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halothenthehorns · 17 days

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Chapter 20: I SIT ON THE HOT SEAT

Annabeth sighed softly as she leaned into Percy's side, ignoring Alex's jokes of Percy being thrown in a pot of soup or something. He threw his arm over her at once to have her closer with the same troubled frown only easing slightly. Her eyes stayed uncomprehending upon the new chapter title as the coming funerals lingered in her mind.

She tried to push the image away with Silena smiling up at Beckendorf. She'd grin at Annabeth finally getting her silent wish of this moment. The daughter of Aphrodite had been the best of her mother, she always smiled no matter what was going on when she'd seen someone being happy in love, and she tried to keep that thought close as she took a shaky breath to start.

"What were you thinking?" Clarisse cradled Silena's head in her lap.

Silena tried to swallow, but her lips were dry and cracked. "Wouldn't . . . listen. Cabin would . . . only follow you."

Alex had, mixed feelings about that. Loyalty wasn't something she was familiar with. Blind loyalty sounded absurd in every way.

And yet...it sounded kind of nice too. To have someone so wholeheartedly believe in you...only you...

"So you stole my armor," Clarisse said in disbelief. "You waited until Chris and I went out on patrol; you stole my armor and pretended to be me." She glared at her siblings. "And NONE of you noticed?"

"Yeah, kinda with Clarisse on that one," Thalia grumbled as she adjusted her hood. Had Silena given a rousing speech? Surely she'd pulled the cabin together somehow, long enough for her own siblings to notice something was amiss. They all weren't that dense! She wouldn't be surprised to learn if Clarisse had beaten them all to a pulp not long after.

...but, well, the thought did cross her mind it was more than likely the Ares kids had wanted to come all along. They might have followed a puppet if someone had put a nice boar helmet on it.

It bothered her a bit, that her first instinct would rather the ones who wanted to be there should have ignored their head and snuck out...but then when Silena arrived to pull this ruse Clarisse never would have followed and blasted the drakon. They might not have won at all. She could feel her father's powerful blue eyes spark with joy somewhere in the back of her mind as she understood what he must always feel as a god. Sacrifice from others that lead to his own victory. It made her feel miserable.

The Ares campers developed a sudden interest in their combat boots.

"Making sure none of that monster dust got in their socks," Magnus nodded in understanding.

Alex called him an idiot in ASL, which was a nice change of pace. He had no regrets teaching her that.

"Don't blame them," Silena said. "They wanted to . . . to believe I was you."

Something that had been mentioned a lot these past days, Jason frowned. Wanting to hope, wanting to believe something even if you knew not to deep down it wasn't true. The idea was a cold, icy feeling he knew all to well, the kind that when it thawed out he wasn't sure what he was going to be left with. It was unpleasant, nauseating even, but almost exciting too to find out what was going to be beneath it all.

"You stupid Aphrodite girl," Clarisse sobbed. "You charged a drakon? Why?"

"All my fault," Silena said, a tear streaking the side of her face. "The drakon, Charlie's death . . . camp endangered—"

"Stop it!" Clarisse said. "That's not true."

Silena opened her hand. In her palm was a silver bracelet with a scythe charm, the mark of Kronos.

Percy stiffened painfully as his mind splintered with understanding. He'd known there was a spy for so long, had hated and loathed this unknown face ruining so much...it felt impossible to reconcile all of that with Silena Beauregard. The two wouldn't mash together. Like someone had told him Annabeth was the spy. It didn't compute with the person he'd known.

He waited for the betrayal, for the anger to catch up with him, but he just felt tired. As he thought about Micheal, and Beckendorf, and all the other campers over the years he and Silena had both known, that he and Silena had both had a hand in their deaths. Two sides of the same coin.

With a cold, heavy heart, it wasn't hard for his imagination to cook up the idea he and Silena even could have switched places this day. If Luke had never told him it was his plan, his shoes that had nearly dragged Grover away, Percy would have been none the wiser. Luke could have stuck around camp, kept whispering in Percys' ears thoughts that still floated about to this day of how wretched the gods were and all the horrible things they'd done. He was just a manipulative prick like that who snared up everyone.

The chips had fallen where they did though, and he brushed that aside to instead settle a scowl into place he didn't feel. He was left wondering where her loyalties had gone. He wanted to hate her, wanted to think she'd just been trying to lead more kids to their death with this scheme...but it just didn't match the fact that she'd charged a drakon! She could have sent them on ahead if that was the plan!

A cold fist closed around my heart. "You were the spy."

Silena tried to nod. "Before . . . before I liked Charlie, Luke was nice to me. He was so . . . charming. Handsome. Later, I wanted to stop helping him, but he threatened to tell. He promised . . . he promised I was saving lives. Fewer people would get hurt. He told me he wouldn't hurt . . . Charlie. He lied to me."

Annabeth read that...gods she read that with understanding! With hurt and pain, and sympathy all at once!

Thalia wanted to shake her and ask if she was nuts! She knew she couldn't have gotten through that without gritted teeth and having to pinch her own side to stop from breaking down crying in frustration of what Luke had done to yet another person.

I met Annabeth's eyes. Her face was chalky. She looked like somebody had just yanked the world out from under her feet.

She never would have believed that Luke would threaten someone like that until she heard it from Silena's dying lips. Percy had never felt more blue that she finally did.

Behind us, the battle raged.

Clarisse scowled at her cabinmates. "Go, help the centaurs. Protect the doors. GO!"

They scrambled off to join the fight.

Silena took a heavy, painful breath. "Forgive me."

Will swallowed a painful lump in the back of his throat and was glad nobody was going around the room demanding to know if they all had. He'd have said yes, now. With time passing and the hurt easing as he stopped drowning every day after, learning to float in the misery of how empty his cabin was when he went home. He wasn't good at holding onto resentment. He just hadn't cried at Silena's funeral.

Annabeth instantly had, she thought Percy had too, but there was a troubled look on his face she didn't like to see now. He still had his fingers linked with hers, but his other hand was fiddling with his pen again like all he wanted to do was walk off and charge into battle. He liked to blame Luke for everything, and she'd finally been forced to see Percy had been right. Hopefully, that's all this anger was.

"You're not dying," Clarisse insisted.

"Charlie . . ." Silena's eyes were a million miles away. "See Charlie . . ."

She didn't speak again.

Jason shivered as he imagined her sightless eyes. The child of Venus hadn't been much of a notable figure in Percy's life before this moment. A pretty girl with a friendly boyfriend.

That day with the mermeks though had already shown she could have been more if Percy had ever spent time with her. Silena's determination to save Beckendorf had been the admirable stuff leaders were made of.

Sonder, the realization that a random passerby was living a life as vivid and complex as your own. They'd spent so long now focused on Percy's life that it felt like a slam in the face to fully realize what this girl had been going through entirely in the background of everything they'd been hearing.

Clarisse held her and wept. Chris put a hand on her shoulder.

Finally Annabeth closed Silena's eyes.

"We have to fight." Annabeth's voice was brittle. "She gave her life to help us. We have to honor her."

Clarisse sniffled and wiped her nose. "She was a hero, understand? A hero."

Magnus was used to living in a world of gray. Of knowing better than many a teenager just why people did what they did to be in a sleeping bag under the bridge, of watching it happen from the shadows. He wasn't going to sit around and try to engage the right and wrong of all that had gone on during this mess. People died every day for choices they'd made and decisions they'd been given no alternative out of. He just wished someone out there had a happy ending.

I nodded. "Come on, Clarisse."

Annabeth wasn't sure she wanted to move on for a moment. That she even wanted to hear Percy's thoughts reflecting on this during the rest of the battle. She'd made peace with what Silena had done, but Percy might have a tendency to lean into it as fuel for the slash of his sword.

But Percy sat next to her, maybe a little to calm and put together as his miserable face watched the book. She sighed as she pressed on when he showed no signs of stopping her. He always reminded her of a glass building. Structurally sound, of course, but with nothing to hide inside. He'd never made a single bereft of them hearing every stray thought that crossed his mind.

She picked up a sword from one of her fallen siblings. "Kronos is going to pay."

"Ooooh, yeah," Alex drawled out in an amorous tone for the violence about to take place. Gods she wished she could hug Clairsse right now for the visual stimuli about to take place!

The idea that this was all for a traitor mused quietly in the back of her mind. She knew exactly who her mother was in her world, how she'd be received by anyone of Norse descendants, though she'd never come across another like her before now. She suspected Magnus was only because of Hearth, and he was an innocent white lily to pure to grasp how that's what he should see her as even if she did decide to tell him.

Traitor, the word lingered in the back of her mind as she focused sharply on Clarisse and her crusade to rip every monster a new one for what they'd done for her friend. It was probably as close to redemption as she- Silena of course, would ever get.

I'd like to say I drove the enemy away from the Empire State Building. The truth was Clarisse did all the work. Even without her armor or spear, she was a demon. She rode her chariot straight into the Titan's army and crushed everything in her path.

She was so inspiring, even the panicked centaurs started to rally. The Hunters scrounged arrows from the fallen and launched volley after volley into the enemy. The Ares cabin slashed and hacked, which was their favorite thing. The monsters retreated toward 35th Street.

Clarisse drove to the drakon's carcass and looped a grappling line through its eye sockets. She lashed her horses and took off, dragging the drakon behind the chariot like a Chinese New Year dragon.

Will hated that thing so much. She'd taken it back to camp and put it up in the forest, her cabin often using it during capture the flag to terrify the opponents. Alex had no idea how close to true her jokes were about chasing kids around with a fake drakon for practice, because sometimes the Stolls really did do that. If he didn't have a heart attack every time he saw it, he would have buried it by now.

She charged after the enemy, yelling insults and daring them to cross her. As she rode, I realized she was literally glowing. An aura of red fire flickered around her.

"The blessing of Ares," Thalia said. "I've never seen it in person before."

Alex's laugh was chaotic and quickly drew the others in. It was an ability she proudly used whenever given the chance, and she even sort of hoped that if Oceanus heard it somewhere he at least chuckled a little too.

For the moment, Clarisse was as invincible as I was. The enemy threw spears and arrows, but nothing hit her.

"I AM CLARISSE, DRAKON-SLAYER!" she yelled. "I will kill you ALL! Where is Kronos? Bring him out! Is he a coward?"

"Clarisse!" I yelled. "Stop it. Withdraw!"

"What's the matter, Titan lord?" she yelled. "BRING IT ON!"

There was no answer from the enemy. Slowly, they began to fall back behind a dracaenae shield wall, while Clarisse drove in circles around Fifth Avenue, daring anyone to cross her path. The twohundred-foot-long drakon carcass made a hollow scraping noise against the pavement, like a thousand knives.

Meanwhile,

"There is nothing you could follow that up with!" Jason declared. "Unless the gods themselves show up out of the blue, there is no meanwhile, anyways, or also that could top that Percy!"

"I'm sorry my life dosen't revolve around her, I had other things going on," Percy said with a slightly wounded look Clarisse of all people had somehow overtaken his life. He couldn't even be that offended, it really was awesome.

we tended our wounded, bringing them inside the lobby.

"Important enough?" Will mock sniffled into an invisible handkerchief.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you're a hero too Will, don't rub it in," Jason sighed for his outburst. He'd known it was going to bite him in the ass when he did it.

Long after the enemy had retreated from sight, Clarisse kept riding up and down the avenue with her horrible trophy, demanding that Kronos meet her battle.

Chris said, "I'll watch her. She'll get tired eventually. I'll make sure she comes inside."

"That is easily one of the top five bravest guys around camp though," Will shook his head in exhaustion at the mere idea. Nico was a kitten in comparison to the beast of a task in trying to convince Clarisse La Rue to do such a thing as get tired and come inside.

"What about the camp?" I asked. "Is anybody left there?"

Chris shook his head. "Only Argus and the nature spirits. Peleus the dragon is still guarding the tree."

Magnus was rather proud of himself he didn't shiver in dread, after that drakon it really didn't sound as bad, but he was still pretty confident he was the only one thinking that was still bad enough.

"They won't last long," I said. "But I'm glad you came."

Chris nodded sadly. "I'm sorry it took so long. I tried to reason with Clarisse. I said there's no point in defending camp if you guys die. All our friends are here. I'm sorry it took Silena . . ."

"My Hunters will help you stand guard," Thalia said.

"Yeah, not much you can say to that," Jason nodded for his sister. Interrupting awkward silence was the best anybody could do.

"I'm back a few sentences trying to figure out what other friends Chris was talking about her having," Will really sounded odd when he purposefully tried to sound sarcastic. Like a kid at a play having just read his lines. His eyes got so big.

Nico chuckled and patted his hand for the stilted humor anyways.

"Annabeth and Percy, you should go to Olympus. I have a feeling they'll need you up there—to set up the final defense."

The doorman had disappeared from the lobby. His book was facedown on the desk and his chair was empty.

"Well now Percy has no choice but to win this war," Magnus said with a tragic expression. "Can you imagine anything more painful than not being able to finish a book you started?"

Alex chuckled but shook her head. "He might have just gone to the bathroom and he'll be back at his post any second, don't be so dramatic."

"Or maybe it wasn't even a good book, they can't all be best sellers," Annabeth grinned.

Magnus scoffed at the pair making light of this.

The rest of the lobby, however, was jam-packed with wounded campers, Hunters, and satyrs.

Connor and Travis Stoll met us by the elevators.

"Is it true?" Connor asked. "About Silena?"

I nodded. "She died a hero."

Travis shifted uncomfortably. "Um, I also heard—"

"That's it," I insisted. "End of story."

Jason was a bit surprised at Percy. He'd have thought, given his track with people holding information over his head, Percy would go around telling the whole story of the traitor and what happened, not just the final result.

But then, Percy's loyalty had always been with his camp since the day he woke up there. He might not have admitted it or even instantly realized it, between the shunning and shoving from cabin to cabin and his mom's absence hovering over him every day, but Silena Beauregard had made a sacrifice that had bought his camp family enough time to live through another battle.

"Right," Travis mumbled. "Listen, we figure the Titan's army will have trouble getting up the elevator. They'll have to go up a few at a time. And the giants won't be able to fit at all."

"Can you even imagine the determination it must take if they had to use the stairs?" Will asked in horror. His thighs were screaming in pain at just the thought.

"Kronos might have won that day if so. Only the bravest would make it to the top," Percy said with a begrudging look at the book for only a Titan with that level of determination making it up there.

He might not have been one of them.

"That's our biggest advantage," I said. "Any way to disable the elevator?"

"It's magic," Travis said. "Usually you need a key card, but the doorman vanished. That means the defenses are crumbling. Anyone can walk into the elevator now and head straight up."

"Was the doorman secretly the keycard all along?" Alex asked with interest as she narrowed her eyes at the book in thought. "Was he handing out bits of his essence?"

"Ew," Percy frowned at her as he rubbed his palm against his jeans.

"More symbolic of him abandoning his post causing weaker defense," Will offered instead. He had been just a mortal after all. A mortal granted an immortal gift.

"Then we have to keep them away from the doors," I said. "We'll bottle them up in the lobby."

"What are we calling this strategy?" Jason asked Annabeth. "Genie in a bottle? Message in a bottle?"

"Bottleneck," Annabeth grinned in delight at someone asking her. Percy grumbled to himself for a moment he would have asked too if he hadn't been so busy, but she just grinned and kissed the back of his hand before continuing so he quickly let the thought go.

"We need reinforcements," Travis said. "They'll just keep coming. Eventually they'll overwhelm us."

"There are no reinforcements," Connor complained.

It was so rare to hear the Stolls being so, serious. Will had shivered as he heard them whispering while visiting some of their siblings in beds about injuries and man power, rather than the usual of whose soda can to shake up and put back. His crush on Connor had been at an all time high as he glanced over at him, but the son of Hermes hadn't even seemed to notice he was in the same room as he went over to check on Katie's fading concussion.

Ah well, he'd always hoped the two would stay happy together, he smiled to himself now without the touch of bitterness it had once held.

I looked outside at Mrs. O'Leary, who was breathing against the glass doors and smearing them with hellhound drool.

There was a nice moment of gentle laughter all through the circular room for that descriptor. Magnus was shocked at himself for it, but it felt nice too, to think next time he saw a dog on the street he might not flinch at the sight of it if he kept her in his mind.

"Maybe that's not true," I said.

I went outside and put a hand on Mrs. O'Leary's muzzle. Chiron had bandaged her paw, but she was still limping. Her fur was matted with mud, leaves, pizza slices, and dried monster blood.

"Bath time," Percy chuckled. It's a good thing he was water proof, because he might never be dry again afterwords. "You game Alex?"

"Any day," she savored with a laugh of her own. The county might be out of pink scrub brushes when she was done, but it would be worth it.

"Hey, girl." I tried to sound upbeat. "I know you're tired, but I've got one more big favor to ask you."

I leaned next to her and whispered in her ear.

After Mrs. O'Leary shadow-traveled away,

"You would just gloss over that," Jason muttered in betrayal. "We could call this Percy Jackson and- Anyways!"

"Couldn't even be mad at the title," Percy nodded. "Very on brand for how my mind works."

"Should I even bother wasting breath asking what you asked her to do?" Magnus sighed.

"You can waste hand motions, it would do the same amount of good," Percy said with an impish grin. They both knew he'd play the 'my head hurts' card if they kept pushing this.

"You're a jerk, there, no breath wasted," Magnus smirked.

I rejoined Annabeth in the lobby. On the way to the elevator, we spotted Grover kneeling over a fat wounded satyr.

Thalia had been a tad embarrassed to admit she'd been surprised to hear he'd even fought. Some of the Hunters had gotten a bit excited when they heard a lord of the wild had shown up to help, but she'd quickly snapped away that hope by just waving off it was some useless satyr who would probably just stand around yelling insults that weren't even going to make someone pause.

She'd been wrong, and she'd admitted that during the goodbye ceremonies. She hoped her father heard it too.

"Leneus!" I said.

The old satyr looked terrible. His lips were blue. There was a broken spear in his belly, and his furry goat legs were twisted at a painful angle.

Will had made notes on each person's file what had happened to them. Morbid curiosity, details he could share with family, some way to counter act the ailement in the future, or a mix of it all had made this a habit since his first day.

He had been, empty, at how many folders were left blank that day. Nobody had seen what had happened to Leneus to sustain such injuries same as a lot of bodies that day. To many monsters, not enough people to watch each other's backs.

He tried to focus on us, but I don't think he saw us.

"Grover?" he murmured.

Alex opened her mouth, the crude comment on the tip of her tongue the old lump wanted to insult Grover one last time, but it felt crass. She'd at least hear his dying words before she tore him one last insult.

"I'm here, Leneus." Grover was blinking back tears, despite all the horrible things Leneus had said about him.

He had such a big heart, Annabeth smiled, wishing she could put her hand on his shoulder again like she had. She'd seen it every day while he was guiding them through the streets, a smile appearing at every weed that appeared through the cracks in the sidewalk. Every day at camp when he answered every question she had with only some mild anxiety and tugging at the fur on his legs. He'd grown so much.

They all had after this really.

"Did . . . did we win?"

"Um . . . yes," Grover lied. "Thanks to you, Leneus. We drove the enemy away."

"He's always been such a terrible liar," Percy's chuckle sounded a tad watery. Whatever. Son of Posideon. He'd seen a lot of crap those past few days. Nobody was dumb enough to mention it.

"Told you," the old satyr mumbled. "True leader. True . . ."

There was a blurry, nice, delusional moment where Magnus could pretend that Leneaus was talking about Grover. That it was his way of apologizing for all the miserable days he'd put that kid through.

He wasn't naive enough to belive it. He just wanted to.

He closed his eyes for the last time.

Grover gulped. He put his hand on Leneus's forehead and spoke an ancient blessing. The old satyr's body melted, until all that was left was a tiny sapling in a pile of fresh soil.

"A laurel," Grover said in awe. "Oh, that lucky old goat."

He gathered up the sapling in his hands. "I . . . I should plant him. In Olympus, in the gardens."

"Can he just, do that?" Jason tried not to look at the book distastefully.

Thalia still gave her little brother a pitiful look he still might respect any authority figure after all they'd heard in here. If anybody said a word to Grover about where he wanted to plant someone even mildly important to him, Percy would shut it down faster than the shovel went through the dirt.

"We're going that way," I said. "Come on."

Easy-listening music played as the elevator rose.

"Which just went so well with the mood I'm sure," Nico muttered at all of their haggard forms slumped against the rails in exhaustion. Like a Greek freeze frame in modern times. Casual Tragic.

I thought about the first time I'd visited Mount Olympus, back when I was twelve. Annabeth and Grover hadn't been with me then. I was glad they were with me now. I had a feeling it might be our last adventure together.

"Not one of your gut feelings though," Jason noted with interest, though Grover wasn't in here now so the exclusion might prove Percy right all the same.

"I'm not trusting the thing to win me the lottery, let alone this," Percy said with a tired smile. A part of him, a very large part, hoped it was true. That somewhere Grover was out there kicking it with Juniper frolicking in the forest while he and Annabeth sorted this out to get back and have a nice, peaceful life.

But considering where they were...and how they were nearing the end and he still wasn't even sure what the outcome of all this was...yeah. Jason was probably right he should trust his gut's lack of reaction on this case.

"Percy," Annabeth said quietly. "You were right about Luke." It was the first time she'd spoken since Silena Beauregard's death. She kept her eyes fixed on the elevator floors as they blinked into the magical numbers: 400, 450, 500.

It wasn't a very wild guess to think she wasn't actually seeing those numbers. Or maybe they were marking all the other times she'd been wrong in her head about him. Thalia sighed and wished Annabeth was still young enough she could hug her until the problems melted from her shoulders.

Annabeth just cleared her throat and brushed her hair out of her face before continuing with the same stoic expression she'd started this with. They all knew she hated saying those words, let alone twice.

Grover and I exchanged glances.

"Annabeth," I said. "I'm sorry—"

"You tried to tell me." Her voice was shaky. "Luke is no good. I didn't believe you until . . . until I heard how he'd used Silena. Now I know. I hope you're happy."

"Why would that make me happy?" Percy asked quietly.

She gave a listless shrug. "Being right about something makes me happy." She was still getting a handle on how that worked for Percy. So far she'd narrowed it down to blue food, (something sacred between him and his mom she didn't partake in much after their anniversary) and her.

At least they were still figuring it out together.

"That doesn't make me happy."

She put her head against the elevator wall and wouldn't look at me.

Thalia swallowed at the distance she still felt between them. She should have had her head on his shoulder now like at the start, but instead she had suddenly needed both hands on the book as Percy watched her sadly without protest. This still felt like an unresolved conversation she was standing in the middle of that neither knew how to approach. She'd always thought Annabeth talked to Percy about everything, but suddenly she wasn't so sure. Gabe? His constant doubts about her feelings? There was plenty she'd been witness to down here.

Grover cradled his laurel sapling in his hands. "Well . . . sure good to be together again. Arguing. Almost dying. Abject terror. Oh, look. It's our floor."

"Someone get Grover a plasma knife already the way he cuts through you two's tension," Alex chuckled.*

"I hate every implication in that sentence," Percy sighed.

"A plasma knife would just cauterize a wound instantly, so it wouldn't make a very good weapon," Will shrugged.

"It is if you want to torture someone," Nico corrected.

"Why would you stab someone with a knife that can make toast?" Magnus protested.

"I'd use a toaster as a weapon any day," Alex scoffed at his naivety.

"Off. Track." Thalia oh so patiently reminded.

The doors dinged and we stepped onto the aerial walkway.

Depressing is not a word that usually describes Mount Olympus, but it looked that way now. No fires lit the braziers. The windows were dark. The streets were deserted and the doors were barred. The only movement was in the parks, which had been set up as field hospitals. Will Solace and the other Apollo campers scrambled around, caring for the wounded. Naiads and dryads tried to help, using nature magic songs to heal burns and poison.

As Grover planted the laurel sapling, Annabeth and I went around trying to cheer up the wounded. I passed a satyr with a broken leg, a demigod who was bandaged from head to toe, and a body covered in the golden burial shroud of Apollo's cabin. I didn't know who was underneath. I didn't want to find out.

Will was so, so grateful that nobody stopped to turn to him and ask for a name. He'd had more than enough of it. His exhaustion was slowly seeping into something deeper the longer this dragged on.

My heart felt like lead, but we tried to find positive things to say.

"You'll be up and fighting Titans in no time!" I told one camper.

"Might have worked on a Hunter," Thalia sniffed at his giving away all the good motivation.

"You guys had plenty of motivation to kill all the Y chromosome monsters as is," Percy shrugged.

"You look great," Annabeth told another camper.

"Bet you a donut that kid was on fire at some point," Magnus muttered, thinking how that would only cheer up some Aprhotodite child. Alex sure wasn't taking that bet.

"Leneus turned into a shrub!" Grover told a groaning satyr.

"He has such a way with words," Will gave a dramatic sigh he wished he'd thought of something half as pleasant to say during all that.

"Really showing off why he's the best searcher over and over again," Jason nodded.

I found Dionysus's son Pollux propped up against a tree. He had a broken arm, but otherwise he was okay.

"I can still fight with the other hand," he said, gritting his teeth.

