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#and problems with demigod hair
dduane · 2 months
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...Noodling around with some tests of lighting profiles in Daz Studio, while background-considering the gonna-happen-soon business of recovering the Tale of the Five trilogy for both Ebooks Direct and Amazon. ...This project's been hanging fire for a while, but there's no point in putting it off any longer, even though it'll be a lot of work. Cover styles have changed a lot in the last few years, so it's time these had covers that'll reflect that.
What this means for me is producing four sets of covers, all in different styles, so I can do A/B testing on them at the 'Zon. (Meaning that for four different week-long periods, you publish the books in each of the separate formats and see which two get the best results in terms of sales. Then you give each of the two winners another two-week period and see how those results behave.)
The guide to the various currently-popular cover styles I've been using is this one. (Which isn't a bad one at all; but since the people publishing this page want you to hire them for this kind of work, that's sort of to be expected). Numbers 1, 4 and 9 on their list are the ones that appeal to me or are appropriate. The others either strike me as bad choices for these books, or just annoy me. (#2 in particular. I've seen it well executed, but I've started getting kind of sick of seeing it.)
Meanwhile, for your amusement, here are my current sketches... just to disabuse you of any ideas that they look in any way professional at this point. :) Two versions of the minimalist/object oriented style, and one each of the 3D modeling and the double exposure/burnthrough variant. We'll see what comes out the other end of the process in a month or so. (In fact I may put up a poll here with one book in four versions, and see what the local readership thinks.)
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...Meanwhile as regards the topmost image (currently titled "This Is Not A Good Time"): I live in hope that someday I'll get Héalhra's damn mane under control. Daz's dForce utility is very good at handling some material textures and making them respond more like gravity had some actual effect on them. But in this case it's been like fighting ineffectively with a bad perm. (eyeroll) (Also, who here was it that put a pink Hello Kitty bow on him last time I posted an image of him fluffed up like this? It left me giggling for days and now I can't find it...) :)
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daphnebowen · 4 months
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watching Moana with my little brothers on our eleven hour car trip home and something hit me… this movie is completely unrealistic for one reason and one reason only.
how in the holy moly frick frack tick tack is moana able to keep her hair so beautiful THE ENTIRE TIME?!?! she gets dunked into the ocean at least seven times, not to mention her getting dragged into the sand and being able to swim in salt water with her eyes OPEN. and her hair is still a luscious gorgeous mane of curls. lemme tell y’all, if I even got dunked under the ocean water one time, my hair would be so nasty and crusty. I need her hair care routine, or maybe just her hair.
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puppetmaster13u · 5 months
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Prompt 102
 Bruce pinched the bridge of his nose, taking a deep breath. In for ten seconds, out for eight. Alright. Okay. “Let me get this straight,” he didn’t motion to the three teens- or not teens even if two apparently looked like they were- but it was a close thing. “You-” 
 Phantom perked up, white hair flickering with what he was pretty sure were stars as they turned away from the window looking out into space. “-are two years old.” The fae-esque being who looked more like a fourteen year old gave a half-distracted nod. Which, for a toddler, they were paying attention pretty well. 
 “You-” Klarion looked up from where he was fiddling with the cuffs that had been on him, cat sprawled on his shoulder now that it was out of the carrier. “-are six?” Another distracted nod, the apparently-child seemingly enamored with the sounds the cuffs made when they clinked together. 
  “And you-” He turned towards Marvel, who shrank back before seemingly steeling themself. “-are in fact ten.” The… well they had thought demigod but apparently all three were some sort of realms-being, which had apparently made Constantine pale and start cursing before stomping out of the Watchtower. Another nod and shaky thumbs up. 
 Alright. Okay. They had in fact let a ten-year old join the league, which wouldn’t have been so bad if they had known. Especially the fact that apparently Marvel was only half-human, which suddenly explained so much about how he didn’t know so many things about a human life. Which-
 “You,” he turned towards Phantom again to make sure he was listening before returning his attention to Marvel. “And you have both lived at least a year in the human realm with human companions, but your-” He turned his gaze towards the ravenette in the center. The six year old apparently. “-experience with the human realm is literally just with the Light.” 
 Yet another distracted nod. Okay. Bruce was tempted to scream in a room for the entire situation that had cropped up from the single action of taking Klarion’s familiar and then the boy himself into custody. Then again, it was honestly a much better thing they had apparently caught this. 
 “Alright,” he sighed, suddenly feeling incredibly exhausted. “To make sure I have all of this correct-” Because it was already a shitshow and the amount of shouting had absolutely spooked the child. To the point he’d- according to Marvel- made what was apparently some sort of very distressed noise that had made both him and Phantom running. Or rather flying and portaling. 
 “-in the realms, people there make friends through fighting,” Bruce pauses to make sure he got that part correct. The origin of this entire misunderstanding with the chaos-lord. Lordling? 
 All three nodded, Klarion losing interest in the cuffs and starting to pet his cat. Familiar. Everyone had referred to it as a familiar and Marvel had appeared utterly horrified that they had taken said familiar away. Somehow he was the one the trio were currently trusting and weren’t doing the same towards any of the other league members. 
 “And you have been trying to make friends with the Jr team, which they have been taking as an attack due to this miscommunication.” Honestly they should have gotten more information, though he couldn’t exactly blame any of the teens, what with everything they were currently dealing with. 
 “... is there any sort of guardian or something you might have, that can be contacted? Or anyone that could help prevent a situation like this from happening again?” All three avoided his eyes, suddenly finding things like the table and walls very interesting. 
 Oh. Hm. This could be a problem.
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taylormarieee · 4 months
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New Girl Luke Castellan
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Summary: You were the new girl in town, after stirring some problem, you catch the attention of a certain kind, hermes boy where you have your first times with...
Pairing: Luke Castellan x Fem!Aphrodite!reader
Word Count: 1.5k
Warnings: Kisses, first time, angst, fluff, Percy being a sweetheart, Admiration, Mild cursing, mentions of fighting...
A/N: This was inspired by @angelicdanvers for her Breathe Deeper Social media fic. I will be having a social media thingy as well because I was so inspired by her, so creds to this lovely lady right here<33
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You were Aphrodite's demigod daughter. When your Father safely brought you to camp half-blood you were scared.
You didn't want to be here. You didn't want to leave your father, but I guess there's a first time for everything.
2:14pm
You were not claimed yet and was relocated to the hermes cabin. Where kids who weren't claimed go until they are claimed.
You walked in with Chiron and he explained everything to you. As you walk in Chiron claps to get everyone's attention.
All eyes were on you. You hated this kind of attention but at the same time, something inside of you loved having this attention.
"Everyone, This is our new half-blood, Please make her feel welcome." He announces to everyone in the room.
Your eyes land on a blonde haired boy with blue eyes. He smiles at you and you smile back. You notice your stuff next to the blonde kid and went over there.
Everybody's eyes traced your body and where you walked. When you finally reached your stuff you sat down and sighed.
"Hi. Are you ok?" The blonde haired boy asked you. You looked up and saw him sitting next to you and staring at you with sympathy.
"Yea, just overwhelmed you know? Didn't want to a half-blood. Didn't expect any of this." You respond.
"I know. My first time here was two weeks ago. I'm still trying to get used to it. I lost my mom trying to get here. I'm Percy. Percy Jackson." He says with a warm smile.
You offer it right back. "I'm sorry about your mom. Nice to meet you Percy Jackson."
You tell him your name and he smiles. You two talk for a while before a certain someone catches your eye.
A cute brunette boy with a scar on his right eye and cute puppy dog eyes staring at you and percy talk.
When you look at him, you both hold eye contact for a little while before Percy snaps you out of it by calling someone's name.
"Luke! Come here dude." He calls. You look away looking for who he's calling over and that's when you notice he was calling over the boy you were staring at earlier.
So his name was Luke huh? you thought. He was cute, very cute. You loved the way his curls bounced as he made his way over to the both of you.
You loved the smile that appeared on his face when he saw his friend Percy. He also threw a kind smile your way and you folded.
"Wassup Percy!" He said with excitement. He stopped in front of both of you still standing.
You stood when Percy stood up not wanting to be the only one on the floor looking like a fool.
"I wanted you to meet my new friend." He says with his cute smile. You look at him and he locks eyes with you again.
"Hey, I'm-"
"Luke. Yea, I heard." You respond with a slight chuckle. This makes him chuckle and he raises an eyebrow as if to ask what your name is.
You also tell him your name and he repeats it. You love the way it rolls off his tongue. The way he says it so easily and majestically.
"Well, come on! We'll show you around." He says smiling at you again. As your walking a girl with curls comes and pushes you in the shoulder.
"Hey what the hell is your problem!" You snap back pushing her. She immediately pushes you back and you push her right back again.
Before things could escalate any further, Luke is pulling you back by your arms while your thrashing around yelling at her.
"Shhh calm down. Calm down." He says in your ear.
"Don't tell me to calm down! Let me go Luke!" You say slightly breaking out of his hold and pushing her down to the ground.
She yells at you with hatred and rage in her eyes and you yell right back.
When Luke pulls you back your seething with wrath but you've calmed down a bit.
"Ugh! What is your problem new girl?!" Clarisse yells at you.
"My Problem!? What's your problem?!" You yell back...
"You pushed me for no reason and then laughed about it! I know you fucking saw me!"
"Don't EVER do that again or I promise you will regret it!" You say pulling Luke's hands off you.
Immediately Clarisse scoffed but she backed off raising her hands in surrender.
"Ok...ok, i'm sorry. Won't happen again." She says staring at you. You blinked a little shocked at her surrender but you nodded.
"Apology accepted. I'm sorry for pushing you back." You apologize. She wipes the tiny blood on her face from when she fell and then nodded before walking away.
All of a sudden the crowd splits when she leaves and everyone looks up and sees an Open winged Dove holding a rose in its beak above your head.
Chiron's voice is heard as he approaches. "You have been claimed. Daughter of Aphrodite. Goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, and procreation." He announces.
You look at Luke and Percy and they smile at you.
5:35pm
You all were having Lunch at the Hall and you were sitting with Luke, Percy, and Annabeth and Grover who you just recently met.
You had gotten to know her and liked her very much same with Grover, he was funny. You guys had just finished the Capture the Flag and were now enjoying some lunch.
"And then I pushed her back and she fell. Who is she anyway?" You ask reminiscing about the fight that happened earlier.
"Her names Clarisse Daughter of Ares. She isn't exactly nice but if you get glory she respects you." Luke says.
You nod and continue eating. "You looked like you knew what you were doing. You get in fights a lot?" Luke asked curiously.
"Yea, back when I was in school. I used to get into a lot of fights. I guess I know why now." You say chuckling.
"Well Your the daughter of Aphrodite! Why would a pretty girl like you get into fights? Your not Ares daughter!" Percy exclaims.
"Cause, a lot of girls would think I was trying to steal their boyfriends or be a pick me girl. Constantly trying to ask for attention. But that was never the case. Sometimes I got partnered up with their boyfriends! Not my fault, the teacher chose not me. You explain to the four.
They all nod and you all sit in a comfortable silence. "Hey Luke?" You ask staring at him. He makes eye contact with you and raises an eyebrow.
"Yea?" He replies.
"Thanks. For holding me back. Calming me down. I probably would have punched her." You say chuckling.
"No problem. What are friends for?" He says smiling at you. You smile and your face gets hot.
"W-Were friends?" You ask looking at everybody at the table.
Everyone nods and smiles at you. Percy wraps his arm around your shoulder and you smile.
You had made friends, on your first day. You guess this camp wouldn't be so bad huh?
10:37pm
You made yourself comfortable at cabin 10 with everybody else. Your dressed in your silky blue pajamas that your dad had gotten you for your 15th birthday.
As you were getting tucked in you tried to go to bed. But memories of Luke kept flooding your mind.
God, why was the son of hermes flooding your mind. He was so cute though.
You were so influenced by your thoughts that you didn't even realize that you were walking towards his cabin in the middle of the night.
You found the window near his bed and peeked inside. You noticed he wasn't there.
Then you felt someone's hands on your waist turning you around and putting you down.
You quickly turn around panicking but calm down realizing it's just Luke himself.
When you fully register who it is you start panicking again. "Oh h-hi Luke."
You awkwardly stand there as the smirk on his beautiful face grows by your flustered state.
"Hey pretty girl. W-what are you doing by my window?" He asks raising an eyebrow and smirking.
"Uhhh... I was uhm.. Just l-looking for uhm... PERCY! That's right!" You say slightly proud of the lie you just told.
"Percy was claimed today. Remember? Son of Poseidon? You literally called him that earlier today." He replies his smirk getting wider as your smile slowly fades.
He laughs out loud and starts walking towards the door. "See you tomorrow pretty girl." He says chuckling. "I know deep down you were he for me." He adds with a wink.
You weren't gonna do this. You weren't gonna do this. God, you weren't gonna do this.
"Wait Luke!" You whisper yell out.
Shit. You did this.
"I uhm... can you just-ugh." You give up and walk up to him. You grab his face and smash your lips on his.
You kiss him passionately and lovingly before pulling away to get a break.
"I like you. Just wanted to tell you that. You've been running around my mind all night and I couldn't sleep until I told you. So goodbye." You say kissing him one more time before making your departure.
Luke stood there completely flabbergasted and dumbfounded. His eyes wide and mouth agape.
What the actual fuck?
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Taglist: Lemme know if you wanna be on the taglist in the comments!!!!
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teatoptony · 1 year
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𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐂𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 - p.j
summary; using your percy as a pillow.
pairing; percy jackson x demigod!reader
word count; 2.1k
warning(s); none, just fluff
a/n; sorry this took so long!! english isn’t my first language, so there might be a couple errors. it’s short, but hope you don’t mind, anon :) // takes place nowhere within canon in particular, but claiming happens really quickly
request(s); Hii! This is my first time requesting something EVER for anybody so that’s fun. Could you write prompt 6/ "You took all the pillows so i’m using you as one." Where Percy has all the pillows and reader decides to lay on his chest. Or the other way around, which ever is easier to write! Ty ty
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Percy Jackson was the only demigod son of Poseidon. Therefore, he was the only occupant of Cabin Three at Camp Half-Blood.
However, if someone were to ask any of the campers, they would say that there were actually two people who lived in Cabin Three. One of those two people being, of course, Percy, and the other being you.
You and Percy were that couple in camp. You know that one couple that’s always hugging, holding hands, or touching each other in any way, shape, or form? Yeah, the two of you were that. He always had an arm around you, or held your hand in his. Sometimes, he snuck up and hugged you from behind while you were having a conversation or doing some other thing that required you to stand still in the same spot, often causing him to get an earful for surprising you or making the person you were talking with uncomfortable enough to leave.
