyes and sees that she isn’t planning to come with him. Is she going to sacrifice herself? I will not be pleased if the mother is fridged. 

Grover, shut up. 

“He doesn’t want us,” my mother told me. “He wants you. Besides, I can’t cross the property line.” 

Why can’t she cross the property line? Am I wrong about her being part of the mythical world? Or maybe adults just aren’t allowed to cross? It would explain why Grover is only twelve and they couldn’t be bothered to send an adult to keep an eye on Percy. 

Percy gets mad about the whole situation and I feel like he doesn’t know that he’s allowed to be mad on his own behalf. So far, Percy has been angry about how Grover and Sally are treated, but he hasn’t been angry about how he’s been treated. Even now, Percy’s anger is because he doesn’t want his mom and Grover to be hurt. 

One minute Grover is scrawny, the next he’s a big lump, now he’s surprisingly light. 

Percy, what are you doing reading Muscle Man magazine you naughty boy? The Minotaur is wearing white underwear in the rain and Percy takes the time to not only mention how bright white they are, but what brand they are? Spending a lot of time looking at the Minotaur’s junk, Percy. 

Oh the Minotaur has a nose ring. Sexy. I love that this monster is just a bunch of ‘ceps’ and fur. 

It hurts that Percy still thinks this is a hallucination. He’s in denial about this being reality. Sally knows about the Minotaur but she calls him Pasiphae’s son and won’t let Percy say his name either. My problem with this is that the Minotaur’s name is actually Asterion. Minotaur is his species. If saying the species name aloud summons them or whatever, then are there a bunch of satyrs hiding in the bushes? 

“Don’t say his name,” she warned. “Names have power.” 

The Minotaur is looking for them by the car. I think the use of the word nuzzling is an interesting choice that RR made when he describes how the Minotaur is searching for them. Imagine Percy in the car and the Minotaur just nuzzles him. What do you even do? 

HA! I knew the Camaro wasn’t going to make it to the end of the book. The gas tank exploded? Wow. That’s pretty intense. 

Sally gives her son the instructions for bullfighting. Roll credits, the chapter is over. Nice reading with you everyone. 

Just kidding. 

I wonder if she studied how to defeat the Minotaur specifically or just bulls. Because the Minotaur has been alive for thousands of years, and has been under attack for a lot of that time. He’s also half human, which means he’s got at least some intelligence in that brain of his. I’m not sure that this is going to work.

Sally has apparently been worried about the Minotaur attacking them for a long time. She says she should have expected this and that she was selfish for keeping Percy near her. 

Percy disagrees that Sally kept him near her and I’ve got to agree with Percy here. 

The ground is steeper and slicker, and Grover is pretty heavy, but Percy is only worried about how tired his mom must be getting. He’s such a sweet boy. 

Percy and Sally split up, with Sally taking Grover. The Minotaur chases after Percy because Sally was right when she said he was only interested in Percy. Percy is so scared but he makes himself stand his ground. The trick that Sally taught him worked but now the Minotaur is going after Sally and Grover. 

Apparently, Sally was wrong. Sally is going away from the camp, trying to lead the Minotaur away from Grover, and he’s following her. Just like he was following Percy. This leads me to believe that there’s more to Sally than meets the eye. The evidence is stacking up. Interesting that when Sally tries to do the same trick, it doesn’t work. I’m not sure why it worked for Percy because the Minotaur is so old. Unless Percy wasn’t his target. 

Percy sees the Minotaur catch his mom. That must be terrifying. The Minotaur holds Sally up by the neck. Sally is kicking and hitting the Minotaur, trying to get away. Oh. Sally turned into a shimmering golden light. I KNEW SHE WAS MAGIC! Where did she go? 

Percy’s mad about it though. 

Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs – the same rush of energy I’d gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons. 

That is not what happened when Mrs. Dodds grew talons. As a reminder, this is what Percy felt when Mrs. Dodds grew talons: 

With a yelp, I dodged and felt talons slash the air next to my ear. 

My knees were jelly. My hands were shaking so bad I almost dropped the sword.

Absolute terror ran through my body. I did the only thing that came naturally: I swung the sword.

What Percy is experiencing right now is an adrenaline rush. The Minotaur goes from Sally to Grover and is about to kill him. 

Percy strips off his red rain jacket - that is such a cute detail - and uses it to distract the Minotaur. He calls it ‘stupid’ and ‘ground beef’. He’s so cute. Those are such little kid insults. His plan is to have the Minotaur run into the pine tree and get caught there, so Percy could grab Grover and run. 

But it doesn’t happen like that! 

The Minotaur is too fast and…time slows down. Literally or figuratively? 

Percy does a cool trick that involves jumping on the Minotaur’s face and spinning in the air and then landing on his neck. That must be one thick neck. I love that Percy has no idea how he did that. Oh crap the Minotaur hits the pine tree anyway and nearly knocks Percy’s teeth out. Percy is riding on the Minotaur’s back, thinking about the various ways that the Minotaur can hurt or kill him. 

Grover will not shut up about food. 

Before the Minotaur can attack Grover, Percy rips a horn off of the Minotaur. Bull horns have blood in them and can bleed a lot when broken but there appears to be no blood. Percy is thrown off and lands flat on his back. He hits his head on a rock. Ouch. Poor boy. His vision is blurry when he sits up. Well, no wonder. 

When the Minotaur attacks him again, Percy rolls to the side and stabs the Minotaur in the side with his own horn, angling upward under the ribcage. The Minotaur crumbles into sand and is blown away in the wind. I thought it was raining. Shouldn’t it be like clumps of mud? 

I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief. I’d just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held onto Grover - I wasn’t going to let him go. 

Oh, poor Percy. The one semi-good person in his world is gone. Now he’s stuck with Grover the Liar. No wonder he wants to just curl up and cry. I can’t imagine the heartbreak. My heart hurts so much for him. 

I can’t believe Percy carried Grover half a mile up a hill and into a valley, all the way to the farmhouse. He’s very strong. I’m very impressed. 

A familiar-looking bearded man? Is that Mr. Brunner? The man with the beard? The gaslighter who abandoned Percy to the Fury? I was wondering who the we was that Grover was talking about. 

There’s also a pretty girl with blonde princess curls. Who thinks that Percy is some kind of chosen one. 

“Silence, Annabeth,” the man said. “He’s still conscious. Bring him inside.” 

Oh, this is definitely Mr. Brunner. 

Well, that’s all for chapter four. Thanks for reading with me. 

[lovetheworld-harrypottergirl]

Percy Jackson & The Olympians : The Lightning Theif

Chapter 4 - MY MOTHER TEACHES ME BULLFIGHTING 

We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. I didn't know how my mom could see anything, but she kept her foot on the gas. 

Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Grover sitting next to me in the backseat and I wondered if I'd gone insane, or if he was wearing some kind of shag-carpet pants. But, no, the smell was one I remembered from kindergarten field trips to the petting zoo — lanolin, like from wool. The smell of a wet barnyard animal. 

All I could think to say was, "So, you and my mom . . . know each other?" 

Grover's eyes flitted to the rearview mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you." 

"Watching me?" 

"Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend." 

"Urn . . . what are you, exactly?" 

" That doesn't matter right now." 

"It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a freaking donkey- " 

Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!" 

I'd heard him make that sound before, but I'd always assumed it was a nervous laugh. Now I realized it was more of an irritated bleat. 

"Goat!" he cried. 

"What?" 

"I'm a goat from the waist down." 

"You just said it didn't matter." 

"Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you underhoof for such an insult!" 

"Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like . . . Mr. Brunner's myths?" 

"Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?" 

"So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!" 

"Of course." 

"Then why—" 

"The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a 

hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are." 

"Who I — wait a minute, what do you mean?" 

The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail. 

"Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety." 

"Safety from what? Who's after me?" 

"Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions." 

"Grover!" 

"Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?" 

I tried to wrap my mind around what was happening, but I couldn't do it. I knew this wasn't a dream. I had no imagination. I could never dream up something this weird. 

My mom made a hard left. We swerved onto a narrower road, racing past darkened farmhouses and wooded hills and PICK YOUR OWN STRAWBERRIES signs on white picket fences. 

"Where are we going?" I asked. 

"The summer camp I told you about." My mother's voice was tight; she was trying for my sake not to be scared. "The place your father wanted to send you." 

"The place you didn't want me to go." 

"Please, dear," my mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger." 

"Because some old ladies cut yarn." 

"Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means — the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to . . . when someone's about to die." 

"Whoa. You said 'you.'" 

"No I didn't. I said 'someone.'" 

"You meant 'you.' As in me." 

"I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you." 

"Boys!" my mom said. 

She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid — a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm. 

"What was that?" I asked. 

"We're almost there," my mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please." 

I didn't know where there was, but I found myself leaning forward in the car, anticipating, wanting us to arrive. 

Outside, nothing but rain and darkness — the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. I thought about Mrs. Dodds and the moment when she'd changed into the thing with pointed teeth and leathery wings. My limbs went numb from delayed shock. She really hadn't been human. She'd meant to kill me. 

Then I thought about Mr. Brunner . . . and the sword he had thrown me. Before I could ask Grover about that, the hair rose on the back of my neck. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom! and our car exploded. 

I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. 

I peeled my forehead off the back of the driver's seat and said, "Ow." 

"Percy!" my mom shouted. 

"I'm okay. . . ." 

I tried to shake off the daze. I wasn't dead. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver 's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in. 

Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to me in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!" 

He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. I shook his furry hip, thinking, No! Even if you are half barnyard animal, you're my best friend and I don't want you to die! 

Then he groaned "Food," and I knew there was hope. 

"Percy," my mother said, "we have to . . ." Her voice faltered. 

I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns. 

I swallowed hard. "Who is — " 

"Percy," my mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car." 

My mother threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. 

Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking. 

"Climb out the passenger's side!" my mother told me. "Percy — you have to run. Do you see that big tree?" 

"What?" 

Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill. 

"That's the property line," my mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door." 

"Mom, you're coming too." 

Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean. 

"No!" I shouted. "You are coming with me. Help me carry Grover." 

"Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder. 

The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. 

As he got closer, I realized he couldn 't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands — huge meaty hands — were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head . . . was his head. And the points that looked like horns . . . 

"He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line." 

"But . . ." 

"We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please." 

I got mad, then — mad at my mother, at Grover the goat, at the thing with horns that was lumbering toward us slowly and deliberately like, like a bull. 

I climbed across Grover and pushed the door open into the rain. "We're going together. Come on, Mom." 

"I told you—" 

"Mom! I am not leaving you. Help me with Grover." 

I didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, dragging Grover from the car. He was surprisingly light, but I couldn't have carried him very far if my mom hadn't come to my aid. 

Together, we draped Graver's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass. 

Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine — bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear — I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms — which would 've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. 

His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns — enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener. 

I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories Mr. Brunner told us. But he couldn't be real. 

I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's — " 

"Pasiphae's son," my mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you." 

"But he's the Min— " 

"Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power." 

The pine tree was still way too far — a hundred yards uphill at least. 

I glanced behind me again. 

The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows — or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away. 

"Food?" Grover moaned. 

"Shhh," I told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?" 

"His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough." 

As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded. 

Not a scratch, I remembered Gabe saying. 

Oops. 

"Percy," my mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way — directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?" 

"How do you know all this?" 

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me." 

"Keeping me near you? But — " 

Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tramping uphill. 

He'd smelled us. 

The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker, and Grover wasn't getting any lighter. 

The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. 

My mother must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Separate! Remember what I said." 

I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right — it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, turned, and saw the creature bearing down on me. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat. 

He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest. 

The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun this thing. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, I jumped to the side. 

The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward me this time, toward my mother, who was setting Grover down in the grass. 

We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as my mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. 

We'd never make it. 

The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing my mother, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover. 

"Run, Percy!" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!" 

But I just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air. 

"Mom!" 

She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!" 

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around my mother's neck, and she dissolved before my eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if she were a holographic projection. 

A blinding flash, and she was simply . . . gone. 

"No!" 

Anger replaced my fear. Newfound strength burned in my limbs — the same rush of energy I'd gotten when Mrs. Dodds grew talons. 

The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling my best friend, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too. 

I couldn't allow that. 

I stripped off my red rain jacket. 

"Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!" 

"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward me, shaking his meaty fists. 

I had an idea — a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and waved my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd jump out of the way at the last moment. 

But it didn't happen like that. 

The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge. 

Time slowed down. 

My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, so I leaped straight up, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck. 

How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out. 

The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake me. I locked my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils. 

The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward. 

Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off. 

"Food!" Grover moaned. 

The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. I thought about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother, made her disappear in a flash of light, and rage filled me like high-octane fuel. I got both hands around one horn and I pulled backward with all my might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then — snap! 

The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry, but I had a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife. 

The monster charged. 

Without thinking, I rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, I drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage. 

The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate — not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart. 

The monster was gone. 

The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief. I'd just seen my mother vanish. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover, needing my help, so I managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying, calling for my mother, but I held on to Grover — I wasn't going to let him go. 

The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her h/c curled like a princess's. They both looked down at me, and the girl said, 

"He's the one. He must be." 

"Silence, Y/n," the man said. "He's still conscious. Bring him inside." 

[phantaloon-books]

Things about Tower of Nero that I want to highlight to remember them forever:

Lu being an absolute badass woman, I just love her too much

Piper McClean being canon wlw, she was actually kissing another girl, we really fell in love in october

Chaos being canonically female (just chaos being mentioned as a deity rather than what's below tartarus)

nobody DIED, like no one on the good side at least?? yes plenty of beings have died throughout TOA, but nobody died in TON?? so many died in TLO and BOO, I expected to mourn someone and I didn't have too??! it made me so happy

solangelo. that's it. solangelo makes me happy.

will being incredibly supportive of nico, and instead of stopping him, going with him on dangerous adventures because he doesn't want to leave him alone. also them treating Nico's PTSD for what it is

WILL SOLACE CANONICALLY GLOWS IN THE DARK. HE'S A GLOWSTICK BABY.

also will just appearing at the gates of the throne room, glowing in rage because someone touched his boyfriend (and tried to kill his dad), and him just marching through everyone (everyone else letting him), just to pick up his hurt precious boyfriend and take care of him.

meg McCaffrey got her happy ending. she's baby, she deserves her family and her happy ending. also Lu being the mother and the 12 children being siblings?? that's one hell of a way to tell nero to fuck off and right his mistakes. we love meg.

dionysus being the best olympian after apollo. the duo content we needed, and now will never get

nico mentioning bob and how he wants to go look for him, because he can still be in tartarus

rachel still being a Total badass and hitting people in the eye with her blue hairbrush thus being iconic

meg acting as lester's anchor and only reason why he didn't let go of the ledge, not falling into chaos, is top tier 'reasons why I cried reading', because if you think about it, Meg is the first ever friend apollo ever had, and them being best friends is everything to me

also apollo choosing to go looking as lester rather than apollo because lester feels like home is on top tier 'reasons why I cried reading' too

again, the only thing apollo did in the end (once he was god again) that could be described as 'godly' was be in several places at once, fly his chariot, and get meg her unicorn

but apollo shooting fucking fire out of his hands is crazy asf, it was so cool. he really got amazing godly powers this book.

rick being bold enough to showcase abusive parenting knowing that a huge porcentage of his readers are minors, helping many realize that they could be in abusive households, and giving them a tool to reach out for help

apollo defeating nero was so satisfactory, because you realize in the end, that nero wasn't really a monster, he was monstrous, but still very much human (if only with some godly power), and pretty useless once he couldn't hide behind props and weapons, his being wasn't powerful, he was just under layers of protection

the jackson/blofis scene was so warm and loving, they really are willing to put their family in danger, baby estelle in danger, to help 'percy's friends' even tho she knew percy didn't like apollo, but she still takes in everyone who needs help, and paul being a loving and accepting husband

sally working on her SECOND novel, she really is having her best life

none of the big heroes from other series having protagonism, besides nico and will, instead giving the other kids from camp halfblood their chance to show they're just as worthy as the "heroes of olympus"

(still I would have loved to see a scene with everyone else, like the heroes of olympus guys, fighting together one last time, just for nostalgia's sake - I legit hoped to see percy and annabeth arriving with chiron in triumvirate tower, but yeah)

the arrow of dodona may have been a dumb, cringey, and slightly ridiculous thing at first, and I personally rolled my eyes everytime it said anything, but it knew what would happen from the start, and without its sacrifice, apollo would have achieved nothing. we stan one arrow

nico wearing a white cowboy hat. idky but it makes my heart swell with joy. he a gay cowboy

y'all know I love Apollo's arch, and I just gotta point this out. his trials, his time as lester, started with him falling to earth, and ended with him getting up after purposely throwing himself off the earth, towards tartarus, almost falling to chaos. that's really clever writing.

the olympians watching over him, and some actually being concerned for him rather than his progress.

poseidon not really giving a fuck about the world or council meetings anymore because percy's not there anymore

athena being the only one apart from artemis who trusted apollo could do it makes me warm fsr

lester deciding that the best way to retell his adventures is by singing is hilarious to me, he really thinks it'll solve everything

Grover not telling percy and annabeth jason died seems so funny to me, he really said "nah it doesn't matter much, field trip, yes"

"hey man" my heart broke in twenty million pieces. like I don't know where I expected to see jason. but that wasn't it. and it hurt me as much as it hurt apollo man.

