#do NOT say that piper and annabeth were closer than annabeth and thalia | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

twoidiotwriters1 · 7 months

Text

Daughter of Olympus (Leo Valdez xFem!Oc)

A/N: I need to sleep better so bad but I can't fix it I need to slam my head against a wall -Danny Words: 2,979 Series' Masterlist Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

XXII: They Had Us in The First Half, Not Gonna Lie

They walk into the courtyard where there are two massive figures inside an empty reflecting pool. Inside one of the spires, Ara sees Porphyrion, and in the other, they see Hera.

Leo's the first to jump. "Hola, Tía. Little bit of trouble?"

"Don't inspect me like I'm one of your machines, Leo Valdez. Get me out of here!"

Ara's the second to jump in. "Lady Hera, I'm honored. Where's my brother?"

The goddess studies her bandages. "What's the matter, child, you can't hold a third of our fronts without help?"

"We tried everything we could think of, guys," Thalia joins them. "But maybe my heart wasn't in it. If it was up to me, I'd just leave her in there."

"Ohh, Thalia Grace! When I get out of here, you'll be sorry you were ever born."

"Save it! You've been nothing but a curse to every child of Zeus for ages. You sent a bunch of intestinally challenged cows after my friend Annabeth—"

"She was disrespectful!"

"You dropped a statue on my legs."

"It was an accident!"

"And you took my brother! Here—on this spot. You ruined our lives. We should leave you to Gaea!"

"What if you set the cage on fire, Leo? That ought to work way one or another," Ara suggests since the poles that assemble the goddess's cage are made of branches.

"Hey," Jason moves closer. "Girls, this isn't the time to yell at Hera. Thalia, you should help your Hunters."

"Fine," she throws one last murderous glare at Hera before standing. "For you, Jason. But if you ask me, she isn't worth it."

When she goes away, Leo looks between Ara and Hera with a raised eyebrow. "Intestinally challenged cows?"

"Focus on the cage, Leo," Hera scowls. "And Jason—you are wiser than your sister. I chose my champion well."

"I'm not your champion, lady. I'm only helping you because you stole my memories and you're better than the alternative. Speaking of which, what's going on with that?"

"That, Jason," Hera says grimly, "is the king of the giants being reborn."

"Gross," Piper mutters.

"Indeed. Porphyrion, the strongest of his kind. Gaea needed a great deal of power to raise him again—my power. For weeks I've grown weaker as my essence was used to grow him a new form."

"So you're like a heat lamp," Leo muses. "Or fertilizer."

"Joke all you wish," Hera hisses. "But at sundown, it will be too late. The giant will awake. He will offer me a choice: marry him, or be consumed by the earth. And I cannot marry him. We will all be destroyed. And as we die, Gaea will awaken."

"Fun!" Ara leans closer. "So is there any way you can help me heal faster?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said?" Hera huffs.

"And can't we blow it up or something?" Leo points at the giant over his shoulder.

"Without me, you do not have the power," Hera responds. "You might as well try to destroy a mountain."

"Done that once today," Jason shrugs.

"Show off," Ara takes off her cloak and unwraps her bandages.

"Just hurry up and let me out!"

Jason sighs. "Leo, can you do it?"

"I don't know. Besides, if she's a goddess, why hasn't she busted herself out?"

Hera might not be strong enough to release herself but she's got enough energy to scold them. "Use your brain, Leo Valdez. I picked you because you're intelligent. Once trapped, a god's power is useless. Your own father trapped me once in a golden chair. It was humiliating! I had to beg—beg him for my freedom and apologize for throwing him off Olympus."

"Sounds fair."

"I've watched you since you were a child, son of Hephaestus, because I knew you could aid me at this moment. If anyone can find a way to destroy this abomination, it is you."

"But it's not a machine! It's like Gaea thrust her hand out of the ground and... Hold on. I do have an idea. Piper, I'm going to need your help. And we're going to need time."

"Leave that to me," Ara winks at him and releases her arm, then gets closer to the cage. "Alright, Lady, can you please reboot my arm to its factory settings?"

