#thalias hair changes shade over time

[moonlightswritingandstuff]

you, rainbow, and i, gray

Written for day four: colours, but could also apply to fluff!

Bianca di Angelo sees people in colours. Usually, each person is one colour. However, Rachel Elizabeth Dare seems to be every colour at once.

@them-awesome-rarepairs

read on ao3!

Bianca sorts people in colours. Nico is dark green, Hades is deep, deep maroon, and Maria is gold, beautiful gold.

They are all usually one colour.

Even after Bianca came to camp, most people she met were one colour.

Percy is a deep, deep unending blue with a tinge of purple. Annabeth is bright red-orange. Connor Stoll is yellow to his brother Travis's orange, and Katie Gardner is yellow-green, a lovely chartreuse. Thalia is a shocking orange, Grover a bright, sunny yellow.

They're all one colour.

Of course, when people die, they turn gray (Thalia's face flashes in Bianca's mind, her formerly bold orange turning into a gray and suddenly-).

Bianca is a colour too, of course, a plain but nice gray. Exactly like Pantone's neutral gray. She is nothing but plain, it seems, but Bianca is also death. Death, like the gray she is (Castor turns gray from lovely green as Bianca watches-).

But with the years come new revelations, with everyone seemingly coming in so many colours. Nico's settled into a pale yellow, Percy's become more purple as time's gone on, Annabeth's red-orange is stained by a little gray these days (it's not death yet but inching towards ever so because they're all child soldiers-).

Bianca hasn't changed. Not a bit. Because Bianca is the gray slightly off of death because Bianca is death. Bianca cannot be anything but death.

Well, people seemed to be one colour until Rachel Elizabeth Dare came along.

«»

See, Bianca first meets Rachel when Percy decided they needed one-on-one time (for no apparent reason, why did they need that?) and Bianca did nothing but acquisition because really, what could she do?

So Bianca's pretty surprised when Percy shows up with Rachel Elizabeth Dare, for two reasons.

First off, she thought this was one-on-one time of 'older cousins' club (which is really cousins-except-for-Nico club, because Bianca does not always want to be with Nico now that she can), not 'older cousins and some really pretty girl Percy is friends with' club.

Second off, Rachel is every colour ever, at the same time. Rachel is red and orange and yellow and green and blue and purple and everything in-between at the same time.

Well, Rachel isn't a neutral - isn't brown, black, beige, white, or gray. Rachel is achingly alive, in all her infinities, with every single colour. Bianca knows death, and Rachel is the opposite.

But Rachel smiles, and apologizes - something about her parents being insufferable - but Bianca isn't listening because Rachel's every single colour ever.

Her orange hair and green eyes and blue overalls and yellow undershirt and red shoes and purple hair-streaks and everything else, the paint coating her overalls in a million different shades all seem to reflect Rachel.

(She's like a blooming garden, in a way, with every single colour all over the place)

"So, yeah," Rachel concludes. "That being said, what about you?"

"Oh, I'm working on this art project-"

"You do art? Me too!"

(They end up spending that entire conversation basically ignoring Percy, much to his chagrin)

«»

"So... did you like her?"

"You couldn't tell?"

Percy relaxes. "Good. Annabeth doesn't, and I just kind of need someone who's a demigod- not to say that Grover and Tyson are anything close to bad, just-"

"I get it, idiot. Rachel's cool."

Percy smiles, but it's slightly strained, so Bianca raises an eyebrow.

"What's going on with Annabeth."

"You're not going to let me say nothing, are you?"

"Of course not."

"Well, she's just not really talking to me anymore? And it feels like we're drifting apart, which is really terrible, so..."

Bianca nods. "So. Annabeth's probably struggling with something. Just talk to her."

"I'll try that, thanks."

Bianca smiles.

"Also, Rachel has been pestering me to get your number."

"Has she now?"

"Yeah, so can I?"

Bianca shrugs. "Why not?"

«»

"Charcoals are nice," Rachel agrees. "But I prefer colour. Actually, I've been trying to help Percy with art-"

"He's completely useless!"

"Exactly! And so I was attempting to try art with him-"

"I'm so sorry."

Rachel laughs, a lovely sound coming from somewhere in her heart, all multicoloured. "Yeah. Anyway, he's actually great at watercolours and gouache, which, in hindsight, isn't much of a surprise."

"Fair enough. But you do know that means we have to force him to come along if we ever use watercolours?"

"Assuming we meet up more?"

"Naturally."

"Alright. Anyway, what's your favourite medium?"

"It's so expensive, but I like paint - and between acrylic and oil, oil is definitely better."

"I can probably get oil paint," Rachel says. "Art supplies are expensive but my dad's also a billionaire."

"Even though you hate him?"

Rachel shrugs, then frowns. "He's... terrible. I feel guilty buying anything, because everything is paid by him and his terrible practices."

Bianca nods. "Are you his... heir or something?"

Rachel shakes his head. "No. I have a cousin... it'll be his."

"Old men?"

Rachel laughs a little. "Old men."

«»

"And then, he got angry at me," Drew complains. "Like, hon, I'm the one trying to make sure your love life isn't trash. Not my fault if she doesn't like you back."

Bianca nods. Drew's colour is a comforting sweet pink, a pale, pale, pink that's pretty nonetheless.

"That being said, what's up with you?" Drew squints at Bianca. "Oh, I've got it. You're in love..."

"No, I'm not!" Bianca blushes despite herself anyways.

"Bee, my dear, you forget I can literally see love, or crushes, or infatuation, as long as it’s romantic. I know you have a crush on someone. Now, spill."

Bianca rolls her eyes. "So Percy has a mortal friend-"

"Oh, that Rachel girl? Annabeth's totally jealous."

"Huh, interesting. Yes, it's Rachel."

"So, what does she look like?"

"She has really curly red hair and green eyes - like Oracle green, I'm not even lying."

"Oracle green eyes?" Drew smiles. "You'll have to introduce me to her. But also, there's something you're not telling me."

"You know how I see people in colours, right?"

Drew nods. "And what shade is she?"

"Rachel isn't one shade. She's like... every shade but neutrals all at the same time."

"Ooh. Either you're in love-"

"Unlikely, it was from first sight, and colours don't work like that-"

"-or she's special."

"I can tell why people laud at your intelligence."

"They do the opposite, actually. I've heard multiple people talking about how dumb I am."

"Drew-"

"Enough about me."

"We're going back to that later, if you insist."

"I’m not going to get you to let it go, am I?”

“No. Drew, you’re one of the smartest people I know! They’re wrong.”

“They’re probably right. I barely scrape by As as it is.”

“Those are great grades, and besides that, who else knows exactly what someone’s strengths and weaknesses are at first glance? Who else knows exactly how to comfort people?”

Drew smiles. “I know. Anyway, tell me more about Rachel.”

“Fine.”

«»

“What do you think about mixed media?”

Bianca grins. “I love it! Watercolour and gouache and coloured pencil are all fun to use together in particular.”

Rachel’s eyes light up. “I hadn’t considered that. I usually use paint and pen, if I’m mixing media. Mixing media? Is that a thing?”

“I have absolutely no idea.”

“Then I shall use it anyway. That being said, in a monochromatic palette, what colour?”

“Blueish gray, usually. You?”

“I can never choose, you know? Sometimes I want green, or purple, but then I want some other colour. I usually end up with some random colour that’s appropriate to the scene rather than a scene appropriate to the colour.”

“That makes sense.”

The room dissolves into a comfortable silence once more, only broken by brush strokes, water dips, and gentle paint.

"I'm glad Percy introduced us," Rachel states.

"I'm glad too."

«»

"You're never around anymore," Nico states.

"Yes, I am. You're just rebellious."

Nico frowns. "What have you been doing?"

"I've just been a little busy. You know Percy's friend Rachel?"

"Yes."

"We've been talking."

Nico squints up at Bianca. "Talking."

"Yes, talking."

"Are you dating her?"

"No!"

"I don't believe you."

"We're not dating, Nico."

"You should."

"Nico!"

«»

"So, uh..." Rachel begins.

"Yeah?"

"Would you, uh, like to call this a date?"

Bianca blinks, then smiles. "Oh, oh, uh, yeah."

Rachel suddenly laughs. "We're so stupid about this."

"We are, aren't we?"

"Anyway, how do I tell Percy I'm going on a date with his cousin?”

"Let me tell him."

«»

least favourite cousin bee aunt uh: i'm going on a date with rachel purse sea: oh okay purse sea: WAIT WHAT bee aunt uh: correction i am on a date with rachel purse sea: how am i going to shovel talk rachel. or you. i need to choose. bee aunt uh: you can shovel talk us both idiot purse sea: okay good that's the plan bee aunt uh: unfortunately you’d suck at shovel talks purse sea: HEY

[nirikeehan]

Happy Friday, Niri!! Maybe ❛ know that i would gladly be the icarus to your certainty, oh my sunlight. ❜ from the Hozier prompts for Thalia/Blackwall if it strikes your fancy? 🥰

Hi Aster!! Thanks, this song is now on their playlist 🥺

Fluffuary is over, we’re on to MARCH ANGST MADNESS apparently 

For @dadrunkwriting

WC: 940

---

After the judgment, Thalia finds him in the barn. He is bent over the workshop table she ordered kept there, all tools exactly where he left them. Not one thing out of place. He leans heavily on the wood, back hunched as if in pain. Her fury licks and lashes at her, not allowing herself to find this pitiable. She storms up behind him. 

“Why did you do that?” she demands. 

He stays still as a statue. Still as the dead.

Thalia takes a breath. “I said—”

“Heard you the first time.” His voice has lost its volume and the bluster he employed in the hall. He straightens, slowly, and turns to her, face a mask. “Why’d I do what, my lady?” 

Hearing him use her title after the spectacle at the judgment is too much. “Don’t you dare,” she snarls, pacing in front of him. She wants to overturn the table. She wants to hurl bales of hay at his stupid stoic face. “You walked into that room, in front of all those people, and you— you—”

“Told the truth?” He raises his heavy brows. 

“Insulted me.” Thalia holds up a hand, ticking grievances off on her fingers. “Questioned my authority,  proclaimed me capable of summary execution, accused me of criminal corruption—”

“I fail to see the inaccuracy of those statements.” 

Thalia isn’t sure whether she wants to laugh or burst into tears. “I saved you. I risked everything — everything! To get you out of Val Royeaux. To give you a second chance.” 

“Yes, and how is that going for you?” He crosses arms over his broad chest, lip curling into a sneer. “Was it worth it, to soil yourself and your organization, for me? A traitor who should have been hanged years ago?” 

“Don’t — no, no, don’t call yourself that. Please.” She can feel it all slipping away from her, the whirling madness of what she’d witnessed at the Val Royeaux gallows taking hold again. She can feel the roar in her ears, as if the crowd was still around her, looking up at the man she knew to be noble, and loyal, and great. 

He scoffs. “You ought to see now, my lady. Who I really am.” 

I am Thom Rainier, he’d said. And Thalia thought, Who? 

The name bore no weight for her; he sounded like a stranger. Ever since, however, the shade of that stranger has grown larger and larger, threatening to engulf the man she knows in her heart to be real. She sees them both before her right now. The light from the fire pit casts a large, dancing shadow on the wall behind him, ghoulish and depraved. 

“I don’t believe you,” she breathes. 

“Well, you’d best start.” The flickering flames cut his chiseled face at disturbing angles. He looks mean, dangerous. She tries to imagine him without the beard, hair cut short, a fat coin purse weighing down his pocket on a dark nighttime road. She can’t. “Nothing will change it. Not any number of lovely lies, nor your so-called mercy.”

He speaks with such contempt, it makes her feel violated, unclean. Is this what she bought with her ignorant pride? A man so bent on destroying himself in darkness that he despises any ray of sun? 

“Is that how it’s going to be, then?” Thalia asks, her voice clogged with tears. “If you truly hate me so much, you can leave. I’ll release you from your servitude.” 

“Ah, ah, not so fast.” His smile is grim. “You can’t do that, and you know it. Think about it. They’re already talking, every single one of them who was in that room. Whispering to each other. That you were too lenient. That you looked upon me too favorably. You put on a good show, my lady, but everyone saw.” He tilts his head, voice going gravely and low. “If you let me walk out of here, you might lose them completely.” 

Thalia’s knees begin to shake, her palms sweaty. He’s right. 

Of course he’s right. 

“You are only as powerful as your people allow you to be,” says Thom Rainier. “I thought I taught you that, but it turned out you were a pretty fool after all.”

With a frustrated cry, she launches herself at him, this much taller, much stronger man. She swings her arm — to strike or punch or claw, she isn’t sure. He snatches her easily by the wrist, staying her. His grip tightens and tightens. She feels the small bones at the base of her hand grind against each other. Impassively, he pulls her toward him, holding her up so that she must stand on tip-toes, off-balance. 

“I thought you would be grateful,” she whispers, wincing. 

He brings his face closer to hers, eyes narrowed. She is aware he is a man who is so good at killing he’s made a career of it. His voice is as low as a threat. “Know that I would gladly be the Icarus to your certainty.”

Icarus, of course: the old Tevene myth. A man with wings of wax, flying too near the sun, and plummeting. She feels herself melting this close to his lips. Pain shoots down her arm.

“You’re— you’re hurting me.” She sounds weak, afraid.

He releases her. Thalia stumbles back, hand tingling. Her whole limb smarts. She cradles her tender wrist close to her chest and stares at him without comprehension.

He turns his back on her. “Now. Get out of my sight.” 

It is fully dark outside. Thalia trudges across the courtyard. The crickets have never been so loud. 

[tagthescullion]

Fandom(s): Percy Jackson and the Olympians Rating: T Summary: Luke’s quest companion is dead. He’s alone, defeated, and not too far from Los Angeles, where Thalia’s estranged mother lives. Angry and hurt by Beryl’s indifference towards her late daughter’s fate, Luke might take justice into his own hands.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Hiking

Luke woke with a start. He felt groggy, and confused.

The sky outside was a bright shade of blue, but the sun was low enough that he guessed it was around six or seven in the evening, still light in summer. 

He recognised Los Angeles at once. Modern to his Connecticut-born self, the houses with their flat roofs, and dry-land plants on their gardens. 

And it was dirty. Big cities were always filthy. 

Downtown LA wasn’t the most exclusive part of the city, but there were a few metropolitan buses he could choose from. 

Nicking a TAP Card from a passerby was easy, trying to come up with a route that led to Beryl Grace’s home, not so much.

He’d never taken a bus or metro in LA, and the bus stop didn’t have a map showing routes. There were a couple of buses that mentioned Santa Monica, another that would leave him in the B line of the metro. He thought being the son of the god of travels, his brain might as well come haywired to find the shortest route in any place he was in, but unfortunately, that did not seem to be the case.

He was lucky a lady waiting in the bus stop took pity on him and gave him a hand.

“You take number 16 to West Hollywood, the walk to Beverly Hills isn’t long, but you can take another bus there, if you want,” she said after Luke told her his destination. “It’s a long while, though, darling, you’ll have to be patient.”

She surely said so because of Luke’s incessant pacing.

After sleeping for almost nine hours on the bus, he’d felt a sudden rush of adrenaline. He didn’t want to be still, but he forced himself to keep calm, if only to avoid inconveniencing the woman who’d helped him.

He took the bus the lady pointed for him, and, indeed, waited for what felt like ages. 

He got off almost on the mark, only two or so stops before he should have. It didn’t matter, though, he appreciated the chance to let off some energy.

Once again, he wasn’t exactly sure how to get to Don Vicente Road. 

This time, he swallowed his pride and asked a man tending to a newspaper stand.

“Not far off, son,” the guy told him cheerfully. “Off that street, ten minutes until you see a cul-de-sac to your left. After that it’s the next street.”

Luke thanked him by buying a sudoku magazine with the change he’d got the night before. 

While walking on itself made Luke calmer, the destination had him on edge. 

He couldn’t help but think that he was overstepping somehow. Sure, he owed Thalia to tell her mother what had happened. But there was no reason for which Beryl herself would even agree to see him.

What if her newest paramour was there? That would be awkward. Luke didn’t do awkward. 

He took calming breaths as he trotted uphill. He tried to ease the wrinkles in his stolen shirt, and he tried to comb his hair with his fingers. 

He found number 56. It was an apartment building, not too tall, maybe 12 floors at most. Glass banisters on the balconies, lots of light in the lobby, and a dishevelled doorman who hurried towards the desk when Luke walked in.

“How can I help you?” The doorman asked, giving Luke a once-over. 

“I’m here to see Beryl Grace,” Luke replied. “I’m a friend of her daughter’s, she used to live here a long time ago.”

The doorman raised an eyebrow.

“Has her father grown tired of her?” He asked. “He wants to send her back?”

“Her father—?” Luke began. 

“Beryl Grace’s daughter,” the doorman said slowly. “Gone to live with her father, off to the East Coast after the whole ordeal with the boy.”

Luke frowned. Gone to live with her father. That was what Beryl had invented to avoid a scandal? And what did he mean the boy?

The doorman was eyeing him mistrustfully. If Luke wanted to sound convincing he’d have to guess what the woman had come up with exactly to explain her daughter’s sudden disappearance. 

“Yeah,” he said. “New York. She went to a tutor, not her father, actually.”

The doorman nodded as if it was a common occurrence for parents to send off their children to strangers on the other side of the country.

Or, perhaps, he just wasn’t impressed with Beryl’s parenting skills. 

“What do you want from her?” The doorman asked. “She won’t be giving you any money for that girl, if that’s what she’s after, sending you here.”

“I don’t want her money,” Luke scoffed. “And neither does Thalia. She didn’t send me. She’s—” he took a deep, steading breath. “I have to talk to Beryl Grace about Thalia.”

The doorman shrugged. He picked up the phone on the desk and waited. 

He gave look a curious glance. “What’s with the stick?”

Luke followed his eyes to his sword. 

“I was hiking.”

The doorman made a face. “Be careful with the trekking paths around here, they’re death traps, most of them.”

“I’ll be careful,” Luke assured him.

Someone picked up on the other side of the phone. 

“Miss Grace?” The doorman said. “Very sorry to disturb you ma’am, yes. There’s a young man here.” A pause as he listened. “His name is—”

“Derek Hoffmann,” Luke provided. 

He had to repress a wince as he said it, but it would do him no favors to give his real name. He hoped Derek didn’t care. 

The doorman repeated it on the line.