(also I kinda hoped we would see nico summon his spirit or smth, but I'm actually happy nico realized that jason went by his own choice, and he was in peace, so he decided not to summon him, because it was alright. that hurt too)

kinda love how lester passes out after literally every battle. it reminds you that even tho he's apollo, his body isn't. I'm sure we all would pass out too if we did a quarter of what lester did in the span of 4 days. his body isn't made to endure that, it doesn't even have a halfblood endurance, it's a weak mortal body

the trogs were fucking hilarious. their screeches and grrs, idk there's something ridiculous and so childish about them, it's so fun

really happy that apollo never had a /real/ love interest (reyna doesn't count), cause that wasn't what his story was about. instead he got to make so many friends, and have quality time with them and his children, it's amazing

apollo being thankful people were telling him he'd grown, and was more human, because he realized that was the best thing he could have learned from his time as a mortal

also him saying fuck you man to zeus and his speech, like "no asshole dad, I did learn, I'm not going to see this as punishment, it was a great time in which bad things happened but I enjoyed it." yes, we love apollo not letting zeus win

getting to see what everyone will do now. nico and will figuring out rachel's prophecy, probs saving bob. rachel living her best life away from her parents. leo doing what leo does, always helping those who have no one else. the hunters' open storyline about this fox, possibly hinting at content? piper settling down in a quiet life is what she deserves tbh, she's earned quiet life with a cute gf, wish her the best. Frank and hazel being the best praetors, and I bet they will continue to be so. And annabeth and percy, who chose their happiness over all, at last

kinda wish we got to see someone still really miss jason after apollo becomes god again tho lmao like apollo missed jason more than the others, nico and piper being the exception. I mean, leo is fine and dandy, hazel and frank are okay, percy and annabeth are done mourning... I just we got to see any of them really mourning, rather than reading they mourned. it would have made it feel more emotional

the last conversation and the last words in general. "the sun always comes back" and "we're friends now. call on me. I'll be there for you" that shit got me sobbing my heart out. rick really managed to do right by the books and end it like he should have, unlike BOO. he took what made TLO good and used a similar formula. it's very different from "and for once I didn't look back", but it still fills you with warmth and the feeling that even though it's over, it's okay.

I'm just really emotional, this is all I can think about, but you bet I'm gonna add more when I remember

[abt-rampicanti]

The two of us and the fireflies

Characters: Percy Jackson x Avril Dacklot

Oc is a child of Hades and uses she/her pronouns

A/N: Hi! It's been a while since I've posted something, but here we are. This writing is really important to me and I hope you like it!

Dual Pov

Avril Dacklot

After everything that happened, sitting on the bench in Camp Half-blood hill staring at nothing was probably the best thing that could happen to me.

Obviously, going to the fireworks beach and looking and staring at the water would be more calming, but that place was full of memories, and I didn’t exactly want to remember them all. Don’t get me wrong, they aren’t bad memories, they’re mostly confusing and I am already confused enough on my own.

Fragments of the events of the past weeks surfaced in my mind.

"I can't stand living three hours without you, your obsession with plants and all your coffee mugs. So, if you're going to die, you're going to bring me with you"

Why would he tell me that just to act as nothing happened?

Oh no, no, no. I came here to avoid thinking of the topic, not to have a mental conversation about it.

See, that’s why I hate the night. It forces you to face all the thoughts that you so hardly tried to put aside during the day, busying yourself with tons of activities. All of that comes back, and you can’t escape it anymore, because you can’t do any activity in the middle of the night, and even if you found something to do, you would still end up with your mind wandering about that thing, and if haven’t been clear enough, I do not want to think about it, or he, both of them work.

Percy Jackson

I’m officially screwed.

Well, not in a the-minotaur-is-attacking-me-and-it-seems-angrier-than-usual-di-immortales-what-do-I-do, but in an oh-my-gods-my-best friend-of-years-kissed-me-(twice!)-and-I-am-a-fool-for-not-letting-her-know-how-I-feel. But if I had to be honest, if me not being clear about my feelings has hurt Avril in every way, I’d rather be chased by the minotaur.

I don’t think I’d forgive myself if I were to know that she’s been through any kind of pain because of something I did. She didn’t deserve it.

Yesterday, I messed up badly. I didn’t react how I should have, and Avril misunderstood my not reacting for lack of interest. Which wasn’t/isn’t/never will be true.

I'm hers. She might not be mine (although I honestly hope she’d like to be), but I certainly am hers. People expect me to be the one who wears the pants, but with her? No. If she told me to wait for her, I would do it. If she told me to kill myself so that she could be happy, I'd do that too. She's got me in a chokehold, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

And I wasn’t able to tell her that yesterday. Because my brain was melted into a puddle and she was in front of me, lips slightly parted and cheeks flushed and her brown eyes weren’t cold anymore, they looked soft, warm and welcoming and I didn’t know what to do: she’s so amazing and she deserves the world, the universe and all that and I am just Percy. I am the idiot that blinked dumbly when the girl of his dreams implied that she liked him too.

And I’m so angry because when Grover called me, I left her there and avoided her for the rest of the day. Rightfully, she ignored me too, and even though I understood the reasons behind it, I’ve never felt more miserable, because you know when it's June, and you've just woken up; the windows are open and you can feel the sunlight on your face: you're happy because it embraces you with a warmth so gentle that it reminds you of home? Well, that's how being with her felt like for me, and suddenly I wasn’t able to experience all that anymore. Quick as a summer’s night, my main serotonin provider had stopped working, and I had full knowledge that it was my fault.

I wonder where Avril is now. Maybe she is in Cabin 13 with Nico and Hazel, sleeping (although I doubt it, she never sleeps) or maybe talking about random things. Or, if life has decided to make me lucky, Avril is near Half-blood hill, doing the-gods-know-what.

I should test my luck and go find her. Maybe she’ll reject me and yell at me, or maybe she is in her Cabin. Anyway, I decided to give it a try.

In a bit of rush (how can you not be when there’s your crush outside and you have a chance to confess your unconditional love to her), I got off my bed, put my shoes on and hurried out of Cabin 3, not without tripping over some textbook I left on the floor.

After tiptoeing all along the path that runs along the Lake, which I then crossed quietly (good-old-godly-genetics), I tried to be as little visible as possible (no one wants to become food for Harpies) as I passed Big House and the volleyball courts to reach Half-Blood Hill. I got distracted and stepped on some dry leaves, which, of course, rustled not so quietly. I then proceeded to cuss not so silently, either.

Avril Dacklot

A rustle of leaves startled me, and put me out of my train of thoughts, forcing me to look in the direction of the sound, while also preparing to shadow-travel, in case it was a Harpy.

It wasn’t. The thing that made that sound was a person, and thanks to the moonlight, I was able to recognise them easily. It was Percy, of course.

Saying that him being here didn’t faze me, would be lying. The thing was, though, that I didn’t know how to feel; on one hand, I was happy he was here because we would be able to talk, on the other hand, however, I was very annoyed about the fact that he intruded my space, and I didn’t want to talk to him, about anything.

It’s not that I’m angry at him or something, and I enjoy late-night talks with Percy, he’s my best friend for crying out loud! The problem was that he confused me, leaving me hanging, and I didn’t know how to react. Because I think I love him, and I don't know how to deal with that. How do you just allow someone to have your entire heart and live with the knowledge that they may break it? That at any moment, they might decide you're not worth it?

What if he does? What if he realises that there are so many people better than me, that would be better friends, too? He might choose to leave me, then, and he wouldn’t even be wrong. But this whole situation scares the living hell out of me, I don’t want to lose him, there is no me without him. I don't know what I would do if we were to part.

Pfft… We’re getting too sentimental here, and I don’t do feelings. No, I don’t.

Well, maybe sometimes. When I’m dancing, or playing the piano, or writing, but for the rest of the time? No, not at all.

I am programmed to be successful: be the best in school, be the best at dancing, win everything there is to be won. When you live like that, there is no room for sentimentalism. Feelings distract you, make you lose your focus, make you weak and make you fail. I can’t let that happen, I don’t need a break, I need to thrive, to succeed, and if I need to sacrifice everything for that, I probably will. I am aware of the fact that nothing comes for free. If I fail, I’ll fall apart.

People come to me not because I’m funny, or pretty, or empathetic, they do that because they want something, could it be notes, or help with a specific topic, or homework, even.

Being good in school is all I have, what gives me a place among all the others, the only thing that makes me feel seen. I want to make history. Have a place in it, at least. If I have to live, I want it to matter, I want to have an impact on the future. If I don’t manage to do that, what will I become? Will people still value me, when I don’t succeed anymore? Or will I be just another someone that got lost on the way to achievement? Will I be forgotten? Will I be just someone’s daughter? Someone’s friend? Someone’s sidekick? Who knows the answer? I certainly don’t, and I don’t want to discover it. So, I try my best to not let that happen; I keep going, getting straight As, taking notes even when I’m too tired to, just so I can look like the perfect student. I refuse to feel tired, stressed, sad: to be like that you have to be numb, or you might get lost in yourself.

Well, I believe I’m doing some great work, there. So much that people don’t even bother asking me how I’m feeling before requesting help in school.

Even now, after all these years, I’m still surprised by the audacity of men: while I was busy analysing the mysteries of humanity, Percy managed to sit next to me.

I guess I can’t run anymore.

Percy Jackson

After she acknowledged my presence, I sat next to her.

You could see the tension between us, and I think I would have been able to touch it, too.

That didn’t really help with my anxiety.

“Hey”, Avril just hums in response, but it’s still an answer, so I’ll take it as a victory.

“Ehm, do you mind if I …” “What? No, of course not”

Oh, thank the gods

It was a pretty good start, I suppose. She didn’t shout, yell, or cuss at me, and she didn’t even tell me to leave. I couldn’t see her face really well, but I think she kept glancing my way as if expecting me to say something.

Not one to disappoint, I took the hint. “Listen, I want to talk”, Avril turned her head to face me, so I decided to keep going, “I made a mistake”

“Did you?”

“Yeah."

“Alright.”

That didn’t go as expected. Now I was really starting to panic: Avril didn’t seem to want to engage in a conversation with me, and things were going to be way more difficult.

“This evening, I should have acted differently and-”

“Percy, it doesn’t matter, really”

“No. No, it does matter, Avril”

“I’m telling you, it doesn’t. It’s all right, I get it. It’s absolutely normal, things like that happen, but that’s how life goes-”

“Di Immortales Avril, would you listen to me for a second?”

“Yeah, right sorry”

“What I’m trying to say, is that I shouldn’t have chickened out and I should have discussed it with you instead of running off to Grover as soon as I got the chance. I know that it wasn’t the best way to act” Avril faked a cough, “Ok, it was the worst way to act, but I’m trying to do things right now if you want me to”

Avril didn’t answer that. Instead, she took my hand and squeezed it. It felt nice, like extremely nice, like full-on mind-blowing-my-heart-is-going-to-explode nice, but I can’t say I wasn’t having the time of my life, sitting there holding her hand. Not for the first time tonight, I turned to look at her, and suddenly my breath got caught in my throat: I had never seen anything prettier. Her eyes were pointed to the stars above us, and I was sure that even those, looking down to a sight so amazing, shone a little brighter.

I must have been staring for quite a long time, because Avril turned her head towards me and said, very romantically: “What?”, so I answered, still very romantically: “Nothing”.

We went back to being silent, and that felt amazing, too. It wasn’t awkward, or tense, it just held the knowledge that I was there and she was there too, that we were comfortable together, without needing to have a conversation of any kind, that it was just the two of us, and the fireflies.

After a few minutes of looking into the universe’s secrets, Avril broke the silence, “Do you want to know something?”, “If you’re the one who’s telling it, obviously I do”, “Well, I've never believed in the concept of the other half, I've always thought that everybody was whole on their own, that there was no need for company." I probably looked at her with curiosity on my face, brows furrowed and head slightly tilted: I had no idea of where this was going, "And Now? What happened?" "Then I met you. I’m really glad I did".

Oh. Avril certainly has a way to make someone feel special, giving them random information about how her view of the world has changed thanks to them, and, apparently, she always manages to leave you at loss for words. Loss for words or not, I forced myself to say something, trying to express to her at least an ounce of how much I was glad to have her, but before I managed to finish, Avril interrupted me again, "Don't you dare say something heartfelt, if you always try and succeed in being nice, when do I get my moment to be in the spotlight?" You always are to me, I wanted to say, but I decided against it, squeezing her hand instead, hoping she would get the message.

Things were going smoothly, we haven’t talked about that whole “thing” yet, but it’s alright: we’re taking it slow, and we weren’t forcing anything.

It was no easy fall, being with Avril, whether it was a friendship or something more: that girl was the most closed-off person I’ve ever met as if she had taken her heart, storing it in a box, locked it and thrown away the key, surrounding said box with tall and thick walls, bordered by traps and a lava pit. It’s a shame, really: that girl certainly has an ego the size of the Pacific Ocean, but she undoubtedly has a heart to match it, although she would deny it even on her death bed.

Avril’s voice brought me out of my thoughts once again, “What are you thinking about? I can feel you getting all philosophical and stuff”

“Nothing. Besides, aren’t you doing the same thing?”,

“Me? Thinking? No, absolutely not, never done that before”.

We both turned to face each other, and then Avril started laughing. Not a chuckle, or a shy giggle, but a burst of whole laughter, the one that makes your eyes crinkle at the corners. It made sparkles ignite inside me, the sound full, warm and so, so, Avril.

After she stopped laughing (and I had to force myself to not be sad for not being able to hear that sound anymore), Avril asked me if I would reattach her head if it was ever cut off, and since it was an absurd question, my answer was: “Why are you asking me that?”