Percy’s touchy demeanor only got worse when he was sleepy. While most decent boyfriends would offer to walk their girlfriends back to her place, Percy always dragged you away from the campfire singalong and straight into his cabin.
You were sure Chiron knew about this – after all, your boyfriend never really tried to sneak you off, and your half-siblings definitely knew you weren’t in your own bunk at night – but if he did, he tried his best to pretend that he didn’t. Whenever Percy got up from his seat at the campfire with you in tow, the centaur seemed to take a sudden interest in his hooves, or the grass, or his marshmallow that was already toasted to perfection in the fire.
And if Mr. D knew, he didn’t let on. He never really stuck around for the singalong after dinner, so you weren’t really sure if he ever saw the two of you. But he’s the camp director—he had to know something was up. You supposed the punishment for sleeping in another cabin involved too much paperwork to carry out. Either that, or the Mr. D simply knew that Percy would drag you to his cabin no matter the amount of times he had to wash the Camp’s dinner plates.
Percy was a big fan of cuddling. It helped him sleep—like actually sleep, without any dreams to bother him throughout the night. He joked that you were like his personal dose of melatonin, though he’d never taken any before, going so far as to gift you an ‘assorted berries’ flavored lip balm.
“Like the gummies,” he had explained, attacking your lips once you’d applied the makeup. You haven’t yet found the heart to tell him that taking melatonin could actually cause very vivid, extremely wild dreams.
You’d let him live his fantasy, for now.
Luckily for Percy, you were also a big cuddler, especially with him. While you weren't as open with PDA – Percy did more than enough of that for you both to get yourselves through the day – you rarely let go of your boyfriend when the two of you were alone, which he was extremely happy about.
The two of you always faced each other, laying on your sides. You would run your fingers through his hair, and he would hug you close while the two of you got so tangled up that you didn’t know which limbs were whose, bringing a much needed sense of domesticity to your hectic lives. In those moments, time seemed to stop, and the two of you were the only people in the world.
The only problem with these cuddle sessions was, Percy was a huge blanket hog.
Like, really huge.
When Percy started to drift off, it was like he'd been possessed by a pillows-and-blankets goblin or something. He rolled around on the bed, and when you're conscious enough to move over in order to avoid being completely flattened underneath him, he took the opportunity to take up all of your previous space, along with your pillow and around ninety-eight percent of the sheets.
You'd tried and failed numerous times to keep this from happening: tucking yourselves in extra tight, tiring him out as much as you could, all the things people on the internet claimed would keep someone from tossing and turning. Nothing had worked, hence, the oh-so-familiar predicament you constantly found yourself in. Again. And again. And again.
///
Today was another typical day. The only difference? It felt like about a week’s worth of work had been crammed into it.
At the crack of dawn, one of the protector satyrs brought three new campers to the hill. And, as luck would have it, it was your turn to show any new arrivals around. The three new half-bloods – all of them around ten or eleven years old – came to Percy’s cabin, led by one of your half-siblings. Four kids bursting through the door when the sun hadn’t even come up yet was not the best way to wake up.
After a quick change and a hasty kiss goodbye, you gave the newbies the full tour, from the lava climbing wall to the arts and crafts center to the canoeing lake. You were sure they were sweet kids most of the time, but in your sleepy and quite frankly grumpy state, all their chattering gave you a migraine. And that’s not even including all their Mythomagic questions.
“Does Athena really have two thousand attack points?”
“Can Eros really Charm his enemies with Love Shots?”
“Does Apollo really use volleyballs for his Ultimate?”
You wished you could’ve learned a couple basic things from Nico before he quit the game.
Once you got the three of them settled comfortably in their cabins, it was already too late for breakfast. Percy would have grabbed you something, but, being counselors, the both of you had classes to teach and errands to run that kept you apart. After a few hastily scribbled cabin inspections, you dropped them off at the Big House before heading off to teach Ancient Greek.
Your Ancient Greek lessons hadn’t gone that bad. A few kids’ dyslexia was acting up today, but you really couldn’t expect any less every other day. After the usual alphabet refresher for newer kids, you had the campers read a few Greek legends out loud, and the class was dismissed without a hitch.
Unfortunately, that was one of the very few times things went smoothly today.
Your second class was riding lessons. Two relatively new campers managed to offend one of the pegasi and ended up in the infirmary with a few nasty bruises—great, add that report to your stack of paperwork. And cleaning up afterwards was always the worst part. The pegasi liked you, really, but they couldn’t help that they couldn’t groom themselves, especially their wings. As for the pegasus that charged those two kids, you had to put him in the time-out cubicle to calm him down.
The thing about pegasi is, they prefer to roam around, and definitely do not appreciate being put in the time-out cubicle. You were glad you didn’t speak horse like Percy, because – judging by the amount of angry horse noises – you were pretty sure the pegasus thoroughly cussed you out.
Next task: canoeing with the naiads.
A few of the naiads claimed a canoe for themselves, and the kids each broke off into separate teams to take turns racing with the nymphs. A couple Hephaestus kids, determined to win for once, had designed a detachable motor to rig to their canoe—the naiads didn’t seem to mind, so you let them be. It exploded about halfway across the lake. No one got hurt, thankfully, but the canoe was no longer usable. You put the kids who’d built the motor on kitchen duty with the harpies for the rest of the week.
Lunchtime came around, but you were too busy to eat properly, grabbing a single piece of pizza before running off to prep a small section of the woods for a wilderness survival class one of the satyrs were supposed to teach. Apparently, he had fallen asleep and forgotten to prepare everything himself the night before, and you agreed to help him just to stop him from running around you in circles. Getting your feet stomped on by panicked goat hooves? Not so fun.
A couple more mildly disastrous activities and a small pile of reports later, it was time for your favorite routine—dinner, campfire, Cabin Three, and lots of cuddles à la Percy.
At the Dining Pavilion, you practically inhaled your food, as it was the first time you’d had a chance to get a full meal all day. After the void in your stomach had been taken care of, you dragged Percy to the campfire, where you claimed the best seat for roasting marshmallows. As usual, your boyfriend refused to sing a single note.
“Come on, just this one time?” You pleaded. The whole camp was singing The Campfire Song – the unofficial anthem of Camp Half-Blood – a song that the gods surprisingly didn’t take offense to. Singing complaints about your godly parentage was apparently received as a lighthearted joke. Judging by the unusually bright golden color of the flames, you were fairly certain Apollo even enjoyed it.
“You’re the only one here with Poseidon as a dad. We’re dying for you to rhyme something—you should see Cabin Seven, there’s this one part of the wall covered with post-it notes with bets on what you’ll sing. I saw a lyric comparing your dad to Marlin from Finding Nemo, once.” You said. Katie Gardner sang about how she’d gotten a fern in a mason jar for her sixteenth birthday. “I think there’s one for Nico, too, but that’s mostly just Will.”
“If I tried to sing, I’d probably cause an avalanche.” Percy laughed, and kissed you when you tried to say something else. He did that to shut you up sometimes. It was infuriating for sure, but you had to admit it was pretty damn effective.
“One day, Sharkboy,” you promised, giving him a determined grin before leaning in to kiss him again. A few of your siblings whooped in the background, for Katie or to tease you, you didn't know.
“Mm, we’ll see,” your boyfriend muttered, pulling you closer as Travis and Connor Stoll took up the mic.
A few more verses and a couple other songs later, you were back in Percy’s warm bed in Cabin Three. The air had that salty taste like the beach on a cool summer’s night, and the underwater plants and corals that Tyson had brought back from Poseidon’s palace took on a luminescent glow under the moonlight. Percy’s Minotaur horn glinted silver on the wall.
You were completely worn out from the day. Sure, it wasn’t as bad as going on a killer quest, but you were allowed to complain about and tire out from mundane things, too. Percy had to practically carry you from the campfire because you were already half asleep.
But as soon as Percy started to drift off – and therefore started to move towards you, and assemble his blanket burrito – your eyes flew open and you propped yourself up on the bed, effectively disentangling yourself from him. You heard him stir as he felt your warmth disappear.
“Y/N..” Percy whined, his voice gravelly with sleep, as he tried to grab you by the waist to pull you back to him. You swatted his hand away, and he begrudgingly opened his eyes. “What’re you doing?”
“Improvising.” You huffed. There was no way you were going to deal with ‘Percy the Pillow Pillager’ problems tonight. As much as you loved him, you were tired of practically hanging off the edge of the bed.
Putting your hands on one side of Percy’s premature blanket burrito, you rolled him back to his previous spot, making him lie on his back. You then disassembled the sheets to make some room for yourself underneath them. Percy happily let you cuddle into him again. But this time, you quite literally lay on top of him, draping your arm, leg and most of your torso over him and putting your head on his chest.
“You took all the pillows, so I’m using you as one,” you stated. “Stay. Put.” You poked him to emphasize each word and felt his chest rumble as he laughed.
“I will,” he promised.
“Mhm.”
You were skeptical, but you felt too warm and comfortable to care much. If you got tossed off the bed in the middle of the night, that was a future-you problem.
You felt Percy kiss the top of your head as you drifted into sleep.
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ma1dita · 3 months
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trouble always finds me
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a 'partners in crime' installment - luke castellan x dionysus!reader
words: 1.7k 
summary: (pre-established relationship) The one where he could tell you were trouble from the day he met you. Luke’s perspective on trouble & how they first met! think trouble’s origin story (Luke Castellan x fem!Dionysus!reader)
warnings: none, fluff? Mr. D being a clueless dad lol also guys they’re 14 here
a/n: welcome back to the trouble!verse hehe i was inspired by Mr. D being a bit of a jerk to Percy so that the kid doesn’t off himself. Similar concept but with Luke after he first gets to camp— another version for why trouble!reader calls him angelface coming soon
(posted 1/19/24, erm unedited and not beta’d so forgive me in advance)
You were always trouble, Luke knew that from the day he met you. 
Walking into Camp Half-Blood, worn out and weary after days of trying to not become harpy food, his arm was slung protectively over Annabeth’s shoulder as they were led onto the campgrounds. So many pity-filled eyes were focused on them after hearing what happened to Thalia, but the camp seemed promising, filled with other demigods who can resonate with what they’ve experienced. Luke thought it was too good to be true, but anything’s better in comparison to the streets they came from. You, however, looked at them in interest from afar, a playful expression on a pretty face watching their every move like him and Annie were shiny new toys to play with.
He was so sure something was off with you. 
Had to be, from the deranged glimmer in your eye that would appear when something bad would happen at Camp. He’d seen it in action a couple of times before you set your sights on him— setting off fireworks during capture the flag, replacing salt with sugar in the kitchens, cutting Mr. D’s hair in his sleep; all of this causing campers and staff alike to run amok and figure out who to penalize. Each time he’d find you enjoying how it all played out, excitement brimming on the cusp of revealing yourself as the culprit as he watched you bite your tongue. But as a mischievous kid himself, he wondered why you hid it. You preferred to orchestrate the show, to make a spectacle for your personal entertainment, and with a smile too soft to be considered guilty, you were a convincing actress. 
The other campers in 11 told him you’d been unclaimed for half a year now, keeping to yourself and making a safe haven within the busy cabin. You were a klutz to say the least, bringing chaos to Camp Half-Blood with a cool disposition, and you hardly seemed interested the one time Luke tried to say hi as he took the bunk next to yours. 
So why the hell wouldn’t you lay off of him?
At first it was small, shoulder bumps and raised eyebrows whenever he piped up in a conversation. That, he could deal with. Luke’s a tough guy, having gone through more than a typical 14-year old would. 
But then it just got annoying.
Glitter in his shampoo, his laundry load dyed purple, and shoelaces knotted together to make him stumble— things meant to be more of an inconvenience rather than an actual problem. Luke wasn’t sure what to make of it, or what to tell you. No one wants to be the new kid creating trouble, but you didn’t seem to have a problem with that.
Maybe you were a Hermes kid like him, but of that, Luke wasn’t so easily convinced—months of living in 11 would mean you’d learn all of the tricks of the trade, so it couldn’t automatically mean that you were related (a part of him also hoped you weren’t be half-siblings, or else the fact he couldn’t stop thinking of you would be slightly awkward). Perhaps a child of Apollo? When you weren’t being difficult, he’s seen you sprinkled in sunlight, usually humming a tune under your breath. Yesterday it was a song from the Sound of Music, and though he only remembers bits of a memory from a movie night with his mom years ago, he put his combat gear on slower just to hear you finish the song. 
Whatever you were, it was bound to be troublesome.
At this point in life, Luke hasn’t had many comforts while on the run. To him there’s no such thing as action without reason, without meaning.  Five years of running and not looking back makes this son of Hermes realize that he hasn’t had a chance to take a breath until he got here. It’s hard to let down your guard when you’re always supposed to be keeping watch.
He wriggles under his covers trying to relax himself before bed, purple socks sticking out of the scrappy hand-me-down blanket, and he hears a small giggle from the bed next to his. Luke shifts his weight onto his side, eyes darting to your direction in the quiet of the dark cabin.
“Nice socks.”
He blinks. Were you talking to him? His toes wiggle playfully, prompting more of your melodious laughter as he chews at his lip before he responds.
“Guess I’m getting used to them.”
“You’re getting used to a lot of things around here. That’s good,” you whisper, and thinks he can see you concocting something sinister in that brain of yours—he’s on the edge of the mattress hanging onto your every word as he realizes this is the most you’ve spoken to him.
“You did this. Why?” he says, more of a statement than a question. Why would you go out of your way for someone like him?
“Are you mad about it? Luke, right?” you mutter, a calm expression on your face shrouded in moonlight, and for a second he wonders if you actually don’t know his name until he notices the upwards quirk of your lip. 
Luke catches himself then, and the realization hits him like a blow to the chest— he’s not angry at all. If anything, he hasn’t had the time to feel anything negative with the antics you’ve been pulling. You’ve proven to be quite the distraction to his circumstances, and he can’t remember the last time he’s thought about Thalia or his mom since he got here. The melancholy falls on his countenance like a better-fitting blanket than the one he has on, and your words pull him from his thoughts before they can suffocate him again.
“Sorry about your sister. I lost someone right before I got here too. My mom.” 
This, he can tell, is not acting. Your eyes flicker to a polaroid strapped in the space underneath the top bunk above your head, two blurry figures huddled together in a memory.
“I’m sorry.” He’s not sure what to say. In the silence that follows, he swallows audibly. Everyone’s been worried about Annabeth, including himself that he hadn’t even thought of his own emotions being on display for everyone to see. Luke never thought you of all people would notice.