“She won’t know me by name,” Luke said. “Tell her I’m here about Thalia.”

“Says he’s here about your daughter Thalia,” the doorman told Beryl. “All the way from New York.”

“Tell her I’m here on behalf of Thalia’s father,” Luke lied. “He sent me with a message.”

Apparently that got Beryl Grace curious enough to let a stranger into her home, for a minute later Luke was on an elevator, going up towards the building’s penthouse.

He’d never been in a penthouse before, using a key to open an elevator door felt so pretentious to him. Just get an entrance hall like everybody else.

The metal doors slid open to reveal a huge living room. Floor to ceiling glass windows, soft carpets, the air was cool and dry. If it weren’t for the dark stains on the cream carpet, and the crammed furniture —piled-up old magazines, plates and glasses everywhere—, it might’ve looked like the kind of home Ikea loved to publicise. Cold and unloving. 

“Derek,” a raspy voice said to his right. “Somehow, you don’t look like Zeus sent you to tell me anything.”

[justaz]

nico, percy, and thalia are known as like the goth/punk cousins or whatever yknow (i love those emo assholes) and so they kinda embrace that bc it’s true but then nico thinks about it and brings it up to percy and they realize thalias been dying her hair and she’s fucking BLONDE?????

they’re so disappointed in her and bring it up every time they’re together

[takaraphoenix]

In the wake of the casting announcement, I’ve come across this and I just gotta say a few things about one particular section in it. Because while on the overall, this is a rare occasion on which I agree with Riordan - finding the right actors isn’t so much about physical traits as it is about their acting ability to convey characteristics, personality and also the right kind of chemistry with the right other cast members (casting two people as best friends or lovers when the actors give off an energy that they would rather not be in the same room as the other person? Doesn’t work) - I’m baffled about the way he went in delivering that point.

Are we going to make Walker dye his hair black? Answer: We have had zero conversations about this. Personally, I think this is a non-issue. For me, finding the right actors  has never been about hair color, eye color, skin color, or any other single physical trait, even if they were described a certain way in the books. As many of you know, I flubbed such details myself several times in the series. Thalia’s eyes changed from green to blue. Oops! Annabeth’s hair was curly and then it was straight. Nico was described as olive-skinned, then later as pale. Blackjack even changed from a mare to a stallion over the course of two books. Whelp, not sure what happened there, but too late now!

He really said the quiet part out loud. He really said the part he shouldn’t say out loud.

What I’m reading here isn’t “racebending the characters doesn’t matter because the important thing is the essence and energy the actors bring”, what I’m reading here is “racebending doesn’t matter because I’m a shitty writer lol” (and yes, I am also reading that “lol”, in that “Whelp, not sure what happened there, but too late now!”). Because that’s what he’s saying. He’s saying that the actors’ physical appearance doesn’t matter because he never cared enough to remember what his own characters look like to begin with. And that’s a sign of a bad writer, because a good writer actually cares.

We all know he sucks at keeping his own canon straight, but I somewhat assumed that he himself... elects to not shine a light onto that fact?

These are his characters, he created these characters, but he can’t be bothered to remember what they look like?

And the characters he lists there aren’t even side or background characters. They’re all main characters. I have a margin of understanding for not remembering the exact shade of eye color on some random background character who only appeared twice or so. But Annabeth, Nico and Thalia are main characters.

That... I’m sorry, but to me this just shows a severe lack of care. He doesn’t even care to remember what his main characters look like. How do you go about writing entire books about these characters without having a clear visualization of them in your inner mind?

And! Even if you have the shittiest memory possible, there are ways to keep the details of your writing straight. Heaven knows I have created more characters than I could ever keep track of, so I have charts, where I note down important details about them, including the visual key-notes. Art is also a great way for that, even if you aren’t the best artist yourself.

I just truly, fiercely hate the dismissive nature with which he lists these easy to avoid mistakes that he made and how he just shrugs it off like it doesn’t matter.

Sure, in its very essence, what eye-color Thalia has doesn’t matter all that much, but it’s about what this represents. This represents that he doesn’t even care enough to know his characters, when every die-hard Percy Jackson fan has greedily soaked up and memorized every tiny little detail of description that he has given us because we actually love these characters.

[mmvalentine]

The Bargain Pt 1 | Feysand

Modern AU. Read Part 2

It was not an especially busy or difficult day for Rhys, but still he was tired. Maybe he just hadn't been sleeping well. Some days, the constant blaring of music and the relentless whine of the machines drilled into his brain, and although he loved his job, it was times like these he just wanted to go home.

"Excuse me?"

Rhys looked up. A woman had just walked through the door of the shop. Small build, nervous hands, and no visible ink so far.

"I, ah, have a consult with Rhys?" "That's me," Rhys said. "Feyre?" "Yeah." "Right this way."

Rhys unclipped the small rope that separated the waiting room from the work space. His bench was the one against the west wall, and he led Feyre over to it and pulled up a stool for her. She sat tentatively, another clue that this might be her first time. Rhys leaned his forearms on his bench, and folded his hands.

"So," he said. "You'd like to get a tattoo."

Feyre nodded. "Is this your first one?" he asked her. She nodded again. "Okay, that's alright. You don't have to book anything today, we can just have a chat about what you might like to do."

Feyre have a tight smile, and her eyes looked as tired as he felt. It forged a tiny sort of kinship, and Rhys wanted to smile at her. At least he wasn't the only one struggling through the day. "Thanks," she said. "I appreciate that." Her gaze scanned the bits of paper blu-tacked to the wall behind him. "Are they all yours?"

Rhys glanced over his shoulder, and nodded. "Yep, mostly old sketches from other people's tattoos. Do you know what you might like to get?"

Feyre's eyes continued to track over the wall. "Mm, not exactly. I... I never really thought about being tattooed before, but things have been... kinda hectic lately. And suddenly I found myself craving something permanent."

She met his eyes, finally, and he sat and read their blue-grey contents for a moment. Wondered briefly what made this stranger so sad.

"I can understand that," Rhys said eventually. "Some people think tattooing is trashy and rebellious, but it traces back to ancient rituals from cultures all over the world. It can be a significant way of reclaiming your own body."

Something lit in Feyre's eyes at the last comment. "I would really like that," she said.

"Okay," said Rhys. "Well, if you don't know what exactly you want yet, are there pictures you've seen that you liked? Did you book in with me for a specific reason?" "I've been following you online for a while," Feyre said. "I like a lot of your pattern work. Uh," she paused and dug through her bag for her phone. "Maybe something like these ones?"

She showed Rhys a few pictures from his social media sites that she had saved. Arm and leg sleeves of blackwork patterns and shading, most of which had taken long-haul sessions to complete. Rhys raised his eyebrows.

"You want something like this for your first tattoo?" he asked. "I mean, we can do it sure, but a lot of people get something small to begin with."

Feyre blushed. "Maybe not quite that big," she said. "Maybe just like, elbow to wrist." She brushed her hand down her arm as she said it, and Rhys held out his hand.

"May I?"

Feyre extended her arm, and Rhys pushed back her sleeve. Took her little hand in his, turning her this way and that. Her skin was pale and smooth, no visible scars or skin irritations. A clean, blank canvas.

"We can do that," Rhys agreed. "If you do want to go ahead, I'll book you in for a few sessions. Maybe three or so, depending on how we go. They'd be once a month, a few hours at a time if you're up for it."

Feyre took a deep breath, and then nodded firmly.

"Let's book it in," she said. "Are you sure? You don't have to decide today," Rhys told her. "I'm sure," Feyre said. "Okay," Rhys replied. "Well, it's $100 deposit, but my next available appointment is three months from now. Is that okay?" "Yeah, I can wait." "Alright, cool. And then we can make you a regular booking for the following three months. If you even need that long." "Sounds good," Feyre said, and handed over the cash. Rhys wrote her a receipt, and put her in the reception desk calendar. "I'll draw something up for you and email it to you closer to the time."

But Feyre shook her head. "You don't have to," she said. "I like everything you make." Rhys chuckled. "Okay well, they're pretty free-flowing designs so we can make changes on the day too." "Okay. Thanks. I guess I'll see you in three months." "See you then," Rhys said, and shook her hand before she left.

It took Rhys forty minutes to pack up his station, put his coat and scarf on, and walk out the door. It took him a further ten minutes, when he was half way home, for him to have dropped his work professionalism enough for him to realise that Feyre, with her shyness and her tiredness and her determination, was just gorgeous.

He stopped still on the sidewalk, misting rain collecting in his hair, and replayed her face in his mind until someone bumped into him, and he walked the rest of the way home and found that he was looking forward to seeing her again.

****

Ohhhh yes it's a new multi chapter fic, hello nerves. I was trying to come up with something new and then it turns out past me wrote this idea in my phone. I know there's not much in it yet but bear with me?

MASTERLIST

TAGLIST: @ghostlyrose2 @highladysith @stardelia @feysand-loml @tillyrubes10 @ratabrasileira @live-the-fangirl-life @maybekindasortaace @annejulianneh111 @thebonecarver @rowaelinismyotp @loosingdreams @whythefuckdoiexist @inejsarrow @swankii-art-teacher @sjmships @courtofjurdan @teddytdr @thalia-2-rose @positivewitch

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Empires on the Horizon XVI

Jason is a CEO: Part XVI

okay wow it has been a hooottt minute since i’ve updated a multi-chap fic and an even hotter minute since i’ve updated this one. so here’s a recap:

jase and zoe broke up, because she is being forced by her father to marry someone else (who that may be is yet to be revealed). jason has finally had enough and at the insistence of his friends he packs up on a holiday to Panarea (in italy) where he is delightedly shocked to discover Percy Jackson is currently working, and oh no.....would you look at that......the hotel messed up their reservations and now they have to share the same room, and the same bed. lmao they’re dorks.

here’s how the last chapter ended:

“Let’s just stay together? We’re friends. We know each other, we trust each other, and it’ll be less hassle than trying to find a room for either of us.”

“But there’s only one bed?” His brain was short-circuiting.

It shut down altogether when the man before him smirked. “Well i can keep my hands to myself, if you promise to.”

“I-” What is stopping him from saying yes? Why should he say no?

“It’s totally okay if you don’t want to.” Percy’s expression was so gentle, and it turned every weathered rock in Jason to gemstone.

“Yes.” He said firmly. “Let’s share the room.”

It was only when they got back to the hotel did Jason realise they were still holding hands. He wondered if they’d find each other like that in their dreams too. They did.

masterlist; my links

Jason awoke to an arm slung over his waist and soft breaths fanning the bare skin of his back. Bright sunlight streamed through the windows, bringing with it the heat that was sure to get unbearable. He thought he’d feel uncomfortable with someone touching him in weather like this but Percy seemed to be cool, and gods did he look cute with his messy black curls, and brown skin that absorbed rays of light and turned it into magic.

They had promised each other that they’d keep to their sides of the bed and refrain from mauling one another in the night, but it seemed like they had gravitated together anyhow. And Percy was certainly a cuddler. 

A knock sounded and with groaning realisation he saw the clock on the wall read ten am. They were out later than either of them had realised. 

“Jackson,” He nudged the man gently, “I think you need to get up.”

A mumbled response sunk into his skin as soft lips brush against his back. Jason went completely still, the sensation running along his nerves like hot wires. 

“You okay?” Another mumble filtered through his delirium. 

“I’m fine,” He managed to choke out, “I think we need to get up though. Room service is already here.”

That sparked movement. Suddenly green eyes were wide open, and cheeks, streaked with the creases of the pillow, were red with panic. “What is the time?” 

“It’s ten am,” He pointed to the clock. 

“Fuck!” Percy practically leaped out of bed and slammed his shoulder into the door frame as he skidded into the bathroom.

Jason heard the shower go on, and an electric toothbrush whirr to life, and then he heard a multitude of curse words, a loud bang and some groans of pain.

“Er,” He should go in there and make sure his friend was still alive. “Jackson?” He stepped into the bathroom and was not at all prepared for the sight that greeted him.

There, tangled in his pants, toothpaste stains on his face, and the shower soaking the bathroom floor was Dr. Percy Jackson.

“Do you need help?”

“This is not how this morning was supposed to go,” The dark-haired man garbled, looking hopelessly at the mess he had created.

Jason hid a smile as he bent down to help tug Percy’s pants off him, “And how was the morning supposed to go.”

Green eyes clashed with his, the toothbrush still whirring in his mouth. “I was supposed to wake up early and order a buffet for breakfast and then as we stuffed ourselves-” he cut off, choking on the toothpaste. 

Jason couldn’t hide his amusement, and burst out laughing at Percy’s subsequent glare. Standing up and tossing the pants in the wash basket, he offered his hand to his friend, who took it gratefully before heading to the sink to finish brushing his teeth.

“What were we going to do while we ate?” He asked, leaning against the basin, one leg crossed over the other.

“I was going to feed you maple-covered waffles and answer some emails, and you were going to read that book I know you brought.”

“Are we an old married couple in this scenario?” He quirked a brow, lips twitching.

Percy frowned, stripping off his underwear and stepping into the heat of the shower. “I’m just trying to start our future early.” 

Jason watched those glorious back muscles ripple, as water streaked down, but he refused to follow its path, not daring to go lower than the small dip of that spine. He didn’t even know why he was still in the bathroom, why he was being such a creeper, but his feet were superglued to the floor. He couldn’t move even if a crowbar tried to pry him away.

“Are you not agreeing with my vision?” A muffled voice drifted around him.

He attempted to come back to reality but it was proving near impossible. “Uh no-” He stuttered, “I think it’s a solid plan.” His eyes traced the sharp angles of that jaw, and the strong-bridged nose, and black hair matted to beautiful brown skin. He was sure he was dreaming. There could be no other explanation for the surrealness of the moment.

“Jase?” Percy touched his arm gently, skin hot from the shower. “You okay?”

He startled into the world so fast he felt dizzy. Where on earth had he gone? To another dimension it seemed. “Oh gods i’m so sorry,” He groaned, dropping his face into his hands. “I just watched you shower like a complete pervert.”

His friend smirked, and then he was laughing. “Who says i didn’t enjoy it?”

The blush that raced across his skin was enough to dull rubies. He didn’t know where to look, or how to breathe, or what he was made of. He was simply an untied balloon barreling towards the nearest thorn bush. “You,” He managed to choke, “Are going to be the death of me doctor.”

“Good,” He heard the smirk like violins, “Maybe then I won't feel like I'm falling straight to the bottom of the ocean all by myself.”

Jason peeked through his fingers, watching as Percy finished up and flitted around the room, trying to still the heart that threatened to beat out his rib cage and into a drum set. It was an ache in his chest, how much he felt for this man. How much he wanted him.

“So i’m going to be in and out for the next few days but i’m going to work my butt off so i can have Thursday and Friday off. I’m sorry for being a terrible roommate but i don’t think i’ll make meals until then.” He could see the regret in the doctor’s eyes, turning that vibrant green a shade like dying leaves.

“No,” He shook his head, “Seriously it’s not a problem. You do what you have to.” He couldn’t believe his friend felt bad for leaving him, when they hadn’t even known they’d be here together. It said enough about Percy's character that Jason was trying very hard not to bundle the man up in blankets and kiss his cheeks until the guilt of the past stopped carving valleys between his brows. Instead he hugged him, accidentally letting his lips brush against Percy's neck, just above his collar as he pulled away. Accidentally. The squeeze at his waist let him know his accident was well received.

“Goodbye Jackson.” He smiled as he watched the doctor race down the hall. A ringed wave was the response before he disappeared around the corner.

Jason closed the door, leaning against it with an expression made from coffee foam and whipped cream. He couldn't imagine a morning as peaceful as that one, not in days, months, years? With a satisfied sigh he flopped back into bed, inhaling the ocean scent of Percy that lingered across the sheets like cool waters on a summer evening. The plan for the day was that there was no plan. Thalia had chosen well by booking this little place. He wouldn’t be distracted by touristy things ergo he couldn’t possibly do anything else but relax. So he snuggled into the pillows and stared at the ceiling and fell half asleep and listened to the wind and felt the heat creep across his skin and he just let himself be.

His thoughts were as wild as the tides and sometimes they spilled like ocean water across his cheeks. But then he’d drift off to a dream and wake up to the sound of people laughing and cars sputtering and footsteps stomping past his door and all of a sudden nothing felt too far away.

He was sad. He was sad enough to wonder if sadness was all he knew. His ex boyfriend, who he had loved like stars loved darkness, had broken down his dream and rebuilt it as a nightmare. He managed to wake up. His girlfriend, who he could have loved given time, had tied all the fraying parts of his heart to the wheel of a car and pressed accelerate. He managed to cut himself free. His girlfriend, who he had loved outright and bold, had danced him to the edge of a cliff and left him with one foot already going over. Had he managed to catch himself before reaching the bottom?

It was a question that kept him occupied through the day. Through the breakfast he ate slowly. Through the sleep he found restlessly when his mind wouldn’t focus on the book he’d brought. Through the very late lunch he gobbled down like his stomach would start a rebellion if it didn’t get it’s due. Through the golden sunset he sat at the window and watched.

But it was finally when he sunk to the floor of the shower, letting the water hit his back like welcome rain, that he had an answer; and with it the question of “What came next?” That answer, he knew, would come later. Clear and bright and ready to be grabbed with teeth and hands and love.

So he finished his shower, and changed into loose cotton pants and a shirt that he didn’t bother to button. A walk on the beach didn’t require formality.

The sand was soft on his feet, different to the way New York beaches felt. And the ocean was a richer blue, as if he were being introduced to colour for the first time and this was how water was supposed to look. He supposed places like this weren’t called paradise on earth for nothing. The last dregs of sunlight skittered across the water, as if playing with it. His fingers itched to paint the scene but with nothing but the sand at his fingertips he simply took in the view, and let his mind form the painting he couldn’t.

The air was cooler here, not as sticky, but that didn’t mean the heat wasn’t ever present, scorching the sand like coal hearths. His feet would be blistered if it weren’t so late into the evening. Any earlier and he may have been hopping around like a scared crab. The image was enough to make him giggle to himself. It’s a sound he misses, and one he loved enough to leave him smiling.

“Care to share, comedian?” A smooth voice called from behind him. 

He turned around, whipped faster than the wind, to see Percy walking towards him, a grin on his handsome face.

“I was picturing myself as a scared crab.”