Avril, very eloquently, said that it was ‘because she wanted to’, and seeing that she expected an answer, and given that I have no knowledge about how that works, the only thing that I was able to say was “You're the architect here, not me.”, which of course was a stupid answer, but it was the only thing I could manage.

Avril, however, wasn’t taken aback by my lack of answering skills, and what she replied surprised me even more than the question itself, “Yeah, but if I'll ever end up in the need to get my head reattached, I'd want you to be the one to do it”.

I didn’t know how to answer that. I mean, all those little remarks and all that teasing were easy to answer, but such unexpected and genuine heart-felt sentences weren’t something I was used to, at least, not when talking to Avril, not that I minded, of course.

We were still facing each other and we were still holding hands, so my amazing brain decided to make me shoot my shot, “We could kiss right now”.

Avril surprised me again, “We could have kissed when you first sat a few hours ago, too”.

What’s that supposed to mean? Should I kiss her? Should I give her some distance? Should I throw myself off this cliff?

My thoughts were interrupted when I felt Avril shift closer to me. I took the hint.

I’ve watched my fair share of rom-coms, with my mother mostly, and there they describe every kiss very vividly so that it seems amazing and breath-taking. You always end up believing them, setting some extremely high standards that never, in no situation, anybody would be able to meet.

Now, take those high standards, multiply them for ten, and you’ll know how kissing Avril (as in kissing for real, with my hands caressing her cheeks and her arms around my neck) felt for me.

Unfortunately, humans get out of breath, so we had to part, not ready to let such a mind-blowing feeling go, trying to prolong it as much as possible, I rested my forehead against hers, basking in the feeling of having her so close, even if just for a short time.

The rest of the night passed in a blur. I remember walking Avril back to her cabin and kissing her goodnight and then almost getting caught by the Harpies because I was too busy doing a little victory dance to care about them.

I have no idea about how you’re supposed to act when you’re dating someone, well, I do know how two people act when they’re dating, but nobody has ever published something between the lines of “How to date Avril Dacklot: a step-to-step guide for beginners”, because that girl certainly deserved the world, and I don’t know how to act. So, if you were to ask me, no, I have no idea of what I'm doing.

But this morning Avril saw me at breakfast, smiled and then kissed me, so I'd say that I'm doing it amazingly. If s she’s happy, smiles when she sees me, and I can get to hug or kiss her sometimes, I’ll believe that I’m doing a great job. Also, I doubt that Avril wouldn’t kick my butt if I ever didn’t.

What about me, you say? As long as I have her, and as long as I know that she’s aware of the fact that she has me, too, you can be sure that I’ll be out here living my best life.

I don’t know if the Fates had something else planned for me, but honestly, I don't even care. Not even the end of the world could make me change my mind about being with her.

[thewidowsghost]

Daughter of the Sea - Chapter 3

Series Masterlist

Main Masterlist

(Y/n)'s POV

I remember feeling weightless, like I'm being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time.

I sit, dazed, my head pressed against the dashboard as blood runs down my face.

"(Y/n)!" I hear Mom yell; I feel Mom's hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me.

"I - I'm okay," I croak, leaning back against my seat, trying to shake off my daze.

I notice that we had swerved into a ditch. The driver's-side doors are wedged in the mud and the roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain is pouring in.

"Percy, (Y/n)," Mom says, "we have to . . ." her voice falters.

I look back, blood dribbling down the side of my head. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-splattered rear windshield, I see a figure lumbering towards us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of whatever it is makes my skin crawl. It is a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seems to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half is bulky and fuzzy. His raised hands make it look like he had horns.

"Who is -" Percy asks.

"Percy, (Y/n)," Mom says, deadly serious. "Get out of the car."

Mom throws herself against the driver's side door. It is jammed in the mud. I try my door, but it's stuck too. I look desperately at the hole in the roof. It might be an exit, but the eyes are sizzling and smoking.

"Climb out Percy's door!" Mom tells me, Percy already having pulled the unconscious Grover from the car. "You have to run! Do you see that big tree?"

"What?" I ask, and blood drips down onto my arm.

Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I see the tree she meant: a huge, White House sized Christmas tree - sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill.

"That's the property line," Mom says. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door."

"Mom, you're coming too."

Mom's face is pale, her eyes as sad as when she looks at the ocean.

"You are coming with us," I argue.

The man with the blanket on his head creeps towards us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he gets closer, I realize he can't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands - his huge meaty hands - are swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. That means the bulky, fuzzy mass that is too big to be his head . . . is his head. And the points that look like horns . . .

"He doesn't want us," Mom tells me. "He wants you and Percy. Besides, I can't cross the property line."

"But . . ."

"We don't have time (Y/n)," Mom says, and I catch her watery eyes. "Go. Please."

I get mad then, mad at Mom, mad at Grover, who Percy is having to drag up the hill, and mad at the thing that is lumbering towards us slowly and deliberately like a bull.

I climb into the backseat of the car, tugging Mom's arm. "We're all going together," I say. "Come on, Mom."

"I told you -"

"Mom!" I look into Mom's sea-green eyes that match mine and Percy's. "I am not leaving you."

I scramble out of the car, pulling Mom with me, and I turn to look at the monster. He is seven feet tall, easily, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine - bulging biceps and triceps. He wears no clothes except a pair of bright white Fruit of the Looms - which would've looked funny except the top half of his body is terrifying. Coarse brown hair starts at his belly button and gets thicker as it reaches his shoulders. His neck is a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which has a snout as long at my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns - enormous black-and-white horns with points that you just can't get form one of those electric pencil sharpeners.

I recognize the monster, but he can't be real.

I blink the rain out of my eyes. "That's the -"

"Pasiphae's son," my mother says. "I wish I'd known had badly they wanted to kill you and Percy."

"But he's the Min -"

"Don't say his name," she warms. "Names have power."

The pine tree is too far away, a hundred yards uphill at least. Percy was halfway up the hill, still struggling with Grover the saytr.

I glance behind me again.

The Minotaur hunches over our car, looking in the windows - or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I'm not sure why he bothers, since we're more than fifty feet away.

I give Mom a slight push, and the two of us start up the hill towards Percy and Grover. Mom takes one of Grover's arms, and Percy takes the other, and I look back down the hill.

The Minotaur bellows with rage. He picks up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raises the car over his head and throws it down the road. It slams into the wet asphalt and skids in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank explodes.

Not a scratch! I remember Gabe saying. Oops.

"(Y/n), Percy," Mom says. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way - directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's changing. Do you understand?"

"How do you know all this?" Percy asks Mom.

"I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me."

"Keeping me near you? But -" Percy falters.

Another bellow of rage, and the Minotaur starts tromping uphill.

He had smelled us.

The pine tree is only a few more yards, but the hill his getting steeper and slicker, and it doesn't look like he's getting any lighter, so I move up to help.

The bull-man closes in. Another few seconds, he'd be in front of us.

Mom and Percy must've been exhausted, but they shoulder Grover. "Go, (Y/n)! Separate! Remember what I said," Mom says. "Percy and I will go this way."

I don't want to split up, but I have the feeling that she is right.

I sprint to the left, turn, and see the creature bearing down on me, his black eyes glaring with hate.

The Minotaur lowers his head and charges, razor-sharp horns aimed straight at my chest.

The fear in my stomach makes me want to bolt, but that wouldn't work. I could never outrun the bull-man. I hold my ground, and at the last moment, I jump to the side. I roll instinctively, ending back on my feet.

The Minotaur storms past like a freight train, then bellows with rage. He turns, but not towards me this time, but towards Mom and Percy, who were setting Grover down in the grass.

We'd reached the crest of the hill; down the other side I can see a valley, just as mom had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that is almost half a mile away. We'd never make it.

The bull-man grunts, pawing the ground. He keeps eyeing Mom and Percy, who seem to be retreating, trying to lead the monster away from the unconscious Grover.

"Run, (Y/n)!" Mom tells me. "We can't go any farther. Run!"

I stand, frozen in fear, as the monster charges at my mother and brother. They both try to sidestep on opposite directions, as Mom had told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. Both hands shoot out and grab Mom and Percy by the necks as they try to get out of the way. The bull-man lifts them as they struggle, kicking and pummeling the air.

"Mom! Percy!" I scream.

Mom catches my eyes, manages to choke out one last word: "Go!"

Then, with an angry roar, the monster closes his fists around my mom and twin's necks. They dissolve before my eyes, melting into light, shimmering golden forms, as though they are holographic projections. A blinding flash, and they are simply . . . gone.

"No!" Anger had replaced my fear; newfound strength burns in my limbs.

The Minotaur bears down on Grover, who lies helpless in the grass. The monster hunches over, snuffling at my brother's best friend, as if he is about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too.

I rip off my red rain jacket.

"Hey!" I roar, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!"

"Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turns toward me, shaking his meaty fists.

I have an idea - a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all. I put my back to the big pine tree and wave my red jacket in front of the bull-man, thinking I'd just jump out of the way at the last moment.

The Minotaur charges, his arms out to grab me whichever way I tried to dodge.

Time slows down.

My legs tense. I couldn't jump sideways, so I jump straight up, kicking off from the monster's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck.

How did I do that? A millisecond later, the monster's head slams into the tree and the impact nearly knocks my teeth out.

The bull-man staggers around, trying to shake me off. I lock my arms around his horns to keep from being thrown. Thunder and lightning are still going strong. A mix of blood and rain in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burning my nostrils.

The monster shakes himself around and bucks like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I'm starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward.

Meanwhile, Grover had started groaning in the grass. I want to yell at him to shut up, but the way I'm getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off.

"Food!" Grover moans.

The bull-man wheels toward him, paws the ground again, and gets ready to charge. I think about how he had squeezed the life out of my mother and brother, made them disappear in a flash of light, and rage fills me like highoctane fuel. I wrap both hands around one horn and I pull backward with all my might. The monster tenses, gives a surprised grunt, then - snap!

The Minotaur screams and flings me through the air. I land flat on my back in the grass. My head slams against a rock. When I sit up, my vision is blurry, but I have a horn in my hands, a ragged bone weapon the size of a knife.

The monster charges.

Without thinking, I roll to one side and come up kneeling. As the monster barrels past, I drive the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage. The bull-man roars in agony. He flails, clawing at his chest, then begins to disintegrate—not like my mother and brother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind.

The monster was gone.

The rain had stopped. The storm is still rumbling, but only in the distance. I smell like livestock and my knees are shaking. My head feels like it's splitting in three. I'm weak, scared, and trembling with grief and pain. I'd just seen my mother and brother vanish. I want to lie down and cry, but Grover needed my help, so I manage to haul him up and stagger down into teh valley towards the lights of the farmhouse. I'm crying, calling for Mom and Percy, but I hold onto Grover. I couldn't let him go.

The last thing I remember is collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's.

They both look down at me, and the girl murmurs, "She's the one. She must be."

"Silence, Annabeth," the bearded man - Percy's Latin teacher, Mr. Brunner - says. "She's still conscious. Bring her inside."

Word Count: 2101 words

[percabethfeelsfandom]

Writing Prompt AU: Childhood Best Friends to Lover

PART 3: Age 12

Percy waves until the car and truck disappear into the intersection. There’s no way that Luke can still see him and his friends, but the four of them continue waving until all that is left of him is their memories from the past couple of years. They all live within the same neighbourhood, so they’re heading the same way, but it’s quiet without Luke’s loud presence.

“I can’t believe he actually moved,” Annabeth says in class the next day when their group of five becomes a group of four.

“Me too,” Thalia echoes with a frown, her eyes are glassy and Annabeth wraps her arm around her comfortingly. Percy wants to reach out too, but Annabeth slightly shakes her head, telling him no and he backs down.

At this point, the two of them can communicate better with actions and their facial expressions than they can with words.

Percy doesn’t like seeing his friends sad, so he spends the day cracking jokes, and forcing a smile on his face as they play games in the playground and attempt to ignore the obvious space that Luke used to occupy.

“We can always visit him on special days,” Percy tries, as they all lay on the ground later at the park after school, staring up at the clouds. He’s wedged between Grover and Annabeth so he feels when Annabeth stiffens by his side.

“Connecticut is pretty far from New York Perce, you know our parents won’t let us visit him all the time.” She says. Percy sits up and sighs, resting his arms against his knees as he looks down at Annabeth who is still laying down.

“It doesn’t need to be all the time, it can just be some of the time. We don’t have to be so sad about it.”

“I’m not sad,” Thalia snaps and stands up abruptly, grabbing her bag from the tree where they’ve thrown all their stuff.

“Thalia,” he calls, but she ignores him and starts to walk to where they’ve stashed their bikes.

Thalia is breathing heavily and roughly handling her bike when Percy catches up to her. She shoulders her bag and sits down not looking at him as he stands in front of the bike to stop her from leaving.

“I didn’t mean to upset you,” he says softly and places his hands on the handle of her bike to steady her when she tries to get away again.

“I’m not upset Percy. Just leave me alone.”

Despite this, Percy can see how her eyes have grown brighter, and her pale cheeks and nose are dusted with pink from rubbing them.

“Thalia-”

“No Percy. You don’t get it. He wasn’t your best friend, he was mine. You have Grover and Annabeth.”

She pushes his hands off the bike and turns it away from him, pedalling away like her life depends on it.

He stares off after her with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He doesn’t like seeing his friends sad.

“Hey.”

Percy turns around and sees Annabeth giving him a small smile.

“Hey.”

“She’s not angry at you, I swear,” she says and tugs on his arm so that they can go back to where Grover.

As they’re about to lie down, he sits up, glancing at his watch.

“I should probably go too, my Mum said to come home early, I’ll see you at school?”

They both wave goodbye to him, and Percy holds out a fist for Grover to bump against. Moments later, Grover is grabbing his scooter and riding it to the exit.

Annabeth lays down and pulls him down with her so that they can look up at the clouds again.

Percy doesn’t answer, choosing instead to try and find shapes and patterns in the bright sky.

“That one looks like a trident,” he says pointing up. Annabeth follows his line of vision and nods when she sees it.

“Remember that one time we were in the school performance and you were” she starts.

“Poseidon? Yeah, that was cool.” Percy grins and closes his eyes remembering the night they performed. He hadn’t needed to do much, just sit on his blue throne and hold a trident while other students were famous greek heroes with actual lines. “Who were you again? Aphrodite?”

“Athena,” Annabeth corrects, “Goddess of Wisdom.”

“Because you’re so wise?” He says with a laugh.

“Why is that funny?” She asks, but her lips are tilted up in a half-smile.

“Aren’t wise people old?” He answers, holding back another laugh. Annabeth scoffs and rolls her eyes.

“Per-cyyyy.”

“I think Athena fits. You’re so wise, like if you were a superhero or something you’d be Wise Girl, and your superhero weapon would be like a pen.” The joke isn’t even that funny, but Percy is gasping for breath and rolling in the grass. Annabeth is staring at him like he’s grown three heads, but she’s biting down on her lip, holding back a laugh. He rolls onto his stomach so he can face her and starts playing with blades of grass, pulling them and throwing them at her.

“It’s not that funny.”

“It’s kinda funny, Wise Girl.” She finally gives in and smiles, but Percy pokes her leg, trying to get her to laugh.

“Shut up.”

“Nope.” He throws a handful of grass at her and giggles when she sputters, trying to get it out of her face and hair.

“You’re so dumb, Seaweed Brain.”