You shrug, “S’not your fault. I know when people are acting though. If you know I’m the one who’s been starting shit, why haven’t you told anyone?”
Luke almost laughs at that, a rough exhale leaving his lungs as he watches your hands clutch your quilt.
“It’s pretty entertaining, I guess. You’re annoying, but I don’t mind it. Kept my mind off of things.”
He watches you smile in the shadows now, and it shines—all lips, teeth, and sheer mirth that makes his chest feel a little lighter. A real smile from you, one that doesn’t hide your true intentions.
“I’m glad. Mine too.” 
The next thing you do confuses him further, but from what he’s gathered you’re always full of surprises. You chuck your quilt across the space between your bunks, and the end of it smacks him in the face as he grunts.
“Here. Keep it,” you chuckle a bit loudly, the both of you hearing a Shhhhh… from somewhere in the dark cabin.
“What… Why? Are we friends now?” Luke mumbles jokingly, inhaling the soft scent of berries and fresh linen. His purple laundry load smelled like this too.
“No.”
“Then why are you giving me your stuff?” he says, but still curls up underneath the handmade quilt stitched from memories of a past life, of motherly love and gentle hands. He doesn’t have anything like this, so he settles into this feeling of comfort instead, even if it wasn’t his memory to hold. You go quiet at the sight of him, eyes fluttering and chin tucked into the pink and purple fabric, and he looks as soft as a normal 14 year old boy should.
“It’s getting boring in here. Gonna have to change it up soon, I think,” you mumble, turning away and shutting your eyes before he can say anything else.
The next day, you get caught putting a month’s supply of bubble bath into the lake, but Luke’s convinced you did it on purpose. All of camp is standing on the shore, watching you wave at them from a river tube as Chiron and Mr. D yell at you in exasperation—finally revealing yourself as the troublemaker they’ve been searching for.
“Get on the beach this instant, young lady! You have no idea how much trouble you’ve put us through!” Mr. D’s voice echoes across the lake, his immortal form almost filtering through his frustration before you laugh in his face, unthreatened by the Olympian.
“Good thing I get it from you. Hello, dad!”
Jaws drop as everyone turns to look at Mr. D, the realization hitting his face as he points at you, his brain moving a mile a minute. Though you resemble your mother, your actions are all him. You revel in the grand reaction, looking up to see a purple thyrsus surrounded by grape leaves float over your head.
“Nice outfit, kid. I don’t think purple is your color. She do that to you too?” Mr. D notes Luke’s wine colored cargos and socks clashing against the harsh orange of his shirt as he pushes past him, scratching his head at the idea of another kid. Poor guy said two was the limit in a lifetime and he gets a grinning teenage girl who dares him to do something about it. He hasn’t raised a lot of girls….
“I don’t know. I guess trouble always seems to find me,” Luke laughs lightly, watching kids of all ages jump into the bubbly lake water happily. The glowing ember of his eyes are relaxed for the first time in a while— an inviting flame catching your own as you stare at him from across the sudsy water. Trouble, he thinks, a smile settling onto his face—how fitting.
He’s spent a lot of time running. But perhaps this time, he’s finding reasons to want to stay.
"After all, we are nothing more or less than what we choose to reveal." - Sylvia Plath
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viperixsworld · 4 months
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GUTS, luke castellan x oc(prologue)
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summary: where an aphordite daugther falls for this lying hermes boy.
disclaimer: english is not my firt language.
We don't get to choose who we fall in love with.
Arianne knew that. She believed it to her core. Love was something magical and illogical. Her own father, said it when he told her about her mom. Apparently, she was a beautiful young woman that crossed paths with Nicholas Deveraux (her father) during his travels in Europe before officially settle down in the family business in Chicago.
Everyone expected that Nicholas would come back from Europe with a bad tan and a few souvenirs, not a freaking newborn baby daugther.
Nicholas was a loving father, but not a really smart man. That is It's one of the reasons she didn't question when a man showed up at her Chicago home, offering her only daughter a scholarship to a prestigious boarding school.
Arianne came to camp half-blood when she was thirteen years old. After some encounters with several monsters, Chiron himself went to her doorstep in Chicago to get her to camp.
Nevertheless, during her arrival there was an incident. An incident involving three more demigod, a satire and a cyclops.
Arianne was claimed a few weeks after the attack, same as the two demigos that survived. Luke Castellan, son of Hermes, and Annabeth Chase, daugther of Atenea.
And let me tell you, Arianne Deveraux didn't choose to fall for the son of the Traveler. It was fate, or maybe was her mother ? She wasn't really sure. They started off as friends, adapting to camp at same time, being the same age, having the same friends.
Arianne was a nice, generous and beautiful girl, she was the perfect definition of an Aphordite daugther. Everyone that knew her personally (and even those who didn't) held her close to their hearts. Knowing that if you had to trust someone, you could trust Arianne Deveraux.
It was also a flaw, being the goodie older sister of Camp Half-blood.
At sixteen, she was named captain of Aphordite cabin. At the same time, Luke Castellan was named captain of Hermes cabin. They started to spend more time together, attending bonefire together, sparring together... Then the gifts started, Luke liked how her eyes would shine everytime she opened a present, no matter how stupid or simple. He would get her little details, It was his way of showing love, his love language, and her siblings would beg her to ask Luke to please, please, get them things for the cabin.
On the othet hand, Arianne would be (even without her knowing) the best of the presents for Luke. She was kind and beautiful, and gave him all the attetion he craved. And even Annabeth liked her, and would let her do her hair when she was tired. She was a part of their little, broken family.
Sometimes, Ari would cover up for Luke, when he sneak out to get things for other half-bloods and for himself. Like a PlayStation or some chess board for Annabeth, or his little presents for Ari.
Sometimes, Luke would sneak her in the Big House, to use the phone to talk to her father.
Every friday night, the would sit in the shore of the lake, to talk about everything or to be completly silent. Every time the scar on Luke's face hurt, Ari would stay by his side and try to ease the pain. Every time Ari felt like the stress of carring everyones problems and her owns, Luke was there to relieve her.
They were partners in crime, always there for each other.
That, until an enemy emerges from the shadows and resentment.
That, until one betrays the other.
Until Arianne Deveraux feels love and hate in her guts.
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lilrainbowcloud · 3 months
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Pairing: Luke Castellan x Child of Apollo! Reader
Genre: Fluff and angst
Word count: 2.6k || masterlist
Warning: mention of blood
a/n: the pictures used does not potray the reader. the final part, annabeth was never there.
The two times you trusted him, and the one time he betrayed you.
i. Taking his hand to pull you through the protective barrier.
“Wake up, we’re almost there,”
Taking a deep breath as you regained your consciousness from a dreamless sleep, you straighten your back, arms stretching above your head as you readjust your focus to the satyr in front of you.
“What?”
“Camp Half Blood! We’re almost there!” exclaimed your friend, Caelum, excitedly pointing to the window with a wide smile adorning his face. Happy to be able to bring back a demigod safely to camp for a satyr his age. An achievement of his service.
Turning to the window yourself, the view of the forest and blue sky bordered by the sea filled your vision. The more the train moved forward, the longer the scenery in front of you unfold like a painter with a brush painting the environment for you as you go.
A soft gasp escaped your lips.
“How do you know where to go?” curious, you asked your guide as you dodge the protruding branches from scratching your skin, however when you looked in front of you, it was no problem for Caelum to navigate the forest as though he was water flowing through a river. His movement fluid, legs nimble. You watched as his little goat ears twitch as he moved.
“Trust me! I know this forest like the back of my hand!”
Feeling your movement was obstructed on your left foot, gravity pulled you down as you got caught on a root. You yelped as both of your hands braced you from the impact of the fall.
“Cael-“
“Shh!”
“Can you at least he-”
“SHH!”
Confusion and disbelief twisted your face as you looked up at him. How could he told you to shut up when you just fell? And not help you up. Wasn’t he supposed to be your protector? That was what he told you back at your mum’s house when they relayed to you the truth about your life. From wanting closure and understanding of your acentric self, you had accepted the reality of your being wholeheartedly. The least you knew you weren’t the one. It was comforting in a twisted way.
A second of you assessing his demeanor, ears flat on his head, eyes wide searching, you knew better than to make another sound. Instead, slowly you untangle your foot from the root and turned your body to look behind you.
The forest had gone deftly silent. No bird chirping, no leaves rustling. Something was definitely wrong.
A loud flap of wings could be heard, then there was a shadow moved on the ground, passing above you. What animal had that large of a wingspan? Nothing came to your mind but it filled your nerves with icy bites of fear. The hair on the back of your neck stood.
“Y/N, get up right now,” two arms hooking under your armpits, you didn’t hear Caelum ran to you as he hauled you up to your feet. Eyes looking through the trees above you, you nodded hastily and took his hand in yours as he quickly pulled you into a sprint.
“The camp is near! Once we get pass the barrier it can’t get to you!”
Failing to form any words, you only managed to squeeze his hand in confirmation that you understood him. Whatever barrier he meant and whatever was chasing you, you didn’t care. Only your life and safety mattered.
The loud screeching of the fury could be heard to anyone who was near the camp border. That anyone was none other than Luke himself. Momentarily distracted by the form of the winged monster emerging from the forest trees, the wooden sword of his sparring partner hit him on the shoulder causing his opponent to quickly apologize with concern. But it fell on deft ear as Luke held his hand up as an “Its fine” gesture, too focused on the flying monster diving back down into the thick foliage.
Gripping the wooden sword in his hand tighter as tough it was a real sharpened one, he and the other campers nearby halted their activities to stand ready too near the border. Weapons drawn in steady hands, they held their ground for a possible attack of an intruder or welcoming a demigod.
“There!” The sound of a voice shouting could be heard following the rustling of bushes as a satyr and a girl, frightened looking with their hands linked emerged into the few meters of clearing separating the camp and forest.
The winged figure rose again to the sky, Luke noticed its nose about to dive down on them again. Gasps and shouts of horror rose with the crowd.
Instinct took over his body. Turning to his right to a camper from the Apollo cabin, he snatched the bow and arrow off of his hands before running pass the protection of the barrier and into the clearing where he was joined with the pair in the middle.
“Go! Go!” encouraging them to move forward for the last few meters from the border, Luke aimed the bow upwards, landing a clumsy shot with unfocused aim to the fury. Not his best suited weapon but it was enough to direct the fury away from them as the three of them sprinted back to safety.
Sensing the fury closing in on them behind his back by the sound of its screeching loud in his ear, with less than two meters away from the border, Luke pushed his legs to run ahead of them and with a last surge of adrenaline, he pulled the girl’s arm, bodies colliding as he cushioned her fall with his figure.
A loud thud, followed by a screech echoed through the atmosphere. A second later the sound of wing flaps disappearing filled you with a sense of relief as you knew that whatever that creature was chasing you had retreated to the hell hole it came from.
Fear replaced with reality, your flight senses dissipating slowly made you aware of your surrounding again. Made you aware of the hard grip you had on the body of the person who had pulled you through the barrier.
With a jolt of surprise as if you had been shocked by an electric static, you released your grip from him, quickly standing up with an utter of Thank you for saving your life.
Turning back towards the forest, the sight of the monster was no longer there. You were only left with the many pair of eyes looking at you with interest as they welcome a new half-blood into the camp. Another pawn of the gods in their game of life. But you don’t know that yet.
“Welcome to Camp Half Blood.”
Facing the voice of your savior, it was the first time you get to appropriately assess him. His appearance of dark curly hair slightly matted on his forehead, tall stature, and kind smile as he extended his hand to you in greeting. As if what had happened moments ago was that nothing out of the ordinary.
“I’m Luke.”
ii. He taught you to sword fight.
Two summers had passed since your first day arriving at camp.
One bead of the day Apollo claimed you as his daughter a few weeks of your first stay after you had helped saved and healed a child of Demeter from a cut, he received from a river stone during capture the flag. The bright yellow glow of the sun symbol bathed the riverbank of the camp as cheers from your now half siblings roared through the air.
Another bead from your second summer at camp. The summer you had shared your confessions with Luke under the blanket of stars, illuminated by the bonfire as you both sat together with the melodious voice of your half siblings leading the song. It was a shared sentiment with each other as you both vowed to protect and be there by each other’s side through anything. A sanctuary in the form of trust bonding you to him, blinding the absurdity of your fates in the world even only for a while.
“Get up, Y/N,”
Huffing out an annoyed breath, you took his outstretched hand as he pulled you back on your feet. Being the child of Apollo, you had a natural talent with the bow and arrow. The curve of the finger pads, and the slender shape of the arrow knocked on the bow string molded so perfectly into you. It was a natural talent in your blood thanks to your father. But with a sword, it does not resonate with you. Therefore, this was the third summer that Luke, being the best swordsman in the camp offered to teach you.
So, here you are with a wooden sword, surrounded by the dense trees as the audience as the son of Hermes handed your ass to you.
“You know what, I think I’m improving enough for today don’t you think?” truthfully, you were just finding an excuse to stop the training session earlier than usual as you dusted the dead leaves off of your clothes.
“You did improve, and I’m proud of you.” Getting back to his starting stance, he aimed the point of the fake sword at you again, with a playful glint in his eyes.
In a swift movement of a trained warrior, he moved behind you with the tip of the wooden sword softly touching the back of your neck, “What if someone tries to back stab you?”
Even if he’s not in front of you, your mind’s eye can form the face he was making. Proud to have tricked his opponent in a moment of distraction. You slowly turned around, he tipped the sword to your chest.
“If someone stabs you from the back, then they’re a coward.”
Raising your own sword to push his away from your chest, you took a few steps back and continued your battle stance once more.
iii. Defending Percy from Luke.
Colourful sparkles of the fireworks filled the sky. Each boom heard comes with it a bloom of neon flower lighting up the camp’s sky as the camp went into celebration of the return of Percy from his quest. Cheers of the campers made your heart full as you made your way through the woods trying to find Luke to join you near the bonfire for the singalong.
Though the sky was lit, the ground was shrouded by the darkness of the night. The weigh of your quiver on your hip, and the golden bow, a gift from your father on your back gave you comfort as you trudge towards the place where you and Luke meet up for lessons.
After the sun sets, he vanished from your bearings which was odd since he had promised you to help with the preparation of the celebration later in the evening. Knowing him, it was one out of three places he could’ve gone to.
“Luke!” calling out to him, your voice was swallowed by the void, absorbed by nature. You didn’t get any reply back.
Venturing further, his name caught on the tip of your tongue as you heard the metal clash of swords. Stopping in your track for a moment, you heard voices mixing with the clinging.