Percy vividly remembered wanting to get a chain and tie him to that tree. He was pretty sure the spirit within might even help if he told who the request was from.

"No," I said. "You've done enough. I want you to stay here and help with the wounded."

"But—"

"Promise me to stay safe," I said. "Okay? Personal favor."

He frowned uncertainly. It wasn't like we were good friends or anything, but I wasn't going to tell him it was a request from his dad. That would just embarrass him. Finally he promised, and when he sat back down, I could tell he was kind of relieved.

"I bet he had to suspect the reason though," Will muttered. The amount of kids he'd passed all praying to their parents, in some cases just the god they hoped was their parent, had been a lot. Everybody knew Pollux was the only son of Dionysus, and the torrent of feelings it must have caused him to realie his dad had reached out to Percy for this 'personal favor' wasn't something to be fixed with ambrosia. Maybe that's why he'd refused any as he'd diligently assisted.

Annabeth, Grover, and I kept walking toward the palace. That's where Kronos would head. As soon as he made it up the elevator—and I had no doubt he would, one way or another—he would destroy the throne room, the center of the gods' power.

The place had never sat right in Jason's mind merely for Percy being in its existence in the first place. Every little letter he used to describe the place had made an itching sensation all along him.

He considered the hunger to hear it all anyways unhealthy. Like craving something he knew he was allergic to. A part of himself knew he'd hate himself when he got the connecting cord back, making it all make sense. Until then he'd stuff himself on forbidden fruit and deal with the underworld of it all later.

The bronze doors creaked open. Our footsteps echoed on the marble floor. The constellations twinkled coldly on the ceiling of the great hall. The hearth was down to a dull red glow. Hestia, in the form of a little girl in brown robes, hunched at its edge, shivering. The Ophiotaurus swam sadly in his sphere of water. He let out a half-hearted moo when he saw me.

Will wished he could spare a hug for the goddess and the half-cow-half-serpent. He'd had other priorities going on, but the idea of walking into this room and seeing such a sad scene just automatically made him want to open his arms in offering.

In the firelight, the thrones cast evil-looking shadows, like grasping hands.

Standing at the foot of Zeus's throne, looking up at the stars, was Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She was holding a Greek ceramic vase.

"Rachel?" I said. "Um, what are you doing with that?"

She focused on me as if she were coming out of a dream. "I found it. It's Pandora's jar, isn't it?"

"Rachel's uncanny ability to just be where I need her most, now with bottomless items, feels like a cheat from the universe," Percy said with the dull confidence of his limited gaming experience. He had one of those gut feelings he wasn't going to enjoy this coming conversation with her.

Her eyes were brighter than usual, and I had a bad flashback of moldy sandwiches and burned cookies.

"Please put down the jar," I said.

"Did it turn into a grenade?" Magnus asked in concern. He could never even be sure something was what Percy saw it as considering the mist. The spy had been revealed, obviously Rachel wasn't there to blow up Olympus on anyone's orders, but that didn't mean she might not do it of her own accord considering everything else going on.

"The jar itself was dangerous enough," Percy shook his head.

"I can see Hope inside it." Rachel ran her fingers over the ceramic designs. "So fragile."

"Rachel."

My voice seemed to bring her back to reality. She held out the jar, and I took it. The clay felt as cold as ice.

Something about that felt, mystic. Alex toyed with words in her mind, trying to place why something felt so deeply powerful about that exchange. Rachel felt, possessed. The way she'd been described was unnerving. Rachel was at the precipice of her story, and Percy watching from the outside couldn't begin to grasp all the intricate details within.**

"Grover," Annabeth mumbled. "Let's scout around the palace. Maybe we can find some extra Greek fire or Hephaestus traps."

"But—"

Annabeth elbowed him.

"Right!" he yelped. "I love traps!"

"Who says you can't learn something new about friends you've had for years," Thalia chuckled.

"Now we need to know what kind of traps," Percy nodded solemnly. "I bet he'd love a good snare to help catch those pesky rabbits."

"Grover still won't consider eating his bullies Percy," Annabeth sighed.

"I've never tried rabbit to vouch if it's worth it anyways," he grinned.

She dragged him out of the throne room.

Over by the fire, Hestia was huddled in her robes, rocking back and forth.

"Come on," I told Rachel. "I want you to meet someone."

We sat next to the goddess.

"How long were those two just chilling in the same room without acknowledging each other?" Magnus asked. Yeah, it was a room for gods to be, so the place shouldn't have been able to get any stranger, but it still managed it.

"Given how perceptible Rachel is and how a goddess can be invisible if she wishes, nobody can ever properly guess," Nico shrugged.

"Lady Hestia," I said.

"Hello, Percy Jackson," the goddess murmured. "Getting colder. Harder to keep the fire going."

"I know," I said. "The Titans are near."

Hestia focused on Rachel. "Hello, my dear. You've come to our hearth at last."

Rachel blinked. "You've been expecting me?"

Magnus could barely wrap his head around that. Being a mortal in a sea of demigods and having a goddess's undivided attention. Having the feeling, even for a second, that this god could look at her and see her as someone important with no attachment to her dad. It probably made her feel less like a freak given her sight.

He knew from personal experience it could be a very conflicting feeling, when your perspective on life kept being shaken around so you never knew which way to look at something normal anymore.

Hestia held out her hands, and the coals glowed. I saw images in the fire: My mother, Paul, and I eating Thanksgiving dinner at the kitchen table; my friends and me around the campfire at Camp HalfBlood, singing songs and roasting marshmallows; Rachel and me driving along the beach in Paul's Prius.

I didn't know if Rachel saw the same images, but the tension went out of her shoulders. The warmth of the fire seemed to spread across her.

She saw Percy, Annabeth thought with absolute confidence. Rachel saw the summer of them together, the times she spent with someone who made her feel normal and seen and alive. Annabeth did not think for a second she was just projecting she would have seen the exact same, it just made sense to her Rachel would too.

"To claim your place at the hearth," Hestia told her, "you must let go of your distractions. It is the only way you will survive."

Rachel nodded. "I . . . I understand."

"Wait," I said. "What is she talking about?"

"Percy does not understand," Jason oh so helpfully pointed out.

"Congrats on finally making note of something nobody else picked up on," Percy rolled his eyes.

Rachel took a shaky breath. "Percy, when I came here . . . I thought I was coming for you. But I wasn't. You and me . . ." She shook her head.

"Wait. Now I'm a distraction? Is this because I'm 'not the hero' or whatever?"

Annabeth wanted to yank on his ear and call him a seaweed brain so badly, and only restrained herself because Rachel didn't need her help explaining this to Percy. Still, she couldn't stop herself telling him, "you don't have to be the hero all the time Percy!"

She knew it wasn't his fault, he'd walked into Camp and had that placed on his shoulders mere days later, never to escape it until this coming birthday. She knew why he felt like it defined him in theory.

She still wanted to smack the idea out of his head eventually.

"I'm not sure I can put it into words," she said. "I was drawn to you because . . . because you opened the door to all of this." She gestured at the throne room. "I needed to understand my true sight. But you and me, that wasn't part of it. Our fates aren't intertwined. I think you've always known that, deep down."

I stared at her. Maybe I wasn't the brightest guy in the world when it came to girls, but I was pretty sure Rachel had just dumped me, which was lame considering we'd never even been together.

"Give the boy a cookie," Thalia chuckled.

"Glad someone around here admits when I can keep up," Percy sighed.

"Dumped is a strong word Percy," Will said bracingly. "More like she's moving on to other things without you."

"Not better Will," Percy shook his head. He wanted to be happy for her, of course, she always should have had the choice of deciding where her life was headed. He just wished he could be a part of it.

But as he took Annabeth's hand with confidence, he at least felt comfortable knowing which part he wanted. Maybe it was better this way. Rachel doing this now might have made him keep hesitating like a bafoon in that memory where Annabeth kissed him.

"So . . . what," I said. '"Thanks for bringing me to Olympus. See ya.' Is that what you're saying?"

Rachel stared at the fire.

"That means yes," Jason was still oh so helpfully narrating to Percy to make sure he got all this.

"Thanks man, where were you when I needed an interpretation to all this?" Percy huffed.

Jason had a funny feeling it was in a vaguely similar situation. Lots of confusing feelings about girls, enemies on his doorstep, the entire world about to collapse if he didn't manage it all. Typical half-blood stuff.

"Percy Jackson," Hestia said. "Rachel has told you all she can. Her moment is coming, but your decision approaches even more rapidly. Are you prepared?"

I wanted to complain that no, I wasn't even close to prepared.

Percy glanced over at the first book again. Instead of his life coming full circle, it felt like he'd never left that closet in Yancy where he'd once hid from Chiron and Grover. No clue what was going on, half terrified out of his mind, and still unprepared for the crazy test to come.

I looked at Pandora's jar, and for the first time I had an urge to open it. Hope seemed pretty useless to me right now. So many of my friends were dead. Rachel was cutting me off. Annabeth was angry with me. My parents were asleep down in the streets somewhere while a monster army surrounded the building. Olympus was on the verge of failing, and I'd seen so many cruel things the gods had done: Zeus destroying Maria di Angelo, Hades cursing the last Oracle, Hermes turning his back on Luke even when he knew his son would become evil.

Surrender, Prometheus's voice whispered in my ear. Otherwise your home will be destroyed. Your precious camp will burn.

"Yeah, anyone would lose in the face of all that Perce," Magnus promised. He wouldn't be surprised if the next sentence said he pressed his face into his knees and stayed there the rest of the battle.

"Minor god of the Lake of Dispair has a pretty cool ring to it?" Alex offered in some kind of trade at the end of all this. Percy didn't seem to want to go for it for some reason.

Annabeth just shook her head at the pair. It was nice to realize that, though they knew Percy so well, she didn't have a moment of hesitation in knowing what came next. That Percy even considered giving up hope alone surprised her, even though she knew he'd never have gone through with it.

Then I looked at Hestia. Her red eyes glowed warmly. I remembered the images I'd seen in her hearth—friends and family, everyone I cared about.

I remembered something Chris Rodriguez had said: There's no point in defending camp if you guys die. All our friends are here. And Nico, standing up to his father, Hades: If Olympus falls, he said, your own palace's safety doesn't matter.

Nico made a spluttering noise like he was drowning over there. Percy looked around in mild concern if he was supposed to do something about that.

As usual, Nico just seemed to be freaking out he'd been mentioned at all, so he was apt to let it go.

He'd never realize how much it still meant to Nico he was mentioned, in any kind of positive way, being included in Percy's reasons to keep fighting.

I heard footsteps. Annabeth and Grover came back into the throne room and stopped when they saw us. I probably had a pretty strange look on my face.

Annabeth wasn't entirely sure how she'd describe it if pressed, as Percy looked curiously at her now if she was going to. She wanted to call it, not hope, but the desire to hope. It made perfect sense now, hearing how he'd been thinking of his family, those he cared about most, and how he'd had a moment of weakness in giving in.

"Percy?" Annabeth didn't sound angry anymore—just concerned. "Should we, um, leave again?"

Suddenly I felt like someone had injected me with steel. I understood what to do.

I looked at Rachel. "You're not going to do anything stupid, are you? I mean . . . you talked to Chiron, right?"

"Those two sentences mean nothing together," Alex scoffed, and it wasn't just her lack of faith in authority figures fueling those words.

"Chiron sent you on your first stupid quest," Magnus agreed at the lack of correlation.

"Eh," Jason said, waving his hand about like he was fifty-fifty on the matter.

Nico watched in amusement as the Campers seemed mildly offended his advice wasn't taken as law in them, but Thalia was suppressing a smile too, clearly still swallowing a laugh from Alex's comment.

She managed a faint smile. "You're worried about me doing something stupid?"

"Pot, kettle," Annabeth honestly agreed.

"Soup, hot tea," Percy grinned like they were playing a game.

"Seaweed brain," she chuckled.

"Wise girl," he was still grinning back.

"But I mean . . . will you be okay?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "That kind of depends on whether you save the world, hero."

I picked up Pandora's jar. The spirit of Hope fluttered inside, trying to warm the cold container.

"Hestia," I said, "I give this to you as an offering."

"Well you did promise her more offerings," Jason grinned. "Glad to see you holding up to that."

"Does that count as giving up hope?" Magnus asked in concern.

"An offering doesn't necessarily mean giving up, just acceptance of something more happening," Thalia smiled.

The goddess tilted her head. "I am the least of the gods. Why would you trust me with this?"

"Because she said that," Percy chuckled, as if he hadn't been confident enough in his decision before. A god who went around saying they weren't important? Oh yeah, good call Percy. He even gave himself a real pat on the back.

It was pretty hysterical to watch for the others and they couldn't even laugh at the sweet moment.

"You're the last Olympian," I said.

"What a dramatic way to phrase that, would have made a great title," Alex grinned. "So ominous, so captivating when you get to this explanation."

Percy was not the only one grateful these books had not come with titles all of a sudden. As if Alex needed more to blabber on about in the great mess that was his life.

"And the most important."

"And why is that, Percy Jackson?"

"Because Hope survives best at the hearth," I said. "Guard it for me, and I won't be tempted to give up again."

Percy had been out shopping with his mom once when he'd seen one of those silly plaques. Home is Where the Heart Is. Right next to one of those live, laugh, love things. He'd rolled his eyes and kept walking and carried all the groceries in one hand and the water on his shoulder up the stairs for her while she protested and made grabs for the bags the whole time as they laughed.

It wasn't hard to guess why his brain had offered up that specific memory as his heart brimmed with love and hope now that his confidence had been renewed with Annabeth and Grover coming back into the room. If Home is Where the Heart is, then he was homesick every time she wasn't there.

The goddess smiled. She took the jar in her hands and it began to glow. The hearth fire burned a little brighter.

"Well done, Percy Jackson," she said. "May the gods bless you."

"We're about to find out." I looked at Annabeth and Grover. "Come on, guys."

I marched toward my father's throne.

"Neptune's?" Jason's voice came out a squeak of protest like he'd been turned into a gerbile. Percy would know.

"No man, Posideon, keep up," Percy grinned.

"But- you- hot seat..." Jason was struggling to look at him without swallowing.

"You can have my seat if you really want it," Percy shrugged.

"No!" Jason yelped. He didn't know why he was even surprised anymore. It was so, Percy. Was there any line this guy wouldn't cross?

"Well okay then, we're moving on," he chuckled.

The seat of Poseidon stood just to the right of Zeus's, but it wasn't nearly as grand. The molded black leather seat was attached to a swivel pedestal, with a couple of iron rings on the side for fastening a fishing pole (or a trident). Basically it looked like a chair on a deep-sea boat, that you would sit in if you wanted to hunt shark or marlin or sea monsters.

Magnus made a disturbed face at the idea of sitting anywhere near that thing. Fish was a disgusting smell that lingered as far as he was concerned, and he'd never been fishing, nor was he sure he ever could again knowing Percy might hear their tiny screams.

Gods in their natural state are about twenty feet tall, so I could just reach the edge of the seat if I stretched my arms.

"Annabeth didn't give you a boost up?" Thalia gasped.

"I'm about to cut off your head and spike it on Ares's throne," Percy scowled.

"He'd consider that a reward," Thalia scoffed.

"Help me up," I told Annabeth and Grover.

"Ah, there it is," Thalia continued grinning as if nothing had happened. "I was so concerned you were going to start ripping up the leather or something hauling your ass in. Even your dad might not forgive that. This is better."

"No! It's not!" Jason was still fighting off spasms in his hand like he wanted to put Percy in a headlock for even speaking of this.

He was being ignored. "Ah, Thals, I always knew you had my best interest at heart," Percy chuckled. "Okay, fine, lop off your head and sacrifice it to Hestia?"

"Getting warmer," she rolled her eyes.

"'Are you crazy?" Annabeth asked.

"Probably," I admitted.

"Percy," Grover said, "the gods really don't appreciate people sitting in their thrones. I mean like turn-you-into-a-pile-of-ashes don't appreciate it."

"What a shock to Percy this is I'm sure," Alex gasped as theatrically as possible. "Poor innocent Percy couldn't even fathom offending someone before all this!"

"I don't think anyone's ever called me innocent," Percy said in surprise. "Poor, sure, but even my mom's never called me that." He couldn't seem to decide if he was insulted or not.

Alex grinned with delight and nodded as if he'd thanked her anyways.

"I need to get his attention," I said. "It's the only way."

"We need to get you a cellphone," Will sighed. "Surely the gods owe us one that doesn't attract monsters! Your dad has to owe you a favor after all this so there are easier ways to get in contact with him in the future!" He didn't much like the idea of this blasphemous act either, even if he wasn't having a heart attack like Jason clearly was over Percy's newest stunt. Between him and Magnus, Will probably should have had an emergency pouch of ambrosia on hand this whole time.

"I could finally order my own pizza on quests," Percy grinned at this proposition. His mind flickered to Beckendorf with grief the guy couldn't even whip up a prototype. Maybe Tyson would like the challenge.

They exchanged uneasy looks.

"Well," Annabeth said, "this'll get his attention."

"So you're just done trying to talk him out of his crazy plans huh?" Jason's voice still squeaked just a bit as his vocal cords kept trying to cross in surprise while hearing of this.

"Never bothered to try," Annabeth shrugged, "he never gave me the chance. After all these years, I just sort of roll with it." A very large part of her mind had been wondering and calculating if his curse would prevent him from being blasted into kelp, but it hadn't been helping much.

They linked their arms to make a step, then boosted me onto the throne.

There was a quippy comment somewhere on Nico about booster seats and thrones never being a good match, but he didn't really have the heart. It was to admirable. Percy had no fear of his father in the slightest to openly address him.

I felt like a baby with my feet so high off the ground.

They could all easily imagine it too. Percy sitting in a highchair, swinging his feet around with blue food smeared all over his face. Probably something to do with that warm memory of Posideon visiting him as a feisty tot.

I looked around at the other gloomy, empty thrones, and I could imagine what it would be like sitting on the Olympian Council—so much power but so much arguing, always eleven other gods trying to get their way. It would be easy to get paranoid, to look out only for my own interest, especially if I were Poseidon. Sitting in his throne, I felt like I had the entire sea at my command—vast cubic miles of ocean churning with power and mystery. Why should Poseidon listen to anyone? Why shouldn't he be the greatest of the twelve?

Then I shook my head. Concentrate.

"I'd actually like to continue this train of thought," Alex grinned a diabolical look. How the God of the Ocean could be playing the long game to overthrow Zeus with his son at the spearpoint of it all.

"Please keep your theories to your head for now," Thalia sighed. She did not like to imagine the tipping point where she might see that as a good thing one day. She'd had a few close calls in her youth she already feared he knew about.

The throne rumbled. A wave of gale-force anger slammed into my mind:

WHO DARES—

The voice stopped abruptly.

"Percy dares," Magnus nodded without surprise, on the same level as a god. That was a new one.

The anger retreated, which was a good thing, because just those two words had almost blasted my mind to shreds.

Percy rubbed the side of his head while repressing a shiver. He'd wondered a lot down here if his dad had done this to him. That wasn't really making him feel better.

Percy. My father's voice was still angry but more controlled. What—exactly—are you doing on my throne?

"I'm sorry, Father," I said. "I needed to get your attention."

"And it worked," Annabeth said with a begrudging laugh how he always managed to do that.

This was a very dangerous thing to do. Even for you. If I hadn't looked before I blasted, you would now be a puddle of seawater.

"Ah, the mystery is finally answered what he'd curse you into," Thalia nodded for a long answered query.

"Yeah, I was happier pretending my dad didn't do that so willy nilly," Percy sighed even though he knew better.

"I'm sorry," I said again. "Listen, things are rough up here."

I told him what was happening. Then I told him my plan.

His voice was silent for a long time.

Percy, what you ask is impossible. My palace—

"Dad, Kronos sent an army against you on purpose. He wants to divide you from the other gods because he knows you could tip the scales."

Be that as it may, he attacks my home.

"I'm at your home," I said. "Olympus."

The floor shook. A wave of anger washed over my mind. I thought I'd gone too far, but then the trembling eased. In the background of my mental link, I heard underwater explosions and the sound of battle cries: Cyclopes bellowing, mermen shouting.

"Is Tyson okay?" I asked.

The question seemed to take my dad by surprise.

"This entire conversation is one surprise after another for him," Will assured as if Percy could be thinking anything else.

"Yeah, I seem to have that effect on the gods," Percy agreed in his own surprise after all these years.

He's fine. Doing much better than I expected. Though "peanut butter" is a strange battle cry.

"It's very unique," Alex grinned.

"Very Tyson," Nico agreed.

"You let him fight?"

Stop changing the subject!

"It's like you have some kind of attention disorder or something," Thalia chuckled.

"That I get from him, he can't be to mad," Percy sniffed. Annabeth had a pained look on her face for them mocking this. He was a god. He could be as mad as he wanted to.

You realize what you are asking me to do? My palace will be destroyed.

"And Olympus might be saved."

'Might be,' Will still shook his head at that. Percy had been running most of this on faith, luck, and friendship. No guarantees of survival. He really should be the hero everyone thought of first. He hoped the guy at least accepted a constellation before his death.

Do you have any idea how long I've worked on remodeling this palace? The game room alone took six hundred years.

Annabeth actually had a look of sympathy on her face for a moment for his dad. It was nice, and something Percy was sure she'd deny if he pointed it out.

"Dad—"

Very well! It shall be as you say.

"Only Percy," Jason said with a kind of deep, respectful awe in his voice Percy wasn't used to hearing when the guy was talking about anyone but the gods. It made him want to blush. His voice went gruff with more gratitude than attitude as he scoffed and brushed it off.

"And don't you forget it."

But my son, pray this works.

"I am praying. I'm talking to you, right?"

Oh . . . yes. Good point. Amphitrite—incoming!

The sound of a large explosion shattered our connection.

"I bet Amphitritie still thinks you're a useless stepchild," Thalia easily redirected his ire onto her. "Still holding her husband's attention even in the middle of battle Percy."

"Well at least it's nothing new," Percy shrugged.

I slipped down from the throne.

Grover studied me nervously. "Are you okay? You turned pale and . . . you started smoking."

"I did not!" Then I looked at my arms. Steam was curling off my shirtsleeves. The hair on my arms was singed.

"Now just imagine if you sat on Hepheastus's throne," Nico frowned. "Even one of his kids might not have lived through that unless they were made of pure fire."

"Sounds hot," Alex busted out laughing at her own pun.

"If you'd sat there any longer," Annabeth said, "you would've spontaneously combusted.

"Wasn't very spontaneous considering how long the conversation was," Percy frowned. "I had a whole mini question about Tyson."

"Yes, that was the important part about a sentence involving the word combustion," Annabeth sighed.

"Average day in my life," he reminded as he kissed the back of her hand. "I know you can do better."

I hope the conversation was worth it?"

Moo, said the Ophiotaurus in his sphere of water.

"We'll find out soon," I said.

Just then the doors of the throne room swung open. Thalia marched in. Her bow was snapped in half and her quiver was empty.

"Which I'm guessing she was totally fine with and not about to kill the next person who annoyed her," Alex said oh so innocently, before coughing, "Percy."

"I had bigger monsters to fry, otherwise you'd be right on the money," she chuckled.

"You've got to get down there," she told us. "The enemy is advancing. And Kronos is leading them."

"At some point, this has to stop ending on that like it's dramatically new we're all about to die, right?" Annabeth sighed as she passed the book to Thalia.

"I'll let you know," she promised.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

*I take no credit for the following conversations dialogue. It was one of the very first tumblr posts I ever read and it made me laugh every time I saw it in my youth. I've been dying for a way to slip it into a fic for ages now.

**I personally believe this is symbolic of Rachel giving up hope of fighting against being the next Oracle in this exchange, but it's just a slice of headcannon I couldn't work into the characters. None of them know her that well or have a clue when/ what her motivations really are except Percy

#pjo #Percy Jackson #Annabeth Chase #Magnus Chase #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #nico di angelo #will solace #alex fierro #percabeth #fierrochase #solangelo

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dedenneblogs · 11 months

Text

Grover X Beckendorf Headcanons:

- Grover hangs around Beckendorf. a lot. the satyr takes exuse he can get to tag along with percy when he’s hanging out with Charles and only does so to eat all the scrap metal they leave behind, which comes in mass when it comes to Beckendorf; he was a perfectionist in his younger years, so there we always failed prototypes for Grover to chew on. It annoyed Charles at first, but after a while and getting to know the goat boy better he actually liked Grover’s company (he even thought it was kind of cute whenever his new friend would snatch and scrap metals that came flying over his way - wait that’s kind of gay- (POSSIBLE FANFIC IDEA???)

- Charles always tries his best to send iris messages to percy when his friend is on quests. percy unfortunately doesn’t note them because they’re usually just hour long conversations between a percy at 3:00 am who’s unable to sleep and a Beckendorf awake in the afternoon (cause of time zones) talking about girls, video games, etc. one time he was caught by Chiron late at night but the iris message quickly dissolved into Chiron stealing Charle’s call to talk with Percy.