“Then we match. I’m dumb and you’re wise.” This time she lets out a small laugh and Percy finally lies back, satisfied.

They fall into a comfortable silence and Percy almost feels himself falling asleep when he feels Annabeth shift a bit closer to him, pressing their arms together. All his attention goes straight to her familiar warmth and he almost doesn’t catch her next words.

“Do you think Luke will forget about us?”

“W-What?”

“Luke. Do you think he’ll forget about us when he makes new friends at his school? He said he’s always been good at making friends. What if he forgets about us and never visits.”

Percy turns and looks Annabeth straight in the eye.

“I think we’re pretty unforgettable.”

Annabeth blinks, and then her cheeks slowly turn pink.

“Do you think that’s what Luke thinks?”

Percy swallows and slowly nods, realising that their faces are quite close.

“I think Luke would be dumb to forget us. We’re awesome friends, and even if he doesn’t visit. You don’t have to see people every day to be their friends. You don’t live with your cousin but he’s still one of your best friends, right?”

“Luke’s not dumb,” Annabeth says quickly, “But yeah you’re right. I only see Magnus a couple of times a year but it always feels like we never spent any time apart.”

“See, maybe I’m the wise one,” he says smugly. Annabeth rolls her eyes and elbows him in the side.

“Hey Annabeth, Thalia said something to me and I wanted to ask-”

“She was just a bit upset, don’t take what she says seriously. My Dad always says mean things when he’s upset, but he never means it, not truly.” Annabeth says a matter-of-factly.

“No it didn’t upset me, but she said that Luke wasn’t my best friend, that he was her best friend…”

“Well, she’s kinda right. Luke is mine and Thalia’s best friend.” Percy feels a weight drop into his stomach and has to sit up again to relieve some of the pressure. Annabeth mirrors his actions and casually ties up her hair.

“I thought I was your best friend.” He doesn’t try to hide the hurt in his voice, and Annabeth doesn’t even hear it.

“You are. So is Thalia and Luke.” She says it like it’s obvious but it’s news to Percy and he gives her a blank stare, trying to understand what she’s saying.

“What about Grover?”

“He’s more your best friend than he is mine.” She answers with a shrug.

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“It does to me.” The weight feels like it’s growing in size and it pins him to the ground, disabling all his efforts of moving.

“So you have three best friends?”

“Mhmm.”

“Well, who’s you’re number one best friend?” Percy is kind of scared of what her answer will be, but he needs to know. For some reason, he really needs to know.

“I can’t answer that. That’s not fair.” Annabeth says frowning and folds her arms across her chest.

“But you tell me everything.”

“Not this.” Then she mimes locking her lips and then throwing away the key, signalling that the conversation is over.

“Annabeth-”

“No, I’m not saying. Come on Percy, let’s go home, the sun is going to set soon. I don’t want you to get in trouble with Smelly Gabe.”

She pulls herself up and then grabs his outstretched hand, hauling him to his feet. He’s unsteady when he stands, still feeling the weight in his stomach like someone is pushing him into the ground.

Almost blindly, he follows Annabeth to where her bike is parked and grabs his skateboard and backpack.

She starts talking about something they learnt about in class but he’s only half-listening, still thinking about their conversation from the park.

“Percy?”

“Hmm oh sorry, what did you say?”

Annabeth lets out a huff and blows a piece of hair from her face.

“Don’t worry. Were you listening to anything I said, at all?”

Percy stutters over an answer.

“Something about architecture?”

“I talk about other things than architecture Percy. I was saying maybe we could do a group call with Luke this weekend. Do you think your Mum and Gabe would let you use the phone?”

He thinks about it for a moment, mentally counting how many extra chores he’d have to do so that Gabe would allow him an hour of phone time.

“I could figure it out.” He says after a moment of silence and ignores Annabeth’s worried look.

“If it’s too much don’t worry, we can-” She says in a hurry.

“No, it’s okay. I’ll talk to him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Her face breaks into a smile and she throws her arms around him for a hug before walking up the steps to her family’s apartment. She gives him a wave before closing the door behind her.

He lives a couple of minutes away from Annabeth, but he’s the furthest from everyone because they don’t live in the expensive part of the city. The beautiful brownstone apartments turn to crumbly apartments until Percy rolls to a stop in front of his crumbly apartment and winces as he picks up his skateboard.

Gabe isn’t home (thankfully), so he’s able to get the TV to himself for a few precious minutes before he hears the keys jingling in the door.

He leaps off the couch and hurries to clean the small mess he’s made and jumps into bed grabbing a comic book from the floor and opening it to a random page.

“Percy honey can you help me please?”

Percy’s chest lightens at the sound of his Mom’s voice and he races to the front door, smiling widely.

“Hey Mom, you’re home early.”

She smiles and nods, handing him a bag, and presses a kiss on top of his head.

“Yeah, my boss said he didn’t need me to stay back too late today. Wanna help me cook tonight? I’m making Gabe’s favourite.”

Percy scrunches his nose. They only make Gabe’s favourite when something important has happened.

“Yeah sure.” He says slowly. His Mom hears his uncertainty and leads them into the kitchen, beginning to unpack the groceries she’s bought.

“Nothing to worry about sweetie, I just need Gabe to be in a good mood tonight.”

Percy’s jaw tightens.

“Mom.”

“It’s nothing Percy. Don’t worry about me. Tell me about your day.”

He still has a sick sneaking suspicion that his Mom isn’t telling him the whole truth but he recounts her day. Every little detail, from the moment he skateboarded through the school gates, to the moment he said goodbye to Annabeth. His Mom is the easiest person in his life to talk to (Annabeth and Grover are equal seconds) and he feels lighter once he finishes.

They’re more than halfway done with dinner so Sally leans against the kitchen counter and eyes Percy who has set the table and is sitting down, fiddling with the cutlery, trying to keep his hands busy.

“Can you have multiple number one best friend’s Mom?” He asks, looking down at the fork he’s playing with.

“Of course, I think when you have a big heart it means that you have a lot of love to share, which means that you can care about as many people as you want, as much as you want.” Slowly she approaches him and takes the fork from his hand, setting it down.

“Who do you think is my number one best friend?” He asks.

“Well I can’t answer that question, Percy, that’s one for you.”

“What if I’m not my number one’s, number one?”

His Mom sighs and runs a hand through his dark hair, before cupping his face.

“That doesn’t mean they love you any less Perce.” She answers, “But they are missing out.”

“I don’t think I’m Annabeth’s number one.” He finally says and frowns when he feels his stomach do an uncomfortable flip. “Does this mean I have to change my number one?”

Sally smiles sadly at him and gives him a squeeze.

“You can’t know for sure unless you ask. You can do whatever you want with your heart Percy, the best advice I can give you is that you trust it.”

PART 1

PART 2

[wasithard]

Percy wakes up on his seventeenth birthday in his own bed.

One year ago today, he’d woken up in a room at the Plaza Hotel from a vision of the Titan Lord Kronos planning his attack on Manhattan. One year ago today, he’d woken up in the middle of a war – and that’s not even the most recent war he’s fought.

Percy wakes up on his seventeenth birthday and immediately goes back to sleep.

**

His day goes like this: waking again to blue pancakes and waffles and eating them with his mom and Paul. Having a picnic lunch with Annabeth and Grover in Central Park, then driving with them to camp for dinner and a bonfire with their friends. Roasting marshmallows and singing songs and kissing Annabeth by the fire. Getting too lost in the way the firelight tinges her grey eyes red to notice the rest of the campers gathering around them before they pick them up and throw them in the lake, just like last year. Sitting around the dying embers of the fire, remembering the friends they lost in the war that ended one year ago today, the heavy silence of that moment burying itself in the middle of his chest, sitting there like a weight. Going to bed in his cabin, Tyson snoring in the bunk above him, wishing the love he’d felt from his friends that day would be enough to silence the voices in his head yelling it should’ve been me.

**

Percy wakes up on his nineteenth birthday, three years after the war.

He wakes up and wonders if he’ll ever stop thinking of it as the anniversary of the war instead of a celebration for another year he’s lived, or another year he’s spent with Annabeth.

Annabeth, who’s living on campus in the city they almost gave their lives defending three years ago now and comes over for breakfast that morning with Sally and Paul. He’s sitting at the table with them all, laughing and grateful to have them, but wondering if he should be worried that it’s been three years and he still wakes up on August 18th with a tightness in his chest at the thought of getting another year older than his friends who will never see another day. He knows they’re in Elysium. The thought should bring him peace.

Breakfast trickles into the afternoon and he and Annabeth go for a walk in Central Park before driving up to Camp. On the way there, Percy takes a detour to a small beach he’d scouted out a few weeks before and surprises his girlfriend with a picnic on the sand. He helps her build a sandcastle that’s almost taller than he is, holding the waves back so that they can use the hard, wet sand near the shoreline to make their castle stronger.

By the time they get to Camp they both smell of salt and seaweed and his spirits are high. It makes it worse, somehow, when they have their annual memorial to those they lost three years ago that he’s had such a nice day so far. Annabeth notices his change in mood, presses a kiss to his shoulder as she entwines their fingers.

After the campers start to trickle off to bed, Chiron catches his eye and Percy follows him to the Big House. They are sitting on the balcony, crickets chirping around them and a glass of cool blue Coke in Percy’s hand when Chiron fixes him with a stare that has seen countless tragedies and asks him if he still blames himself for being alive.

It’s jarring to hear someone so bluntly say out loud the thoughts he hasn’t dared to speak for so long. He swallows, can’t bring himself to hold Chiron’s gaze so flicks his eyes down to his feet instead, the only part of his body that doesn’t feel like it’s shaking. His fingers clench around the clear glass in his hand and he watches beads of water slide down the outside of it. Chiron doesn’t speak, but the silence is heavy and Percy feels like it’ll suffocate him if he doesn’t break it.

“I don’t– ” he clears his throat. It sounds too thick. “I don’t blame myself.”

He takes a sip of his Coke, swallowing it completely. “I don’t blame myself. I just don’t understand…”

He doesn’t want to finish the sentence, doesn’t want to say the words, I don’t understand why it wasn’t me, but when his eyes meet Chiron’s again he knows the centaur understands. How many other heroes has he seen feel the same way? Does he feel the same way?

“Percy,” Chiron says, his voice steady and deep with thousands of years of wisdom and loss and hope. “You help no one by holding on to guilt that isn’t yours.”

Percy exhales roughly, running a hand through his hair. In his head, he understands this. He just doesn’t believe it. If he had been a little bit better, in any sense of the word: faster, stronger, smarter. Maybe Charles wouldn’t have gotten caught in the engine room of the Princess Andromeda. Maybe Michael wouldn’t have been caught in the earthquake Percy had caused on the Williamsburg Bridge. Maybe Clarisse could have been convinced to fight in the war earlier, so Silena wouldn’t have had to impersonate her.

“Percy.” Chiron repeats, voice firmer. “You might be a hero, but you are also a person. And all a person can ever do is their best.”

Percy closes his eyes, bows his head. Chiron continues speaking. “The gods have done wonderful things, but they have also made many, many mistakes. More and far more devastating mistakes than the ones you have made in your short life. The benefit and curse of immortality is seeing how the actions of a moment can fade over time. How they can be made up for when a similar situation arises in the future. How it is not one’s past that defines them, but how they learn from it.”

Percy doesn’t want to look up at Chiron now, because there are tears in his eyes and it’s embarrassing, frankly. But he owes it to him.

He looks up. Chiron’s gaze is as steady as before, and Percy exhales one more time, releasing air all the way down to his belly. One tear slips down the side of his face and stops at his upper lip. He licks it away, using a hand to wipe his eyes as he turns his face to the now quiet camp. He can see the volleyball court, the rock climbing wall, the smoking embers of the campfire and the beginning of the circle of cabins. He sees his home: safe, intact. Filled with his friends, the survivors. He breathes it in.

“Thanks, Chiron.” He says, turning back to the centaur who gives him a soft, understanding smile in return.

Percy finishes off his drink and leaves the empty glass on the same wooden table he saw Chiron and Dionysus playing pinochle at when he first arrived at Camp, all those years ago. He stands up, wishes Chiron goodnight and starts walking back to the cabins.

Cabin 3 stands there: dark, alone and familiar. He feels tiredness tug at his eyelids and muscles but inside he still feels too wired to lay down just yet. He heads for the beach.

Annabeth is already there. Her legs are bent in front of her, arms tucked underneath them and chin resting on her knees. He sits silently beside her and they stay there, no sound between them except the gentle crash of the waves on the shore. After a few minutes she leans her head against his shoulder and he rests his atop hers, closes his eyes.

“Do you remember when we were in the Sea of Monsters and I wanted to hear the Sirens?” Annabeth asks, voice quiet. “I would’ve killed myself on those rocks swimming to their island but you dove into the ocean and pulled me out of their range, even though I was kicking and screaming at you to stop. We were thirteen.

“And remember in Mount St. Helen’s? I know you didn’t have a plan, but you made me get out anyway. You made sure that I was safe before even thinking about how you would survive.”

He feels her weight leave his shoulder then, glances over to see her sitting up and turning towards him, crossing her legs under her. The light of the full moon washes her in an ethereal glow, and her eyes are gleaming wide and bright as they lock onto his, pinning him in place. Annabeth is always beautiful, but when she’s determined – whether in battle or in convincing her boyfriend that he doesn’t deserve the pain he inflicts on himself – she has a face that could launch a thousand ships.

“And in Rome,” she says, her voice catching. “You wouldn’t let me face Tartarus unless we could face it together. I don’t know how many times you saved my life down there…” Percy sees her eyes begin to well with tears. “When we were fighting the arai…” She closes her eyes as a few tears escape them. Percy reaches forward and wipes a few away with his thumb. She opens her eyes into his again and gives him a small smile.

“My point is,” she continues, her voice thick. “Being a demigod is a high risk life that none of us asked for. An occupational hazard of us just being alive is death by monster attack. This is the first thing we learn when we find out who we are. All the friends we’ve lost over the years…they knew that too.

“And that doesn’t mean that their deaths were ok or justified or that we can forget about them, but I think that shouldering the burden of their deaths is stopping you from remembering the beauty of their lives. And it’s stopping you from remembering all the people who haven’t died because of you. Every single person in this camp owes their life to you, either directly or indirectly. Yes, a lot of people died on this day three years ago, but even more people were saved, and you had more to do with the last thing than the first.”

Percy’s getting teary again, but he doesn’t feel embarrassed this time. Annabeth shuffles closer to him on the sand and grabs both of his hands, squeezing them tightly, bringing them up and pressing her lips against them. “Percy Jackson, you have the purest heart of anyone I have ever met. It’s glaringly obvious to anyone who knows you – except yourself, apparently. I will spend the rest of my life trying to help you see it, but until then you’re just gonna have to trust me.”

Her face changes. It goes from open and pleading to playful, one eyebrow raised and a challenge in her eyes that makes his heart skip a beat, even when the rest of his system is in emotional overwhelm.

“Do you trust me, Percy?” Annabeth asks him.

He lets out a laugh, shaky from tears, and nods, “Yes, Annabeth. I trust you with my life.”

She beams at him, sitting up on her knees to bring her face closer to his, until it’s close enough that he can feel the warmth of her breath as she speaks, her eyes still locked onto his. “Then believe me when I tell you that you deserve forgiveness. And you need to give it to yourself.”

It’s too much. Percy swallows, jaw clenched and glances down. Annabeth releases one of his hands and grabs his chin, not letting him get away that easily.