Luke and Percy.
Worry surged you forward towards the ruckus.
Horror filled your chest as you witness Percy slashing riptide to Luke. A sound of hurt came from Luke meant Percy had hit him.
Anger took over as you danced a move you’ve practiced and even more perfected overtime, your arrow now knocked on the bow, feet sliding at the end of your halt in front of Luke, shielding him from Percy.
“Y/N?” Both of them gasping out of breath from their duel. One in disbelief and the other, confused.
“Percy, what are you doing?”
Never in your lifetime would you had imagined a day you would turn your weapon against someone who you considered as your friend despite the little amount of time you had spent together. But here you are, eyes squinting to see him better in the dark. Fingers ready to release the arrow.
“Are you with him too?” His grip on riptide loosened at his side, looking up at you with a betrayed face.
“What are you talk-”
“Are you working with Kronos too?!” Percy’s accusing tone caught you off guard, causing you to lower your bow. Tilting your head as you let out a confused huh?
“Percy, you’re not making sense here,” Luke’s name died on your lips as you felt the cold tip of backbiter against your exposed neck. Eyes wide, you captured Percy’s eyes with his reflecting the same emotion as you, alarmed.
Déjà vu.
In the same forest, in the same spot, with the same person but with a different weapon.
Coward.
What was he thinking? What was happening first and foremost. Why were they fighting? It did not look like a practice session.
“Luke, tell me what is happening. Right. Now.”
As much as you were frightened, the overwhelming feeling of betrayal weighed heavier.
You were frozen.
“He’s working with Kronos to bring him back. To start a war. He stole Zeus’ master bolt.”
In the last sentence Percy relayed to you, you could feel the shift of the sword. So, it’s true?
Percy would not lie to you. But so would Luke. Right?
“Is that true?” Broken were your voice as you muttered the question to the person you called your lover.
The grip of your bow and the arrow returned. The muscles of your body tensed, ready to resume position.
“Y/N, listen to me, go back-”
The sword tip shifted again.
Taking advantage of this, in one swift movement you positioned yourself in front of Percy, the knocked arrow now pointing towards Luke instead.
What are we now?
The fireworks continued. For the first time tonight, you could see his face, illuminated by the purple and blue hues from the sky.
Hurt was what you saw in his dark eyes. But so was yours.
“You’re trusting him more than me now?” He raised his sword, swinging it to point from you to Percy. Eyes hardened.
“Why would he lie to me?” Why would you lie to me?
A scowl graced his face as you claimed that. The scissors that cut the string from him to you passed through.
Sensing the rising tension, Percy shouted your name as he shoved you to the side.
Luke raised his sword to swing down.
As you hit the ground, your arrow flew from your fingers, grazing Luke’s shoulder.
A hiss of pain and everything paused.
With Percy by your side, you on your back on the ground, supported by your elbows, watched as Luke held his shoulder with force. Red bloomed where your arrow had hurt him, breaking his skin.
You hurt him. But he had hurt you too.
Was this fair?
“I’m sorry,” came out weak to your ear. You didn’t event know if it had reached Luke or not. But he looked at you with much hatred.
Did he betrayed you, or you betrayed him?
“I’m sorry,” lifting yourself up from the ground, “Luke, please,” Percy helped you to stand.
Shaking his head, completely at lost for word, Luke walked back a few steps away from you as though you were the villain.
Of course, you had hurt him after promising to protect each other. But he also raised his weapon at you with the intention to hurt. Or was it to daunt you? To get you to back off?
Without another word to you, Luke turned his back to the both of you and launched himself into the rip of air among the ruined stones.
Your feet didn’t move fast enough. Your instinct wasn’t fast enough to reach him.
He vanished with your voice shouting his name.
Emptiness was what you felt as your knees hit the ground.
Numbness took over when Percy called out your name repeatedly.
Was this really happening?
Will you ever see him again?
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percyluvr · 2 months
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percy x dionysus reader?
percy jackson x child of dionysus!reader summary: you enjoy a quiet picnic with your boyfriend wc: 589
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Deep in the forest surrounding Camp Half-Blood, you'd set up a beautiful picnic for you and your boyfriend, Percy Jackson. Being a child of Dionysus, your skills in the kitchen were unmatched. You'd perfectly paired the picnic with drinks, a tiny bit of wine included, which you'd had to work extremely hard to get your dad to allow you to drink, especially on camp grounds with Percy Jackson, or 'Peter Johnson' as your dad had called him in the middle of his tangent about you taking wine to share with 'Peter Johnson' without offering to share any with your poor father who couldn't get his own wine.
You'd picked out a beautiful dark purple blanket that one of your siblings had and a black picnic basket. You'd made an assortment of foods, making sure to include blue foods because you knew how much it would mean to Percy. 
Now, you and Percy were walking hand in hand through the woods. You were practically bouncing up and down with anticipation to know how he would react. Typically, you and Percy would go to parties that your cabin or the Aphrodite cabin hosted, which could get pretty crazy. You two had never really had a calm date, and when you did try, there was usually some demigod problem that got into the way. You were just praying to your father especially that nothing at camp would get in the way of your date this time.
When you arrived at the spot for your picnic, Percy's eyes widened at the beautiful purple fairy lights that your siblings helped you string across the trees. His eyes landed on the carefully laid out picnic and you could see the excitement in his eyes. 
"I can't believe you would take the time to do this for me!" He said, picking you up and spinning you around.
"Of course Perce, why wouldn't I want to do something for my sweet and amazing boyfriend?" You said, thoroughly pleased at his reaction.
"Well, when you put it that way, I suppose there isn't a reason you wouldn't want to," he joked, putting you down but still grasping your hand, and walked with you over to the picnic. The two of you sat down on the soft velvet of the blanket and he started going through the basket.
When he caught sight of the bottle of wine, his seagreen eyes widened. 
"There's no way Mr. D let you take this, especially not to share with me."
"Oh trust me, you don't even want to hear how I convinced him to let me take just this one bottle," you said with a laugh.
He leaned over to you and left a soft kiss on your lips, and the two of you continued to unpack the picnic. You spent the rest of the day cuddled up and enjoying each other's presence, looking up at the clouds, and later into the night, the stars. 
That was, until your dad appeared out of nowhere and threatened to wrap vines around Percy and leave him there if you weren't returned to the big house in 10 minutes. You laughed in response, but could sense that Percy didn't find it nearly as funny. You ruffled his black hair, telling him that your dad probably wouldn't ever actually do that, which in all honesty probably didn't help at all.
On the way back to the cabins, Percy and you shared numerous kisses, and you definitely were not back in 10 minutes, much to your father's annoyance.
a/n: i saw somewhere that dionysus kids would be good at cooking and could pair any food with the perfect wine & i just thought that was such a cute hc and i totally agree! also to anon i hope this was acceptable for ur request <3
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lunemai · 21 days
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•• -Mornings With You- ••
Demigod!Y/n x Luke Castellan
Summary - Waking up with Luke on your birthday in a cabin near the beach feels like a dream or at least it was going to be, until some people decided to interrupt.
Warnings - Y/n's godly parent is not specified, she/her pronouns, softness, talk of kids, kissing, no betrayal universe, teeth rotting fluff, marriage, and that's it I think.
part one - part two || can be read as a standalone. ||
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•••••••••••••••••••••★•••••••••••••••••••••
The distant waves and the birds singing walking the shoreline are sounds you look forward to when waking up, this time, it was a different sound, a more annoying sound, a very familiar voice.
"I didn't even mean it like that-" Percy tries to say but is quickly interrupted by the sound of Annabeth's voice, "Yes, you did."
"Okay, you came to my house on this glorious peaceful morning to talk about your.. -marital problems?" Luke talks in between both of them. I can practically hear Annabeth's eye roll, "Of course not, we came to give your prisoner her annual 'congrats on not dying' birthday cake." right. 
Everyone knows as demigods living a long and prosperous life is not guaranteed, therefore; congrats on not dying birthday cake. Though I think that's what every “normal” person gets, it's just very subtle.
“what? she’s not my prisoner.” I hear Annabeth scoff as I get up from bed and head towards the bathroom door inside mine and Luke’s room, quietly. duh. 
“right.” Annabeth says, there’s a pause before Luke answers, “Right?” though he’s trying to be assertive it sounds more like a question than a statement. 
there’s another pause before I hear that same voice that woke me in the first place, “So are you going to let us in or??” I hear Annabeth shove past him and Luke and head towards the kitchen where the boys also seem to follow.
since I can no longer hear their voices I finally enter the bathroom to brush my teeth and my hair, no one wants to look like a monster around Demi-gods of all people, might end up without a head.
coming out of the room I immediately hear the sound of Percy and Annabeth having a conversation about why having too much blue food coloring could ultimately be damaging.
Finally coming into view I see Luke making coffee with his back facing us and the soulmates sitting in bar stools awaiting their drinks.
Percy has a cherry muffin in front of him and Annabeth had buttery popcorn, in the morning.
“Oh hey sleepy head, I’m surprised your kidnapper lets you out of your room,” Annabeth says, Luke turns around with a coffee mug in his hand and leans against the kitchen counter while Percy simply awaits Luke’s rebuttal.
“Same, I guess I must be his favorite victim,” I say, encouraging Annabeth to jab at the fact Luke and I haven’t left our home in 2 weeks since our honeymoon.
“who’s side are you on?” Luke says with his brows furrowed. “The winning side, mine,” Annabeth answers for me.
I raise an eyebrow at Luke walking towards him, wrapping my arms around his waist once I reach him to look up at his eyes.
“Hi, baby.” He says looking down at me he places one hand on my hip, and his forehead meets mine.
“Hi handsome, you make any for me?” I say pointing at the mug in his other hand with my eyes. 
he squeezes my hip his hand and nudges my nose with his, “Of course I did, you’re my favorite victim.” he meets my lips with a matching soft smile on his face, 2, 4 seconds and I hear a voice,
“Did you make any for us?” of course, it’s Percy.
sadly, Luke pulls away from the kiss to look at Percy. “You think I want you to have any more energy than you already do?” 
Percy sighs in disbelief, “What energy? I’m a ball of sarcasm, not happiness.” Luke lets out a laugh and replies, “Sure Perse, there should be enough in the pot.”
Luke looks back down at me and pecks my cheek, “You want your ‘congrats on not dying cake’ or me and the beach first?”
with a soft laugh, I respond “Depends, who made it this time?” I say while turning to look at the two occupying the kitchen island.
“Me.” Annabeth says, and that’s all I need to hear, “Cake first then.” Percy shrugs and decides I have a right to say that after last year’s cake.
“I thought adding salt to things made it more flavorful or whatever, I mean they do it with chocolate milk.” even though he’s right, a whole cup of salt on a cake was not the right move.
“Right, but the point is not to aim for a salty flavor.” I have to admit, reading and following instructions will never be an easy feat for a Demi-god, dyslexia, and all that.
“That’s why you have to re-read things Percy,” Annabeth says while getting the cake out of the box. 
Annabeth hands each of us a slice of red velvet cake and we all eat with glee laughter, and sarcasm since Percy and Annabeth are here.
“Okay, now that we ate and used dishes we don’t have to wash, Happy birthday prisoner, try to find an escape route soon,” Annabeth says standing up to hug me and put her dish in the sink for Luke to wash later.
“Yeah, thanks for using water in the only way I could never, Luke,” Percy says also putting his dish in the sink on top of Annabeth's. 
“Don’t worry, I know I can handle water more than you, son of Poseidon,” Luke says gathering mine and his dish, to stack them atop the rest.
“Happy birthday newly kidnapped.” that didn’t sound grammatically correct, but I wouldn’t know. 
“Thanks, Perse, and also thank you for not making the cake.” with a nod full of fake sympathy, Percy and Annabeth walk out the door with a last goodbye hug and a wave.
closing the cabin door, I feel arms wrap around my back, leaning against Luke I feel his chin on my shoulder.
“You know the beach will be here all day,” he says in between the kisses he’s now placing on my collarbone, all leading up towards my jawline.
“Yeah, you’re right about that one,” I say closing my eyes and enjoying the sensation of him making a path of kisses up my neck.
“so maybe, we should just go back to bed for a little while.” he finally reaches my cheek, and I open my eyes to turn my head towards his, nudging my nose against his.
“That sounds like a great plan,” I say turning around in his arms to put my hands on his chest.
“Yeah?” he says softly with a deep and passionate kiss following.
breathing heavily I manage to respond
“Yeah.”
notes: this is my first fic in sooo long!! i’m so happy to have this done, it’s 1,081 words and i’m so ducking proud of that.
Thank you sm for reading! I promise there’s many more coming.
REQUEST ARE VERY MUCH OBLIGED.
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apollosfavkiddo · 19 days
Note
Hi, I just saw your Jason Grace general headcanons and I was wondering, can you do a Jason Grace boyfriend headcanons this time?
Jason Grace boyfriend hcs
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⛧° 。 ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆༺♱༻⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ ⋆ 。°⛧
content: jason grace boyfriend material
warnings: f1 references, one direction references, other than that just mushy gushy fluff
a/n: yk what? i absolutely hate writing hcs. i prefer one thousand times to write fics. the problem is, i don’t have creativity enough to write a fic, and neither do i have time. when i have inspiration, im usually in class and i hate writing fics in my notebook but whatever. i hope you enjoy?? lmk!!
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He. Is. The cutest boyfriend ever. In the whole world.
He’s literally the sweetest person
With you? My gods
My boy’s whipped.
He’d do absolutely anything you asked him to do, and it’s kinda cute
But also kinda scary cause he’d kill someone if you asked him to
He memorized all of your favorite artists’ songs so you can talk about that together
Frequent dates!!
Lots of gifts in absolutely random occasions
At the beginning of, he was so touch starved it was almost pitiful
But he started to loosen up the more you got into the relationship
Now he just can’t keep his hands away from you, doesn’t matter how
Interlocking pinkies or hands? Check. Hugging you from behind if you’re talking to someone? As long as you don’t get uncomfortable.
He’s just super clingy, and it’s the cutest thing ever.
He looks just like a lost puppy.
He just needs a little bit of love
Cause it’s all too much for little Jason Grace
F1 joke sorry i can’t help myself
ANYWAYS
Back to my man
He loves when you braid his hair or just spend time with you in general.
He always seems to know when you’re down
Cause he usually does know
And when you’re with your friends and he notices you’re not feeling well
He gives an excuse and pulls you with him
When you get to his cabin he just cradles you into his chest and whispers sweet nothings into your ear.
He’s a great listener, and his favorite part of the day is when he gets to come home and listen to you
If you’re not the talker type, he can talk for you
He just wants you to feel comfortable around him, always.
