#thundersibs are go

[melancholic-pigeon]

Do you have any personal Jason or Thundersibs headcanons?

—

I promised I'd get to it~

So, you had no way of knowing this, so this isn't meant to insult you at all! I just find it hilarious, because asking *me specifically* if I have any headcanons about Jason or the Grace siblings is a bit like asking if I have a pulse 🤣 I love them, especially Jason, and I think Jason especially is WILDLY underappreciated.

i'm a huge sucker for foils, so I keyed into Jason being Percy's right away and immediately adored him. ;; They've been my OTP for about a decade now (holy shit 😂). I could blather about them for ages and ages, but I'll give the highights for now:

Jason would rather be a nurse than an MD.

His comfort action is holding hands—he frequently grabs someone's hand for reassurance in the books!—and it's because Thalia used to hold his hand when he was little (also in the books).

He's very physically affectionate in general, which I think is partly a holdover from being raised by wolves.

His fatal flaw is either love, acceptance, or chivalry, and I can't decide which because I can see cases for all three.

Thalia was immediately soft towards Annabeth because Annabeth reminded her so much of Jason. ;;

There's also the spoilery ones for The Burning Maze...

I am *convinced* that Uncle Rick knew Jason was going to die from the moment of his conception as a character.

there are multiple references to his impending doom throughout The Lost Hero; it's like the gods are the only ones who can see the clock over his head

his first weapon ever was a coin. "Sorry about dooming you, kiddo, this one's on us." (you can thank slash wail at @simha-nakshatra for that one 😭)

Jason is Percy's foil. Percy's arc was learning that he DIDN'T have to sacrifice his life for his friends. Of COURSE Jason's arc was learning that he had the strength to. ;_;

oh and multiple references to stabbing/spearing through the back specifically.

I'll leave it here for now but P L E A S E always feel free to come wail at me about Jason and Thalia AAAAH

[sodamnbored]

Catching Up

Thalia: So what happened after Juno took you? Where did you go? Were you safe, happy?

Jason, uncomfortably brushing her off: Well, it’s a long story and kind of a bummer haha. You don’t wanna hear that right now.

Thalia, softly: Jason, I’ve waited thirteen years to hear your sad stories.

[youarestellarverse]

Squeaking in at the last minute!

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Untitled Pre-Jercy Appendicitis Fic, Part 3

Jason wakes feeling groggy and sore. 

The last thing he remembers is Percy, brushing his hair back from his forehead with cool fingers and murmuring I'm with you. Before that, it's still Percy; looking at him with deep worry in his vibrant eyes, leaning forward and making Jason even dizzier than he already was by pressing chapped lips to his forehead. You're burning up. Dude, you don't look so good. 

There's a hand in his, but it's too small to be Percy's. Jason knows before he opens his eyes exactly who's sitting beside him. 

"Hey, sis," he croaks, blinking slowly in the harsh, sterile light. Thalia's face comes into blurry half-focus— they must have taken out his contacts. He can tell from the way she sniffles that she's been crying. 

"Hey, shrimp. How are you feeling?" 

She squeezes his hand, hard enough to hurt. It's nice; he can also tell he's on some pretty heavy pain medication, but he can still feel the edges of a dull ache in his stomach, and the strength of her grip works surprisingly well as a distraction. 

"Like I got speared through the back and made into a shish-kebab." He smiles— it has to be pretty weak, but it makes Thalia laugh, and right now that's all he cares about. "You don't have any idea what happened to my glasses, do you?" 

"Oh, geez. I totally forgot. Frank brought your duffel bag a couple hours ago." She kisses his forehead before she lets go, bending over to rummage through something beside her chair. "Poor guy was so upset. We kept trying to tell him it was an accident, but I think he still thinks it's his fault." 

"It was my fault," Jason protests, confused. "He landed too hard because my mechanics were all off. He did nothing wrong." 

"It was Dad's fault for forcing you to play when you were sick," Thalia says firmly. She sits up, and he hears the click of her opening the case. "And that fucking cow he's married to, for not putting her foot down and protecting you from his bullshit. Nobody else's."