“You. Deserve. Forgiveness. More than anyone in this world.”

He’s searching her eyes, frantically almost. It feels too easy. There has to be a catch.

“Ok?” Annabeth prompts, her voice still soft but firm, uncompromising.

He opens his mouth to speak but any words get caught in the knot at the base of his throat. Tears are leaking down his face and he can’t. He can’t. It can’t be that easy. It shouldn’t be.

Annabeth exhales, removing her hand from his chin and instead running it through his hair, stopping at the back of his head and bringing it forward until their foreheads touch. She doesn’t say anything else, just sits there with him.

With him, while he closes his eyes and thinks about the Minotaur choking his mom when he was twelve. Thinks about imaging Tyson drowning in the Sea of Monsters when he was thirteen. Thinks about losing Bianca di Angelo and Zoe Nightshade later that same year. He thinks about the campers that fell in the Battle of the Labyrinth whose names he didn’t know, and the campers that fell in the Battle of Manhattan whose names he made sure he did. He thinks of a Titan and a Giant at the Doors of Death, sacrificing themselves so that he and Annabeth could get to safety.

Percy sits on a beach at nineteen years old and thinks of all the death he’s seen in such a short time, all the death that’s been haunting him for years.

A cool breeze passes by him, coming from the water. As it brushes his skin, he comes back to the warmth of his best friend’s forehead pressed against his, her hands: one clutching his, the other tangled in his hair. He feels her soft exhale of breath and thinks about how she is alive, here, with him. Against all odds. He thinks of the campers asleep in the cabins just metres away: alive, here, with him. He thinks of his mom and Paul and Rachel, his friends from Camp Jupiter, all the people he cares about who are alive, here, with him. He thinks about the fact that they outnumber the dead, and realises he’s never really thought about that before.

Percy lifts his head and looks at Annabeth. She cups one side of his face with her hand, eyes still trained on his intently.

“I love you.” He says. “I’m so happy you’re alive.”

Her smile is small and bittersweet, her eyes wide grey pools of understanding.

“Me too,” is all she says.

It is enough.

[transgenderknothead]

Chapter 1 of The Story No One Hears! A Percy Jackson fanfiction! This series will contain major spoilers of the books and is an Oc x Luke Castellan & an Oc x Pollux but you can switch out the name for yours!

In hindsight, I shouldn't have fought with my mother. But how was I supposed to predict what would come next would be worse, I mean seriously, how would I have predicted I would die at 24 because I ran away from my mother and my 'friends'? They may not have been a direct link to each other, but they are. Let me explain. 12 years ago my mother and I got into an argument about her friend's kids, Marco and Julia. They were nightmares. They had an election puppet they would chase me with and try to choke me with. But the issue is they were never caught, and without proof no one would believe me. would be worse, I mean seriously, how would I have predicted I would die at 24 because I ran away from my mother and my 'friends'? They may not have been a direct link to each other, but they are. Let me explain. 12 years ago my mother and I got into an argument about her friend's kids, Marco and Julia. They were nightmares. They had an election puppet they would chase me with and try to choke me with. But the issue is they were never caught, and without proof no one would believe me. "Mom, you have to believe me!" I yelled through tears. "I'm sorry Nikki, but it's your word against theirs, and they've never given me reason not to trust them, I don't know who to believe," she rubbed her temples. "I wish you just sent me with dad!" I yelled, I had never met him, but there was no way he could have been as bad as this. "Your dad didn't want either of you! That's why he left!" I ran to my shared room, where my sister, Natalie, and my best friend, Grover, had been studying and slammed the door. I wasn't angry, just scared of what would happen and upset that she wouldn't believe me. "I gotta get out of here," I mumbled. Grover looked up at the clock over the calendar and panicked. "Yes, yes you do," the boy stood up quickly, forgetting his crutches. "Grover! Your crutches!" Natalie jumped and stared at him as he just looked awkwardly, standing there perfectly. "I'll explain later, but we need to go!" Grover motioned us to follow him "Out the window?" I whisper yelled because my mother would murder us if she found out. "I know it's crazy, but it's safer than what you'd go through staying here," he looked nervous, that should have foreshadowed something bad, but I was too busy panicking that my best friend wanted me to jump out of a second story window. It took a lot of convincing, but eventually I went with them. 2 years passed and I had met Luke and Thalia, well, more like ran into, literally. We were being chased by a monster, I wasn't paying attention, and suddenly I was being yanked into an alleyway by a sandy blond boy, with a massive scar from his cheekbone to his chin. "I have been looking for you!" Grover whispered. It's true, he said he had to find at least four demigods before he returned to camp. "Well we thought you were monsters coming after us!" A shorter black haired girl whispered back. The entire argument between her and Grover had been tuned out when I made eye contact with the boy. He was gorgeous to say the least. "I'm Luke, this is Thalia," he motioned, "and that's Annabeth." He had pointed to a little blonde girl, no older than six or seven. "I'm Nikki, this is Natalie and Grover," I blushed, luckily it was dark, so he couldn't see. We spent the night in the alleyway. Luke and I took over the night watch. "So, Thalia's the child of the king of the gods?" Luke nodded at my question, "How are you not dead yet?" "Trust me it's been hard," he motioned to his scar, "got this beauty from a dragon a few months ago, got to keep it's talon as a trophy, although I think you might want to use it as a weapon." "Wait, really," I marveled at the claw he handed to me, I had gone most of the trip, mostly unarmed except for the occasional stick or even a rusty pipe. "Yeah," he gave me a lopsided smile. The next day we ran the rest of the way to the camp, which wasn't an easy task,

it was raining and we were being chased by cyclops. When we got to the border Thalia had been hit. Grover dragged us all into camp away from her, Zeus had plans other than her death however, and he turned her into a tree. But it was special, it gave off a protective barrier that made sure no monster could get in. When we had gotten to the camp part of Camp Half Blood, Grover took us to meet Mr. D, the director of the camp, and also Dionysus, god of wine. We were brought to Hermes cabin after orientation, Luke and Annabeth being claimed about a week after arrival. I stayed in Hermes' cabin, because my mother's words haunted me, dad didn't want you, why would he change his mind? Luke and I got closer, he always seemed a little upset that I hadn't been claimed, but it was nothing more than an "I'm sorry your dad is a piece of shit…" than actual anger. In truth, I had grown to love him, and one day, I don't remember when, sometime between 15 and 16, we just kind of, unspokenly confirmed that we were dating. I had the claw turned into a double edged sickle, and I was pretty good at using it too.

[today-only-happens-once]

in dusting cobwebs

word count: 2577

Summary: Grover reunites with Percy and Annabeth following the battle against Gaia. They talk about some things. They don't talk about others. || Percy jolts, realization hitting him sharper than Jason’s lightning. His eyes snap to focus on Grover, his stomach twisting with sudden nausea. “The empathy link.” || Percabeth with a focus on Grover being a good friend. 

Warnings: spoilers for the Heroes of Olympus series; trauma/ptsd; discussion of Tartarus; emotional reunions; running away from problems; some tears/crying; one curse word courtesy Percy Jackson himself.

A/N:  I had this idea rattling around in my brain since finishing Blood of Olympus a few months ago. Just couldn't get the right words in the right order until now. First time writing these characters, so some grace is appreciated. I hope you enjoy!

Read on AO3

--

Home. He was home.

Percy Jackson takes a deep breath of pine and distant sea air and tries to ignore the way the air is tinged slightly with the scent of copper. He closes his eyes for a moment tries to focus on the things that are familiar. The chatter of campers in the distance. The birds chirping overhead. The rustle of leaves from the light breeze that plays in the branches.

Standing on top of Half-Blood Hill, Percy feels something relax in his shoulders. The tightness in his chest stays, but he’s home and that’s not for nothing, right?

He feels Annabeth’s arm brush his own as a quiet reminder that she’s there beside him, and Percy opens his eyes. He reaches for her hand. Lots of things—lots of people—had been lost. He’s grateful beyond words that despite the odds, he is still standing here at Camp Half-Blood with her. He laces their fingers together, and out of the corner of his eye he swears he sees Annabeth release a breath of something like relief. She grips his hand a little harder.

Percy opens his mouth to say something about how he should go see his mom soon when he’s cut off by a familiar voice tearing through camp.

“PERCY!”

Percy’s head snaps instinctively towards the sound. He sees a blur of orange t-shirt and a flop of curly brown hair before the wind is knocked out of him. Percy staggers back a step before he returns Grover’s hug. The satyr is babbling something too fast for Percy to keep up with or follow.

“Whoa,” Percy says, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Hey, man.”

Grover pulls back a little, but he doesn’t fully let go. His fingers slide down Percy’s short sleeve before digging into Percy’s arms as if he half-expects that the son of the sea god is some kind of illusion. His best friend’s dark eyes flit over Percy several times over, like he’s looking for injuries or something. Grover had always been a worrier, Percy thinks.

The satyr looks older than Percy remembers, and he’s not sure if that’s because it’s been a year since he’s seen him or because of the weary look that lingers in his dark eyes. There’s a crease appearing between Grover’s brows.

“Long time no see, huh?” Percy offers by way of greeting.

Grover’s eyes snap back up to meet Percy’s but there’s something like doubt that lingers in his gaze that brings Percy up short. The satyr looks like he’s about to say something, but then his jaw clicks shut. He glances over at Annabeth, giving her the same several glances over that he’d given Percy.

“You’re back,” Grover says, but his voice sounds strangely high and tight. “I…”

“Grover?” Percy asks, feeling concern knot in his stomach. All the times he and Annabeth had gone off on dangerous quests and come back, Grover had never had this strong of a reaction to their return.

“I thought…” Grover trails off again, then suddenly yanks Percy and Annabeth both into a hug again.

Percy’s mouth twitches with a hint of a smile, but he can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. When Grover releases them, Percy shoots a lightning-fast glance to Annabeth. She hides it well, but there’s the small crease between her brows that betrays that she is just as puzzled and worried as Percy feels.

“Miss us?” Percy says at a flimsy attempt at levity. Grover’s eyes look misty when they meet Percy’s, but he gives him a grin in response.

“You could say that.” He brushes the back of his hand across his eyes. He looks between Percy and Annabeth like he half-expects them to dissolve into smoke. “I didn’t… I mean I…”

Percy’s frown deepens as he cocks an eyebrow at his friend, but Grover averts his gaze and shakes his head quickly. Percy glances at Annabeth, but her eyes grow slightly wide as she looks at Grover, then pained.

“It was my fault,” she says suddenly. “I’m sorry.” Strands of her blonde hair stick to her face from sweat and smears of blood. There’s something earnest in her expression that Percy can’t explain.

Grover’s brow furrows. “Your…? Annabeth, I have a hard time believing that.”

Annabeth shakes her head, adamant. “It was. Arachne’s web got twisted around my ankle and… and it pulled me in, and Percy grabbed me, but—”

Tartarus. There’s a sudden sense of vertigo, and he reaches instinctively for Annabeth’s hand. He grips it, and the contact with her is enough to keep him from feeling like he’s falling into Tartarus again.

“Annabeth,” Grover is saying, but he sounds far away. “Annabeth, that doesn’t mean it’s your fault. I mean, gods, after what you two went through…”

Percy jolts, realization hitting him sharper than Jason’s lightning. His eyes snap to focus on Grover, his stomach twisting with sudden nausea. “The empathy link.”

Grover him a wan smile, and Percy is grateful for the way Annabeth gives his hand a small squeeze.

A faun had mentioned it when he was at Camp Jupiter, but he hadn’t known at the time what he’d been talking about. And once he got is memories back, it’d set off a chain reaction of events that had kept him from thinking too long about it since. But the empathy link… in Tartarus…

Percy swallows. “Shit, Grover. I—” His voice cuts out and he coughs to clear it, shaking his head quickly. “I didn’t even… are you okay?”

Grover stares at him, his eyes starting to get misty again. “You went to Tartarus and you’re asking me if I’m okay?”

“Yes.”

Grover opens his mouth, then shuts it. He blinks hard and tries again. “I’m just glad to see both of you in one piece.”

It’s not an answer. Percy knows that. It’s avoidance, and gods forgive him but he can’t bring himself to press Grover on the issue. Maybe it’s selfish of him. But he’s finally home—home, gods, it’s been so long—and the last thing he wants to do right now is talk about Tartarus. In the back of his mind, he wonders just how much of Tartarus Grover knows about. If he knows the things Percy’s done…

He doesn’t want to think about it. In fact, the last thing he wants is to deal with the memories of Tartarus that seem to cling to him like they’re in lockstep with his shadow.

“I’d ask you guys if you’re okay but… I think I know that answer,” Grover says when neither Percy nor Annabeth says anything.

He doesn’t want to talk about it. “Hey, we’re here, aren’t we?” Percy offers, and if his hand is shaking just a little, well. He hopes Annabeth doesn’t notice. “Nice to be breathing that fresh camp air.”

Doubt flickers across Grover’s eyes. “Percy—”

“Is Chiron around?”

Grover’s mouth presses into a thin line. Then he sighs, and nods towards the Big House. “Yeah. I think he’s helping Will round up the injured.”

Percy leans over and quickly kisses Annabeth’s cheek. “I’ll go find him. I’ll be back, okay? Promise.”

--

Annabeth watches Percy run towards the Big House, only to be intercepted by Connor Stoll. A part of her wants to follow him, and her fingers twitch with his abrupt absence. She folds her arms across her chest instead.

“You both seem… different,” Grover says quietly. Annabeth glances at him, but he’s also watching Percy at the bottom of the slope. His eyes flicker briefly to Annabeth before returning to Percy. “Not in a bad way,” he adds. “Just… different.”

Annabeth sighs. “Yeah,” she says. “I feel… different.”

She couldn’t explain exactly why or how. Rome clung to her like cobwebs cling to corners. The things she’d seen and done to get to and through the Doors had sharpened her edges in ways that were hard for her to explain, which was extra frustrating as a daughter of Athena. She didn’t feel like the same person who’d left camp on the Argo II, and she wasn’t sure that was a good thing.

They’d made it through the Doors, defeated the giants, defeated Gaia… but it didn’t feel, exactly, like the victory she’d imagined. Annabeth was beginning to think that victory was a hard weight to bear.

“Getting that message to Connor was genius, by the way,” Grover offers. “It saved camp, you know. Both camps, really.”

The corner of Annabeth’s mouth twitches at the compliment. It hadn’t felt like a genius move; it’d felt like a shot in the dark.

Annabeth can feel the stale adrenaline from the battle bleeding out of her, replaced instead by an ache in her bones that makes even standing upright exhausting. She can’t remember the last time she got a decent night’s rest, and it felt like she’d fought her way through a marathon sprint of monsters and giants. She takes a deep breath and sits down on the patch of grass where they’re standing, pulling her knees up.

Grover sits beside her without another word. For a while, neither of them says anything. Annabeth drums her fingers on her elbows as she folds her arms on top of her knees. For the first time in what feels like months, Annabeth pauses.

Campers intermingle with one another while they clean up from the battle. Birds chirp overhead and wind rustles through the leaves in the nearby trees. The Athena Parthenos casts a long shadow that Annabeth must admit, she finds comforting. She watches Percy wave a farewell to Connor, and offers her boyfriend a faint smile when he looks back at her before he disappears around a corner.

Distantly, she can hear the voice of Will Solace bickering with Nico di Angelo and a second later finds both them helping a pair of injured campers limp back to their cabins. She watches the breeze create ripples in the grass around her. For a moment, her eyes flicker skyward as if she might see Leo streaking like a comet through the sky back to camp.

