#this isn’t about annabeths casting actually I think her casting is cool | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

phykios · 3 years

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honesty and promise me part 9, co-written with @darkmagyk [read on ao3]

He doesn’t text her later. He doesn’t text her for two weeks. On day fifteen of no contact from Percy, Annabeth begins to accept that whatever they had might be over now.

That’s alright, she reminds herself. She had been working up to breaking it off with him for a while, and he just went ahead and did it for her. Saves her the trouble, really.

October rolls on, wet and cold, inching ever closer to Halloween, and Annabeth finds herself seeking refuge at Piper’s, lending her body and her skills to help her friend finish her collection before her self-imposed deadline. At least the work provides a nice distraction from her silent phone--when Percy stopped texting her, Thalia did, too. Well. That’s that, she supposes.

Still, the fact that they were never officially dating doesn’t stop Annabeth from scrolling through his Instagram at 2 AM like some pathetic ex-girlfriend, screenshotting all her favorite photos so she can look at them later without the threat of accidentally liking them. He’s been posting a lot of stills from that fucking music video again, the divinely crafted muscles of his body on full display in cool, blue light, brown cheekbone and jawline sharper than ever. Beyonce herself even liked a few of them.

God damn she’s a fucking idiot.

It must be the self-pity that’s making her crazy, because when Luke calls her up to be his date/eye candy to some fancy semi-costumed party that weekend at an art gallery on the Lower East Side, she agrees without even thinking about it.

The gallery isn’t that far (certainly much, much closer than the Lincoln Center) but Annabeth has not worn heels in probably up to a calendar year, and she just cannot make herself walk that far. She will not. Her tiny-ass cross-body bag isn’t big enough to hold a separate pair of walking shoes. So she ponies up the exorbitant cab fare to the Lower East Side, asking the driver to drop her at the Seward Park Library so she can elegantly sashay down the sidewalk with the rest of the rich and glamorous.

No one spares her a second glance, which is both relieving and strangely disheartening. She’s become too used to turning heads, she thinks.

Well. One head in particular.

“Hey, Annabeth!” Luke appears from thin air, dressed immaculately as always. His sandy hair has come a long way since business school, now tamed and laid perfectly, but with the faintest touch of dishevelment, like he couldn’t completely fix it after someone’s hands had been all over it. He looks even more handsome than he had on her birthday. He kisses her on the cheek, right on the sensitive skin of an old, failed piercing, and she shivers. “You look incredible.”

Before she left Piper’s apartment that day, Annabeth had raided her small stash of designer clothes and had rediscovered her old faithful that Piper had tried to bury, the midi-length Valentino dress she had worn to the unveiling of her and Leo’s collaboration. It’s a light, powder blue, which can’t be helped, but the lace collar and three-quarter sleeves cover most of her tattoos. She had dug out her tiara, too, making herself a low-key Halloween costume out of the spring season dress. Though the dress doesn’t fit like it did a year ago, Which is depressing as all hell. “Thanks. You, too.”

He beams at her, holding out his arm. “Shall we?”

“Who did you say was the artist, again?” she asks, taking it.

“I didn’t. Something with an ‘L,’ I think. Levelle? Levique? I don’t remember.”

The white gallery walls have been draped in shades of inky blue and midnight purple, all the better to see the crystal sculptures on display: beautiful renderings of swords and skulls, deadly weapons and human bones. There’s something mind-numbingly obvious about holding a spooky, macabre-themed gallery show on Halloween night, entitled “Death and Riches,” but she has to admit, the artwork is stunning. The crystals take what little light is cast from the weak ceiling lamps and multiply it, casting the dark velvets in rainbow reflections. Annabeth feels like she’s walking through the night sky, like she could reach out and rearrange the stars in the constellations. “Look at this,” she murmurs to Luke, stopping them in front of a sculpture of an ancient cavalry sword. “This is incredible.”

He grunts. “Yeah, it’s cool.”

Annabeth fixes him with a look. “‘Cool’? Seriously?”

“What? It’s just a rock.”

She shakes her head. “You are wasted on an art gallery.”

“I am,” he agrees, swiftly. “I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for my bosses.”

“What do you mean?”

Luke steers her away from the sculpture, moving them onward. “One of our assistant executives, he’s about to close a huge deal with some big wig from Europe who runs this massive import/export, but before everything is made official, he wanted to meet all of us.”

“Why here, though?”

“He’s in town for this gallery opening; the artist is his niece, or something.”

Ugh. This is why she swore off business bros: always an ulterior motive with these people. “Hey, I’m going to go look for something to drink, do you want anything?”

“No, I’m good,” he waves her off.

Annabeth, teetering on her towering heels, has to make her way against the current of the crowd towards the refreshments table along the edge of the wall. She feels ten pounds lighter without all the metal in her face, her center of gravity completely out of whack--not to mention she’s having trouble seeing with all this hair in her face. To better disguise her undercut, she had brushed all her hair over her head in one big, voluminous side ponytail on the wrong side of her face. It’s disorienting, to say the least.

Her stomach roils at the display of food, even as her mouth waters a little bit at the bruschetta with olive tapenade. Rather than risk it, she decides to just go with a glass of sparkling cider. She’s been feeling sick and anxious all day long, dreading every moment of this gala; the last thing she wants to do is exacerbate it with champagne.

Before she makes her way back to Luke’s side, however, she wants to take another look at the actual art. Or at least find out who the actual artist is. Whoever they are, they are phenomenally talented.

“Excuse me,” Annabeth says to the staff member manning the food table. “Do you have any more information about the artist? I’d love to see more of their work.”

“Sure!” she chirps, turning round to grab something off a stack of pamphlets beside her. “You can read more about Ms. Levesque here.”

“Thank you,” says Annabeth, taking the glossy brochure. Levesque. Levesque Levesque Levesque. She knows that name, she’s sure of it. Penny in the air…

Slowly, like she’s walking a labyrinth, she makes her way around the gallery. The booklet has descriptions of each piece of art on display, contexts and histories and prices that make her sweat a little. But by the time she returns to the cavalry sword, her head is swimming--probably from the lack of food--her eyes straining in the dim light. She has completely lost track of Luke. She has completely lost track of the time. Annabeth puts her hand to her head, pressing her fingers against the bone of her forehead.

“Hey, are you okay?”

She jolts at the feel of a hand on her shoulder. The owner of the hand pulls away immediately, holding it up in a placating motion.

“Whoa, hey, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to startle you.”

Annabeth blinks at the person in front of her. He’s blond, tall, with glasses and a scar on his upper lip, and she cannot shake the bone-deep feeling that she’s seen him before.

“You look a little pale. Do you need to sit down?” he asks, electric blue eyes shining with concern.

She shakes her head. “No, no, I’m okay, just a little… the light, you know. Makes it hard to read.”

“I know how you feel,” he says, nodding sagely. “The lighting setup here is absolute murder on my glasses.” Then he sticks out his hand, proud and jutting. “I’m Jason.”

Furiously, she blinks away unbidden tears, turning her sudden sob into a light laugh at the thought of the last time she had met someone named Jason. Or, someone she thought had been named Jason. “Annabeth.” His grip is firm and congenial, like a senator. “Are you with Mercury Exchange, too?”

“Oh, no,” he says, “I’m just here to support the artist. She’s my cousin.”

“Well, congratulations to your cousin on a beautiful gallery opening,” says Annabeth, inclining her head with a smile that he returns. “These sculptures are incredible.”

Jason follows her gaze, and when she looks at him again, he’s smiling. The scar gives his smile an adorable edge. “Hazel is very talented.”

Penny drops. “Hazel Levesque?” Annabeth asks. “Your cousin is Hazel Levesque?”

“Yeah!” Jason beams. “You ever listen to a band called Pluto’s Daughter?”

“You’re Jason Grace?”

That takes him aback, blinking in shock. “Yes… how did you--oh, you know Thalia?” he asks.

No. No no no, this cannot be happening. “Um, not-not really, I just--”

“I just saw her, like, ten minutes ago--”

No no no, she cannot be here, she can’t see Annabeth, not like this-- “Actually,” Annabeth cuts in, “I should really get back to my date, I’m sure he’s worried sick, it was nice meeting you!” And she bolts from the conversation in the general direction of the exit, leaving a very confused member of the cousin consortium in her wake.

Stupid, so stupid, how did she not look this up beforehand, how did she not put it together sooner? She can’t let anyone see her like this, dolled up and--and downright clean. The crowd has turned into an impenetrable wall, the gaps between patrons too small for her to slip between. The dark walls close in around her, suffocating her, and her panic rises, stomach churning, bile crawling up her throat.

From the crush of people, a hand shoots out to grasp hers, and she jumps a foot in the air. “There you are!” says Luke. “Come on, I want you to meet the big wig.”

“Oh, Luke, I don’t know,” she stammers, “I’m-I’m not feeling very well, I think I had a bad burrito earlier, and--”

“It’ll just take a minute,” he wheedles, “We just gotta show up, make some small talk for a few minutes, then I’ll get you home. Sounds good?” But she can’t resist as he pulls her deeper into the gallery.

Like fucking Moses and the fucking Red Sea, the crowd parts before them, laying out a clear path to the three very well dressed men in the center of the room. Even from behind, she can tell that they’re all related: three copies of the same broad build, the same thick, black hair, peppered with grey, the same radiating aura of power and influence, engaged in deep, important conversation.

“Mr. Olympianides?” Luke politely interjects.

As one, the three of them turn to face him, identical gazes sizing them up, pinning them in place. “Yes?” intones the oldest-looking one, his earth-brown eyes cold and dispassionate.

“I think he means me, brother,” says the middle-looking one, jovial. “You’re with Mercury too, if I’m not mistaken?”

“Yes, sir,” says Luke, holding out a hand. “Luke Castellan, it’s an honor to meet you.”

“Ah, of course!” he says, taking Luke’s hand. “I’ve heard great things about you from Prometheus. I understand I have you to thank for the success of the Saturn deal?”

Luke, wholly in his element, smiles his perfectly practiced sycophantic smile--just the right cocktail of humble and arrogant, gracious and gregarious. You can tell he double majored in theater. “It was no trouble at all, really.”

Then he turns his gaze to Annabeth, and she just about faints.

Those eyes. She knows those eyes. Perfectly blue-green, like the waters of the Mediterranean in the sunshine, beneath thick, black eyebrows, with an aquiline nose and a full, salt and pepper beard--she is, without a doubt, looking into the unimaginably handsome face of Percy’s father.

“May I have the name of your lovely lady?” He takes her hand, bringing it up to his for a kiss.

Annabeth’s eyes practically bug out of her head. This is what Percy will turn into in twenty years? Good lord.

“This is my…” Luke trails off, sparing her a glance. “This is Annabeth Chase. She’s an architect here in New York. Annabeth, these are the gentlemen I was telling you about: Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus Olympianides.”

Oddly enough, part of her relaxes, even at Luke’s little fib. If Percy’s father is here, then that means that Percy might not be. She would still have to duck Thalia, but if Luke lets her leave within the next few minutes, that shouldn’t be too hard.

“Chase--like the Boston Chases?” the oldest brother asks. She’s seen those dark eyes, as well, lined with black, and sometimes with glitter.

Annabeth smiles, just a little vacant. She hasn’t had a conversation like this in two years, but back in Boston she’d had them nearly weekly. “That’s the one,” she agrees, letting a giggle out at the end. With business bros her age, they preferred a little bit of a too cool attitude, they’d loved her with all the metal in her face. But the older ones like a giggle. From the corner of her vision, she sees Luke give her just a little bit of a side eye.

“You’re Randolph’s daughter?” Asks the other brother. His eyes are electric blue. Even if Annabeth hadn’t just met Jason, she’d have known this was Thalia’s father from twenty paces.

“I’m his niece,” Annabeth says. “Frederick is my father.”

“The middle one?” Percy’s father says, with a little bit of a grin.

“Yes.” So far, so good--and no one has asked about her mother. It doesn’t exactly take a genius to see that she is not her stepmother’s daughter.

There’s maybe the slightest hint of snideness when Zeus says, “Another Harvard graduate, I assume.”

So there are a lot of Chases at Harvard. On a whim, one night while she should have been writing her Modernism final instead, Annabeth had spent several hours making an academic genealogical chart, inordinately pleased when she found out that her old, decrepit freshman history professor had also taught her father, way back in the day.

“Guilty,” she titters, “but I did attend Miss Minerva’s here in the city.”

“So your Randolph’s niece,” Thalia’s dad asks again, “And Frey Vanir is married to your aunt.”

“Yes.” She bites down on the “sir.” She’s got to have some standards.

“Good families,” Nico and Hazel’s father says, nodding at her, “Chases and Vanir.”

Annabeth has some very, very hazy memories of meeting her own fabulously wealthy extended family, just after her little cousin Magnus had been born. She doesn’t recall much, but she can remember the high, vaulted ceilings of her aunt’s apartment on Commonwealth Avenue, the view of the Public Gardens just down the block, and the very big, very sharp-looking sword hanging above the mantel. The Chases are a well-off family, it’s true, but the Vanir, old money from leftover Nordic peerage are very much on the Olympianides' level, even if Annabeth is the one wearing a tiara that allegedly once belonged to the crown jewels of Sweden.

Athena Pallas is on that same level, too, but Annabeth would rather run into Thalia then talk about her mother. Especially with these people.

Then Poseidon’s gaze fixes on something behind her, and he breaks into a broad, heartbreakingly familiar grin. “Ah, Percy, there you are!” he calls.

The smile drops from her face, and her blood freezes. Caught in the gravity well of a black hole, she turns.

A huge mistake.

Her only thought is How dare he be so handsome.

He’s in a suit she’s never seen before, crisply pressed, but comfortable, simple black but with pearl cuff links, to match his father’s. The sharp lines of the suit hide his beautiful form beneath them in a way that makes Annabeth understand the appeal of lingerie like she never has before. He looms, back discipline-straight, his face scrubbed clean and eyebrows perfectly shaped, and to cap it all off, a pair of simple, classy diamond studs in his ears. Percy Jackson remains, as always, unfairly gorgeous, the perfect specimen of male beauty, and Annabeth is powerless under his gaze.

And he’s just heard every word of their conversation.

“Percy,” his father says, “have you met Annabeth Chase?”

Percy stares at her, mouth open a little. She watches those eyes take her in from top to bottom, hairstyle to clean face to conservative dress to high heels. Never, ever one to hide his emotions, she can see his inner monologue playing out on his face: shock and awe, bewilderment and confusion, jerkily transitioning to… to a politely blank face. Like the surface of the ocean, the wave of his feelings disappear beneath his skin, leaving no trace that they were ever there. “No,” he says, in a tone that broaches no argument. “No, I don’t believe I’ve ever met Annabeth Chase before.”

He takes her in again. Percy was never above leering, but he was always pretty situational about it. He would wait until sex was explicitly on the table, wait until she wanted to see him go just a little bit crazy for her. He doesn’t leer now, cataloguing the dress, the shoes, the tiara.

“Cinderella?” he asks, before the conversation can become awkward and their audience can notice something else.

“Yes,” she says, unable to force the smile she’d used on his father just minutes before. “What girl doesn’t want to be a princess for Halloween?”

“Cinderella was always your favorite, wasn’t she?” Percy’s father asks him. Then he laughs. “Once we went to Disney in Paris, I think, and Percy, all of ten years old, cried because he didn’t think he was going to be able to meet her.”

Percy’s face stays blank. “I was six, Dad.”

Annabeth winces, internally. That was the year, he’d told her, that he’d spent in shoes that didn’t fit because his new ones had been destroyed by bullies taunting him over ballet, and he didn’t want to tell his mother because trying to buy him a second pair of shoes would have been a struggle. She wonders if maybe he was crying because he’d spent the day walking around Disneyland in shoes two sizes too small, and no one had noticed.

His father laughs again. “Still,” he says, “Cinderella is your favorite.”

“I don’t have much use for princesses anymore,” Percy says. “Fairy tales and true love are kid stuff.”

His uncles laugh along with his father, and Luke just frowns at Percy, like he’s not sure what to make of him. But his family seems convinced it's the wisdom of youth.

“Oh,” says Poseidon, “You never know when you can find someone special.” He does leer at Annabeth, just a bit. There isn’t a lot to leer at in this dress, but it's unmistakable. He’s very handsome, but the leer is perhaps the first time she’s thought he didn’t favor his son.

“Were you the one who dated the princess of what it was called?” Thalia’s father asks. “Or was Triton? Or was it both of you?”

“No,” Hazel and Nico’s father says, “no, they both dated Atlas’s girl. Right?”

“Yes, Uncle Hades,” Percy says.

“Zoe?”

Calypso, Annabeth thinks, just before Percy says it out loud and they all nod.

“Is she here?” Thalia’s father asks, glancing around. “Or do you have a different date tonight?”

Annabeth hasn’t even considered Percy having a date. But the idea of it causes a wave of nausea to come over her, of a beautiful woman on Percy’s arm, one of his fellow dancers, or perhaps some heiress, who he could take to fancy parties and show off to his father and uncles.

That could have so easily been you, says a voice in the back of her head.