- Silena was one of the first people to really recognize Charle’s discarded work (other than Percy and sometimes Grover whenever he wouldn’t eat his scrap, Silena was just more persistent and interested in his projects). the funny thing is that most of the time she confused his inventions for other things. example: Beckendorf makes a homemade lunchbox that folds for extra storage on the inside (actually one of Grover’s favorites that Charles finalized later in his years and gifted it to Beckendor)? Silena: “Ooooo! Is that a makeup kit?” Really, they were more friends than lovers. Silena had feelings for Clarrise, and Beckendorf was starting to realize a lot about himself when it came to Grover. But wouldn’t it be fun? It’d be easier. It’s what was expected of them anyways. (WOW! i’m on a role with this doomed yaoi!)

- Charles looks like he benchpresses, but in reality? he’s…(shudders) a GA(Y)MER…

- Charles loves to play the drums. as a full homemade set he can fold and carry from his home and camp. also has steel drums ONLY for camp (Ms. B doesn’t like the sounds it makes, it gets annoying after awhile). Him and Grover have duets.

- Before Grover went out on his quest after book 1, Charles gifted him a cup that had “The Best Satyr Ever” written on it (gay???1!1?1!)

- Tyson could see how gay Charles was for Grover. he has a voice radar AND gaydar which is unfortunate for Beckendorf. one time almost outed him to the entire camp when he said something along the lines of “you homo for goat boy?” In his heart he’d rather Charles be homo for anyone BUT goat boy, but he’s accepting (can’t spell cyclops without W).

- in an alternative (better) universe, Charles is along for the ride in the Sea of Monsters! but it sad lemme explain to myself: basically like Clarrise is given her own quest but Chiron and Dionysus don’t trust her, but more importantly her father, so have Charles, Silena, and maybe a few other campers go out to keep and eye on her. Clarrise catches on and tries to kill them probably distracting her from another event and shit goes down the drain. but like in the end everyone makes up and these characters actually get screentime! yay! victory! (also probably carry’s Grover like a princess. it awakened something in the both of them

- Grover is crazy good at just dance. Charles made another wii and everyone suggested him to download new games. “Can you install Super Mario Bros Wii?” Percy pleaded. “Does this stupid console have Halo?” Clarrise interrogated. “Oh, I just love Just Dance, it’s just great, BLAHAHAHA!” Grover humored. Just Dance was on Charle’s second homemade wii in a matter of minutes, and in stayed in his cabin so that when they could, him and Grover could just be together as two (either way Charlie isn’t the best at Just Dancd, Grover is too good but Beckendorf doesn’t mind watching him).

- When Grover called Beckendorf Charles for the first time, he didn’t correct him. A few minutes later another camper called him Charlie and he corrected them.

#fyp #headcanon #hcs #percy jackon and the olympians #grover underwood #charles beckendorf #grover underwood x charles beckendorf #scrap metal shipping #silena beauregard #percy jackson #tyson pjo #clarrise la rue #yaoi

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m4gp13 · 1 year

Note

Percy, after Ethan's betrayal, found solace in Hephaestus' cabin and especially in Charlie, [He along with Silena were the only ones who called by name]…

And then this same traitor brother had a hand in Charlie's death, and then he himself died, asking for his forgiveness…

After the Battle of Manhattan, Perseus Doris Nakamura was crushed by the losses of his older brothers.

I always see Beckendorf as the person who kind of stepped up (or was put forward) to sort of replace Luke as the big brother of camp when he left. Obviously, he fulfilled this role in a very different way because he and Luke are very different people but younger campers, and even his peers to a large extent, still looked up to him as they did to Luke.

All this to say, Beckendorf had a similar relationship with Percy that Percy had with Luke in tlt, as a mentor figure that helped guide him and comfort him. TBH this is hardly a headcanon and pretty much canon but the point is, Beckendorf would be the natural person for Percy to be drawn to after losing an older brother figure (again) because he's already an older brother figure of sorts to him. I feel like Percy would have had a semi-distant, half-peers and half-mentor/mentee relationship with Beckendorf before Ethan joined the TA but after, the betrayal would have pushed him towards Beckendorf and caused him to project all the things he used to feel for Ethan onto Beckendorf, therefore changing their relationship into a more brotherly one.

And then, of course, the slight dependency Percy developed towards Beckendorf as a brother and mentor would backfire on him horrendously when Bekcendorf goes kaput on the same ship as Ethan 👍 When Ethan survived the explosion Percy probably would have been caught between hope that Beckendorf might have survived, anger at Ethan for surviving what Beckendorf couldn't and maybe some slight shame for both of those other things. And then Ethan dies which just exacerbates those aforementioned feelings with a large dose of guilt along with it, and, of course, the grief.

#ask answered #Q #cue Percy's dependency on the older brother figures in his life #deteriorating from grief and lack of an outlet #forcing him to step out of the shadow of older demigods #and come into his own a lot more #eventually growing into the older mentor figure #that some younger demigods see him as later on

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little-engineer-who-cant · 5 months

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The Titan War had a clean and relatively happy ending, didn’t it? (No, no it really did not.)

Part 3 of Sirens Scream Names Forgotten by Tomorrow, Laid to Rest in Infinity

(also posted under cut)

“I know that I no longer exist, but what I don’t know is the thing that lives on in my place.”

- The Possessed Among the Lilacs (Alejandra Pizarnik trans. Yvette Siegert)

There's a Waystation in Gotham, if you know where to look. If you're desperate enough. If you know the right person who knows someone who knows someone who whispers something to the right someone else.

There's a Waystation in Gotham, but it's not the grand one in the wilderness meant for Camp Half-Blood or Hunters or allies. It's not even for the unclaimed being ferried on their way to what is supposed to be safety. These doors are open only to select people, to certain damned ones, to the shadows that everyone likes to pretend died when Kronos did. It’s for the traitors, the lost ones. The ones left to scream, bleeding out in the streets, the ones left to be tossed to the flames enmasse and without care, the ones left to take the blame for daring to defy the world as it has always been.

There's a Waystation in Gotham, and the right people see the calling card on a certain shitty door of a cramped little apartment that’s actually bigger inside. They touch their fingers to it and whisper a word or two when they need her help and her door is open. It's always open for others like her, the ones damned in the dark. The ones forgotten, cast out, shunned for reaching too high and falling just short. The best people who come to see her are nobodies, the worst ones are a sickening kind of familiar, but she welcomes them all the same. She cannot turn away anyone who manages to find her.

There's a Waystation in Gotham and the girl who greets the bloody, the cornered, the abandoned, the I didn't know where else to go; she's just like them too.

There's a Waystation in Gotham and Silena Beuregard is playing a dangerous game.

—

A wolf in sheep's clothing is the safest thing for her to be, an easy mask for her to wear. Like a secret identity, only this one is a smile and an air of innocence that she’s well used to wielding like the weapons they are.

At camp, wearing that mask was a simple thing. Being a friendly face in the confusing crowd, being a well liked person who's just savvy enough to sneak about unscathed and unremarked on. Watching, listening, identifying the right people to sidle up to and have a conversation about what ifs that grow like insidious little seeds. Directing them away from camp and towards Kronos when some inevitably turn. If there had ever been even one little slip, one slight suspicion, one wrong guess of a potential recruit on her part, it would have all been over. But she was good at her job and not even those she called siblings and friends and lover had ever gotten close to guessing it was her chipping away at their foundations, trying to topple the precarious empire propped up on every demigods’ spine. The only reason she was found out in the end was because she chose to step into the light. She chose to try and die as her penance for getting Charlie killed because otherwise the guilt would kill her. She hadn’t wanted to live and see it all be for nothing, that she hadn’t sacrificed him at Kronos’ altar in her vain hopes that it would all work out. But that had been a foolish girl’s hope, the easy way out. And this was her price.

Gotham is a different beast. From all the over the top supervillains, to the posturing between one so-called hero and the next morally-grey grandstander, this isn’t a place where the overly strong survive long. Fighters get sucked into one side or another, same as camp, and they die all quicker for it. Whether by Scarecrow gassing his own henchmen or Batman putting someone in critical care who never wakes up, this city eats the strong alive.

This isn’t a place for fighters, this is a place for rats.

It’s why she chose it, really. No one will find her, here in this place where she is so suited to roam. Gotham is a spy’s game, her game. This creeping darkness of a city, where avoiding the cracks that heroes crawl out of and the lofty rafters where villains play is the only way to see tomorrow.

The whole place reeks of worse things than monsters, of better things than a battlefield and it’s all a familiar routine. A goon for the Joker is just as second nature to spot as a dracane; both are painfully obvious if you know where to look. She's made that her job, sinking into the life and breath of this world, staking out her territory and burrowing down into normalcy to make a place for herself in the forgotten in between. The limbo between heroes and villains, the place the citizens of Gotham all call home and so does she.

But why?

Well, that’s the simple part, really. Forgiveness only stretches so far.

For all the pretty words about forgiveness and unity and growth in the aftermath, she felt the holes being drilled into her spine by all the hateful ones everyone wanted to say but wouldn’t fight Percy to say them. Because no matter her own attempts at a blaze of glory, there are still piles of bodies she’s left in her wake that burn even higher once put to the torch. She’s still an enemy, in most of their eyes, and Percy’s mercy isn’t unilateral amongst those who once counted Silena a friend. Who once called her sister. It’s a clear divide, none of her siblings coming to see her after she survived the drakon’s poison, even Clarisse barely staying long enough to say I’m glad you’re alive. In the silence that tried to strangle her after, Silena has no choice but to wonder are you?

Abandoned, you were never one of them, she takes advantage of the gods’ egotistical need to make a show of their victory and she's gone to the wind before the pyres are even lit. Scattered into nothing before the ashes of your responsibility, you coward, ever have a chance of catching her.

She runs to the closest place to Tartarus on earth.

It's not like she went far. But Gotham is... like a different world. It's too risky and too safe at the same time. No demigod with any sense would live here, playing hooky with supervillain scientists who might nab the wrong person and discover what's meant to stay hidden. On the other hand, where else should she be? Monsters don’t hunt here unless they really want the hunt and not just easy food. And those are the most dangerous kind anyways so what’s the difference? Maybe it’s a slow form of suicide, not hooky but chicken, and her opponents are the Fates.

Whatever. It’s not like she has anything better to do. Making sense is boring anyways. Making sense is what got her into this mess, so she’s not going to rely on that same logic to get her out of it.

Silena doesn't really consider herself to have sense, not any more. Sense went out the door long ago. All she wants now is to get away from those burning eyes, from the stomach acid taste of her own guilt, Charlie, to live whatever farce of her life is left in peace.

Then an old friend stumbles over her doorstep, another lost child who dreamed too much, strove for the stars and failed, he always knows how to find the impossible, doesn’t he? He’s bleeding out, having had run-ins with a few too many mortal muggers and monsters alike. She’s got nectar and enough know-how to make a difference. You don’t get out of a warzone alive without knowing your way around a wound or a hundred, so Silena doesn’t ask how he found her, just pulls off her far too loose cardigan so it doesn’t get ruined and gets to work. She has to throw the jeans and tank top away, pity, but it’s worth it to see him. How he managed to find her doesn’t matter, she’ll never turn away one of her own.

No matter who comes along. That’s a vow she swears to herself covered in his blood. Her treachery has killed people, has hollowed out her heart and left it an aching shell, it was my fault, or Charlie would be alive, and she won’t do that again.

That’s the inciting incident. A slow drip-drip of quasi-familiar faces follows, appearing on her doorstep in various states of wrong. Most come because there’s nowhere else. After all, what demigod wants to risk a city like Gotham? Silena’s insane, they tell her to her face, but they take her help gratefully and leave her with a steadily growing pile of drachma, of trinkets and small artifacts. Little baubles that she or someone else might find useful one day. Either way, there’s a cushion for her to fall back on, should the worst happen.

Anniversaries come and go. First comes Charlie’s death.

She calls off work for the next week and doesn’t leave her apartment. Can’t bear to face the world, having taken him from it, all my fault, if I hadn’t trusted Luke, if I had let this one thing slide- but hindsight is twenty-twenty and what’s done is done. Huddling in a massive hoodie that lost the smell of forge-fire and smoke and burning metal long ago feels like a violation. Feels like she’s an interloper, desecrating a memorial. Less than a minute later, the hoodie is in the wash to clean it from her vile touch and she stares at her own tired eyes in the reflection of the door, watching it spin, spin, spin like that will wash her away too.

She sends the hoodie and few other straggling belongings of his to Nyssa, unmarked and with no trace of where it came from. It doesn’t matter anyways, she’ll know. Charlie’s sister deserves his things more than his killer does. The only thing she has left are the pictures, gathering dust in a box and maybe one day she’ll burn those too like it can purge her soul. But touching them might kill her, so they sit.

The first anniversary of the ending of that thrice damned war passes a week later, in a haze of blood and alcohol and senseless pleading of please please please to any god that may still be listening to her while she patches up a hole in someone’s abdomen. It isn’t until they’re dozing in her lap, alive and breathing, her checking their pulse and monitoring their breaths, that she even realizes it’s passed. It’s a quiet day, but one of what could be called victory with a living body in her arms. So she watches the sunrise from her stained and cracked window that barely lets her see around another building to a sliver of sky, fingers resting on the steady pulse of a miracle, and breathes. She goes to work the next day like nothing happened.

Her first anniversary for moving to Gotham is marked by that same old friend slipping by in the night, marking her door and she huffs in surrender on seeing it the next morning. The right trickles of people start speeding up soon after, directed there by the few people who know, directed by the first. The ones who know what mark to look for, what signs to see. The ones who were cast off, the ones bent not quite right in the aftermath, the ruin, the reckoning. Who she knows as well as she knows guilt.

Time passes. She goes to classes in the evenings when she can make time, keeps her head down at the little office job that she sweet talked her way into. She’s getting by, making enough money to survive and have her little emergency stash. It goes unsaid when more money magically appears in her account, from unknown transfers and wires, some of those she’s helped paying a due she never asks for in a different way.

Most people who see her live. A few die. They’re too far gone when they get to her and there’s nothing she can do but give them painlessness and proper rites. Gotham’s good for that too. No one asks questions and any number of innocuous containers could hold a body. She ensures that they have everything in order when she burns them near the oldest, most overgrown section of the graveyard. A shroud for respect, two drachma for passage and her prayers to follow them down the path to Hades.

No one stays. It’s a good thing, really, she needs to blend in and most demigods are not blending material, but it still stings. There never was a dull moment in the before, no quiet in a cabin constantly surrounded by music and movies and perfume and gossip and- I miss them. But it’s easier to dwell on the good memories than to sour them with the new and very real truth of their hatred. She now has vast swaths of dull time to fill and when she’s invited out by a friend at one of her community classes, she decides, fuck it. Why not live normally? Her only other plans were to watch online lectures about different wound suturing techniques and getting drunk is infinitely preferable.

The smallest decisions sometimes have the largest consequences, she knows that lesson and has learned it well over the years. But still, life is tricky like that. It sneaks those moments in, not giving any warning signs about when your world is about to irrevocably shift and rock on its axis, crumble its foundation to dust. She goes out for drinks with that friend and flirts with a man at the bar. Not the smartest thing she’s done, but not the stupidest. No, it’s the most normal thing she’s done in a long time and that’s a giddily addictive feeling to a woman who was born to be a child at war.

Maybe that's why she lets him in. The part of her interested in surviving died in the Titan War and her sense was raked across the coals alongside it.

She doesn't know who he is when he leans next to her at the bar and orders a drink and he doesn't know her. But she recognizes him, tastes the familiar cocktail of bitterness, rage and despair that's all too common across her doorstep nowadays. And he engages with her, hesitant and offering her outs which is sweet but she’s not interested. It’s like he’s forgotten how to play this game of introductions but Silena’s not deterred. She waves off the bartender’s concern, pulls him into a dance, lets him buy her drink, relishes in being a pretty face in a crowd who has a handsome man’s interest for the evening.

And when the night ends she follows that boldness, plugs her number into Jason’s phone and asks him on a date.

The more time they spend together, the more intrigued she is. Most people may have let it slip, but she’s not most . She’s a spy , living on a knife’s edge in a city that would have her dead. And Jason isn’t everything he claims, not that he claims much, and they both speak around things enough that the voids seem full but the amount she actually knows about the man who’s regularly in her bed now is next to zero. It’s the same for her, she catches his narrowed looks sometimes. He’s seen scars on her and she’s seen the same on him but neither of them ask. Neither of them want to shatter this little illusion they’ve let themselves build in the silence. They’re content to be two ghosts dancing around each other’s haunting because the other option is being lonely again and she really doesn’t want that. He doesn’t either, she can taste it, bittersweet, when he leaves.

It becomes a small obsession, trying to pry apart the shifting, jerky, oddly puppet-like and not-quite-right facade of the so-called Jason and get closer to the truth without upsetting their strange balance of pretending to be normal. To find the pearl at the center of this very alive man and who acts and thinks like he's dead. Who’s scarred like he’s been cut open and stitched up all pretty again for a coffin.

Because the truth always wins out. Lies are pretty, but the world hates them so even the ones based around truth rot away to reveal the skeleton beneath. Jason Todd, the Red Hood, a dead man walking and breathing when he should be six feet under and burnt to a crisp. Silena's been dancing with a fucking inferno but she's too far into the song to back out now. She’s seen stranger things, made common cause with worse devils.

“Come’ere.” Maybe this is the worst mistake of her life yet. That’s a high bar to clear. There might be a small part of her that hopes he won't take what she's offering, the same thing she's offered a thousand times over, but she doesn’t know for sure. All she knows is he's just like us, written in a different shade.

She holds out her hand and he takes it.

Two dead people embrace in a plain, cramped little kitchen. Both alive enough to tell their tales. She kisses him in sunlight, smells something that reminds her of warm strawberries on a summer’s day and happier times.

“Hi,” he murmurs, nudging her nose with his.

“Hi,” she whispers back, smiling and not caring a whit if there are answers to any of her unimportant questions. She’ll die one day, might as well live while she’s here, might as well take what she wants. Sense died long ago.

It’s not a day to trade truths, whatever happened to him last night has left him too rubbed raw for revelations. Her fingers run through his dark hair, playing with the streak of white that reminds her of a hero holding up the sky, a man who surpassed a challenge that only the divine were to ever attempt. Ignores the scar on his cheek and the way he shies from her touching near there. One day, but these things take time.

I’ll tell him soon, she seals that promise to herself with a languid kiss that he smiles into. Soon, because if she’s guessed this right he’ll be staying around. There’s not much to guess, not really. She’s always been too good at reading people. A spy’s instincts never die and Silena is very much still breathing.

“Tea?” he asks, tugging her towards her kettle. A beam of sunlight catches a hidden rune by her door. A door that's open, but only to the right people. And as he smiles at her in sunlight, Silena decides it’s open for him too.

—

There's a Waystation in Gotham, if you know where to go. But beware, dear friend, if you're not one of the ones who it’s meant for. A wolf's smile is pretty, but her teeth are sharper than knives.

There's a Waystation in Gotham, but only as your last resort.

There's a Waystation in Gotham.

Are you desperate enough to knock?

#silena beauregard #percy jackson and the olympians #jason todd #clarisse la rue #charles beckendorf #batman #my writing #ao3 link

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missswag · 3 years

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Clarisse La Rue x fem!reader

The Red Bandana

(book based)

description: Chris never dated Clarisse and never returned from Luke’s side. Y/n and Clarisse had always had a hot and cold relationship and get into a fight over her not agreeing to fight in the war. They go with annabeth and the rest of the campers and go missing during war, later found…

(i do not own percy jackson nor any characters. also not my gif.)

—

(Before the war)

I almost want to slam my head on this table, Clarisse has been on me and my cabin about my father, Apollo, chariot. They had captured it in a battle but technically it’s mine and my Apollo siblings.

“You are disrespecting me and my cabin, y/n.” Clarisse says sternly, her face turning red the way it does when she gets really mad. I personally would let her have it but my cabin disagrees and i’m the head of the cabin for a reason, i represent my siblings…ever since Lee died last year. I was his second in command in a way. He taught me to fight, and unlike most people at camp he was my full brother. We both were taken to camp after a monster attacked us and my mom for the first time.

“Babe-“ I try to reason with her but she cuts me off. “Don’t even try to call me babe, your being a bi-“

Suddenly Silena jumps up and slams her hand on the table. “Can we please talk about something important, not over something silly when Charlie just-.” She stops and let’s out a small sob.

I look down at my hands, I wasn’t exactly friends with Silena. Clarisse was always the one who was friends with her, which is odd considering their the complete opposite. Usually I would get jealous over their friendship but Silena was with Beckondorf…or was. He was my friend, always was a great person to talk to. He usually was the main person who I would turn to after Clarisse and I fought.

A silent tear slid down my cheek, when I hear Clarisse say, “I apologize to only Silena.” I look up when she says this and we make eye contact. Then Clarisse threw her knife on the ping pong table before saying, “All of you can fight this was without Ares. Until I get satisfaction, no one in my cabin is lifting a finger. Have fun dying.” And then she left.

Some people looked at me, but I just sat there shocked. She wouldn’t? She-what about me? Does she not love me anymore? So many thoughts ran through my head I didn’t even notice Percy and Annabeth had already went and got the prophecy and read it.

I only was snapped back to reality when everyone started leaving and Connor tapped me on the shoulder. “Y/n…hey you leaving?” I look over and see Travis his brother standing beside him. I nodded slowly and got up from my chair.

Sometimes I start to overthink and suddenly my head gets filled with these nasty thoughts and it’s like I can’t shake them. I had to see Clarisse.

I knocked on the Ares cabin door, and waited a couple of seconds finally Nate, one of Clarisse’s half brothers opened the door before slamming it back closed. I rolled my eyes and knocked again.

After about 5 minutes of knocking the door opened and Clarisse came out and slammed it shut behind her and started stalking towards me making me back up.

“Clarisse we gotta talk.” I say with a sad voice, maybe it even quivered I don’t know. Clarisse just shook her head, “About what? The fact my own girlfriend, doesn’t even respect me enough to give me a chariot my cabin earned?” She asks angrily, almost enough to scare me.

I run my fingers through my hair frustrated, “It’s not my decision! My cabin they-“

“Mean more than me?” Clarisse asks. I stutter, I obviously love Clarisse more than anything but my siblings? My family?

“I-you-they-“ I can’t even get any words out which just seems to make her even angrier. She starts to storm away, so I grab her wrist. “Clarisse…” I trail off, she stops but doesn’t look at me.

“This is so stupid, this fight? We can’t turn on each other when war is just around the corner, and you and your cabin not fighting? You know we barely stand a chance as it is.” I say in a begging manor, actually no, I AM begging.

Clarisse just jerks her hand out if mine, “Then good riddance.” She says before storming away, and I let her. I feel tears pull in my eyes and a sob clawing away to be released. I hold it down and take a shuddering deep breath before walking back towards my cabin.

(right before the camp is about to leave.)

Clarisse and I haven’t spoken since…well, and Annabeth said we were to grab our weapons and armor and head to New York. Except I had to see Clarisse before I go, I mean…this could be it.

I knocked on her cabin door, the curtains on the window on the left side of the cabin are pulled back enough for me to see someone peeking at who would dare knock on their door. A couple of seconds later the door opens and Clarisse steps out. Her signature red bandanna tied in her hair and she’s wearing some loose jeans and a orange camp t-shirt.

She doesn’t say anything so I start talking, “Annabeth said Percy called her to meet her and us in Manhattan. We’re about to leave but i needed to see you.”

Clarisse looks unbothered and just raises a eyebrow, “Why?”

I give her a hurt look, “Because I love you…and I don’t know if i’ll make it home.”

Clarisse doesn’t meet my eyes, she just comes close enough to take her bandanna out of her hair and tie it around my wrist. She then backs away and shoves her hands into her pockets, “Good luck then.” She says before turning and going back into her cabin.

I stand there a second, she didn’t even say it back. Suddenly the bow in my hand feels heavier and the anxiety of knowing i’m going to war feels too real. I sigh and start jogging to meet Annabeth and the others at the entrance of the camp.

What I didn’t know is that Clarisse had stepped outside as soon as I left and broke down.

(Skip to the battle in new york)

Holy Zeus I never knew anyone could be this tired. It’s like every bone is aching inside of me. I see another monster charging, a hellhound. I barely have time to get an arrow and fire before it pounces on me, I close my eyes and wait for the end but feel a cloud of dust fall on me. I look up to see Connor with a sword pointed into where the hellhound was.

He bends down and sticks out a hand which I grab and he pulls me to my feet before plucking a sword from a dead demi god who had went to Luke’s side. “Maybe try this.” He says before handing it to me.

Sword’s weren’t my favorite weapon or the one I was best at but I agree they would be better in this situation. I nod at him before he starts charging another demi god traitor.

Another traitor demi god charges me but he’s smaller, no older than probably 12. I can’t even find it in myself to kill him so I smack the handle of my sword on the side of his head knocking him out. He hasn’t even hit the ground yet when I feel this intense pain in my abdomen. I look down to see the tip of a sword coming out of my stomach.

Suddenly it’s jerked out of me and I fall to my knees and roll over to see Chris Rodriguez, who I had never talked to at camp. I tried to say something, anything, but I could just sputter out blood.