Wishful thinking. Her chest twinges.

Annabeth was tired of missing people. A lifetime ago, she would have given nearly anything to be given a prophecy. Now, she hoped to never hear another prophecy in her life, and especially not one that involved anyone she knew. Annabeth was no stranger to loss, but she was tired of it. She’s… tired in a way that a nap won’t fix. Maybe she should feel grateful that she didn’t lose anyone else, but it seems like an awfully shitty consolation prize.

At least she didn’t lose Percy in Tartarus. Her chest clenches and she shoves the thought into the back corner of her mind.

“I know you guys don’t want to talk about it,” Grover says quietly and Annabeth startles. She’d almost forgotten he was there, and she wonders briefly if he somehow read her mind. “And that’s okay. I can’t say I blame either one of you for that.”

Annabeth averts her gaze when Grover’s own rises to meet hers.

Grover continues anyway. “But Annabeth… you should know that nobody expects you to just be okay after something like that. I only got a vague sense of it secondhand, and it…” His voice wavers, then trails off. He tries again. “Anyway. If you do decide you want to talk about it… either one of you? I’m around.”

“I think Percy is mad at me,” Annabeth blurts out suddenly. It’s stupid, she tells herself. Of all the things they faced… the lingering sense that Percy still hadn’t fully forgiven her for making them leave Bob behind presses at her mind. Maybe Percy’s anger is easier to deal with than everything else that happened there. Maybe it’s harder. Annabeth doesn’t know.

Out of the corner of her eye, Annabeth sees Grover’s brows shoot up towards his hairline. “You… why?”

Annabeth tells him. Not about everything—there’s far too much she’s still trying not to think about—but she tells him about Bob, and his sacrifice, and Annabeth’s forcing of Percy’s hand. About abandoning him down there, about how her chest feels tight every time she looks at the stars for too long.

“Percy doesn’t hold that against you,” Grover says, with so much conviction and certainty that it catches Annabeth off guard.

She blinks. “What?”

Grover shakes his head a little. “I… Look, I’m not trying to use the empathy link to like, tell you how Percy feels. I kind of feel like that’s an invasion of Percy’s privacy? But… he’s not angry with you.” Grover sighs, then adds more quietly, “If anything, I think he’s angry with himself.”

Annabeth is quiet. She wants to tell Grover that Percy shouldn’t be angry with himself, but she’d be speaking to the choir. Besides, there’d be a certain hypocrisy in that, wouldn’t there?

She glances at Grover, who watches a group of Greek campers load a Roman camper onto a makeshift stretcher. Grover seems different too, now that Annabeth is looking at him. He seems… older. A little bigger, sure, but… there’s something aged and weary in his eyes that goes past his years. It’s a look that Annabeth knows all too well, when kids too young are forced to shoulder too much.

She understands. Most of the people at camp hadn’t even graduated high school yet and fought in two wars now. Annabeth had only narrowly escaped with her life both times, and she knew she wasn’t alone in that. She’d long ago lost count of how many times she came close to death, of how many times she thought Percy or other friends were dead. She’d lost count of how often her hands shook when she was alone, of how many nightmares had jolted her from sleep.

The regular life of a still-living demigod. She thought of all the people who didn’t make it through. Those who weren’t as lucky as she was.

“I’m glad you’re here, Grover,” she says suddenly.

Grover looks at her in surprise, but offers her a tired smile. “Back at ya, Annabeth.”

“Everything feels different now.”

“Yeah,” Grover agrees with a nod. “But not everything is. You’ll be okay. So will Percy.” Annabeth looks at him, but he just gives her a knowing look.

Annabeth swallows thickly. “How can you be so sure?”

Grover is quiet for a moment, his gaze trailing back out to the hustle and bustle around camp. “Well… Look around, Annabeth. What do you see?”

She looks. She sees Jason with his arm slung around Piper’s shoulder. Connor Stoll wrapping a young camper’s ankle with a bandage. Reyna, Hazel, and Nico cleaning up debris and broken weaponry left behind by the injured and fallen. Jake Mason showing a Roman camper how to use crutches.

“I see my friends and allies,” she says, surprised by the sudden lump in her throat.

Grover nods with a small smile. “Helping each other. Because that’s what we do, and that’s how I know. You and Percy will be okay because you have another, and you’ve got us.” He knocks his shoulder into Annabeth’s. “You’re not alone.”

Annabeth’s voice fails her, her eyes stinging slightly. She blinks quickly and nods.

Grover smiles more and pushes himself to his feet. He dusts his hands off on just shirt and then offers a hand to Annabeth. “Let’s get to helping, yeah?”

[fbfh]

thankful for my (found) family - demisquad + reader thanksgiving special

2.4k

platonic everyone + reader, implied future/potential leo x reader if you look real close, thalia has a girlfriend that I had to make up bc they never mention hunters of artemis but go off rick, calypso is not included bc she acts more like an antagonist imo, gif doesn’t have anything to do with it besides nostalgia lmao

happy thanksgiving <33

You and Leo are cooking in the kitchen 

You have been all day

The doorbell rings, and Annabeth goes to answer, binder full of travel plans in hand

“That should be-”

Clarisse enters with a loud greeting and a hug to everyone in arms reach

Percy’s loud cheers echo from the living room as he calls out the new score of the football game he’s keeping everyone updated on

She drops her bag, hopping over the back of the couch to watch with Percy

“Woah woah, catch me up Jackson! What'd I miss?”

Hazel is helping Rachel make cute diy table settings and party favors 

Rachel, as with most art projects she takes on, is very focused on making it Martha Stewart levels of cute and amazing 

Frank and Piper are keeping everyone updated on the parade 

Frank pops down the stairs, calling out, “The last performance just ended, the dog show starts in 5!”

Hazel drops what she's doing and exclaims, “THERE’S A DOG SHOW?!” 

She runs upstairs to watch with Frank, her yellow dress swishing behind her

You chuckle, calling over to Annabeth as you mix batter in a bowl, " Hey Annabeth, how are the travel plans looking?"

She shuffles through some papers in her binder

"Magnus and Alex had another layover, but they should still be able to make it in time. Thalia and her hunter friend will be here in 10, and Travis's flight got delayed because of a sudden snow storm."

"Really?" You reply, "This time of year? That's pretty ironic for a son of Hermes..."

"I know, I'm looking at some shuttle services to see if that would be faster…" Annabeth replies

Nico enters, stealing a couple appetizers, "This is so stupid, I could just go get him."

Will, right behind him, eats the appetizer Nico hands him and replies, "No you can't. Doctors orders."

Nico starts to protest 

Will shoots him a look 

"Boyfriend's orders."

Nico tries in vain to stare him down,  "… Va’ a farti fottere." he says, cracking a smile

"Love you too," Will counters 

You and Leo shoo them out of the kitchen before they steal more of your recipes

Jason and Grover walk by with a bunch of pillows and blankets, setting up guest rooms. 

Grover calls through the pile of fluff he's carrying, "Hey, we're gonna need a few more pillows-"

Jason, over his pile of bedding, corrects, "A lot more!" And Annabeth runs over to help carry some of the blankets he's about to drop

"-A lot more pillows…"

You grab your keys

"okay uh… Grover, do you want to head to the store to get some more pillows-"

Leo, vigorously sautéing something adds over his shoulder, "And basil! And, uh… red wine vinegar, olive oil, and potatoes."

You rip a piece of paper off the notepad on the fridge and scribble a quick list 

You're probably going to need some more ice, too 

Tyson, very distressed, holds up an empty container of mellowcream pumpkins, declaring, "THERE'S NO MORE BABY PUMPKINS!" :(

you loudly add candy pumpkins to the list

Rachel approaches. 

"Are you going to the store?"

"Yeah," you reply, "how's crafting going? You need anything? "

"We're almost out of glitter and mod podge. It's not looking good. We could use some more fake leaves, warm toned glitter, and rhinestones - the nice ones."

Grover looks slightly lost 

You narrate as you add to the list, "Fancy rhinestones, mod podge, fake leaves, red, yellow, orange, and brown glitter…"

Tyson, still distressed, yells, "AND BABY PUMPKINS!"

:(

You hold up the paper, "Already on the list, bud, Grover's gonna get them!"

"What if he gets the wrong kind?" Tyson asks 

You, turn to Grover quietly, "Grover, can you take Tyson?"

Grover nods

"Hey Tyson, Grover has a lot of stuff to get, could you go be his shopping buddy? That way you can pick out the right baby pumpkins."

He doesn't look convinced

He wants to keep working on a secret project he’s been doing out by the garage

"And…" you add, sweetening the deal, "you can get two candies for the way home."

He agrees

You turn to Grover; "I'll call you guys an uber-"

"I'll drive."

You all turn around, shocked to see Reyna awake. 

You thought she was still passed out 

She showed up at 9am and immediately fell asleep from traveling all night 

"Reyna, hi! Are you sure-"

"We'll be fine, I need to stretch my legs a little." She proves by rolling her shoulders

"Okay, as long as you're sure," you hand her the paper, re-entering the kitchen

She takes the paper from your hand as you shut off the beeping timer and grab a pair of oven mitts from the drawer

Reyna examines the paper, "...This is a weird list. Where are we supposed to get all this?"

Leo moves to the side as you pull out the rolls from the oven, using tongs to set them on a wire cooling rack, "Maybe target?"

Leo, still very focused on cooking, announces, "If you get me generic brand spices I will burn this place to the ground."

"O-kay," you turn back to Reyna, laughing, "there's a Wegmans and a Joanne's right next to the TJ Maxx, you can probably find everything there."

"We'll be back within the hour." She states, taking your keys. 

Rachel meets her at the door. "Here, use my card. Also, make sure you get the flat backed swarovski crystals. And please pick some glitter with a nice color shift!"

You remind them to call or text with any questions and be safe

Heading back into the kitchen, you fill up a big bowl with carrots, celery, cucumbers, and mushrooms

You grab two cutting boards, knives, peelers, and a plastic bag for the peels, tips, and tails

You set it all down on the coffee table in front Percy and Clarisse

“Can you guys get the relish tray started?” 

They agree, and immediately return to yelling at the referee

You shake your head laughing, and head back to the kitchen

“How we looking, Sparky?”

“Stuffing cups just went up in the oven, pie crust dough is chilling, and the green beans are almost done sauteeing. Rolls are cooling - could you stir the cranberry sauce? - and… the turkey is going up as soon as the stuffing is out.”

You stir the sauce as you continue talking

“Great! We’re making good time so far. Oh, I found a recipe for brown sugar pie, which Frank requested - apparently it’s a Canadian Thanksgiving thing - so I figured if you’re doing turkey I can handle the pies.” 

He pours some cooking wine into the pan, and shakes it as the alcohol burns off

“Sounds like a plan, babycakes.” 

You laugh at the nickname, and grab butter, salt, some herbs, and a stick blender to finish the potatoes

A few minutes later, you hear the door open 

Reyna and the boys are back already? That was quick

You wonder if they need help bringing groceries in

“Eeeey get over here you knucklehead!” 

Bags drop, and you hear Jason laughing in protest

You poke your head out of the kitchen, and see Thalia with Jason in a headlock

In spite of the fact that he’s about half a foot taller than her, she’s still noogie-ing him, pretending she can’t hear him objecting through his laughs

She finally lets him go, greeting everyone as he adjusts his glasses

She bear hugs Annabeth, punches Percy in the arm, and high fives and hugs pretty much everyone else

You run up the stairs to the guest room Grover was setting up before he left

You finish making the bed head back down, meeting Frank and Hazel on the way 

"Oh, Hazel, what did you think of the dog show?"

"It blew my wig!" She says giddily 

A confused smile settles on your face

"It was awesome and she loved it," Frank translates smoothly

He and Will are understandably best at deciphering 40s slang

Thalia is introducing everyone to Amber, a girl she’d met on the hunt and become really close with

You greet her, and turn to Thalia

“Your room is all set up if you wanna get settled in,” you turn to Amber, “and yours will be ready soon,” 

They share a look

“Oh,” Thalia starts grabbing their bags, “that’s fine, we can share a room. We share a tent on the hunt all the time, right Ambie?”

"Oh,”

And then it clicks

“yeah, however you’re comfortable.”

You grab one of the bags, and help them upstairs

“Why don’t you guys take a while to settle in, I’ll tell the others you’re resting.”

They thank you, and you start to leave

“By the way,” you poke your head back in, “you two seem really cute together. Welcome to the family, Amber.” 

She blushes and Thalia gives you an appreciative look

You nod and head back down

You let the others know they’re going to nap for a little while, and not to wake them up

“Hey, any travel updates?” You ask Annabeth, on your way back into the kitchen

“Alex just texted, she and Magnus are finally on their way, should be here in the next few hours. As for Travis…” 

She holds out her phone, showing you Travis’s tiktok

He’s filming the mirror in the airport bathroom

“So uh, my flight’s delayed, I’m bored, I’m gonna fuck with some people,” he holds out a hand full of stickers that look like outlets

He records himself putting them around the airport, then gets people’s reactions when they try to use them

He ends the video asking for more prank ideas

You look back up at Annabeth, holding back a laugh, “Seems like he’s doing okay,” 

“Oh,” she replies, “that’s not all.”

She scrolls up, showing the next prank video where Travis goes around the airport having fake phone conversations to get people’s reactions

Conversation topics including ‘I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but slept with your grandma’, ‘hey bro I can’t come to the party, also turns out I’m going to be your stepdad’, ‘hey dude remember that old lady we used to cat sit for? Well, I found out I got chlamydia from her, so…’, and ‘yeah man, I’m so excited for the poetry slam. Also, it turns out my jazz fever is actually syphilis.’. 

Your hand flies over your mouth, trying not to laugh loudly enough to wake Thalia and Amber

“Yeah,” Annabeth says, fighting her own laughter, “he’s doing okay.”

You start putting together ingredients for pie filling

“That is the most in character thing I could have imagined,” you laugh, and Annabeth shows Leo the videos

“There’s a bunch more, too,” she adds, “Around making tiktoks, he found a bus heading this way. He’ll be here in a few hours.” 

“Cutting it close,” you muse, filling pies, “I’m glad he’s not stuck at the airport though. How about Connor?” 

“Haven’t heard much from him, but he said he'll be here in time for dinner."

A little while later, Thalia and Amber re enter, joining Percy and Clarisse in the living room 

The door opens shortly after, and Tyson enters, arms full of containers of candy pumpkins 

Reyna and Grover are right behind him

You take Grover's bags, announcing that Thalia got here a little while ago

He bleats excitedly and runs to hug her, Reyna right on his heels

Piper and Tyson bring in the rest of the groceries

Tyson sets down the last bags in the kitchen, looks out the window, yells, "IT'S ALMOST SUNSET!", and runs back out into the back yard, presumably to finish his mystery project 

Everyone eventually makes their way to the living room, nibbling on appetizers and watching classic Thanksgiving specials 

The food is almost done, all that's left is decorating the pies and a little tidying up 

You walk over to Leo, placing your hand on his shoulder 

He looks up at you

"Why don't you go take a quick shower and change before dinner," you muse, knowing the hoodie and jeans he's been cooking in all day isn't the outfit he'd picked out, "I'll wrap things up in here,"

He thanks you, dramatically presses a kiss to your forehead, and exits the kitchen 

You decorate the pies distractedly, catching the doorbell right before the second ring 

You smile at the people about to enter

"Annabeth," you call, "Magnus and Alex are here!" 