I’m no one’s arm candy, she wants to yell at herself.

But she can’t, because she’s literally resting on Luke’s arm, while three powerful businessmen ogle her.

She breathes through her nose, and tries to keep from throwing up. Or crying.

“Percy knows its best to come to events like this stag,” Percy’s father winks at him, and then unmistakably at her, “you never know what sorts of lovely creatures you might run into.”

Percy frowns, clearly uncomfortable. “I think Miss Chase definitely came with her boyfriend.” He nods to Luke, and gives him a smile Annabeth has never seen. So forced and fake and clearly unhappy.

She wishes she could stop everything and scream at Percy that Luke’s not her boyfriend. That he could never be. That she does not want Luke, not the way she wants Percy.

But time goes on, and so does Percy. “I don’t like coming to these sorts of things alone, if I can help it.”

And the world nearly collapses out from under her feet.

“The buddy system is important.” He turns his head, clearly searching the milling crowd for someone. Annabeth doesn’t follow his gaze. She doesn’t want to see the woman he willingly shows off to his father. She glances at Luke instead. His face is still placid, but she’s known him a long time, in all sorts of states. He’s clearly uncomfortable.

“Thalia,” Percy’s voice says, not a shout, but a request. Annabeth doesn’t look over at him, or the direction he shouted, but Luke does. He breaks away from her gaze and actually unlinks their arms. His mask slips a little bit more.

At the last possible second Annabeth looks over too.

Thalia Grace looks exactly like the Thalia Annabeth has always known. Her hair is slicked down in some old fashioned pin curls, and she’s wearing a cocktail dress and red soled heels that are too big for her, but you can see the tattoos up and down her arms and legs, underneath her ripped fishnets. Her facial piercings are all still in, and her eyebrows and ears are full of safety pins and the necklace around her neck is made of them too. She’s wearing the same beat up leather gloves as always.

For just a second, Annabeth hates her. Because Thalia is clearly so Thalia, so comfortable in being Thalia, and she can walk around this fucking gala, with buisness bros and old money, and look totally comfortable and confident.

And Annabeth keeps adjusting her sleeves and hair, worried that somethings going to move wrong, and it's going to become obvious that she’s… something?

Then their eyes meet, and it's almost as bad as when Percy showed up. Thalia looks lost, and then she glances to Annabeth’s side, at Luke and her face settles into a frown not unlike Percy’s.

She stops beside Percy who smiles at her, “Thalia and I always use the buddy system.” He says. Then, as he holds out his hand to her, his smile becomes the closest she could ever refer to as cruel. “Thalia, have you met Annabeth Chase? Of the Boston Chases? Her uncle is Frey Vanir.”

Standing tall, bright eyes ringed in black, Thalia takes in all of Annabeth. She’s done this before, when Annabeth was drunk and crying on a dirty bar floor, with a couple hours old tattoo on her arm and a couple of days old ring in her eyebrow. Annabeth had seen her mother on Wednesday for lunch and had destroyed her life by dinner. She doesn’t really remember what they’d talked about, in the wee hours as Friday became Saturday: not being good enough for your family, how New York took your dreams, chewed them up, and spit them out, how your father would never understand you and your mother would never love you. That sort of thing.

She’d been a gross, pathetic mess. But Thalia had seen something in her that night. Had lifted her off the floor and out the door and eventually onto the mattress in the place she’d been renting weekly at the time. She’d taken Annabeth into her world.

Now, it doesn’t look like she sees anything good in Annabeth Chase of the Boston Chases, in designer heels, with a designer bag, wrapped in a designer dress and dripping in jewels. Annabeth knows she looks like a dozen other girls at this event, girls that Luke’s (and maybe Thalia’s and, God, maybe even Percy’s) eyes have wandered over with interest.

“Miss Chase, despite being from Boston,” Percy says to Thalia, “was mentioning some of the schools she went to in New York. I thought maybe you might have known each other through one.”

Percy’s face has gone perfectly blank, but Thalia’s… Thalia’s is angry.

“No,” she says, “we did not go to school together. But Luke and I did.”

It’s Annabeth’s turn to gape, eyes wide as she turns to him, shocked.

Luke tries to smile. “Yes, we did, but--”

Thalia doesn’t let him finish. “Are you still sending weekly audition tapes to Lorne Michaels?” she asks, a snarl that only an idiot would mistake for a grin on her face.

Annabeth would laugh, if she felt like laughing at anything right now.

Luke tries to speak again, but Thalia talks right over him. “No, of course not. You’re doing some business thing.” She eyes his suit and then her three older relatives. “Why else would we be here? I know you never really had the brains for the arts. You were always more interested in the carnal passions of acting.”

Annabeth actually does laugh, just a bit, both because that’s clearly something Luke had once said (and Annabeth remembered him coming straight out of NYU, a Yankee transplant to Boston, she could totally believe it) and because Thalia got Luke’s cadence and tone down perfectly.

But it does nothing to relieve the tension. If anything, it's gone up.

Percy’s father forces his own laugh. “It is so much fun when you run into old friends like this.” He offers, clearly sensing the storm brewing. Percy has at least tried to force it down. “And it's good to see you, as well, Thalia. It's been a long time.”

“It has, Uncle Poseidon,” She agrees.

“Mr. Castellan has left the world of acting for our bland business and finance meetings, but are you still acting?”

Thalia goes very still.

Annabeth, in the two years she’s known Thalia Grace, has never even once heard her so much as allude to acting in anything. She set up equipment and tended bars for cash. The only acting she ever did was pretending not to be hungover.

It’s a slight movement, but she sees Thalia reach out and grip Percy’s arm. He meets it, holding on. Steadying.

He understands what’s going on here.

“She’s not,” Thalia’s father says. He’s been polite so far this evening, but now he sounds annoyed. “All that talent and all that promise, and she’s thrown it all away.” He looks at Thalia, electric eyes to electric eyes, and shakes his head. “You could have been just like your mother.”

Percy, Luke, and Hades all let out a sharp breath.

Thalia’s smile, sharp, turns acidic. “I can't be,” she says. “I don't drive. So I couldn't drive myself into a tree.”

Her father narrows his gaze, mouth tight. Annabeth has actually seen that look on Thalia’s face before. Poseidon looks suddenly very sorry he ever opened his mouth.

Thalia turns to Percy. “Do you think Hazel would mind if I committed a murder and ruined her big night?”

It's a very Thalia thing to say, but Annabeth has never really considered the theatricality of her before. This is an artist working her craft, taking words and turning them into daggers.

“Hazel loves performance art,” Percy says. “And it is on theme.”

Thalia nods and then looks at her father. She smiles. “That sounds like a lot of work, so, instead, why don’t I do just what you want. I’ll be my mother. I’ll go get fabulously drunk and embarrass you horribly. Unfortunately, this is a 21+ event, so I won’t be able to endanger any children in the process. But you never know.”

She spins on her heels, and walks away.

“I'm going to make sure she doesn’t enganger any children just to prove a point,” Percy says. “I'll see you later.” He nods to his family, and then offers Annabeth a very formal handshake. “So nice to meet you.”

She’s missed his hands on her. She doesn’t want to let go.

But she lets him, and he moves over to give Luke one, too. He leans in, just a little bit, and lowers his voice so only Luke and Annabeth can hear. “You shouldn’t make a scene in a public place. But you deserve to know, she’s been cheating on you since May.”

Annabeth can’t breathe for a moment. The perfect man, handsome and charming and crueler than she ever believed possible.

Her stomach rolls again.

Behind her, she hears Poseidon say, “Do you often tell women whose mothers’ acting career dried up and then descended into substance abuse that you hope they have the same career as said mothers? Because wow."

“I’m sorry,” Luke whispers. “I’m not sure what’s going on, but I’m very sorry.”

He turns to speak with the three brothers, to formally and probably seamlessly untangle themselves from all of this, and she tries to turn too, but the effort to spin gets too much.

She’s still nauseous, feeling light-headed. The stiletto heels only add to the problem. She shakes and stumbles, right into Luke, who catches her on one arm, Poseidon on the other. Annabeth has to work very hard not to yank herself away from him.

“Are you alright?” Poseidon’s accent isn’t the same as Percy’s at all, his hands too smooth. There are differences between the two that she can focus on.

“I haven’t been feeling well tonight,” she admits, if it will get her out of here faster.

“Do you need to sit down?” Asks Poseidon. “I’m sure there is a medical professional around here.”

“No, no, thank you,” she says. “I should probably head out, If that’s okay,” she tells Luke, apologetically.

He nods, finally complying with her need for escape. “Of course.”

When Poseidon lets go of her arm, she basically falls into Luke. It's embarrassing. Her eighteen year old self is probably cheering. Unfortunately for her, that crush was killed two great heartbreaks ago. Now, it’s just quiet and awkward as they walk away. “Sorry,” she says.

“Sorry? I should be thanking you. That was a really good excuse.” Then he looks at her--really looks. “It wasn’t an excuse, was it?”

She shakes her head, miserable.

“Is it because of that guy? Percy? Do you know him?”

She nods.

“Why does he think you’ve been cheating on me since May?”

“Because he thinks you and I are a couple, and I’ve been sleeping with him since May.”

Luke lets out a low whistle. “You and those business bros.” He shakes his head. Sometimes he doesn’t quite have the self-awareness that he should, she thinks. “I blame myself. If I didn’t invite you to that MBA party, maybe you wouldn’t have lost your virginity to that asshole in my cohort.”

“Percy’s not a business bro,” she says, defending him, though for the life of her she doesn’t know why. “He’s a ballet dancer with NYCB. It… ended about 3 weeks ago. I’d tell you about it, but I do actually feel pretty horrible.”

Luke frowns at her. “You want me to get you a cab?”

Annabeth shakes her head. “I know you have more business bro things to do. I can get myself home.”

He waits several seconds, before giving her a hug and a kiss on the forehead, wishing her goodnight, leaving her in the middle of the mingling crowd and the crystal displays.

Annabeth shuffles towards the exit, passing the food table. Even the smell makes her feel like she’s going to throw up. Walking faster doesn’t exactly help.

Eventually, she manages to get out of the main gallery, where the lobby and coat check had been set up, very much regretting letting Luke go. Right now, walking outside and finding a cab might as well be like attempting a quick little jaunt up Mt. Everest. Head aching, stomach rolling, she slumps against the wall outside the coat check, laying her warm cheek against the cool wall.

That’s when she hears the muffled shouting.

Two voices she knows intimately.

“How can you say that?” Thalia whisper-screams. “In what possible universe are they the same?”

“How are they not?” Percy quietly shouts back. “They’re exactly the same.”

“I can’t even believe you’re defending her. She lied to us--she hurt you, just like--”

“Don’t you dare try and tell me you’re doing this for me. This is about you and your problems. Like always.”

“I don’t have to listen to this shit.” Then comes the telltale clacks of Thalia stomping about in her high heels. She flings open the door of the coat closet, and comes face to face with Annabeth--who probably looks about like death warmed over. Thalia takes one look at Annabeth, sneers, then stalks away, anger sparking off of her like static shock.

Hot on her heels comes Percy, equally furious. "Then find someone else’s couch to crash on tonight!" He shouts at her retreating form.

Then he sees Annabeth.

She hopes she never has to see him that angry ever again.

It takes a couple of pounding heartbeats, but he visibly dials it back down, rage giving way to something a little less intense, the bitterness bleeding out of him until he’s only just annoyed. “Oh,” he says. “It’s you.”

There’s a million and one things she wants to tell him; her mind is a hurricane, every thought and feeling moving at a hundred and fifty miles per hour, sentences forming on her tongue in one second and ripped away the next. She wants to tell him that she never meant to hurt him, but all that comes out is, “Luke isn’t my boyfriend.”

“What, he dump you already?”

“We’ve never dated,” she says. “He’s just a friend. I haven’t cheated on anyone.”

“Oh, so you’ll get all dolled up for some guy that isn’t your boyfriend, but you couldn’t be bothered to find a pair of jeans without holes in them to come see my show?”

Her stomach lurches, in both anger and regret. She did do those things. “You told me that you didn’t care what I wore.”

“And I didn’t, because I thought you didn’t either.”

“I don’t!”

“Oh yeah? Is that why you parted your hair on the wrong side? Because you didn’t care if someone would see your undercut?”

She can’t say anything to that, because of course, he had hit the nail on the head.

“I mean, Thalia may be messed up, but at least she has the guts not to hide it, but you--” he sputters, gesturing angrily to her head, “you put on a tiara and pretend you haven’t been gutter trash for the last two years.”

Indignation rises in her. Gutter trash? “You’re one to talk--you can’t go anywhere nicer than Antonio’s for dinner but you own a custom fucking Italian suit and diamond earrings?”

He scowls. “Oh, I'm sorry, just so we're clear, Kym got me this suit so I would stop, and I quote, 'embarrassing her with my poverty.' I borrowed the earrings from Nico. But you're right. The same Christmas I had my power and heat turned off in Paris, my dad got me these pearl cufflinks.” He raises his hands, brandishing them. “Just what I always wanted!”

“Don’t give me that--the man takes you, his bastard,” she spits, “on the family vacation to the Greek islands every goddamn summer! You think he wouldn’t drop a couple million for you if you asked? Meanwhile, I had to grovel at my mother’s feet for years for even the barest hint of support--”

“That is not even remotely the same thing, and you know it!”

“It isn’t?” She laughs, cruelly. “Because from where I’m standing, we were both left at the mercy of our shitty parents, but you’re too much of a coward to tell your father to fuck off when you really want to.”

That just about sets him off. His eyes darken like sea storms, raging and thunderous. “Don’t you dare try to pin this on me. You’re the one that lied to me for months, to Thalia for years--Jesus, Annabeth, was any of it real? Was everything you said to me over the last five months just some game to you?”

“How dare you,” she hisses. “How dare you even ask me that when you know full well you’re the only person I’ve shown my designs to in years.”

“Oh, really,” he says, and she goes cold. “What about the one that won the Eta Industries award? Did you not show that to anyone? Or did you get that one because they knew you were Annabeth Chase of the Boston Chases.”

Clenching her fists, she growls, standing up against the wall. “Leo and I put our hearts and souls into that project, and we won, fair and fucking square. I wouldn’t expect you to understand, seeing as you probably only got into NYCB because someone cashed a seven figure check.”

She doesn’t know if she’s ever said anything she believes less.

Percy laughs, an ugly, bitter thing. “If it had been that easy, I would have asked him to do that five years ago.”

Then he frowns. “Are you… feeling okay?”

She is not, as a matter of fact, but it’s no longer his fucking business, now is it. Annabeth opens her mouth to tell him so, then abruptly closes it as a little bit of vomit erupts from her esophagus. She covers her mouth, pressing against her teeth, trying to will it back inside.

Warm hands encircle her shoulders, holding her up as her legs threaten to buckle beneath her. “Come on,” he says, gruffly.

Together, they stagger into the single-stall bathroom, when Annabeth rips himself from his grasp, dropping to her knees before the toilet, and hurls. Faintly, she hears the lock of the door click behind her, then jumps at the feel of his hand on her back. “Leave me alone,” she spits, hocking bile into the toilet.

He doesn’t answer, only gently repositions her braid behind her shoulder so she doesn’t get any vomit on it.

She will not admit that his hand on her body is the best she’s felt all day. She will not.

“Ugh,” she moans, in between bouts of bile. “Fuck me.”

“Jesus, what did you eat?”

Annabeth has barely eaten all day, so it’s mostly sparkling cider and a bit of the olive tapenade from earlier.

Finally, after several excruciating minutes, it subsides. She feels twenty pounds lighter, like she’s vomited up all of her organs. Now if only she could have barfed up her heart as well. She’s sure Percy can feel how hard it’s beating, just from being around him again.

When the hell did she let herself get this worked up over a fucking guy, anyway? She hasn’t felt like this since she was nineteen, moping over a missed connection. But she’s not nineteen anymore, she’s a grown woman who doesn’t need anyone taking care of her. She can handle it herself.

“Feeling better?” he asks.

She coughs, attempting to clear her throat, throwing him a glare over her shoulder. “Leave me alone.”

“I’m not leaving you alone like this.”

“I said,” she growls, fingers tightening around the bowl of the toilet. “Leave me al--” Her genius retort is, sadly, cut off by another bout of vomiting, so forceful that her tiara comes flying clean off. It would have landed straight into the bowl, were it not for Percy and his lightning reflexes, snatching it out of the air before the crown jewels of Sweden landed in a puddle of barf.

When she comes back to herself, she realizes that she’s crying.

The second wave passes, and she can breathe again. Her awareness returns to her in pieces, starting with the pinch in her knees from kneeling on the cold, hard floor for too long, then the cool porcelain of the toilet, oddly soothing against her flushed skin. Her mouth tastes like you’d expect, and she spits, trying to clear it in vain.

“That’s it,” Percy murmurs behind her, rubbing gentle circles on her back. “Just let it out.”

Her chest heaves on a sob, quickly disguising it as a cough. Why won’t this man just leave?