It's a little embarrassing, but Jason lets Thalia put his glasses on for him. He's so tired he's not sure he could raise his hands anyway. He blinks again to orient himself. 

Thalia's eyes and nose are red and puffy. She's been crying for a while. It's about as rational as Frank blaming himself for Jason's failures, but it still causes a guilty pang. 

What do you know? he thinks to himself, his fingers suddenly locked around Thalia's, with no memory of how it happened.  I can move my hands. 

Current word count: 3601

Ping list: @elaborateruses, @perseusjackson-jasongrace, @msdrpreist 💜

[renee-ruby-j]

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@ternaryflower53 inspired this with a lovely comment on the boudoir photoshoot fic appreciating my personal favorite bit to write: supportive big sister Thalia!

I proceeded to run away with it. Whoops.

Without further ado:

Untitled Thundersibs Coming-Out Fic!

Hey. There's something important I need to tell you. Can you come over sometime soon? Don't worry; I'm okay.

Thalia tries not to let herself catastrophize as she drives, but it's surprisingly difficult. Typically, when Jason needs to talk, he'll just use his key: she'll find him in her kitchen banging a tray of macarons on the counter, and he'll get whatever it is out of his system while he bakes and leave the treats with her to distribute among the girls at the shelter. 

He's nervous about something. Nervous about her reaction. He wanted to prepare in advance, be on his home turf. 

"He is not dying," Thalia mutters to herself, her jaw clenched. "If he were dying, they would have found it when they were testing him last year. It's just the fibro. He's just too tired to come to you." 

That line of thinking is better, but it still doesn't help much. Ever since his most recent knee surgery, Jason has been feeling sickly and under the weather; on bad days, he can't even stand to be touched without flinching, which throws most of Thalia's methods of comforting him out the window and leaves her helpless. 

There's nothing she can do to fix his pain. She can't soothe it away with a kiss. She wishes desperately that she could take it from him, suffer it so he doesn't have to. He's suffered more than enough already. 

She pulls into his driveway, her heart fluttering in her throat like a terrified hummingbird, and parks Medusa behind Jason's blue minivan. There's a bumper sticker on the back. 

If you can read this, you're too f**king close!

It probably came from Nico, whose PT cruiser is next to Percy's bike in the open garage. Of course they're both home; Nico doesn't have class on Fridays, and Percy's on the closing shift at Spectrum. 

"Stop it," Thalia whispers to herself. "If it was something bad, he wouldn't have told you he's okay. Calm down." 

(She doesn't quite believe herself. Jason's not exactly the type to let on when something's wrong; telling her not to worry is almost reflexive for him, at this point.) 

If it is bad, he'll need her. That thought is enough to kick her into movement. 

Her mind races as she gets out of the car and squelches through the mud to the front porch. It's a good thing she wore boots today, but she always forgets how much colder it is outside the city, and her black jean jacket is too thin for the salty air. 

At least it gives her a reason to be trembling slightly as she rings the doorbell. 

Percy's the one who answers. He's flushed, but he's smiling as he pulls open the door, paneled in stained glass, which is a good sign. If something was wrong, he'd know, possibly even before Jason did. 

"Shoes off so Nico doesn't kill me," he says cheerfully, dragging her into a hug once she's inside. "Your baby's just getting dressed. We were thinking we'd have coffee here, then hit the new Thai place downtown, if that's cool with you."

The embrace lingers for a second, and Thalia pretends she doesn't appreciate the warmth. She nods against Percy's shoulder, clears her throat and steps back. 

"Are you making the coffee?" 

"Of course I am." Percy heads for the kitchen while Thalia crouches down to unlace her boots, calling over his shoulder so she can still hear. "I'm only banned from touching the espresso machine before ten in the morning, and it's past noon. Mocha, right? Double shot, half and half?" 

He says it casually, but it's proof that she's not hiding her tension. They're a lot alike in a lot of ways, including their caffeine habits; he knows it'll calm her down, but he also knows she'd rather not admit it. 

"Sounds good," she answers, glad he can't see her smile. 