Dark eyebrows raised in confusion, before rich laughter burst into the air. Jason swore it turned the night into magic. “Maybe I should have left you in peace.” The doctor shook his head. 

“Who says you’re disrupting it?” He tilted his head, before starting on his walk once more.

He didn’t see the look that crossed his friend’s face, like comfort turned to being.

“What did you do today?”

“Self reflection,” He said into the air, into the world, into himself. “How about you?”

“Oh you know, a little lab work here, a little analysis there.” Percy shrugged.

“Tell me more,” He prompted.

The look of surprise on his friend’s face made him want to throttle anyone who’s ever stopped this man from talking.

“You sure?” It was hesitant, it was heartbreaking.

“I can’t promise to understand everything so I may have questions but if you’re willing to indulge me I want to hear all about it.”

With a look that spoke of worlds beyond their comprehension Percy launched into a detailed play-by-play of his day. He answered every question with patience and sparkling eyes, and there were many questions. By the time they got back to their hotel the crescent moon was their only source of light in the inky blackness of the sky and his stomach was growling enough that he knew he couldn’t afford to snack for supper.

“Want to go to the restaurant for dinner?” He tilted his head to the opposite side of the lobby where grand doors opened and closed periodically. 

“I uh,” His friend winced, “I have some work today so i’m going to head to the room.”

“Okay,” He shrugged smiling, “I’ll meet you up there later.”

“Uh yea,” Percy’s face held an expression he didn’t quite know how to interpret. “See you then.”

“Want me to bring something up for you?”

“No, no, don’t worry about me.” Black curls bounced as he shook his head. 

They parted ways, Jason only slightly confused by the weird turn his friend’s mood took, and decided he’d bring back a chocolate brownie if nothing else.

As he sat down at a table, observing the grand balustrades and curtained windows he felt suddenly alone. It wasn’t a feeling he let himself be consumed by but just the fact that it was there had him reaching for his phone. With a few taps he was calling Leo, knowing it’d be early morning for them.

“Hello,” A cheery voice crackled through his earphone. It was enough to settle all the worried nerves hidden between his ribcage.

Their conversation was bright and energetic, Leo being a morning person; he even got a few grunts out of Annabeth, who was decidedly not. Everything was okay with his company and more importantly his friends were fine.

“I found a person we know here,” He mumbled, trying to keep his voice and excitement quiet.

“Who?” Leo was practically vibrating. Even Annabeth looked at the camera with blurry eyed curiosity.

“Uh Percy.” He scratched the back of his neck, shyness crawling across his skin.

“Oh,” His friend’s eyes widened. “What is he doing there?”

“Work,” This was fine. This was safe. Nobody was jumping to any conclusions.

“Are you sure you didn’t run away to get married?”

And there went all his hope of having reasonable friends. “No!” He hissed. “And besides I didn't run away, you guys forced me to go.”

“Well it’s done you good. I can finally see some colour in those pasty cheeks.” Brown eyes sparkled with mischief. 

Before Jason could respond another call was interrupting. “Zoe Nightshade” flashed across the screen.

“Uh Leo,” He frowned at his phone. “I’ll call you back.”

“Everything okay?” He heard the worry like tv static.

“I hope so.” The furrow between his brows didn’t disappear. 

And then he hung up on his best friend and answered the other call.

“Oh Jason,” Relief flooded in his ear like water in a drought. “Thank you for answering.” The smooth voice of his ex-girlfriend reached him.

“Zoe,” His nerves were bow-string taught. “What’s wrong? Why are you calling me?”

“I need your help.” She answered. She sounded desperate. “I can’t marry Octavian.”

Jason Grace nearly falls off the cliff.

------------------------------------------------------------------

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[melancholic-pigeon]

Too Short For Ao3 Fic #3? 4?

SO this is the extended edition of the bonus wip I did with Sally's birthday. The overall fic it belongs to is Extremely Smutty, so I went in and revised out the brief references and I'm posting the family-centric g-rated stuff for anyone who wants that but not the smut! Cough.

Also, I felt bad about missing WIP Wednesday again. Lolsob.

Percy rouses at around eleven PM to a sketch of himself on Jason's pillow. There's a note on the other side. 

I wanted to wake you up to say goodbye, but you looked so comfy I didn't have the heart to. your mom's presents are in the bag by my desk. say hi to everyone for me. I'll call tomorrow anyway.

love you to the moon and back.

-J. ❤

Complete with a little red heart. He doesn't even care that the doodle of him next to it, burritoed in a pile of blankets, includes a little spot of drool— he can tell by the rest of his cartoony, ballpoint features that Jason put it in because he thinks it's cute.

(And by the fact that he's said so, several times.)

Percy gathers up his junk. The cornflower blue sweatshirt he steals goes halfway down his fingers. He's come to accept that at six foot three and counting, Jason is the taller of them and always will be— barring some sort of horrible wood-chipper accident or curse from a grumpy deity. 

Fortunately, there's something about looking up to meet someone's eyes that Percy finds incredibly attractive. He has since Annabeth outgrew him for the first time in eighth grade. 

He heads out in his own jeans and the boxers he packed and the sweatshirt that smells like cinnamon. Once he boards the train, he stands with his arm around a pole and the other holding the bag against his chest, and tries to stay casual and keep the grin off his face.

It's almost midnight when he gets home. His mom, of course, is still awake, so he heads into the living room to greet her.

"My other half says hello."

There's a pile of presents on the coffee table. He puts the bag with the rest of them and sits down, kissing her cheek.

"He didn't have to get me anything." She closes her book and eyes the bag with a fond sigh. "How is he?" 

Percy's the same way she is, always happy to do favors and give gifts, but feeling pretty awkward about receiving them. Jason's even worse, the three of them in an ongoing and circular competition to never let any of it go reciprocated. 

"Working too hard, as always. Pulling As and winning games and barely sleeping to do it. His stepmother's up his ass and his father's a bully, so, you know, news at eleven." He leans his head onto her shoulder. "That's why he gives you stuff. He's trying to show you how much he appreciates you." 

She sighs, and Percy knows it's because she's just as frustrated by the whole thing as he is. 

"He knows I appreciate him too, I hope." 

"Without a doubt." Percy smiles at her, watching as she goes a little pink and smiles back. "You have a talent for making him feel appreciated." 

"He treats my baby like a prince," she says softly. "That's why I appreciate him so much in the first place. How could I do anything else?"

Percy turns his face into her shirt collar, another futile attempt to hide his goofy expression, 

"He really does, doesn't he?"

Holding doors, pulling out chairs, offering an arm on unsteady streets. Jason's never laid his coat over a puddle, but Percy's pretty sure he would, if the option presented itself. 

His mom starts playing with his hair, her fingers light and familiar.

"I'm just happy you're happy, sweetheart."

He knows that feeling too. 

Half asleep from the petting, Percy lets himself be a little babyish. It's after midnight now, which means it's her birthday, and he knows that sometimes she misses when he was Estelle's age and little enough to curl up in her lap. He's way too big for that now, obviously, but he can still slide down the couch and rest his head there. 

"You too, Mama." 

She looks at him, her eyes misty with emotion and almost green in the light.

She's smiling, too. 

She smiles a lot, these days.

—

In the morning, Paul makes coffee while Estelle helps unwrap the avalanche of presents. She's at the age where ripping paper makes her squeal with hysterical laughter, which worms its way into Percy's heart and melts it into pudding. 

Several of them are from Percy's friends, including a handbound book of original recipes from Leo, a lovely silver bracelet inset with mother-of-pearl that Beckendorf made himself, and a huge sheathed knife with a matching decorative handle from Clarisse. The last one makes his mom snort as she gets up to put it on the bookshelf, out of reach of curious toddler hands. 

"Decorative. Sure." 

"I bet she'd teach you how to use it if you asked." 

"I know how to use a bowie knife, dear. Your father and I used to catch and cook our own fish when we went camping."

"Which reminds me, he still hasn't taken me out," Paul cuts in, frowning. "I've been saving up dad jokes and embarrassing stories for four years."

"I'll bug him about it the next time we talk," Percy promises. "It's probably the ADHD." 

"Do you want me to bug you about bugging him?" 

"If you haven't set something up by blueback season, yeah." 

Percy and Paul went in on a pound of jasmine tea, which his mom reaches for next. She immediately asks for a cup— it's one of two days out of the entire year where she lets other people wait on her, for a change, and even that took a lot of cajoling. 

Paul makes the tea, since Percy usually scalds the leaves and it turns out tasting like grass. She probably wouldn't complain anyway, but it's her birthday, and she deserves to have the best tea that can be made in their kitchen. 

"Is the last bag from Jason?" Paul sets the mug on a coaster in the middle of the coffee table, and Percy scoops the baby into his lap so she doesn't try to grab it. She mashes her tiny hand against his cheek.

"And Thalia. I'm not sure if they went in on stuff or he just packed them both in one bag to make it easy." 

Either is a possibility. He watches as his mom reaches in and pulls out a large wrapped frame, Thalia's spiky handwriting answering the question. 

Whatever's inside, it makes her shut her eyes and exhale deeply through her nose. 

"Please pass on that I am absolutely furious."

She turns the frame around. An autographed vinyl EP of Sign O' the Times by Prince— one of the albums Percy grew up on, though she skipped a number of the songs when he was little. Thalia must have spent a fortune on it. 

"That woman is incredible," Paul breathes, lightly touching the glass. "How does she get this stuff?" 

"See!"

"She has friends in high places." Percy grins as Estelle reaches for the album, and holds her over the glass so she can touch it too. "She's also really good at barter chains."

His mother shakes her head, but he can tell how delighted she is— the two of them have spent hours animatedly talking about music, Thalia hanging on every word and groaning with jealousy over the concerts his mom went to in the eighties. 

"I know exactly where I'm going to put it." 

Thalia got her a turntable for her fortieth birthday last year, as well as a full set of replacements for every worn-out record in their collection— and had the originals framed too, since they had sentimental value. They're currently occupying the better part of two walls of his mom's study. 

There's a blank spot by her bookshelf, right underneath the first copy, that the autographed album will fit into perfectly. Percy grins. 

"I'll hang it up for you later."

She doesn't argue. There's only Jason's left, his careful print written out across the same paper Thalia used. The crinkling draws Estelle's attention, and she gleefully reaches over to help tear it off.

Their mom gasps at what's inside and puts a hand to her mouth, her eyes going bright.

It's a watercolor portrait of Percy and Estelle, laughing by the shoreline. She's dressed in a little bucket hat, a ruffled swimsuit patterned to look like a clownfish and the coolest shades in the world— sparkly blue frames shaped like seashells that he kind of wishes he could get in his size. He's in a wetsuit, having spent the morning surfing, and he's holding onto her hands so she can jump at the waves. In the distant background is the Montauk lighthouse.

It's beautifully done, like everything else Jason's ever put to paper, but Percy's never choked up like this over one of them.

"You remember that, Beluga? That was on my birthday, when you came and visited me and Jason at the beach."

"Beach?" she asks, expectant. Paul bursts into laughter, sounding as rough-voiced as Percy feels.

"You're your mother's daughter, sweet pea."

"Beach!" Estelle insists. Percy noses her pudgy cheek.

"It's too cold to swim, baby." His mom's eyes are sparkling, still a little teary. He can see Estelle in the smile on her face. "But we could go for a walk and visit." 

"Brunch first." Paul kisses her— Percy averts his eyes, wrinkling his nose at his sister to make her giggle again— and gets up, heading back into the kitchen. 

It's a lovely way to spend a late morning. Pale blue araucana eggs courtesy of Grover's new hens, a blueberry coffee cake from Nico by a fantastic hole in the wall in Hell's Kitchen, Paul's signature home fries made with blue potatoes and seasoned to perfection; all of it delicious.

Jason calls while Percy's doing the dishes. After his deep, resonant performance of the happy birthday song, the five of them chat on speakerphone for a little while, though he has to excuse himself pretty quickly to keep banging through his reading. 

"Maybe next year," Percy sighs. His mom puts her hand on his hip, then crouches down to help Estelle with her light-up sneakers. 

"He's always welcome for a rain check."

"He's always welcome, period," Paul adds. For the second time, Percy gets dangerously close to sniffling. 

Montauk is a little far for a day trip, so they head to Brighton Beach instead. Estelle's shrimpy legs get tuckered out more quickly than the grownups' do, so Percy ends up carrying her on his hip, snuggled into his jacket to block the chilly breeze. She points at seagulls, shouting triumphantly every time. 

"More bird!"

"That's right. A whole flock of 'em."

They watch for a while as the gulls fight over a discarded pizza crust. Then Percy feels an arm around his back and a head against his shoulder.

"I don't know how I got so lucky," his mother murmurs, barely audible over the rushing of the waves.

Percy's eyes sting. 

For most of his life, her birthdays had been spent without fanfare. He was rarely actually there for them anyway, and Gabe complained so much it was easier to just ignore the day and focus on survival instead. 

She'd been triaging like that since before she even met his dad, keeping herself afloat when nobody seemed to care if she drowned. It would have been easy to lie down and give up. Percy's pretty sure he would have, in her place. 

He turns to hug her with the obligatory proclamation of a Stella Sandwich. He catches Paul's eye over her shoulder, and gets a wide, sentimental grin in response. 

"Luck's got nothing to do with it," Percy tells her, leaning his cheek against the top of her head while his sister wriggles with delight between them. 

"Listen to our son," Paul adds. "He's very wise, as you raised him to be. This is all on you, honey." 

Within moments, she's surrounded by her whole family on all sides, and Percy has another arm around his back, and he's getting a little choked up over it all. 

When she first started dating Paul, back when Percy was still in middle school, she'd spent weeks all aflutter. It was the happiest he'd ever seen her at the time. They'd sit outside and work on her car together, and she'd slip into song like a grease-stained fairytale princess without even thinking about it. 

Seeing them interact is like cool water on a burn, Paul's devoted kindness soothing a lifetime of sitting back and watching people treat her like dirt. He worships her, just like she deserves and long overdue.

"I love you," she says, tearful and muffled in someone's shoulder. "All of you, more than anything." 

"Love Mama," Estelle replies, and that's it— Percy's blubbering.

It'll never undo the damage, but it's about time she got a chance to heal and thrive. 

-here in our bed, chapter 7, ~6200 words

[thejudgingtrash]

So... Rick Riordan couldn't have given Hazel golden BROWN eyes instead of straight up gold eyes? Golden brown is basically just a light shade of brown and with that specific description, it could still foreshadow to her being the daughter of the god of wealth (even though Pluto was always described as having DARK eyes and not gold eyes). Or make it so Hazel has hazel eyes? Like the brownish-green variety of hazel eyes where brown is the dominant color? Like, wouldn't either of those be better?

YUPPP.

Golden brown also would have made more sense as a metaphor? I mean he didn’t forget it, he emphasized multiple times that Hazel had golden/yellow eyes instead of a particular shade in the BROWN range.

It’s basically the same with a Piper ask that I’ve received ages ago. If appearances change in the action or as a cause due to magical interference, the characters having weird eye colors would actually make sense. 

Would it still be tropey? Yes, but it would make more sense in a logical way (at least to me). Not all demigods are all-mighty and while I do appreciate that Hazel is an important part, the way she gets tossed aside rather quickly doesn’t sit well with me.

And it just shows that it’s a huge inconsistency with Riordan’s world building and shows that he doesn’t give a flying SHIT about the Roman side. With PJO you had a sorta excuse why the characters had certain (realistic!) eye colors or features that they inherited from their parents (Percy having sea green eyes, the Stolls and Luke having Hermes’ scheming and cunning features, Annabeth having her mother’s gray eyes, Thalia’s eyes being an electric blue just like with Zeus). While the gods do not have DNA, their mortal forms pass stuff on and in some cases that goes over to having certain powers.

With the Romans (and the second series) you have NONE of that. I mean as you stated, why do Hazel and Pluto have different eye colors? Why does that man look like motherfucking H*tler?????

Explain to me why Thalia is dark haired and Jason is a blonde. One of them dyeing their hair is (a) fanon (joke). Why does Piper’s eye color shift as if they were thrown into the washer when no other Aphrodite kid goes through the same? And saying, Piper is a SpEcIaL prophecy kid is stupid. Some of these decisions just don’t make any sense and show that while some thought was behind the process of PJO, there wasn’t much creativity left for the sequels. Only eyes for a quick buck.

That eye color thingy, the fandom continuously treating Hazel like shit, invalidating her background story and whitewashing the living SHIT out of her doesn’t help either.

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (based on the incomplete fanfic Son of Underworld) (3/5) (Son of Hades! Percy AU)

Before reading, check the masterpost - and read the warnings before proceeding :)) Good reading!

Percy goes back to Yancy, and things proceed as normal. He has nightmares, he misses his mom, who he only saw for a week. He thinks back on last summer and asks himself if it's worth going back to.

Annabeth tries to go back to her father's family. It doesn't go well, but at least they could keep contact using a landline for the three months she can deal with the monsters in her father's new location. There's a weekend he tries to visit her in San Francisco - but he still isn't perfect and lands in Sacramento.

It takes him an hour and a half to reach her - and it's the best weekend of the year, even if he doesn't meet anyone in her family - she is afraid they'll double the monsters in her house.

And her stepmom is racist. So there's that.

Annabeth makes fun of his Academy Uniform, the blazer and the black gloves, the red tie that he hates, and he calls her Wise Girl - he is two grades over her because of her years as a runaway.

It feels a little like a date. There's pizza, and they hold hands when she takes him to see the Golden Gate. He notices that Annie's eyes look literally like molten silver - every demigod carries a trace of their parent, he finally notices.

He can't come back after that - they were attacked by a Hydra, and killing it was only possible because he managed to use fire - a green, weird fire that he did not know he had - to cauterize the stumps.

Blackjack shadow travels him back to Yancy Academy and he and Annie keep the contact for another two weeks before she has to go back to Camp since San Francisco is becoming too dangerous.

It's his last year of middle school. Next year, he doesn't know if he'll continue in Yancy or go for a scholarship at Phillips Academy, in Massachusetts.

It's far. It's almost four hours from his mother, it's six hours from Camp. But it's the best school on the East Coast.

He does his midterms exams. He is in all high of A+ in Geometry, Algebra II, Economics and Government, Ancient World History, and Health&PE.

U.S. History and Science keep between B- and D+, and he is okay with that.

Language Arts and World Cultures can go die in a hole. He hates reading, writing makes him anxious and the only language he can get a C+ is Latin.