When another five or so minutes pass without any more upchuck, she pulls away from him, practically crawling back until she hits the bathroom wall, the floor pressing up against her bones, and she kicks off her heels. Everything is too cold and too hot, Annabeth practically shaking out of her skin, taking in huge, gulping gasps of air. Faintly, she hears the door open and close, softly and carefully.

Good. He’s gone.

Her whole body shudders. Stubborn tears force their way out of her, crawling down her cheeks, mixing with the taste of vomit and lipstick.

But she can’t wallow in it for too long, because a minute later, Percy comes back, crouching down next to her, offering her a plastic cup of water. “Here.”

She takes a swig, swishing it around her mouth. Staggering to her bare feet, she shambles over to the sink, spitting it out.

There’s no way Annabeth can avoid looking at herself too closely in the mirror, but she tries, her eyes skating over her smeared mascara and running foundation, taking in her (thankfully) vomit free braid and her bare head. “Where,” she coughs. “Where is my tiara?”

“I got it.” In the mirror’s reflection, Percy holds it up. “Wouldn’t want the crown jewels of England to wind up in the toilet.”

“Sweden,” she says, on reflex.

“What?”

Why can’t she just shut her stupid mouth, for God’s sake-- “They were part of the Swedish crown jewels.”

He stares at her in the reflection, his eyes unfathomable. “I just don’t understand.”

“Understand what?” She asks, a question to which she really doesn’t want to know the answer.

“How I keep letting this happen.” Percy closes his eyes, shaking his head, raising his chin to the fluorescent lights of the bathroom. Like this, all the angles and contours of his stupidly beautiful face are thrown in sharp, brutal relief. He looks thin, somehow, the quiet sadness of his expression carved into the lines of his frown, of his squeezed shut eyes and the grim line of his lips. “I thought I was done with letting rich girls fuck me to make a point.”

Funny, how a simple sentence can feel like a knife in the stomach.

Percy, always so tall, slumps his shoulders, running a hand over his face. In seconds, the sadness is gone, replaced with a blank void of expression. “Will you let me call you a cab to take you home?” He asks, because of course, he’d never leave her alone like this. He’s too fucking good.

Annabeth nods into the mirror.

He sidles up to her, slinging her arm around his shoulder. In his other hand, he carries her shoes and her tiara, dangling limply from his fingers. For a wild second she wants to turn and kiss him. She’s wanted to do that for weeks. She wants to wipe the tears and vomit off her face, stick back on her tiara, and go back to the party on his arm. They could make a beautiful picture, she thinks, Poseidon Olympianides’ son and Annabeth Chase of the Boston Chases. But when she tries to move, maybe to make a big mistake, she sways, unsteady. His grip on her waist tightens, holding her close, but his face is turned stubbornly out. He won’t even look at her.

The cool night air and the smell of city dirt is a welcome balm on her flushed face. In no time at all, Percy has hailed a cab, letting her hang off of him as she falls heavily onto the seat. With the utmost care and precision, he gently places her shoes and her crown on her lap, as controlled and careful as when he puts down a fellow dancer. There is no mistake here, she knows. Their little dance together is over. It feels like the end of one of those romantic movies from the 50s her dad used to love to cry over.

“Take her home, please,” he informs the cab driver, giving him her address, then without even sparing her a glance, he closes the door on her.

But greedy for one last look, Annabeth presses her face to the window as the driver pulls away from the curb. The night is dark and the streetlamps are unhelpful, but she can still see him as he cups his hands to his face, glowing like he holds a little star between his fingers, can see him tilt his head up and exhale, sending cigarette smoke up into the heavens.

#this one's a long boi folks #long and sad #but this is as bad as it gets! we've hit rock bottom!#it's all uphill from here i promise #pjo au #ballet au #percabeth #pjo fic #the rivalry ends here

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couldnt-think-of-a-funny-name · 4 years

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how would you do a percy jackson adaptaion?

okay, so I know this is a controversial opinion right off the bat: I really don’t think it should be an animated series.

A large part of the appeal of the series is that it’s a fantasy series set very very firmly in reality. Literally, apart from the camps, you could go to every location hit in the books. Riordan mentions specific streets, buildings and landmarks, and that was cool when I first read them. I remember being a kid and waiting for him to set a scene in a place near where I lived! I remember trips to New York and being able to envision an epic war happening in the streets. So I think any adaption needs to be live action just to keep that same feeling alive, while I’m not knocking on animation, I just feel like taking the story out of real life would make it loose a little of the charm. Like, the scene where Manhattan is completely frozen in time? It would be haunting to see that in real life, but I feel like it would be less impactful if it didn’t…you know…look real? The series should be done in a way that makes you truly feel like you could just turn a corner and walk straight into a snake woman going about her day.

Now: another large part of the appeal of the series is how funny it is, but a lot of that…is Percy’s inner monologue. He doesn’t actually voice most of it, there was even a book where Annabeth described him as being quiet. So, I think the best way to work around this: make it Interview With A Demigod.

Imagine it’s got an interview with a vampire-esque setup- and this even works because within the riordanverse, the books canonically exist because Percy sat down with a ‘camp scribe’ and had his quests recorded. So, like, this isn’t even entirely out of left field. But just imagine, a college-aged, maybe a little older Percy, I can see it so clearly in my head, he’s wearing a sweatshirt that at first glance looks like it says NYU but a trained eye will see it actually says NRU for a camp jupiter easter egg, he’s sitting in some dinky little diner (maybe it can even be a monster donut or something with a clever greek myth related name) with a guy who’s recording the conversation on some old-ass tape recorder that keeps acting up but they can’t record on a phone because of the whole technology thing. Every now and then it’ll cut back to them to get some great Percy thoughts out there. They open with older Percy saying the ‘look, I didn’t wanna be a halfblood’ and then explaining where he was when the whole mess started. Once he get’s to “was I a troubled kid?” the screen fades from older Percy to 12 year old Percy getting in a fight with Nancy and her gang, and the voice over says the ‘Yeah, you could say that’ part as we see him get threatened by the principal to behave on the field trip. Boom, we’ve got an opening. Lowkey….I’m seeing Jordan Fisher as older Percy, but I’m not 100% married to the idea.

And before anyone tries to argue that showing an older Percy would spoil he’s not gonna die in last olympian- like, reading the books, we all knew he wasn’t going to die. It was a first person narrative and he was consistently speaking in past tense lmao like we Knew he was gonna make it. We still enjoyed the series. It won’t ruin anything.

I want part of the score of the adaptation to be instrumental versions of songs from the musical, I think that could be a sweet nod to that team.

They really need to nail camp halfblood. I know that goes without saying, but in order to keep the pacing of the story decent we can’t spend as much time falling in love with it like we got to with the book. The book is like, 24 chapters and the quest starts at chapter 12- for a movie or tv show, that’s just gonna feel like it’s dragging. So, the insanity of the camp needs to smack you in the face right away, and then it needs to endear itself to the viewers quickly after that. Don’t try to ease the viewers (or Percy) into the mythology is real thing, rip it off like a bandaid. He’s on his way to meet Chiron and Mr. D for the first time and even if he’s not comprehending what he’s seeing, there’s nature spirits and harpies all around going about their day. Hestia waves at him and then disappears into the flames. Hecate kids can be seen casting a spell on the porch of the Hermes cabin. The Stolls are seen pranking some Aphrodite kids. He sees someone surely die on the climbing wall but then you hear a faint ‘I’m okay!’. The Apollo kids put a rhyming curse on another cabin. Pure chaos all before he gets the ‘so, gods are real’ speech. And then after that…show how warm Luke is to him at the cabin and at dinner. Show the kids all goofing off at the campfire and really make it clear that they’re children. Show the strawberry fields rolling in the wind and Percy sitting on the beach. The whole couple weeks where he’s searching for powers and learning greek and latin with Annabeth can be a montage. Make it clear how hurt and scared he is when he finds out he needs to leave.

It needs to really get you feeling how Percy’s feeling, every laugh, every tear, every moment of fear or confusion needs to shine clear through. Like…think of Spider-Man Homecoming, the Washington monument scene. All things considered, it’s not the most high-stakes scene we’ve ever seen in that franchise, and when it cuts to the kids in the elevator, they’re worried but not quite freaking out, but that scene feels very high stress to watch because the movie is good at getting the viewers to feel what Peter feels. A Percy Jackson adaptation needs a touch like that, because Percy’s a very emotional kid and that’s what a lot of the scenes hinge on.

Lowkey- I’d love it if the casts of both the previous movies and the musical had cameos or bit parts (the movie cast did Nothing Wrong, it was the rest of that team). It’d be hilarious to see, like, Jake Abel as the owner of the poodle, or Logan Lerman as Older Percy and the reporter’s waiter that keeps trying to get in on the conversation, or Brandon T. Jackson as a satyr who’s still stuck grooving out in the Lotus Hotel and Casino. Kristen Stokes as a nature spirit, Chris as one of the ghosts stuck in the waiting room of DOA Records, just like any of those casts having small parts would be fun and sweet.

There should be a lot of easter eggs for the bigger riordanverse. Promotions in the background for the new Tristan McLean movie. Gabe’s got a true crime documentary about the missing Grace children playing during his poker game. Mr. D is reading a paper about Rachel Dare’s father’s newest project. At some point while they’re still in New York they pass the Kane family’s mansion or whatever it was called. Annabeth keeps a picture of little her and Magnus on her nightstand. The barest of hints about the Triumvirate. Seeing kids in camp jupiter gear in some background shots, just out of notice of our main characters but implying the camps are going through similar problems (BITCH….if we got a titan’s curse adaptation…and we had a shot of Thalia in the foreground….but in the background we saw a blond boy in purple with a golden sword….well I would simply loose my Goddamn mind).

And show us how easily the mist lets things blend in, too- like, everyone thinks ‘Monster Donuts’ is just a normal chain, it’s just on an average street block, but if Percy looks through the window he can see who’s behind the counter. Show someone swindling some guys in a park and you have to look twice to realize he’s a gegeines. Like…how people are still trying to find all the background ghosts in haunting of hill house. I would LOVE to see a bunch of background monsters and mythical beings just going about their day as much as the mortals are while the gang’s questing.

The effects need to be fun. The whole story needs to be fun, but one weird thing about the past movies are that like…in their attempt to make it gritty, none of the fantastical things happening on screen actually felt that exciting. We need bright colors and interesting choices, consistently cool action shots, a liveliness that makes you feel like you’re in the center of the action. I have absolutely no doubt Disney easily has enough funds to pull off great effects.

The characters need to be….in character lmao. Annabeth needs to be cocky and bratty with the skill set to justify it. Percy needs to be a sweetheart who pretends to be hardened because that’s what people assume he’s like. Grover needs to have dry humor and a Too Old For This Shit attitude whenever percabeth start bickering. Luke needs to be nice and friendly but in a specific way that you can look back after the betrayal and see he was trying to groom everyone. Sally needs to be loving, protective and strong. Chiron needs to feel defeated and determined at the same time. Mr. D needs to….be Stanley Tucci lmao

Also, I’d love if the adaptation could expand more on things that got brushed along in the books- Percy and Beckendorf’s friendship, Silena and Clarisse’s dynamic, make Nico’s crush on Percy a little more obvious, give Rachel some more development. One thing that haunts me about the books is Sally never found out that Gabe hit Percy. Absolutely they don’t need to make the abuse explicit, but I also personally feel like a lot of Percy’s mindsets throughout the series are somewhat a result of Gabe, and I’d like if that got, you know, acknowledged. Maybe in the scene where he figures out Gabe abuses Sally he could say ‘does he hit you too?’ or something to that effect. They could also go more into detail about Annabeth’s family, give Zoe some more depth….like the possibilities I’m screaming.

Okay this is already long and I’m getting tired but I can so clearly see a great adaptation in my mind….Disney please come through….It’s what we deserve….

#percy jackson #disney #rick riordan #pjo #hoo #toa #asks #molly mumbles

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winryofresembool · 3 years

Text

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 17

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Some truths come out... and some don't.

A/N: Did you really think I'd leave you hanging for too long? Now it's finally time to find out what happens when Calypso and Percy meet. I'm a bit worried some characters may sound a bit OOC here but writing conflict has never been my piece of cake so I was a bit out of my comfort zone here. But I tried! Without a further ado, I hope you guys enjoy! And let me know what you think!

Characters in this ch: Calypso, Leo, Piper, Jason, Annabeth, Percy

Words: 1899

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

…

“Hold on, what’s going on here?” Leo asked, finally letting go of Calypso and throwing the last piece of the cupcake in his mouth. “You two know each other?”

“Well…” Calypso started but couldn’t find the right words to explain the situation.

“Yeah, you could say that,” Percy admitted when it became obvious that she wouldn’t be able to answer. “We used to chat online.”

Leo’s eyebrows shot up. “Chat… online? As in…?”

“On Tinder, yeah. But that was a long time ago.” Percy glanced at his girlfriend varily. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

Calypso wasn’t happy about Percy’s choice of words. To her, it had been a rather big deal, because the internet had been the only way she had been able to stay in contact with the outside world and she did care about the bonds she formed there. And Percy had seemed different from most of the people she had met online. Had. Until she had discovered she was wrong, after all.

“If it wasn’t a big deal,” Annabeth frowned. “Then why do you look so nervous and why did Calypso just go bright red? I may not be quite as good at reading people as Piper is but usually that isn’t a good sign.”

“Annabeth…” Calypso answered instead of Percy. “You are my friend and I’m not going to lie to you. I did have a crush on him, but that was two years ago and we cut things off entirely when Percy told me he wanted to start dating someone else.”

“Wait… you were the girl he was seeing before me? I… how…?” Annabeth asked, her eyes wide as owl’s.

“You were still seeing Luke,” Percy said carefully. “I liked you, Annabeth, but in all honesty, I didn’t think you’d break up with him. So, I met Calypso online and she seemed nice, but…”

“But I was always just a second choice to you,” Calypso said a bit bitterly.

“Hey, I never meant any of it to happen! I didn’t want to hurt you,” Percy tried to defend himself.

“...But it just happened,” Calypso finished for him, her voice poisonous.

Annabeth ignored their arguing.

“I remember…” she addressed Percy, “before I told you about Luke and my break up, you ranted about this girl who was so pretty and sweet and lonely and you hoped to meet her because she was living in the same city. You never told me her name, though, or what happened to her. Eventually, I just kind of… forgot. And now I find out that girl is my friend. This is just so weird…”

“A small world, huh?” Percy tried to lighten the mood, failing at it.

“It’s not funny, Jackson.” Annabeth scowled at him. “So… did you guys ever meet face to face?”

“Just once,” Calypso hurried to answer. “And at the end of it? Percy told me that he only liked me as a friend.” Two years worth of in kept emotions decided to pop on the surface in that moment, and Calypso directed the frustration at Percy. “By the way, Percy, I appreciate your honesty but you really could have told me that before I arranged the whole thing. You knew the circumstances.”

Leo had listened to the whole conversation with his mouth open, his head going back and forth between the arguers, but now he felt he had completely fallen out of it, so he asked: “Woah, you guys! Calm down a bit! What circumstances?”

“It’s nothing,” Calypso said quickly.

“It’s not nothing!” Percy exclaimed but seeing Calypso’s warning glare, he quickly shut up.

Annabeth casted Percy a disbelieving look. “Wait, she talked about whatever was going on with her to you? We’ve been friends for several months now and she still hasn’t told me what happened at the mall that one time…”

“Annabeth, I couldn’t…” Calypso wanted to explain but she knew that whatever she’d say probably wouldn’t help the situation.

“Calypso, friends don’t have secrets. I’ve been trying to be patient, but I’m getting tired of this. Just tell me one thing. Based on what you just told me, you would have been ready for a relationship with Percy. Do you still like him?”

Calypso wanted to say a very unhesitant no, that that raft had sailed away a long time ago, and she might be seeing a new one on the horizon... But she realized she couldn’t say that in front of Leo because she hadn’t fully admitted that to herself yet, much less to anyone else. Besides that, she was also feeling rather intimidated by the situation, so the words escaped her. “I… uh… no.”

“That sounded pretty hesitant,” Annabeth pointed out. She looked like she wanted to say more, but thankfully, Piper decided to intervene in that moment.

“Alright, guys. To me it sounds like some of you are overreacting. So, Cal and Percy used to chat online before Percy and Annabeth started dating. To which they had every right. Calypso had a crush on Percy, which I suppose isn’t that weird even though I myself am not seeing the charm.” She gave her own boyfriend a quick smile. “They met once face to face and on that date Percy told Calypso he liked someone else instead. Doesn’t sound like the smartest idea but I guess Percy preferred telling that way instead of over a message. Right, Percy?”

“R-right,” he stammered, probably worried about how the girls would react.

“Then Calypso mentioned something about ‘circumstances’ but sounds like it’s something very personal so it’s up to her if she wants to tell us more about that. For now I’d suggest that we’d leave that topic alone.”

“Thanks, Piper,” Calypso said gratefully. “This is probably not the best moment to talk about it.”

“Fair enough,” Piper said, looking at the others challengingly, then at her watch. “Maybe it’s time for us all to go home. It’s getting kind of late.”