She leaves her muddy boots by the door and pads into the living room on socked feet. The couch is empty. She can hear new wave music upstairs (probably Nico in his study), movement from Jason and Percy's bedroom just down the hall, and the hissing of steam from the kitchen. 

It's okay. He's okay. He's fine. 

The door to Jason's room opens. She hears the jangling of a collar and her baby brother's sweet, soft voice as he talks to the dog. She can't quite make out the words, but she can tell that she was right; he's nervous. 

She wants to get up and run to him, throw her arms around him and pull him tight and tell him everything will be okay. She forces herself to let him gather whatever courage he needs to, to wait for him to come to her. 

She sees Mrs. O'Leary first, her huge tongue lolling from her mouth as she trots into the living room entryway. Jason follows closely behind, using her to brace his weight. 

No. To brace her weight. 

That's a woman, standing shyly in the doorway with her dog at her side. 

She's tall, with long blonde hair that falls in soft waves over her shoulders. The dress she's wearing is simple, but elegant, made of white fabric patterned in pink and purple roses. Her feet are bare; the dress looks handmade, but shoes are going to be a little trickier for her, as big as she is. 

Her eyes, lined with gray liner and shimmering with pearlescent silver shadow, are wide and lovely and terrified. 

The instant relief is so strong that Thalia bursts out laughing without meaning to. Before her sister (holy shit, she has a sister) can get the wrong idea, Thalia springs to her feet and strides over and hugs her, as tightly as she can. 

"Oh, honey, I thought— you scared the fuck out of me; I thought you were going to tell me something was wrong!" 

All at once, her baby sibling relaxes like a popped balloon. Mostly, anyway; her arms stay where they are, locked tight around Thalia's waist. 

"I don't know why I was nervous about how you'd react. Percy kept telling me it would be okay. I should have listened to him." 

"Rubes, we've been over this. That's your dad's fault, not yours." 

Thalia turns her head. Percy's in the opposite doorway, beaming from ear to ear, a mug in each hand. He looks proud, besotted and a little smug, and for once, she has absolutely no desire to question his ego. 

"Rubes?" 

"She goes by Ruby when she's in Girl Mode," Percy explains, venturing fully into the living room. "Two doubleshot mochas for my favorite pair of sisters." He sets the mugs on coasters to protect the coffee table and heads back into the kitchen, whistling something upbeat and in a major key. 

"Which isn't all the time," Ruby adds, blushing. "I'm trying out 'genderfluid' as a label, but I know for sure I'm nonbinary. I still have Jason days." 

"But sometimes, you have Ruby days, too," Thalia finishes, startled to hear herself choking up a little. She reaches up and gently cups Ruby's cheek. "Which is a beautiful name for my beautiful baby sister." 

"Tell her the rest," Percy calls, over the sounds of making his own coffee. 

Ruby takes Thalia's hand and leads them to the couch, Mrs. O'Leary following obediently beside her. 

Her eyes are misty. Thalia's heart thuds in her chest at the open emotion. 

"Actually, Ruby's my middle name. My first name is Renée, after the best mom a girl could ever ask for." 

The world stops spinning. All that exists is their hands, squeezing tight. 

Up until this moment, Thalia has mostly heard that name spoken in anger. Thalia Renée, are you listening to me? 

This time, this one single utterance, erases all of those memories and leaves behind nothing but joy. 

She breaks down sobbing, beyond any words more complex than I love you, thank you, I'm so happy for you. Ruby indulges all of it, laughing and trembling from what must be a ridiculous amount of left-over adrenaline, never loosening her grip. 

Mrs. O'Leary, bless her, even puts her enormous paw in Thalia's lap as though to console her. Not that she needs consolation; it's just that an emotion this huge can't help but spill over. 

The best mom a girl could ever ask for. 

"I guess I must have done a decent job," she sniffs after a few minutes, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve. "I raised a pretty fucking kickass daughter, anyway." 

Ruby (it suits her; elegant and ladylike and vibrant) just beams back at her, still holding her hand. 