Chris smiled at me in a cruel, sick grin before turning away from me leaving me to bleed out painfully. I stare up at the stormy clouds of New York City, I wish I could see the stars at least. I see a centaur get thrown into the building i’m near knocking the side of the wall into bite making the building slowly start tipping over.

The centaur gets up quickly and gallops away but I can’t move. I feel the bricks start falling on me and then I fall asleep.

3rd Person Pov

A drakon starts to rip through the Big Apple, spitting poison and crushing anything in its path. Some people run, some try their luck and charge the beast only to be met with a terrible death.

Almost hope is lost a girl in armor charging the Drakon with a new group of demi gods behind her also dressed in armor ready for a fight.

Finally when the girl is face to face with the drakon he spits his venom at her making her fall into the arms of Annabeth and other demi gods. Suddenly another girl comes riding in a flying chariot with a electric spear charging the Drakon and jumps onto his head before stabbing the beast in its eye with so much force the spear broke.

Clarisse jumped off the drakon before it disappeared into dust. Running to the injured girl, Annabeth finally jerked off the helmet. It was Silena, her once beautiful face was now covered in poison and she lay dying.

“Why did you do that?” Clarisse asked her eyes raining with tears. “Only…way….to get campers to…follow.” Silena says.

“So you stole my armor and pretended to be me?” Clarisse asked in disbelief. Silena nods slowly, “This is all my fault…charlie…”

Clarisse shushes her, “Don’t say that.” But Silena opens her head to show a bracket with Kronos’s symbol on it. Percy looks at Silena shocked, “You we’re the spy.”

Silena nods, “Before Charlie…Luke was so nice to me…and I wanted to stop after awhile but he threatened to tell…he lied to me…so this is all my fault i’m a traitor ” She says tears escaping her eyes.

Clarisse caressed her cheek, “No, you’re a hero.” And then Silena passed. Everyone felt her loss, but she was reunited with Charlie.

Clarisse rose from her friends body and wiped her tears before looking around and noticed her girlfriend wasn’t in the crowd. “Where’s Y/n?” Nobody said anything, so Clarisse turned to Percy.

“I don’t know.” Clarisse feels this aching pain in her heart, “Does anyone know?” She asks her voice trembling. Connor Strolls steps forward.

“Last I saw her she was fighting Chris Rodriguez.” He said sadly. Suddenly a roar of monsters coming toward them made them turn back to the battle, Clarisse grabbed her helmet and a sword before running to find her girlfriend.

Y/n Fletcher could be anywhere with the dead bodies lying everywhere on the streets, and Clarisse’s heart broke every second she couldn’t see you.

But what hurt the most was when she barely saw a hand sticking out of the rubble with a red bandana tied to it, and if you’d look close enough you’d see it colored a more blood red.

Clarisse held back a sob and started to slowly dig y/n out, the rough brick slicing into her hand but she didn’t care. A whole war going on around her and she still didn’t care. All that mattered to her is that y/n was hurt.

Finally after throwing several bricks away she could see her face, her still hard face. Clarisse kept digging until her girlfriends whole body was uncovered. The place where she had gotten stabbed still oozing blood but it was clear, she was dying.

Clarisse held y/n’s face in her hands and when she couldn’t feel a heartbeat she let out a sorrowful scream enough to shake Hades himself. People didn’t even have to see the body, it was clear. Y/N Fletcher was dead.

——

end note: i DID NOT see myself ending it this way but oh well. i love a good heart ache. but let me know if you want a alternate ending to this and i’ll add one on. hope u enjoyed

#clarisse la rue #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #percabeth #annabeth chase #clarisse la rue x reader #romance #angst #war #apollo

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chironshorseass · 4 years

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I u want, could u mayhaps write about annabeth seeing percy after a long time apart and realizing his voice grew deeper? I saw a post about it once and I think u would nail it perfectly<3

TIME PASSES SO QUICKLY AHH but here it is! I also got another request of pre-relationship percabeth and let’s just say that y’all read my mind. Also sorry that I can’t seem to write anything under 1k words 😩

read on ao3

“So I heard Percy’s coming today,” Silena said casually, holding a basket against her hip.

Annabeth yanked one of the strawberries so hard that its leaves came along with it.

“He is?”

She didn’t try to shroud her excitement like she would’ve done, not too long ago.

“Yeah. Charlie told me.”

She felt a twinge of jealousy that Percy hadn’t even mentioned it to her, but she quickly clamped it down. It wasn’t his fault. Not entirely, anyway. They’d IM’d at the beginning of their semester as freshmen, but then it had gotten to the point of him mentioning Rachel all the time, and then the year had gotten busier, and…

Well, they’d lost contact.

Realizing she’d zoned out, she blinked away the fog from her eyes.

“But honestly I wasn’t supposed to tell,” Silena was saying. “He said something about it being a surprise or whatever. I just wanted to see your reaction.”

Annabeth must’ve been doing something strange with her face, because Silena gave her a smug look, raising her eyebrows. She was used to her doing that, so she didn’t mind.

Well, maybe a bit.

But the daughter of Aphrodite already knew everything there was to know about her feelings for Percy. Probably before even Annabeth first realized that she was in love with her best friend. So again, it was pointless to hide from her.

“So.” Silena bumped her gently on the shoulder. “What are you gonna wear?”

Annabeth lifted her sun hat and stared at her for a couple of seconds. The latter looked as perfect as ever, despite the grueling sun. With her pink crop top, mini shorts, perfect makeup, and her dark hair pulled back into a low bun, Annabeth had little doubt that she could help her choose a different outfit other than her torn camp wardrobe. But, still, this was Percy.

Her best friend.

“Mmm...no, it’s fine. We’ve got to finish the south side of the strawberry fields, so, we can’t lose time, ya know?”

Silena gaped at her, then scoffed.

“What am I going to do with you, Chase?” she muttered, crouching to the ground again and shoving her hands into the foliage. “But whatever—it’s your call. Like, you’re so pretty that you actually look good in that sorry excuse of an outfit.”

Her eyes roved over Annabeth’s shirt and jeans. She felt herself blush at the attention.

“Hey, is that blood?”

“Uh...Maybe—but it’s old! Don’t worry.”

“A lost cause, I tell you.”

It had been too long since she’d caught a glimpse of that tell-tale curve of the shoulders and those raven curls.

Percy was early. Most of the summer campers always came the next week or so from this one, but she wasn’t complaining about his untimely arrival. Not when he looked that cute in his school uniform and with that ridiculously messy hair.

She regarded him from afar as he chatted with Beckendorf by the Big House porch, a bag slumped over his shoulder. Something about him—in the way he laughed or how he suddenly looked taller—made her stomach drop like a volleyball, made every blade of grass seem brighter.

Running up to him, she yelled, “Hey, stranger! Why so early?”

He turned to the sound of her voice, flashing her that crooked grin of his. Gods, she’d missed him.

“Hey yourself!”

When she finally reached the two boys, she skidded to a halt in front of Percy and gave him an exaggerated once-over.

“Why’d you still have your uniform on, Seaweed Brain?”

“Do I?” he gazed down at his white shirt and gray pants. His eyes flicked to her again, smiling sheepishly. “Oh. Kinda forgot I had it on, I guess.”

“Man, I’ve already told you,” Beckendorf said. “Leave the fancy shit home.”

“I forgot, okay? You know I hate this stupid uniform.”

In her honest opinion, the uniform seemed to be quite the opposite of stupid. Really, it should've been a crime to look that good in white and rolled up sleeves.

“Yeah, whatever.” Beckendorf glanced back and forth from Percy to Annabeth. He smirked and patted Percy on the back. “Anyway, I’ll leave you to it.”

She watched him stroll to the Big House and step inside. He’d probably been here—with Percy—in the first place because of a favor from Chiron.

They stood there, letting the silence build up.

His eyes were warm, green like the shallow sea. Annabeth had always thought that she’d get used to that color, that luminescence. But she never did. Every time she peered up at them, it felt like the first time all over again. She could drown in those eyes and beam up at the fading sky and not beg for breath.

But now, it was worse. It was worse because she could tell that he’d grown. Actually grown. She didn’t quite know how to feel about the fact that his voice had abruptly dropped at least an octave lower than from last summer and that from now on, she’d have to lift her chin to meet his eyes.

“You’ve changed,” she blurted out.

She probably winced a little. Hopefully, she’d sounded casual.

“In what way, exactly?” His mouth twitched into a grin, cheeks dimpling, and her nervousness faded to a quiet buzzing. “That I’m finally taller than you?”

She pushed him away lightly to cover up the flush that was surely painting her cheeks a light pink. This was stupid. He was just being stupid. It was just Percy, for gods’ sake.

“Yeah, taller than me by like, an inch.”

“Admit it, you’re jealous.”

“I hate you.”

That was a lie, and Percy knew it.

“No, you don’t.”

“How am I supposed to keep things out of your reach, now?”

“See, that’s the point. Now I get to pick on you. Shortie.”

Annabeth stuck her tongue out. “You’re such a child.”

He laughed again, giving her whiplash from how different the sound rang in her ears. His laughter had always been a comfort to her, something that made her chest warm and gave her the motivation to try and let it out of him, again and again.

And it still was.

But this new laugh, however, had a richness to it that she felt down to her toes. He threw his head back, eyes crinkling like they always did. And yet, she found new angles to it. Saw a strange glow. He stood under the spotlight of a brand new theater, making everything he did seem like something new and foreign.

It dawned on her that she was staring like an idiot, even after Percy’s smile had faded to a lingering tug of the mouth.

“I’ve missed you,” he said, plain and honest. In many ways, he hadn’t changed. Not really.

“Me too.” Their eyes stayed interlocked for a couple more seconds. She cleared her throat. “Have you, uh...told Chiron you’re here?”

“He already knows.”

“Psh. So am I the only one that didn’t know about you coming here?”

She didn’t mean to sound so accusatory, but there was no backing out, now.

He ducked his head. It was barely recognizable, but she could always tell when he was blushing.

“I...well, you know, wanted to, um—surprise you.”

Another awkward pause.

Percy scratched the back of her head. “Do you, uh...wanna walk with me? To my cabin?”

“Sure.”

“You know,” he said. “My mom made you cookies.”

“Are they any good?” she teased.

He turned to give her an incredulous look. “This is my mom we’re talking about. Of course they’re good.”

“Okay...well, what are you waiting for? Hand them over, Seaweed Brain.”

“In a sec. I’m too lazy to open my bag right now, in the middle of camp.”

As they walked, Annabeth noticed how heads turned when the campers got a good look at the two of them together. Most of them just stared at Percy. They passed by some of her siblings carrying spears; she saw Malcolm wink and felt herself blush again.

“Anyway, you wouldn’t have guessed what I got on my finals,” Percy was saying.

She glared pointedly at Malcolm, then whirled her head to look at Percy again. “What’d you get?”

“Guess.”

“Oh my gods, Percy. Just tell.”

He smiled and gave her a sideways glance. “You’re no fun.”

But even if he said it casually, the comment dug deeper than she would’ve liked. Did he think Rachel was fun? She decided not to dwell on that.

Annabeth was the one talking to him. Not Rachel.

He glanced at her once, but seemingly decided to fix his gaze forward. His eyes sparkled in a way that she knew meant he was trying to hold back a grin. He’d failed in the attempt, though.

“Okay, I’ll just say it: A ‘B’ plus.”

Her jaw dropped. “Percy!”

“Yeah,” he laughed.

“Oh my gods!”

Clarisse, standing by the Ares cabin, mimed Annabeth, mouthing her words and making kissy faces. She mostly ignored it, too distracted on what Percy had just said.

Her heart swelled at the thought of all the work he must’ve put himself through.

She grasped his arm. “I’m so proud of you, Perce.”

“Yeah, me too. Paul helped, though. And mom.”

“Give yourself some of the credit.”

He sighed happily. “I guess I can say that I didn’t cheat. Well, maybe a little.”

She tried to shove him, but he danced away.

“Ohh, don’t tell me that you’ve never cheated on anything.”

“Okay.” She rolled her eyes. “Like maybe once or twice.”

“See?”

“But whatever. You got a ‘B’ and that’s what matters.”

“Yeah. It is.”

They smiled at each other for a second, then, he shouldered his bag and stopped by cabin three. The abalone shell seemed to glow brighter when he stood next to it.

Before she could stop herself, she said, “We should celebrate.”

He lifted one of those thick eyebrows of his and leaned back against the door frame. “What do you mean?”

“You know…” she kicked some of the stray pebbles from the ground, suddenly flustered. “Your grades. It deserves a celebration, don’t you think?”

His face lit up once more. “Oh! Yeah, like a picnic or something? We could eat the cookies Mom made—unless you want them for yourself, which is fine—”

“No!” She bit her lip. “I mean—sharing is cool. I’d like that.”

Annabeth decided it best not to visibly cringe at herself. Who’d even say “sharing” and “cool” at the same time?

Luckily, Percy nodded along with her. “Okay. Cool. Wait—that reminds me…” He unzipped his bag, hands already roaming around inside it. “Ah, here it is.”

He took a take-out like box with red flowers painted around the sides. They looked handmade. She accepted the gift with a smile.

“Who made these?” she asked, examining the paintings closer. “They’re pretty.”

When she saw his smug look, she didn't have to think twice about who had decorated it.

“I did,” he said. Her expression must’ve still been akin to impressed shock, because he chuckled. “What? You think I can’t be artistic?”

She shrugged. It was a simple fact, really. “Since when did you learn?”

“Uh, Rachel taught me.”

“Oh.”

He nodded tightly.

Right. While she’d lived on the other side of the country, alone and with a family who still wasn’t that comfortable around her, he’d been off with his new mortal girlfriend. And how much time must it have taken for Rachel to teach him how to do those precise brushstrokes? To combine those colors properly? Days or more, she knew.

They’d been busy.

She pretended not to care, anyway, opening the box to check on the cookies. “They, um...They look good!” She met his eyes so that he could see just how sincere her words were—because they really did look divine. Divine and blue. “Give Sally my thanks. And you must’ve worked really hard on this. So, thanks also.”

Annabeth noticed how he relaxed at the change of subject. Idiot.

“I will. And nah, it was nothing. I just really wanted to, um, to contribute with the gift. I guess. And mom loves you, so…”

“Loves me more than you?”

He snorted. “Probably.”

The edges of her mouth quirked up. “So...when are you up for that celebratory picnic thing?”

“Uh...from what I remember, I think my schedule’s got like, free time at around five. That sound good?”

Her mind buzzed through her list of daily activities, relieved to find something else to think about other than the awkwardness that now lingered in the air.

“Yeah, I think I’m free at five, as well. Tomorrow, right?”

“Sounds good to me.”

It wasn’t the same. That, she could tell.

She bit the inside of her cheek, watching him fight with Clarisse. So they’d go on a picnic together. Big deal.

She’d just barely stepped outside cabin three when Silena had dragged her away, begging for every detail.

Annabeth wasn’t going to lie: she was excited. More so than she’d let on. And yet, she wasn’t sure if he liked her that way.

Not with other girls fanning over him, now. Girls like Rachel.

How could she have let him go so easily? How was this the first time in months since she’d last seen him?

She’d spent the day pretending it was fine. Her heart ached whenever he was near, but it also hurt when he was gone. She couldn't have it both ways.

So yes, everything was fine.

Maybe if she said those words enough, then she'd start to believe it and stop with this feeble act of hers. This pretending that none of the shit they’d been festering against the other mattered. And in the process, also pretend that these new feelings she had for him—that didn’t feel so new—never existed in the first place.

Then again...what was she thinking?

This was her best friend. Her best friend whom she’d tried to kiss about a year ago and who hadn’t even breathed a word about it since. Who talked to her like he was stepping around eggshells. Who was clearly not interested in her in that way if what she suspected about Rachel was true and who had suddenly become one of the most attractive guys in Camp Half-Blood.

She hated this. This sensation of her heart beating faster, her breath coming short. Her brain fading any thought away, leaving it lustrous with the image of Percy. Percy this and Percy that. His stupid smile and his stupid laugh and—

Ice-cold water struck her skin, stopping her thought process short like a shock wave.

“Sorry,” Silena said, not actually sounding sorry. Stray water dripped from her hand. “You were spaced out for a while.”

Their canoe boat rocked back and forth along with the gusts of wind.

“Okay,” Annabeth said, glaring at her friend. She wanted to wipe that cheeky grin off her face. “Now you’re just asking for it.”

With a sharp, practiced tug, she flipped them over. Silena’s screech died when they hit the water.

She resurfaced, spluttering, splashing Annabeth again and again.

“You little shit! I am going to kill you!”

“What?” Annabeth laughed, choking on water. “I thought your makeup’s waterproof!”

Silena threw more water at her.

“Your point?”

And okay, maybe they looked like fools fighting in the middle of the lake, laughing and joking around. But it was fine; no one was there to witness it except perhaps the naiads and the cicadas that roared in the woods along with the rogue monster.

Well...there was one person.

But the girls didn’t have the mind to notice him.

Percy sat on the back of the pier and smiled, shaking his head.

Maybe someday, they could move on from this strange faze. From skipping around each other, then acting like friends all over again.

Someday.

The sound of the conch horn in the distance brought a reluctant stop to the chirping of the crickets. Dinner time.

He stood up and made his way back, wishing that just maybe, he could be brave enough to tell her how he felt. To unashamedly look at her and no one else as though she were the fading sun, inviting for the naked eye to gape at directly as it caressed the sea and the tree tops while coloring the sky a deep purple. To kiss her in front of all those stupid people and hug her and make her laugh and smile, all golden and beautiful.

Rid himself of the worries, once and for all.

But it couldn’t be.

Maybe, just maybe…

Someday.

#percabeth #percabeth fic #pjo fanfiction #pjo fic #annabeth chase #percy jackson #charles beckendorf #silena beauregard #anon #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #look mom i can write

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perseusjackson-jasongrace · 3 years

Text

Empires on the Horizon Epilogue

Jason is a CEO: Epilogue

When i started this fic (around 9 months ago-- holy hell we could have had a whole human in that time) i didn’t expect it to go in the directions it did or to produce the characters and story it did. While it’s not one of my more action-packed fics it is still very special to me because 1. it’s my first jason centered fic (of which we don’t have much of); 2. it’s my first really long multi-chap (the longest before this was 10 parts); 3. i got to explore so many of my crackships and dynamics of friendship i may not have been able to if we (for example) stuck to canon; 4. most importantly i love this fic because it started out (the very first chapter) as an original story that just was not going anywhere but when i decided to make it a fanfic, suddenly ideas were pouring from my fingers like wine from a split barrel. these characters feel as much mine as they are Rick’s (which is a dangerous path to go down and i’m not actually claiming they’re mine-- gods please don’t sue me). in short i love this fic dearly, i’m so proud of how far all these little babies have come (especially jason) and i hope you feel even a smidge the joy i feel over this, as you go on to read the very soft conclusion to Jason Grace as CEO.

masterlist; my links

[image has alt text]

There was something almost magical in the gleaming silhouette of the Manhattan skyline. There was something hopeful about it too.

Jason Grace stepped out of his car, relishing in the sound of the gravel crunching under his feet and the babble of people all around him. His suit— a deep blue, dark enough to look black, and glittering with tiny silver diamantes that looked like stars— clung to his shoulders and hugged his legs. The theme of the evening was “Starry Night”. He figured coming as the actual night was accurate enough. Drew and Silena had done a beautiful job on his outfit, to no-one’s surprise. He would see them here tonight, along with their husband, and the rest of his friends. And tomorrow, oh tomorrow, he would be off to Rome, with the man that filled his life with overwhelming light.

“Jase,” Someone called out from the darkness, “Are you hiding from us because you put two different shoes on again and are too embarrassed to say?”

“Shut up Annabeth,” He laughed, “I’m coming.”

He walked towards the group of silhouettes, making out Leo and Annabeth, and Nico and Will, and coming from behind them were the dressmakers and their Charles. Hazel and Frank would be making an appearance later in the night.

“You all look beautiful.” He smiled, hugging them, kissing cheeks and foreheads, relishing in their closeness and their comfort, as he has always done. And they did in fact look beautiful. Annabeth in a dress of blue swirling around her and pooling at her feet— the colours matched the sapphire on her ring finger; Leo in a matching floor-length skirt and a sheer polo-neck that showed off every clean brown line of his skin; Nico and Will, in contrast, were complete opposites, the former in a black suit with silver jewellery, and the latter in an off white with gold accents; Silena, Drew and Charlie all had on suits with various parts of the galaxy embroidered in gold, threading a spectacular tapestry through the emerald green. All in all, his friends were really hot.

“Y’all ready?” Will drawled, tilting his head to the entrance of the hotel a little way away.

“Let’s go celebrate!” He winked in response.

And then they’re walking towards the bright lights, launching into conversations and updates and work and jokes. It was familiar in the way driving home after a long time away was, or catching a waft of the specific smell of your elementary school art room, or seeing someone from your childhood and slipping into a comfortable back-and-forth.

“Jase,” Charlie scooted next to him, breaking away from his conversation with Nico, “How’s the construction for the new section of the outdoor center going? I heard you hit a snag last week with the design?”

“Yea there was a few centimeters off with one of the structures and it caused the whole area to be off balance,” He scrunched his nose, remembering the horror from last week. “I’m just grateful we caught it in time.”

“I can’t believe it’s been a year since that center went up,” His friend marvelled, eyes wide with the disbelief of time. He knew the feeling well.

“It’s crazy. I came back from my holiday and then everything was just on fast forward.” He shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. “I’m happy though, with the progress and how far we’ve come.”

“You’ve just burst and grown and brightened,” There’s that soft smile, the one that made all of Jason’s insides turn to mush. The one that told him he was loved in every capacity.

“I know.” He felt the blush creeping up his skin, pale after the long winter months. “I don’t owe it to myself though. All of you guys have—”

“No way mister,” Annabeth chimed in, “You absolutely owe it to yourself. You got yourself there, we just cheered you on.”

“Yea,” Leo nudged his arm, a gentleness shimmering in his brown eyes. “You were the hero of your own story.”

He muttered thank you’s and tried to embrace the blush but their love and joy and pride still drowned him. Before anyone else could pile on the sincerity they were walking into the lobby and being ushered to the large, elegant ballroom three doors down.

There was a collective gasp from their group, audible even above the low hum of chatter, and the soft jazz drifting through the speakers. The entire room had been made to look like they were standing inside the middle of “Starry Night”. Like they were the townsfolk parked outside their houses witnessing the strange and magical sky above them. Swirls of blue in the draping curtains and circles of yellow in the chandeliers and wisps of the cypress trees growing from the walls as if the very room had been built around a tree.

“This is—” He didn’t even have the words to fully express his awe. If he were an art major he would have died from the beauty of it all. As it stood he could barely keep himself up.

“I know,” A voice said quietly from behind him. “It’s almost divine.”

He didn’t say anything, didn’t even turn around to see who it was. He simply stepped back and let arms envelope him. He didn’t need to check, because he knew, he would always know. In the heat of their skin, and the hum of their voice, and the love that radiated between them like scorching summer sun.

“Moró mou,” He sighed, tipping his head back to rest against a shoulder. From this angle he could see blazing green eyes and jet-black curls, and impossibly high cheekbones, and a jaw sculpted by Michaelangelo.

“Hello my love,” Percy Jackson smiled. “How are you?”

“Happy.” He muttered, lips brushing against his boyfriend’s cheek.

“Good,” The man nodded, squeezing his waist where his arms still wrapped around. “Are you going to be okay tonight?”

“I will not just survive through it,” His eyes crinkled at the corner as pure joy washed through him, “I will live through it, and I will enjoy every minute of it.” He knew the reason for the question, for the concern. But tonight it was not needed. He was nothing but excited and elated for the hours, and then days, weeks, years to come.

“I love you.”

A glass tinkled somewhere to their right, grabbing their attention. And then Zoe and Reyna were stepping together and drawing people towards them as if they were gravity, magnets, the center. They looked it certainly: Zoe in a stark white dress, hugging her figure, shimmering like stardust every time she moved; and Reyna in a watery blue, gauzy and flowing in time with her body, where she goes it will ripple behind her.

“Thank you,” His lawyer started, giving them a dazzling smile. “For being here. All of you.” She looked them each in the eye, her own filled with love and… were those tears? From his no nonsense, boss lady lawyer? Oh he was so going to give her a hug and then tease her endlessly about it.

“We have a thousand people to thank for all of this,” She gestured to the room, “And a thousand more to thank just for being here, but that will come in the form of surprise take-me-homes at the end of the night.”

“However,” Zoe’s voice, still as strong and quiet as ever, rang out across the room. “There are two people we would like to thank right here, right now.” Her smile lit up the world as her eyes landed on them. “In typical us fashion, it’s a little out of the ordinary but please can both our ex-boyfriend’s come up here.”

The crowd burst into laughter, him and Percy with them, as they detangled themselves from each other and walked hand in hand to the front of the room.

“As you can see,” Reyna grinned. Jason held in the groan he knew would accompany her next words. “We did a Partner Swap.”

The laughter only loudened, people whistling, and clapping in time with their amusement.