Agreeing mumbling could be heard from the room. When Piper put her leader mode on, no one really dared to resist her. Calypso thought briefly that she’d be an excellent boss for some company one day.

Percy and Annabeth didn’t say much when they left, perhaps their silence speaking more volumes than words could have. As the door closed, Piper sighed.

“I’m sorry this went this way. I promise I had a good time…”

“Until I messed everything up.” Calypso said quietly.

“What?” Piper asked. “I wasn’t gonna say that!”

“Yes but it’s the truth. I complicate everything. I can’t believe the first person I made friends with here… was, um, somehow connected to my past.”

“She must feel just as weird as you do,” Piper reminded. “I think it might be good for you to take a time off and ask yourself if you should let something that happened several years ago affect your friendship. You didn’t do anything wrong; Annabeth just needs to cool down a bit to be able to accept that. And when she’s ready, explain to her what really happened.”

“My girlfriend, the boss lady,” Jason, who had followed the situation quietly, said acceptingly. “You handled this situation awesomely.”

“Pfft, Grace, you just say that because I sleep with you.” Piper chuckled.

“He is not wrong, though,” Calypso was quick to add. “I think you did exactly what needed to be done. And just gave me some good advice. So thank you, again.”

“No problem. And hey, if anything comes up… you can definitely contact me. Annabeth may have been my friend longer, but you’re my friend too.”

“Yeah, thanks, I will,” Calypso said, managing a small smile.

After that Jason and Piper said their goodbyes and left Leo and Calypso alone in their flat.

“That was… pretty intense,” Leo finally broke the silence when it was about to get awkward. For some reason, he seemed disappointed about something even though Calypso couldn’t decide what. That she had ruined the evening? Or could it be… that he was upset to find out that she used to have a crush on his friend? No, that couldn’t have been it, Calypso thought, because what reason had she ever given Leo to like her? When she thought about it, she had mainly been sarcastic and kind of cold in his company, probably not something most people cared about.

“Yeah…” Calypso didn’t know what else to say. She wanted to explain, to say that she really didn’t feel much of anything towards Percy anymore, but what would that help? She’d probably only make things even more awkward than they already were. Especially if she was wrong and Leo was disappointed for example because she might have caused friction between his friends. “Listen, I didn’t mean to…”

“Whatever,” Leo stopped her, sounding a bit sharper than what Calypso was used to hearing. “I guess it’s none of my business anyway.”

Calypso understood the implications in Leo’s comment. One of the reasons why he was mad was because she wasn’t telling him the whole truth. But she could not get him mixed in the life she was trying to escape from…

The whole situation made Calypso frustrated and she took it out in a way she later regretted: “Why are you acting like that? What happened with Percy has nothing to do with you!”

“Well, it becomes my issue too if it affects my friends! Besides, I… I care about you… because you’re my flatmate, of course! And if my friend hurt you…”

Calypso was totally taken aback by Leo’s answer. She hadn’t even considered that he might actually be worried about her. Her face softened as she replied: “What happened back then… it doesn’t matter anymore. He and I were never exclusive. So really, it was my fault in the first place thinking that we could have a future. Not with… everything happening anyway.”

“There, that’s the other problem,” Leo said in a low voice. “You never tell me… Calypso, even though I may seem like it sometimes, I’m not stupid. You’re not telling us something that’s obviously very important to you. And hearing that Percy knows… well, it does feel weird.”

“Leo, think about your worst memory,” Calypso said, her eyes looking even darker than usual. “And tell me if you’d be willing to tell it to me, right here, right now. If the answer is no… well, then you might understand what I feel.”

“I…” Leo started, but then hesitated, his expression turning dark. “Yeah, you’re right. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it. I just want to…”

“Forget.” Calypso finished for him. “Guess you might understand, after all.”

“Yeah, maybe… I hope that we can be honest with each other, one day, though.”

“I hope so, too,” Calypso agreed.

“Listen, I’m gonna call it a night,” Leo finally broke the silence that had fallen into the room, combing his hair with his fingers. “Got lots to do tomorrow. So, see ya.”

“Night,” Calypso said after him. She was sad that the affection that had been there the other night as they had said good night to each other seemed almost non-existent right now. Maybe the bubble around them had broken when they voiced their issues out loud. But Calypso wasn’t someone who gave up that easily. She wouldn’t let the ghosts of the past stop her from living her life anymore.

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #my fics #caleo uni au

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delta-roseblr · 4 years

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How do you feel about the Percy Jackson Disney+ series?

Hello lovely anon!

I’ve talked a little bit about this already but really it comes down to this: I WANT to be excited about it but I am still feeling a little apprehensive. I’m a Percy Jackson fan so I’ve been scorned before. Also Disney isn’t always the most progressive company so I’m a little worried about them shying away from some of the themes covered in the series (Nico being gay being one of those things).

I know Rick has said that the series is going to be different from the movies but I don’t know how much actual say he has in anything. I do think it would be in Disney’s best interest to do the series justice. The merchandising opportunities alone could make them TONS of money. Think about the Harry Potter series- the books and movies have been over for years (that add-on shit JKR keeps doing doesn’t fucking count as shit and we all know it) and new merch is still being made and selling. Percy Jackson as a series is probably an easier thing to translate to film then HP and there are a ton of things that can be turned into cool merch (which I will be buying). As someone that collects Funko Pops! I’m so fucking excited at the idea that there might be some funko pops of Percy Jackson characters. There is also the fact that Disney is still in the process of growing Disney+ as a streaming service, so putting out high quality sustainable series is important for that. I don’t currently have Disney+ and really hadn’t been considering getting it until I heard about the Percy Jackson series.

So Disney should want to make the series good but the movies had a lot of motivational factors. The first one was made in the middle of the HP movie hype, and Christopher Columbus knew what was possible because he directed the first two HP movies. Christoper Columbus actually cited his experience directing the HP movies for why he wanted the characters aged up which is still just insane to me! So they SHOULD do things right doesn’t mean they WILL do things right. Unfortunately, there are legitimate reasons for them not to do things right- like all the laws around using kids in filming which are good laws meant to protect kids and should be followed but also making filming take longer and be more expensive.

Right now, as much as I want to be excited I really think it is too soon to tell. It is definitely a story I am going to continue to follow as they release new information. I think was we start learning about casting that will be a big tell on what we are getting. I don’t want another 27-year-old actress playing Annabeth (and yeah, the actress that played her in the movie was 27 in the first movie). I also don’t really want a 16-year-old actress playing Annabeth if we are talking book one either. To do it well, I do think that actually have to get 11 or 12 year olds for it to work (Because kids that have gone through puberty or are going through puberty don’t look like they are prepubescent- sorry, I don’t make the rules). Casting of the adults/gods will also be important. With Covid, it will probably be a while before we are getting that kind of information.

Sorry, this probably comes across super pessimistic but that is honestly where I’m at with it.

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harley-style · 4 years

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this is a klance au BUT ITS LONG SO BUCKLE UP

i keep thinking about that hades/persephone klance au but like

since keith is hades and lance is persephone, there is no conceivable way they can make children normally

lance turned into a female a few times and does not particularly like the experience

this is where they discuss hades having demigod children

and lance just wanting that demigod child to be willing and able to handle parts of the underworld properly

they have several, they’re still ashamed of the Hitler debacle

can you see where im going with this

eventually one of the potential ‘carrier’ candidates lead them to an expedition in Italy

no really can you see where im going with this

they meet this lovely lady called maria who is an awesome singer and dancer and ironically enough it is lance (persephone) who likes her first

keith’s just “...oh okay”

so they go talk to this lady because she’s awesome and after some time agrees to have hades/keith’s kids

they like her so much they have a round two

maria’s super chill about two gods asking her to carry their babies for her. like what is she going to do? say no? they’re like the only two men who would even treat her with any amount of respect

and like they fund her secretly which she simultaneously hates and is grateful for

during her pregnancy months lance went full overprotective over her and her first kid and paraded around as her lover at the time while keith distracted zeus, who was shiro (this makes sense i swear)

maria gives birth to a girl.

they all collectively decide to name her bianca.

a few years later when tiny bianca looks really lonely keith just absentmindedly suggests they do it again

maria agrees

this time, she gives birth to a baby boy

they call him nico

DO YOU SEE WHERE IM GOING WITH THIS

okay so shiro finds out and kind of scolds lance and keith about the whole thing so they have to go away for a few years

in those years maria dies sorry maria we love you

keith makes an executive dumbass decision and decides to drop them in the lotus casino

lance, equally a dumbass, lets him

thanatos and the furies have definitely chatted about this and have come to the conclusion that the king and queen of the underworld are going to regret this decision someday

fastforward to the future

same shit happens, only this time hades is just a super grumpy dude who likes being addressed as keith and an uber sassy husband who is as overdramatic as possible

percy actually LIKES these two, to grover and annabeth’s insane confusion

but percy thinks theyre the weird ones because it looks like only hades and persephone give a damn about demigod children

keith stealing zeus’ lightning bolt was supposed to be a fucking prank so he’s very confused as to where this luke castellan’s betrayal is coming from

as an apology he goes to percy’s apartment and pays him like, money for his trouble, and some flowers for his mom

percy is confused by the flowers, but when sally sees them she rolls her eyes and snorts “well its nice to put a face to the weirdo who kept sending me non-romantic flowers every now and then.”

sally tells percy a funny story about a person who kept sending her flowers sending messages like “im done with the world this is bullshit” “you’re doing amazing, woman, keep being you” and “this isn’t romantic at all please don’t get the wrong idea”

turns out that was lance giving keith a dare

so keith and percy are bros,,,, kinda,,,

keith asks percy two years later to fetch his kids, man doesnt thalia get a kick out of a god politely/famililarly telling a kid he needs a favor, do this thing for me and ill sponsor your school

its grabbing bianca and nico from the lotus casino

grover is mega unsure about the two kids of hades but percy’s like no theyre cool

percy’s like “hey you guys are my cousins you can bunk in with me”

annabeth’s like “no they have to stay at hermes’”

“no??? they’re kids of keith- i mean lord hades he said they could bunk at mine so its okay”

poseidon makes a snit but percy basically brushes him off like damn son who hurt you

okay but really zeus being a large dickbag doesnt work here, he’s SHIRO here come ON

its just that hilariously enough he was cursed REALLY long ago by this uber powerful being (not from greek bc its canon to have multiple mythos here yay) cast a curse on him and basically literally a lot of people fall in bed with him with fucking babies as a result of that. keith pissed himself laughing when it happened, adam, hera, just shakes his head and calls shiro an idiot

basically its PJATO but keith as hades, lance as persephone, shiro as zeus and adam as hera and the subsequent consequences of that tiny little detail. hope you enjoyed ;)

#klance #hades #persephone #greek gods au #pjato #pjato au #percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #nico di angelo #bianca di angelo #maria di angelo #sally jackson #ive thought about this for months okay

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jasiper · 5 years

Text

my experience at tlt musical

hi friends! as you guys may know, last night i had the chance to go to the lightning thief musical and it was so much fun! since i need to babble about how amazing it was and all my favorite parts, i decided tumblr is the way to go :’) under the cut because i have no clue how long it’ll be, but as it’s 1:30am and i am pretty tired, i’ll try to make sure this actually makes sense

mrs. dodds saying “kronos” every two seconds when chiron was trying to tell the story of the gods was so funny

PERCY PULLING OUT RIPTIDE FOR THE FIRST TIME WAS HONESTLY GOD TIER. CHRIS’S REACTION IS 100% HOW I ENVISION PERCY REACTING

percy talking about the field trip and casually slipping in the fact he got expelled between talking about art... then sally saying “i know. the headmaster called.” followed by percy’s “...about the art?” SO CUTE

percy spraying febreze when gabe enters was the funniest thing in the entire world, i actually cackled

SALLY STANDING UP FOR PERCY TO GABE BY SAYING HE ISN’T GABE’S KID! POP OFF SALLY

chris shoved his face full of marshmallows during strong and was still singing with a marshmallow wedged in his cheek. he is so cute

strong also made me emo as hell, just saying!

grover shows up stuck in a garbage can which was so funny

percy waking up from his dream immediately to be told by annabeth “you drool in your sleep”. those kids own me

everything about mr. d was so great. jorrel honestly killed it!

“i need a drink” me too mr. d, me too

WHEN RYAN GALLOPPED WITH JUST A TAIL I LOST IT. I KNEW IT HAPPENED. I STILL COULD NOT STOP FROM LAUGHING. IT WAS SO FUNNY.

“you’re my dream girl!” “are you sure he doesn’t have a concussion?” GOD CHRIS AND KRISTIN HONESTLY JUST KILLED THE PERCABETH DYNAMIC. YOU GUYS HAVE NO IDEA. I CANNOT PUT INTO WORDS HOW AMAZING THEY PORTRAYED THEIR RESPECTIVE CHARACTERS. SO WHOLESOME.

PERCY MAKING LIGHT SABER NOISES WHEN HE MOVES RIPTIDE AND ANNABETH TELLING HIM IT’S NOT A LIGHT SABER GOT ME

okay but chris was so amazing when percy found out sally was gone. his voice kept breaking and it was so emotional. my angsty son.

PERCY AND GROVER’S HUG WHEN THEY SEE EACH OTHER AFTER PERCY WAKES UP! SO CUTE! SO PURE!

the capture the flag scene... so good. the whole song, everything. sarah beth kills it at clarisse.

i’m probably so biased because i love the song, but the campfire song was so good. grover popping up and yelling “my turn! my turn! IT’S MY TURN!” then he cried and annabeth, silena, and katie all tried to comfort him, but the second the chorus came back he was dancing again! so cute!

the dancing in the campfire song just gets me too!

percy finding out his dad is poseidon and getting all excited until everyone else moves away from him :((

mr. d said and i quote “the master bolt! it’s not a jagged tin foil thing you find in a traveling musical!” which was so funny, i love when actors break the fourth wall

the oracle was such a cool scene! i love how they did it!

okay good kid is when i cried a decent bit. chris portrays so much emotion in this song. i was so moved but his singing, his facial expressions, everything. i knew it was going to emotional but i didn’t truly grasp the magnitude until i was there! (also because mari asked, percy did not say fuck. #LetPercySayFuck2019)

killer quest was such a fun song! the original trio getting excited about leaving! so cute!

okay during intermission we got the announcement that kristin was being replaced with sarah beth because kristin blew her voice out during act 1, but she finished the act before pulling out which i think is so cool! i was pretty disappointed but kristin obviously knows her limits and her health comes before anything else.

lost! was so good. i love that song so much and it was the first time sarah beth sang as annabeth and it was good!

grover messing around with uncle ferdinand’s statue (rip)

sarah beth did amazing in my grand plan. her vocals are killer!

drive was also a super fun song, james finally came out as ares and it was awesome!

tree on the hill was another song that made me teary. jorrel was amazing and poured everything into the song. so good.

DOA man! holy crap! jalynn is crazy talented! her vocals! such a good song!

the trio almost getting pulled into tartarus: “i think that’s tartarus.” “like the fish sauce?” “NO. tartar-us.”

HADES. SO GOOD. SO FUNNY. “poseidon’s too busy to come visit his brother” as he cries was GOD TIER. i did not expect hades to be that funny but hey! it was hilarious!

the son of poseidon was also amazing, i love that song so much. “it’s a seashell!”

poseidon acting like a stereotypical surfer dude... so funny. “i wish you weren’t born.” “wow, really?”

poseidon flirting with sally, percy getting very uncomfortable and saying “yeah..... that’s my dad”

i could write an entire essay on the last day of summer. an entire essay. luke’s reprise always gets me, but seeing james perform it live. chills. actual chills. james is so crazy talented everyone, hype him tf up.

OKAY. THE PERCABETH SCENE. i wasn’t sure how it was going to be (i was so looking forward to kristin and chris) but sarah beth and chris killed it! THEIR NOSES BRUSHED, PEOPLE. I THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO KISS. 100%. ANNABETH CUPPED PERCY’S CHEEKS IN HER HANDS AND THEIR. NOSES. BRUSHED.

THEIR. NOSES. BRUSHED.

“seaweed brain...” “wise... girl?” wow i was in tears

bring on the monsters had me in tears again! it was such a great end to the musical, friends. words cannot even describe how fitting the end was.

and then, of course i stage doored.

i told james he was the perfect luke and he told me that compliment makes him so happy :’) such a sweet dude

wow this is blurry BUT sarah beth told me that she loves signing books! i was the only one back there who had the book instead of the program so i felt really stoked to be the only one to bring my copy of the lightning thief

ryan was wearing a medusa shirt and i complimented it and he was so excited i noticed. he also told me he has a centaur shirt lmaooo

and finally jorrel. he is so sweet! my hands were shaking when he got to me and i apologized and he was like “oh my god no! you’re fine! you’re fine!” he is the actual sweetest. i then asked him who runs the twitter account and he said they won’t tell him. i told him how they roasted me on my birthday so i thought it was him so he was like “they roast me all the time! i wouldn’t do that to myself!” and i pointed out he was in the show so he deserved it instead of me but he was like “they do it all the time though!” jorrel stayed out the longest with us and kept hugging everyone and ugh! i love him!

now my book is all signed up and i absolutely love it :’)

so, to sum up a very long post, if you have the opportunity to see the musical, please do. the musicians and cast pour their entire heart into it and it was so evident through this performance. it made me so happy. words cannot describe how i felt while watching it and how i feel now! my heart is actually soaring. i cannot articulate how amazing it was to be immersed in the show and to be surrounded by other fans. this was what we deserved from the movies! just... if you have the means/resources to watch it, do it. no hesitation. i highly recommend going to see it, friends.