[melancholic-pigeon]

I'm going to come back to this to reply properly to the canon aspect and actually engage with this gloriousness as intended but this is what happened when I saw this tag

It's my AU again, so it's not exactly what's being discussed here, but it did inspire me. 😚

(My Grace Sibling Content is tagged with "thundersibs are go"; there's fanart and some of my writing and headcanons and stuff of that nature! Some of my favorite fanartists did a lot of content for them, and I'm sloooowly building up my library of reblogs again.

Keep an eye out on his birthday. I've got fanart spam queued up and ready to go and a bunch of it is the two of them!)

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Random thoughts about thalia and jason

Brief mention of Jason's d*ath but only a lil

One day what if thalia impulse dyes her hair blonde bc she can't remember what she looks like with it but when she see herself in the mirror all she can see is her mother so she immediately hates it and she gets jason to buy her black hair dye. When he comes to give it to her he like freezes before tackling her in a hug and babbling random thoughts because this is how he remembers her from when he was a child. (I am pretty sure she has black hair naturally but I like the idea she dyed it black on the run and then became a tree then became a hunter so it stuck.)

So even though its how jason remembers her he helps her dye it back and askes her to dye his hair black bc he wants to match his sister and even if maybe it doesn't look as right on him the way it does on thalia right away its a good memory for the pair of them then they go and talk shit and make jokes about their respective up bringings.

What if he keeps a lil black strand of hair and thalia keeps a blonde streak to match.

Imagine piper teaching jason and thalia to braid short hair and they both braid each other's colored streaks.

What if someone like annabeth or percy saw thalia with blonde hair and were frozen because it became so abundantly clear how similar jason and thalia looked even if only thalias hair changed colors.

What if thalia cuts her streak when jason dies out of anger and grief but immediately regrets it bc it was one of the last things tying jason to her but she can't bring herself to dye another streak bc that's what her and jason did.

Imma sucker for sibling relationships and I really wish we had more of it from jason and thalia.

Please tag me in any good thalia jason sibling fics please bc I wanna see them be the family they both deserved.

@perseusjackson-jasongrace i would love to know your thoughts bc you always have amazing ideas when it comes to jason and his dynamics

[melancholic-pigeon]

Is your background Jason and Thalia from HoO? Either way it is adorable.

‐-

YES IT IS my avatar is also Jason and both pieces are by the incredibly talented @minuiko ! I love love love her interpretation of the Grace siblings, who are some of my favorite characters in anything that exists. 😭

[melancholic-pigeon]

it's 3 AM, i have a migraine, I'm supposed to be up earlyish tomorrow to hang with my sister and all I can think is "Ow" and "I'm going to have to finish this stupid Winchester Sibs&Grace Sibs crossover myself aren't I" because the brainrot is UNREAL

I just so badly need them all locked in a shipping container together, I want to see who draws blood/starts making out first

[youarestellarverse]

I feel like Sally probably knows about Jason before anyone else, and I feel like it's because she recognizes something in Thalia's performance of Fantine that nobody else does.

"This is probably overstepping, but...have you lost a baby? No, I'm sorry, that's way out of line and none of my business—"

Thalia, crying and laughing at the same time: "Fuck, I never thought about it that way, but yeah. You could say that."

And she just...releases the floodgates and admits she has a little brother who's Annabeth's age and she hasn't seen him since he was a toddler, and suddenly she's sobbing like she hasn't since she was nine, because people might understand her childhood sucked but nobody else has ever Understood her like this. Nobody else has ever Gotten It, has spent nights trying to ignore the gnawing hunger so big, innocent eyes can stay happy, has lived on the knife's edge of poverty while keeping a helpless little one feeling safe, has felt that vast crushing loneliness of knowing you're all that little one has in the whole entire world.

Sally Knew as soon as she saw that performance, and Thalia knew she Knew as soon as those arms came around her in the auditorium.

[melancholic-pigeon]

I just had a lot of sedating medication so I can't do the source thing just now but I will later—

Jason instinctively grabs Piper's hand a lot when he needs reassurance or comfort.