She drops what she's doing, and runs over to greet them 

Leo is back down stairs a short while later 

His brick red hoodie replaced with a burgundy one - his fancy hoodie as he calls it - a heavy flannel layered on top, and a beanie pulled over his almost dry hair

His pyrokinesis makes you forget how cold he gets sometimes 

You're about to go upstairs to change out of your cooking clothes when Tyson enters dramatically 

"The surprise is done!"

Everyone files outside to see what Tyson made as he leads you all out to the garage 

Perfectly attached to the side, is a very small horse stable 

"Wow!" Percy starts, "Great job, dude!"

Tyson is beaming as he's showered with confused praise 

"So uh," Percy ventures, "what did you build it for?"

"Maybe something like this?!" Descending voices declare in unicen 

Travis and Connor land in front of you on no other than Blackjack

Everyone erupts into cheers

“I thought you were stuck at the airport! What about those tiktoks?”

“Saved in my drafts, baby!” Travis laughs

Percy greets Blackjack and everyone else heads back inside with Travis and Connor 

You run upstairs to shower quickly and change, and are back downstairs just in time for appetizers and drinks 

You're about to take a sip of coffee when the door opens 

An irregular set of footsteps echoes into the room, along with a familiar voice 

"Ah, children, I hope there's room for one more," 

Everyone turns in surprise as Chiron enters the room 

After lots of warm excited greetings and making sure he has a warm cup of tea, he settles in to chat for a while

"I was on my way to meet with my more, ah, rambunctious cousins, but I couldn't let a day like today pass without stopping by."

After two cups of tea and lovely conversations, Chiron heads out to meet up with the other party ponies 

Thalia, Percy, and Will get all the food on the dining room table while Rachel makes the finishing touches to the centerpieces 

Everyone finds their seat, and you make the first toast

"I think I can speak for everyone when I say I'm thankful for you guys - my found family."

Every glass is raised

You can all drink to that. 

[buoyantsaturn]

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

warnings: angst. its very sad folks. 

summary: Nico visits an old friend

word count: 1,513

read on ao3

“Hey.” 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He turned and left the tomb.

thanks for reading!!

buy me a coffee

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

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

CHAPTER 4: THE DAY I LOST EVERYTHING

We have to loose them Loose who? He'll take them. Who? We can't save them now. But I want to save them. "Y/N! Focus on running!" My dad yelled who was right behind us. I stopped in the middle of my tracks everyone turned to me. D/N was barking loudly, as if telling me to move. Everyone was telling me to move "I will save you don't worry." I said looking at my parents. "What---" As on cue lightning struck them. They aren't gone They aren't gone We will save them someday We will save them Now run My heart felt empty. I knew I was supposed to be sad, but I wasn't. It was like someone was directing me what I should do. Finally getting in on the car they all looked at me worried D/N nuzzled to my lap, Percy and Grover looked at me emphatically. Mrs Jackson was driving but occasionally glancing at the mirror. We tore through the night along dark country roads. Wind slammed against the Camaro. Rain lashed the windshield. Every time there was a flash of lightning, I looked at Percy sitting next to me and I wondered why I chose to be with him and not feel the weight of loosing my parents. I pulled D/N closer and hugged him. I didn't know what to do. Percy then broke the silence, "So, you and my mom... know each other?" Graver's eyes flitted to the rear view mirror, though there were no cars behind us. "Not exactly," he said. "I mean, we've never met in person. But she knew I was watching you." "Watching me?" "Keeping tabs on you. Making sure you were okay. But I wasn't faking being your friend," he added hastily. "I am your friend." "Urn ... what are you, exactly?" "That doesn't matter right now." "It doesn't matter? From the waist down, my best friend is a donkey—" Grover let out a sharp, throaty "Blaa-ha-ha!" and cried, "Goat!" "What?" "I'm a goat from the waist down." "You just said it didn't matter." "Blaa-ha-ha! There are satyrs who would trample you under hoof for such an insult!" "Whoa. Wait. Satyrs. You mean like ... Mr. Brunner's myths?" "Were those old ladies at the fruit stand a myth, Percy? Was Mrs. Dodds a myth?" "So you admit there was a Mrs. Dodds!" "Of course." "Then why—" "The less you knew, the fewer monsters you'd attract," Grover said, like that should be perfectly obvious. "We put Mist over the humans' eyes. We hoped you'd think the Kindly One was a hallucination. But it was no good. You started to realize who you are. And not to mention there turns out to be two of you which is worse than what I thought!" "Who I—wait a minute, what do you mean?" The weird bellowing noise rose up again somewhere behind us, closer than before. Whatever was chasing us was still on our trail. "Percy," my mom said, "there's too much to explain and not enough time. We have to get you to safety. You and Y/N." "Safety from what? Who's after me?" "Oh, nobody much," Grover said, obviously still miffed about the donkey comment. "Just the Lord of the Dead and a few of his blood-thirstiest minions." "Grover!" "Sorry, Mrs. Jackson. Could you drive faster, please?" Don't worry. They won't hurt us. Have you thought of who you want to be your parent? We have plenty of options, I'd prefer if it was either Zeus or Hades but I wouldn't mind to be Ares's or Hephaestus's. I guess Athena isn't so bad as well. Who was your Father and mother's favorite? I want my mom and dad... to remain the same... Don't change them. As you wish. We have to leave soon. The moment you go get in the borders, we will loose connection. Who are we? I lied, we're not you. We're only messengers. We don't know when you'll contact yourself. But it's not anytime soon for sure. Only half of the prophecy has been fulfilled after all. But... you came and... told me to stay with Percy. Maybe you did try to make a connection. I only came to ask who you want parent to be. "Y/N!" "Huh?" "Do you know who your parent is? Do you know what's going on?" "What?" "You were talking about Greek gods..." Percy said. "I-I... was?" I asked looking at D/N as if he'd know the answer. "Where are we going?" Percy asked. "The summer camp I told you about." Percy mother's voice was tight. "The place your father wanted to send you." "The place you didn't want me to go." "Please, dear," his mother begged. "This is hard enough. Try to understand. You're in danger." "Because some old ladies cut yarn." "Those weren't old ladies," Grover said. "Those were the Fates. Do you know what it means—the fact they appeared in front of you? They only do that when you're about to ... when someone's about to die." "Whoa. You said 'you.'" "No I didn't. I said 'someone.'" "You meant 'you.' As in me." "I meant you, like 'someone.' Not you, you." "Boys!" Mrs Jackson said. She pulled the wheel hard to the right, and I got a glimpse of a figure she'd swerved to avoid—a dark fluttering shape now lost behind us in the storm. "What was that?" I asked. "We're almost there," Percy's mother said, ignoring my question. "Another mile. Please. Please. Please." I didn't know where there was, but I found myself anxious to arrive. I gripped Percy's hand as he leaned forward. Outside, nothing but rain and darkness—the kind of empty countryside you get way out on the tip of Long Island. There was a blinding flash, a jaw-rattling boom!, and our car exploded. I remember feeling weightless, like I was being crushed, fried, and hosed down all at the same time. I don't know how but I wasn't hurt... or didn't know until I saw D/N had grown... bigger. Big enough to hide someone. He had cushioned my fall. "I'm okay boy, thanks." He shrunk and barked. He had a confused look as well as I did. "Percy!" I heard someone shouted. "I'm okay..." I tried to check on Percy. "You sure?" "Yeah..." He replied. The car hadn't really exploded. We'd swerved into a ditch. Our driver's-side doors were wedged in the mud. The roof had cracked open like an eggshell and rain was pouring in. Lightning. That was the only explanation. We'd been blasted right off the road. Next to Percy in the backseat was a big motionless lump. "Grover!" He was slumped over, blood trickling from the side of his mouth. Percy shook his furry hip. Then he groaned "Food," and Percy sighed in relief. "Percy," his mother called, "we have to ..." Her voice faltered. I looked back. In a flash of lightning, through the mud-spattered rear windshield, I saw a figure lumbering toward us on the shoulder of the road. The sight of it made my skin crawl. It was a dark silhouette of a huge guy, like a football player. He seemed to be holding a blanket over his head. His top half was bulky and fuzzy. His upraised hands made it look like he had horns. I swallowed hard. "Who is—" "Percy, Y/N," his mother said, deadly serious. "Get out of the car." Mrs Jackson threw herself against the driver's-side door. It was jammed shut in the mud. I tried mine. Stuck too. I looked up desperately at the hole in the roof. It might've been an exit, but the edges were sizzling and smoking. D/N must've read the situation and jumped out through the roof. "D/N!" He started digging on the mud occasionally barking. "There! Climb out the passenger's side!" Percy's mother told us. "Y/.N, Percy—you two have to run. Do you see that big tree?" "What?" Another flash of lightning, and through the smoking hole in the roof I saw the tree she meant: a huge, White House Christmas tree-sized pine at the crest of the nearest hill. "That's the property line," Percy's mom said. "Get over that hill and you'll see a big farmhouse down in the valley. Run and don't look back. Yell for help. Don't stop until you reach the door." "Mom, you're coming too." Her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean. "No!" Percy shouted. "You are coming with me and Y/N. Help me carry Grover." "Food!" Grover moaned, a little louder. The man with the blanket on his head kept coming toward us, making his grunting, snorting noises. As he got closer, I realized he couldn't be holding a blanket over his head, because his hands—huge meaty hands—were swinging at his sides. There was no blanket. Meaning the bulky, fuzzy mass that was too big to be his head ... was his head. And the points that looked like horns ... "He doesn't want us," my mother told me. "He wants you. Besides, I can't cross the property line." "But..." "We don't have time, Percy. Go. Please." Percy helped me climbed across Grover and I pushed the door open into the rain. "We're all going together. Come on, Mrs Jackson." "I told you—" "Mom! We are not leaving you. Help me with Grover." He didn't wait for her answer. I scrambled outside, Percy was dragging Grover from the car. Together, with Mrs Jackson they draped Grover's arms over our shoulders and started stumbling uphill through wet waist-high grass. I followed carrying D/N in my arms. Glancing back, I got my first clear look at the monster. He was seven feet tall, easy, his arms and legs like something from the cover of Muscle Man magazine—bulging biceps and triceps and a bunch of other 'ceps, all stuffed like baseballs under vein-webbed skin. He wore no clothes except underwear—I mean, bright white Fruit of the Looms—which would've looked funny, except that the top half of his body was so scary. Coarse brown hair started at about his belly button and got thicker as it reached his shoulders. His neck was a mass of muscle and fur leading up to his enormous head, which had a snout as long as my arm, snotty nostrils with a gleaming brass ring, cruel black eyes, and horns—enormous black-and-white horns with points you just couldn't get from an electric sharpener. I recognized the monster, all right. He had been in one of the first stories my parents talked about. But he couldn't be real. I blinked the rain out of my eyes. "That's—" "Pasiphae's son," Percy's mother said. "I wish I'd known how badly they want to kill you." "But he's the Min—" "Don't say his name," she warned. "Names have power." The pine tree was still way too far—a hundred yards uphill at least. I glanced behind me again. The bull-man hunched over our car, looking in the windows—or not looking, exactly. More like snuffling, nuzzling. I wasn't sure why he bothered, since we were only about fifty feet away. "Food?" Grover moaned. "Shhh," Percy told him. "Mom, what's he doing? Doesn't he see us?" "His sight and hearing are terrible," she said. "He goes by smell. But he'll figure out where we are soon enough." As if on cue, the bull-man bellowed in rage. He picked up Gabe's Camaro by the torn roof, the chassis creaking and groaning. He raised the car over his head and threw it down the road. It slammed into the wet asphalt and skidded in a shower of sparks for about half a mile before coming to a stop. The gas tank exploded. "Percy, Y/N," his mom said. "When he sees us, he'll charge. Wait until the last second, then jump out of the way— directly sideways. He can't change directions very well once he's charging. Do you understand?" "How do you know all this?" "I've been worried about an attack for a long time. I should have expected this. I was selfish, keeping you near me. I'm not like (Father's Name) or (Mother's Name), I can't hide you for good." "Keeping me near you? Hide me? But—" Another bellow of rage, and the bull-man started tromping uphill. He'd smelled us. The pine tree was only a few more yards, but the hill was getting steeper and slicker. I could tell the Jackson's were having a hard time with Grover. The bull-man closed in. Another few seconds and he'd be on top of us. Mrs Jackson must've been exhausted, but she shouldered Grover. "Go, Percy! Y/N! Separate! Remember what I said." I didn't want to split up, but I had the feeling she was right—it was our only chance. I sprinted to the left, Percy went the other way, we turned, and saw the creature bearing down on Percy. His black eyes glowed with hate. He reeked like rotten meat. He lowered his head and charged, those razor-sharp horns aimed straight at his chest. The fear in my stomach made me want to bolt, and help Percy but I knew that wouldn't work. So I held my ground, and at the last moment, he jumped to the side. The bull-man stormed past like a freight train, then bellowed with frustration and turned, but not toward Percy this time, toward Mrs Jackson, who was setting Grover down in the grass. Thankfully its like they never saw me. We'd reached the crest of the hill. Down the other side I could see a valley, just as Percy's mother had said, and the lights of a farmhouse glowing yellow through the rain. But that was half a mile away. We'd never make it. The bull-man grunted, pawing the ground. He kept eyeing Mrs Jackson, who was now retreating slowly downhill, back toward the road, trying to lead the monster away from Grover. "Run, Percy! Y/N" she told me. "I can't go any farther. Run!" But Percy just stood there, frozen in fear, as the monster charged her. She tried to sidestep, as she'd told me to do, but the monster had learned his lesson. His hand shot out and grabbed her by the neck as she tried to get away. He lifted her as she struggled, kicking and pummeling the air. "Mom!" I ran towards Percy to try and hold him back. She caught my eyes, managed to choke out one last word: "Go!" Then, with an angry roar, the monster closed his fists around Mrs Jackson's neck, D/N ran to bite the Minotaur's arm but they both dissolved before our eyes, melting into light, a shimmering golden form, as if they were a holographic projection. A blinding flash, and they was simply ... gone. Both Mrs Jackson and D/N... "No!" The bull-man bore down on Grover, who lay helpless in the grass. The monster hunched over, snuffling him, as if he were about to lift Grover up and make him dissolve too. Percy stripped off his red rain jacket. "Hey!" I screamed, waving the jacket, running to one side of the monster. "Hey, stupid! Ground beef!" "Percy what are you doing?!" He shot a glance at me, "Trust me?" "Yes?" "Bad choice." "Raaaarrrrr!" The monster turned toward us, shaking his meaty fists. "I hagve an idea—a stupid idea, but better than no idea at all." He pushed my back to the big pine tree and waved his red jacket in front of the bull-man, "I'm thinking we jump out of the way at the last moment." But it didn't happen like that. The bull-man charged too fast, his arms out to grab me whichever way we tried to dodge. Time slowed down. My legs tensed. I couldn't jump sideways, only thought running in my mind was Percy's safety. Taking his hand which seemed to surprise him, I leaped straight up carrying his weight lighter than I had thought, kicking off from the creature's head, using it as a springboard, turning in midair, and landing on his neck with Percy in front of me. How did I do that? I didn't have time to figure it out. A millisecond later, the monster's head slammed into the tree and the impact nearly knocked my teeth out. The bull-man staggered around, trying to shake us. I locked my arms around Percy while he went for the horn, to keep us from being thrown. Thunder and lightning were still going strong. The rain was in my eyes. The smell of rotten meat burned my nostrils. The monster shook himself around and bucked like a rodeo bull. He should have just backed up into the tree and smashed me flat, but I was starting to realize that this thing had only one gear: forward. Meanwhile, Grover started groaning in the grass. I wanted to yell at him to shut up, but the way I was getting tossed around, if I opened my mouth I'd bite my own tongue off. "Food!" Grover moaned. The bull-man wheeled toward him, pawed the ground again, and got ready to charge. Percy had hit my shoulder with his head and pulled at the horn. Easing up to a more comfortable position to hold on, I got both hands around one horn and we pulled backward with all our might. The monster tensed, gave a surprised grunt, then—snap! The bull-man screamed and flung me through the air. I landed flat on my back in the grass. My head smacked against a rock. When I sat up, my vision was blurry. Percy was on the other side, with the horn in his hand. The monster charged. Percy rolled to one side and came up kneeling. As the monster barreled past, he drove the broken horn straight into his side, right up under his furry rib cage. The bull-man roared in agony. He flailed, clawing at his chest, then began to disintegrate—not like my mother, in a flash of golden light, but like crumbling sand, blown away in chunks by the wind, the same way Mrs. Dodds had burst apart. The monster was gone. The rain had stopped. The storm still rumbled, but only in the distance. I smelled like livestock and my knees were shaking. My head felt like it was splitting open. I was weak and scared and trembling with grief I'd just lost everyone. I wanted to lie down and cry, but there was Grover and Percy, needing my help. "Percy..." He looked at me weakly and took my hand. "Let's get out of here..." His voice was hoarse. This is where I say goodbye... Don't leave. I need you most now. I am always with you. And you have successfully brought yourself to another world. We will talk once you leave camp. I'm scared. You have Percy Jackson. Hold onto him. And you shall meet another hero. Save Percy. Save Luke. Save all of them. And you won't ever be scared again. Looking down at our linked hand I nodded. Stay with him. Save them all. You've hidden well, but its time for you to show who you are. I will declare who your parent is. I hope they claim us. Okay. We managed to haul him up and stagger down into the valley, toward the lights of the farmhouse. I was crying and so was Percy, calling for his mother, so I held on to him—I wasn't going to let him go. "I'll be here... I won't leave you..." Successfully reaching the top, I could see eyes on us. Percy had lost his consciousness. I was tasked to carry the weight of these two. Seeing two people approach us, I didn't have time to process who, I cried, "Help them. Please." Before collapsing on a wooden porch, looking up at a ceiling fan circling above me, moths flying around a yellow light, and the stern faces of a familiar-looking bearded man and a pretty girl, her blond hair curled like a princess's. They both looked down at me, and the girl said, "It's one of them. They must be." "Silence, Annabeth," the man said. "The girl's still conscious. Bring them inside." "Percy..."