#god this is so long #i just had such a great time #it's just as good as everyone says #watch it! support it! do it all!#now i am never taking off my tour shirt #also if you read this.. thank you #you're great #the lightning thief musical #pjo musical #pjo #my face #megan's babbles

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thisisawesomeness1825 · 5 years

Text

oops, i (fake) love you, ch. 07

vii. Annabeth

"Okay, so what's gonna be our backstory?" Annabeth asks after she took out a pen and paper from her bag. Percy sits across her, fiddling with the loose thread of his pillow.

"I don't know. Maybe one day you wake up and you realize that I'm an awesome person after all," he offers.

"That's impossible. They won't believe that."

"Me being an awesome person or you suddenly not hating me?"

She gives him her signature glare. "Both."

Leaning her head back, she thinks about how to convince everyone with the supposed authenticity of their relationship. Obviously, it's impossible not to arouse suspicion when you suddenly date your enemy. Most people would likely think that they're onto something beyond dating, which is what they're actually doing in the first place. Nevertheless, they still need to achieve everyone's acceptance, especially Percy's friends, if they want to be successful with this mission.

"How about we just stick with the truth?" she asks. Percy looks up curiously. "I think it would be more believable to tell something that actually happened, than making something out of the blue. Then we can just tweak it up a little bit."

"That's reasonable," he says in agreement. "Do you think the pool incident would be a nice starting point?"

"Well, how would you make a story around that?"

"For a start, we'll use the same facts. After swim practice, I stumble upon you drowning in the pool, and I came to save you. Then, probably you realize that I wasn't really a 'jerk' as you initially thought," he explains, using air quotes for the word 'jerk'.

Annabeth nods. That seems like a good plan. "After that realization, we both apologized for being rude to each other. And as part of the apology and for saving me, I treated you out for dinner," she adds.

"Then, we exchanged numbers and began secretly seeing each other until we agreed to go out officially," Percy finished. He glances at her. "Do you think that's enough?"

"I suppose so. It seems believable enough." She shrugs. "Not that I'd consider doing that in real life since you're not exactly the best person to be around."

"Gee, thanks for the support."

Annabeth tucks her notes in her bag and brings out a color-coded planner with matching sticky notes. The use of different colors makes it easier for her to organize her stuff, as time-consuming it may seem. "So, when can we start our swimming lessons?" she asks. "I can't do it next week since I still have to organize the Freshman Welcoming Party, but my schedule is free after that."

His eyebrows bunch up like a confused kid. "Are you okay with meeting every Wednesday and Friday after next week?"

"Yep. That's settled then," she confirms. "Did you read lesson outline for the next topic?"

"Uh yeah? I did," he admits with hesitation like he isn't sure whether he actually read it or not. "Although, I wasn't—"

Without a warning, she moves closer to stare at his eyes. She cuts him off with a soft smile, "I like how green your eyes are. It makes me want to lose myself in your gaze."

Annabeth waits for a moment for that to sink into Percy, and the blush that appears on his cheeks makes her grin wider. "Um, thanks?" he mumbles.

"That's flirting," she says, as she leans back to her personal space. "You didn't really read the outline, did you?"

"I did! But I wasn't able to finish it," he exclaims. His eyes meet hers. "How do you do it so effortlessly?"

"Well, it takes confidence to be able to do that without stuttering. And some flowery words to make it effective. Basically, it's just like giving a compliment but with extra frostings."

"Frostings?"

"Yeah. To make it more appealing," she says. "It worked for you, didn't it?"

He shrugs, but there are still faint traces of red on his cheeks.

"Anyway, there are several forms of flirting, but that's the easiest thing to learn," she says. She crosses her arms on her chest. "Try it on me. Flirt with me."

"Um, you're...nice?"

Annabeth rolls her eyes. He clearly doesn't give the effort to do it. "C'mon. You're not trying."

His eyes squint like he's trying to find something to compliment. "Your hair looks nice today," he says at last.

Her expression doesn't change, but she supposes it is better than the last. "I guess that's better. Keep practicing that."

"Okay."

She brings up the latest scoresheet. "So, I gave you a score of 80 out of 100 today. There's still a lot of room for progress so you better step up your game."

"Yes, ma'am."

Piper

If there's something Piper is good at, it's sensing whether someone is lying or not. And as of now, her senses are flashing red flags around Percy.

Friendship-wise, she wants to believe him. She wants to agree and be happy that he's now finally found someone—even if it is in the shape of his old nemesis, Annabeth Chase. God knows how many times she's spotted him casting longing and sad glances to their fellow friend Rachel that in a way, it makes her ache for him too. All she wants for him is to be happy, and not constantly stuck in the friend zone.

But more importantly, she wants him safe and happy, and not at the mercy of his old enemy. Piper doesn't know for sure, but she feels that there is something fishy in the relationship between Percy and Annabeth. Although they are trying to be open with their relationship, something still feels off. And she wants to figure out what.

"Hey, guys! In here," she stage-whispers, beckoning in the empty classroom behind her.

Jason, Leo, Grover, and Rachel enters after her, and she closes the door stealthily like a spy. You can't blame her for wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to be one.

"So, no one saw you come in here?" she asks. Everybody shakes their head. "That's great."

"Why the emergency meeting, Beauty Queen?" Leo asks.

"First of all, don't call me Beauty Queen. And second, we need to talk about Percy's love life."

"Well, that's interesting," Jason quips. He looks around them for a second, then his eyes widen. "Oh, that's why Percy's not here."

Piper raises her eyebrow at the amused look in Jason's face, then turns serious immediately. "Anyway, didn't you notice something strange with Percy earlier?"

"You mean, aside from suddenly having a girlfriend that he didn't tell us before?" Grover asks incredulously.

"Yeah, Percy and Annabeth's interaction certainly looked forced," Rachel says. "I confronted him about it earlier, but he denied that it was fake."

"Do you think he's lying?" Jason asks. Grover gasps suddenly. "Oh no! What if Annabeth's holding him hostage, and she makes him lie to us about it?"

"You certainly have a wide imagination, Grover," Piper deadpans. She turns to everyone. "Anyway, if Percy and Annabeth are really hiding something from us, we need to catch them red-handed."

"And how would we do that? I'm up if it involves seducing Annabeth," Leo says with a wink. "You know, girls can't get enough of me."

Piper rolls her eyes. "No, the plan doesn't involve seduction, but we need them to slip up from their act if they are indeed faking it."

"We need to probe them about their relationship until they slip up," Rachel suggests. "I'm thinking some of us would have to go on a double date with them."

"Yeah! In that way, we can see if they really are being serious or are just faking it," Grover adds. "So, who's going to pretend to be a couple?"

"They must be compatible with each other," Jason suggests. For a second, Piper sees his gaze drift to her, but that might just be her imagination.

"I'm thinking you and Piper," Rachel suggests with a shrug. "You two seem like the most compatible couple for me."

The suggestion makes Piper's cheeks flush for no reason at all. "That's not true! I can be compatible with Leo or Grover."

Leo smirks at her. "I like how you want to be my pretend girlfriend Mclean, but I think you and Jason are fit for the job."

"How about you Grover?"

"I'm in with Rachel and Leo's suggestion," Grover says. "Besides, fake dating Jason couldn't be too bad, right?"

Jason blushes to the tips of his hair. It's adorable, Piper thinks. No, wait, her mind backtracks. He's a dork. It's adorkable.

"Okay," Piper agrees. "Are you okay with it, Jason?"

"Uh, um, yeah. Sure."

"Cool."

Annabeth

It feels weird to be fake dating your enemy. Much more a boy she used to crush on.

Okay. There. She said it. For all that deeply buried anger and feelings of resentment, it might be impossible that there once existed a universe where she used to like Percy Jackson. Used to. The use of past tense is very important.

But before their feud, it might not be that hard to believe considering they've hung out with each other for five years. From the first time they met when they 7 on that muddy playground up to the time when they were 12 and things began to get awry, they've been practically attached to the hip. Since they were neighbors and classmates at the local school, most of their free time was spent around each other—joking, playing, and basically being a kid. He'd never left her even if he found out that girls have cooties (which is so not true), and the first round of acne began to show up on her face.

It might just be the influence of Taylor Swift's 'You Belong with Me' and other songs that were popular then, but she started to see her best friend as a boy, and a cute one at that (although she supposes, in a scrawny kind of way).

Anyway, she's way past that crush, and any feelings she has for him are now transformed into anger and bitterness.

For the first time, she actually sits beside Percy in their mythology class. Interestingly, few of their classmates are surprised. "You ready for later?" she asks.

"I think so." He turns to her. "Do you think we should have pet names?"

Pet names sound like a bit of a stretch. She doesn't really understand why people prefer to be called babe, sweetie, and other cutesy stuff which sound like overripe fruit. "Nah. I don't do pet names. Besides, it seems a little awkward to do that."

"Sure."

Annabeth turns back to her desk and picks up her book. Time shouldn't be wasted doing idle things when she can opt to spend it on productive activities.

"Hey, Annabeth?" she hears him ask, and her gaze shifts from the book to him. "Yeah?"

"You should wear your hair down more," Percy says. He grins at her, much like the boy she used to hang out with. "It makes you look like a princess."

She remembers hearing that same phrase ages ago when a little kid of ebony hair runs up to her on the swings and tugs at her curls.

"Let go of my hair!" she tells at the boy.

The said boy, with green eyes alight with mischief, grins at her toothily. "You look like a princess."

Against her will, her lips turn up into a smile. "Well done. You've earned yourself some brownie points," she says.

"Great!" He smirks at her. "Looks like you're not too hard to please."

"Oh, I'm hard to please, alright." Like a kid who opened her gifts early, she beams at him. "Seems like you've got yourself a challenge, Jackson."

"Huh, good thing I like challenges then."

Once the lunch bell rings, Annabeth is already walking down the hallways. Her last class before lunch ended early, so she's got quite a brief free period. Good thing when she finally reached the cafeteria, Percy is the only one around yet on the table.

"Remember the plan?" she asks once she's finally seated beside him. She lays her hand palms up on her thighs. "Don't forget to hold my hand."

Percy still looks a little uncomfortable, but he manages to hold her hand without flinching. "Yeah, I remember."

"Why is your hand so clammy?" she complains. She's not really fond of holding hands; that sort of thing just makes it difficult to move around knowing that you only have one hand that is free to use. Percy's sweaty hands don't really make it better.

He frowns at her. "I don't know. Better get used to it."

Just then, the rest of Percy's friends arrive at the table. Grover greets them first, "Hey!"

Piper smiles apologetically at her. "Sorry we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. We're just really shocked by the news. It's not like every day Percy suddenly gets a new girlfriend. Much more someone he used to fight with."

"It's fine. I understand your point," Annabeth says. She looks at Percy for a small smile and lightly squeezes his hand. "We're just glad that you accepted it."

Rachel looks at them skeptically, like she's nowhere near accepting it.

"Anyway," Piper clasps her hands, "Welcome to our little friendship circle. I'm Piper."

"I'm Jason," the blonde boy with glasses says as he extends his hand to her. "Grover," says a boy with the goatee.

"Hot Leo at your service," a scrawny boy with dark unruly curls exclaims with a wink.

"Hey," Rachel mutters under her breath.

"Now that we're all acquainted, I hope you don't mind us asking but how did you two get together?" Piper asks.

"Actually, it started in the pool. I was closing the pool when I saw her flailing on the water, and I just dived in after her. There was no question of whether we're friends or not," Percy says.

"And I realized that we aren't all that much different and that he doesn't suck so bad as I used to believe. We sort of had a long talk after that," Annabeth adds. "And a dinner, then we exchanged numbers. We decided to keep it low since we're not entirely sure where this will go."

"Up until we agreed to be official," Percy finishes with a small smile.

Grover, Jason and Leo nod like they're now agreeing with the story. Rachel just sort of raises her brows in the story, like she's not sure whether to believe it or not. Piper just smirks, like she's up to something really interesting. Or trouble.

"Great! How would you like to go on a double date with Jason and I this Saturday?" she asks.

A/N: Sorry for the late update! My writing time got held up since I binged watch Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and I'm still caught in the cuteness that is Jake and Amy. Anyway, sorry for this crappy chapter, I didn't really liked how this turned out.

Also, my classes start next week, so this might be the last regular update for now. I will try to write if I have the free time, or if I really get motivated to write the chapter.

Lastly, don't forget to leave your thoughts on this!

#oops i (fake) love you #my fic #percabeth #pjo #hoo #fake dating au

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desperauxtilling · 6 years

Text

nothing without you (jason/nico)

or, the one where jason and nico are estranged and nico shows up bleeding on jasons doorstep because he didnt know where else to go

inspired by the wonderful @fuocogo. happy jasico saturday, friends!!

Jason’s in his same clothes from yesterday so Nico assumes he hasn’t slept. He glances at the dim digital clock on the stove. “It’s four in the morning,” he tells Jason, who only nods as he turns around, dishing some food onto a plate. “Why are you cooking hamburgers?”

Nico isn’t running away.

That’s what he tells Will when he’s stuffing ambrosia and nectar into his knapsack, raiding the infirmary for all it’s worth, and pushing him off from trying to give a goodbye kiss. That’s what he tells Hazel when he’s telling her that he’ll be gone for a few weeks and not to worry, trying not to read into the wrinkles of her brow in her watery projection.

He’s loathe to believe there’s a manticore nest causing this much trouble in a college town, but his father pays well. He’s offering him more missions lately, trying to draw him out of the slump he’s fallen in. It’s been… what, a year and a half? No, longer, since Jason left for college.

Jason didn’t cut them off.

That’s what he told Nico when their calls got few and far between. Before and after he left both camps for good to get a space his own in a city far away. That’s what he told Leo and Piper when they came over uninvited and he told them that yes, he loved them, but he wasn’t taking guests and wanted a warning next time.

Jason is the one who ran away. Everyone thought it would be Nico. But Jason needed away from his powerful father, his haunting mother, and everything that gave him that baggage in the first place. He loves his friends, loves the camps, but it was too much for him. Nico understands. It’s selfish, but he wishes he could do the same. And as angry as he is at Jason for leaving, he isn’t nearly as upset for Jason not asking him to come with.

Nico isn’t alone. He has Hazel, he has Reyna. Percy and Annabeth now have reforged--or, finally forged a friendship with him. Even Will, to an extent. That’s gotten less sour even after their breakup. Piper has become an unexpected heart, and Leo and Frank can relate to his geekier tendencies.

But Jason… Jason’s absence leaves this obnoxious itch. It’s a scab and it won’t bleed, he’s too careful when he picks at it for that, but it itches the back of his mind and every part of his skin that Jason’s ever touched and behind his eyes since he can only see Jason in his memory now.

It’s itching on every bus ride. He would shadow travel but he wants to save his strength for the manticore nest, and he likes the contemplation of long, lonely roads. It’s itching when he reaches the hole in the wall blinking beastly eyes back at him. It’s itching cold and he freezes when a manticore slinks out and lunges for him because he’s suddenly not seventeen, he’s just a child back on that snowy mountain with his sister and there’s no Percy, no Jason, he’s just alone.

What a stupid mistake.

Nico grips his bleeding stomach and slumps against a crumbling wall. Shit. The manticores are fading into dust, now, but one of their tails pierced his right side in his foolish frozen state. He tries to breathe and coughs red specks into his hand. Double shit.

Camp Halfblood isn’t too far away. He might be out for a day or two after shadow travelling in this state, but he could do it. Then again, he thinks of Will. Nico would rather take his chances alone than get lectured by Will about being careful and taking care of himself and not running away. Well, he isn’t running away. But he knows he won’t believe him. Hazel and Reyna, wonderful though they are, probably won’t either. He doesn’t want to risk their disappointment. Gods he loves them but he knows they’ll just look at him like he’s an ill fourteen year old again. He can’t handle that right now.

Nico isn’t sure where to go.

Well, that isn’t true. Nico has friends, he has options. But there’s only one place he wants to go. The only place he’s wanted to go out of everywhere he’s been the last almost three years. Gods, has it been that long? He just wants to see Jason again. Because Jason is the one who ran away and now it’s up to Nico to chase him. He lets that thought consume him and steps into shadow.

He hits his head on the door of an apartment when he emerges from the darkness and hisses. The wound on his stomach gapes open, no matter how tight his fist clenches in his shirt. He uses his other to brace himself against the doorframe. He hears shifting, footsteps inside. A familiar weight casting shadow behind the door. Nico almost sobs.