They give him a tutor for English - his GPA is only sustained by math. His grades raise a little: They go from F to E+.

There's a girl being tutored with him. She is Cherokee and a grade below him - her name is Piper.

He hates verbs. He hates To Kill a Mockingbird. He will kill a mockingbird if it stops them asking him to read again.

He cheats in his essays - makes skeletons write them for him. They suspect - it's not his handwriting, it's not the way he writes, it has no errors.

They can't prove it, so he scrapes Language Arts with a D+.

His midterm GPA is amazing. He goes see his mother for Christmas, even though he thinks there's no Christ. Maybe. Who knows? He is not celebrating Jupiternalia anyway.

He barely put his bag down when his four weeks with his Mom go down the drain - Thalia and Annabeth appear in his door. He grabs his backpack, his weapons, and go.

Annabeth looks at his hands with wonder - it's the first time she sees them bare in two years, but he puts his gloves back quickly enough.

Thalia is less skittish around him, and that's good. Better, at least. He notices that her eyes aren't only green - there are waves in them, it's like looking at the sea. It changes with her humor, perhaps? He doesn't know.

They make fun of his uniform - but they are going to Westover Hall, and he will merge better if he looks like a preppy kid from a boarding school.

Percy knows about the Mist this time. He helps Thalia to control it - his heart aches when he thinks of his friends. Its been a year and a half now. He misses them.

The daughter of Zeus asks him who taught him.

"The same person who taught you"

She looks at him appreciatively now, but he knows he'll come short of whoever she is measuring him against.

They see the kids. There's a girl looking nervous and overlooking the gym, and a boy by her side fiddling with his cards. Their hair is black just like his - he wishes for a brother and a sister.

Their skin is not like his - but it doesn't matter that they have a different mom, does it? In the end, it's family. Grover says they're powerful - so Big Three might be a possibility.

They're not children of Poseidon - their skin lacks the tan and the hair lacks the messiness, the windswept look - And Zeus is a lot of things, but a hypocrite isn't one of them, is?

Percy dances with Annabeth, and he feels alive. Then, he is running to save the children.

He doesn't shadow travel them. Shadowtravelling with more than one person is tricky, and he still hasn't mastered not going to Wyoming.

He kills the manticore with his Warhammer, but as it crumbles to dust, Annabeth falls.

The earth trembles at his feet - but it's Thalia's hand in his shoulder that remembers him there's two kids here, and Artemis Hunt is all looking at him with varying degrees of disgust and fear.

It's nothing he is not acquainted with. For being black (and not even a normal shade of black), for his clothes, for not having a father, for having a father and it being Hades. Just now, he was being judged for being a man.

Misandry is news for him. His mother raised him to respect all genders (even when he discovered a few months ago there's more than two), that women deserve the same as men. Annabeth fights alongside him frequently enough. Clarisse wipes the floor with his ass. Katie Gardner doesn't - it doesn't make her weaker, or less deserving of respect.

He knows women have to fight for their place in society much more than he has to. He knows these women are probably traumatized by violent men and unable to fight back.

It still doesn't make it right for them to be bullies. It gives a reason, but not a justification.

And when they take Bianca Di Angelo, who has a little brother and barely has any idea of what she is doing, who was just attacked by a thing that shouldn't exist and is probably still in shock, he wants to scream.

Artemis sees something in Bianca - and he finally looks at the girl's eyes. There's a storm raging in them.

Zeus is a hypocrite, after all.

But it's not his place to say anything, nor to the children, nor against Artemis, so he just leaves the tent and goes ask the only other boy here to teach him Mythomagic.

Nico Di Angelo asks way too many questions and has an infinite source of energy. He is prideful - a trace common of all Zeus children. His eyes aren't stormy like his sisters, there aren't clouds in his irises. They are white, like his probable father's lighting bolt.

Nico asks him why he has green eyes - and why they turned black after the question. He doesn't know the answer.

Apollo appears and says something about flying in the sun car - it's the first time he and Thalia agree on something.

But calls for Blackjack. He is not flying, not even under a god's asking. Apollo understands.

Thalia goes with him. Better through shadows than through air. He doesn't want to leave Nico with the misandry archers - but he has Grover, and Percy would probably land them in Iowa.

The daughter of Poseidon holds his waist while they ride on the hellhound. He focuses the best he can - and, for the first time, he lands exactly where he wants to land: in the woods at Camp.

Thalia helps him get to the Big House under weird looks of the year-rounders. They are there at least three hours before Apollo.

"You're kinda heavy, Corpse Breath. But that was cool."

"Shut it, Kelp Head"

He is anxious to just leave and go back to his mother, but Annabeth is in danger: They need a quest.

He has dreams. He can't fault Annabeth for doing what he would've done without a second of hesitation. It's Luke.

He helps Nico settle at Cabin 11, and avoids the huntresses. Connor hugs him, and Clarisse wipes the floor with him in wrestling - they are his friends now.

Clarisse, Connor, Annabeth, Grover, Charles. Luke, Ethan, Alabaster. The scales are tipping. He doesn't care for masters - he cares who is the defending.

Artemis goes missing, and they finally get a quest. Zoe Nightshade doesn't want a boy in the quest but tough luck: He is the most experienced camper here right now AND the quest goes through a desert, so he is going.

There's some doubt about taking Thalia - she is a daughter of Poseidon and can't do much in the wasteland.

So it's decided: Phoebe, Bianca, Zoe, Perseus, and Grover. No one is happy about it, and Percy knows Thalia is going to follow them.

He introduces himself as Perseus to them. He is stoic and doesn't smile around the girls.

Capture the Flag is horrible. He doesn't leave his post and blocks Zoe with skeletons for enough time that Thalia manages to snag the flag and cross the river.

The huntresses get mad and try to fight the campers - Phoebe tries to hit Nico with the pommel of her sword and a lightning bolt hits her, putting her out of commission.

He is claimed. Bianca isn't, but it doesn't matter: She is not a camper, she is a hunter. Her loyalty is to her half-sister now.

They leave in the morning without Phoebe before anyone wakes up.

Bianca looks at him weirdly because of his soft white and blue sweaters and scrunchies that he started using to take off hair from his face, and the contrast it makes with his dark skin and demeanor.

Newsflash: He doesn't care for a prejudiced daughter of Zeus's opinion.

Zoe doesn't even look at him twice: They have trans girls in the hunt, they're caught up with modern times. Except for the misandry and the exclusion of genderfluid, agender and non-binary people. But sure, caught up.

Nico asks him to protect his sister. He says he is going to try, but he understands death better than some. He says it'll be dangerous, but he'll do his best.

For some reason, Nico doesn't look worried.

Thalia joins them in the Space museum. She came in her Pegasus, Porkpie, and they fight the Nemean Lion together. His hellhound startles the hunters, and Thalia laughs.

They kill the Nemean Lion, and Perseus thinks he finally perfects his power over the earth when he uses a stone spike to pierce the monster through the mouth and barely gets tired.

The duster is not his style, but beggars can't be choosers. Zoe is warming up to them, he thinks, but he doesn't care either way: his objective is Annabeth.

He still hasn't managed to open the ground or to control metal's proprieties, but he controls the earth beneath his feet, shadow travels (very badly controlled, but sure), raises armies of skeletons and money and gems just sprout when he wants them. He has power.

But he isn't completely in control yet, so he doesn't want anyone touching him. And it's been such a long time since anyone except his mother ever been close to any skin below his neck.

Perseus has dreams. He is grateful that Artemis took the sky for Annabeth, so he burns the coat in her name.

Thalia says she has met Apollo, and Perseus is glad at least one god is on their side.

Perseus feels in the air: life. This town is cloying with the smell of life, of forests and waterfalls. He hates it on principle but wishes she could enjoy it.

He kills a spartoi. He doesn't manage to kill more, but now he knows. He wishes he could open the ground and swallow all of them, but even his own skeletons he only manages to turn them into piles of bones.

The boar carries most of them: it's still just a boar and they are five, so both he and Thalia enjoy Blackjack, who now is almost the size of a small rhino.

Perseus meets Ares awake this time. He didn't snitch on him to the gods, but he wishes he did.

Meeting Aphrodite is awful. Percy looks at her, and he sees blonde hair that he can't decide if it's golden or brownish, he looks at her eyes and see the blue and grey fight for dominance in the irises. Her skin flicks, and he sees a scar crossing her eye.

For a moment, her skin turns as black as his - his desire for family.

He hates her more than he hates Ares when she looks at him with a smile and says that his love life will be the most interesting tale she has ever woven.

They cross the junkyard. Bianca dies for a figurine of Zeus, and Perseus wants to scream at the skies for the injustice. He isn't close to Bianca, he won't miss her, but he blames himself.

What if he was good enough at shadow traveling to take all of them away? What if he was able to kill Talos before? If he saw the figurine in her hand, if he was clearer in his warning, if, if, if.

He is a son of Hades, and death follows him. The stench of it grabs at his clothes, but he doesn't cry. Bianca is not the first to die in the name of the gods - she won't be the last one.

Perseus tries and tries to reach for any part of her body - everything is gone.

The Hoover Dam goes exactly the same way - Percy finds the mortal girl cute, but he doesn't ponder on it. It's not the time. He tells her his name is Percy, because why not. He is not seeing her again.

He laughs at the dam joke and feels a little freer. He cares about Zoe. It's difficult not to.

They fly away, and Perseus doesn't like it, but he barely flinches.

They get closer - all of them. Perseus always makes friends in quests, and he is happier for it.

Thalia catches Nereus - and she tells them all about Bessie, the ophiotaurus. Percy thinks that, for a serpent cow, it's pretty cute.

Grover leaves with it back to Camp Half-Blood and away from the temptation that Thalia feels. He knows it - he feels it too, deep inside of him, the urge to kill all of them.

But is Kronos any better?

They meet Annabeth's father. Her stepmom caught a glance at him and sneers like he is covered in blood.

Luke is in Mount Othrys. Percy doesn't join him. He wants to. The drachma is still in his pocket. But Luke needs to pay for what he has done to Annabeth. This is not about the war that looms on the horizon, this is about his best friend.

They fight. Perseus holds the sky, but the thing in his fingertips is not the earth, it's something older and harder, that presses him to his knees. He draws strength from the earth, and he holds on.

They win, but at what cost? Luke falls. He cries and throws the drachma over the cliff - a promise gone with one of his first friends.

Zoe is dead. Three people dead, for a goddess who couldn't care less about them. Perseus wants to go back in time and accept Luke's proposal.

He wants to cry and he doesn't. They go to Olympus. Thalia joins Artemis, and he feels betrayed: just because she is afraid of power, she is going to throw the weight of this prophecy on him?

And on top, she just joined the eternal misandry group, and something in his heart festers. He thought he had one more friend in her, but she was just another pawn.

Annabeth basks in her mother's praise. He wants to vomit - two people are dead, but who cares.

Thalia pleads for the ophiotaurus life, but she doesn't lift a finger when they talk about his death. He hates her. He holds a grudge for his cousin just like his father holds one for his brother.

He just saved their asses for the third time, and they're talking about murdering him because he might not save them a fourth.

The gods. They take and they take and they take and the demigods keep giving.

His father saves him - no one dares to go against Hades' vote to let him live, because he is a hero.

They go back to camp, and Perseus is charged with the task to tell Nico.

"Well, so bring her back"

The boy says it non-chanlantly like he is counting on it. Percy feels guilt creep at his heart like a plague, all the ways he failed to save Bianca. If he just had a better grasp in his powers, if he was just better. And here it was, something else he couldn't do.

"I can't, Nico"

Nico yells at him. He screams that he killed his sister. Percy starts to retract, and they end up in the pavilion. Everyone is there, and they don't lift a finger to help.

Percy is so tired. He hasn't seen his mom since October. He just lost one of his best friends. He was on a mission for a week. He held the sky in his hands. Zoe is dead. Thalia is gone. Death follows him. The guilt claws at him - for not being enough.

Nico shouts and shouts. The final straw is when he says that he shouldn't have trusted a son of Hades, how everyone told him not to. He tells no one wants him here, and before anyone can say anything to contest it, spartoi appear.

People scramble for their weapons, but Percy opens the ground and swallows all of the skeletons. When they're gone, so is Percy.

Turns out? Percy doesn't want to be here anymore either.

Nico is prideful. People in camp scrambled for his attention. A couple of kids of Aphrodite tell him that Perseus wasn't a good company, trying to get in his good graces. This time around, there's no one to sing the praises of Percy Jackson.

Grover takes him aside and explains, a little against him own will, what happened with Bianca. He gives him the figurine.

Nico feels guilty. He is too prideful to admit, but he feels it burning in his heart - so he tries to understand what he just did. Grover tells him about the last two years. The guilt now fights with admiration, and resentment battles with adoration.

Some people steer clear of him for a while. Charles Beckendorf is too kind to isolate him - but Nico sees the sadness in his eyes. Annabeth doesn't talk with him - she just lost three best friends in a swoop. Grover reluctantly tells him more about Percy. Clarisse wipes the floor with him - and he doesn't complain when he wakes up and his makeshift bed in Cabin 1 is crawling with bugs - He is pretty sure Connor hates him.

Katie Gardner doesn't talk to him anymore. Will Solace - who is his best friend - consolates him. He tells Nico he was pretty awful to Percy last summer, and Percy still came back.

Pretty awful doesn't even begin to cover what Nico did. But he nods and settles. It's going to be fine.

Perseus wanders the Underworld. He plays with Cerberus, and it's finally time to go make peace with his father and meet Persephone.

There's the heavy weight of a drachma in his pocket.

[cyberhwas]

➳ pairing/characters: hercules! mingi x reader, wooyoung as terpishchore (muse of dance), seonghwa as erato (muse of love poetry), hongjoong as euterpe (muse of music), jongho as polyhymnia (muse of hymns), yeosang as thalia (muse of comedy), san as clio (muse of history), yunho as urania (muse of astronomy) 

➳genre: fluff, greek mythology au, inspired by hercules (the animated disney film), romance, angst, mutual pining, denial of feelings (reader is very stubborn hehe) 

➳ tw: mentions of death, slight violence, light swearing, soul-selling, servitude, mentions of bullying (nothing too intense)   

➳ disclaimer: may contain slight inaccuracies concerning dates, i also changed the story a little bit to make it a less bit intense, so there won’t be anything like what happened in the movie, which is honestly a bit intense? i mean, hercules goes to the underworld and retrieves meg’s soul after she gets crushed by a boulder so i won’t be including that outcome in this series. 

➳ rating: m, 18+

➳ wc: 5.8k

➳  summary:  after your first relationship had ended quite tragically, love was the last thing on your mind. however, after countless encounters with song mingi, the beautiful hero, being open to love again seemed possible.

 ➳ note: this was originally supposed to be a drabble, but i guess it’s a mini fic series now? oops? anyways, i hope you all enjoy this, and, as always, feedback is always appreciated💖!! i adore all of you so much and i hope all of you are staying safe and drinking lots of water!! please take care of yourselves my loves!! also this is my first time posting a fic on this blog, so it’s lowkey nerve-wracking but here goes nothing! 

“it’s too cliché, i won’t say i’m in love.” - megara (hercules, 1997)

( june 1, 1300 b.c.e) 

you sighed, wringing out your wet hair, gaze shifting to the muscular male a few feet away, whose cheeks were flushed with pink and looked quite embarrassed. “s-sorry about that.” he mumbled, blush deepening. despite that fact that you had just gotten splashed with water, you couldn’t help but let out an amused laugh. “don’t worry about it, wonder boy. besides, you saved me from the nessus, after all.” 

he laughed softly at the nickname,  hand rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “it was nothing, really.” you rolled your eyes, fingers combing through your damp hair, ridding it of tangles. “you are too humble, wonder boy.” “i-it’s mingi, actually.” “hmm, it suits you, but i think i like wonder boy better.” you smirked, trying not to laugh at how flustered said male was, turning a shade equally as red as his hair. 

 out of the corner of your eye, you noticed a flash of pink and green, as well as a tendril of black smoke, and tried not to grimace at the sight. “well, i better go. thanks for saving me, wonder boy.” you turned to go, ignoring the dread pooling in your stomach at having to talk with hades again. “wait, can i at least get your name?” mingi blurted, stopping you in your tracks. you glanced over your shoulder, making sure to keep your expression as neutral as possible. “it’s y/n.” and with that, you disappeared into the heart of the woods, ignoring the erratic beating of your heart. 

you braced yourself for the annoying lecture you were going to receive from the god of death himself, watching as he took physical form, tendrils of black smoke filling the air. a few seconds later, hades stood in front of you; his two minions standing attentively at his side. “y/n, how was your first meeting with wonder breath?” “fine.” hades frowned. “that’s it?” “nothing, you know, dramatic happen?” you tried not to roll your eyes at how clueless hades was acting, as if he wasn’t the one that summoned the monster in the first place. “the monster grabbed me, i pretended to act like a damsel in distress, wonder boy saved me; i got splashed with water, that’s about it.” “so, he didn’t, you know, show a weakness that might help me defeat him?” 

“no, wonder boy’s as strong and unbeatable as they say.” hades’ dark eyes narrowed. “we’ll see about that.” he murmured, and you ignored the uneasy feeling in your stomach. “good work today, y/n. once wonder boy falls for you, then we can find out what exactly can break him.” you swallowed against the bile rising in your throat, and managed a weak nod. 

“don’t forget the deal we made.” you resisted the urge to scowl at the way hades’ lip curled at your reaction. 

centuries ago, you were a completely different girl, romantic and open to love. you had fallen in love with your then boyfriend at the time, only to have him taken away from you, permanently. a sickness had plagued the small village you lived in at the time, and your boyfriend had been unfortunate enough to succumb to the deadly illness, and died just a week after he had contracted it. you were desperate and heartbroken, and then during one rainy day, hades had appeared before you, offering you a deal. he would revive your boyfriend, but only if you would sell your soul to him, as well as promising years of servitude. agreeing to such a deal would be foolish and unorthodox, especially for a dead lover, but because your heart and mind were so broken, you had agreed to hades’ terms. 

hades had summoned a scroll and a black feather quill, and thus, your soul had been signed away. the god of the underworld had kept his word and revived your lover, but he had soon ripped your heart out by leaving you for another woman. you had never felt so foolish in your life, and from that day on, you swore off love, and built walls around yourself, refusing to let anyone in, afraid of suffering the same fate you had with your first love. 