He feels so bad when you’re mad at him or he knows he did something that probably hurt you
Even if it didn’t, he’ll apologize for the next weeks
And some days you’re just cuddling together in a totally allowed sleepover (Aphrodite threatened Mr. D to let you sleep together, but that’s not the point), he’ll just sniffs in your hair and mumble soft ‘i’m sorry’s and ‘i love you’s into your head.
He’s just the cutest person in the world.
You know that song “In a world of boys he’s a gentleman”?
It’s him. Momma Taylor wrote it for him. I know, i was there. I was the pen.
Sometimes he just gets super clingy out of nowhere, and it’s super cute in your opinion
Even if he’s embarrassed of it later on.
If you have curly hair, he’ll ask Leo how to style your curls so he can help you
He also learns all your skincare steps so he can help you with it when you’re too tired to do it yourself
He loves when you just lay on his chest and falls asleep, he can keep reading and caressing you
He’s so in love with you it’s gross
You can bet your life that he has a picture of you in his wallet
And if demigods had phones, his wallpaper would be you & him
Oh, i just know he loves listening to one direction with you
I’m not gonna elaborate. He just does.
He’s a very smart man, so he studies a lot
And he absolutely loves when you’re there with him
But in the end he doesn’t study, he just admires you as you scrunch your nose and pouts, trying to understand something.
He loves loves LOVES going on double dates, like you & him and will & nico. It’s like his two favorite people in the world and Will as a bonus
Hehehe sorry he loves Will too
But not as much as he loves you and his younger brother Nico
If you have younger siblings in the mortal side, he’s always asking to go to your house cause he LOVES kids
He just loves to take care of them
And deep down he’s also a little bit scared that maybe he’ll not live enough to have his own
But sometimes, in the middle of the night (when the wolves come down) he finds himself staring at the ceiling and imagining how you and his kids would look like
Would they have your hair and his eyes? Maybe your freckles and his personality?
He just likes to imagine how would it be like, your family
For last, your mortal parent immediately likes him. Like, sure, there’s that whole “if-you-hurt-my-daughter” blah blah blah
BUT
they know that he’s super protective
But he’s a great boyfriend.
And if you’re happy, they’re happy too.
And Jason fits in that list.
a/n pt2: I. MADE. IT. LONG. AND I CANT BELIEVE IT!! but look, i promise that im writing a real thing, it’s just that im drowning in homework and my mom is gonna give birth soon and. i feel like jason rn tbh
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squiggle3worm · 2 months
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Nico telling Percy that he's not his type has less to do with his looks but more to do with his personality. This has bothered me for a while but especially now because Walker looks like Will Solace. It's a funny joke and everything but my problem is that people take it as the truth and not just a joke. On multiple posts I've seen people say that its more about Percy's personality and other people dismiss those comments.
There are multiple times in BoO that Nico alluded to his crush on Percy fading due to his personality:
When they're eating farturas in Portugal, Nico thought about what Percy would say about them. Nico then said, "The older Nico got, the more juvenile Percy seemed to him, though Percy was three years older. Nico found his sense of humor equal parts endearing and annoying. He decided to concentrate on the annoying." Nico realized how immature Percy is and doesn't appreciate his humor anymore. Nico reflected on how their personalities and senses of humor don't mesh as much because they have different levels of maturity. He's starting to grow up out of his crush on Percy.
During another scene in Portugal, Hades told Nico that one of the seven was going to die. Nico responded, "To his surprise, his thoughts didn't leap first to Percy. His primary concern was for Hazel, then for Jason, then for Percy..." Nico has other people in his life that he cares about. It seems wrong to assume that Nico didn't think of Percy first because he's not into his looks anymore. That assumption would make Nico seem shallow and Nico's known for being the opposite since he cares about people feeling included like with Hestia and Bob.
Nico got excited when Reyna said one of her ancestors was a pirate. He said, "Even before he got into Mythomagic, he'd been obsessed with pirates. Probably that was one reason he'd been so smitten with Percy, a son of the sea god." Nico liked the idea of Percy because he reminded him of his previous obsession of pirates. Nico liked the connection that Percy had with the sea. Since Nico was also obsessed with Mythomagic, Nico also liked the idea of Percy as a demigod. Percy being a son of Poseidon perfectly fit under two things Nico was fascinated with.
Right before Nico told Percy about his crush, he said, "Nico studied his face- his sea green eyes, his grin, his ruffled black hair. Somehow Percy Jackson seemed like a regular guy now, not a mythical figure. Not someone to idolize or crush on." While Nico does bring up Percy's looks, that's not the only reasoning for not crushing on him anymore. Percy's "mythical figure" status is more about how strong he is and the fact that he's one of the most powerful demigods that Nico knows. Nico looked up to Percy because he was the ideal demigod in Nico's eyes. If Nico idolized Percy only for his looks, it would go back to him being shallow.
Nico put Percy on a huge pedestal and was infatuated with him for years but that doesn't mean that Nico only liked him for his looks. Nico grew out of his crush after he stopped idolizing Percy as a person.
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sukibenders · 9 months
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comfort and care
FEATURING: percy jackson x reader
summary: for the past few days, you've been noticing a change in percy's demeanor as of late. from the bags gathering under his eyes from lack of sleep to his more irritable nature, everything had screamed "wrong" to you. in your attempts to find some resolve, you set out to find ways to tend to his needs.
contents: sad!percy, poor boy is struggling (specifics aren't mentioned) and needs comfort, fluff, angst, mentions of lack of personal care (such as poor sleep and struggling emotional health), percy not being kind to himself (dismissing his feelings), concerned!reader, cute couple moments, reader takes care of percy, mentions of cooking but can easily be ignored or altered if you can't cook, percy calling you babe, i hope percy doesn't seem ooc in this.
note" thank you so much to everyone who showed support to my first percy x reader, as that really warmed my heart. this one came to mind when i thought about how little x reader imagines there are that involve percy receiving comfort and felt like our boy needed someone to be able to vent to. ergo, this came to be. hope you enjoy!
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You first noticed it during one of your weekly Iris Messaging calls with Percy, a familiar routine the two of you had come up with when you both had to leave camp to return to your respective household during the school season. It had helped ease the long-distance separation, considering demigods weren't allowed electronic devices such as phones with the risk of drawing the attention of monsters, and allowed for you both to speak for hours and hours without worrying about racking up on a phone bill. It was a bonus that it allowed you to see one another, especially now.
While it was evident that Percy was attempting to hide any signs of fatigue, you had known him well enough to see past the feeble attempts and hesitantly brought the issue forward. "You look tired," you had said, eyes scanning over his frame through the hazy messaging system. "When was the last time that you slept?"
At the question, Percy let out a soft laugh, waving his hand in dismissal. "C'mon, babe, let's not weigh down our talk with boring stuff like my sleep schedule. Wouldn't you like to focus on something more interesting?"
To which you retorted. "I would like focus on making sure that my boyfriend is doing okay, taking care of himself. That would interest me just fine."
The inky haired boy let out a small sound that rumbled in the back of his throat, taking in your words and the unwavering concern in your gaze. A part of him practically leaned towards you (or more so you image), wanting to seek you out for as much comfort as he could gain. But another, more darker part of him, had drew him to a halt and left his previous wants to plunder into nothing more than wants rather than needs.
"It's nothing, really." Lie. "I've just been stressed with school is all." Another lie, well, partially. "You know I'm not the sharpest tool in the box." He was attempting to be humorous, in hopes of drawing away your concern on to something else. It didn't work.
Your burrows narrowed in a way he'd only seen when you get protective over things that you care about, and being on the receiving end of that look made him wince. "Don't be so hard on yourself," you said with a stern tone. "Besides, I don't like it when people insult my boyfriend. He's a genius in his own ways."
"Even when it's me?"
"Especially when it's you." A part of you warmed slightly when you notice a glint of gratitude sparkle in the inky haired boy's eyes at your defense, even if it was from his own self. But, even with that, it did little to provide any solution to the dilemma at hand as Percy had used quick thinking to find a way of branching to a new subject that, before you knew it, left little room for you to return to your concerns before you both had to call it a night.
That didn't mean that this problem was over, nor would your attempts to fix it be hindered.
It would seem so that you weren't the only one to notice Percy's shift as most of your friends had noticed it too. From Annabeth, who was ready to report any of her findings discovered during the pairs talks with one another to you or other members of the Seven dropping casual hints of concern (Jason had mentioned that he noticed Percy's hands tremble whenever they would drag across his face, Leo had noted that his jokes---which were usually funny---had either fallen flat or gave a vibe of uneasiness, Hazel had commented on the way his smile no longer reached his eyes and so on). You had used your family phone to call Sally who at the time was nowhere near Percy, thankfully, and had nearly broken down to you over the phone about her worries. She had done the best she could, but she was only one person.
It didn't take you long to formulate a plan, all that was needed was a way of travel to the Jackson's residence. It was lucky for you that a certain son of Hades had been open to the idea of helping as he dropped you off via shadow travel in front of the apartment complex. After a thanks of gratitude, the di Angelo boy left with saying "Tell Percy that I hope he gets better" before disappearing into the shadows.
You had already informed Sally and Paul of your plan, and the two had readily abided by it by taking Estelle on a trip around the city, leaving you and Percy to have some alone time. By the time you had gotten to your destination, a sudden bundle of nerves had crept their way inside you as you waited for Percy to open the door. What if he didn't want you here? What if it only made him more upset? What if you being here simply did nothing at all?
All your thoughts were put on hold when the boy himself threw open the door, a look of surprise marking his features as he took you in, as if trying to determine whether you were really there or not.
"Surprise!" You had said with hopefully enthusiasm, a conscious smile painting your face as you waited for a response.
Instead of words, a pair of strong arms circled you and pulled you into a muscular chest, body molding around yours as two became one in a matter of seconds. "You're here." Percy mumbled, though more as a statement than surprise even though your sudden appearance was one for sure.
"Of course I am, babe." You smiled into his chest, rubbing your hands up and down his back in a way that you hoped would bleed all the love and comfort from your heart that you wished give.
It didn't take long for him to pull you in to the shelter of his apartment, and even less before the two of you reached his bedroom. You both had fallen on to his bed, laying side by side facing one another with a little distance to allow you to look into each other's eyes. It was moments like these were almost anything in the world could be happening, right outside the window even, and neither of you would care. All that would matter would be the warmth of your bodies pressed together, fingers interlocking in a complex hold that neither of you wanted to be freed from, and the mingling of your even breaths dancing with one another in the faintly lit room.
"I wished you told me that you were coming. I would've cleaned up a bit." Percy joked, waving a hand in the direction towards his mess of a room before rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.
You let out snort, raising your hand to card your fingers through his messy locs. A smile pulled on your lips at the soft mewl that emitted from your boyfriend before he ducked his face into your neck. "I don't mind, I think my happiness at seeing you might overpower some of my observation skills."
Percy hummed. "Maybe I'm in luck then." You could tell that he was attempting to divert the conversation again, already knowing the reason for your abrupt visit. And a part of you was almost inclined to do so, wrapped in the comfort of your lover's embrace, physically after weeks of Iris Messages that left you only wanting more. But this social visit wasn't for you. As much as you wanted to lounge around all day, hearing Percy rattle off details of his days away or a spiel of jokes that would be sure to make you laugh.
But now was not the time.
"Percy," You whisper softly after a moment, thumb rubbing against the junction where his neck met his shoulders. He shivered, whether at the movement or your voice as the question he had been awaiting. "I've known you for a long time, like you've known me, and I can tell when something is wrong. Just as you would for me. And you and I both know that something is wrong. You haven't been yourself lately."
Percy didn't speak. His face remained hidden in your neck.
"You don't have to tell me right now as I won't force you. But I just want you to know that I'm here, and so are the others...if you ever want or need..." you pause, your hand stopping in its movements down his spine when you felt his body tremble beside you. "Percy?"
Labored breathing turned into harsh, muffled sobs that shook your heart with each one. Percy's usually tall frame clung to you as he pressed his face further into your neck, if that was even possible, littering the skin with a river of tears. The more he tried to speak, as if believing he had to explain himself, the more his words were choked by the sobs. You simply held him closer, pulling his body further into yours and caressing him from his back to his neck to scalp and back again, whispering comforting phrase from one's of love to one's of reassurance.
"It's all right," you whispered as he shook, running your nose along his temple. "You've been holding this in for a long time and now it's time to let it out. I've got you."
You both stayed like that until Percy's tears had run dry, until his heavy sobs turned into weak hiccups until his body stopped shaking and his breathing evened into one accompanied by an eased sleep. His body fell lacks at your side, his breaths tickling your skin every now and again. The collar of your shirt was dampened from Percy's tears, but you paid it no mind as you carded your fingers through his hair, soothing him even in his sleep because it was what he needed. What he deserved.
A thought had popped into your head when you felt your stomach growl in attention, your hunger taking focus as you realized, after looking at the clock on the bedside, how much time had past since between your arrival and now. Raising to your feet, taking precautions not to wake the sleeping boy, you slipped out of the room and towards the kitchen. Sally had been kind enough to offer to cook something before leaving, but you had simply offered to make something instead and leave one less thing for her to worry about.
You were an hour or so into cooking, the scents floating into the air and clouding throughout the apartment, when you heard hurried footsteps making their way down the hall. Glancing over your shoulder you watched as Percy slid into the room, his appearance ruffled from sleep but his eyes wide and alert as they scanned the room, searching for something. Or someone, more like it, as they stopped when they landed on you.
It seems as if a weight had left his shoulders as they dropped, no longer tense, and he easily made his way towards you. You were in his arms in less than a second, his face pressed into your hair as he breathe in deeply. "I almost thought it was all a dream. You being here."
You hummed, smiling into his arm. "Glad that I'm not?"
"You have no idea." You stood like that for a few moments, occasionally rocking back and forth to keep blood flowing through your legs when Percy spoke again. "Thank you. Thank you for...for..."
But you shushed him, shaking your head as you met his eyes. No words needed to be said, and he understood. His gaze drifted over to the assemble littering the kitchen counter with a raised brow. "Anything that I can help with?"
"Think you can handle it?"
This caused him to snort. "Please, I was raised by the Sally Jackson, learning how to cook was a given." He cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders confidently, moving closer the counter. "Now, chef, tell me what we're working with."
"Yes, chef!"
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⋆ ˚。⋆౨ৎ˚ Daughters of Poseidon Are Bad for Productivity!
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content: leo valdez x daughter of poseidon! reader fic warning: language bc i curse like a sailor author's note: live laugh love for leo valdez fr. also this one is sooooo silly goose fr like i have no idea where this thought bubble came from but kinda grateful bc it's so fun yall.