When Jason opens the door, he stops cold. His golden hair is slightly longer, now, curling lovely over his ears. It shines with his imperial glasses. His eyes are still that annoying sky blue that gave Nico courage to brave heights again. He wonders if he’s changed any in Jason’s eyes while he takes in Nico standing on his doormat. There’s a shocked almost smile curving his lips before he sees the blood Nico’s trailing on his boots and Jason’s paw print patterned doormat. How dorky, Nico thinks in his haze of consciousness. “N… Nico--?”

Nico opens his mouth to speak but his throat is so dry, blood coating the back of his tongue. His vision is getting hazy. The thought occurs that he isn’t sure what he would say even if he wasn’t bleeding all over Jason’s doorstep. “... Didn’t know where else to go,” he whispers. That’s when he gives up standing and sinks to his knees. At least the mat is cushioned.

“Oh--oh no, shit,” Jason curses. He tries sliding his arms under Nico’s to help him stand but it only makes him groan in pain. Black spots dance in his vision. “Nico--” His voice cracks. He sweeps him up in his arms and Nico lets his head loll on Jason’s shoulder. He’s warm. He still smells the same--cool air, damp autumn leaves. He steadies his tone and kicks the door shut behind him. “Stay awake, Nico.”

“Mmm,” he mumbles back. Jason must not realize how hard that is, with Nico cradled in his strong, warm arms. Jason sets him upright on a couch and Nico wonders if it’s simply coincidence that everything he owns is so soft and welcoming. It’s not fair.

Jason’s footsteps recede and Nico’s left shivering and gasping for air, but soon enough he’s back with ambrosia, bandages, and some other essentials. “I need to take off your jacket and your shirt, Nico, so I can get a look at the wound. Is that okay?”

There’s no need to be so respectful when Nico’s baring his guts on Jason’s couch, but he appreciates it. He nods and Jason carefully, quickly peels the clothes off of him and rolls Nico onto his good side to inspect the wound.

“Oh, Gods,” Jason mutters. The snip of scissors. Cold cloth and a stinging in his wound. Jason’s fingers gracing his lips, prying his mouth open to feed him ambrosia. However long, Nico remains in a vaguely conscious state, wondering if maybe the manticore actually killed him and his father’s just granting him one last lovely vision in his last few moments of life.

Jason’s brows knit in concentration while he cleans and stitches the wound. His tongue sticks out of the side of his mouth, just slightly. A cute habit Nico noticed long ago. His glasses are crooked from his frenzy to save Nico. He tries to comment but it only comes out a long wheeze.

“Save your strength,” the son of Jupiter murmurs, resting a hand on his pulsing stomach.

Nico forces his shaking hand over Jason’s and squeezes it. Reaches a little farther, straining his wound to fix Jason’s glasses and brush a lock behind his ear. Worth it, he decides even when his vision blurs. Jason’s wide eyes are clear and in a moment of impulse, while Nico’s wrist is pressed to his cheek, he turns his head and breathes him in. The flutter of his lips is almost a kiss. Almost.

Maybe an hour passes when he’s done bleeding and Jason’s bandages are taut across his ribs. He stares at the ceiling, a soiled, pale yellow that Jason, only Jason, has managed to make feel homey. He’s slumped against the couch at Nico’s feet, wiping sweat from his brow. He hands Nico a bottle of water which he greedily gulps down.

Now that everything’s clearer, it’s more sour, too. Some of his resentment toward Jason is rising again. Jason was more than happy to stitch Nico up, no questions asked, but he doesn’t want to deal with the repercussions of showing up at his doorstep. But really, what was Nico expecting? Some easy fix and happy ending to the stillness that’s stifled them?

Now he’s awake enough for his wound to sting and regrets to sink in. The blanket Jason draped over his legs is the heaviest lead. He slowly caps the water bottle. “Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it,” Jason says. Silence stretches between them as Jason gathers up the scattered medical supplies. “I’ll go set up the guest room. I think you’ll be more comfortable there. You can stay as long as you want.”

Nico pulls the blanket up over his shoulder with a wince and closes his eyes. “I’ll be gone by morning.”

Jason stands abruptly. “But… you’re injured.”

He waves a dismissive hand to show Jason he’s fine, no matter how much his stomach throbs in response. “I’ve had worse.”

“Had wor--” the son of Jupiter repeats softly. “Nico, it’s been years. Are you all right?”

Nico turns to lay on his stomach, burying his face in the crook of his elbow. He’s embarrassed himself enough already. Who is he to call Jason selfish for doing exactly what Nico may have done? He’s too close to this situation and too full of emotion. Maybe he’ll come back in another week, or month, or year, once he’s decided he has something to actually say. “Good night, Grace.”

Nico sleeps fitfully, drawn in and out of consciousness by his wound. He hears Jason mulling around sometimes, restless, rearranging things in his apartment. Sometimes he sits at the foot of the couch. Sometimes he sits so close that his hair touches Nico’s, soft blond tufts drawn into his dark, sweat-soaked strands. It could all have happened in a manner of minutes or hours and Nico would be none the wiser to the passing of time.

He wakes up when it’s still dark and he can breathe with his side again. Jason’s left his jacket and a camp shirt at the edge of the couch, since Nico’s own was too torn to mend. The shirt seems new, hardly worn. Perhaps Jason took it with for a memento, only for it to become too heavy and burdened with the past, and letting it find home in the dark recesses of a closet or hamper. Soft and purple, it smells like Jason, so he lets it slide.

Sometime during the night Jason removed his boots and set them beside the couch. Probably hoping that would entice a more comfortable Nico into staying longer. Nico’s lacing up his boots again when he smells something delicious. His stomach growls and he has to admit, he’s curious and starving, so he follows his nose to a quaint kitchen.

He sets two plates on a small, weathered round table. “I was hoping to catch you for breakfast before you go.” And I couldn’t sleep is left unsaid.

He’s finding it harder and harder to hang onto the frustration he feels toward Jason. “Burgers, though?”

“Only food I remember you liking.” He gives a lopsided grin, kind, apologetic. Nico’s resentment melts so easily with just a look from him. It’s unnerving how quickly Jason can disarm him with the smallest motion of his lips. Even moreso that Nico lets him. Welcomes it, even. He’s missed it the last… however long Jason’s been gone.

He squints, scooting the chair aside to take a seat, insisting, “I do eat other things.”

Jason sits too. “Like?”

“Chicken tenders.” He’s talking with his mouth full and Jason can deal with it.

“You’re joking.”

He licks burger grease from his fingertips. “Half-joking,” Refuses his napkin just to watch Jason squirm. “Pizza’s good, too.”

“I thought our American cuisine would offend your good Italian sensibilities,” Jason chuckles. He seems less concerned with eating, instead watching Nico through lidded eyes. He wonders if that’s because Jason is too fond or too tired.

“I’ll go easy on you just this once,” Nico replies. “For old time’s sake.” Demigods don’t traditionally live long, so the last few years apart may as well account for an eternity, if how much he missed Jason is all he has to go on.

They lapse into a comfortable silence and Nico is happy to gorge himself while Jason watches, somewhere between amused and concerned. “You’re eating.” Nico blinks. “I mean, uh--it’s good. You’ve got your appetite back.”

Nico snorts. “Lot of good that does me. Will says I’m not likely to get any taller.” It only has an eensy bit to do with the malnutrition that’s plagued Nico most of his life.

At the mention of his name, Jason’s brow creases. He lingers on the bite in his mouth, as though it’s become lead, hard to swallow. “How is Will, by the way?” He thumps his chest with his fist.

“Fine. Annoying. You know how he is.” Nico sucks the grease out of his hamburger bun. “We broke up a while ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

Jason’s response is so flat and unsympathetic that Nico almost laughs. So he calls him out on it. “You’re not.”

He sighs and eventually agrees. “No, I’m not.”

They don’t talk much. Nico wants to fill him in on everything that’s happened, or relate some story or joke to him, but he has to delve into a long string of explanation that makes Jason’s eyes sag. So they give up on talking about camp and Jason doesn’t talk about his mundane mortal charade.

All he says is, “It’s nice. I feel like I can breathe for once. There are monsters, still, sometimes. But it’s quiet. Peaceful. Almost perfect.” His gaze flickers across the table and the son of Hades squirms in his seat. There’s an unspoken regret there, heavy as autumn rain. Nico can feel that same weight in his chest. It’s a little hard to breathe, suddenly, when Jason’s looking at him like that. He takes Nico’s greasy, calloused hand in his own. So warm, so perfect. “You could stay, if you like. Not forever. Just...”

Gods, Nico wants nothing more. He bites his lip, brushing his thumb over the back of Jason’s hand. “You left for a reason. Right?” And the manticore’s claws have nothing on the ache of his heart. His voice is deep and deadpan. “It had to be a good reason for you to leave like that.” To leave me.

Jason bows his head. “I thought… at the time, I thought it was a good reason. Lately, I’ve been having doubts.” Nico does not bare his heart, does not inflict upon Jason every scathing word and teary night that’s attributed to his absence. He just stares at Jason and drinks in the sorrow seeping through his hands into Nico. And it all comes crashing into his chest when Jason apologizes in the softest voice Nico’s ever heard.

“I know.” Nico lets their fingers intertwine. They sit at the table holding hands, food left forgotten on their plates, and the next time he blinks it’s sunrise. Sweet mauve tints Jason’s glasses through the kitchen blinds. He’s giddy and fourteen again, all the hurt and heart in the world when Jason gives him a smile.

“I can’t shadow travel back home like this,” Nico says finally. Jason blinks. “And I don’t feel like taking public transportation back to New York.”

A smile widens Jason’s face. “You mean--”

“I’m injured,” Nico reaffirms. “I’ll need food. If it’s not too much trouble--”

“Are you kidding? Of course not!” Jason stands and spreads his arms for a hug then abruptly pauses. “Oh. Sorry, uh, I forgot. No touching.” As if they hadn’t been holding hands for the last twenty minutes. Maybe longer.

Nico raises his arms just so Jason can slide his around his waist. “You’re the exception, remember?”

The sunrise isn’t what tints his face pink when he approaches Nico for a hug. It’s firm and comfortable. He missed this feeling so much. Jason’s warm arms around him, the way his head nestles in the crook of Nico’s neck, how his breath settles on the edge of Nico’s ear, the snug clasp of his hands at Nico’s low back.

“I can’t believe it took this long for this place to really feel like home.” Jason’s voice trembles when speaks.

Nico sighs and sinks deeper into him. He can’t believe it’s taken this long for both of them to accept that. So he kicks off his boots and tells Jason he’ll stay for dinner tonight (That’s all I can say, no promises) and they’ll go from there.

#jasico #pjo #hoo #jason grace #nico di angelo #jasico saturday #i fuckin love jasico guys #it's a little angsty but not too bad #jasicostuff discord

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dotshiiki · 6 years

Text

more of the GA AU

You know what sucks? Being sick while on holiday. But this AU must thrive on cold meds or something. So the blatant rip-off of Grey's Anatomy continues … For something that started out as a shapeless piece of I don't even know what, this is actually starting to have some semblance of a plot.

Have some more intern!Annabeth x patient!Percy. And bonus Leo, Nico, Thalia, Rachel, Octavian, and Travis Stoll to join the cast now!

Half the dialogue and narrative is ripped from Grey's, though I kinda picked and chose from a variety of episodes this time.

(Still no title. I have no idea what to call this.)

Parts I and II [here] and [here].

Surgery is like a dance: a precise, carefully-choreographed dance where every member of the team moves in perfect synchrony. It's the first time Annabeth has been part of the steps, and it's breathtaking.

She forgets that it's Dr Castellan leading; she forgets that she's an intern fresh from med school; she even almost forgets that it's Percy on the table (one glance at his unconscious face reminds her of it—tubed and under anaesthesia, he still manages to look like an innocent sleeping child. He might even be drooling a little, good heavens).

Sure, she's practised on cadavers and observed and imagined what it'd be like to stand over the operating table, but nothing really prepared her for this moment.

The moment she steps forward and takes the scalpel from the surgical nurse, this is more than just a game. All those reasons she should quit—the stress, the competition, the crazy hours and long, seven-year slog ahead of her—fly out of her head. It's just her and the body open on the table—this beautiful man who doesn't stand a chance without them—and they get to save his life. She gets to save his life.

Who needs drugs when you have this sort of high?

She could quit. But here's the thing. She's fallen in love with surgery.

Piper's waiting for her when she comes out of the OR, still riding the high of the surgery. She's sitting in one of the plastic chairs that line the walls.

'Hey.'

Annabeth takes a seat next to her. 'Hey.'

'Good surgery.'

'Yeah.'

Piper takes a deep breath, and for a moment, Annabeth's scared she's going to do that thing where she spills her feelings, and Annabeth will have to explain herself, and then there'll be a long discussion that inevitably involves the complicated relationship with Luke/Dr Castellan, which she really doesn't want to get into.

But Piper surprises her. 'Look, we're not gonna do that thing where you say something, and I say something, and somebody cries, and there's a moment—'

Annabeth's breath escapes her in a throaty laugh. 'God, no. I mean, unless you—'

'Nah.' Piper cocks her head to the side. 'Can't believe you can burst an aneurysm surfing. Kinda makes me think twice about it.'

'You surf?'

'You got a problem with that?'

Annabeth holds her hands up. 'No. Surfing's cool. Surfers are cool.' Although cool is too inadequate a word to describe Percy Jackson, not after she's heard him talk—funny, and kind, and so incredibly sweet, maybe—

'Damn straight we are. You should try it some time. Nothing like riding a good wave. And the dudes out there are hot.'

'Oh?' Annabeth keeps her tone carefully neutral.

'Oh come on, don't tell me you didn't notice. I know you're sleeping with McHottie, but it doesn't mean you can't look.'

'I'm not sleeping with Mc—Castellan,' Annabeth mutters. Piper raises her eyebrows. 'Not any more. That's gotta stop.'

'Okay.' They're silent for a moment. Then Piper says, 'So, surfer dude. Kinda hot, if you like the bad boy type.'

'He's not the bad boy type,' Annabeth says automatically.

'No?'

'No.' She thinks of his eyes, serious and so deep when he told her she deserved better. In that moment, she could almost believe that she deserved more than a screwed up relationship with a guy closer to her mom's age than hers, who keeps her around for the off-hour booty calls and the hero worship she flatters him with (because why would anyone else get involved in the mess that is Annabeth Chase's life?)

'Oh my god, you like him.'

She immediately wipes off the goofy smile that's spread across her face without her noticing. 'No I don't!'

'You so do. I know that look.'

'No I don't.'

'Uh huh.'

'He's a patient.'

'For now.'

'Shut up.'

Piper laughs and gets up, stretching. 'You should get some sleep. You look like crap.'

'I look better than you,' Annabeth throws back.

'Not possible.' Piper's still laughing as she walks away.

+++

She leaves Percy Jackson till the last on her evening rounds. He's finally coming up off the anaesthesia and he smiles groggily at her as she does her post-op checks.

'Everything's checking out,' she tells him. 'Looks like you're gonna be just fine.'

'You fixed me?'

'We fixed you.' She pats his hand. 'You'll be out on your surfboard again in no time.'

His fingers curl around hers, give a little squeeze, and let go. 'That's good. Though I think I lost my shot at Nationals this year.'

'There's always the next.'

'Mmm.' Percy closes his eyes momentarily. 'You were in my surgery after all?'

'I was.'

'Good. I'm glad you didn't let Dr Douchebag ruin your chance for you.'

There's something in his stare that makes her heart skip a beat. In spite of her best intentions, she finds herself leaning closer, as if those Carribean-green eyes have their own gravitational field tugging her in.

It's probably a good thing Percy's mom and Callie show up then, this time with a short, spiky-haired dude in tow, because Annabeth isn't sure what might have happened otherwise. She jerks away and starts scribbling quickly on Percy's chart as he tears his eyes away from her to greet them.

'Leo, buddy!'

'Up top!' says Leo, holding out his hand for a high-five. They go into some complicated fist-bump routine that Callie rolls her eyes fondly at. Annabeth forces a smile on her face and nods politely to all of them before she leaves the room.

Nurse Hazel is deep in an argument with another intern when Annabeth goes to return her charts, so she leans over the nurses' station to file them away herself, listening absently to the argument as she does.

'Are you sure that's the right diagnosis?'

'Well, I don't know, I'm only an intern. Here's an idea, why don't you go spend four years in med school and let me know if it's the right diagnosis. She's short of breath, she's got fever, she's post-op. Start the antibiotics.'

Annabeth isn't sure who this intern is—his name's Stoll, she thinks? There are way too many guys in the intern programme to keep track of them all—but he's definitely an idiot. Annabeth didn't need Dr Ramírez-Arellano's warning to know that you keep the nurses happy, period. From the look on Hazel's face, the next explosive diarrhoea case is going to have Dr Stoll's name on it.

Well, better him than her.

Stoll chucks his chart at Hazel, who takes it and marches away, muttering under her breath about arrogant interns and incompetent doctors.

Silena Beauregard, Annabeth's fellow intern, is charting behind the counter. Stoll leans over it and flashes a grin at her.