“I will spare you the sordid details,” Zoe’s own giggling softened to a smile, “But two years ago, after Jason and I had broken up, I called him in a panic asking for help. And despite being on a much needed holiday where he happened to meet a certain someone,” She winked at them, eyebrows waggling comically, “He listened to me, then made use of his contacts and connected me with Reyna.”

“And after I charmed the suit off of her, and won her lawsuit,” Reyna stepped in, grinning wildly, “She agreed to pop open a bottle of champagne and celebrate our win.”

“I’m not quite sure about the charming part, angel.” Zoe quirked an eyebrow, “But yes one champagne bottle and the rest was history.”

“In conclusion to this whole ordeal,” His lawyer turned to them, “Jase, Percy, we have a present for you, to thank you for loving us, and for loving us enough to let us go, and furthermore for bringing us together.”

Zoe handed them an envelope but before they bothered to open it they pulled the women in for a hug, thanking and congratulating them. He would not change what they had for the world. He will be grateful forever. He will love them even longer.

Percy ripped open the envelope and pulled out a single sheet of paper. He leaned over his boyfriend’s shoulder and read with him.

The universe has a funny way of pulling stars together but we know with certainty that the four of us are born from the same constellation. Thank you for everything. We know we can never really repay you but please accept this as a start.

Tucked into the last fold of the paper were two plane tickets to Japan. The holiday they had discussed once, a Saturday game night that ended with the four of them huddled around the fire in Zoe’s apartment, chattering softly about this and that. Printed in small font at the bottom of the page was a cherry blossom branch and more text that read,

Get married losers, we want joint holidays so we can get the couples packages.

He bubbled with laughter at that, and looked up at his friends, tears pooling in his own eyes.

“Alright everyone!” Reyna clapped her hands, gathering the attention of the humming crowd. “Let’s get this engagement party started.”

And then music filled the room and people dragged each other to the middle of the space and there were cheers as the song came into focus and truly Jason understood the meaning of life that night.

After they had thanked Reyna and Zoe again, and chatted with their other friends Percy pulled him to the dance floor.

“Jase,” His boyfriend cupped the back of his neck, arranging their bodies into a work of art. “We have wonderful friends.”

“The very best,” He agreed, swaying their hips in time with the beat. “We have built an empire with them by our side.”

“Will you be the emperor then?”

“There is no monarchy in this kingdom,” He smiled, blue eyes glittering and bright. “It is just us, and our love, and everything beautiful the world has ever had to offer.” He saw oceans reflecting back at him, wonder soaking in his words, happiness pressing against his lips.

His boyfriend pressed their foreheads together, bodies still moving to music far away. “And if we look further?” Percy breathed, “Past the empire, to the horizon beyond?”

“It is all home,” Jason Grace smiled. “We are home, my love.”

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

Okay there are so many people to thank and you best believe i’m going to thank them all because this fic would literally not exist without them.

@nishlicious-01 my favourite person, my biggest supporter and the only person who gets to shout at me when im writing fanfic at 1am because i’m not sleeping but also because ‘why am i not reading it ciara????’

@queen-of-demons-and-hell for every comment, every like, every complaint you took when the writing demon was on strike. you have my heart. id be lost and a little lonely without you.

@leyontheway your comments on this fic were golden and i often came back to them just for that extra burst of motivation and serotonin. i found a friend in you and now i can’t imagine my life without you.

@msdrpreist Sky, mi cielo, you are one in a billion and i cannot believe i found you (and you me) across all this space and time. thank you for your unwavering support and your wonderful thoughts.

@larrikin-is-a-himbo when we started this fic i believe you were @/queenbrunnhilde (or something to that effect) but although your username has changed your loveliness and endless support hasn’t. Thank you for sticking along for the ride

@spoopylucy Lucy... what do i even say to the person who singlehandedly changed my day, week, mood every time i saw a reblog from them? your tags were the start and the end. they made every upload an exciting task. and i knew no matter what happened in the fic or how long it took as soon as i got a notif from you i couldn’t be anything but happy. thank you my Luce, you’re an angel!

@not-hiesenberg for being my ‘ciara what the fuck even does this say? do you know how to spell?’ checker when i was too tired (more like too lazy) to do it myself.

@lesbian-peanuts thank you for the love! you were one of the first people interested in this little universe and i can never thank you enough for that

@legendary-cupcake your spam when reading this was such a happy moment in my life and im ecstatic that you stayed for the ride! thank you

to all the people on my tag list, who have liked this fic, and especially those who have commented: i see you, i love you, and i thank you with a heart full of happiness. you changed my world.

#empires on the horizon #epilogue #jason is a ceo #jason grace #percy jackson #jercy #jercy fic #jason #grace #percy #jackson #PJJG fanfic #pjjg series #pjssg fanfic #pjssg series

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write-orflight · 4 years

Text

Trouble: Chapter 4

*Gif not mine*

Pairings: HotchxReader

Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Rating: M

Words: 3.8K

Warnings: SMUT, Oral sex(male receiving), fingering, choking, slight degradation, dom/sub overtones. mention of past rape/abuse. witch shit.

Request: OPEN/CLOSED

Summary: After Haley’s passing, Aaron Hotchner has lost the light in his eyes. He seems to find it it the most unlikely of places, an occult themed coffee shop ran by a witch.

A.N: If you don’t like smut, i’d skip some paragraphs but not the whole thing because there’s some major plot points. Tarot, wicca, and crystal information is very secondhand if you see any inaccuracies, no you don’t.

Chapter 4: I been facing trouble almost all my life

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” Hotch asks, immediately standing when he heard the crash of the phone.

You couldn’t tell him. You couldn’t tell hotch about that period of your life, you guys just got to the place you wanted to be at for quite some time. Charlie couldn’t do this to you again, you couldn’t let him fuck more of your life up.

“Oh nothing, butter fingers sorry.” You say, plastering a smile on. Hotch doesn’t believe you, you can tell he doesn’t but he doesn’t ask questions either.

After talking for another hour, Hotch kisses you goodbye, knowing somethings off but not saying anything. You head upstairs and relieve Silena of her duties, promising her details of the night tomorrow. Once you see her out, you instantly crawl into your daughter’s bed.

“Mama?” She says groggily.

“Yea honey, it’s me.”

She nods sleepily before laying her head on your chest. You run your hands through her hair watching her sleep for a spell.

Charlie couldn’t take this from you.

You won’t let him.

—————————————

It’s been a couple months since the phone call and things were honestly going good, scary good. Business was booming, a famous blogger had stumbled upon your shop by accident and posted about it since then you and Silena seemed to have your hands so full with hipsters and entitled elitists that you needed a full time sitter. You didn’t like it but money was money.

You and Hotch were also doing good. He finally took you on that date, which was dinner at a small Italian restaurant. He looked at you in shock as you rattled off the menu items in perfect pronunciation. You just shrugged explaining that you worked at an Italian bakery through college, which is where you learned the language and most of the recipes you used in the shop today.

Both of you didn’t account for weather though and as soon as you left the restaurant it began to pour. Hotch gave you his suit jacket to cover your hair as the two of you bolted across the parking lot to his car. The original plan was to just wait out the rain until it was safe enough for you to both drive home but what ended up happening was the two of you making out like teenagers in the backseat of his car.

It’s been about two months since then and while he’s gone a lot on cases he seems to still make time for you and, by proxy, Artie. The weekends the both of you had free were spent at the park with your kids who got along swimmingly. Artemis had the same personality as you in that sense, nice and outgoing. It was no surprise that she’d befriended Jack in a matter of days despite his shy demeanor.

You were still worried about Charlie. You tried not to be but you couldn’t help it. You had already moved multiple times because of him you couldn’t do it again. You had the shop, Artie was finally at that age where she was old enough to remember so she needed stability and now you had Aaron, who had already lost so much you couldn’t be another thing he lost. So you issued a new deal that gave any law enforcement officer 50% off a coffee order. Was it the best for your bank in the long run? No, but it gave you and Artie the protection you needed so he wouldn’t think of trying anything. That didn’t stop the threatening notes and phone calls though despite everything.

You had finally decided though you weren’t going to run. Not this time.

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

You’d never been inside the FBI building before and until today you never had an excuse to. But since Artie was with her sitter all day and you had the time you decided you’d take a long lunch and come see Hotch.

You got off the elevator 2 carriers of coffee in tow, figuring it’d be rude to bring Hotch something and not the others. As you walk into the bullpen the first person to take notice of you is Spencer.

“Hey, Y/N. What’re you doing here?”

“I thought I’d surprise Hotch with lunch and you guys with coffee.” You smile, handing the coffee carriers to him as he makes grabby hands at them. You take out the two cups you knew were yours and Aaron’s. “Where is his office?”

Spencer points to the catwalk above you. “Upstairs, his door is the open one.” You mouth your thanks as you head up the stairs and into the opened door of the office, rapping quietly on the door to announce your presence. Hotch looks up annoyed but when he sees it's you his face softens a bit. He gestures to the phone he’s talking into and a chair for you to sit and wait. You close the door behind you and walk in silently placing the cup you brought in with you in front of him silently. He gives you a gracious look while you sit quietly in the chair across from him as he finishes his conversation.

You’d never seen Hotch at work so you’ve seen him like this. You always knew he had an authoritative energy, but you’ve never seen him like this in his element, in charge. Your eyes slowly pan up the charcoal suit he was wearing, broad chest and shoulders ridged with stress. You watched his stern expression get more annoyed by whoever he was on the phone with as he blew heavy exasperated breaths through his nose.

He was angry. You could tell.

But for some reason it was incredibly hot to you.

“I’m not compromising when it comes to my team, now Goodbye.” He said, angrily slamming the phone into the receiver. He pinches the bridge of his nose, obviously frustrated. You decide to lean forward placing your fingers in the aforementioned hand. He instantly looks up and fully laces your hands together, pulling your hand up so he could kiss the swell of your knuckles.

“Hey, dove.” Your heart swells a bit at the pet name, still not fully used to the development of your relationship despite being together for months. “What’re you doing here?”

“The shop was pretty slow and Malia is watching Bean. I figured I’d take a long lunch to come see you. Is it a bad time?” You ask.

“I’ll always make time for you.” He says. Hotch didn’t have many regrets but one of the major gut-wrenching ones was the fact that he drove Hayley away and made her feel unloved because he couldn’t tear himself away from work. And while you were very understanding, in fact much more understanding and patient than she was, he wasn’t going to do that ever again.

“You’re angry though.” You say, stating the obvious.

“I was.”

“Can I ask why?”

“It’s just… my boss doesn’t like me very much and because of that she puts the team under unneeded scrutiny.” He sighs, waving his hand. “I don’t want to bore you with that though, how was your day?”

You shrug. “You know it’s just coffee, so uneventful. And you don’t bore me, if something’s stressing you out, I wanna hear about it.” You look him in the eye, thumb moving over his knuckles. “I wanna help.”

Hotch sighs again. “It’s just, when Hayley was killed my judgement was clouded for a while. I was angry and I was taking unnecessary risks that were ultimately damaging to the team. I realize that now but not soon enough because Strauss is still on me about everything. And I’m trying to work on my anger about stuff like that but obviously when my abilities as a leader are questioned every 5 minutes, it’s hard.”

You ran your thumb up and down his knuckles the whole time he ranted. You get up to circle his desk before standing in front of his chair, leaning back against the edge of the desk “Can I give you something?” You ask.

“If it’s another rock, I’m going to have to get a chest to put them all at some point, having them on my desk is taking up space now.” He laughs.

“I think we’ve established it’s always going to be a rock, Aaron.” You reach into your pocket. “I actually carry this on me all the time and maybe it’ll help you too. This is raw aquamarine. Because it’s water based it’s used for it’s cooling energy. Sometimes to calm anger, sometimes to provide wisdom in conflict.” Aaron holds out his left palm, knowing the drill by now. “Please be used as a conduit of peace.” You say, before handing the stone to him.

“Thank you, dove.” He says, placing the crystal next to the others. “You said you carry this one all the time?”

“Yea.”

“Why?”

You sigh. “I used to have a really bad anger problem. Raw aquamarine helped me with it?”

“You...had an anger problem?” He said, extremely confused. “You? I’ve never even seen you angry.”

“That’s because you haven’t done anything but make me happy, Mr. Hotchner.” You smile, leaning down to kiss him which he instantly reciprocates. “Also, you haven’t seen me drive, I have real bad road rage.” You laugh.

“Well, thank you for the stone. I don’t think it’ll help my situation but it’s worth a shot.” He says.

“Well, there is another way to absolve some of your anger.”

“And what’s that?” He asks.

“You could take it out on someone.” You say, looking him directly in the eye. You notice his pupils darken extremely. “I don’t mind.”

“When do you have to go back to the shop?” He asks, standing from the chair so he’s towered over you now, the desk still blocking you from being able to back away from him.

“I have another 45-50 minutes before Silena calls.” You look back at him innocently.

“Lock the door and close the blinds, please.” He says, you don’t have to be told twice before you are squirming from under him to do just that. Once you do that you look back at Hotch who is gesturing for you to come closer which you do.

“Are you sure you want this, dove? I know we haven’t done anything like this yet.” He asks you, you nod fast. “And you’ll tell me the second I do something that makes you uncomfortable?”

“Yes, Aaron.” You say, practically whining. “Please, I need you.”

Aaron instantly sweeps you into a deep passionate kiss that’s already leaving you groaning as his tongue sweeps across your bottom lip. He presses impossibly close to you and you feel him erect against your side. His hands travel up your sides and under your shirt slipping a hand into your bra, unhooking it before toying with your nipple. You moan loudly as his lips trail down your jaw sucking bite marks into your neck.

“Fuck, look at you.” He says, lowly in your ears. “Already so desperate and loud for me when I’ve barely touched you.” You can’t help moan at that too, touching him everywhere your hands can reach. “I’m going to have to shut you up somehow, huh?” He says, you whimper slightly and he grins, devilishly at you. “Get on your knees for me, baby.” He says, and you nod fast before settling on your knees for the man before you.

For a minute he just looks at you, studying you as if this was going to be the only time he’d see you like this. You watch him with hooded eyes as his hands go to his belt buckle and fly, revealing himself to you. You’re agape for a second trying not to drool he was certainly bigger than you’ve ever had. He tilts your chin up slightly so you can look him in the eye easily.

“You want to make me feel good, right?” He says, you nod. “Use your words, baby.”

“Yes, Sir.” You say, breathy.

“Then do so.” He says, you nod before grabbing his member in your hand. Flattening your tongue to lick up the underside. He groans, grabbing the side of your head, pushing himself further into the warm heat of your mouth. He goes slow at first, testing the waters, trying to make sure you won’t freak out on him but soon enough he hears and more importantly he feels you moan. He grips your hair tighter before more forcefully shoving himself into your mouth. You have no choice but to flatten your tongue and take the assault, squeezing your legs together for some form of friction.

“Look at you, so desperate to please. You wanna make me cum, dove?” He says, voice straining as he nears his end. You answer his question by sucking him harder, inducing a groan from the man. You start to feel him twitch on your tongue. “Fuck yes, that’s my good girl. Take it all.” He says, releasing himself into the back of your throat. You swallow quickly before leaning back on your knees looking up at him putting himself back in his slacks.

“Come here.” He says, you stand up instantly and he cups your jaw, kissing you harshly before moving you until you’re seated on the edge of his desk. He reattaches his lips to your neck automatically going for that spot behind your ear you can’t help the groan that leaves you as you feel one of his hands undoing your pants. He doesn’t waste any time undressing you, just brings his hand into pants, cupping your heat.

“You’re so wet for me already, dove?” He runs a finger up your slit before pressing inside you. A gasp that dissolves into a loud moan rips through your body. He grabs your jaw roughly with his other hand so you’ll meet his lips. His tongue running over the roof of your mouth as he slipped a second finger inside of you, curling slightly to hit that spot inside of you every thrust. You try to keep quiet but the moans and whimpers keep slipping out involuntarily. Aaron’s hand moves from your jaw to your neck, tightening slightly.

“If you can’t keep quiet, I’m going to stop.” He says, looking deep into your eye as his thumb circles your clit. Your eyes roll back at the sensation. “You want everyone to hear you? Hear how desperate and needy you are for me?” You shake your head as much as you can with his tight grip around your throat. Trying to keep quiet as you felt yourself coming close to the edge. “No, I think you do. If we had the time, I’d bend you over this desk and fuck you like the needy slut you are. You’d want that wouldn’t you, dove? You want me to fill you up?”

You nod, hips moving fast to meet his hand. “Yes, Sir.” You say, brokenly as you approached the edge. Hotch groans in response, hand tightening around your throat again.

“Fuck, next time, Angel.” He says, thrusting his fingers faster now. “Now I need you to cum, Princess. Go ahead, let go.” You bite down on your own hand to keep quiet as your orgasm washes through you then, not knowing you were waiting on permission. Hotch rides you through it, only withdrawing when he hears you whine. He instantly pulls his fingers up to the seam of your lips, you open your mouth, inviting him in. He groans as he watches you suck them into your mouth, tongue rolling over them. He kisses you the second he pulls his fingers out.

“Are you okay?” He whispers. “I hope I wasn’t too rough on you.”

You shake your head, picking up your bra and shirt to put them back on. “No, I’m fine. You were great.” You say, leaning up to peck his cheek.

“Good, because I’m not done with you yet.” He says, with a dark look.

You pout. “I’ve gotta get back to the shop, Gus.”

“Can I come see you tonight then?” He asks, you nod, smiling. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”

You stop in your tracks for a second. “We didn’t think this through, did we?” You say. “Everyone on your team is going to know exactly what we did.”

“Most likely, but I don’t care.” He smiles, pecking you on the cheek before opening the door holding your hand as you guys walk toward the elevator.

“I do.” You mumble, he only laughs at you.

Later, you walk into the shop, hair that was down before now in a tight bun. You didn’t even bother trying to cover up the marks on your neck. It wasn’t like you had anything to cover it with and it was way too hot for scarves. Silena looks up from the book she was reading. Smirking when she sees your disheveled appearance.

“Have a good lunch?” She says.

You flush, walking back to put your apron on. “Yea, i-it was fine.” You paused before looking at her. “Your reading was right.” You say, inducing loud cackles from your best friend.

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

Since you left, Hotch was having trouble thinking of anything that wasn’t you. After he saw how beautiful you looked losing control under him he knew he needed to see more. See just how much he could break you. He was just about getting ready to leave work when he got the call.

“SSA Hotchner speaking. Who is this?” He says, he didn’t recognize the number on the screen.

“Hey Hotch, This is Silena. I work with Y/N at HG.”

“I know who you are Silena, what’s wrong?” He says, knowing something had to be up for her to be calling him.

“Umm nothing yet, it’s just… Y/N’s ex is here and is camping in front of the store, I assume to catch her while she’s leaving… he’s not a good dude.” Hotch could make out some crashing behind her and someone he could only assume was Y/n yelling in very angry italian. “I just thought maybe if you came and flashed the badge a bit he’ll leave her alone.” he hears more yelling and crashing. “And you could save your girlfriend from a murder charge. Win-win.”

“I’m on my way.” He says.

“Great, come to the back door please.” Silena says hanging up.

Hotch knocks tentatively when he arrives at the back door, Silena lets him in with a small smile.

“Thanks for coming, Hotch.” We’re hiding out in the kitchen right now but he’s still banging on the front door. Luckily, we already locked for close so he couldn’t just walk in.” She says leading him to the kitchen where he sees you aggressively beating some dough. He looks back at Silena confused. “She’s pissed, sorry.”

“This is fucking ridicous!” You yell. “Lo fa sempre, cazzo. quel ratto bastardo! Non posso vivere un giorno in una fottuta pace. Lo ucciderò, cazzo.” (He always fucking does this. that rat bastard. I can't live one day in fucking peace. I'm going to fucking kill him.)

You turn and see Hotch who is looking back at you concerned. You level your angry gaze to Sil now. “I told you not to fucking call him.” You seeth. “You said you were calling Mike.”

“Yea, but I figured it’d be better if I called Hotch since he’s an actual Agent and Charlie will probably listen if he said fuck off.”

“I didn’t want you to call anyone. I wanted to handle it myself.”

“Yea by killing him. Which I’m obviously not going to let you do. You have a shop and daughter to worry about.”

“Un motivo in più per ucciderlo, cazzo! Non posso lasciarlo vicino a mia figlia!” (All the more reason to fucking kill him! I can't let him near my daughter)

“Hotch, can you please handle it so we can just go home?” Silena pleads with him. He gives you another worried look before walking out the front of the store. Where he sees a disgruntled poor shaped man banging on the front door.

Hotch opens the door slightly so the man could hear him “The shop is closed.” He says.

“Who the fuck are you?” The man spits. Instead of answering, Hotch just pulls out his badge.

“Since the shop is closed, you’re trespassing. I suggest you leave.”

“Look, I don’t know who the fuck you are. But I know that whore is in there and I’m not leaving until she comes out.”

As if on cue, you come out despite Silena trying very hard to hold you back, brandishing a rolling pin as a makeshift weapon.

“Get the fuck off my property, Charlie.”

“Where’s my kid, Y/N?”

“You don’t have a fucking kid! I have a kid!”

“I’m her father, I have a right to see her.”

“Vedrai prima le porte dell'inferno prima che ti permetta di avvicinarti a mia figlia!” (You will sooner see the gates of hell before I let you near my daughter!)

“You need to leave.” Aaron says, practically bodying the man out of the shop.

“I hope this shitshow shop is doing well because I’ll just take you to court, Y/N.” He yells while leaving.

“Oh yea, take me to court, stronzo! Let’s see what they decide. The mother with a successful business who raised her, or an abusive drunk!” You yell after him. “Fuck!” You yell, throwing the rolling pin deep into the shop thankfully not hitting anyone but putting a small dent into one of your paintings.

“Can you believe that fucking asshole wants to take me to court! Me?! I’m the one who should’ve taken him years ago if i wasn’t so fucking afraid.” You kick a chair over. “You shouldn’t have stopped me, I should’ve killed him.”

“Y/N, calm down. You don’t know what you're saying.” Aaron says. “It especially isn’t something you should be saying in front of an agent.”

“Considering you actually fucking killed the man who killed your ex-wife, you have no right to judge me for saying I want to kill my fucking rapist.” You snapped at him. You see the hurt expression come across his face. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it, Aaron. That was a really shitty thing for me to say.”

“No, it’s fine. You’re right, I did do that and I don’t regret doing it.” Aaron grabs your hands, smoothing his finger over your knuckles, an action you had just done for him earlier that day. Which felt like lightyears away now. “I want to help you, Y/N, but I think… I think you need to tell me about it first.”

You sighed heavily. He was right, you knew everything about Aaron’s past.

It was only fair he knew everything about yours.

Taglist: @megatrexus @roses-and-grasses @tittymuncher69 @liaabsurd @ladyravenclaw @genevievedarcygrangerreading @softbibxtch @xxdisappearwithoutatracexx @crimeshowtrash @augustgraceful @theweirdobella @infinity1321 @stella95827 @neaswift

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#hotch x reader smut #bau x reader #hotchner x reader smut #aaron hotchner x reader smut #aaron hotchner #hotch x reader #aaron hotchner x reader #hotchner x reader #criminal minds

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blackjacktheboss · 4 years

Text

The Pawn

Silena Beauregard fell in love with Charles Beckendorf the day after her twentieth birthday, when he walked into her father’s chocolate shop to buy candy for another girl. She gave him way too many free samples as they flirted over the counter, her heart fluttering the entire time.

“I’m Charles,” he said as he reached for her hand.

“Silena,” she said as she reached for his right back. “It’s nice to meet you Charlie.”

He tilted his head a bit, like the immediate bestowal of a nickname was unexpected, but he didn’t correct her. “It’s nice to meet you too.”

Later, her father would scold her for how distracted she was the rest of the afternoon, but after Charlie left, the only chocolate she wanted to talk about was the chocolate brown of his eyes. That night she said a silent prayer to the gods of love that the beautiful 6’4” man of her dreams would come back into her life somehow; they had never let her down a day in her life, and the next day proved to be no different.

It was a slow day at the shop, as Wednesdays tended to be, and Silena busied herself sorting the chocolates by key ingredient when she heard the familiar ding of the bell they kept near the register.

As soon as she saw Charlie standing there, all proper with his arms behind his back, she smiled unabashedly and rushed towards him.

“Hi,” she said, trying to keep some illusion of cool.

Charlie laughed. “Hi.”

Silena quickly smoothed her apron and tucked her hair behind her ears. “So, did your girlfriend like the chocolates?”

“Oh, those weren’t for my girlfriend,” he said nonchalantly.

Silena’s smile turned curious. “Then who were they for?”

Charlie brought his arms around the front and revealed a small box of chocolates he held in his hands, with a signature purple bow that Silena always used when she worked.

He slid the box to her and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “I hope you like them. I had an expert help me pick them out, so they come highly recommended.”

She stood there for a moment, taking him and all his handsomeness in, and she hoped to god she wasn’t blushing as hard as she suspected she might be.

The silence seemed to make Charlie nervous. “I’ve just noticed you around town a few times and the other day, I saw you come in here so I--”

“Dad,” Silena called over her shoulder.