Hera barely manages to step half an inch closer when the enemy storms into the room. Venti horses, Lycan's wolves, and the Earthborn are all ready to rip them apart limb by limb. A wolf drops a frozen girl at the edge of the pool.

"Thalia!" Jason gasps.

As soon as the statue touches the ground, everything around it freezes as well, so Leo and Piper have to hold Jason back. "Who did this?" He asks in outrage. "I'll kill you myself!"

A girl laughs at the very back of the group. "Bon soir, mes amis. Alas, son of Hephaestus, you say you need time? I'm afraid time is one tool you do not have."

"Oh great, it's the nepobaby..." Ara mutters.

"What've you done?" Jason demands.

"Oh, so many things! Your sister's not dead, if that's what you mean. She and her Hunters will make fine toys for our wolves. I thought we'd defrost them one at a time and hunt them down for amusement. Let them be the prey for once." The creatures growl.

"Yes, my dears... Your sister almost killed their king, you know. Lycaon's off in a cave somewhere, no doubt licking his wounds, but his minions have joined us to take revenge for their master. And soon Porphyrion will arise, and we shall rule the world."

"Traitor!" Hera hisses. "You meddlesome, D-list goddess! You aren't worthy to pour my wine, much less rule the world."

"Tiresome as ever, Queen Hera. I've been wanting to shut you up for millennia," With a flick of Khione's wrist, the cage gets covered in ice.

"No!" Ara pokes the ice trying to break through, but it's too thick.

"That's better. Now, demigods, about your death—"

"You're the one who tricked Hera into coming here," Jason interrupts her. "You gave Zeus the idea of closing Olympus."

Ara tries to break through the frost, but the spaces between the branches are thin and the ice is pure white, which means is dense. "Leo, give me a hammer," she urges him.

He rummages inside his tool belt and hands her a chisel. "That'll work better."

Piper and Leo close in front of her so Khione can't see what she's doing, it's the one time Ara's thankful to be short. As she works, the girl listens to the conversation happening in front of her.

"...The ancient places, that's what Enceladus meant about destroy the roots of the gods. He meant Greece."

As if that's not the craziest statement she's heard this week, Khione adds one of her own.

"You could join me, son of Hephaestus. I know you find me beautiful. It would be enough for my plan if these other three were to die. Reject that ridiculous destiny the Fates have given you. Live and be my champion, instead. Your skills would be quite useful."

Leo bursts out laughing. "Yeah, join you... Right. Until you get bored of me and turn me into a Leosicle? Lady, nobody messes with my dragon and gets away with it. I can't believe I thought you were hot."

"Hot?" The young goddess asks shakily. "You dare insult me? I am cold, Leo Valdez. Very, very cold."

She tries to attack but Leo's a second ahead. He creates a wall of fire between them. "See, lady, that's what happens to snow in Texas. It—freaking—melts."

Ara strikes the ice as hard as she can and creates a gap. Hera peers through it. "Get closer, child!"

The girl presses her back against the cage, ripping the remains of her sleeve so Hera can touch her skin. A sharp pain spreads across her back and down her left arm. "It's healing!" She whispers in a strangled voice. "This sucks!"

"Stay still!" Hera orders.

"Enough of this!" Khione's annoyed, but not scared. "Hera is failing. Porphyrion is rising. Kill the demigods. Let them be our king's first meal!"

Ara's arm doesn't stop hurting, but now it's tolerable, like a pulled muscle. The Lichtenberg formations remain on her skin, Hera's not strong enough to heal her fully. "Thanks!"

The girl picks up her cloak and puts it on, draws her sword out, and charges into battle. Even if it wasn't all of her power, Hera's healing restores Artemis' blessing and Ara in a way no amount of nectar and ambrosia could've achieved.

Jason has tamed a venti horse and is riding through the crowd of monsters. Piper's battling the Earthborn, but they don't put much of a fight, too distracted by how pretty she looks while killing them. Leo's fighting Khione, but if anyone can hold their own against her, that's him.