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

[i-am-a-reader-fear-me]

A Percabeth AU where they keep their relationship secret in fear of what their parents might think. (Warning: this goes over both PJO and HoO so it's very long):

The beginning of TLT goes as it should but after Percy is claimed, Annabeth is suddenly meaner and colder.

He remembers the Poseidon/Athena rivalry but doesn't see why they have to hate each other bcuz of their parents.

But Annabeth doesnt relent.

They still go on the quest together bcuz "you are so going to fail without a daughter of Athena."

But they still argue a lot and give poor Grover a satyr migraine.

When they have that bonding moment on the truck, Percy thinks maybe they're sorta friends, but Annabeth proves that wrong later by calling him a "Seaweed Brain" bcuz he's so stupid.

Percy fires back with "Wise Girl" but Annabeth seems to take that as more of a compliment than an insult.

(He doesn't stop calling her that tho)

After Luke betrays Percy, Annabeth's the one that found him after the dryads and she drags him to the infirmary but completely denies caring about him afterwards.

By SoM, Percy is so done with this and goes over to her asking if they could be friends.

Annabeth, who actually would like to be his friend, agrees with reluctancy, saying, "We have to keep it a secret though, or who knows what our parents might do."

Percy agrees.

Grover knows they're friends now cuz of the empathy link, but doesn't say anything.

In TTC, when Annabeth falls off the cliff, he blames himself more than ever, bcuz if they hadn't been fake arguing she might not have been distracted and fallen.

Thalia blames him even more too, and he has to keep his cover and can't tell her he knows it's all his fault.

Nico asks if Annabeth is Percy's girlfriend.

He says no, but he has a funny feeling in his heart.

He goes to the attic to ask the Oracle about Annabeth.

It doesn't answer.

When he thinks Artemis is about to ask Annabeth to join the Hunters, he knows he has to tell her something, even if it meant blowing their cover.

He breathes a sigh of relief when Artemis asks Thalia, and Annabeth is waiting for him to talk with narrowed eyes as if trying to figure out what he wants to say.

He chokes. (~Like doesn't say his feelings, not actually choke lol~)

In BotL, they are totally going out on a secret unofficial movie date but ofc the fiasco with Kelli at Goode happens.

Annabeth gets really jealous when Rachel appears. (Especially since Rachel has more opportunity to go out with Percy bcuz Annabeth and Percy have to pretend to hate each other.)

Percy, ofc, does not realize why in Hades she's acting like she really hates him even though they're in private.

At camp, they're playing Capture the Flag when they stumble on an entrance to the Labyrinth.

They go down to hide from monsters and end up stuck.

It's so dark Annabeth grabs his hand to keep from being separating. (~this is canon, they were holding hands I checked~)

When they find their way back out, it appears almost an hour had gone by when they were sure they were down for a couple minutes.

The campers were searching for the two of them and are immediately suspicious when they find the two alone. Together.

But they forget about that when Clarisse comes and asks about the "hole" they fell into and Annabeth suggests they continue talking in private.

It is then that Annabeth, Percy, Grover, and Tyson go on their quest.

When Annabeth and Percy reach Mount St. Helens they are quickly found out.

Percy tells Annabeth to escape saying he has a plan. (He really doesn't)

She kisses him. (~whaaaaaaaat~)

When she leaves, Percy apparently decides to cause a volcano to erupt. (~ya he doez~)

He lands on Ogygia, while Annabeth, thinking he is dead, goes back to camp, alone.

When she returns, they ask where Percy, Grover, and Tyson are but she refuses to say anything.

They realize what happened.

They have a burning of the shroud ceremony where she doesn't say anything, sitting, her face emotionless, but her heart in turmoil as she listens to Chiron.

That's when Percy crashes the funeral.

Annabeth is outraged.

She pretends it's because "THE WHOLE QUEST IS BEING HELD UP BECAUSE OF YOU! AND WHAT WERE YOU DOING, ENJOYING A VACATION AT PARADISE ISLAND?!?!"

It's really because she was head over heels with worry and grief (while he's off with sOmE imMorTal gOdDeSs) but she can't let anyone know that.

She is certainly not happy when Rachel joins their quest.

(Percy still doesn't get it.)

Before TLO, they are playing Capture the Flag, and the two are on opposite sides. (~in The Demigod Files, the story they find Festus for the first time in~)

Annabeth and Silena capture Percy and Beckendorf and the boys suffer an utter loss. (Were the myrmekes part of the plan? They'll never know.)

Beckendorf and Silena totally know they like each other no matter how much Percy and Annabeth fake it and try to get one of them to ask each other to the Independence Day firework show.

Annabeth does end up asking Percy and they watch the fireworks secretly next to the woods so no one sees them.

They hold hands or something else just as cute idk.

In TLO, when the Battle of Manhattan starts, everyone is surprised when Annabeth let's Percy take the lead.

When she takes the blade for Percy she says it was bcuz "I didn't know it was him!"

"So you would take a blade for anyone if it wasn't Percy?"

"...yes."

But by this time everyone secretly ships Percabeth so no one questions it.

After the war, Percy gives up immortality mostly for her but only those two know it. (And maybe Grover).

Annabeth asks him to meet her in the woods and when he does, she brings him a lumpy blue-colored cake which Tyson helped make. (Bcuz of course Tyson knows that they're secretly friends but Grover told him not to tell anyone).

They kiss, duh.

But then a monster comes out from the woods and they don't want to fight it after they just had a war so they run.

They end up by the lake and Percy pulls Annabeth in to get away from the monster.

Cue best underwater kiss ever.

They date in secret for two months but Percy's mom knows.

When Percy goes missing, Annabeth freaks.

She searches for him everywhere and if anyone asks why she's searching so hard for someone she doesn't even like, she just replies, "He probably just disappeared bcuz it's his turn to do the camp chores and I will not let him slack off," or "Who else am I supposed to use for target practice???"

(None of the campers who'd been in the Titan war buy it.)

In SoN, the only thing Percy remembers is Annabeth, but for some reason, he has this instinct to not tell anyone about her so he doesn't.

In MoA she still judo flips him and acts all mad (which she is) but he still laughs it off and says all sarcastic, "Oh, did the smartass daughter of Athena miss me?"

But he missed her too.

When they go to eat lunch Annabeth and Percy excuse themselves to "go to the bathroom" but they really snuck off to have their own private reunion.

"I missed you so much, Seaweed Brain. Don't ever disappear like that again."

"I'm sorry, Wise Girl. I missed you too."

*kissing*

Later, when Annabeth and Percy sneak off to the Pegasi stables on the Argo II and sleep next to each other.

Frank finds them.

They swear they didn't do anything and threaten Frank into silence.

He can never look at them the same way again though.

When Annabeth has to get the Athena Parthenos, Percy paces the deck of the Argo but says he's not worried about a daughter of Athena.

When she finally gets the statue, he goes down to meet her but she trips and falls into the Pit.

He catches her, but now he's hanging on a ledge.

"Percy, let me go. You can't pull us both up." She whispers, knowing they're too low for the others to hear.

"We're staying together. You're not getting away from me. Never again." He whispers back.

"As long as we're together."

At least in Tartarus, they don't have to pretend they don't absolutely, utterly love each other.

In Blood of Olympus, Percy, Annabeth, and Piper are walking underground to the monster's base in the Parthenon when they see a trident mark in the ground.

Annabeth says it's the place where Poseidon struck the ground.

At this point, Percy turns to Piper and asks, "Can you keep a secret?"

Piper nods.

That's when Percy kisses Annabeth.

When he pulls away, he says, "This is where the rivalry ends….for us, at least."

Piper acts surprised but on the inside she is rAGING bcuz now Leo owes her ten bucks but she can't tell him.

After the Giant war they consider telling their friends, but they're not sure…

Idk how to end this just keep going

Sort of a bonus:

The Hephaestus and Athena cabins worked together to make everyone monster-proof phones (which also correct their dyslexia) and Annabeth and Percy use them all the time to text each other and no one knows.

Jason asks Percy to come to a cafe with some of the others, and Annabeth and Percy are texting the whole time.

Their convo goes something like this:

'hey Annabeth, me, Jason, Frank and some of the others r going to that cafe on 31st street'

'*Jason, Frank, some of the others and I' 'Really? Piper, Hazel, and I are going there too. They mentioned Jason, Frank, and Leo might be there, but not you.'

'weird, they didn't say anything about u either' 'hey wait a sec, Jason's texting on some gc called Operation Get Them Together' 'the other guys' phones r ringing everytime he sends something…'

'What? Operation Get Them Together???'

'yeah'

'....'

'what'

'Oh no.'

'what??? Annabeth????'

'They're trying to set us up.'

'wdym set us up'

'I MEAN, they're TRYING to get us TO GET TOGETHER'

'huh?'

'THEY WANT US TO GO OUT PERCY! YOU KNOW, TO BE A COUPLE???'

'ok okkk u don't have to yell'

'🤦‍♀️'

'so what do we do'

'I think we should go along with it.'

'wait hold on, Jason's asking me who im texting'

'Wait, tell him it's your girlfriend. Just to screw with them.'

'haha yes ur a genius'

'I know.'

Percy tells Jason that he is texting his girlfriend, to which Jason replies by "What?!" and frantically starts typing on the group chat to tell everyone that 'YOU GUYS PERCY SAYS HE HAS A GF ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION!!!'

To which Piper is the first to reply, saying, 'Nah, trust me, keep going with it'

At this point, they reach the cafe, and the boys and girls meet up at a table.

Annabeth, immediately going into acting mode, says, "What is he doing here?"

Percy fires back with a scowl and says, "You didn't tell me she was going to be here. I'm leaving."

Jason stops him tho

Percy and Annabeth sit down at the table, but everyone is still standing.

Piper and Hazel say they have to go to the bathroom and leave.

Jason and Leo say they're going to go order (even tho it's a sit down with a menu and order type of cafe???)

Everyone seems to have some kind of excuse to leave until Percy and Annabeth are left alone.

The two pull out their phones again.

'Seriously? This is their plan? Say we're all going out to eat and then leave the two of us alone?'

'ig' 'what do we do now'

'I don't know.' They're probably spying on us…'

'um is that Reyna, Hazel, and Calypso in the bushes with mud and green war paint on their faces?'

Reyna, Hazel, and Calypso were indeed hiding in the bushes (with binoculars) with mud and green war paint on their faces.

'Wtf?? How'd they do that so fast???' 'And is that Leo and Piper holding newspapers with eyeholes cut through???'

'lol yea...then that eagle flying above us is prolly Frank'

'Jason is hiding in the clouds to your six.'

'where r Nico and Will?'

'I think that's them making out in the bushes.'

'lmaoo im so gonna tease them for that' 'so what do we do now Wise Girl'

'...' 'Follow my lead.'

'k'

Annabeth puts away her phone and stands up.

Percy follows her lead.

She says, "We know you guys are there, just come out. It's not going to work. And we see you too, Nico and Will."

The other demigods come out of their hiding spots (the two who had been called out looking especially sheepish).

"Why not?" Piper says, knowing perfectly well why not.

Percy looks between Annabeth and Piper, and seems to come to a decision.

"Because," he says and goes over to Annabeth and kisses her, "we're already together."

The responses were very diverse.

"What?!"

"I knew it!"

"Leo! My ten bucks. Now."

"Yeah, I walked in on them sleeping together…"

"So we did all this for nothing???"

"Wait, did you say sleeping together?"

They arguing stops as two flashes of light almost blind everyone and two gods appear.

Poseidon and Athena.

For several seconds, the two gods just stare at Percy and Annabeth (who are now holding hands just bcuz)

Then, finally, after what seemed and EXCRUCIATINGLY long time, Poseidon turns to Athena and says:

"I was right, you were wrong, I was RIGHT, you were WRONG, I WAS RIGHT, YOU WERE WRONG, YOU OWE ME FIFTY DRACHMAS BIRD BRAIN"

This was not the reaction the demigods was expecting if you couldn't tell

Athena just scowls and makes a pouch filled with drachmas appear, and throws it at Poseidon.

Poseidon catches it, bringing out what appears to be a phone and starts calling someone.

Athena goes over to Percy and Annabeth.

She looks mad, and Annabeth tries to let go of Percy's hand, panicking, trying to think of a lie, but Percy doesn't let go.

"My daughter is the smartest and best of my children, and as much as I don't approve of this, if she chose you, sea-spawn, she must have a good reason. But if you step one foot out of line, I will have you punished, understood?"

Athena addresses this to Percy, who nods fearfully.

"Good."

Suddenly there are a bunch more flashes of light as more gods appear bcuz apparently, Poseidon wanted everyone to see that he was right and Athena was wrong.

Ofc chaos ensues.

But Percy and Annabeth are still holding hands and look at each other and feel overwhelmingly happy for the first time in a long time because now they don't have to keep their relationship a secret anymore.

THE END~

WTF HAVE I WRITTEN.