'God, I hate nurses. I'm Travis Stoll. I'm with La Rue. Who're you with?'

Silena has obviously been following Stoll's argument with Hazel. 'She may not have pneumonia, you know. She could be splinting, or have a PE.' She delivers this admonishment with a toss of her pretty ponytail. Annabeth isn't really sure what to think of Silena yet. She's blonde, too, but unlike Annabeth, Silena has the kind of statuesque figure you'd expect to see on a supermodel runway, not wandering about a hospital in scrubs. Case in point: they're both well into a twenty-hour shift, but the tiredness that makes Annabeth look like a wreck actually hangs attractively from Silena's curvy frame.

Stoll has clearly noticed this, too, from the way his eyebrows shoot up. But he's evidently one of the race of egotistical male doctors, because he says, 'Like I said, I hate nurses.'

Silena glares at him like he's a disgusting glob of bodily fluid that has landed on her shoes. She slams her chart shut and flounces off without another word.

Stoll whistles under his breath. He sees Annabeth watching, and winks. 'She's hot. She seeing anybody?'

Annabeth gives him a withering look, but there's not time to deliver a scathing comeback. Her pager has just gone off.

+++

Piper must have just started a new shift—she has that fresh, put-together look that disintegrates within an hour of being in the hospital (less if you're working in the pit). She and Will Solace are following the gurney rolling into the ER from the ambulance bay. It's one of several; half a dozen burly women in biker jackets are being wheeled in simultaneously, all in various states of injury.

'I don't know what happened!' one yells.

'I heard a crash, checked my rearview,' snarls another.

'Half the club is eating asphalt, banging around like tenpins.'

Annabeth rolls up her sleeves. She's only got two hours of her shift left, but if there's any chance she can get in on a surgery …

It's not like she's in a rush to go home, anyway.

'Donor cycle crash?' she asks.

'Bowling for bikers,' Piper says.

Dr Ramírez-Arellano directs them into the nearest exam room. 'What've we got?'

'Nico di Angelo, 24,' says the paramedic. 'Multiple contusions, pelvis stabilised in transport. Alert before we pushed five of morphine. For a left arm degloving injury.'

Will winces at the state of the crushed bones in di Angelo's hand. 'He must have been thrown out of his car!'

'He was on one of the bikes.'

'Seriously, this guy?' Aside from the fact that the rest of the bikers are all women, their patient is thin and wiry, with a face that looks a lot younger than his twenty-four years. Hell, he barely looks like he's out of high school.

'I know, right?' The paramedic shrugs and leaves di Angelo in their hands.

Dr Ramírez-Arellano makes a quick decision. 'Okay, trauma one, and page ortho. Two of you, stay with him.'

Five hands go up immediately. Dr Ramírez-Arellano purses her lips for a second. 'McLean and Solace.'

Piper and Will exchange high fives through their eyes and disappear into the exam room.

'What about us?' Silena says.

Dr Ramírez-Arellano checks her pager and groans. 'Page from—hey, what do you think you're doing?'

The abrupt question is directed at a spiky-haired whirlwind of a woman, who is limping down the ER floor, flanked by two cronies, both wearing the same thick leather jacket and biker jeans. She's a lot skinnier than the other women, with lean, ropy muscles, but from the way she's issuing her orders, there's no question that she's in charge.

'You two make the rounds.' Biker Chick clutches at a bloody wound in her side. 'I want status reports on all the injured. And find out what happened out there.'

'Oh no, you two aren't going anywhere except the waiting room.' Dr Ramírez-Arellano steps in front of the bikers. 'And you, ma'am, need to let us have a look at that injury.'

'Don't call me "ma'am,"' snaps Biker Chick. 'And you don't want to get in the way of club business. You screw with one of us, and we will all screw with you.'

Dr Ramírez-Arellano doesn't flinch. Annabeth is impressed. Her attending must have nerves of steel.

'Look around.' She points at the beds full of injured bikers. 'You want your girls taken care of? That's all my guys are trying to do. And that wound needs attention. So I'll make a deal with you. I'll let these ladies conduct their investigation, as long as they do not bother any of my patients. And you will settle down and let Dr Zhang here take care of you.'

Biker Chick scowls, but evidently finds this an acceptable compromise, because she lets Frank help her to a bed.

'What's your name, ma—um, you prefer sir?' he stammers when Biker Chick shoots him another death glare.

Annabeth hears her laugh harshly as Dr Ramírez-Arellano pulls the curtains shut on them.

'Call me Thalia,' she says.

Dr Ramírez-Arellano purses her lips and checks her pager again. 'You two—' she nods to Annabeth and Silena, 'get up to the neuro floor. Psych's just sent down a patient, they're paging for a consult.'

'Psych?' Annabeth barely bites back her groan. 'Dr Ramírez-Arellano, I was hoping I could scrub in on—'

Her resident's dark eyes flash dangerously. 'Every intern wants to scrub in. That's not your job. Do you know what your job is? Keeping the labs delivered. Keeping the code team staffed. And making sure the damned pages are answered so I can do my job.'

She flings back the curtain on Frank and Thalia and starts to harangue Thalia, who's resisting Frank's attempt to palpate her abdomen, into sitting still.

Silena sighs. 'Come on.'

The consult turns out to be for a freckled redhead with frizzy curls that fan out in a halo around her head. Silena scans her X-rays—all clean—while Annabeth runs through the chart.

'She belongs in psych,' Silena complains to the psychiatrist. He's skinny and blond, with an upturned nose like there's a perpetual bad smell under it. His name tag reads A. Octavian. 'What are you doing turfing her here?'

Octavian shrugs. 'She's my gift to you. Had a seizure this morning, and another an hour ago.'

'What are you talking about?' Annabeth points to the chart. 'Says right here, "She talks to dead people, her family had her committed." That's psych, not neuro.'

'Well, I don't know what correspondence school you attended, but they obviously didn't teach you not to jump to conclusions,' Octavian sniffs.

Silena's face reddens. 'Why, you—'

'Sorry, ladies.' Octavian's tone clearly says he isn't at all. 'We can't take her back until she's cleared.'

'So you're dumping her on us.'

'She thinks her seizures are visions.' Octavian wrinkles his nose.

'Hello,' says their patient. 'They're not seizures. I'm psychic.'

Annabeth and Silena exchange a look.

'Sure you are,' Silena says. 'And I'm Heidi Klum.'

'You could've been,' their patient says solemnly. 'Why'd you give it up?'

Silena makes an impatient noise in the back of her throat. 'Don't you start. I get enough of that shit from the guys.'

Octavian takes this chance to walk away. 'Hey!' Annabeth calls after him, but he's already halfway down the hall, leaving them to their psych(ic) case. Annabeth sighs and checks the chart again.

'Miss Dare. We're gonna start our workup now.'

The redhead shudders. 'Rachel, please. And it's a waste of time. I'm telling you—'

'Humour us,' Silena says. 'Can you grip my fingers, please?'

Rachel stares blankly at them. Her eyes shift out of focus, turning inwards. Annabeth nudges Silena.

'Miss Dare? Are you okay?'

'Someone …' Rachel whispers.

'Someone what?'

'Someone's gonna check out.'

Silena groans. 'Oh man, she is nuts.'

'I'm dizzy, not deaf,' Rachel snaps. 'And I'm telling you, someone on the fourth floor is gonna die.'

At that moment, a code blue comes blaring over the PA system. Rachel raises her eyebrows at them as the code team charges past on their way to the fourth floor.

'ICU's on the fourth floor,' Silena says crossly. 'People are always dying there.'

Rachel shrugs. 'Believe me or not. I'm just saying, I know things.'

'We're gonna get a CT anyway,' Annabeth says.

+++

'Look.' Annabeth points to the scans. 'Spikes in the temporal lobe. It is seizures. Epilepsy.'

'Huh, so neuro after all,' Silena says. 'I'll page—'

'You think I'm epileptic?' Rachel crosses her arms. 'No—that's wrong.'

Annabeth shows Rachel the scans. 'That's your brain activity. See these spikes here? That's abnormal activity—consistent with epilepsy. Not visions. We should get an MRI, get a better look at what's going on in your brain.'

'There's no way …' Rachel trails off. Her eyes close.

'Is she having another seizure?' Silena asks.

'Rachel? Miss Dare?' Annabeth waves her hand in front of their patient's eyes. 'Can you see me? Can you hear me?'

Rachel's eyes snap open. Her fingers close around Annabeth's wrist. 'When your dad left,' she says, 'it wasn't because he didn't love you.'

Annabeth steps back, stunned.

'I told you I know things,' Rachel says simply.

Silena rolls her eyes. 'You keep telling yourself that.' She steers Annabeth out of the room. 'You okay?'

'Yeah. She just—' Annabeth shakes her head, as if that will clear it of Rachel's words. He didn't love you.

'Did your dad die, or—?'

'No. He didn't.' Annabeth rubs her hands up and down her arms. Is it just her, or is the thermostat in the hallway malfunctioning?'

Silena gives her a sympathetic smile. 'Look, I know the type,' she says, jerking her head towards the room where Rachel is now gesturing to an invisible audience. 'These people just want everybody to think they're a sideshow. They're really good at reading people, telling them what they want to hear—I can handle the case, if you want.'

'You sure?'

'Yeah. Your shift's almost over anyway, isn't it? I'll take her to MRI.'

Annabeth lets her. She'd fight harder for it, but chances are, if the scans turn up anything, it'll be Dr Castellan's case.

There's less than ten minutes left to her shift. She could go straight to the locker room and change out, go home. That's what any sane person would do. She doesn't need to run a last check on any of her patients. They're already settled in for the night.

Her feet carry her to the post-op floor anyway.

She expects him to be sleeping—it's nearly midnight, after all, and his visitors are long gone—so it makes her jump when he speaks up.

'God, they really keep your noses to the grindstone around here, don't they? Do you ever get to clock out?'

'Actually, my shift ends in five minutes.'

'Ah, and I'm your final hurdle before freedom.'

Percy grins when she cracks a smile. 'I knew it,' he says.

'Knew what?'

'You can't leave without saying goodbye to me.'

'I'm just doing my job.'

'Uh huh.'

He has his arm around a round, black-and-white object—a panda pillow pet that his friends or his mom must have brought for him. 'Well, I can't think of a better way to end the day than by saying good night to someone cute.'

Annabeth raises her chart to hide her face. 'You flatter yourself, Mr Jackson.'

Percy blanches. 'Seriously, you gotta call me Percy. Mr Jackson makes me feel like I'm fifty. Anyway, who said I was talking about me? I meant I get to say goodnight to a cute girl.'

'You say that to all the girls, or just the ones that have to put up with you?'

'Only the ones who are hot doctors?'

Her face is definitely flaming now. 'You obviously haven't seen Dr Beauregard.'

'The supermodel chick?' he asks.

There's a sharp stab in her chest that feels somewhat like the one that hit her the first time she laid eyes on Percy's not-girlfriend Callie. Of course he's noticed Silena. Who doesn't notice Silena?

When she doesn't reply, he continues, 'All of you come in during rounds, you know. It's like this whole entourage. But the five of you are interns, right? You and your friend Piper, and Dr Beauregard, Dr Solace, and Dr Zhang.'

Annabeth stares at him, her embarrassment giving way to surprise. 'You know all our names?'

'Shouldn't I?'

'Well, most people don't bother. I mean, we're just interns. Dr Castellan and Dr Ramírez-Arellano are the ones in charge.'

'That's dumb,' Percy says with a frown. 'You're all my doctors. Hell, doctor or not, you're all people. You deserve for me to remember your names.'

People. She thinks of the doctors who refuse to learn their interns' names—or their patients', for that matter.

'My mom would say "personal feelings cloud the medicine."' If you want to be one of the greats, you have to learn to detach yourself, Annabeth. Yeah, that's the great Dr Athena Chase all over. Sometimes Annabeth wonders if her mother is so distant because she's a surgeon, or if she became a surgeon because she was already so detached. 'A lot of surgeons don't bother learning their patients' names. They just see them as case files.'

'But not you. You don't believe that.'

She slings her stethoscope over her shoulders and rests her hands on its ends. 'How do you know?'

'Well, for starters, I don't think I'm just a case file to you.'

I'm not going to blush. I'm not going to blush. 'And what makes you say that?'

'Because your shift ended five minutes ago now, and you're still here.'

And when Percy Jackson gives her that roguish, lopsided grin, Annabeth loses her battle against blushing.

#percy jackson fanfic #grey's anatomy au #grey's/pjo crossover #intern!annabeth #patient!percy #still a blatant rip-off of grey's #these two so want to hook up at some point but how to get them there #the backstory is seriously f-ed up #this is my brain on medication #percabeth

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zoenightstars · 7 years

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pjo musical: the rundown

so i went to see the lightning thief with @angelicomma yesterday and um. oKAY GUYS GALS AND NONBINARY PALS LEMME TELL U ABOUT THIS MOTHER!FUCKIN! SHOW!!!! because it was SO GOOD this is just like. the short list of what i loved about it because oh my god

prepare for the longest post ever

the set was such an aesthetic? it was all very metallic like there was scaffolding and greek columns with graffiti on them? it was very chb and very nyc and overall a Blessing

every time they needed to show a different location they’d do it with the lights so like there were these lights lining the scaffolding that would change color ?? in the underworld they’d flash red, yellow and orange and were made to look like fire and near the ocean theyd be blue and if they were talking about trees itd be green and! if they wanted u to focus on a certain part of the scaffolding it’d be a different light color than any of the other parts which was rad af

the overhead lights were used really well too like when percy was singing about being the son of poseidon or when there was water the lights would be blue and when they were in the forest theyd be green

there is an entire song about how they hate new jersey and how they refuse to die in the garden state. know this

the show was very low budget like oh my god it was great

they didnt make some of their own props so sally walked in once with a trader joe’s bag and also the most important bag in the world (containing the master bolt) was a fucking jansport

their representation of water was just to attach toilet paper rolls to leaf blowers and turn the overhead lights blue like what even

they covered the first 4 rows in toilet paper at one point

also they fuckin deca-casted everyone except for percy (chris mccarrell, the light of my life actually he was so good)

jonathan raviv played chiron, auntie em, random chb girl in a bike helmet and braids (?), random tractor guy (?), a bus driver, a train conductor, hades, and poseidon and im probably missing someone. he had very distinctive characters for all of them not to mention horse puns

“the gods are kind of dicks”

medusa’s eyes were just light up swim goggles

sarah beth pfeifer, who probably has the best comic timing ive seen ever, played clarisse, katie gardner, a fucking squirrel?, mrs. dodds, lotus casino girl, random camper assistant to mr. d, and thalia

*chases annabeth down a flight of stairs with a sword while screaming*

“for their sixteenth birthdays my friends all got cars. I got a fern and a mason jar!”

“ARROWS ARE MADE WITH WOOD. I REFUSE TO PARTICIPATE IN AN ACTIVITY THAT CONDONES VIOLENCE AGAINST OUR ARBOR BRETHREN!”

they had the most roles and they were GREAT

george salazar was such a wonderful grover and mr d oh man

mr d’s whole gag was he’d kick a chair when he got pissed which was hysterical bc the camper assistant would start pouting every time and he also wanted to turn percy into a dolphin

“grover, are you ever going to wear pants again?” “NOPE!”

his solo song was about thalia and how he couldnt save her talk about EMOTIONAL he cried

dam jokes

“we might have more drachmas if you didnt spend them on those DAM SNACKS” “HEY! IT WAS THE HOOVER DAM”

let me talk about. carrie compere for like multiple hot seconds bc GODDAMN GIRL CAN SANG

she was such a good sally. can she be my mom. she sang a song abt percy being special and wonderful and i got a lil teary

“you saved my life, percy. It’s time i learned how to live it.” cryin g

her silena was really funny? like very whiny but very funny.

“every time i bring a boy home, my mom’s there in her nightie [...] she steals my mascara and all my dates!”

she also played sort of charon? underworld guide in this awesome gold dress (she looked SO GOOD) who smacked grover’s goat ass (?????)

“you know, bringing people to the underworld isn’t my only job. I also have a band. wanna hear a demo?” “not really?” “sorry, i can’t hear you over this SWEET ASS RIFF”

“We got everyone! we got kurt kobain, we got beethoven. any requests?” “um, do you have josh groban?” “we will.”

JAMES! HAYDEN ! RODRIGUEZ! was sO GOOD AS LUKE

THERE WAS A GOOD KID REPRISE AND I WAS SHOOKEN

“being a good kid gets you nowhere at all” bruh

they couldn’t have a scorpion onstage so luke just. fucking stabs percy in the back???

He was also a really funny ares and gabe!!

ok and my gal KRISTIN STOKES

fun fact abt me and kristin stokes ..... so we were walking in the same direction after stage door and so me and @angelicomma just walked with her....to the train.... she gave us dessert recs...... and talked about the show (she’s so salty about how rangey her big solo is but trust me she was so good on that song) and also waitress with us.... it was the best experience of all time she is so nice and cool and was wearing jurassic park leggings how rad is she oh my god

her annabeth? was awesome? she was witty and tough and aggressive and i was ABOUT IT

she called out sexism all the damn time

“annabeth, i get it. do you know how many schools i’ve been kicked out of?” “yeah, percy, but when boys mess up they get a second chance.”