‘daughters of poseidon are bad for productivity! (looking at you, y/n!!)’ was borderline carved into a post-it note with thick black sharpie and slapped on the bulletin board inside the hephestus cabin, leo shyly shuffling past it every day. it wasn’t his fault…entirely. well, it was largely his fault. y/n had stayed the night, having accidentally missed curfew after a nap with leo and refused to deal with bloodthirsty harpies. nyssa lent her some pajamas and everyone else in the cabin was more than happy to welcome the daughter of poseidon, who thanked them with fun games and snacks well into the night.
the next morning, y/n, still feeling like she didn’t appropriately thank her hosts, offered to clean the place up a bit. admittedly, cabin 9 wasn’t exactly known for its cleanliness. soot was basically the wallpaper, scrap metal taking up most of the cabin, and tools scattered all over the place, which were worse tripping hazards then percy’s skateboard. nyssa cringed at the thought but y/n wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer.
“you really don’t have to, y/n,” leo tried, grabbing the cleaning bucket from the girl, as she was beginning to struggle with it. she popped up, flipping her hair up into a high ponytail with a wide smile.
“i know! but, i want to. cabin 3 is basically sterile and i tried to clean the athena cabin once but let’s just say they are very particular about where their things go. this is fun for me, i promise,” y/n mused, pressing her lips to leo’s. he pulled back with a shrug, leaving her to her own devices.
she stared in one of the rooms off the main part of the cabin, giving the inhabitants of the cabin space to do their own thing, which was tinker and work. leo had earplugs in, as he was grinding down a massive shield that will solace had requested for capture the flag, a plan he wasn’t willing to share with leo yet, but he told leo all of this with a scary smile. maybe an hour or so had passed before he was jolted by someone, leo turning to them with a slight frown. it was nyssa, who was glaring at the boy and speaking but leo couldn’t hear a thing she said.
“what?” he asked, loudly. and nyssa started over but leo still had his earplugs in.
“what?” he repeated, his brows furrowing as he tried to read her lips. nyssa let out a frustrated noise that even leo heard before she reached up and took one of the earplugs out.
“you’ve got to get your siren of a girlfriend out of here!” nyssa all but yelled at him, huffing as she crossed her arms. leo frowned, taken aback by her tone towards y/n, who he believed to be well liked within the cabin.
“nyssa, what are you even talking about? she’s just cleaning,” argued leo, setting will’s project down and crossing his arms. nyssa was nearly blowing steam out of her ears before jerking her head over her shoulder as a nod.
“does that look like just cleaning to you?” she questioned and leo’s eyes drifted over to where his half-siblings were trying to be subtle about lingering around the door but they were clearly distracted.
most of them looked like they were in the middle of walking and just had to stop, their heads tilted and turned towards the door to the other room. leo rolled his eyes, having a feeling he knew where this was going as he shoved his way past his distracted siblings, who didn’t even seem to mind. he looked into the room, shaking his head with a small smile. y/n truly was just cleaning…while music played from a speaker. typically, for most other demigods, that wouldn’t be a problem. but, as y/n hummed along to the songs that played, one of her least favorite traits from her father subconsciously worked its magic. being so closely related to the sirens led to magical singing that could drag even the most dedicated and hardworking hephaestus children from their projects. save for leo…kinda. he could feel the ringing in his ears, feel it starting to lure at his mind, but he could shake it off, knowing it was just y/n. it also helped that she wasn’t trying, her siren-like abilities could rival charmspeak from the aphrodite cabin if she put in even half-effort.
“y/n, honey,” leo called, softly, over the music, y/n spinning around to face him with a dopey smile and a broom in her hand. her eyes caught on his siblings, her head tilting as they all seemingly jolted out of a daze, shaking their heads and slowly moving away from the doorway with frowns and mutters. y/n’s eyes instantly darted to the radio and she paled, worry filling her.
“oh! i’m so sorry! i just…got distracted,” y/n instantly apologized, shame blazing inside her and a blush settled over her cheeks. leo laughed, easily, wrapping an arm around the girl.
“it’s okay, y/n, no harm no foul,” he mused, pressing his lips to her dusty-red cheeks. the girl still shook her head, though his comforting was starting to ebb away at her shame.
“new rule on the bulletin, valdez!” nyssa called, proudly, from the main room. leo led y/n out to the main room, now his turn to flush at the post it note slapped on the board. his siblings laughed as they saw it, shoving him and joking as they went. y/n flushed once more, bashfully laughing.
“ha, ha, very funny,” leo mocked, reaching up to tear it down but was met with shouts of resistance.
“ah, you know the rules, leo, at least a week before you can request a rule change,” nyssa mused, a shining smile on her lips.
“it’s on a post-it note! that doesn’t count!” argued leo with a huff.
“it’s on the board, it counts!” one of his other siblings called and leo shot a glare into the crowd.
“whatever! you are all just jealous that i'm dating the most beautiful sirenin all of camp!” leo called, loudly, earning groans and mutterings back in response from his siblings. leo smirked, proud of himself as he wrapped his arms around y/n, who was borderline mortified. y/n looked up at him with wide eyes and permanent frown on her lips.
“you’re an idiot, valdez,” she huffed and leo smirked.
“yeah, but i'm not the idiot who caused that,” he taunted, pointing up at the post it note. y/n growled, shoving him off her before returning to her cleaning.
“you’re insufferable!”
“and you're bad for productivity!”
"go to hades!"
"only if you come with, mi amor!"
"BOTH OF YOU SHUT UP! WE GET IT YOURE IN LOVE!"
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tuxebo · 2 months
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when water meets wine. | (pjackson)
the blessing of hera includes violet eyes and slightly elongated hair, which is easy to miss. also sensing emotions and using feathers as weapons aren't really useful to any capacity, neither is a blessing in marriage for a thirteen year old, the real blessing of hera comes in the goddess's intentions.
now, i'm not saying hera is a good person, far from it, but it's never bad to be a powerful person's favorite. from putting leo in a fire as a baby to tampering with percy and jason's memories and making them switch places, what if she did a little more.
being a child of one of hera's friends was the easy part, receiving the blessing was not. various challenges since the day you were born, think leo but worse. your father has found you rolled up in a hallowed out cabbage of lettuce in his green house, as if you grew from the seed; bundled in a blanket stuffed with atropa belladonna, the plant made you (an infant) fly for days much to your father's dismay. might i note, he couldn't take care of the sores you got because you were in the air.
none of this was normal. all of this only had one possible culprit, your mother. their poor relationship only grew more strained, her visits were nothing more than a screaming match. of course, there was another woman there to comfort you, someone you never told your dad about. you ran to her like a sheep to its shepherd, not realizing you were running to the very root of your problems. she was the dirty water to your seed, no good but water no less. her hands ran down your hair with a gentle smile, eyes boring into you with intentions you could never quite place.
when you got to camp, she disappeared. it was so strange, you began to believe it was all something you made up in your head to deal with the nightmares, until zeus pisses hera off yet agan.
before your mother even claimed you, you were invited to stay in hera's cabin — by the goddess of marriage herself. in hindsight, she probably might have killed you if you took up that offer. in other words, you denied it but did get punished for it once more. a child of demeter who killed everything they touched, how fitting.
furthermore, to be tasked as one of percy's peer mentors? a mockery.
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blessed by hera and punished by her as well, you saw the world through violet eyes.
coincidently, the only thing percy jackson could remember were violet eyes. he thought those might've been his eyes, though his reflection told him that wasn't the case. no one had violet eyes but you, hera made sure of that. she knew the son of poseidon would stop at nothing to find that exact shade, even if he had no clue who you were (at least right now.) if there was someone, however, she paid off the mist to change the color when percy saw them.
when hera placed him in camp jupiter, everywhere he searched for those eyes. he became praetor, wanting to get an eagle's eye view to hopefully spot them. the closest he got to finding you was when he ran into aphrodite, the goddess with violet eyes. there was no way the only person he could think of, though, definitely not after talking to her.
when he was at camp, you taught him many things. even if he couldn't remember, plants came easy to him, which ones to steer clear of and which ones would give him exactly what he needed. you, daughter of a forester who was a former biochemist, taught him all this and it came to percy very naturally.
you were one of the demigods sent to retrieve percy, from camp jupiter. your (peer) metorship with percy earned you a spot on the argo ii, also hera but whatever.
once you were standing before the long line of curious roman demigods, and percy jackson, a gush of water pushes you forward and interrupts any thought you might have had. you were pushed into the son of poseidon's arms, much to everyone's (except hera's) confusion.
there must've been a dryer way he could've done that, at least.
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teatoptony · 1 year
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𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐝𝐢𝐨𝐭𝐬 - p.j
summary; who knew life threatening situations made you reevaluate your love life?
pairing; percy jackson x demigod!fem!reader
word count; 7.5k
warning(s); mild mentions of injury, spoilers for ttc
a/n; i'm guessing you meant the titan's curse? i changed a few things, but i hope this was what you had in mind. if not, feel free to send another request :)
the ending is schist. sorry.
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You were on a dark hillside, shrouded in fog. Wisps of haze stuck and clung to your hair and clothes like cat hair, refusing to come off even when you tried to brush it away. Up above, you couldn't see the sky—just a close, heavy darkness, as if you were in a cave. From every direction, the same amount of pressure pushed down on you, like you were hundreds of miles below sea level. The place felt more like a deep-sea cavern than anything.
You felt like you were suffocating.
Thorn was long gone, you could tell. The smell of his disgusting cologne was nowhere to be found. A good thing, you supposed, as it really was rather horrible. On the down side, though, that meant you were completely stranded alone in the middle of nowhere.
"Thorn!" You called. Your own voice made your head pound. Raising a hand up to the back of your head with much more effort than you would like to admit, you felt something warm and sticky matting your hair. You grimaced. "Where are you? Why did you bring me here?"
You waited a minute or two before deciding that you were, in fact, on your own. Standing up only to drop back down, you hissed as you clutched your leg. Looking down at your calf, you gagged. Where one of Thorn's spikes had nicked you, the skin around the cut had turned a greenish-purplish colour, the cut itself scabbing over in a yellow-brown-black mess. He'd said his poison only causes pain; infections were a whole different problem.
You struggled up the hill, trying to reach the top. Maybe you'd be able to see if anything was around here from up high, though you doubted there would be anything for miles around. As you climbed, you vaguely noticed old, broken Greek columns of black marble scattered around, as though something had blasted a huge building to ruins.
Climbing over a section of broken wall, you finally made it to the crest of the hill. What you saw made your heart drop into your shoes.
On the rocky ground lay a boy with messy black hair and a tattered orange Camp Half-Blood shirt. He was crumpled like a soda can, and he seemed to be in pain. The blackness seemed to be thicker around him, the fog swirling hungrily. Squinting your eyes, you could see his eyes screwed shut with the effort of.. well, you couldn't quite tell. Whatever it was, it seemed horrible.
"Percy?" You whispered in shock, making your way toward him. As you walked closer, the air grew thicker and thicker, almost buzzing with electricity and the smell of ozone.
Percy's eyes cracked open when he heard your voice. Then they were wide with panic and relief.
"Y/N!" He called. "Help me! Please!"
You ran forward until you were no more than a few inches away from where he was standing—well, 'standing' is a strong word.. 'trying extremely hard not to be flattened into a Percy pancake' would be more accurate, now that you properly saw the state he was in. His hands were propped up next to his shoulders in an odd manner, like he was trying to hold up something massive and invisible.
Panic jolted into your brain as you registered his words. You reached out to touch his face.. then stopped at the last minute. He looked off; you couldn't tell why. Icy little needles prickled at the back of your neck, sending chills down your spine.
"Please, it's killing me." He said again. You took a step back.
"What happened?" You asked warily. Seeing Percy like this broke your heart, but something just felt wrong.
"They left me here," Percy groaned. You could've sworn his eyes looked almost yellow as he squeezed them shut again. He seemed to be struggling against some invisible curse, as though the fog were squeezing him to death.
Studying him closely again, you shook your head. You were just about to take another couple steps back when Percy's knees buckled. He yelped in surprise and almost toppled, but regained his balance in the last second. His face paled.
In the scarce light, Thalia's pine tree glimmered a soft green hue on one of the beads on his camp necklace. There was no Golden Fleece hanging from its branches.
The darkness above him began to crumble, like a cavern roof in an earthquake. Huge chunks of black rock began falling. You rushed in just as a crack appeared, and the whole ceiling dropped. You held it somehow—tons of rock. You kept it from collapsing on you and Percy just with your own strength. It was impossible. You shouldn't have been able to do that.
Just as the debris stopped falling, Percy rolled free, gasping. "Thanks." He managed. You clenched your jaw to steel yourself.
"Don't just lay there," you groaned.
Percy caught his breath. His face was covered in sweat and grime. He rose unsteadily.
Then, he flickered. Literally. His whole image flickered like the flame of a candle. You would've just brushed it off as something your brain made up from being put in such a stressful situation, but then it happened again. And again. Eventually, Percy flickered away..
..and Luke stood in his place.
"I knew I could count on you." He said, a crooked smirk twisting his face. He reached for his Camp Half-Blood necklace, and you realized there were glowing green runes etched onto every one of the six beads. Magic. Of course.
"Castellan." You spat, almost forgetting about the crushing weight on your shoulders as white-hot anger made your blood boil. "You prick."
"Nice to see you haven't changed," Luke said. He began to walk away as the trembling blackness threatened to pulverize you.
"Help. Me." You gritted your teeth. The words tasted bitter on your tongue. You knew it was no use; you were grasping at straws. But holding up literal tons of rock can make you do weird things.
"Oh, don't worry," Luke said. "Your help is on the way. It's all part of the plan. In the meantime, try not to die."
The ceiling of darkness began to crumble again, pushing you against the ground.
It's amazing how one perceives time when holding literal tons of stone.
At first, every second goes by agonizingly slow. Just when you think you're getting used to the weight, the ceiling cracks some more, piling more rocks on top of you until you're nearly squished like a bug. Once that cycle repeats a dozen or so times, you realize that a couple hours have passed, judging by the members of Kronos's army chatting amongst themselves while they stride by. You'd never been more relieved to hear dracanae making dinner plans.
Luke had said your 'help' was coming. You didn't know what poor soul was going to be trapped here next, but you couldn't help but hope they arrived quickly. As much as you didn't want anyone other than Luke to bear this weight, you were certain you'd die if they didn't. Maybe you could take turns once they arrived.
You were tired. Your legs trembled, threatening to give out at any moment. Your bones felt like they were on fire.