Up until that point, the last memory he had of Thalia was holding her hand at the wolf house when he was two.

Holding hands, specifically, is his instinctive comfort action.

🥺

[youarestellarverse]

WIP Wednesday - Thalia's POV miniseries

Content warnings: child abuse and neglect, food insecurity, alcoholism.

Five days pass, and Jason never sees a doctor.

His lip is at the maddeningly-itchy stage of healing. After the third time he claws the scab back open, Thalia hits her limit.

She waits until he's down for a nap, his hands in an old pair of her mittens to keep him from scratching in his sleep. Then she finds her coffee can of spare change, which is nearly empty, and fishes out a small scrap of paper.

She leaves her bedroom door cracked so she can hear him if he calls for her. She pushes a chair by the wall-mounted phone and climbs onto it, carefully punching in the numbers in her fist.

It rings once. Twice. She almost drops the receiver, her hands are so sweaty— what if nobody answers?

A gruff, hissing voice cuts off the fourth ring halfway through.

"Beryl, how many times do I have to tell you not to contact me at this number?"

Thalia feels a whole truckload of conflicting emotions: anger, longing, terror, joy.

"Dad, it's me," she says, sounding weak and shy. "You told me to call you if there was an emergency."

"Thalia?" The voice on the other end, though still brusque, softens, which she isn't expecting. "Tell me what happened."

"Jason hurt himself last week," she says shakily, sniffing. "He cut up his mouth really bad, and— and Mom was at an audition, and she said she'd take him to the doctor but she's always too drunk or hungover to drive, and he keeps scratching it and it's going to get infected and—"

"Slow down."

She's never heard him sound so gentle. So fatherly.

She can't help it. The tears start to flow, and once they get going, they won't stop.

"Daddy, I'm scared," she sobs. "What if— what if something worse happens? What if Mom's gone and he gets hurt again and I can't get to him in time?"

"Take a deep breath," her father instructs. She does as he tells her to, and wipes her face with her sleeve. "The team doctor for the Rams owes me a favor. I'll have him do a house call in the morning, and I'll discuss the situation with your stepmother tonight."

"We need food, too," Thalia says miserably. "Mom spends most of her money on vodka and the rest on wine."

She's torn between relief and guilt and resentment and a trillion other things. Some of the more unpleasant ones ease a little when she hears the not-quite smile in his voice.

"I'll send you a pizza tonight, and I'll have my assistant deliver groceries tomorrow. Just sit tight and keep looking out for your brother. I won't let my children go hungry."

Thalia doesn't tell him that he already has. Moments of warmth with him are rare, and it's not worth destroying one.

"He likes white sauce," she chokes instead, around the giant lump in her throat. She knows better, but she'd swear she hears her dad chuckle in response.

"One large pizza with white sauce, coming up. Keep an ear out for it. And Thalia?"

She swallows.

"Yeah?"

"You're my daughter," he tells her, deep and steady. "That means you're strong. Remember that."

"I will," she says, her voice coming out strange— clear. Confident. Big.

She hates how good it feels to have his approval.

"You'd better go check on Jason. I'll be in touch."

The line goes dead.

Thalia hangs up and makes her way back to her room. She can't remember the last time she felt like her father actually cared about her, and she wants to reject it on principle, but she can't let go of the surge of pride.

Keep looking out for your brother. You're my daughter, and that means you're strong.

"I can be strong," she whispers, sitting next to Jason on the mattress. "Because if I'm strong for you, then you don't have to be."

She brushes his pale hair back from his face. He sighs in his sleep, and starts chewing on Lupa's ear. He's terrifyingly perfect— cuter than a fluffy duckling, sweeter than sun-ripe peaches, kinder and braver than any adult she's ever met.

He deserves to be sheltered, to never have to use that courage. She knows it's impossible, but it won't stop her from trying.

@perseusjackson-jasongrace @elaborateruses 💕

[youarestellarverse]

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Camp Elysium Angst Bingo Jason & Appendicitis pt 4

"If you're up to having visitors, half the school is in the waiting room." 

Half the school. 