A handsome older man with sandy brown hair and glasses that made him look dignified poked his head through the doorway that led to the back. “Yes, dear?”

“I’m taking my break.”

continue on ao3

#mob au #sophii attempts to write #pjo au #enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!!

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valzhangs · 4 years

Note

What are your lgbt headcanons for the pjo characters?

ok so!!

percy: he's trans and he's bi. bc im trans and im bi. i have trans headcanon post for him, but as far as his being bi goes, it takes him a lot longer to figure out than it should. he like, is aware of the fact that he's into men in a rlly weird surface level where he doesnt acknowledge it makes him Not Straight.

percy: who WOULDNT wanna kiss a homie?

annabeth: bi as fuck, <women3, is a disaster in flirting regardless of gender. she knows she's bi by the time she's like 15, although she spends some time there thinking she's a lesbian bc she's unaware bisexuality is an option.

annabeth: haha what if i was gay bc no i didnt bc yes i am bc no i did not. people. can you be gay and still like men

silena:.... bi??

annabeth: oi what the fuck

jason: he's a homophobic gay. we dont talk about the relationship™. struggled with comphet. every other week i switch to a bi headcanon for me so if you see me calling him bi no you didnt.

piper: trans lesbian. she, like percy, is on puberty blockers and bc of a supportive dad, figuring it out early on and being rich as fuck, her transition goes far more smoothly than others. she, however, spends many years thinking that in order to be a "real woman" she must be into men and so comphet is a thing™, thus the relationship we dont talk about. her and jason and gay besties now.

no one

piper: ahahaha yes men. they have. pretty eyes.

leo: i wildly switch between gay and aro for xyr sexuality headcanon. i also wildly switch between amab enby and transmasc. either way he's not romantically into women, and he's not cis. generally i use he/xe pronouns for xem.

leo 🤝 piper

hahaha yes.... the opposite gender.... who i am attracted to....

frank: transmasc nonbinary, they/he pronouns, also i switch between pan and gay for his sexuality headcanon, currently i say pan. anyways they only rlly realized they were trans when they were 14, even so it took a while to both accept it and stop feeling like he was faking it. he came out when he was 15, with his mom's death and everything his life had kind of snowballed and so he kind of screamed it at grandma zhang. he had already picked out frank for himself by then. as far as sexuality goes, he was already pretty sure of their attraction to all genders they realized they were trans.

hazel: lesbian, dating lacy, literally the softest out there and always knew she wasnt into men. but also badass as fuck, stan hazel.

WHILE ON THE TOPIC: lacy: very bi, lean towards men generally, also a trans girl

silena: pan as fuck, had a crush on clarisse because ruegard rights.

clarisse: bi and ace, [also "bi, fly and ready to die"]

i have my mitchell headcanons post, love that bi baby.

miranda: t/t nonbinary, lesbian, also not lgbt related but theyre yoreme (indigenous people in northern mexico)

charlie beckendorf: trans & bi. he is also like, THE person youd go to if you needed advice on gender identity related things.

grover: that boy invented pansexuality and we all love him.

rachel: aroace, she/her nonbinary

lou ellen; no gender only lesbian (any pronouns)

dakota: no gender only gay (also any pronouns)

n e ways thats all i have for now, stay tuned for more

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seavoice · 4 years

Text

We’ll Dream Of A Longer Summer

A stairwell, some chocolates and the last summer.

[beckendorf/silena]

this is so...random! and unedited. but, it’s here anyway, so just some beckendorf and silena stuff set before tlo, because there’s not enough with the two of them. you can scroll down to keep reading, or click on the title to read on ao3.

Spring bled into summer, and his eighteenth year bled into his nineteenth. Suddenly it was the approaching winds of August that filled the sweet scent of New York breeze, and if the Fates could be counted upon, soon would follow the end of the war.

That’s what Beckendorf had told his mother at least, as he had packed the bags to camp for the last time under her watchful gaze. August was near, and so was the war’s end. This was his last summer at camp—next year he would be off to NYU, and Camp Half-Blood would be a chapter of his life closed for the most part, only to be pried gently open now and again to check in on his siblings through Iris Messages, or to drop by to teach a quick lesson on metalworking for the newbies. But, for the most part, Beckendorf had told her, this would be the last time. This would be the last time his mom had to swallow down her fear and wave goodbye from her car as Beckendorf trudged slowly up Half Blood Hill, to train and craft for the summer.

He was no longer the uncertain eleven year old his mom had dropped off all those years ago after a particularly nasty monster attack. His mom no longer had to drive him to Camp, and she certainly never needed to pick him up. She did so anyway, because Ada Beckendorf always claimed that the summer was too long without him, like an extra hour in the car could fill in the months away from each other, the months worth of uncertainty and fear and missing missing missing .

Some years, Beckendorf had to stay more or less year round, because the monster attacks had got too violent, too frequent. His mother agreed to drop him off during winter break too, sometimes, just to celebrate the holidays with his siblings and friends. But for some reason, summer had always been the hardest. Hardest to say goodbye.

“You miss the entire summer holidays with me,” his mom had told him once, when he was thirteen and greener, and could fit so much more easily in his mother’s embrace. She had been crying the days leading up to the beginning of summer, and Beckendorf had eventually just decided to ask her what the problem was, because he had been getting prickly about her constant tearing up. “I don’t get to see you even for a day.” She had pressed a kiss to the top of his shaved head. “I understand of course, with the monsters and all, and it’s not your fault, baby. But I just—I just wish. It would be nice to spend a day in the city together, when we both are free.”

“When the monster attacks get less frequent,” Beckendorf had promised, feeling that prickliness melt into fondness. A week of summer, when his mom didn’t have to teach college classes for her architecture students, and when he wasn’t getting stalked by dracanae, Beckendorf had promised they’d binge a sitcom, catch a movie, design some fancy building. The promise had been forgotten, like many promises inevitably were when made as a throwaway consolation when you’re thirteen and running late for the Greyhound.

But. He had made it to the other side of his eighteenth birthday, and his mother had a break from her teaching, and he wasn’t getting stalked by dracanae. He had retrieved that promise from its abandonment, taken a cab from Long Island Sound to Manhattan, and he had made it to his mother’s front door. One summer , he had promised, thirteen and tired, and now it was that summer.

That throwaway promise had been fulfilled.

If only he could bring himself to knock. Beckendorf had never hesitated with his mom; he had never felt anything other than at ease with her, but for some reason, he couldn’t help but hesitate now. A line of nerves drooled down his back, and he found he couldn’t make himself knock on the bright candy pink apartment door.

“It’s just your mom,” Silena said, nudging him slightly so that he snapped out of his reverie. She’d accompanied him to the city, and they’d even made a pit stop at her dad’s chocolate shop to pick a box for his mother. “She’s the sweetest lady in all of Manhattan. What are you staring at the door like that for?”

Beckendorf swallowed. “She could be busy.”

“She’s not. You checked her schedule, Charlie.”

Beckendorf tightened his grip on the bag of chocolates he was carrying. “She could have gone out.”

Silena frowned at him. He couldn’t blame her; he wasn’t exactly explaining himself. He didn’t think he could explain himself to her, though. “Well,” Silena said finally, after a few minutes of confused silence. “Only one way to find out.”

Silena lifted the knocker and let it fall against the door. There was no sound from within. Beckendorf pressed a ear against the door and rapped his knuckles thrice against it, quickly. No sound.

“She’s out,” Beckendorf said, stepping back. “Aw, man, I think she’s out for groceries. She usually goes to pick them up around this time.”

“We can wait,” Silena offered. “She won’t be too long, will she?”

Beckendorf shook his head. “Not too long. But no point waiting for her either. We can…” He cast around for some way to finish his sentence. “We can come back...later?”

Silena crossed her arms, the charm bracelet Beckendorf had made for her glinting at her wrist. “Are you asking or telling me?”

“We can come back later,” Beckendorf said. Outside, the sky was streaked pink and orange, tourists and evening commuters zipping through the streets. “Uh, you can call Blackjack, maybe? Take a spin around this city, drop back in a half hour?”

Silena shrugged. “Look, I don’t mind, Charlie, at all. That sounds lovely. But if your mom’s gonna be back soon anyway...I don’t see a point in leaving. The chocolates are gonna melt if we take too long.”

Beckendorf kept his eyes on the cotton candy clouds drifting slowly against the vast expanse of sky. They were bathed golden in the fading rays of the setting sun. Eyes still on the clouds, he said, “You’ve got a point there.”

“Yeah.” He didn’t turn around to look at her, but from the slight staying hitch in her voice, he could make out that Silena was a little confused. “Yeah. I do.”

He didn’t say anything. Silena waited for a minute, and then she slipped her hand in his, and they were taking the stairs two at a time. By the time Beckendorf could open his mouth, Silena had whirled him around so that they were face to face in the stairwell.

“Hey,” Silena asked. “Is everything alright?” She smiled—half comforting, half concerned. “You—you aren’t making a lot of sense right now.”

“I’m sorry—“

“No, no, it’s fine.” Silena shook her head. “It’s cool. I just...you were so excited all week to meet your mom, for me to meet your mom, and then you kind of, uh, froze up at the door? And it’s fine, you know. I get it. I totally get it if you’re nervous about bringing me home as your girlfriend to meet your mom, but are you okay? Is something up?”

“It’s not you,” Beckendorf said. “It’s not the girlfriend thing...my mom already loves you. She knows you. You’ve got nothing to worry about. I’m not worried about that. It’s not even my mom . It’s just…” he trailed off. He sat down jerkily on the bottom step of the staircase.

Silena waited a few beats before she prodded. She joined him on the last step. “It’s just what?”

“It’s gonna sound kind of dumb.”

“Try me.”

Beckendorf sighed. “I was just...on the way here, I kept thinking about how I finally get to spend like, considerable free time with my mom for one summer. It’s been years of summer vacations where I kept promising her that I’d take a break form Camp and visit, and we’d just...hang out I guess. And I kept thinking about how I’d managed to push it to the last possible year I could, and that was you know, it was fine! It wasn’t like we never got to spend time together. She calls. I drop by over winter break. We send letters. It’s cool. And it was fine, it was all fine, and then suddenly it hit me that this isn’t the last summer I get to just hang out with her.”

“Okay,” Silena said. She paused. “And that’s a bad thing because…?”

“It’s not.” Beckendorf grinned. “It’s not, it’s really not. But I kept psyching myself out by going “it’s the last summer” over and over again...but it’s not. It’s not my last summer that I spend with her. But it is the last summer when I’m head counsellor of my cabin. The last summer I can drop by Camp Half Blood as a regular camper, and not an instructor. For a minute, I just forgot what I was here for, and what that promise I made to her actually meant. When the monster attacks became less frequent, I promised. When it’s not as dangerous.”

“So you got all weird and staticky at the door because you...remembered you’re gonna be missing camp?”

Beckendorf spread his arms. “I don’t know. I remembered the first time I told my Mom that I’d visit her for a week in summer—I told her I’d take a break from camp. And I was just saying stuff because I was getting late for the Greyhound. I did get late for the Greyhound, actually, and Mom had to drop me. I can’t believe that…”

He turned to look at Silena. “I mean just…college? Did you imagine? That we’d make it to eighteen?”

For the first time that day, Silena looked just as uncertain as he felt. “Well, I’ve always…” She sighed. “No, I guess. My dad always talked about me going off to college. He didn’t ever have a doubt that I’d...make it to eighteen. He’s always making plans for the future. A Europe trip together, he always says. I’m saving up for a European holiday. He’s always wanted to go. He’s always said that we’ll go together when I’m eighteen.” Silena pulled up her knees to her chest and put her chin on them. “I didn’t really start believing that till I cut that birthday cake this Jan.”

Beckendorf could understand that. The day of his eighteenth birthday he had woken up to his siblings singing the most ear splitting rendition of the birthday song, and that was when it had sunk in for the first time— they would be getting to the other side. Just till the end of the war. Just till the end of the summer. And there had been so many summers before.

Beckendorf reached into his bag and retrieved the box of chocolates they’d picked out for his mom. He cracked open the seal and offered one to Silena.

“Hey, we bought that for your mom--”

“She won’t miss a couple,” Beckendorf assured her. “Take it as an apology for making you sad when this was supposed to be a fun date in the city.”

“You didn’t make me sad,” Silena said, choosing a truffle with a caramel filling. “This isn’t--sad. This is happy. Eighteen. Who would have thought?”

Beckendorf picked out a chocolate for himself and knocked it against Silena’s like a cheers . “Not me,” he admitted. “Not after the battle at camp last summer. Not after everybody left or died…”

“You were actually right,” Silena said, taking another truffle. “I need another one of these before we start talking about it all.”

"We still will visit, won't we? You're the best pegasus riding instructor in camp. I can't possibly leave my siblings all alone when it comes to forging. Like the demand for the whole of camp is so huge--"

"Of course we'll come back some time," Silena said. "We won't just disappear. They'll tear each other apart. Once Drew and Mitchell get going, I'm the only one who can tear them apart. And you have your brilliant new automaton dragon...it won't be the same, of course, but we'll come back. It won't...this is not goodbye forever."

"It won't be the same."

"It'll be good, though. Different, but good."

"You sure?"

"As I can be." Silena slit the wrapper with her forenail. The chocolate immediately flopped to the ground. Silena groaned. "Anyway, like I said. This isn't goodbye forever. This is just...a change. A lucky change."

They sat in silence for a moment, Silena casting periodic mournful glances at the candy on the floor. A childhood of helping her father with the candy shop had left her with a deep distaste for wasteful chocolate practices.

“I prefer the bon-bons,” Beckendorf said. He offered one to her.

Silena made a face. “My dad loves those. They taste like cardboard.”

“Never really had cardboard,” Beckendorf said. “But if it tastes anything like this, I wouldn’t mind chomping down on a couple of boxcrates myself.”

Silena rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. “Alright. Next time I get something in the mail…”

“Postal is dead,” Beckendorf said. “Don’t make empty promises, Silena. Take it from me. Never know when you’ll be staring at some random door having a breakdown about the end of an era.”

Silena laughed, just once, a bright sparkle, and then she was leaning forward and kissing him. Beckendorf allowed himself to melt into the kiss, and by the time they were pulling away, his lips smelled faintly of caramel.

“You put on a new charm,” Beckendorf observed. He nodded towards the miniature curved sword on her bracelet, between hearts and fish and tiny doves. “It’s cute.”

Silena’s eyes dropped suddenly to her wrist, like she was seeing the charm for the first time. “Oh.” She grabbed the charm between her thumb and forefinger. “Oh. I forgot that I--ah, shit, I can’t believe I forgot to take this charm off--”

“It looks nice,” Beckendorf said. “Why would you want to--”

“Charlie?” His mom had come through the front door, lugging with her two armfuls of grocery bags. “Silena! Oh, did I keep you dears waiting?”

“It’s fine.” Beckendorf jumped up to his feet and kissed his mother’s cheek, coaxing a bag from her hold. “Hey, Ma.”

“Well, come on in! It’s going to get chilly.” Nevermind they were in the middle of one of the hottest summers New York had ever seen. “This is such a pleasant surprise, Charlie!I wasn’t expecting the both of you till the evening at…” Her voice grew progressively fainter as she trailed into the apartment. Beckendorf smiled at his mother’s enthusiasm, before turning to look at Silena, who was still standing at the bottom of the staircase. Her fist was curled around something. Her wrist was bare.

“Silena,” he said.”You alright?”

Silena shook her head. “Yeah, I’m...uh, this bracelet doesn’t really...I forgot. I had something else in mind. To wear today.”

“It looks really good, I’m not kidding.”

Silena inhaled deeply and then stuffed her curled fist deep into her pocket. “Thanks.”

Beckendorf nodded towards the ajar door. “You coming inside?”

“Yeah,” Silena said. “Charlie, you know I love you, right?”

“I love you too.”

“I know,” Silena said. “I know you do. But all that talk about eighteen, about reaching years you didn't think you’d reach...you know I love you, don’t you? Whatever happens. I love you.”

Beckendorf was half tempted to blurt out I love you too again. But he knew that wasn’t what Silena was asking. “Yeah. Yeah, I know. Of course.”

Silena nodded. “We say it a lot,” she said. “But we don’t--of course we mean it, but sometimes it gets lost doesn’t it? What that means? In between the small things, it doesn’t--it doesn’t seem big enough sometimes.”

“You don’t have to explain yourself,” Beckendorf said. “I get it.”

Silena bit her lip. “I don’t know if I love you is big enough. I don't know if the fact that I love you is enough. Will be enough.”

For what ? For him? For them?

“It will be,” Beckendorf told her, because it was the only thing he knew for certain. “I promise.”

“It seems so now, but if--when something happens -- ” Silena stopped suddenly and closed her eyes. Her breath was uneven. “Really? You think it’ll be enough?”

“It’ll be enough,” Beckendorf said.

#charles beckendorf #silena beauregard #percy jackson #pjo #voop fic

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percyscourt · 4 years

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imagine the movie Wild Child, but Silena Beauregard as Poppy Moore...

silena beauregard was born and raised in Malibu, CA. she lived with her mom, dad, and little sister until her mom died when she nine years old in a car crash. before the crash, silena was quirky, respectful, sometimes even quiet. but after the crash, she was like a totally different person. as soon as she hit middle school, she became a party-girl, and her nights weren't complete without drinking, dancing, or trashing somebody's house. of course, it also didn't help that her dad owned a million-dollar chocolate company and was rarely home

the last week of the summer before her sophomore year, silena's dad announced that his new girlfriend was going to move in with them. naturally, silena reacted with nothing short of a large ball of rage. when the moving trucks arrived, they were greeted by more than 100 teenagers that silena had invited over to take, trash, and torch all of her father's girlfriend's belongings

as if this wasn't enough, silena herself wanted to participate. silena scooped up a handful of clothes and started running full speed to the pool in her backyard. instead of jumping in the pool like everybody assumed she would, silena didn't stop running, but instead ran behind the pool to where the cliff looked down into the ocean, and dived in

right as she came up from the ocean, her dad arrived, and he immediately started kicking everybody out

flashforward to dinner that night, silena's dad tells her that she's going to boarding school.

in new york. and not the city new york, no, the countryside new york.

after dinner, silena stormed to her room. her younger sister, Lacy, came into her room and spent the night. they didn't get any sleep, though, but instead talked about their mom. "i've already lost her. i can't lose you too, S."

the next day, silena began packing. her friend, Kelly, helped her while lacy sat on the bed, talking about new york. "What if your school is like in Gossip Girl? That'd be awesome!" when lacy stepped out, silena and kelly looked at the school's website. the school showed a lacrosse field, outside dining pavillion, horse stables, a lake, and dorms. "could be uglier, I guess." kelly left, promising to call silena every night

the next day, silena and her father left early so silena could see the campus before classes started, and they drove all the way from california to new york; "S, it's like a roadtrip! Fun, right?"

it took them about two days to get there, and when silena and her dad finally get to the campus, it's two hours till dinner. as soon as she stepped out of the car, silena was met by the school's dean, Professor D. who introduced her to the school's head girl, Drew, and her friends

silena immediately takes an instant disliking to Drew, which is only increased when drew looks at silena's phone case. "'Pink is powerful?' Ha! Pink is weak- like you, I'm assuming." when drew tried to take silena's hand to shake, silena pulled it back roughly. of course, drew was taken aback. "You shake the head girl's hand out of respect." she yanked silena's hand

silena pulled it back. "When the head girl has earned my respect, then I'll shake her hand..

Biotch."

after drew and her posse stormed off, silena was introduced to Clarisse, her "big sister." while clarisse was nicer than drew, you could tell she didn't like silena either. all silena wanted to do was go home.

clarisse told silena to get any bags she needed and follow her to their room. when they got there, silena was introduced to her other roomates; Katie, Thalia, and Annabeth, though everybody just called Annabeth "Wise Girl"

when she got to the room, silena found out that technically she wasn't allowed to have her phone, except for sundays, and during the week it would be with her dorm's RA

silena hated this. this rule. this school. this whole thing.

two weeks pass, and silena wasn't any closer to liking this school, but also not any closer to finding a way out of it, either. her and her roomates barely talked, and when they did, it was snarky remarks or arguments

one night, silena ended up sneaking out after lights-out. she went to the school's computer room and logged into her email to write to kelly. after she wrote and sent the email, silena looked for the log out button so she could get back before anybody realized she'd left. right before she was about to log out, she saw somebody else sneaking around, just out of the doorway

it was annabeth.

silena left the computer to investigate. she walked out of the comouter room on her tippy-toes, looking this way and that for signs of anybody else. a thought popped into her mind, maybe she's meeting a guy, but as soon as that thought came, it was gone. silena creeped behind her and saw annabeth walk into a doorway. silena waited, counted to ten, then followed and peaked inside the room. it was the school's library. ugh, lame. silena left and started heading back to her room

when she was on the second floor on the way to the third, a fire alarm went off. scared of getting caught sneaking around during lights-out, silena hopped out a window and onto the fire escape. she walked on the fire escape until she got to an apparently empty bathroom. she hopped through its window

when she gets into the bathroom, she realizes it's actualky occupied. a voice calls out from her from behind the shower curtain. "may I help you?" it was a man's voice. holy hell, i've walked into one of my teachers taking a bath! "Uh maybe. I'm Silena Beauregard, sophomore, room 308. How do I get out of here? without getting caught, I mean." the faceless voice gave her directions and she ended up getting out without getting in trouble

a couple days later, silena is in pe class when she gets in a fight with drew. it starts out with a witty comment from silena, as it always does, but then drew threw the first punch. soon, both girls were rolling around on the ground, equally pulling hair and punches. "Silena Beauregard from 308?" it was the voice. silena looked up, but instead of coming face to face with a professor, it was a boy. a boy her age. "Charles! Hey, Charles! Hi, how are you?" Drew was quickly on her feet, rushing to shake his hand.

"Uh, well. Goodbye, now." Charles left, and silena found out that his full name was Charles Beckendorf, and he was the Dean's nephew. "How do you know him, fresh meat?"

"Aww, are you mad because you have a crush on him, old meat?" Drew's friends had to drag her away before another fight ensued

as she walked to her dorm from pe, a bucket of sewer water was dumped on silena's head, courtesy of one of drew's minions from seventh grade. silena wasn't alone, though, and turned around to see clarisse. clarisse laughed for several seconds before composing herself. "Okay, let's say we get yourself cleaned up, alright?"

after they had cleaned back up at the dorms, clarisse handed silena her phone. "We gave Mr. Brunner decoys; some old flip-phones. Go ahead and call your friend if you'd like."

silena calls Kelly but it goes to voicemail, and she texts her a simple "imy girly <3" instead

when all the girls are in the room, silena opened up about her mother's death and how hard it was at this new school. partly because they liked her, and partly because they felt bad for her, they all agreed to help Silena get expelled from school.

over the course of several weeks, the girls pulled a series of pranks; dying the lake blood-red, re-recording over Mr. Underwood's lectures, etc. they never got in trouble though, and the only thing the pranks were successful in doing was bringing the girls closer, though they didn't know it

after she realized their pranks weren't working, clarisse suggested a different approach: silena would seduce charles, and the dean would be so mad that he'd expel her immediately

their plan was put into motion at the school dance a week later. the girls were allowed off campus, and they went shopping for dresses in NYC. while they were shopping, clarisse suggested they all get their hair done. Silena went along with them, then even ended up swapping her platinum blonde curls for her natural raven-black waves. when the hair stylist was done, she realized with a shock that she looked exactly like her mother. she liked it

the girls showed up twenty-five minutes late to the dance, per silena's suggestion to be fashionably late. they were by far the most dressed up and stylish there, also due to silena's large interest in fashion and design

when they got there, charles was standing in a corner, awkwardly talking with drew

"Hey, Charlie, wanna dance?"