In front of you, a throne of black marble had been strategically placed in the shadows so that whoever was sitting on it wasn't really visible unless you got really close. Ugh, villains and their ambiance. It oddly resembled the chair from that one Lincoln statue, albeit a bit smaller in size. Fortunately, you were far enough away from it that you didn't have to look at the ugly face of whoever was on the throne.
Your eyes had been screwed shut for a while when you heard the clanking of chains drawing near. The sound scraped to a stop a couple feet in front of you. You peeled open your eyes to see what was about to go down.
A small girl with auburn hair was shoved forward by a meaty hand. She had chains of celestial bronze binding her hands and feet like some medieval prisoner. Her silvery dress was torn and tattered. Her face and arms were cut in several places, and she was bleeding ichor, the golden blood of the gods.
A goddess?
"How is our mortal guest?" A male voice boomed. Its force made the ground and the boulders on your shoulders vibrate. Your head pounded in protest. You'd compare it to a bass guitar, but that would be offensive to bass guitars.
Luke emerged from the shadows. He ran and knelt beside you, then looked back at the unseen man. "She's fading. We must hurry." You vaguely wished you could bite his hand off.
Hey, he's in range, just under the rocks.
You were tempted to just drop everything and let it crush everyone to death. You decided against it, only because of the goddess in chains. There was no way she'd be able to escape.
"You heard the boy," said the man in the shadows. "Decide!"
Shut up, you thought irritably. The world buzzed with every word he spoke, and you were not a fan of that.
The girl's eyes flashed with anger. You supposed she must have been either a minor goddess or extremely drained, because she didn't seem able to just will the chains to explode or make herself disappear. Maybe the chains prevented her, or some magic about this dark, horrible place.
The goddess looked at you, and her expression changed to concern and outrage. "How dare you torture a maiden like this!"
Maiden? You mused. The ceiling piled more boulders on you, and you almost crumpled, barely regaining your balance in time. Must be Artemis. You decided, groaning weakly. From what you recalled, Artemis was the protector of women. Besides, silver.
"She will die soon," Luke said. "You can save her."
Like you'd care.
"Free my hands," Artemis said.
Don't be stupid, you caught yourself thinking. You thanked the fact that the gods couldn't read minds. Well, most of them, anyway.
Luke strided over to her. He brought out his sword, Backbiter, and broke the goddess's handcuffs in one swift strike. You promised yourself you'd use the damn thing to stick him in the stomach if you ever got the chance.
Artemis ran over to you and took the burden from your shoulders. You collapsed on the ground like a pile of bones. You felt your spine creak as the pressure was taken off of it, and your limbs wouldn't stop trembling. You bit the inside of your cheek to stop the bile from rising, but even that took so much effort.
The man in the shadows chuckled. "You are as predictable as you were easy to beat, Artemis." Oh, hey, you were right.
"You surprised me," Artemis said, straining under her burden. "It will not happen again."
"Indeed it will not," the man said. "Now you are out of the way for good! I knew you could not resist helping a young maiden. That is, after all, your specialty, my dear."
Your breathing grew more and more ragged with each word the man spoke. You felt something hot trickle down the back of your neck, leaving chills in its wake. Recalling your head wound from earlier, you grimaced. Had it not patched itself up? How much blood had you lost? Thinking about it made you dizzy.
Artemis groaned. "You know nothing of mercy, you swine."
"On that," the man said, "we can agree. Luke, you may kill the girl now."
Oh, you complete piece of–
Luke hesitated. He shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "She–she may yet be useful, sir.. Further bait."
"Bah! You truly believe that?"
"Yes, General. They will come for her. I'm sure."
The man considered. "Then the dracaenae can guard her here. Assuming she does not die from her injuries, you may keep her alive until winter solstice. After that, if our sacrifice goes as planned, her life will be meaningless. The lives of all mortals will be meaningless."
Luke gathered up your listless body and carried you away from the goddess. You would have stabbed him, but you weren't in any state to do much more than breathe, and even that was a bit of a struggle.
"You will never find the monster you seek," Artemis said. "Your plan will fail."
"How little you know, my young goddess," the man in the shadows said. "Even now, your darling attendants begin their quest to find you. They shall play directly into my hands. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have a long journey to make. We must greet your Hunters and make sure their quest is… challenging."
A sudden surge of annoyance flooded your brain. It was always like this, wasn't it? The 'bad guy' knew everything while your friends had to wander, dealing with every freakshow that sprung up on the way. It wasn't fair.
The man's laughter echoed in the darkness, shaking the ground until it seemed the whole cavern ceiling would collapse. You suddenly sympathized with how Zeus must have felt when Athena was banging on his skull, demanding to be let out. It felt like you had a goddess trapped up there. You wished someone would take an axe to it. Not like anyone here would have much aversion to that.
Luke took you a little while away from where Artemis was. Among the ruins, there was a semi-intact room with about two or three walls, depending on how tall you considered a wall to be. He placed you with your back against one of them. You glared at him from where you sat.
"Don't look at me like that," he snapped.
"Rot in Tartarus." You replied. Surprisingly, your voice worked. It sounded like metal against metal, but it worked.
Luke rolled his eyes. Then, his expression softened, just a little. "The gods are using you," he said bitterly. You rolled your eyes. Not this again. "Do you honestly think they care what happens to you?"
"I don't give a flying fuck what the gods care about," you said. Luke raised an eyebrow at your choice of words. "I care about my friends. I care about my life. You know, all the things you used to have before you stabbed us in the back and ran away."
With a bit of effort, you turned your head and spat on the ground. "Coward." You muttered, your hand wiping your face to get rid of all the grime. It didn't do much other than smudge it, really. "Couldn't even face us after your little stunt."
You could tell he was just itching to draw his sword from the way his hand twitched. You smirked. He was just too easy to rile up.
"I could kill you, here and now." He threatened. Geez, his villain talk needed some work.
"Go for it." You said, turning your head to look him in the eye again. Seeing the scar under his right, you cursed whatever dragon had caused it for not taking out his entire eyeball. Luke's expression changed from anger to irritation as he took a step back.
"I don't have to deal with you right now.." He muttered, turning away and walking off. Half a dozen dracanae came up from behind you, four of them taking positions on your left, right, and center while the other two continuously slithered in circles around you.
"Turn tail and run," you jeered. It was quiet, but it was enough to make him hear you, from the looks of it. His posture stiffened as the words left your tongue, making him seem rather huffy as he marched out of sight.
When the top of Luke's head disappeared, you felt all the strength leave your body. Your need to poke and prod at him had been the only reason you'd even been able to talk, you were sure. Your eyelids felt heavier than the cave ceiling. It wouldn't hurt to just close them for a moment or two..
You slept like the dead.
Surprisingly, it wasn't all that long until Percy came around, simply because the days blended into one. The sun never rose here, which meant your biological clock was the only thing that told you what time it could possibly be. The dracanae assigned to be your guards—three batches of six, from what you could tell by some of their features—weren't really the chattiest of their kind.
Your head wound had turned crusty and gross during the time you were kept here. Your calf wasn't in much better condition. You were shivering most of the time, cold sweat drenching your clothes and making them feel uncomfortable and disgusting to be in. The world spun without any prompts now.
You were messing with your roughly once-a-day rations when Luke came to grab you. It was the first time you'd seen him since he left you here. He looked paler and weaker than the first time you'd seen him here, and that was impressive considering he had just gotten out of getting crushed to death back then. Even in your condition, you had no doubt you could have taken him if the guards weren't here. Maybe if you had your weapon...
Despite that, he had a smug smirk on his face that you would've loved to slap off.
"Get up," he ordered. You pointed at your tray.
"I'm not done with my slop." You replied. In truth, you'd never touch the stuff, maybe taking one or two glops out of it just to keep yourself alive before lobbing the rest at your guards.
Luke snapped his fingers at the dracanae. Two of them slid over to either side of you and harshly lifted you up by each of your arms. You let out a disgruntled groan. The slop you'd just choked down threatened to make a reappearance as everything turned blurry and twisty. You tried not to sway on your feet.
"I said, get. Up." He sneered. You made a face at him in return.
"Fine." You snapped. You pulled your arms out of the snake women's grasp, only for Luke to cuff your hands behind your back. You opened your mouth to complain, but he stuffed a gag in it. You felt like you were about to hurl. The thing tasted like sandpaper and mouldy gym socks.
He dragged you alongside him, walking—well, limping, in your case—downhill and circling the lower points before climbing his way back up. There, he joined half a dozen dracaenae bearing the golden sarcophagus of Kronos and a hulking man in a brown silk suit. You supposed this was the one who'd been sitting on the throne when Artemis was brought in. You waited for your vision to clear a bit before taking note of his appearance.
His skin was light brown, and his dark hair was slicked back in a (in your opinion) rather wet-dog-like fashion. He had a regal expression; a cold, proud look in his grey eyes, like a CEO who ran one of those huge companies that were responsible for the ice caps melting.
"My lady!" Someone cried at the top of the hill. The Hulk-man gestured with his hand for his forces to follow him up the hill. Ugh, villains and their grand entrances, too.
Luke pushed you forward as he unsheathed Backbiter. Once you reached the crest of the hill, he pointed the blade at your neck.
From here, you could see a small group of people who were definitely not a part of Kronos's army. There was Percy, Thalia, and another girl who was kneeling at Artemis's side. You grimaced. None of them looked like they were in much of a shape to fight. Especially the new girl—you could see the dark colour of blood soaking through her silvery clothes. The getup looked somewhat familiar.. where had you seen that before? Her skin, which you assumed under better circumstances would be a coppery brown, was slowly being bleached.
"Stop! It is a trap. You must leave now." Artemis groaned. Her voice was strained. She was drenched in sweat. The ceiling threatened to pile more rocks on her as one or two new cracks appeared.
Despite the goddess's warning, the girl tugged stubbornly at her chains. Of course, they didn't budge. You could see she was trembling, but whether that was from the blood loss or from crying, you weren't too sure. She really needed a medic.
"Ah, how touching." Hulk-man said.
Points for a moderate opening line, I guess.
The three turned around. Percy and Thalia raised their weapons as New Girl opted to position herself between Artemis and Hulk-man. Ah, must be a Hunter. You'd seen the pamphlet Annabeth had.
Your eyes met Percy's as he scanned the crowd. When he took in what was going on, the look of anger that took over his features was like nothing you'd seen before on him. The boy looked just about ready to commit war crimes.
As touching as that was, all you wanted was for him to get the hell out of here. Hulk-man, as much as calling him that made him sound ridiculous, wasn't one to be taken lightly, you could tell.
"Luke," Thalia snarled. "Let her go."
Luke smiled thinly. "That is the General's decision, Thalia. But it's good to see you again." He said. Thalia looked like she was ready to murder him, which she probably was. Honestly, same.
Thalia spat at him. The gag stifled your laugh. Luke rolled his eyes and pressed the blade of his sword harder against your throat. You tried not to wince as it cut shallowly through your skin. You could just see Percy's grip tightening on Riptide.
Hulk-man—'The General', whatever—chuckled. "So much for old friends. And you, Zoë. It's been a long time. How is my little traitor? I will enjoy killing you."
New Girl—whom you could only assume was Zoë—clenched her jaw. Her face was pale, and she didn't look like she was in a much better condition than Luke, which was saying something. Huh, she and the General looked kinda similar..
"Do not respond," Artemis groaned. "Do not challenge him."
"Wait a second," Percy said. "You're Atlas?"
Ah. Oh. Wait—what?
The General glanced at him. "So, even the stupidest of heroes can finally figure something out. Yes, I am Atlas, the general of the Titans and terror of the gods. Congratulations. I will kill you presently, as soon as I deal with this wretched girl."
"You're not going to hurt Zoë." Percy said. "I won't let you."
The General sneered. "You have no right to interfere, little hero. This is a family matter."
Percy frowned. "A family matter?"
"Yes," Zoë said bleakly. "Atlas is my father."
Percy's eyes flickered between Zoë and Atlas, taking in the new information. It was easy to see the family resemblance, even if one of them was an evil titan overlord and another was a Hunter of Artemis. His frown deepened as he made the same connections.
"Let Artemis go," Zoë demanded. She struggled to her feet, the look in her eyes so close yet so different from Atlas's.
Atlas walked closer to the chained goddess. "Perhaps you'd like to take the sky for her, then? Be my guest."
No, no, no, no, no. You thought. Look at the state you're in. You'll die.
Zoë opened her mouth to speak, but Artemis said, "No! Do not offer, Zoë! I forbid you."
Atlas smirked. He knelt next to Artemis and tried to touch her face, but the goddess bit at him, almost taking off his fingers. Pity, if only he were slower.
"Hoo-hoo," Atlas chuckled. "You see, daughter? Lady Artemis likes her new job. I think I will have all the Olympians take turns carrying my burden, once Lord Kronos rules again, and this is the center of our palace. It will teach those weaklings some humility."
Percy looked at you. Your eyes flickered between his and Zoë's bow. In situations like these, your philosophy was simple: first move, first kill. Whoever took the first shot was going to result the first casualty, and you hoped your friends were smart enough to know that by now.
Atlas was in a somewhat vulnerable position. If Zoë fired now, he'd have to take a second to stand. You bet it would take Luke by surprise, too. After all, if she was Atlas's daughter, she must be thousands of years old, with that much experience.
Take. A. Shot.
Percy just stood there, staring at you. His eyes lingered on the top of your head. Thalia muttered something to him that you didn't quite catch. Geez, was the wound really that bad? Could he even see it from there?
As if on cue, you stumbled, suddenly feeling like you were standing on a surfing board. You hissed weakly as the movement made Luke's sword slip across your neck. A trickle of blood slowly made its way down to your shirt.
"I don't understand," Percy said. His voice was slightly forced. "Why can't Artemis just let go of the sky?"
Atlas laughed. Ugh, shut up. The sound made your head pound even more than before. "How little you understand, young one. This is the point where the sky and the earth first met, where Ouranos and Gaia first brought forth their mighty children, the Titans. The sky still yearns to embrace the earth. Someone must hold it at bay, or else it would crush down upon this place, instantly flattening the mountain and everything within a hundred leagues. Once you have taken the burden, there is no escape." Atlas smiled. "Unless someone else takes it from you."
He approached Percy and Thalia, studying them. His back was turned to Zoë. Take a shot. "So these are the best heroes of the age, eh? Not much of a challenge."
"Fight us," he said. "And let's see."
"Have the gods taught you nothing? An immortal does not fight a mere mortal directly. It is beneath our dignity. I will have Luke crush you instead."