Piper and Leo will be out there for sure, probably worrying themselves sick. Jason tries not to think too hard about whether Percy's joining them. After taking charge of the situation and riding along in the ambulance, he'll definitely want to be there, but his loyalty is to his mom first, and she's well into her second trimester—

"Yes, that includes your crush," Thalia teases gently. Jason comes back to himself, realizing his face is warm and his heart monitor is beeping a little faster. 

"I'm going to be so obvious," he groans, tightening his arm around Lupa, who's still nestled against his abdomen. "He's going to figure it out. I'll have lived through an emergency appendectomy just to die of embarrassment when the guy I like walks in the room, sets these off and realizes I've been pining after him for two freaking years." 

"I wouldn't bet on it," Thalia snickers, although she seems to try to counter her amusement with a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. "He's so clueless about that kind of thing it's almost impressive. He's been that way as long as I've known him." 

She's right. It's painful to think about, and at the same time, Jason's shoulders slump with relief. 

"I can't decide if that makes me feel better or worse." He gives Thalia a wry smile. "But I do want my friends to be able to sleep tonight, so we should probably let them know I'm up and cognizant." 

"'Cognizant'," Thalia giggles, reaching over to ruffle Jason's hair. "You are so cute. And considerate, too. Just like— oh, hang on, speaking of Percy—" 

She reaches under her chair. Jason hears the crinkling of cellophane. She straightens up and places something on his table, right next to the cup. Something about the shape and size of a hockey puck, with a white squiggle in the middle. 

His face goes warm again. 

"How did he know?" 

"He got snacks for us all, and I started crying when he mentioned them," Thalia admits, her smile going a little lopsided. "So I told him about your first birthday, and he suggested saving them for you. He wanted to make you smile." 

Well, crap. 

Present word count: 5665

Ping list: @elaborateruses, @perseusjackson-jasongrace, @msdrpreist 💜

[melancholic-pigeon]

Semi-related, but linking because it's already a pretty long post.

Jason's love language, I think, is physical touch. He'll frequently put a hand on the back or shoulder of whoever he's talking to— obviously Piper gets a lot of this, but he does it to Leo, too, and that's just in TLH!

He's actually very tactile overall— even more than Percy is, which is really interesting. Somehow, Jason is both far more introverted than Percy, and yet much more likely to seek out physical contact.

I feel like this has to go back to Jason's childhood, even before the wolf house. Thalia made him feel safe, but she was the only thing that did that, and I bet he was already clingy when he lost the only piece of security he'd ever had.

I wonder if he even notices that he has a habit of taking the people he loves in his hands as though they'll disappear if he isn't making contact at all times.

[youarestellarverse]

WIP Wednesday - Thalia's POV miniseries

Content warning for brief mention of puking.

It's dark out, despite the fact that it's barely past noon. The rain pounds on the glass, almost as loud as the crashing thunder. Jason's curled up in Thalia's arms, making an awful noise— pained, but tired. 

He shouldn't be hurting this much. The shirt he's whimpering into is fresh; he threw up on the one she was wearing before, about an hour before the storm moved in.

"It's okay, shrimp," she coos softly, because when she doesn't pitch her voice as quietly as she can, it makes him whine. "I'm here. Do you still have a tummy ache?" 

"Mhm." Jason pulls at her sleeve with one chubby fist. "I bed now."

She picks him up. There's a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder and the tightening of little arms around her. 

"I know. It's hurting your ears a lot." 

Jason nods, burying his face in her shoulder. 

"Too lights." 

"The light hurts too, huh?"

"Yeah." 

Thalia frowns as she pushes open the door to their room. She's seen her father grit his teeth at the sun, and flinched when he snapped at her to keep the volume down. It never occurred to her that it might be something genetic. 

"Okay. I'll close the curtains."

She puts Jason down on the mattress and tucks him in. He immediately grabs for Lupa and hides his face in her fur. 

"No lights," he says, muffled. 

"No lights," she agrees, her throat stinging. She makes her way back to the bed and sits on the edge, pulling the wastebasket close by just in case.