They danced, though it was more like Silena danced and Charles just standed there and watched. "Nobody ever calls me Charlie, y'know. It's either Charles or Beckendorf. I like when you call me Charlie."

in the middle of dancing, Silena tried some new move she had seen on one of her shows, but she tripped and fell on her head. charlie picked her up and took her outside to sit down. when she assured him that she was okay, charlie just started looking at silena instead. he leaned down to kiss her but they were interrupted by drew's followers

just as she was leaving, charlie asked silena on a date

the next day at school, silena was called into Professor D's office. he scolded her for not only for behaviour but also the fact that she had brought alcoholic beverages on to the school campus. silena sat silent through the whole stretch of this talk, waiting patiently for Pr. D to finish up and expel her. instead, her punishment was joining the girls' lacrosse team

after a good two weeks of lacrosse, silena had started to like it. she found out her mom not only went to the school when she was young, but also was the team captain to lead them to nationals, and silena was determined to do the same. somewhere along the way, she found herself actually falling in love with the sport. and something somebody else.

silena and charlie's first date was the day after her talk in the dean's office. charloe took her off campus to an underground bunker. silena was surprised to see that while it was a little packed, it was very neat and fresh-looking. "welcome to bunker 9." they had a picnic then went on a drive. the date ended with a kiss that made silena feel as if she was floating

when she got back to her room, she found Clarisse, Thalia, Katie, and Annabeth crowded around the computer. "What're you reading?" the girls turned around, faces mad and hurt at the same time. "Your email."

when she looked at a screen, silena saw an email from her account, though she hadn't sent one. it went on for more than a hundred words, with the summary being that she was only pretending to be their friend so they'd help her get expelled

silena checked her account to see that a similar email was written to charlie. both charlie and her roomates shut her out and refused to talk to her

upset and alone, silena decided to call kelly. when she did, she found out that kelly had been sneaking around with Silena's on-and-off-again boyfriend, Luke, since the first week of them dating in eighth grade. silena deleted both their numbers. she sat there, feeling almost as alone as she had when her mom died

poppy was in the common room after lights-out when she really started to feel depressed. absentmindedly, she started playing with her lighter. the flame accidentally touched the curtain and scorched the corner. though she put it out before anything else happened, silena was so spooked that she decided to retire to her room. as she walked, she heard footsteps, and her slow pace turned to a fast sprint

a few minutes later as she laid awake in bed, silena turned her head to see that outside of her window the common room was on fire. silena got up, started yelling, and slammed down the fire alarm to wake everybody up

once everybody was evacuated, the teachers started doing head-counts. silena and her roomates quickly realized that one of their own was missing. "ANNABETH!" silena pushed past the crowds, ran past the firemen, and made her way to the library. when she got there, she saw Annabeth trapped behind a fallen bookcase. silena, dizzy and bleary-eyed, led annabeth until they reached the kitchen, and the firemen carried out the collapsing girls.

after the fire was successfully put out, charlie pulled silena aside. when she tried to talk about the email, he only shoved her lighter into her hands. "I believe this is yours." he refused to listen to her explain and walked away, fully believing that she was the one who started the fire

the next day, silena sat in the dean's office awaiting his decision. ironically and cruelly, she found herself wishing not to be expelled. though she held off for a while, she started crying. she couldn't tell if the tears were because of the fire, or her friends, or even her mom, but whatever the cause they didn't stop. until somebody called her name. "Silena"

silena looked up to see charlie staring her right in the face. "I believe you. It was an accident, wasn't it? Tell me everything."

later that day, silena was set to attend a hearing concerning her future at the school. at the hearing, she told her side of the story, starting from when she first got to the school, and her roomates realized she didn't send the emails

they quickly left the hearing, and silena was convinced they hated her

they returned after several minutes of investigative research and took the stand in favor of silena. they defended her against drew and debated back and forth until drew let it accidentally slide that she had saw silena put the fire out, then started it back up herself again

of course, the case was immediately resolved, and silena was cleared while drew was expelled

silena spent the next weeks preparing her team for their nationals game. when the gameday came, silena was surprised to find her dad in the crowd with the rest of the parents. mr. beauregard was equally surprised to see silena's new natural, happy appearance

silena and the rest of the team ended up winning their nationals game by a landslide, and afterward they had a party at the beach by camp

silena ended the schoolyear completely different from when she arrived. she was now officially dating charlie, her team was staying with her for three weeks in the summer, she learned more about her mother and became closer with dad, and she was finally, truly happy.

#pjo #riordanverse #riordanverse au #pjo au #silena beauregard #annabeth chase #luke castellan #thalia grace #katie gardner #clarisse la rue #charlie beckendorf #charles beckendorf #wild child #wild child au #pxrcyscliche #pxrcyscliche au #drew tanaka

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demigodsanswer · 4 years

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Once Upon a Pointe: Chapter 5

Story Summery:

“Annabeth, you’re with Percy,’ Chiron said. Annabeth. She looked like the figurine in a little girl’s music box had come to life to dance in City Ballet. Percy felt like every opportunity to dance with her was a privilege. Just don’t forget the choreography, Percy thought as he got into the right starting spot for the wedding pas de deux. Don’t forget the choreography, and don’t drop her.”

Percy, a soloist with the ballet company, and he is offered one chance to dance with Annabeth, one of their star principals. If he nails the choreography, he might just earn a chance to dance with her. And, if he’s really lucky, he might get a date out of it as well.

Chapter Title: Diamonds

Read on AO3

Start from the beginning

Note:

Like the chapter itself, this note comes to you in two parts:

Part 1: Content warnings. This is the angst chapter. It gets into what happened between Luke and Annabeth and their breakup. There is talk of a relationship between someone who is underage and an adult. There are some scenes of verbal manipulation bordering on abuse. the particularly bad scene is the breakup scene. This scene is demarcated by ***** at the start and ~~~~~ at the end. If you want to skip this section, just control F for ~~~~~ when you get to the stars. Be aware, though, that some of this content is sprinkled throughout the chapter.

Part 2: There is a tendency when it comes to fiction, but esp. fan works, to conflate the events of the story with the authors moral or political stance. Annabeth talks in this chapter about a decision that she has made, and, likely, not a lot of people will agree with it. Please do not conflate this exploration of a fictional character in a fictional situation with what you think my moral or political stance on the issue is. This is a story, not my advice to survivors. On that note as well, please know that you are not entitled to my past, trauma, or research. Please do not come a-knocking demanding that I explain what may or may not have happened to me in the past or what research I may or may not have done to write this chapter. If you don't like the chapter, you are free to say so and/or to stop reading the story, but you are not entitled to my past. If you demand that information of me, I simply will not engage with your comment.

Part One: El Tango De Roxanne

“First there is desire. Then passion. Then suspicion. Jealousy, anger, betrayal. When love is for the highest bidder, there can be no trust. When there is no trust, there is no love. Jealousy, yes jealousy, will drive you mad!”

“You’re free to leave me, just don’t deceive me, and believe me when I say ‘I love you.’”

Ten Months Ago:

Beckendorf didn’t need to be in the “Diamonds” rehearsal, but he didn’t have anything else scheduled, and he wanted to see their progress. It was the first time in a long time that he hadn’t been slotted to dance with Annabeth, but it seemed like the right call. Beckendorf had always felt more suited to “Emeralds” than to “Diamonds.” Annabeth, though, fit into the elegance and opulence of Imperial Russia flawlessly.

He smiled as he watched Percy turn her around, perfectly on time with the music. Beckendorf had only spent eleven months in soloist purgatory (although it had taken him four years to reach that rank); he was sure that after three years in the corps and four years as a soloist, Percy was working as hard as he could to prove himself a principal. He sure did look like one as he and Annabeth continued their dance.

Beckendorf didn’t remember his own short stint as a soloist very fondly. Almost overnight, he had gone from dancing six ballets a night to one solo in one ballet following his promotion. Even though he had more solo time, his time on stage decreased, and he was never first or even tenth in line for principal roles the way he was now. For eleven months, he was desperate to get on stage and to get promoted. He didn’t know how Percy had managed living in that limbo for three years.

If anyone had earned their promotion by now, it was Percy.

Beckendorf watched the ballet master’s eyes track Percy’s technique, face, and movement, paying little attention to Annabeth. He smiled; they were testing him, and Percy was acing the exam.

~*~*~

Beckendorf ran into Luke in the showers. “Hey, saw Annabeth dance earlier. She looked good.”

Luke smirked as he got changed, heading into his own rehearsal. “Yeah, she’s gorgeous. Shame she has to dance with Jackson.”

Beckendorf furrowed his brow. “Percy’s a great dancer.”

He scoffed. “You sound like Annabeth. I swear, he’s all she talks about.” Luke went back to pulling warmups out his bag to cover his tights.

“I’m sure you don’t have to be jealous of Percy,” Beckendorf said. He talked to Annabeth pretty often, and he didn’t think she spent too much time gushing about Percy by any measure. As far as he could tell, Annabeth loved Luke more than anyone.

“I know,” Luke said, the smile back on his face. “She pretty much begged me to marry her.”

Beckendorf paused. He didn’t sound overly enthusiastic about getting married. He didn’t want to pry, but he felt like he had to ask.

“Do you not want to –”

Luke cut him off before he could continue. “Check these out,” he said, holding up his phone. “Bet Jackson wishes he could see these.”

Beckendorf looked away as quickly as he had looked at the phone. “What the hell, man?!” He yelled. Luke had shown him a wall of photos of Annabeth; the images had been thumbnail size, but it didn’t take long to notice that she was nearly or completely naked in all of them. “She’s your fiancé!”

“Aren’t I lucky?” He said casually.

Beckendorf tried to wrap his head around what had just happened.

He and Luke had been in the company together for years, but they had never been close. Beckendorf didn’t even show Luke photos of his and Silena’s honeymoon. He couldn’t figure out why Luke thought what he had just done was appropriate.

“You shouldn’t show people those,” he said finally.

“Please. She wouldn’t care.” Luke said, putting his phone away.

He felt himself getting angrier with each response Luke gave. Beckendorf had great respect for Annabeth and counted her a friend. He couldn’t understand why Luke would expose intimate pictures of her, especially to him.

“Have you asked?” Beckendorf asked, trying to keep his voice below a yell.

Luke didn’t answer his question. Instead he told Beckendorf: “Relax,” with a suave calmness, as if he hadn’t just shown Beckendorf dozens of naked photos of Annabeth.

Luke’s calmness pushed Beckendorf’s anger over the top. Beckendorf slammed Luke up against the row of lockers, making some of the doors shake.

Luke put up his hands. “What the hell, man?”

“Do you have any idea how fucked up this is?” Beckendorf asked, still holding him against the wall.

“Whoa, guys, what’s going on?” Beckendorf heard Jason say, coming around the corner to break up the fight. Beckendorf stepped away. He couldn’t hit Luke. If he did, he could lose his job or be arrested. Beckendorf grabbed his bag and left without a word to either of them.

~*~*~

“What should we do about this?” He asked Silena as they left the studio.

She shook her head. She wished she had been more surprised by what Charlie had told her, but she knew Luke better than a lot of people. Dancers rarely thought about who in the costume shop was listening to them.

He had seemed nice at first – charming, sweet, all those things. But Annabeth’s career had begun to take off; she was earning leads, first-cast roles, and getting promoted through the ranks quickly. His had begun to plateau. He was already a principal (a well-respected one, at that), and he was six years older than her. At thirty-three, his career was entering its sunset phase, and hers was on the rise.

She had heard him trying to undercut her accomplishments to other dancers, attempting to take credit for roles and promotions she earned, but she had never expected him to do something this low.

“We have to tell her,” Silena said. “We can’t let him keep doing this without her knowing.”

Charlie nodded. He had expected that answer. Still, it didn’t mean telling Annabeth was going to be any easier.

~*~*~

Annabeth wasn’t stupid. No matter how cheerful Silena had tried to sound on the phone (“Can Charlie and I drop by for a few minutes?” she had asked) that something was obviously wrong. She and Beckendorf were close, of course. They had done most of their partnering together for the last three years. But they didn’t hang out outside of rehearsal that often, and they didn’t just ‘drop by.’

What they were coming to talk to her about, though, was a mystery. She catastrophized of course – worse case scenarios all over the place – and she tried to rationalize – your friends just want to hang out.

When she opened her apartment door for them and saw their grim faces, though, she went back to catastrophizing.

“Can we come in?” Silena asked.

Annabeth stepped aside and let them in. “Make yourself at home.” She told them. She had started boiling some water when they were on their way and went over to the small kitchen area to pour the tea. “Can I get you anything? I made us some tea.” She said.

They both declined but accepted the tea silently.

The two of them sat on Annabeth’s couch, while she sat in the big chair at the foot of the coffee table.

“So, what’s up?” She asked, trying to hide how terrified she was of the answer.

The two looked at each other, as if they hadn’t rehearsed this part. Annabeth looked in between, them waiting for an answer.

Finally, Beckendorf took a deep breath, looked her in the eye and said: “Luke tried to show me nude photos of you today.”

Annabeth shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut as she let out a small laugh of disbelief. Beckendorf’s words bounced around her head but her mind refused to process them. “I’m sorry,” she said, “what did you just say?”

Silena nodded. “Luke tried to show him a bunch of naked pictures of you that he had on his phone.”

Annabeth shook her head again, her mouth open, trying to find words or a deep breath, but both escaped her. Time seemed to halt as what Beckendorf had just told her sank in. She felt her mind and emotions go numb to the news, her anxiety subsiding suddenly and inexplicably.

“Why?” She finally asked. Her brain seemed to turn back on suddenly, finally reacting in earnest to what she had been told.

Why would he do that? Why would he do that to me? Why would he show that to you? Why did you tell me about it? She wanted to yell. She felt a fierce anger deep in her gut, like she could run the eighty blocks to the studio and make a scene in front of his rehearsal.

“I, uh …” Beckendorf paused for a moment, unsure of how to answer, “it seems like he was jealous of you and Percy.”

Annabeth leaned her head back. She felt like she could scream as the rage bubbled up, finally finding words to attach itself to. “He always does this!” She said, standing up and pacing around her living room. “I mean, seriously, if I say I like partnering with someone who isn’t him, and we never partner together because he’s too tall and he knows that, he takes it as some personal attack or some sign that I’m cheating. And I’ve never cheated on him!” She folded her arms on the back of the chair, resting her head in them. “Fuck! I can’t even compliment a coworker?” She yelled towards the floor. “And now …” she paused and looked up. “Why would he show them to you?” She asked.

Beckendorf shrugged. “I told him how good you are Percy looked at your rehearsal, he said some jealous things about Percy, then showed them to me, saying that he bet Percy wishes he could see them. I don’t know if he wanted to prove something to me or tell Percy about them or what.”

Annabeth sat back down in the chair, sinking low into the cushions. Her anger subsided quickly, replaced with a deep and overwhelming sadness that seemed to rip through her chest as she began to sob.

They had gotten into a fight a few nights before over Percy. She had mentioned over dinner that she though he would be promoted to a principal by the end of the summer, and Luke had gone quiet, ignoring her for the rest of the meal. She knew what he was waiting for: an apology for upsetting him.

She hated doing that. When she was younger, the apologies came easier. She found herself apologizing for crying when he yelled at her.

“I made me cry,” she had once told him, “I knew that doing that would upset you.” She had gone to Reyna’s apartment for an all-soloists party without Luke, who, as a principal, hadn’t been invited. He had asked her not to go at all, claiming he didn’t trust other guys to behave around her. She assured him that she could handle herself. A few drinks later, it was just her, Reyna, Piper, and a few others left, all getting ready to just crash on couches, air mattresses, or beds. When she called him to tell him, he yelled at her until she was crying in Reyna’s bathroom. If Reyna had known why she was crying, Annabeth was sure she would have advised breaking up with him on the spot, but, instead, Annabeth faked a panic attack and used that as an escape.

Because she loved him. So much of the time she loved him, and their relationship was fun, and passionate, and loving. Eighty percent of the time, he was the perfect guy.

And twenty percent of the time, he sat quietly through dinner, waiting for an apology for something so minor. When she was about twenty, she learned that it was easier to just offer the apology and move on.

“Sorry.” She said to him finally.

“I don’t know why you do that.” He said. “You know it upsets me.” Luke said, not looking at her.

“He’s just my dance partner.” She protested.

“Well, you sure do think a lot of him.”

“I think that he’s talented, yes.”

He looked up at her. The hanging light fixture over their kitchen table reflected in his eyes, making them almost look gold instead of blue. Annabeth sat up straighter, ready for a fight if there was going to be one.

Instead, he stood up, plate in one hand, and dropped the dish in the sink, before heading towards the door. “I’m going out.” He told her.

When the door slammed behind her, she let out a deep breath, sinking into her seat, trying desperately not to cry. Not for him, not again. After a moment, she stood up and went to the sink to clean up. Luke’s plate was broken in the sink, cracked into three larger ceramic pieces, with little shards decorating the rest of the basin. Annabeth took a deep breath again, and place her own plate over the broken one, resolving to clean it up later.

She hadn’t expected this from Luke though. To show someone something so private and without much reason. For what? To make Percy jealous? Beckendorf jealous?

She knew the answer had nothing to do with either of them. There were truths about her relationship with Luke that were crystal clear if she thought about them for long enough, but they were terrifying to deal with.

She loved him, and they were great together so much of the time. He had promised her that they would be together and be a family. She hadn’t wanted to get married so young, but they had been together for years. When he proposed he had promised her all of that: family, security, permanence. Everything.

It was so easy to believe that promise was unconditional. But she had seen the patterns for years. He didn’t trust her, he took credit for most milestones in her career, and he certainly didn’t like moments when she soared above him. He had been on edge since she became a principal, constantly worried that she would outshine him. “I’m afraid you’ll get too good,” he had said jokingly soon after he had proposed, “and then you’ll leave me.”

It was an irrational fear – he was a great dancer, and so often male choreography existed to make the female dancer look stunning as he blends into the background.

He was never good at blending, though. He had to be the center of his own career and hers. Hell, most people in the company already resented her because they thought she had slept her way to the top, and she knew those rumors started with him. And now …

And now.

She looked up when she felt Silena’s hand on her shoulder. She offered her a tissue.

“Are you going to be okay?” Silena asked.

Annabeth shook her head, not quite sure how to respond.

“I just didn’t think he hated me this much.” She said after a moment.

“Oh honey,” Silena said, pulling her into a hug as she kept crying. Silena didn’t try to convince her that he didn’t hate her, or that he had just made a mistake. She just held her and let her cry.

After a moment, Annabeth sat back up, and found herself talking in circles about her relationship with Luke; Silena and Beckendorf’s faces became more upset and angrier as the stories piled up.

Finally, Annabeth paused to drink her tea. Silena sat back on her heals and told her, “You can’t marry him.”

Annabeth sat up straighter, mug still in her hand. “Please don’t tell me what to do.”

Silena nodded. “I’m sorry, but …” Annabeth could see her searching for the right thing to say.

“If he hurts you like this now,” Beckendorf said, “it’s probably only going to get worse when you’re married.”

“It’s not like he’s ever hit me.” Annabeth said, putting her mug back on the table. That was true; he’d never even come close.

“But he controls you,” Silena said, “and he undermines you, and he violates your privacy. That’s not any better.”

Annabeth took a shaky breath. “I just … I don’t know what I would do without him.”

“Anything,” Beckendorf said, “you could do anything without him.”

“But we’ve been together for so long,” she said, “and I love him so much. So much of the time it’s so good.”

“Is it so good?” Silena asked. “Or do you spend that eighty percent of the time self-censoring to keep him happy? Do you spend that time waiting for the next time he gets mad at you?”

Annabeth hung her head and began to sob again. I can’t marry him, she thought for the first time. She had had doubts before, but she figured every bride had doubts. But Silena’s question had broken through walls in her mind that kept those doubts out. Was she happy? I can’t marry him.

“I just don’t want to be alone.” She admitted, still crying.

“Honey,” Silena said, “as long as we’re alive, you’re never on your own.”

Annabeth looked up and leaned forward quickly, pulling Silena in.

“I know you’ve been together for six years –“ Beckendorf started. Annabeth didn’t let him finish his sentence.

She took a deep breath, and before she could remember to be afraid, she told him: “It’ll be ten years this December.”

Silena pulled away from the hug and looked at her. “Aren’t you twenty-five?”

Annabeth nodded. “We went on our first date after my first Nutcracker season as an apprentice.”

Silena gasped and leaned on the coffee table for support. Beckendorf just muttered, “Jesus Christ,” to himself.

Silena looked more shocked than Annabeth had seen her in the entire conversation. “You could really sue him for this.” She said.

Annabeth hadn’t thought of that. Of course, she had known that their age gap was inappropriate and illegal, but it had never occurred to her to press charges over it (especially not considering she was planning on marrying him). “I don’t know,” Annabeth said. “I don’t even know what to do about right now.”

“Are you going to break up with him?” Silena asked.

I can’t marry him, she thought again, but the words wouldn’t leave her mouth. “I don’t know. I mean, an hour ago I was happily engaged, and now I don’t know what I am. It’s all just a lot, and I want to talk to him about everything and just … get things sorted out.”

Silena nodded. She opened her mouth to say something, but she was cut off by the door opening.

Annabeth’s eyes met Luke’s, before he scanned the rest of the apartment, shooting accusatory looks at Beckendorf and Silena. Beckendorf stood up, staring at Luke before asking Annabeth, “Do you want us to stay?”

“No,” Annabeth said, “you guys can leave.”

“Are you going to be okay?” Silena asked. Annabeth nodded, and she hoped that was true.

*****

When the door closed behind them, Luke turned to her, his eyes calm. “What were they up to?”

Annabeth looked at him in disbelief. “You really have no idea why they were here?”

Luke ignored her puffy eyes and runny nose and sat on the couch. “What did they tell you?”

“So, you do know?” Annabeth asked. She stared him down, waiting for him to admit to what he’d done.

“I don’t understand why you’re upset.” He said to her.

She almost laughed at him she was so angry. “Are you kidding?” She asked. “You violated my privacy, you exposed me to another dancer!”

“You’re mad at me because I love you? Because I think you’re beautiful, and I want to show you off?” He asked, moving closer to her.

Annabeth stood up from the chair and walked away from him. “That’s not what you did, and you know it.” He didn’t look guilty or remorseful. He just stared at her like she was the one in the wrong, like she was crazy for not seeing the situation from his point of view. His indifference felt violent. “We were going to be a family, Luke.” She said, her voice quivering. “You promised.”

She walked towards the kitchen, unable to look at him.

“We are going to be a family.” He said.

Annabeth sobbed again. She leaned on the sink, afraid she might throw up, but instead the words she had so far been too afraid to say left her mouth.

“I’m not going to marry you.” She said into the sink.

“What?” He asked, standing up to walk into the kitchen.

“I’m not going to marry you.” She repeated, turning around to face him. “I can’t believe you would hurt me like this.” That was a lie; he had hurt her like this before, just never in this way.

“Annabeth –” He tried to reach out to her, but she dodged him.

“Don’t touch me.” She said.

“You wanted to be a family. And we will be if you don’t throw that away over something so stupid -”

Annabeth cut him off by throwing her engagement ring at him. When that hit didn’t satisfy her, she picked up the vase of roses on the table, and raised it over her head, letting the flowers and water splash on the floor. When she moved to throw it, Luke flinched. She paused before putting the vase back on the counter. She took a deep breath, overwhelmed by her own anger. They started at each other for a moment. He felt like a stranger to her.

“I want you to get your shit and move out.” She told him.

“You can’t just kick me out.” He protested.

“Oh yes I can, your name’s not on the lease.” She told him.

Luke bent down to pick up the thrown engagement ring. “No,” he said, “but is yours? Or is it your daddy’s name?” He asked. He pressed his body close to hers. This time, Annabeth didn’t move; she stood frozen, half with fear and half with pride. She felt his left hand wrap around the curls at the base of her neck; his right hand held her left hand. From a distance, their position may have seemed romantic, but Annabeth felt vulnerable in his grasp.

She tried to look him in the eyes, but she was met with a cruel look she could barely stand. She stood still, not wanting to make him angrier than he already was.

“You wouldn’t have anything without him or me, Annie.” He told her. Annabeth shook her head as much as she could with his grip still in her hair. That’s not true, she wanted to tell him, I know that’s not true, but she couldn’t find the words. “And he doesn’t love you, not really.” Annabeth started to cry again. “You’d be alone without me.” He said again. She sobbed, resisting the urge to lean against him for comfort as always had.

He dropped the hand from her neck. The ring had been clenched against his palm, leaving an indent in his skin. He took her left hand. “So let’s put this ring back on.”

She clenched her fist, resisting it. “No!” She said, stepping back from him before he could grab her again. Her sock met the puddle the flowers had made, and she slipped backwards, crushing the roses under her weight.

Luke leered over her. He looked like he might spit on her or kick her, but he just frowned and shook his head as he slipped her engagement ring into his pants a pocket.

“You’ve never been less attractive,” he told her, before walking towards their bedroom

Annabeth sat motionless in the puddle of flowers, watching him move through their bedroom, gathering street clothes and dancewear. Annabeth couldn’t be sure of how long he’d been in there, but he emerged eventually with a suitcase and a dance bag.

“The wedding is off,” he said to her, as if it had been his idea, “until you can get your act together.”