“hey, annabeth, who’s your dad?” “he’s a history professor.” “i thought everyone’s dad was-” “a god? that’s my mom. sexist.”

longest yeah boi ever

the moment where she betrayed luke at the end??? YES GIRL

chris mccarrell was such a perfect percy i am elated

“Tartarus? LIKE THE FISH SAUCE???!!!?!?!”

*swings riptide like a lightsaber while making lightsaber noises*

*packages medusa’s head* “To Mount Olympus. Signed, Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase.” “the gods will think we’re impertinent!” “*winning smile* we are impertinent.”

*pouts* “i know how to hold a sword! like this!” annabeth corrects him and he swings it “oh wow actually that’s a lot easier”

in good kid he was like? running around the stage and climbing the scaffolding and shit? and i cried??? the no mom line was the WORST i wanted to actually scream and his voice is so pretty

and he was so shook by his own powers oh man

he was just. so good at the twelve year old thing it was fantastic he was all fidgety and Dramatic (tm) god bless

he loves sally so much!!! all the demigods were salty af abt their parents and he was just quietly singing like “my mom loves hugs and scary movies” and i just. screamed quietly

there were rlly cute percabeth moments too.

percy’s knocked tf out the first time annabeth meets him (she infiltrates his dream a lil) and he sings a lil song abt how she’s beautiful and stuff and he wakes up and she’s all “YOU DROOL IN YOUR SLEEP” shook

she shows up at capture the flag (percy hasnt officially met her yet) and he points at her and was just “gasps YOURE MY DREAM GIRL!” and annabeth side-eyes him hardcore and he goes “UM. THE GIRL. FROM MY DREAM.”

“the god is my mom. sexist.” “NO NO I LOVE GIRLS!” annabeth is shook yet again and percy panics and is like “I MEAN UM THEYRE VERY NICE”

percy gets serious side eye from luke

it’s great

when percy gets stabbed they almost kiss and then grover RUNS ONSTAGE “HEY! here’s your ambrosia percy” goddamn it was DRAMATIC

im definitely missing shit but oh boy it was so so good

i’d kill a man for that soundtrack

if you have the chance (and the money) it’s just. such an Experience and everything i could have ever dreamed of. the cast is great (and theyre all so freakin NICE s/o to kristin especially).

i’d highly recommend it!!! A+ 1000/10

#pjo musical #the lightning thief #the lightning thief musical #tlt musical #pjo #supremememeteme #annaveth #percyyoulittleshit #long post //#maya says stuff #angelicomma #it was AMAZING ahhhhh #BELIEVE IT OR NOT IM LEAVING THINGS OUT #yall reblog this. appreciate the fruits of my labor

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fandomsandfeminism · 7 years

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Rick Riordan's books just keep getting better (and more diverse!) Transcript

Part 1

Part 2

Transcript Below the Cut:

Rick Riordan. So, I've wanted to make a video about Rick Riordan for a while and with The new Trials of Apollo book just coming out, I’m really hyped about it. So I wanted to talk about why I like his books, or at least some of the things that impress me about them and keep me consistently excited about them.

Rick Riordan, if you don’t know, is the author of the wildly popular Percy Jackson series, and today I want to talk about his books, especially how his representation of minorities has improved over time.

So, a few quick things: First, I’m not going to talk about ALL of Rick Riordan’s work, especially his ancillary and tie in material like the Demi-God Files or all the cross over stories, mostly because I haven't read all of them.

And second: Spoilers. Just, big old spoilers for basically everything. I’m not going to go into big plot points much, but I will be talking about some of the characters in depth. I’m going to move through his ouvre in roughly chronological order. So, you are warned.

Lastly, this video hinges on the premise that well done, well executed, fully fledged representations of minority characters in children and Young Adult media is good and important. I’m not really going to argue this point. It is the assumption we are beginning with. Diverse media with diverse characters is good and important.

And this point is, weirdly, kind of controversial. In fact, in the vast majority of children and young adult media most of the cast will be white, straight, cis, able bodied, neurotypical children or young adults with an unstated or vague religious affiliation. This last bit, about the unstated or vague religious affiliation is one we don’t often think about, but really, having a character with ANY stated religion is really rare. Most will, maybe, practice a sort of secularized Christmas maybe? But that’s about it.

The rationale you’ll hear for this is that this makes books more accessible and thus marketable. I would counter that if you really want your book to appeal to as many different people as possible, wouldn’t you want to have as many different types of characters as possible? But that comes with the assumption that outright bigots wouldn’t refuse a book because one of the secondary characters is in a wheelchair, I guess.

So, yeah. Most children's lit and young adult lit will be white, straight, cis, able bodied, neurotypical children or young adults with an unstated or vague religious affiliation, even if it gets absurdly, massively popular. Popular enough to take risks and work outside the box. I’m looking at you, JK Rowling. Looking at you.

This fact, this lack of diversity, does not bother some people. And we are not going to argue this point in this video. We are beginning with the assertion that this situation is not ideal, and that added quality, well written diversity is a positive. And we are going to look specifically at how Rick Riordan improves in this specific aspect of his writing over time.

Ok, so, Uncle Rick is a San Antonio , Texas native, and as someone who was also born and raised in central Texas, I love this fact. He went to MY alma mater, UT, and became a middle school teacher. We’re basically the same person.

Now, Percy Jackson isn’t actually his first book series. In the 90s he wrote a detective series set in San Antonio called Big Red Tequila. There’s like 7 books in this series and I have read none of them. I’m sure they’re great though. How could they not be with a name like that?

Our story really begins in 2004-ish. The story goes that he was telling his son Greek myths as bedtime stories, and when he ran out of myths (or at least child friendly myths I assume), he started to make one up. He invented a story about a boy named Percy, a son of Poseidon, who goes on an adventure to return Zeus's missing lightning bolts. His son told him that he should turn it into a book, his dad had published books before after all. So, Rick did just that. He then took his rough draft to his middle school students and used their feedback to revise.

He then sold this book to Miramax Books for enough money to retire from teaching and focus on writing. God damn. Rick was living the dream here. Life goals.

So, yeah. If you’ve never read the first Percy Jackson books they are...fine. They’re ok, good even. Definitely like, children’s books. But if you like bad puns and greek myths they are fun. I read all 5 in like...one weekend when I was in high school. I personally think the books really pick up in the third one: Titan’s Curse, mostly because we meet my favorite character, Nico. There’s some good world building in that book, and it really feels like Rick had figured out how he wanted to end the series by that point, so the plot feels more focused. Maybe that’s just me.

So, remember how I said that Children’s lit will tend to be filled with white, straight, cis, able bodied, neurotypical children with an unstated or vague religious affiliation? Well, Percy Jackson and all his friends are...mostly, white, straight, cis, able bodied, children with an unstated or vague religious affiliation who have ADHD and Dyslexia.

Because Rick Riordan’s son has ADHD and Dyslexia, and Rick wanted these heroes to be like him. So, yeah. The diversity isn’t AMAZING here, but the intent to provide representation for minority children was present from the very beginning. And ADHD and Dyslexia are, like, super powers here, proof the children are demi-gods, are side effects of their brains and bodies being ready for amazing quests. And there’s this great diversity in the characters with ADHD and Dyslexia and how it impacts them. Annabeth is depicted as super smart and studious. You have Percy who has always struggled in school. And so on.

Now, how you feel about this representation of ADHD and Dyslexia will vary. Some people really like it, others think it isn’t very well done or plays into some iffy tropes. I think we can safely say that the intent was very positive, but your milage may vary on the execution.

There’s also a movie adaption of the first 2 books which are…..bad. Logan Lerman was 18 when he played Percy- who should be like...12? And they made Hades the bad guy? And like..Persephone? Is? In? The? Underworld? In? Summer? Which….ugh. Like, they made Grover black, which was a cool choice, an attempt to address the lack of racial diversity it seems. but still these movies are not good….maybe if you haven't read the books, you’ll like them. I don’t like them. I didn't even watch the second one honestly. .

Alright so we will look at the rest of Rick Riordan’s books in part 2 of this video. I wanted to cut it here to keep it from getting super super long. So I will see you guys over on Part 2 to finish up

CUT --

Welcome back to my look at all of Rick Riordan’s books and how they have improved over time. We are going to jump right in where we left off at the end of Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Ok, so after Percy Jackson, Rick Riordan started work on the Kane Chronicles. If you haven’t read the Kane Chronicles, I don’t blame you. They are kind of the forgotten half-siblings of the Percy Jackson universe, but you should read them. They are really good, and they feel like a really experimental time for Rick. Not only is this the first time we see him play with a split First Person narrator, where different chapters are from different character’s Point of View, but he also really tackles race in these books.

Carter and Sadie are biracial, and deal with all kinds of race issues- Sadie being white passing and Carter not, the books looks at how that impacts them and their experiences with others, their family, and their heritage. Plus all the Egyptian shit is really cool.

But even if you skipped this book series (seriously, go back and read them.) you can see this evolution in Rick’s writing in his sequel to Percy Jackson- Heroes of Olympus. These books actually came out at the same time as the Kane Chronicles, with The first Kane Chronicles book coming out in May 2010, then The first Heroes of Olympus book coming out in October 2010, and back and forth. And it’s clear that his new skills in Red Pyramid were influential on Heroes of Olympus.

Not only do we see the return of the Shifting narrator, now a Third Person Limited Point of View that follows different characters in different chapters, but where the first series was overwhelmingly white, these books seem to make a real effort to avoid that. The first two books- The Lost Hero and Son of Neptune take place, more or less concurrent and independent of each other. It’s not until the 3rd book when all the new characters meet up. But in those first 2 books, we get 5 new MAIN characters- Jason, a white boy; Piper, a Native American girl, specifically Cherokee if I remember; Leo, a Mexican American boy; Frank, a Chinese American boy; and Hazel, an African American girl. We also get Reyna, who isn’t a main character at first, but I would argue becomes one in House of Hades, and she is Puerto Rican.

And ALL of these characters and their racial identities are handled really well. Like, they are fully fleshed out and genuine characters. This doesn’t feel like shallow, lazy tokenism. Their heritage plays a part in who they are, but is not the ONLY thing about them. Piper, for example, has a father who refuses to play Native American roles in movies because he wants to avoid being stereotyped or type cast and Piper carries that struggle to connect with her heritage with her. Hazel’s experience as a black girl, and a black girl from the 1930s at that, impacted how she was treated growing up and makes up a big part of her backstory. But they aren’t solely defined by these experiences like shallow stereotypes.

It’s well done ,is that I’m saying

So at this point, we could say that while Rick had a good grasp on racial diversity and neuro-divergence representation. Most of his characters were still straight, cis, able bodied, children with an unstated or vague religious affiliation. (Seriously, did none of these kids have like..faith in a religion before?)

Now, here is a true, fun fact. On June 30th, 2013, 3 months before the release of House of Hades, I went on Tumblr and wrote an Open Letter to Rick Riordan about how he should really include LGBT+ characters in his books. He had written. Like, 11 children’s books at this point, and despite my headcanons, every character had been portrayed as assumed straight and cis. So I wrote a letter. How much I liked his books, but really, could we have some LGBT+ characters, this IS Greek mythology after all. I don’t think he ever saw this letter, despite me tweeting it at him.

Among other things in this letter, I go on to list several possibilities for LGBT+ representation in his books, including: quote: maybe Nico feels an unrequited crush on Percy. A headcanon I had since book 4, Battle of the Labyrinth.

And so, I want my moment, just to say: I. Was. Right. And I told you so.

House of Hades came out in 2013, and well, so did Nico. My favorite character came out of the closet, or, well, was outed and it was heart wrenching. The fandom kind of lost its shit over this. Anyone who had shipped Percy and Nico was throwing a party, homophobes were throwing a fit, it was very emotional. I was gloating a lot.

And let’s be clear- Nico’s sexuality in House of Hades is not...handled the best. It’s better than nothing certainly, and it’s better than Word of God reveals post publication. Rowling. But, by itself, it’s...well...single sad cis gay boy pines over unrequited straight crush hits some stereotypes. None of this is malicious, but it by itself is only so-so representation.

But Rick wasn’t done there, because we still had one more book- Blood of Olympus. Nico gets a super cute boyfriend in the form of Will Solace, and gets some closure with Percy. Now, your mileage may vary with that particular scene. Nico smugly telling Percy he “isn't his type” feels, well, a little out of character and, I dunno, corny. But it’s nice to see Nico get this happy relationship with Will, and I’ll forgive Rick for any stumbles in the exact execution to avert that sad-single-gay trope.

- -

Ok. So, now at last, we get to the 2 series that are still in publication: Gods of Asgard and Trials of Apollo. These two series are publishing concurrently, and because the Gods of Asgard started publishing first, let’s talk about it first.

I love Gods of Asgard. Truly. These might be my favorite of Riordan’s books. Part of that might just be that after 10 Greek and Roman books, a focus on Norse is refreshing, but I just love it. I love Magnus, I love the Annabeth cameos, I love Sam. Ok, so, the first Gods of Asgard book: Sword of Summer hits two important notes when it comes to minority representation.

Hearth is deaf and mute and uses sign language. This is the first time we’ve had a main character with a clear disability other than ADHD and Dyslexia. Which is really cool. And The consistent use of sign language throughout is neat.

Our second is Sam. Who is muslim and wears a hijab. Like, truly, how many stories do you know about a hijabi muslim valkyrie girl kicking all the ass.

Book 2, Hammer of Thor…well. Remember when I said Nico is my favorite character? Nico might have to fight Alex Fierro for my heart. Alex Fierro. A trans gender fluid child of Loki. I love Alex. Some people cried SJW Gay-Agenda bullshit over Alex like, being trans and gender fluid and, actually mentioning it more than once, but those people are unhappy assholes and I ignore them. I like Alex. Alex is an interesting, complicated character and I can’t wait for the next book.

Also, am I the only one who thinks Magnus and Alex are being set up for some romance? Just wishful thinking? Feels like romance. I ship it. I’ve been right before.

So ok, so We now have racial diversity, representation of multiple kinds of disabilities, a gay character, a gender fluid trans character, and a muslim character. -

Let’s talk about Trials of Apollo.

These books are really fun. If for no other reason than Apollo might actually be the most loud, entertaining narrator we’ve had yet. He’s funny, he’s an asshole. He’s also very loudly and clearly bisexual. Which, duh. How else would you even write Apollo if you have any understanding of Greek mythology? It’s mentioned a couple of times in the first book, and then even more in the second, where his prior relationships have plot relevance.

The second book also introduced us to Jo and Emmie, a biracial lesbian couple who used to be hunters of Artemis who are now raising a daughter together.

And this is kind of the joy of really GOOD diverse representation. Like, Apollo has faced hardship because of his relationships, with both men and women, but his sexuality itself isn’t a problem with him. Alex is very secure with who they are, but has clearly faced a lot of transphobia. Nico was very closeted and seemed to have a lot of pain tied up in his sexuality and is only just now healing from that with Will. Jo and Emmie clearly faced issues with their relationship, having to leave the hunters, but have built a new life together. We get this great array of experiences, rather than just one prevailing narrative.

I love it, and we’ve come so far from that first bedtime story about a boy trying to find some stolen lightning bolts. - -

So, what’s in the future for Rick Riordan? Well, he hasn’t announced any new book series for after Gods of Asgard and Trials of Apollo wrap up. However, we do know that he is starting his own Publishing Imprint with Disney Hyperion. Rick will only work as a curator it seems, focusing on having minority authors write fantasy/mythology based books from their native cultures. There are 3 books signed right now,

Jennifer Cervantes’s Storm Runner, which is about a boy having to save the world from a Mayan Prophesy.

Roshani Chokshi’s Aru Shah and the End of Time, about a 12-year-old Indian-American girl who unwittingly frees a demon intent on awakening the God of Destruction

And Yoon Ha Lee’s Dragon Pearl, about a teenage fox spirit on a space colony.

All of which sound AMAZING and I will preorder as soon as Amazon let’s me.

Look, Rick Riordan is not a perfect person or a perfect writer. Some people take issue with him because he has said some rather insulting things about the small number of people who still worship the greek gods. That he took these stories and was dismissive of the people who still value them religiously. Now, The majority of those comments seem to come from blog posts back in 2006, and he did have a brief apology for offending Hellenists on his facebook back in February. and one would hope that this interest on letting minority authors tell stories from their own culture in the future is evidence that he has learned and grown since then.

And not everyone will like Rick Riordan’s books no matter what. They are for kids. They are corny and have bad puns and sometimes meander or forget about important characters for long stretches of time. Sometimes the ideas he has are better than the execution. It happens.

But when I look at his books as a whole, I see Middle school teacher from San Antonio who started with a fun idea and never stopped growing as an author with a dedication to minority representation in his novels. And I certainly appreciate that, and look forward to more of his work for as long as he decides to produce it.

#rick riordan #percy jackson #heroes of olympus #magnus chase #trials of apollo

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