"You stay," he adds, peeking out from behind Lupa's shoulder. 

He looks miserable. His eyes are all red and his little mouth is tight with discomfort. She reaches over and touches his forehead, feather-light; her hands run cold, and it seems to soothe him. 

"Go to sleep," she whispers. "I'll be here when you wake up." 

"Okay," he mumbles, wiggling down under the blanket. "Love you." 

Babies can have migraines, which absolutely sucks— that's way too much pain for a person that tiny. ☹ I've had them as long as I can remember, so part of this is based on my experience.

I can't remember if Jupiter (who still doesn't have a proper name replacement— probably Jove or Giovanni, the only names I've found thus far that are actuallu derived from "Jupiter") had the whole giving-birth-to-Minerva thing too, but given Zeus, I think I can get away with it.

[youarestellarverse]

I love Jason and annabeth’s complex dynamic in your series. How does Thalia fit into it?

--

OMG HI! I hope you're doing well; I think about you frequently 💜

Firstly: thank you, my goodness. I'm having an unexpected blast writing them, so I'm thrilled that other people are having fun too!

Secondly: I haven't completely worked out all of the exact details yet in terms of what happened and when, but Thalia absolutely struggles with their conflict. She basically feels like a mother whose children are feuding.

I'm going to put the rest of this under a cut because it'll get into spoilery territory!

Obviously, she's biased towards Jason. Annabeth might be a little obtuse in matters of the heart, but she's still brilliant, so she of course knows that and definitely leaned heavily into it. She and Thalia probably aren't talking at the moment.

Because Thalia doesn't think things through when she feels protective, but she also knows Annabeth well enough to know when she's lying, and if she were to figure out what was going on she would be compelled to tell Jason about it— and Jason would be compelled to tell Percy.

So Annabeth just lets Thalia think it's too awkward or painful to be near her, which is partly true. Thalia suspects something is off, but she also knows how stubborn Annabeth is. It eats at her, but she tries to let her baby bird make her own mistakes. 🥺

Because Annabeth learns best the hard way. You can tell her anything you want, but she has to verify it personally before she'll trust your analysis. It's a necessary failure, but it's still deeply stressful for everyone involved.

[melancholic-pigeon]

I forgot it was WIP Wednesday yesterday

Here In Our Bed, chapter ten!

[Jason] takes a military shower so he has more space to breathe. He briefly debates shaving his face, but ultimately decides against it— it'll irritate his already-rashy skin and take too much time. He goes for the lanolin moisturizer instead, which makes Percy grin when he walks back into the kitchen. 

"C'mere." 

Jason obliges him, stepping in close. Percy reaches up and cups his jaw, brushing a thumb over his cheek. 

"You're hot when you look like a lumberjack. We gotta get you construction boots and a flannel shirt. Maybe an axe." 

Thalia makes an exaggerated gagging sound. Jason flushes red as Percy, snickering, does the same.

"Sorry, sis." 

"At least it keeps me from dwelling on the fact that my kid brother can grow a beard in a single weekend." 

"I've been able to do that since I was sixteen," Jason reminds her gently, knowing there's no real point. He's cemented in her brain as a toddler, and it's always going to take her a minute to adjust her expectations. 

"To this day, I feel like the top of your head should come up to my ribs." She rolls her eyes, and they're a tiny bit too bright. "You'll be forty-five years old and I still won't be used to your facial hair." 

"It does suit him, though, doesn't it?" Percy says dreamily. There's a cup of coffee next to him that he slides over, the pale brown froth telling Jason it's the exact amount of milk he prefers. "It's kind of on brand for him that the curtain doesn't match the drapes. I'm a little surprised he doesn't have more Gemini in his chart." 

"Oh, right. You're one of those people." 

"Says the Capricorn, surprising absolutely no one."

They're still arguing about astrology when Jason finishes his coffee. Apparently, they're the same moon sign, which Percy declares as though it means something as Jason goes for a bowl of the oatmeal on the stove. 

"And it's kind of funny, because Jason is the most Virgo-y out of all three of us— because it's his ascendant, his inner self, rather than our shadow sides—" 

"Confirmation bias." 