When the door slammed behind him, Annabeth curled up on the floor and sobbed, gripping the roses in her fist. She crushed them until the petals stained her fingertips and the thorns cut her palms.

~~~~~

Part Two: Sparkling Diamonds

“He’s your guy when sparks are high, but beware when they start to descend / Diamonds are a girl’s best friend”

Silena and Beckendorf hadn’t been far away, reluctant to leave her alone, despite her protests. Once Luke left, they came back, collected her, and brought them to their apartment for the night. Annabeth was grateful for them. She didn’t like burdening people, but they were right. She hadn’t wanted to spend the night alone.

She woke up in the morning to the sound of a blender. Their ‘guest room’ was a futon in the living room near the kitchen. It had been a surprisingly comfortable bed, which Annabeth was grateful for.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.” Beckendorf said, pouring the fruit mix into two glasses and offering one to her.

“Thanks.” Annabeth said, taking the glass. “What time is it?”

“Seven.” he said. “Class starts in a few hours, then dress rehearsal, but I’m sure Chiron will understand if you don’t want to –”

Annabeth shook her head. “There’s no reason for me not to dance today or in the performance. I’m not sick, I’m not injured, I’m doing it.” Luke had tried to take so much from her, and she wouldn’t let him take dance.

Beckendorf could tell that there wasn’t any use arguing with her.

Annabeth stood in the wings, taking deep breaths as she watched Luke at the barre. She picked a spot on the stage as far away from him as she could find, avoiding his looks, and trying to look as though the past night’s events had no effect on her.

Class helped her refocus. It was a methodical focus on technique and control, and that’s what she needed in that moment: control.

Dance had always been her escape. It was what she did or where she went when she felt like there was no one on her side. It didn’t matter that Luke was in the company with her, she tried to tell herself, or that other people in the company had seen photos of her, what mattered was dance.

Have other people seen the photos, she thought suddenly. She hadn’t asked Luke, but if he showed them so casually to Beckendorf …

She tried to put the thought out of her mind, trying to convince herself that if someone else had seen them, they would have told her. But Luke did have a lot of friends in the company … She snapped herself out of the thought spiral, returning her attention to the ballet master’s next combination.

She wished Luke looked worse. She wished he looked like he had been crying all night, or like he had been betrayed, or like he felt guilty, but he didn’t look like that at all. He just looked like any of the other dancers. Annabeth tore her eyes away from him, refocusing on the combinations, trying to keep Luke as far from her mind as she could.

Annabeth took a deep breath as she stood in front of her dressing room mirror. Her costume glittered with crystals and rhinestones. Even her tights were white to match the tutu and bodice; her pointe shoes had been spray-painted to match. Carefully, she pinned a bejeweled hairpiece to her bun, the final bit on bling on her costume.

“Looking good,” Piper said. Piper was the Diamonds lead in the second cast, and her dressing room roommate. Second cast rehearsed after the first, so Piper was still lounging in her normal dancewear.

“Thanks,” Annabeth said, trying to steady her breathing. She had run to her dressing room quickly after class to avoid as many people as she could, but there was no avoiding Piper.

Piper had spotted that something was wrong from when they had first gotten into the dressing room. “Are you okay?” She asked Annabeth.

Annabeth shook her head as she peeled off her warmups and took down her hair.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Piper asked.

Annabeth thought for a moment before shaking her head. If she tried to talk about it, she worried she would break, and she didn’t have time for that. She just wanted to relax, enjoy a small lunch, and go out and run the ballet. “No.”

“Okay,” Piper said. “But I’m here if you need me.”

Annabeth nodded. “Thanks.”

Before every show, Annabeth had a recurring nightmare. They were always the same: the orchestra played her cue, she ran out on stage, slipped, and fell on her face. She would get up, and try to continue, but she couldn’t remember the choreography, or she’d do the choreography to the wrong dance. Last night, Annabeth had dreamt that she went out on stage, met the corps and Percy, all in their gilded white costumes, only she was in her red costume from Don Quixote, and she could only remember the steps to Kitri’s act one variation.

She looked down at her costume. It was definitely white. She did a few steps, confirming for herself that she did remember them.

The curtain fell at the end of Rubies, and Annabeth tried to hide herself in the shadows as much as she could as Luke left the stage, but he found her.

“Good luck.” He said smiling. To anyone else, it seemed sweet; to her, it felt deeply insidious.

She tried to smile back, but she felt her stomach churn looking at him, so she just looked away towards the stage as the corps took their place.

He barely moved away from her, taking a spot in the wings where he could see. He’s going to watch, Annabeth realized. That’s okay, she tried to tell herself. He’s just a company member. He wants to watch. He’s allowed to.

After a few minutes, the corps left the stage, and the music for the pas de deux began. Percy entered the stage from downstage left, and she entered from upstage right. They moved slowly to meet each other in the middle. For a moment, all her nerves melted away. She was doing the thing she was best at, and nothing could get in her way.

The dance was slow and elegant, and she and Percy worked well together as partners. She didn’t have to think about anything during the dance. She found peace for a moment as her body moved through the music.

She took his hand and dropped down into a penche, a standing split, one leg going straight up in the air as her body dropped forward, supported by him. Her gaze drifted past Percy though, into the wings, where Luke was still watching. She saw him whisper something to one of the young corps girls, who put a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. Annabeth’s heart rate rose as she lifted out of the penche, turning around to move on with the dance. On the other side of the stage, she saw the Stoll brothers, good character dancers, but also good friends of Luke. They were looking at something on a phone, smiling and not paying attention to the dance. They’re looking at the photos, her anxiety told her. They’ve seen them. How many people do you think have seen them?

She turned back to Percy; her movements less precise as she began to spiral. He could tell something was wrong, and tried to help her through, holding onto her tighter when he could to help her stay steady. He’s probably seen them, she thought. He knows. They all know.

She stopped.

She stood flat on the stage as her heart rate rose. Out in the audience, she heard Chiron call for the orchestra to pause, but his voice sounded far away.

“Annabeth? Are you …” Percy started.

She shook her head. “I’m so sorry, I can’t do this.” She said to him. She didn’t recognize her own voice or what she was saying. She looked at Luke one more time. He was smiling.

Annabeth turned and tore off stage in the other direction.

Her dressing room door was opened for her, and she tore inside. She was met by Piper who pulled her into a hug. “I was watching on the monitors.” Piper said, squeezing Annabeth close. “What happened?”

Annabeth sobbed into Piper’s shoulder, holding onto her to keep herself from collapsing, making no effort to explain. Piper didn’t push her to, she just held her until Chiron knocked on their door.

“Annabeth, can I speak with you?” He asked through the door.

Annabeth pulled away from Piper, grabbing tissues to wipes her eyes and nose. “Yes, can I get changed quickly?”

“Of course,” he said, “meet me in my office.”

Annabeth looked at herself in the mirror. Her makeup was running, and her eyes were red, but her hair and costume were still pristine. She took a deep breath and grabbed a makeup wipe, removing all traces of the streaked makeup.

She knew before entering Chiron’s office that she wasn’t going get through the conversation without crying. If he was merciful, she’d still have a job at the end of it.

When she walked into his office, he asked her to sit, looking at her with a removed sympathetic look.

“What happened out there?” He asked her.

Annabeth began to cry despite her best efforts not to. She had hoped she’d make it longer than four seconds.

The story of the night before came spilling out of her. Chiron listened silently, his eyes going wide with shock at some of the details. She finally mustered up all the courage she had and told him: “We’ve been together since I was an apprentice.”

He sat up straighter in his chair. “Well, this is all incredibly unacceptable,” he said.

Annabeth could tell that he didn’t know what else to say to her.

She had spent all morning trying to convince herself that Luke wouldn’t be a distraction. That dancers date all the time and break up. They keep going, why couldn’t she? But she knew it was different. He had a hold on her that he wouldn’t let go of easily.

She took a deep breath and admitted: “I don’t think I can keep dancing here as long as he’s here.” She started to cry again. The idea of losing City Ballet was a nightmare. Losing it because of Luke, though, was never something she expected. But it wasn’t a nightmare at this point, it was a reality she was living.

“Well, we certainly wouldn’t want to lose you, especially considering the circumstances,” Chiron said. “Let me work on keeping you here.” He said. She wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, though. “Do you know what your next step will be?” He asked.

She shook her head. “I don’t … I haven’t had much time to think about all of this. I just …”

“Why don’t you take some time off?” Chiron suggested. Annabeth looked at him, her heart racing. Other than a few injuries, she had never just taken time off before. “If you think that would help.” He added. “I’ve watched your career since you joined the school at fourteen. I want to see you dance here, but I also want to see you heal.”

She thought for a moment before nodding. “I think a break would help.” She admitted. “I hate to do that though.”

“Take your time,” Chiron said. “The ballet will be here when you come back.”

“Will Luke?” She asked.

“Not if I can help it.” Chiron said. Annabeth let out a deep breath and almost smiled.

“I don’t want this to be huge news in the company, though. I’m sure there will be rumors but –”

“We will do what we can,” Chiron promised her. “Do you have someone to stay with?” He asked. Annabeth nodded, hoping Silena and Beckendorf didn’t mind if she crashed at their place for another few nights. “Great,” he said. “Keep me posted on your situation. And if you pass Piper, tell her she’ll be dancing Diamonds with Percy first cast. Katie will take Piper’s second cast spot.”

Annabeth nodded, and headed out of the office.

When she stepped into the hall, she was met by Percy, still in costume and looking worried. “Hey,” he said, walking up to her, “are you okay?”

Annabeth didn’t know Percy that well, but they had been in the company together for years. This was the first time they had partnered together though, and they had started to become closer. She still didn’t know much about him except that he was kind and funny (and he had eyes so green it should be illegal.)

She was almost overwhelmed that he cared about her enough to wait outside the office to check on her. Luke, she noticed, was nowhere to be seen.

“I’ll be okay,” she told him, hoping that was true. “I’m so sorry.” She added.

“Don’t worry about it. Do you need anything?” He asked.

She shook her head. “Thank you. I’m not going to be performing, though. I’m taking a break for a bit.”

He looked shocked, but he was too polite to ask any questions. “Good luck,” he said. “And really, please let me know if you need anything.”

Annabeth nodded and headed back to her dressing room to pack her things and tell Piper that she’d been promoted to first cast.

~*~*~

Present Day

“So, I left, stayed with Beckendorf and Silena for a few days while Luke moved out. A month or so later, I went down to Virginia until December,” she finished telling Percy.

They were sitting on her couch facing each other. She had tucked her knees up to her chest, closing herself off as she told the story. She had asked Percy to come to her apartment during the phone call, sending him an Uber. When she opened the door for him, she nearly collapsed against his chest, pulling him in for a hug. Percy hugged her back, holding her tightly. He felt grateful that she still trusted him enough to be close to him.

As she told him her story, he wanted to pull her in close, but she kept to one side of the couch, hardly looking at him as she recalled some of the more painful details.

Percy hadn’t felt this angry in a long time. He had known men like Luke before, he had lived with one for too long, and he didn’t like the idea of anyone having to put up with that, and certainly not for a decade. Certainly not still.

“Fuck him for doing that to you.” Percy said finally. He tried to conceal his rage; he knew it wouldn’t necessarily be the most helpful thing to add to the conversation.

Annabeth took a deep breath. “He’s the worst, and I can’t believe how much time I wasted with him.”

Percy moved closer to her, just close enough the rest his hand on hers for comfort.

“Did you ever end up pressing charges or anything?” He asked.

Annabeth shook her head. “I tried. It seemed like the right thing to do. I met with a lawyer and it was … awful. It was just hours of traumatizing questions of whether or not we had evidence or foundation. It wasn’t helping me get better. There was one moment where I realized that I if I had to sit on the stand, I’d be more likely to throw up or have a panic attack, rather than offering any evidence to help my case.

“So eventually, I sat down and thought about what I actually wanted. And I wanted to heal, which wouldn’t happen as long as this process was on going. I wanted him out of City Ballet, which Chiron was already working on, and I wanted him out of my life, and to get rid of the photos. So, we settled between the two of us. He’d leave the ballet and move to Portland to work for his dad, which he did, and he even let me delete the photos of his phone myself.” She let out a grim laugh. “Should have figured he had them somewhere else.”

She took a deep breath and continued. “But, anyway, he left, and I hadn’t heard from him until today.”

“Do you think you’ll go forward with something now?” Percy asked. “Because I’m sure Mr. Gmail could get that email back if you –”

Annabeth shook her head. “Probably not. I mean, maybe? I don’t know. I’ll probably call him at some point and ask about today, but I still don’t think I’m ready for any legal process.”

“Don’t you want him to face consequences?” Percy asked. Percy thought back to Gabe, and how many times he wished that his mom would divorce him, or that a school councilor would notice that Percy was bruised. That someone would do something to get him out of his and his mom’s lives. None of that ever happened. The happiest day of Percy’s life was when they’d found Gabe in the Hudson – some unsettled poker debt and a bar fight. His mom had never let him know all the details, but Percy always figured that his body must have been even more bloated and smelly after a few days in the river. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want something similar for Luke, instead of him just walking away to a different life.

“I wanted to hurt him,” she admitted. “When I held up that vase, I wanted to hurt him, to make him bleed, to make him vulnerable. But more than that, I wanted to keep my career, to keep my life.”

“Do you think your career would be ruined by exposing him? You’ve already got Chiron on your side.”

“No,” She told him. She paused for a minute, thinking about what to say.

“You know, the day after he moved out, Jewels opened,” she said. “I went and sat all the way in the back. Chiron had pulled Luke from “Rubies,” but Jason was dancing in his place. From all the way in the back, he looked like him. But that didn’t bother me. I felt nothing. The thought of him being on that stage didn’t make me angry, and the thought of him never dancing on it again didn’t make me happy. But then “Diamonds” started. And I saw you, up on stage with Piper, and I just started to cry. Because I didn’t know if I’d ever be on that stage again.

“I left New York a few days later, and I spent months with therapists, and old dance teachers, and my journal, and Greys Anatomy reruns, just trying to figure out what do, and …” She trailed off and stared at her hands as she took a deep breath. Finally, she looked back at Percy. “I’m just trying to do what’ll make me happy, and, right now, pressing charges won’t do that, I don’t think.”

Percy didn’t say anything. She started to cry again, and he handed her a tissue and her glass of water, offering a short pause before she continued.

“We were engaged. I told him I wanted to marry him! We were a month away from the wedding. I had a dress! Have a dress; it’s still in my closet.” She looked over towards her room, her gaze distant.

“I know we like to think we live in some liberal utopia, but how many judges will look at this case – look at me – and think I’m just some vindictive would-be bride who got dumped? I have no evidence of our relationship before I was 18, and even then, it’s slim. Most people think we started dating when I was 20! It’s just my word against his.” Percy wanted to tell her that she was wrong, that there would be judges who would take her seriously. Or lawyers who would encourage him to settle, getting her a restraining order or something. But he knew Annabeth was smart; if she didn’t think that was possible or good for her, she wouldn’t do it.

She shook her head, looking down again, blonde curls a curtain covering her face. “And for what? Maybe he’ll face consequences if put before the right judge, but what are the consequences for me? I have to sit in front of a room of people I don’t know and tell this story again? Ask them to believe me?” She sobbed again.

“I never even told my dad what happened. What? Am I supposed to sit in court and say, ‘Sorry dad, you trusted me to go off to New York and I got taken advantage of for a decade in the apartment you pay for? Now watch some lawyer hold up nude photos of me?” She laughed and sobbed at the same time before continuing. “No. I can’t do that.” She took a deep breath and took a sip of water before continuing.

“Percy, I’m so embarrassed. I’ve spent the last few months trying to understand that I was taken advantage of, and harmed, and that it all wasn’t my fault, but … I lived with him for five years. I believed him when he told me he loved me. And not just when I was sixteen. I believed him when I was twenty-five. For ten years, I thought he loved me. And I’ve never been so wrong about something, and I am so embarrassed. I have a fucking wedding dress in my closet and –” she cut herself off with her own sobs, taking a few more tissues from Percy, who just rested a comforting hand on her leg as she cried.

She caught her breath after a moment. “I don’t want people in the company to know what happened. Going to trial would just mean everyone finding out. I don’t want rumors that I’ve slept my way to the top to get worse. I don’t want people to judge me, or pity me, or hate me. I don’t want people to know the photos exists, because they’ll just go looking for them. I just … I can’t give up what I have right now for a trial that might result in nothing.” She took a deep breath. “I know it might not be the right thing to do. It’s not the brave thing. But it’s what will make me happy right now.”

Percy nodded. It didn’t matter what he wanted to do to Luke, or what he felt he deserved, he reminded himself. He was at Annabeth’s apartment to comfort her, not to try and tell her what to do.

“You know, I danced the Sugar Plum Fairy when I was seventeen?” She said. Percy nodded, he had heard that story before, but he didn’t know why she was telling it. “I was in the morning class,” she continued, “before the matinee. I was going on that night as snowflake and flower. Right before class started, Chiron came up to me and told me that whoever was dancing it that night was out. I don’t even remember who I replaced, but he told me that I was going to do it. I had about four hours to learn it, get in a costume, and get on stage. And I remember Lee Fletcher was my cavalier.” Percy knew Lee, of course, he was one of the oldest dancers in the company. He had retired two years ago, but he still came back for the Nutcracker to play Drosselmeyer. He was possibly one of the kindest people Percy had met at City Ballet besides Beckendorf.

“So, Lee and I go into a studio and just start running the dance over and over with a ballet master. Then I got into a costume and waited for act two to start. While I was waiting, I remember him coming up to me and saying ‘Don’t worry. If you forget the steps, just make it up. If you forget the steps to the pas de deux, just make it up, and I’ll follow your lead.’ And I could tell that he was kind of joking to lighten the mood, but also very serious, and that was exactly what I needed to hear. But, anyway, I went out for the solo, it went great. We did the pas de deux later, it went great, and I felt like I was on top of the world. I had debuted at Sugar Plum at seventeen.” She smiled. “And then I went backstage, and one of the ballet masters just said, ‘great job Annabeth. Go bring that costume back to the shop, we need you as a party guest, a snowflake, and a flower tonight.’ And that was it. I had my moment, and it was over as quickly as it had been given to me.

“And then, this November, I agreed to do some guesting performances at my youth company. I would be their Sugar Plum for their Nutcracker performances for the first two weeks of December, and then I would move back to New York right before Christmas. And then Chiron called me and asked if I was coming back for Nutcracker. I told him I’d be back in the city on December 20th, and that was planning on doing the Spring season shows, but not Nutcracker. And he said ‘December 20th? Can I put you in for shows after then?’”

“And I just said ‘yes, of course.’ I didn’t realize until I said that how much I wanted to be back. He put me in for three shows, all with Beckendorf. The first one was December 23rd, and I was standing in the wings, waiting to go on. I felt so nervous and so calm at the same time. Then Lee came up behind me, and he was all dressed up as Drosselmeyer, and he said ‘remember, if you forget the steps, just make them up.’” Her voice caught, and she started to cry again, but she spoke through it. “Then he hugged me and told me that he was glad I was back.

“I thought no one remembered that day. It had all happened so quickly. No one was in the audience to support me. I didn’t even have time to call my friends or family to let them know it was happening, and it was over so fast. But for him to come up to me nine years later and show that he remembered that day, and that he knew how important it was to me it just … it meant to world to me. And I knew that this was where I wanted to be and dance for the rest of my career.

“And I just want Sleeping Beauty to be perfect, because I want people to know that I am back, I’m not going anywhere, and that I’ve worked hard and I’m good, and I’m not giving that up.” She paused and took his hand. “And I know you understand that.” Percy nodded. He did understand. The two of them had come from incredibly different trainings and upbringings, but somehow, they had both landed in similar situations. They were leading a ballet together, and half the company thought she wasn’t qualified to do it, and the other half thought he wasn’t qualified. But they were all wrong, and they would show them.

She squeezed his hand but kept holding on. “Today, when I was in costume and on stage again, I felt so strong. I was balanced on two tows, and I felt like nothing in the world could knock me over. I don’t think I’ve ever felt that way.” She smiled faintly, looking up at Percy. “I just want to keep feeling that way for right now.”

Percy nodded and smiled. “It’s your decision, and I won’t try and push you in any other direction,” he promised. “But I’m by your side no matter what.”

“Thank you, that means a lot.”

Percy took a deep breath. “I do kind of understand what you’re going through.”

He ended up telling her most of the details he remembered about Gabe. Their ‘guys secret’ where Percy gave him poker money or else Gabe would punch his lights out. His yelling, his smell, and the day Percy realized he hadn’t been the only one being hurt by Gabe. Annabeth kept holding his hand as he talked through the story, offering him comforting squeezes when it became too much.

“Then one day, he turned up dead in the river, and it seemed like all of our problems were over.” He said. “My mom and I were suspects for a little while, but they eventually figured out it was some gambling dispute turned bar fight.”

“Who knew that of all the things, this is something we’d have in common?” Annabeth joked. Percy laughed for the first time that evening.

Percy only noticed how long they had been holding hands when Annabeth let go of his. She turned her body to face foreword, putting her feet on the ground for the first time in hours. “Anyway, I hate to ask you this,” Annabeth said, “but would you be willing to stay here tonight? Just in case he tries to come around or something? If not, I can call Silena, I’m sure –”

“Annabeth,” Percy said, “of course I’ll stay.”

She let out a deep breath and smiled. “Thanks. You can take the bed.” She said.

“Absolutely not. I’ll be fine on the couch. I’m not taking your bed away from you.”

“No, seriously, I’ll be fine. Besides, this is a pull-out couch.” She said, patting the couch cushions.

“That might be worse.” He said.

She stood up and stretched. “How about we settle this later, and for the time being, we pop on a movie? I can make popcorn.”

“That would be fantastic.” Percy said. They didn’t have a rehearsal the next two days, so they could afford to stay up a little late. They both needed to unwind.

“I have Netflix. I used to have more DVDs, but Luke took most of them when he moved out. All he left were Moulin Rouge and the behind the scenes footage for the Lord of the Rings movies.” She said, walking towards the kitchen.

“Wow, what a psycho.” Percy said.

“He took Psycho too.” She added. Percy laughed, before standing up.

“Can I help you with anything?”

“Wanna melt the butter?”

A few minutes later, they were sitting on Annabeth’s couch, under the same blanket with a bowl of popcorn in between them, as Baz Luhrmann’s colorful early 2000s masterpiece started. Musicals weren’t Percy’s favorite genre (although he was always partial to Ewan McGregor), but he understood them. They were like ballet. Musicals and ballets were things that your logic understood, but your emotions did. And Annabeth had a number of emotional reactions to the film.

By “El Tango De Roxanne,” they had finished the bowl of popcorn, setting it on the table, and she had taken his hand, gripping it with anticipation as the scene went on.

Percy worried about their movie choice the Duke ripped the diamond necklace from Satine’s neck, before stripping her and abusing her, but Annabeth kept her eyes forward as the music swelled. “You made me believe that you loved me,” The Duke said to Staine. Annabeth didn’t move, but Percy squeezed her hand as the Duke tore at Satine’s clothes. She didn’t move until Satine’s death; Percy watched her quickly wipe tears from her face.

“Luke always hated this movie.” She said. “Probably why he left it.”

Percy could figure out that a movie that punishes jealousy in love would make Luke squirm. He wanted to ask what Luke had against the behind the scenes footage of The Lord of the Rings, but it didn’t seem like the appropriate time.

When the credits rolled, Annabeth wiped her eyes quickly, before standing up to take the popcorn bowl to the kitchen.

“So,” she said, “you’re taking the bed?”

“Absolutely not,” Percy said back, “you’ve had a very long day, and it’s your bed. You’re taking it.”

“You are my guest and an absolute saint for listening to me for hours and hours.” She walked back to the couch and poked him in the chest. “You are taking it.”

Percy laid down on the couch. “Nope, I’m just fine right here.”

Annabeth groaned. “You know what? It’s a king-sized bed, why don’t we each just pick a side?” Her face was a little red, but that might have just been from crying.

Percy nodded, trying to seem casual. They had done plenty of intimate things on stage, but that was their job. Sharing a bed platonically felt like a new level of intimacy unmatched by any ballet moves or stage kisses. “Alright, but you’re picking which side first.”

“Fine,” she agreed. “If you need something to change into, I might have something.” She offered.

Percy looked down at his sweatpants and tee shirt. Usually, he just slept in his boxers, but that wouldn’t do for tonight. “I’ll be alright in this.” He promised.

They took turns in the bathroom, and Annabeth found him an extra toothbrush to use, which he was grateful for. He texted his mom, briefly explaining the situation to her. Sally had texted back: “Thank you for staying with her, I’m sure she appreciates it. Be safe.”

“It’s not like that.” He texted back. She just sent back the shrug emoji and a blue heart.

When he stepped out of the bathroom, Annabeth was already in her pajamas – just a plain black tee shirt and flannel pants. She had gotten under the covers on the side near the window.

Percy almost smiled getting into bed with her, but he held back, not wanting to make anything weird. It was weird enough being in Annabeth’s bedroom at all. Most of her furniture was white, and her shelves and dressers were decorated in photos of her dancing, trophies, and a few old pairs of pointe shoes that she had written the date on and the name of a show. Before she turned the light off, Percy noticed a pair hanging by their ribbons over the nightstand on his side. They were particularly faded with age, and the ribbons were fraying. “The Nutcracker, 12/6/2011” they said. Percy smiled.

“Thanks again for staying.” Annabeth said, already rolled over away from him.

“Of course.”

She reached over to the lamp on her nightstand and clicked it off, leaving them alone in the dark.

~*~*~*~*

A/N: Sorry this became so thematically tied to Moulin Rouge. It wasn’t that way about five hours ago. Damn you Baz and you’re wonderfully stylized musical.

Jewels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9Z2-0GVvIE&t=4374s (skip to 59:31 for the pas de deux) Kitri act one variation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOvXo841L1o Sugar Plum Fairy solo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_pKwCEfGRDU Sugar Plum pas de deux: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qy6dlGpC3Ns (this is not the NYCB choreography, but you get the point) El Tango De Roxanne: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn0xXo1gwGY

#percy jackson #annabeth chase #percabeth #charles beckendorf #silena beauregard #luke castellan #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #once upon a pointe #Piper McLean

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