“you’re my servant, don’t forget that. and what i tell you to do, you do it, unless you want to be thrown in tarturus, or maybe suffer the same fate as him?” you fought the urge to punch hades in his horrifyingly gorgeous face as you shook your head, careful not to let your anger show. “i don’t have any complaints.” hades smiled, seemingly pleased. “good, you know what to do, with wonder breath then?” you nodded, tearing your gaze away from his dark, soulless, eyes. 

hades gave you a mock wave as he disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. when you were finally alone, you collapsed onto the soft, green grass, burying your face into your hands, sobbing. 

(months later) 

you allowed yourself a small smile at the dainty, white flower in your hand, the sweet-smelling petals invading your senses; the petals soft and velvety against your fingertips. it was a particularly beautiful day, with the sun shining brightly above you, the sky cloudless and a gorgeous shade of light blue. there was even a small breeze that tickled your skin and hair,  fresh air washing over you, relieving you from the otherwise unbearable heat. you were sitting on a stone bench in a garden, enjoying the great weather and admiring the flower in your hand. it’d been nearly four months since you had begun to flirt with mingi, and there were days where you had forgotten the reason you were talking to him in the first place. mingi was not only unbelievably gorgeous, with fiery red hair and forest green eyes that turned into crescents whenever he smiled, but he was also unfailingly sweet, gracious, humble, clumsy, and polite. 

mingi would also turn an adorable shade of pink whenever you would compliment him, rubbing the back of his neck shyly. you also tried your best not to stare at his arms, which were corded with muscle, as they were quite distracting. 

and over the past few months, you had found yourself becoming more and more intrigued and infatuated with mingi, of which you couldn’t help but scold yourself for. there was a part of you that was convinced the sweet words he spoke so often were sincere, but then there was also the part of you that thought otherwise. after all, your last lover had left you to wallow in your own sadness, without so much as a goodbye, even after you had sacrificed so much for him to be able to live again. 

suddenly, annoyance coursed through you and you threw the flower over your shoulder in disgust, not bothering to see where it landed. “y/n, seriously? you’re throwing away a perfectly good flower? it’s like you don’t even care about nature.” you fought the urge to roll your eyes. “wooyoung, i didn’t throw it away, i just carelessly tossed it.” “uh huh, sure.” you couldn’t fight the fond smile that tugged at your lips as you turned to look at the muse, who was standing behind you, mock disapproval on his face. beside him, a tall, silver haired male scoffed and smacked him lightly on the shoulder. “would you quit being a pain in the ass, woo?” seonghwa scolded good naturedly. aforementioned male pouted, the gesture nearly childlike. “you’re so mean seonghwa-hyung.” the older rolled his eyes, expression brightening upon seeing you. “hey, y/n, how’s everything?” you shrugged, ignoring how wooyoung’s hazel eyes narrowed in suspicion. “alright, how is everyone?” “oh, you know, being a pain in my ass, as always.” 

“ignore him, he’s been having writer’s block and has been moping about it for days, so he’d taking out all his pent-up anger on us by being a mother hen all the time.” “kim hongjoong, you better shut it right now before i throw you into tarturus.” 

said muse giggled, head popping out from behind a tall tree, blue hair falling in strands across his forehead. “hi!” hongjoong called out from his hiding place, small hand waving in greeting. “hi , joong, it’s nice to see you!” “likewise!” “what are you doing over there?” “o-oh, i was picking flowers, i was going to weave them into a flower crown.” hongjoong mumbled shyly, a light shade of pink settling across his cheekbones, and you couldn’t help but smile fondly at the sight. 

“you’re adorable.” “am not. i am older than you, you know.” “yes, but you’re as intimidating as a baby bunny.” “shut up, i am not adorable!” “fine, fine, whatever you say, joong.” “i hate you.” “aw, i love you too.” 

hongjoong sighed as he stepped out from behind the tree, a bunch of pink flowers in his hand, settling down on a patch of grass a few feet away, setting to work on his crown. “if any of you dare to annoy me while i do this, i will bite you.” “wow, cannablism much, hyung?” “san, shut up.” “wow, hyung, you’re so cruel! i just got here and you’re already insulting me!” “san, i swear to zeus, you better shut your mouth and let me weave this gods-damned flower crown before i strangle you.” “damn, someone has a-” “san, would you please just stop being a pain in the ass and listen?” “ok, ok, fine.” san plopped down on the ground next to wooyoung, who was busy admiring the flower in his hand, violet eyes shifting towards you, a smile breaking out on his gorgeous face, dimples indented in his cheeks. “y/n! i haven’t seen you in a millennia! how are things?” “alright, how are you?” “oh, you know, just trying to make sure wooyoung doesn’t get kidnapped or thrown in tarturus, the usual.” “why am i always being bullied?” “because you’re so easy to pick on, woo.” the blonde male gasped in mock offense. “san! how could you say such a thing? i thought we were friends!” said male only rolled his eyes. “quit being so dramatic, will you? you’re giving me a headache! and would you stop yelling? i’m pretty sure zeus can hear you.” “y/n, help me! i’m suffering!” wooyoung whined, falling dramatically into san’s lap, white chiton billowing with the movement. you laughed. “sorry, woo, i’m kind of outnumbered here.” 

wooyoung huffed in annoyance. “stupid hyungs won’t go away and leave me alone.” that earned him a finger flick to the forehead, causing him to cry out in pain. “san, what was that for? that fucking hurt, you know!” the former ignored him. “you should be grateful we’re even around to look after you, you big baby.” 

you rolled your eyes fondly at their incessant bickering, and settled down on the grass next to san, leaning your head on his shoulder, closing your eyes. immediately, you felt an arm wrap around your own shoulders. ever since you had met the muses all those years ago, you had become extremely close with all of them, and they were not only your best friends, also the older brothers you’ve always wanted.  they always looked out for you, no matter what, and was there for you when no one else was, and had always treated you like a sister. 

“seriously, though, what’s up with you? you seem happier these days.” san’s tone was light, teasing, but the question was enough to make your face flush scarlet. “you’re as red as a tomato, are you seeing someone?” wooyoung asked, hazel eyes alight with curiosity. one of san’s perfect eyebrows raised in question. “well?” “there’s no one!” “liar.” seonghwa sing-songed from where he was sitting with hongjoong a few feet away, watching the latter with a fond gaze as the petite male wove flowers into a crown. “ok, ok fine, there might be someone.” you mumbled, immediately regretting it when san’s face practically lit up, green eyes twinkling with mirth. “oh? who is it? maybe we know him?” you hesitated, not sure if telling them about mingi was the greatest idea, but you decided to just do it, for you knew that the muses would keep pestering you about him for gods knows how long. 

“i-it’s mingi?” as soon as his name left your mouth, san and wooyoung gasped. “NO WAY! SONG MINGI??? AS IN THE HERO HIMSELF??!”  “yes?” san gave your shoulder a light shove. “how long?” “how long what?” “how long have you been seeing him for?” you blushed furiously. “we’re not dating.” “oh, so do you have a crush on him?” “what? no!” san chuckled, a knowing smirk tugging at his lips. “y/n, you’re not fooling anyone. you definitely have feelings for mingi, don’t you?” you sighed in defeat. “i really don’t know yet. i’m still trying to figure out my feelings.” san hummed in acknowledgment. “well, you didn’t confirm nor deny, which means that we have the right to tease you about your potential lover!” “say it a little louder, will you?” you hissed, a light shade of red settling across your cheekbones. 

seonghwa snickered, ducking his head down slightly so that hongjoong could place the now finished flower crown on his head. “there’s no shame in being attracted to someone, it’s normal.” “it’s not that i’m embarrassed, it’s just.. i don’t know if i’m ready or willing to be attracted to someone, not after-” san cut you off by throwing his arms around you, pulling you into a tight hug. “don’t you dare finish that sentence. that jerk deserves to rot in tarturus for hurting you.” wooyoung nodded, expression darkening. “i really wanted to punch his face in that day.” 

‘‘we all wanted to.” seonghwa mumbled, crossing his lean arms over his chest, frowning at the memory. “i’m sorry for ruining the mood.” “oh, don’t you dare. you did nothing wrong, y/n. and you did not ruin the mood.” “i did though?” hongjoong shot you a look from across the garden, chestnut eyes flashing with warning. “y/n, please stop blaming yourself for things that aren’t your fault. i hate seeing you miserable, we all do.” his voice was gentle, yet firm, and your heart clenched at how sincere he was. “i really don’t deserve you all as friends.” seonghwa scoffed. “i think it’s the other way around, y/n.” 

where’s yeosang, jongho and yunho?” “jongho’s probably forcing yeosang and yunho to listen to one of his newly written hymns. he’s very picky about them, you know.” “but aren’t they-”  “the muse of comedy and astronomy? yes, which is why yeosang and yunho always complain when jongho asks them for feedback, as they know nothing about music.” “yeah, that’s my forte.” hongjoong mumbled, a slight pout on his lips. “he never asks me for help on anything, hyung.” seonghwa rolled his eyes half-heartedly, reaching out to ruffe the younger’s hair affectionately. “it’s ok, joong, he’ll ask you one day.” “i’ve literally been waiting for a whole gods damn century, hwa!” 

seonghwa tried not to laugh as he pulled the younger into a hug, rubbing comforting circles on his back. “i know, i know, just be patient.” hongjoong huffed, but didn’t say anything after that, burying his face into the crook of seonghwa’s neck, sighing. “the day jongho asks me for help on one of his hymns is the day i will throw myself into tarturus.” “please don’t do that, joong. someone has to help me keep jung wooyoung and choi san in check, i can’t do it on my own.” aforementioned muses cried out in protest. “hey!” seonghwa ignored them, hugging hongjoong tighter. san rolled his eyes, falling back onto the grass, pulling you and wooyoung down with him. you laughed and closed your eyes, letting sleep take over.

mingi couldn’t help but smile as he tossed a stone carelessly across the smooth surface of the river, face flushing scarlet as it always did when he thought of her. cheesy and cliché as it was, she was truly unlike any girl he had ever met, for most of them practically fell at his feet, which made him highly uncomfortable, especially when they would propose marriage. he shuddered, remembering coming back from a particularly difficult mission, which had included killing the hydra, a three-headed beast that had begun terrorizing a small, defenseless village, and as he had walked through the streets once home, girls had tried to grab at him and even went as far as to chase him around the town. 

while mingi was happy that the village acknowledged him, the female attention was well, irritating. people had teased him for it, claiming that he secretly loved it and just was pretending not to like the attention. he really truly hated it, dreaded it even, and would breathe a sigh of relief whenever he managed to escape his very, very, enthusiastic admirers. 

you were different. while you were aware who he was, you didn’t know the “heroic” side of him, which was something that mingi could rarely keep under-wraps lately, and it both surprised and relieved him that you didn’t have a clue about his accomplishments. mingi always felt so awkward whenever people would constantly praise him for his bravery, heroic deeds, the like. he never knew what to say, as he didn’t want to sound arrogant or narcissistic. deep down, mingi hated it when people would talk for days on end about his heroic deeds, for it made him feel a bit uncomfortable. and yes, maybe he asked for all the praise and the glory when he had practically begged maddox to train him, in hopes that people wouldn’t see him as “different” or a “freak.” 

when he’d been living with his parents in the small village he used to call home, all the kids wanted nothing to do with him, for they thought the unnatural strength he possessed was scary and abnormal. after enduring their harsh words for years, mingi decided to leave home and try to find someone who would help him control his strength. 

at first, maddox had been reluctant, especially after all the past heroes he trained died tragically, but eventually gave in when he realized that mingi wasn’t going to take no for an answer. training was difficult, and there had been times where maddox was ready to give up on mingi entirely, to tell him to go back home, but mingi was determined, and he began to improve. 

the training had paid off, mingi supposed, as fighting was something that now came naturally to him. “still thinking about that girl, huh?” mingi fought to hide the blush that was spreading across his cheekbones. “n-no, what makes you say that?” maddox scoffed. “kid, please, you’re making it obvious. you’ve been spacing out a lot recently. plus, you always have that look on your face.” “what look?” “oh you know, the look that says i’m a fool in love, something like that.” “i-i’ve only known her for a few months.” “and?” “there’s no way-” maddox held up a hand, silencing him. “look kid, i know i may not look like the type who’d be in love, but i’ve been there. and you definitely look how i felt centuries ago.” “i mean, i guess i am, i don’t know.” 

maddox leaned against a tall tree, scoffing. “you are kid, trust me. i can see the way you look at her, you’re very much smitten.” “i-i guess?” “you’ll see for yourself one of these days.” mingi ignored how his face flushed at the thought of you having feelings for him, and turned away from his mentor, looking out at the smooth surface of the river in front of him, trying not to let his mind wander. 

“so, are you sure you’re not in love with him? not even a tiny bit?” yeosang asked, lifting a perfect eyebrow in question. you scoffed, placing the scroll you’d been reading off to the side of the large wood table in front of you. you and yeosang were currently in the spacious library that the comedy muse often occupied during the week, reading various scrolls. “did the others tell you?” yeosang rolled his eyes. “of course they did. well, it was mostly wooyoung. you know that little shit can’t keep his mouth shut sometimes.” “wooyoung may be loud, but he’s the sweetest and he means well.” 

“yeah, yeah. anyways, how’d you meet mingi?” you groaned, burying your face in your hands. “how much did wooyoung tell you?” yeosang chuckled. “too much.” “i will kick his ass later.” you mumbled. “i’ll help.” the former offered, lavender eyes twinkling with mirth. 

“he saved me from a nessus months ago, and from then on, we just kept bumping into each other after that.” “by coincidence? or by chance?” you shrugged, ignoring the pang of guilt that shot through you. “probably by chance. we just somehow end up seeing each other in the most unlikely circumstances.” yeosang hummed thoughtfully. “you definitely have it bad.” “what? what do you mean by that?” “y/n, even the dumbest person alive can tell that you are in love with him.” 

you threw your hands up in exasperation. “why does everyone think that?” yeosang reached out and gently patted your shoulder, as if to comfort you. “y/n, i love you, you know i do, but it’s kind of obvious. you’re kind of shit at hiding your feelings. even i can tell, and i’m the muse of comedy!” 

“he’s right, you know.” you turned to glare at the source of the voice. seonghwa was leaning against one of the white pillars that surrounded the outside of the library, golden eyes practically sparkling in the warm sun. “not you too, hwa.” aforementioned muse shot you a sheepish smile. “sorry, y/n, but it’s honestly undeniable at this point.” “but i’ve only known him for a few months!” seonghwa shrugged, pushing off the pillar with a sandaled foot, making his way over to the center of the room. “so? love is a funny thing, you know. you can realize you’re in love with someone in a short span of time, it’s not unheard of.” the love poetry muse plopped down on the chair next to you, hastily tucking a stray strand of hair behind his ear. 

“how you long were you standing there?” “not long. i was just passing by and happened to overhear your conversation.” “where are the others?” “they’re in the garden, doing gods knows what.” “is hongjoong with them?” seonghwa nodded. “yeah, but he’s probably making a flower crown and purposefully ignoring wooyoung and san’s antics.” “but, jongho is there, and he scares the shit out of those two, for whatever reason, so i trust that he’ll keep an eye on them while i’m gone.” 

yeosang huffed a laugh, picking up one of the discarded scrolls on the table, lavender eyes scanning the contents curiously. “so, what are you doing here?” “i needed a break from san and wooyoung, and well, i thought that, since i’m here, i can look for some inspiration for poems. like hongjoong mentioned, i’ve been having terrible writers’ block recently.” 

“do you want help? i’m not doing much today anyway.” seonghwa’s expression practically lit up. “you would do that? it’s not going to be a lot of fun, though.” you shook your head. “i love looking through scrolls, gives me an excuse to read.” “want to join us, yeosang?” said muse in questions shook his head. “i’d love to, but i have some errands to run. i’ll see you two later at the garden?” you nodded and waved him goodbye, smiling fondly as the blond male rushed off. 

“he was lying, wasn’t he?” seonghwa asked, an amused smile on his face as he scanned the massive shelves that took up a quarter of the other side of the library. you chuckled. “definitely.” 

hongjoong rolled his eyes fondly at the sight before him. jongho, wooyoung, and san were in a heated debate about which olympian god was the best, of all things. he sighed in exasperation and turned back to the flower crown he’d been working on for hours now, ignoring wooyoung’s petulant cries. it was nearly done, and all he had to do was string one more flower together. hongjoong furrowed his brows in concentration as he wove the last flower together, sighing in relief when it stayed intact after he’d finished tying it off. he’d always loved making flower crowns, as it was something that calmed him after a particularly difficult day, or when lyrics for a song just wouldn’t come to him immediately like they normally did. weaving flower crowns often made his anxiety and worries dissipate like smoke. the others often teased him for it, but their words never had any bad intent behind them.  he had been mocked for his favorite hobby in the past, and hongjoong was glad that he finally found people, a family, who accepted him for who he was, flower crowns and all. 

hongjoong hummed softly to himself, placing the finished flower crown onto his head, making sure it was secure, and laid back onto the soft green grass, letting the cool night air wash over him. he didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he felt someone shake his shoulder gently. “joong?” hongjoong’s eyes fluttered open slowly, and seonghwa was next to him, golden eyes twinkling with amusement. “did you fall asleep again?” hongjoong blushed as he slowly sat up, adjusting the crooked flower crown on his head. “n-no.” 

seonghwa rolled his eyes, but his smile was fond as he helped hongjoong to his feet. the former led him to a more secluded part of the garden, where the rest of their friends were waiting, gathered around a table of fruit and bread.

you waved at hongjoong, a sheepish smile on your face as he drew near with seonghwa. “it’s not much, and i know it’s not quail eggs or anything luxurious, but i thought i’d try and prepare something nice for once, since all of you have done so much for me.” wooyoung shook his head and pushed past san, bounding forward and throwing his arms around you, hugging you tight. “don’t say that, y/n! this is more than enough! and you really didn’t have to do this! you already do enough just by tolerating us.” you huffed a laugh, wrapping your arms around the muse of dance. “you guys are too kind to me.” 