"Oh, let me have fun, will you?" 

"I let you turn my apartment into sex pad! How much more fun do you want?"

Draw me Jason Grace with a three-day beard and I'll write you a fic. No, really. Dead serious offer. I must see it visually represented.

Current word count: ~1000. Shorter than usual, but I'm working on mini ficathon prompts at the moment and I'm going to post them all at once. 😚

@perseusjackson-jasongrace

[youarestellarverse]

It's WIP Wednesday somewhere - Thalia's POV miniseries

Thalia opens the door to her bedroom, sees a dark head of hair at the kitchen island and jumps about as high as she is tall— which isn't very, but still. Then she remembers she's the one who un-blonded her brother in the first place, and tells herself to calm the fuck down. 

Jason doesn't turn around. He's got a little dye lingering on the back of his neck and a clunky pair of headphones over his ears, probably so he wouldn't bother her while she napped. He's got a turkey sandwich on a plate and another half-assembled in front of him. 

It stresses him out whenever Percy and Annabeth fight, possibly more than it does them. He's here for quiet and peace and a chance to destimulate. She kind of knows how he feels. 

She recognizes the song, just barely, and see his head nodding slightly along. She sneaks in behind him, waits until his hands are empty and gets on her toes, yanking the headphones off. 

"Holy—" 

"If I can tell what you're listening to from across the room, your volume is too loud," she nags, setting them down on the counter. "You could have told me you needed to Swift it out. We're soundproofed, remember?" 

Jason blinks at her. Then his shoulders slump, and he pops open his discman. The CD inside is a burned mix, judging by the unfamiliar handwriting that reads songs to listen to when wallowing in misery, volume i.  He has an ipod nano, one of those fancy new ones with a touch screen, but he only uses it when he's working out and needs something tiny that can clip onto his shirt. 

"Track seven," he says, defeated. Thalia puts a hand on his back as she heads over to her boombox. 

"You're on the phone with your girlfriend, she's upset; she's going off about something that you said—" 

"But she doesn't get your humor like I do," she sings, looking encouragingly at her brother. "I'm in my room, it's a typical Tuesday night; I'm listening to the kind of music she doesn't like, and she'll never know your story like I do." 

She feels bad about it. They're kind of both being hot-headed idiots, and while she understands exactly how Percy feels when he's pushed to the point of breaking, she also knows exactly why Annabeth is so prone to pushing him away. But Jason needs it, and he's never let it affect his behavior. His tentative smile is worth it, as he drops the octave and joins in. 

"She wears short skirts, I wear t-shirts…" 

"She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers," Thalia responds, bouncing slightly along with the music. If he can't bring himself to drop his inhibitions here, where can he? 

"Dreaming 'bout the day when you wake up and find—" 

"That what you're looking for has been here the whole time!" 

From there, they sing together, three voices ringing through the apartment. Jason even gives in and starts dancing halfway through, a little awkwardly; he's unused to improvising. By the end of it, they're both breathing faster from their impromptu aerobic session, and the angst is all but gone from Jason's posture. 

He sinks heavily onto the couch. She follows, sitting beside him and wrapping an arm around his broad shoulders. 

"I wish I could still pick you up. It always made you feel better when you were little." 

"What made me feel better was the physical proximity and emotional support." Jason takes her free hand and squeezes, a calm, genuine smile on his face. "When I was little, you picked me up. Now you do this. It's the same thing, as far as I'm concerned."

She smiles back at him, watching his widen in turn. She still gets caught up marveling at how much more mature his face is now— high, angled bones that used to be hidden by soft cheeks, a jaw that's turned square and chiseled where it was once round. It hurts in more ways than one, from both joy at how he's grown up and grief that she missed so much of it. 

She leans her head on his shoulder. 

"You'll be okay, shrimp. But in the meantime, it's okay not to be okay."

Jason leans against her head, huffing softly above her. 

"Honestly? I feel more okay now than I have all week." 

This is @idiotandahalf 's fault. 😘