Luke looks like he'd fall over if you looked at him too hard, you thought. Then you internally groaned at yourself for being held hostage by him in that state. Ugh, being helpless felt gross.
"So you're another coward," Percy said.
Atlas stiffened. You were sure he would've punched Percy straight in the head if he wasn't so prideful. With difficulty, he turned his attention to Thalia.
"As for you, daughter of Zeus, it seems Luke was wrong about you." He said smoothly, although you could hear the clear irritation in his voice.
"I wasn't wrong," Luke managed. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see that he somehow looked even worse than he did just a couple moments ago. Beads of sweat made their way down his forehead (ew), and he spoke every word as if it were painful. You thanked whatever was the reason for his pain. "Thalia, you can still join us. Call the Ophiotaurus. It will come to you. Look!"
He waved his hand, and next to Thalia, a pool of water appeared: a pond ringed in black marble, big enough for a small seal. Percy took one look at it, then stared for a few moments like he was in a trance. He then shook his head a little and looked back at you with a rather stupid, blank look on his face. He looked like he'd broken his brain by thinking too hard, an expression you knew all too well from sitting next to him in English Lit.
"Thalia, call the Ophiotaurus," Luke persisted. "And you will be more powerful than the gods."
"Luke…" Her voice was full of pain. "What happened to you?"
"Don't you remember all those times we talked? All those times we cursed the gods? Our fathers have done nothing for us. They have no right to rule the world!"
Like the Titans were going to be any better. Could he not see that he'd be dead as soon as Kronos rose to the throne?
Thalia shook her head. "Free Y/N. Let her go."
"If you join me," Luke promised, "it can be like old times. Annabeth will see our side eventually. The three of us together. Fighting for a better world. Please, Thalia, if you don't agree…"
His voice faltered. "It's my last chance. He will use the other way if you don't agree. Please."
Okay, so maybe he did realize his life was in danger here. You weren't sure what he meant, but the fear in his voice sounded real enough. For one reason or another, his life depended on Thalia's joining his cause. You, for one, couldn't bring yourself to care about him after everything he'd done. You were afraid Thalia might, though.
"Do not, Thalia," Zoë warned. "We must fight them."
Luke waved his hand again, and a fire appeared. A bronze brazier, just like the one at camp. A sacrificial flame.
"Thalia," Percy said. "No."
You held your breath. Whatever they were talking about, it was clear you were out of the loop. But one thing was for sure—Luke, and by extension Kronos, desperately wanted Thalia to summon this Ophiotaurus thing, which meant you had to hope desperately that she wouldn't.
Behind you, a quiet, high-pitched humming noise grew louder as the air grew warmer. You saw a golden light cast on the boulders, presumably from Kronos's sarcophagus. As it did, you saw images in the mist all around you: black marble walls rising, the ruins becoming whole, a terrible and beautiful palace rising around you, made of fear and shadow.
"We will raise Mount Othrys right here," Luke promised, in a voice so strained it was hardly his. "Once more, it will be stronger and greater than Olympus. Look, Thalia. We are not weak."
Debatable.
He pointed toward the ocean, and Percy's expression turned into one of slight horror. With the whole being held at swordpoint and all, you couldn't look at whatever it was he was so afraid of, but it must have been horrible if it scared Percy like that.
"This is only a taste of what is to come," Luke said. "Soon we will be ready to storm Camp Half-Blood. And after that, Olympus itself. All we need is your help."
For a terrible moment, Thalia hesitated. She gazed at Luke, her eyes full of pain, as if the only thing she wanted in the world was to believe him. Then she leveled her spear. "You aren't Luke. I don't know you anymore."
"Yes, you do, Thalia," he pleaded. "Please. Don't make me… Don't make him destroy you."
Percy looked back at you. You nodded slightly, hoping he'd get the message already. He then looked to Thalia and Zoë, as if he were steeling himself for the fight to come.
"Now," he said.
Together, they charged.
Thalia went straight for Luke. The hideous face of Medusa glared at you as she ran, making you stand frozen in fear. Behind you, you heard panicked hissing and a loud thump as the dracanae ran away.
Despite his sickly appearance, Luke was still quick with his sword. He snarled like a wild animal and counterattacked. When his sword, Backbiter, met Thalia's shield, a ball of lightning erupted between them, frying the air with yellow tendrils of power.
As Backbiter left your throat, you did the least heroic thing you could think of.
You ran.
Tucking yourself behind a large boulder, you tried to wait out the battle. In your current state, you'd be a liability rather than an asset. From this new position, you could see wave after wave of monsters marching from the Princess Andromeda and up the mountain.
You hated that you could do nothing but hope that your friends would make it out alive. Preferably before the army reached the top.
"Die, little hero," Atlas said. You had a feeling he was talking about Percy. Your heart dropped a hundred miles below.
Screw this. You had to do something. Now.
Finding a jagged spot in the boulder you were hiding behind, you maneuvered yourself into a position where you could somehow strike your hands downward and theoretically break your cuffs on the rock. Assuming they weren't made of celestial bronze, that is. After about three tries and one painful miscalculation, the chain finally broke, and you ripped the gag from your mouth, spitting to get rid of the taste.
When you peered around the boulder, the fight was complete mayhem. There was Atlas in full battle armor, jabbing with his javelin, laughing insanely as he fought. And a blur of silver—Artemis?
She had two wicked hunting knives, each as long as her arm, and she slashed wildly at the Titan, dodging and leaping with unbelievable grace. She seemed to change form as she maneuvered. She was a tiger, a gazelle, a bear, a falcon. Or perhaps that was just your fevered brain.
Zoë shot arrows at her father, aiming for the chinks in his armor. He roared in pain each time one found its mark, but they affected him like bee stings. He just got madder and kept fighting.
Wait, if Artemis was out fighting...
Who was holding the sky?
Where was Percy?
Looking over to the dreaded spot, you saw Percy trying not to get crushed under the weight of the sky. His eyes were screwed shut, concentrating on anything and everything but the burden on his shoulders. Right before your eyes, you could've sworn a lock of his hair was turning grey.
Oh, hell no.
Not really thinking, you streaked across the battlefield with surprising speed. Rolling under arrows and narrowly avoiding Atlas's javeline once, you reached Percy, who was about to pass out. You rolled under the boulders—which you now saw were actually dark, heavy clouds—and braced yourself on your good leg, kneeling down. Reaching up with your hands, you took the sky once again.
Every cell in your body screamed in protest. The pounding in your head was worse than what Zeus felt in Athena's origin story; you were sure of it. You felt like the vertebrae in your spine were being welded together by a blowtorch.
Fortunately, though, two people holding the sky was evidently easier than doing it alone.
"What the–" You vaguely heard Percy say. He was cut off by a blood-curdling scream. You managed to open your eyes and saw Zoë leap between her father and Artemis, shooting an arrow straight into the Titan's forehead, where it lodged like a unicorn's horn. Atlas bellowed in rage. He swept aside his daughter with the back of his hand, sending her flying into the black rocks.
"Zoë!" Percy shouted. He looked frantically between you and the direction she flew. As much as he wanted to go help her, he didn't try to move, afraid you wouldn't be able to handle the full burden of the sky.
The cold weight of dread settled in your stomach. Zoë didn't get back up.
Then Atlas turned on Artemis with a look of triumph on his face.
Artemis seemed to be wounded. She didn't get up.
"The first blood in a new war," Atlas gloated. And he stabbed downward.
Just then, a voice spoke in your head. Get ready, Artemis told you. You realized she was leading Atlas closer to where you knelt. With great difficulty, you turned your head to meet Percy's eyes. You could tell Artemis had told him the same thing.
"Go." You said, your voice strained. You tried to tell him the goddess's plan, but your voice wouldn't work anymore, so instead you looked frantically between Atlas and the sky. Percy hesitated for a split second before ducking and rolling out from under the clouds.
As fast as thought, Artemis grabbed Atlas's javelin shaft. It hit the earth right next to her and she pulled backward, using the javelin like a lever, kicking the Titan Lord and sending him flying over her.
You saw him coming down on top of you, and you loosened your grip on the sky. And as Atlas slammed into you, you didn't try to hold on. You let yourself be pushed out of the way and rolled for all you were worth.
The weight of the sky dropped onto Atlas's back, almost smashing him flat until he managed to get to his knees, struggling to get out from under the crushing weight of the sky. But it was too late.
"Noooooo!" He bellowed so hard it shook the mountain. "Not again!"
Atlas was trapped under his old burden.
As for you, you didn't try to stand. Odd as it was, you could feel no part of your body and every single atom at the same time. You felt like you were literally burning up. Your head felt like someone was taking a dull axe to it over, and over, and over. Your leg felt like it was poisoned all over again.
After that, you don't remember much else. Hard to when you're unconscious.
Things were kinda hazy after that. You faintly remember waking up on a marble floor, a good-looking guy with a perfect tan and gold curls leaning over you. You thought it was Will, but this guy looked a lot older, and more golden, somehow.
"There you go, kid," he said, smiling widely at someone next to you. His teeth were so white, you were surprised it didn't make your head hurt worse. Wait.. did it even hurt at all? "God of medicine, at your service."
"Thanks." You heard Percy's voice mutter. He sounded relieved, but there was a bit of a point to his tone. Golden Guy—Apollo, you assumed—smirked knowingly and stood up, teleporting out of sight.
"Now for the Ophiotaurus," a voice said. Maybe Artemis. You fell asleep before you could hear much more of the conversation.
The next time you woke up, it lasted a lot longer. The familiar scent of the infirmary prompted you to open your eyes. When you did, the sight made you let out a breathless laugh. Sunlight filtered through the blinds, casting warm sunlight in patterns across the white sheets of the bed. On the windowsill, a small collection of potted plants sprouted soft green shoots.
When you tried to move your hand, you found that a slight weight held it down. Someone took a sharp breath, and their fingers tightened around your hand.
"Oh, you're awake." Percy said. You sat up. His face looked a mess. A couple scars here and there and some bruises (all covered in some sort of balm), plus dark circles like he hadn't had a proper sleep in days. His shoulders sagged as he scanned yours. "Thank the gods."
You must have looked confused, because he straightened up and started explaining everything that had happened at the mountain, then at Olympus. Mr. Chase was, surprisingly, not that bad. Something about Artemis's Santa Claus sleigh. Zoë had passed on. Apparently, you were an expert pegasus rider in your sleep. Golden Guy was, in fact, Apollo—though Percy seemed a bit miffed when you called him that—and was the one who had healed you before you came back to Camp. Will had still insisted you stayed in the infirmary for a day or two so that he could check on you to make sure you were alright.
"You really had me scared, you know?" He said, his cheeks growing red. "You were so dumb, taking the sky when you were like that. I had it."
"Yeah, sure you did, Ariel." You snorted. Then you squinted at him. "Your hair's grey," you informed.
"So's yours," Percy rolled his eyes. "Dude, I was scared you were gonna die on me, and the first thing you say is that my hair's grey?"
"Well it is," you simply said. He let out an exasperated sigh, and you put a finger on his forehead to push his head up. "You didn't have anything to worry about. Not gonna get rid of me that easily, Jackson."
He laughed, but then trailed off. He fiddled with your fingers a bit. You felt your ears grow warm as you realized he was still holding your hand.
"Seriously though... I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if you were gone because I let you take all of it. The sky."
"Yeah, well, I'm still here." You said softly. He smiled a little.
He took a breath, then paused, as if deciding whether or not to say what he was thinking out loud. "You know why I was so scared?"
"Because you thought your best friend was about to die?"
"No." He said. Then he quickly backtracked, "well, yeah, but not just that. I was scared that I wouldn't be able to tell you..."
He took another breath.
"I like you. Like, like-like you. A lot, actually."
Your heart skipped a beat. "Wait, what?" You asked, dumbfounded. Your face flushed as his sea green eyes met yours, suddenly very interested in the linen sheets of your cot.
"I've been in love with you since we were kids," Percy chuckled. "I used to make my mom pick out my clothes when we went to your place so that I'd look good."
If your face wasn't red before, it certainly was now. You grabbed Percy's hand in yours a little tighter and laughed. "You know, I used to make you watch all those Disney movies so that you'd kinda get the hint that I liked you," you mused. Percy perked up. "All the girl-gets-the-guy stuff. Now I kinda figure, I should've made you play Barbie and Ken with me instead."
"What, make me Ken?"
"Nah. You'd be Barbie." You laughed at his expression. He huffed as if he found the idea nuts. "I'd be Ken. We'd be married, maybe have a horse."
"A horse?"
"Hey, I lost all the tiny Barbie puppies!"
"Well," he chuckled. You could've sworn his eyes sparkled. "In that case, you'll be happy to know, since we were kids, I planned to marry you someday."
"Oh yeah?" He hummed in confirmation. "What did it look like?"
"I dunno. Like the first thing that pops up when you type 'wedding' on Google."
"Wow. Way to be generic, Perce." You deadpanned. He punched your arm lightly.
"Hey, I was like six!" He said defensively.
A light quiet settled over the two of you as you looked down, avoiding Percy's expectant stare and fiddling with his fingers instead. He had that stupid grin on his face, which you'd come to adore over the years you'd known him.
"So..what now?" You asked, slowly lifting your gaze to meet his. His face flushed, and this time, it was he who turned away. He muttered something under his breath—a prayer?—and looked back at you. He looked like he wanted to run away.
"D'you want to go to the fireworks with me? Like, as a date?" He asked. You giggled.
"That's like, six months away." You laughed. He shrugged.
"Yeah. I need six months to get ready, obviously." He said, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, obviously. My bad." You held back your laughter long enough to accept. "I'd love to go with you."
Percy was just about to say more when Will burst out of the 'doctor's office'. The boy stood up so suddenly that he almost knocked his chair over. Will walked over and shooed Percy away.
"Yeah, yeah, we all like each other. Can you please let me work now?" He said, and Percy's ears burned bright red. He muttered a quick see you later and practically ran out of the infirmary.
"We thought he'd never tell you," Will commented, checking the back of your head.
"We?"
"Uh, probably, what, half the camp? Maybe more," he said absentmindedly. Giving you a once-over, he nodded to himself in satisfaction. "Dad did a good job on you."
He gave you the go-ahead a minute or two later. As you walked out the door, you saw Percy talking animatedly to Annabeth near the volleyball court, his back towards you. The blonde had an amused smile on her face, and when she noticed you, she put her hands on Percy's shoulders and spun him around. Catching your eye, the boy gave you a small wave and a smile. You waved back, a grin of your own on your lips.
With his slight blush and bright eyes, it was hard to believe a doomsday prophecy was in his hands.
The end of the world never felt so far away.
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