“we love you, and you know that you’re like a sister to us. you never have to do anything for us.” “i wanted to, though.” “yes, and we appreciate it a lot, so don't you dare say it’s not anything special.” yunho declared from behind san, light green eyes bright with happiness. you fought back the happy tears that were threatening to spill and smiled. i love you all.” “aww, we love you too!! group hug!!!!” yunho shouted. a few seconds later, you were being squeezed tightly by seven muses, and you had never felt so loved in your entire life, which made you feel even more guilty for what you were about to do. 

after a light dinner of fruit and bread, you found yourself laying on the soft green grass of the garden that you now considered your safe place, surrounded by seven muses, staring up at the midnight blue sky, stars like tiny specks from afar. the night air was crisp and cool, and you allowed yourself a smile, leaning your head against seonghwa’s shoulder, who immediately wrapped an arm around your shoulders, squeezing gently. stargazing had become a daily thing after hongjoong had first suggested it after a practically exhausting day of work, and you had come to love it. 

suddenly, you felt a wave of sadness crash over you, and before you knew it, you were being pulled into a warm and firm chest, strong arms wrapping around you, comforting circles being rubbed on your back. “y/n, what’s wrong?” seonghwa asked, and you didn’t have to see his face to know that he was extremely worried. you didn’t answer, burying your face into seonghwa’s chest, feeling your heart ache with immense guilt. “i-i’m s-sorry.” you choked out, voice shaking. “darling, what could you possibly be sorry for? you’ve done nothing wrong.” you shook your head, reluctantly pulling away from seonghwa’s warm embrace, refusing to look any of your friends in the eye, instead focusing on a blade of grass. 

“i really don’t deserve to have you all in my life, and i am the shittiest person in the world. i-i lied to you all.” “about what?” you closed your eyes, turning away from the people you never deserved to call your friends. “about how i met mingi. it wasn’t a coincidence. it was all on purpose.” 

“what? what are you talking about, y/n?” yunho asked, and your heart broke at how confused he sounded. “hades.” you mumbled, voice barely audible, but you knew they heard you, from the way the tension in the air seemed to thicken. “what about hades?” seonghwa asked, voice deadly calm. “d-do you remember my past lover?” “the one that broke your heart into pieces? we’re familiar with him, why?” san asked, clear disgust in his tone. you fought back tears as you forced the words to come out. 

“w-when he died, i was so heartbroken and desperate for happiness that hades appeared to me and he offered me a deal, which was that if he would bring him back, only if i agreed to sell my soul to him and become his servant. and then, he wanted me to make mingi fall in love with me in order to discover his weakness. hades wants to kill him. i wouldn’t have agreed, but he then threatened to hurt all of you, and i- i c-couldn’t let that happen so i-” 

you couldn’t bring yourself to finish that sentence, and felt your knees give out from under you, your pale blue chiton billowing around you as you fell. you didn’t dare open your eyes, as you couldn’t bear to see the looks on their faces. to your surprise, you felt strong arms wrap around you, holding you tight. you felt your eyes flutter open due to shock, and tears practically leaked out of your eyes. 

your friends, no, your family, were gathered around you, hugging you tight. san looked up at you, violet eyes glimmering with tears, smiling sadly. wooyoung, lips quivering, reached out and wiped your tears away with the pad of his thumb. seonghwa had his face buried in your shoulder, crying softly, lacing your fingers with his, squeezing tightly. hongjoong was curled up  in your lap like a child,small hands gripping the fabric of your chiton, trembling as he cried. yeosang had his lips pursed tightly as he placed a gentle hand on your head, fighting back tears. jongho and yunho were both a mess, swollen eyes and flushed cheeks, resting their heads on each other’s shoulders. 

“h-how can you all forgive me? how can you all stand to even look at me?” “we could never hate you.” “b-but-” “you’ve gone through so much, darling, and you grieved in your own way. if i was you, i would’ve probably been desperate enough to do the same.” “i really don’t deserve to be forgiven.” that earned you a light shove to the shoulder. “shush, don’t say that. you could lie to us a thousand times over and we would still love you just as much as we do now.” you allowed yourself a soft, sad laugh as you buried your face in the crook of san’s neck and cried happy tears. 

after your shocking revelation and the tears had subsided, you lay back down on the grass with your head resting on san’s lap, letting him play with strands of your hair, while the others were curled up next to you. “thank you.” you whispered. “no need to thank us. just promise us that you won’t keep stuff like that from us again.” you nodded. “is anything going to happen to you?” “probably, you never know with hades.” “we’ll protect you.” you smiled sadly. “i know you all want to, but hades is too powerful. i don’t want any of you getting hurt.” “y/n, we would never be able to live with ourselves if anything happened to you!” hongjoong exclaimed, chestnut eyes glimmering with determination. “the same goes for me, if anything happened to any of you, i would never be able to forgive myself.” “don’t worry, y/n, we’ll figure out a way to protect you.” san reassured you, ruffling your hair affectionately. you returned his smile, but deep down, you weren’t so sure if that was possible. 

➳ a/n: this was part one, and i hope you all enjoyed this! let me know if you have any suggestions for the sequel! this was so much fun to write! what do you think will happen in the sequel? let me know your predictions! 

tagging: @deonghwa​ @subinily​ @hwacinth-main​ (ily all MWAH)

[solange-lol]

Summer Lovin’

Alternate Title: Five times Nico's friends tried to set him up with Will (and one time they found out they were already together)

SolangeloWeek Day 2 - Secret Relationship / Fake Dating

Words: 3040

Read on Ao3

I.

Annabeth was the one to point out the change to Piper on the plane.

“Have you noticed that this is the first time Nico ever brought someone along with him on this trip?” she gestured to the aisle diagonal to them, where Nico and Will seemed to be arguing quietly about something in their respective middle and window seats. Reyna was reading a book next to them in the aisle seat with her earbuds in, seemingly unaware of what was going on beside her. 

This trip itself had been an annual thing for a while now. It had originally been organized by Sally Jackson for Percy, Annabeth, and Grover. At some point, Nico started tagging along as well, and others just joined from there. They tried to find a date where everyone could come, but as they got older, they all found less time in their schedules. Grover, Rachel, and Thalia couldn’t make it this year. However, they found a new face joining them this year: Will Solace. 

Each of them had met Will at least once. It didn’t occur to them that maybe there was a reason why until this moment. 

They watched the two continue their conversation. Nico was gesturing wildly, probably complaining about being stuck in the middle seat, while Will listened and occasionally offered an opinion that would either have Nico agreeing or just cause him to go off again. Neither could tell what they were saying over the loud jets of the plane, but it was clear how wrapped up in each other they were. 

“Oh my god,” Piper remarked. “I’ve never seen him talk like this to any of us in this early in the day!” (Their flight was at 9:00 in the morning, which required them to all get up an ungodly hour). “Nico must like him a lot.”

Annabeth grinned. “Good thing, because-” she gestured towards Will, who was grinning as Nico leaned in slyly to tell him something, probably about one of them. “Will definitely likes him back.” 

***

Walking into their rental house was like lifting a weight off everyone’s shoulders. There was no doubt that this was the best part of the year; no responsibility, just the sun, and a beach, and the ocean. They had to start renting a bigger condo when more people started tagging along, but somehow everyone found their spot. 

“Okay,” Percy clapped as everyone stood in the hallway, unsure of where to go next. “We’ve got five bedrooms, each with a queen-size bed, two bathrooms, and a couple of pull-out couches and air mattress if we need them. Beds are my mom, and Annabeth, Jason and Piper, Hazel and Frank, and…” he trailed off, looking between his friends as if deciding which one he could save from a fire. Or, in this case, a couch. 

“Nico and Will,” Annabeth supplied. She and Piper made eye contact, sharing small smiles as Nico and Will didn’t react, although both blushed lightly. Nico’s probably just thankful to not be on a mattress this time, Annabeth decided.

Percy just nodded off his surprise. “Right,” he trailed off before looking back up to his other two friends. “Leo, Piper, you two good with the pull-outs?” They both nodded, traces of I’ve-had-worse evident in their face. “Great! One of the couches is in one of the bedrooms, so Jason and Piper can take that room and Leo can take that couch. Reyna, you get the living room.” With that, everyone went on their way to unpack. 

“How long have Will and Nico been a thing?” Jason whispered as they walked to their respective rooms. He looked guilty like he missed out on the biggest moment of Nico’s life.

“They aren’t. Not yet, at least. Annabeth and I have a plan.” Piper grinned. “You want in?”

“Oh, absolutely.”

They all gathered in the living room once they had finished, ready to talk game plan for the week.

“Okay, first things first, we need to go grocery shopping. Nico, Reyna, Will, can you guys handle it if we make a list?” Annabeth starts, perched on a ledge of the couch. 

“Why do we have to? We did last year-” Nico started, but Will put a hand on his shoulder before pulling him up. Nico just grumbled as he walked towards the door with Reyna, and Will turned back around to give them a knowing smile. 

The moment they walked out the door, Percy turned to his girlfriend with bewilderment. “What was that about?”

Piper grinned. “We’re trying to get them together.”

“And we have a plan,” Annabeth added. “We needed them out of here so we could tell you guys.”

Hazel looked like she was trying to hold back laughter. “I’m staying out of this,” she said, curls bouncing as she shook her head. “But good luck.” With that, she stood up and started to make her way back to her room.

“Oh, uh, me too,” Frank said, quickly getting up to follow her. 

“Alright guys,” Piper leans forward, rubbing her hands together like an evil scientist. “Here’s what we got.”

II. 

They put their plan into action the next morning, starting with Piper and Jason jumping onto Nico’s bed.

They were disappointed to find Will already awake and trying to help Sally with breakfast when they woke. (Keyword: try. The poor boy could barely make toast without burning it. Sally put him in charge of cutting fruit). Nevertheless, if any sort of accidental cuddling happened in the night, it would remain a mystery to the rest of them. 

“What the hell are you doing?” Nico glowered at them before shoving his face back into the pillow he had previously been sound asleep on before the two shook him awake. 

“We brought you coffee,” Jason offered. For a second there was no reaction before Nico finally lifted his head. He turned, sitting up and reaching out for the mug, a steady glare still set on the two. 

“You didn’t answer my question.”

Piper decided not to waste her time getting to the point. “Do you like Will?”

Nico squinted at them. “What is this, an interrogation?” he asked, cradling the mug closer to his chest.

“Don’t avoid the question.”

“Yes, I like Will,” he sighs. “Happy? Can I go back to sleep now?”

“We just wanted to talk to you because when a man loves a, well, man in your case-” Jason starts, the biggest shit-eating grin on his face. They got what they came for, now it was just time to tease him a little bit.

Nico cuts him off. “Oh my god, shut up.” He shoves a pillow at his face, nearly spilling his coffee. “Get out of my room, or I swear-” but they’re already gone.

Annabeth and Percy, who just had a similar conversation with Will, meet Jason and Piper in the hallway. “So?” Annabeth asks.

“Confirmed. Nico likes him.”

Percy grinned. “Will likes him too.”

They exchanged silent high fives, chattering quietly a bit more about the next step as they walked back into the main room. Sally was still bustling around in the kitchen, and Will, who seemed to have been replaced by Reyna on fruit duty, was setting the dining table. 

Everyone was awake by the time Sally called them for breakfast, and they spent the first few minutes eating without much conversation. It was when they got into the topic of last year’s vacation when Piper winked at Annabeth, signaling that she had an idea for the next step in their plan.

“Maybe we can go to that bar that we went to last year,” Piper said, waving a forkful of eggs. “Nico seemed to have met the love of his life on the dance floor, maybe we’ll meet up with him again.” 

(She was joking, of course, and Nico probably knew that too. In fact, she was there when he deleted that guy’s number off his phone. Piper was just looking for a reaction out of Will.) 

There was a few snorts and giggles from around the table as they all revisited that memory mentally. Nico had a few too many vodka shots that night, thanks to Leo telling him he needed to ‘let loose’, and met some random guy. The parts that weren’t captured on video by his friends were lost in history, but not in their minds. 

Nico immediately blushed, eyes cast downwards. “I was drunk,” he mumbled, and Piper immediately looked to Will. The blonde’s look was hard to read, but, he seemed more concerned than jealous. 

“Besides,” Nico said, clearing his throat. “I’m over it.” Both Will and Nico seemed satisfied with that end, and they switched conversation topics. 

Annabeth and Piper just exchanged a look. Huh. 

III. 

A classic vacation tradition for them is renting a boat to use for a day. Both Sally and Percy had a boat license, and occasionally Leo or Jason would take the wheel. There were a few different islands scattered around that would make a perfect beach day, or they would sometimes just float and have a boat picnic for lunch.

“I think I actually might be melting.”

Another vacation tradition: Nico complaining about the heat.

The Italian was already shirtless after a quick swim that his friends forced him into. (As in, literally forced. Hazel pushed him in). His jet black hair was damp from water and sweat, as was his neck and chest.

“That’s called sweating, Nico,” Will says without looking up from his book. Anyone within hearing distance snickers at the remark as he glared at Will. 

Only when he reached to grab his sunglasses did Will finally look at Nico. “Did you reapply sunscreen after you went swimming?”

“No?” Nico squints. “And it wasn’t voluntary, I got pushed me in-” 

“You’re burning up, idiot. You’re lucky you haven’t already gotten skin cancer already,” Will sighs, reaching next to him to grab the sunscreen. “Take some of this. I’ll do your back.”

Tan hands met Nico’s back, slathering white sunscreen into already-pink skin. Meanwhile, Nico was busy attempting (and failing) to rub it in on his face. He looked up to see Annabeth and Piper making kissy faces at him and smirking as Will rubbed his back. His squint deepened, and scrunched his nose and stuck out his tongue at them.

After Will was done, he instructed Nico to go sit in the shade for a little bit. Unfortunately for him, that’s right where Piper and Annabeth were parked.

“So,” Piper asked quietly, leaning forward in her hands so her elbows were balanced on her legs. “What was that about?”

“Will’s a pain in the ass about that sunscreen thing. Makes me wear it whenever we’re out,” Nico said with a shrug, but there was no real anger in his voice.

Annabeth grinned. “So you would say he makes you a better person?”

“Oh, shut up.”

IV.

Piper was surprised at how much Will seemed to love the beach. Actually, it didn’t really surprise her at all; he looked exactly like a surfer guy from any teen movie. It was just surprising after years of Nico being a beach bum to see him bring a guy who was the exact opposite.

That didn’t change Nico’s beach bum habits, though. While they were all currently paddling around in the ocean, he was taking a nap back on shore. 

Suddenly, an idea sparked in Piper’s mind.

“Will,” she hissed, grabbing him by his tan, freckled arm. “Do you see that bucket up there?” she gestured towards the bright blue plastic bucket on shore that Percy brought along for some reason, and Will nodded. “Fill it with water and follow my lead,”

Will seemed to know exactly what her motive was. He crept behind her towards Nico, now with a full bucket of water that he was trying his best not to spill. 

She gestured towards the sleeping figure, and Will had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face as he dumped the entire bucket over Nico.

Splash. 

“Will Solace, you are so dead,” Nico shrieked, jumping up and immediately charging after the boy, who had taken off running. 

He chased him around for a while, finally tackling him somewhere down the shore. They wrestled for a moment; Nico seemed to be trying to dump as much sand as possible into Will’s hair. (It was a classic brutal di Angelo move).

They rolled around until Nico found himself on top of Will, and for a second, time seemed to stop. Piper and Annabeth just looked at each other before looking back at the two. 

“Is it just me or are their faces getting closer?” Piper whispered. Annabeth didn’t respond, just shaking her head in bewilderment. 

It definitely wasn’t just her; the two heads were very clearly moving closer and closer. Will’s lips were nearly a centimeter away from Nico’s.

And then suddenly, they both pulled back like some sort of magnet came out of the air and forced them apart. They trotted back, trying to shake off the sand that was plastered to every inch of their body. Will headed for the ocean while Nico just grabbed a new, dry towel. 

“You two are assholes,” Nico said, pointing the towel at them.

Piper chose to ignore that comment. “Why didn’t you kiss him?” she asked.

“‘Cuz we’re in public?” Nico said, before walking off, muttering something about

fangirls. 

Piper glanced over at Annabeth, who just shook her head. “Hopeless”, she mouthed. 

V.  

Nights tended to be colder than the day, so they decided to plan a campfire one of the nights at a nearby park. They loaded Percy’s rental truck with all sorts of blankets and materials for s’mores as well as drinks. 

Everyone found their place around the fire. Piper and Annabeth sat next to each other, with their boyfriends flanked on either side of them. Each couple was sharing their own blanket. Next to them was Frank and Hazel, who had a blanket each but was still sitting shoulder to shoulder. Leo sat on a stump between the two groups; he was in charge of keeping the fire roaring. On the other side of Piper’s log sat Sally and Reyna, who seemed to be deep in conversation. 

Across from the campfire, though, was where Nico and Will sat. They were practically on top of each other, with one blanket wrapped around their shoulders.

Drinks were handed out as the stars came out above their heads, and in the dim lighting of the fire, Annabeth could see Will and Nico exchanging soft, fond looks.

She caught Nico’s eye as he laid his head down on Will’s shoulder. Grinning, Annabeth held up her and Percy’s intertwined fingers, raising an eyebrow as if to say go on, take your man’s hand!

In return from Nico, she got a glare, but he also reached down and laced his fingers with Will, resting them on his lap. Annabeth decided to take that as a win.

+I

Piper came into Annabeth’s room on the last day of their vacation. They were set to leave late that evening, which meant Piper should be packing, but there was something on her mind.

“I just can’t believe how clueless they are,” she said, flopping down on Annabeth’s bed. The blonde just shook her head as she continued to fold clothes to be packed. “I mean, where did we go wrong?” Piper asked. “We’ve been trying all week to get them together.”

Annabeth placed down another neatly folded shirt. “Maybe that’s our issue. Maybe it’s because we tried so hard. I mean, Percy and I were oblivious for years before we finally got together. It won’t take them that long.”

Piper just sighed. “I hope you’re right,”

They talked for a bit more about other ups and downs of the trip, already planning activities for next year. Piper got up when Annabeth was finished packing, and together they walked to the kitchen. It was their day to make lunch.

In the living room, Nico was sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with Will, who was holding his phone out in selfie-mode. They were talking quietly, giggling occasionally at a goofy photo or when Will caught Nico off guard. Piper couldn’t help but to watch them; she really did hope they would get together in the end, or at least stay close friends.

“Just take one cute one with me,” she heard Will beg. “We don’t have any photos together!” Nico sighed, before closing his eyes and leaning in to kiss Will on the cheek. Piper looked over to Annabeth, who rolled her eyes as if to say leave them be.

It was when they actually did kiss that Piper reacted. 

“What?!” she gasped, internally losing her shit. Next to her, Annabeth’s eyes had nearly popped out of her head. “Since when have you two been together?”

Will and Nico gave them matching looks of confusion. “Like, 3 months now?” 

“You’re kidding me! And you never thought to tell us?” By this point, a few of the others poked their heads in. Percy and Jason both had looks of disbelief, while Leo and Reyna just looked plain confused. Hazel and Frank, who were sitting on the couch next to them, immediately burst into laughter. 

“Yes?! I thought you knew!” Now Nico was yelling. “With the way you’ve been treating us all week? I thought this was just Will’s weird initiation into the group!”

“No! We were trying to get you two together!”

For a second, nobody said a word. Then Will started giggling, followed by Nico, and then Piper and Annabeth, and suddenly everyone was laughing so hard, a few were crying.

“I can’t believe you didn’t know!” Nico said once he had calmed down a bit. “I mean, I changed my Facebook relationship status!”

Percy squinted. “Who uses Facebook anymore?”

Hazel and Frank both raised their hands.

“You knew the whole time?” Jason asked them. “And you never thought to tell us?”

Hazel shrugged. “We thought it would be interesting to see how it played out.”

Piper and Annabeth just stood in the kitchen, laughing still. This was by far the most interesting story that had ever come from one of these vacations.

~~~ 

Thanks for reading!!! Taglist under cut (message me to be added/removed)

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[yourstarringrole]

𝕶𝖎𝖓𝖌𝖘 𝕺𝖋 𝕼𝖚𝖊𝖊𝖓 (𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝕴𝕴)

- -  Ｋｉｎｇｓ Ｏｆ Ｑｕｅｅｎ （Ｐａｒｔ ＩＩ）- - 

Hi. Me again. I am really on board with this mediaeval Percabeth story, so it might only take one day to make one post, but it could also take longer than a month. So...basically me uploading is really unpredictable, but I’ll do my best. That’s it, now onto the story. Bye! Muah! -Venus

Previously...

「The mother took the hand of the younger girl. as they took a regal step forward. And another. And another. They slowed their walk to a graceful stop and swept into an elegant crusty before stepping aside for the father and the older girl. The king and queen nodded their heads in respect, smiling at the children fondly as if they were cute little baby seals. The family stood next to the King as he stood up. There was a big fuss among the spectators as they struggle to do the same.

“May I present to you, Sir Fredrick Chase I, Lady Athena III, Reina Chase and lastly, Annabeth Chase.”」

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The crowd clapped rather unenthusiastically, lowering themselves into their plush, velvety chairs as the Chase family took their seat by the Grace family. Fredrick and Zeus nodded their heads, exchanging a few quiet words of greeting. Athena and Beryl gave each other a warm hug and a kiss on both cheeks, smiling graciously as they conversed about how much they've missed each other.

The older girl of the Grace family didn’t offer any kind of greeting to the parents of the two newcomers, but she did give Annabeth a warm hug and Reina a big smile, which they both returned with the same passion. Her short hair was choppy, streaked with navy blue ribbons, a jet black mess that somehow looked good on her. A silver circlet made of sapphires and diamonds nestled on her head like an almighty crown, a splash of stars in the pitch-black night. A silver dress rested on her thighs, her paleness popping in contrast to her dress. Her eyes are a dashing electric blue, a bold streak of lightning strikes, stirring up a storm like a witch would with a simmering cauldron. A splash of light brown freckles highlights the tall bridge of her angular nose and making her rosy cheeks shine. Her lips were stained a deep red, a perfectly flattened heart shape marshmallow, soft and kissable. Thalia Grace is beautiful in an unconventional way and she knows it, so she keeps her chin up and a victorious smile on her face.

The younger Grace was a shy one. Unlike his sister, his hair is a light golden-blonde, and wherever the harsh light hits, the golden tuft turns skeleton white. He has the same electric blue eyes, but they seemed to be less stormy and more tranquil. He has one remarkable smile, the kind that could charm girls into kissing his feet. A white line marked the right side of his lip, a scar obtained from childhood accidents. A tight waistcoat was strapped on, fastened by tags just peeking out at the back. Tight breeches bounded his thighs displaying the outlines of his stocky but lean figure. Jason Grace is one dashing young lad but he doesn’t like to show it. He doesn’t like being in the centre of everyone’s attention.

They didn’t know they were being watched by a pair of azure eyes as deep and as mysterious as a labyrinth.

The king couldn’t take his eyes off the older daughter of the newest addition to the royal court. His stormy sea-green eyes followed her every move, traced every line of her body. The queen’s emerald eyes glanced at her husband with uncertainty and a hint of anger and betrayal. He was supposed to love her for the rest of her miserable life, and yet here he is, laying his eyes on some nobleman’s daughter. She didn’t want to be delusional, convincing herself that this is not reality, but she didn’t want to face the truth either.

Love can fail and marriage can fray, becoming weaker and weaker until it snaps like a twig. Where would they be then?

Time flew by like an arrow cutting through the air and nailing itself into its target, and before anyone knew it, it was the end of the meeting. The spectators all stood up and bowed to the king and queen before walking out of the double doors, chattering about the masquerade ball the king is hosting tonight to welcome the new members of the Royal Court. The children of both the Grace and the Chase family followed their parents obediently to their carriages, eager to change into their grand ball gowns and lavish suites.

People trickled our slowly, greeting each other and laughing about the old times, until only two remains. The night was slowly starting to fall away, shades of pinks and blues slowly and steadily faded to oranges and reds, a phoenix rising from the ashes. The couple faces each other, silent as the ghostly glow of the chandeliers flicker out one by one. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

“So!” Rachel exclaimed, breaking the silence curse, “who was that new girl you were oh so sneakily spying on?”

“Honey. I was not spying on anyone.”

“Oh really?” Rachel’s fiery red eyebrow raised into her thick curly hair, her lips pulling into an ugly sneer, “I thought you were thinking that the girl from the Chase family could replace me as a royal consort.” Her tone was sustained and calm, flawlessly covering up the anger and sadness bubbling beneath.

But his husband was not so easily fooled into telling the truth. “Why are you so hell-bent on catching me looking at women in general?” He raised his voice, as if to gloss over the fact that he had been indeed staring at women for the past 10 years.

“Because you didn’t care about me anymore! Last time I checked, we were still insanely in love with each other, but then you started breaking away and becoming distant!” Her voice took a pleading turn as she sank down on her knees and asked, “did I do anything wrong? What have I been to you? Nothing but a well-oiled machine destined to help and support you?”

Percy looked down at her with such disgust and anger that it broke her heart to tell herself the cold hard truth.

King Perseus Jackson did not love her anymore.

-------------𝕗𝕠𝕠𝕝 𝕞𝕖 𝕠𝕟𝕔𝕖, 𝕗𝕠𝕠𝕝 𝕞𝕖 𝕥𝕨𝕚𝕔𝕖, 𝕒𝕣𝕖 𝕪𝕠𝕦 𝕕𝕖𝕒𝕥𝕙 𝕠𝕗 𝕡𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕖?--------------

The ball was in full swing by the rise of the crescent moon and her army of a million diamonds and pearls. Faces of every shade swirl past each other, giggly and bubbly as they waltz across the ballroom floor. Floral perfume intertwined with the sweet and spicy spike of champagne, elegant and intoxicating. The cellos hummed in unison with the violins and violas, spinning a tune of vivid dreams and grand adventures as the couples glide along the smooth marble floor effortlessly, heels and boots clicking in unison to the rhythm.

A masked man dressed in all black snuck through the joyous crowd, dodging and ducking ever step of the way to avoid bumping into the unsuspecting members of the ensemble. The man looked up, the soft lights of the great glass chandeliers enveloping him like the wings of a fallen angel. A mischievous glint flashed through his solemn green eyes and he smiled. This is going to be one hell of a night.

[stargazermuse]

@darling-muses

ZOMBIES 2nd Generation

“Clara! Come down, breakfast is ready!” Clara Necrodopolus chuckled as she heard her mom call from downstairs. She was almost done, just a few more touches. Clara wasn’t a normal sixteen-year-old girl. Her hometown, Seabrook had changed a lot since her mother and father were teenagers. Humans, zombies, and werewolves, were integrated fully, with a few different creatures in the mix, and it was slowly becoming a world thing, not just Seabrook.

Clara Zionne Necrodopolus was the daughter of Zedd Necrodopolus and Addison Wells-Necrodopolus, she was a child of a zombie and human and showed it well. While her brother, who was off for his freshman year of college, looked like her mother with her father’s zombie tendencies, she was the odd one out. The outsider. Clara, who was a spitting image of her father, took on her mother’s pure white hair, that fell over her shoulders in waves. However, the roots and tips of her hair slowly began to darken and turn green as she aged. Nothing took to it, hair dye, nothing, she was stuck with the hair. And she tried to be proud of it, but that didn’t stop the bullying.

Clara came bounding down the stairs two at a time, ready for her first day as a sophomore at Seabrook High. “How do I look?” She asked playfully to her mother and father who were in the kitchen. The symbolic pink and blue colors had since integrated into shades of green, red, purple, and browns. She tried to mix the colors, with a blue jean skirt that fell to her mid-thigh, and a dark purple tank top with a brown vest over top. Her mother always told her to be proud of her family, wolves and all. Addison chuckled. “Beautiful as always, Clara.” She said as she put the plate down in front of her daughter. Clara looked at the time, before realizing she was running out and began to scarf down the eggs.

“Hey slow down, don’t need you choking.” Zedd scolded playfully, looking over his daughter. He was now the captain over the Z-Patrol, but it had since become a patrol to make sure everything was quiet, no prejudice against others. Addison became a teacher and the cheerleading coach at Seabrook High.

“I got to meet Thalia.”

“Your cousin can wait, Clara.” Addison joked, smiling as she placed the bag lunch into Clara’s bag. Even at sixteen, her mother always tried to be there for her. Clara blushed, before finishing and grabbing her bag, kissing her mother on the cheek. “I’ll see you guys tonight.”

“Hey remember, six o'clock I’m picking you up from practice. We have to meet your grandfather and aunt Zoie.” Zedd warned his daughter. She nodded and hugged her father, she had always been a daddy’s girl, before waving to her parents and sliding out the door.

It didn’t take long for the girl to walk down the three blocks to her cousin’s house. Thalia and Clara were close, mainly because they both stood out like sore thumbs. They stuck together like glue. She ran up the sidewalk to her cousin’s house and knocked on the door. Eliza was the first one to open it, grinning. “Your cousin’s coming! Thalia, Clara’s waiting!” Eliza called, leaning against the doorway.

-----------------------------------

“There’s the deep sleeper.” Xavier chuckled when he heard his little sister as he walked downstairs. She was already sitting at the table, eating her cereal in peace. Wren always kept him on his toes, even at eleven years old.

“Where’s dad?” He asked as he took the bagel from the plate. Brooke smiled and kissed the side of his head. “He headed to check on your aunt before heading to work. You’re going to see them after school right?” She asked, brushing a white streak from his face. Xavier nodded. He knew he had to, his aunt Willa wanted to see him for something, and she wanted to see Wren as well. She hadn’t seen them since they moved back.

“Wren, you ready to go?” He asked, looking at his little sister. Wren nodded, grabbing her bag, blonde streaks falling into her face. She looked more human than wolf, and it bothered her greatly, but she would never let her mother and father know.

“Remember to pick your sister up, Xavier. Then straight to the den, you hear me?” Brooke looked at her son. Xavier nodded, slinging his bag over his shoulder and waving as he and his little sister headed to school.

It didn’t take long before they were on the path. Wren was babbling about being excited about going into middle school. It was right next to Seabrook High, so he would be there to watch her and then pick her up until she believed she was ready to go on her own. This was their first day, at a completely new school. Well, new to them. Their parents might have grown up in Seabrook, but they didn’t. They just moved back over the summer. This was completely new to them.

“Hey, wonder who’s those two are? Look at the girl’s hair!” Wren spoke softly.

“Wren don’t say things like that. We’re different too, remember?” He scolded his little sister, but it had caught his eye. The girl’s hair was odd, pure white save for the green roots and tips. The other girl beside her had ashen skin, and he wondered if she was a zombie. He wondered but didn’t say anything, not right then.

[forestfairy72-blog1]

Like Breathing

[Ao3]

A Fresh Start

Annabeth could barely think over the music. The reggae baseline was pounding at what most would consider an inappropriate volume for a small café. The bored-looking barista clearly did not fit into this category. She had picked the venue for Piper’s benefit. A quick google search for vegan-friendly coffee shops had led her here, to the Cerulean Café, even though Piper was veggie rather than vegan. It was a not what she had expected; faux-rustic or pretentious, instead it had a cute homey feel. Every table had a few mis-matched chairs around it, differing materials but in the same colour story which her inner designer approved of. Annabeth’s table was next to the window, looking out onto a window box full of brightly coloured plants.

The barista glared at her from behind the counter, clearly annoyed that she was yet to order despite having been sat at her table for nearly fifteen minutes. It probably didn’t help that she had cleared some dirty plates off the table so she could sit down since there hadn’t been a vacant table. His gaze caused her face to heat up slightly. Annabeth rationalised that the shop managers hadn’t used the space effectively, if she had been the one designing the layout there could be another three tables, none of which would be blocking the fire exit, unlike the current set up.

Impatiently, Annabeth ran her fingers through her hair. Piper was always late. She didn’t know why she expected today to be any different. Just like that Piper appeared at the door, a whirlwind of denim, feathers and bags. She scanned the room the look for Annabeth and rushed over as soon as she spotted her.

“Ahhhhhh! So good to see you!” Piper squeezed as if to make up for four months of missed hugs. Annabeth beamed as she hugged back, her frustration dissipating more with every second she was back with her friend.

“Right back atcha McLean. Can I get you a coffee?” “Don’t worry about it.” Piper began to rifle through her many bags for her wallet. “Nah, I insist. It’s the least I can do.” Annabeth’s smile faltered for just a moment but luckily Piper didn’t notice. “Bullshit.” Piper scoffed, “But I will treat you next time.” “Flat white with 2 sugars?” Annabeth asked. “A woman after my own heart!” Piper fake swooned.

Annabeth approached the counter with the cheeriest grin she could muster, ready to face the scowling Rasta hat wearing barista. The guy clocked her and instantly plastered his own smile on. “Hi there! Can I get a flat white and an Americano please?” She asked, struck by how easily the guy switched into customer service mode. Maybe he was just happy that she was actually buying something. The café was pretty full still, so it wasn’t like he didn’t have anything to do. “Absolutely! Can I interest you in anything else? One of our home-baked cakes perhaps?” “Ooh… What would you recommend?” “Well, I’m partial to the banana bread.” “Sounds great! I’ll take one of those and a lemon drizzle please.” Annabeth handed over the money and turned to look back at her friend. Piper was casually scrolling through her phone while she was waiting. Every once in a while she would click on something of laugh quietly to herself. Her friend’s presence made Annabeth feel lighter already. She thanked the barista as he placed her many dishes on to a tray and then carried them over to the table. “You are a jewel, thanks.” Piper smiled as she unloaded her coffee from the tray. Annabeth halved the two cakes and swapped over plates so they each had a part of both treats. “How cute is this place? I can’t believe I have never come here before! Loving the blue theme.” She indicated to the cups, saucers and plates which were also mismatched all in similar shades of blue.

“Yeah, it’s really adorable. Kind of reminds me of that place we went to in Soho when you came to visit me at school.”

“Yes! Oh my god that place did the best pancakes! Do you think it’s too late for me to order pancakes?”

Annabeth just laughed at her friend and agreed it was too late for pancakes. The pair began some small talk as they ate and drank – how Annabeth’s journey had been, how things were going with Piper’s PR internship, how Jason was adjusting to his sister Thalia going on the road.

“It was so sweet of Thalia to let me stay in her room while she is on tour. I really appreciate it.”

“Babe, you know she would’ve killed me and Jason both had we not done everything we could to get you here.”

Annabeth could believe it. She had met Thalia nearly fifteen years ago at summer camp and the pair had somehow managed to remain friends after all this time. They were sisters in all but blood, that curtesy extending to Jason, Thalia’s younger brother. In the years since becoming Piper’s boyfriend that had only doubled down. When Annabeth had first called Thalia to say there had been a… change in her living situation… she had to all but beg her friend not to cancel the rest of her band’s tour dates and come back east.

“Well I just don’t want to seem ungrateful. Having somewhere to stay was the first big step. The next of course is finding a job. Do you know of anything going?”

“What kind of thing are you looking for? Are you thinking of going for something design-y like an internship or…?”

“No. I need something that is going to pay bills. I cannot afford an internship right now.” Well that was certainly part of the reason. Piper noticed Annabeth twitch slightly at the mention of design.

“I mean I saw a sign in the window here saying they are looking for a barista/waitress. What about that?” Piper walked over to the notice board and returned with the flyer. “It says to ask for Grover at the desk. You could be a waitress!” Annabeth paused for a moment while she pondered this. She knew very well how to put on a customer service persona from her time in retail helping to fund her school experience.

“I mean the worst thing they can do is say no. I’ll go ask the guy up there.” Annabeth rose from her seat, drank the final gulp of her coffee and approached the rather grumpy looking man at the till.

“Hi, may I speak to Grover please?” She smiled as brightly as she could as she said it. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror lining the wall behind him, realised that she looked a bit demonic so tried to tone it down.

“You are already.” Grover tensed up at this. “Is everything okay with your food and coffee?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Annabeth rushed. “I was wanting to ask for an application.” He physically relaxed at her response, gave her a big grin and pulled out a form from behind the till. Clearly he had expected to have an ‘I want to speak to the manager’ conversation.

“There you go, the boss mentioned there have been a couple of applicants so interviews will be Friday. It’s pretty straightforward – if you think you have any experience which is going to be particularly helpful make sure you make it stand out. Good luck!” Grover smiled, Annabeth returned to her table, feeling ever so slightly guilty for thinking of the guy as grumpy when he had been incredibly pleasant. She shot Piper a thumbs up as she headed back to the table.

The pair of them grabbed their things and left the café, thanking Grover as they left.

-    -    -

The walk to the apartment did not take long, though it would have been much shorter had they not each been pulling a large suitcase topped with Piper's many bags, filled with flyers for some event she was promoting through work. While it was a pain in the neck in the short term, Annabeth couldn’t help but feel conflicted. She was getting a fresh start, but it was sad to think that her whole life was neatly packed into these two cases.

Dalinver Bay was a small coastal town about an hour outside of Manhattan. Ideally Annabeth would have wanted to go west and join Thalia, but she would only have been a distraction. Escaping her woes by partying across California sounded much too self-destructive and she was pretty sure she maxed out her quota for self-destructive behaviours this decade. Besides it was incredibly kind for Piper to let her stay

“Well here we are!” Piper sang, pulling out her set of keys and opening the front door.

“Damn. You are living large Piper!” Annabeth exclaimed as she pulled he case into the large foyer.

“You say that every time you come here.”

“Yeah, that’s ‘cause it is still true every time I come here!”

Annabeth was no stranger to money. She had attended private school, her mother was a regular in the Upper East Side social circle but there was money and then there was money. It was Piper’s turn to blush now. She didn’t like to advertise it but as the child of one of Hollywood’s most sought after action stars and the head of a fashion empire she was obviously very well off.

The apartment was three bedroomed, each being en suite, and had several other rooms spread across two floors including a guest bathroom, kitchen, lounge, gaming room and a room nicknamed the library which was full of books ranging from rare classics to summer reading fodder. The whole interior had a chic, minimalist vibe and had obviously been decorated by someone who had created many a show home. But there were still flavours of Thalia and Piper throughout the house, be it Piper’s artifacts from her father’s side or rock memorabilia Thalia had scattered around the place, including the band’s debut album’s platinum record hanging in the foyer so it would be the first thing any guest would see.

Between the two of them they took two trips to hoist the heavy suitcases up the spiral staircase to Thalia’s room. After having plonked it on the floor they headed into the lounge. There was an L shaped sofa and a love seat both facing the large tv mounted on the wall. Each of the sank down onto the black leather sofa and let out a sigh. The lifting had been heavier than expected.

“So…” Piper began then paused. “Do you want to watch tv?”

“Sure.” They stuck on some mind numbing trash and sat curled up on the sofa for a long time. The silence between them was a comfortable one but Annabeth couldn’t help but think that hadn’t been the question Piper wanted to ask. She was waiting for the full story. Things must have seemed so good when Piper had visited back in February. SO why had Annabeth had called hysterically crying three days ago? Why she was taking a leave of absence from school? Why she did pale at every mention of her family? Why she had left… everything?

But she couldn’t answer.

Not yet.

So instead she snuggled in closer to her friend and before she knew it she dozed off. Ot was the best sleep she’d had in a year.

-   -    -

By the time Friday had rolled around Annabeth had applied for seven waitressing jobs, three cleaning positions, four admin assistant posts, and even one of those advertisement jobs where you have to throw a massive plaque around telling customers where to go to buy over priced sports equipment. But hey, beggers can't be choosers. As she walked the now familiar route from Thalia's to the Cerulean Cafe her heart was jack hammering. She had been in two days ago to drop off her application and make use of their complementary wifi to send off her many applications. The walk should only have been twenty minutes but she had to stop every so often and take in a deep breath to calm herself down. It wasn't her first job interview. Annabeth had been employed every summer since she was sixteen. Bsck then however she had always had a safety net. Now she had to rely on herself. Asking for help from her friends would be mortifying, especially after everything they were already doing for her and hell would freeze over before she turned to either of her parents for help.  

She was stood outside the door. All that was left to do was go in, get through the interview telling as few lies as possible and get out. She pushed the door and stepped inside, feeling the calm atmosphere of the room wash over her. It was amazing seeing the difference between the place first thing in the morning when it was empty as opposed to the bustling experience she had shared with Piper.

"Hello?" She called out when she realised the room was completely empty. "Is someone there?" "Miss Ramírez-Arellano?" Came a woman's voice from the kitchen area. How her heart beat faster. She regretted it the second she had handed in the application. But what else was a girl to do? She didn't want to risk being tracked down so she couldn't use her own name. Reyna was going to be on tour with Thalia for the next two months anyway so what she didn't know couldn't hurt her. Now that she was faced with the repercussions of such an obvious lie she realised just how stupid she had been. First of all, she was white. Secondly -

"Yes." Annabeth finally called back before her thoughts could derail her. She had made the bed, now she had to lie in it. The woman came round to shake her hand. Annabeth would have placed her in her late forties, but something about her kind smile made her appear younger. If it weren't for the grey streaks in her otherwise brown hair she could pass for younger still.

"I'm Sally Jackson. Walcome to the Cerulean Café!" She gestured to the room around them. It was obviously in the midst of being set up for the day since she had been asked to come in before the place officially opened for the interview to take place. "Shall we take a seat?" Annabeth nodded and followed her to a table near the kitchen so Sally could keep an ear out for the timer to tell her the scones were ready.

“So, I saw on your application that you have worked in customer service. Did you have waitressing experience through this post Miss Ramírez-Arellano?” Sally Jackson asked Annabeth. It was a simple question so Annabeth should have been able to answer with the simple obvious answer but the name game was already throwing her.

“Not really, but I am a fast learner Mrs Jackson.” Annabeth smiled. “I have been practising at home and can carry three plates at once. I am dyslexic so I know that I’m going to have to learn the menu by heart which I can happily do, I have a great memory-“ Annabeth felt her cheeks redden. Now she was bumbling like an idiot, plus she was pretty sure she was sweating through her shirt.

“That’s okay, the thing I care about most is that you are friendly and welcoming to the customers. Please call me Sally, rather than Mrs Jackson. Also, can I call you Reyna? I am not fond of too much formality, if you can’t tell by the place” Sally laughed and Annabeth nodded. “We change the specials every day but the rest of the menu is seasonal, so it only changes once in a while. How comfortable are you with technology? The till is basically an iPad – my son set it up because I’m useless at that kind of thing. He is also dyslexic so it is on a pink background.”

“I can work with that! The black on pink helps everything stay in the right place.”

“That’s what he says!” Sally sighed slightly and continued reading down the application form sat between them. “So, what is it that has taken you out to the Bay?”

“I- uh” The real answer would be too long and painful. Annabeth had expected to be asked it but not quite so soon. She still hadn’t really figured it out yet herself so was surprised when the words started flooding out. “I’m uh, taking a little break from my studies” that was true “to pursue a love of surfing!” That was not. “Yeah, I just can’t get enough of the waves! So I uh, thought a place like this would be ideal…” Annabeth trailed off and suddenly felt compelled to look anywhere in the room but at Sally Jackson’s face.

The woman pursed her lips and looked Annabeth up and down, considering her carefully.

“Okay.” She straightened up a little and locked on to Annabeth’s eyes. “I am going to ask you five questions. I want you to answer them honestly, and the job is yours. After that I won’t ask any more. Are we clear?”

Annabeth felt her heartrate quicken, her nerves coming back all at once. “Yes.”

“What is your name?”

“Rey-“

“I said honestly.” Sally’s face did not change at all. “I don’t care what we put on your name badge, and I’m sure you’ve got your reasons for giving a fake name but if we are going to work together, I need honesty.”

“It’s Annabeth, Annabeth Chase.”

“Okay Annabeth. Whatever you are running from - is it drugs? If it is drugs here is where our conversation ends I'm afraid.”

“God no!” Annabeth spluttered. “I can assure you I have no interest in drugs.”

“Good. Will whatever it is keep you from being able to work?”

“Not at all.”

“Is it going to impact my business or my family?”

“No.”

“Can you start Monday?”

Annabeth stared at her, trying to work out if Sally was joking or not. “Yes.”

“Perfect” She clapped her hands together. “Grover is going to be delighted, he’s been desperate for some more wait staff to keep things going smoothly. Come on and I’ll give you the tour.”

“That’s it? You don’t want to know anything else?”

“That’s it.” Sally smiled softly. “This café was built on trust. I trust my employees and they trust me. If I were to force you to tell me every decision or experience that has led you here, you would never trust me and we wouldn’t be able to work together. The most important thing to us here at Cerulean Café is family – we are all one big family. The job is yours if you want it. Under the condition that you never lie to me again.”

“I promise, Sally.” They were three simple words, but the weight Annabeth put behind them felt like a vow, one that she would not break.

“So, come on then.” She rose to her feet and Annabeth followed suit.

The tour was very straightforward. She had already seen the shop floor which Sally now explained the fairly straightforward numbering system for. Annabeth remembered it as if the room was split into quarters and then there was a circle inside of each. Sally informed her that there was no table thirteenfor some superstitious reasons which she managed to not laugh at. Annabeth felt a bit bad for criticising the lay out of the café as Sally explained how it had been arranged for optimal ease for disabled patrons, inspired by her favourite regular who Annabeth was bound to meet soon.

“I’m really looking forward to Monday now!” Sally beamed. “But just a piece of advice. We have a few regulars who are the nosy type. Whatever story you decide you want to tell you better get it straight before you start because they will be asking questions.”

“Okay.” Annabeth nodded.

“And there is no way you are getting around trying to pass yourself off as Reyna Ramírez-Arellano – I’m assuming you are staying with her? She is known in the area so that just wouldn’t go un-noted. Besides, are you going to remember that when we are slammed with customers and you are being called for? It needs to be something a bit closer to home.”

A light bulb went off in Annabeth’s head. The name her step-brothers had called her before they could say her name.

“Abby. Please put it as Abby on the rota.”

“You got it Abby.” Sally added her to the bottom of her shift rota board and walked her to the door. “I need to finish getting set up for opening. You’ll have some training to do on the job, but Grover will get that sorted out for you and you’ll meet most of the team on your first shift. Remember blue top, black bottoms and hair up. See you Monday!”

“Monday!” Annabeth echoed and stepped out of the café and onto the bright street.

She whipped out her phone and began texting Piper to share the good news. She got a job! Things finally were beginning to resemble a fresh start.

[theolympusfiles]

soulmate au - percy jackson

in this world, you're born with a tattoo that's completely unique to you. everytime someone falls in love with you, your tattoo appears on their skin. there's different colors for each kind of love. tattoos don't ever disappear when you're alive and they remain the same color until the type of love changes.

PERCY :

for a while, his only tattoo was his mother's tattoo

it was black, signalling the familial love percy held for his mother. it was right on his forearm, a complicated set of lines that he swore looked like his mother's eyes

his next tattoo appeared when he woke up in camp half-blood, with grover holding the shoebox. it was a gray tattoo and it's a quick sketch of what looks to be some flowers.

the tattoo matched grover's exactly and it made itself home on percy's ankle. it was the first platonic tattoo percy ever got

his next tattoo was annabeth's. the day after she disappeared during the titan's curse, a gray tattoo appeared behind percy's neck. he didn't notice it first, until thalia pointed it out

the tattoo was all harsh lines and swift writing. it fit annabeth perfectly. later on, the tattoo turned white. percy nearly had a heart attack once he found out and he did his best to hide it from annabeth. after all, he's quite sure that she would pass out once she finds out that he loved her in a romantic sense

he told her the next day and in response, she shyly showed him the pure white tattoo on her collarbone

his last tattoo was when estelle was born. it appeared next to sally's tattoo, right on percy's forearm.

ANNABETH :

she got her first tattoo after the cyclops incident. one on her ankle and one behind her neck. one was a pair of wings and it was one that matched luke's tattoo perfectly. the other was a simple lightning strike, which was thalia's tattoo. both were a heather gray that matched her eyes perfectly

thalia's tattoo was right behind her neck and she developed a habit of tying her hair into buns, that way you could see it. she always wore low-cut shoes, that way luke's tattoo was always in sight

as her feelings for luke grew, the tattoo turned whiter. it was as if it was being bleached. annabeth took to tracing it over with a gray marker, that way no one ever noticed

when luke betrayed the camp, annabeth spent the night crying as she tried to scrub away the tattoo. it remained on her ankle and she hated it. she started wearing shoes that would hide it and she hated how it was still a pristine white.

her next tattoo appeared when percy held the sky. it was gray, the same color as the tattoo behind her neck. it was a kind of wave and it was right on her collarbone. she excitedly ran up to percy as soon as she could and showed it to him

during the battle of olympus, when she took the knife for him, the tattoo turned white. that was the moment annabeth chase fell in love with percy jackson

she never got any other tattoos, since your children don't really count (but parents do for some unknown reason)

JASON :

his very first tattoo was on his back. it was some kind of design, one that matched reyna's tattoo perfectly. the tattoo formed a few weeks after he was pronounced praetor. when he showed reyna, her eyes sparkled and she quickly showed him the tattoo on her hip

the gray tattoo eventually turned white. when juno wiped his memories, the tattoo faded slightly but you could still see it. piper first noticed it when they came to the camp and she nearly burst into tears when she noticed the color.

his next tattoo appeared on his ring finger. it was a fire and he immediately knew it was leo. the fire wrapped around his ring finger and was his favorite shade of gray.

piper's tattoo appeared on his thigh during the campfire. it's a beautiful sketch of some kind of dove, holding an olive branch in it's mouth. the tattoo was gray but slowly paled as he fell in love with her. the opposite happened to reyna's. reyna's tattoo turned back to gray by the time the giant war ended

thalia's was the last tattoo. the lightning strike made itself home on jason's ankle and he felt a strange feeling when he saw the color. it was pitch black, the color for family love. it was the first time jason ever felt like he officially had a family

PIPER :

her first tattoo was some kind of feather and it appeared on her shoulder. it was her grandpa tom's tattoo and she loved it so much. she excitedly showed her dad and tristan was a bit sad that her first tattoo wasn't him but he was happy for her

her next tattoo was leo's. it appeared on her ankle, the fire wrapped around it like some kind of anklet. the gray set off piper's skin and leo would joke about how she fell in love with him first (his appeared a week after piper's appeared)

her next tattoo appeared at the grand canyon. it was a cloud formation and was a gray that was bordering onto white. it appeared right on the side of her neck. it matched jason's tattoo perfectly

her last tattoo was annabeth's. the two had grown close and annabeth's tattoo appeared on piper's wrist. it was gray and piper would run her fingers over it, as if she could hardly believe it. after all, piper found it hard to make friends with girls. especially become close enough that she got a tattoo. annabeth was the first and last tattoo piper got for a girl

LEO :

his first tatto was his mother's, right on his shoulder. he was a kid, barely seven. he showed it off to his mom and she gave a laugh, showering him with kisses and congratulating him on his first tattoo

his second tattoo was piper's. the dove planted itself on his collarbone and he would gloat over how he got it after her. it was the first platonic tattoo he ever got

his third tattoo was jason's. the cloud formation appeared on the back of his neck and he showed it to jason as soon as he could. his curls would often cover the gray tattoo but it was comforting to know it was there

his last tattoo was calypso's. the white tattoo appeared on his wrist. it was some kind of flowers that were abundant on her island. it appeared when he floated away from the island and at first, he was a bit put off. calypso had many tattoos and he was sure that he was just an insignificant demigod to her. to his surprise, the next time he saw her, she was sporting a white fire on her cheek

HAZEL :

her first tattoo was sammy's. it was right on her shoulder. she got it after a few months of talking to sammy and it was gray. as time wore on, the tattoo slowly turned to white. when she died, the tattoo faded and when nico resurrected her, it was a faint scar. hazel would hide it daily, afraid someone would ask her who's tattoo it was

her second tattoo was frank's. the tattoo, which was chinese lettering set on fire, was right on hazel's pinky finger. it was a gray tattoo at first and as she slowly fell for frank during their quest, it turned white. frank would link their pinkies together sometimes, smiling as he sees their tattoos

her last tattoo was nico's. it came shortly after frank's and it was pitch black. a mess of skulls and bones. it appeared on the side of her foot one day and she showed it to nico as soon as she could. he seemed to almost cry, finally accepting the fact that he had a family again

FRANK :

like percy, his first tattoo was from his mom. it was some kind of flower and wildlife and it was right on his back. when he got it, he showed it to her and she smiled. when she died, he cried and cried as he looked at the mirror to see his tattoo

his next tattoo was hazel's. the two were fast friends and he wasn't too surprised when the tattoo appeared on his pinky. he almost fainted when he saw the tattoo slowly turning light. he finally accepted that he had developed feelings for hazel that day

his last tattoo was a surprise. it was percy's tattoo, a gray set of waves that formed on frank's calf. but as he thought about it, he slowly realized that percy was one of his best friends. a friend who had helped him through so much and frank wasn't that confused anymore.

REYNA :

her first tattoo wasn't her father. instead it was hylla. the black tattoo formed on her shoulder, a mess of scribbles that made up the outline of some kind of crown. she got it when she was a kid and it was the only tattoo she had until she met jason

the tattoo formed on her hip. at first it was gray. over time, the cloud formation turned white and she had to keep herself from smiling. she saw it as a sign that she won't end up lonely. she was happy. that was until jason disappeared and suddenly it seemed like her tattoo was a bitter reminder

her next tattoo formed when percy became a praetor. it was a gray tattoo and it never turned white. her mere crush on percy wasn't love and she was relieved to see it stay gray. the tattoo was right on her ankle and she didn't show anyone

her last tattoo was nico's. the mess of skull and bones formed on the back of her neck. she wasn't too surprised to see that it was black. though it was rare, if you see a friend as a brother or sister of sorts, their tattoo can be black instead of gray. she didn't show it to nico, though he did notice when she tied her hair up

NICO :

unsurprisingly, his first tattoo was from bianca. it was a batch of dead flowers and it formed right on his shoulder. they were still with their mother at the time and it was about a few weeks before they went into the lotus hotel. it was the first tattoo he ever got and was one of the only familial tattoos he got

his second tattoo was percy. he got it right on his hip and it was easy to hide. nico did his best to hide it, especially after he saw the tattoo on the back of percy's neck. it had started off as a very pale gray and he wasn't too surprised when it turned white.

his third tattoo was hazel. the jewels appeared on his forearm one day and it was pitch black. the tattoo was on the same side as bianca's tattoo and he would often look in the mirror and run his fingers over the two tattoos, reminding him he has a family now

his last tattoo was will's. it didn't appear until they were about a few months into dating and it was a white that could easily turn people blind. the tattoo, which was some sort of sun with a cloud hanging over it and an arrow flying over it, was right on his other shoulder and it was easy to hide. but will found it as he was patching nico up. will did nothing but smile and show nico the tattoo on the side of his neck, which was a pile of skulls and bones