Ara charges against the nearly impossible-to-kill wolves. "Hey, Ken!" She calls after Jason. "Hand me a few of those arrows your venti has in its mane!"

Jason picks out three and passes them to her. "But you don't have a—"

"I do!" Ara replies. She's starting to understand the way her compass works.

While Jason beats the wolves with a piece of wood, Ara presses on the alpha of her sword twice. She's now holding a bronze and gold bow, and she uses it to the best of her abilities, more arrows fall from the vanishing venti and she picks them on the go.

Jason and her are a whirlwind of purple and orange, and in no time, their enemies are all slaughtered with the exception of Khione. Ara grabs two arrows and points them at the goddess, normally, she would consider herself lucky to know which end is the pointy one, but Artemis is really coming through with the blessing.

"You're too late," the goddess snarls. "He's awake! And don't think you've won anything here, demigods. Hera's plan will never work. You'll be at each other's throats before you can ever stop us."

Leo throws flaming hammers at the goddess at the same time Ara shoots, Khione turns to snow before their eyes and Leo clicks his tongue like she's an annoying fly he missed. "Is that Almighty?" He points at her bow.

Ara turns back into a sword. "Had this thing for a whole year, and I just discovered it can do that. Can you believe it?"

Piper approaches Jason and smiles. "Nice horse." The creature stands on its hind legs. Ara steps away from it, not wanting to get hit by lightning a second time.

"Oh, don't mind me!" Hera shatters the ice around her cage. "Just the queen of the heavens, dying over here!"

Ara's no longer glowing, but she's still in good shape, so she smiles. "We're on it, Lady, don't get cranky."

"Uh, Tía Callida, are you getting shorter?" Leo jumps back to the pool and examines the inside of the cage.

"No, you dolt! The earth is claiming me. Hurry! The giant wakes!" Hera urges them. "You only have seconds!"

"On it. Piper, I need your help. Talk to the cage."

"What?"

"Talk to it. Use everything you've got. Convince Gaea to sleep. Lull her into a daze. Just slow her down, try to get the tendrils to loosen while I—"

"Right! Hey, Gaea. Nice night, huh? Boy, I'm tired. How about you? Ready for some sleep?"

While they get to work, Ara approaches the giant and crouches, poking his shoulder with the tip of her sword.

"Don't taunt him!" Hera scolds her.

"I was just checking—!" Porphyrion busts out of his enclosure, crawling out at an alarming speed. Ara chokes out the rest of her words. "H-He's awake..."

"Get away from him!" Jason shouts.

Ara stumbles back with her sword up, but she doesn't know where to point, he's covered in armor.

"Alive! Praise to Gaea!" His eyes are milky white, but Ara's certain he can see everything.

"You'll be dead soon, thank the gods!" Ara taunts him.

The giant looks at her. "Bold! And who are you?"

Ara opens her mouth to claim "I'm the daughter of Olympus!", but the only thing that comes out is: "Uhhh..."

"Giant!" Jason stands next to her.

"Excellent, there are two of you!" Porphyrion exclaims. "What an appetizer! Who are you—Hermes? Ares?"

"I'm Jason Grace," the boy announces. "Son of Jupiter. This is Ara Jackson, the child of Olympus."

Porphyrion cackles. "Outstanding!" He looks up. "So, Zeus, you sacrifice your son and an infant godling to me? The gesture is appreciated, but it will not save you."

Ara and Jason share a look, there's only so much they can do, and the more anxious she gets, the more her left shoulder pulses, reminding her she is not as invincible as she feels.

Jason nods once. We have no choice.

"If you knew who we were," he speaks, "you'd be worried about us, not our parents. I hope you enjoyed your two and a half minutes of rebirth, giant, because we're going to send you right back to Tartarus."

Porphyrion supports one hand on his knee to look at them closer. "So... we'll start by boasting, will we? Just like old times! Very well, demigod. I am Porphryion, king of the giants, son of Gaea. In olden times, I rose from Tatarus, the abyss of my father, to challenge the gods. To start the war, I stole Zeus's queen. Hello, Hera."

"My husband destroyed you once, monster! He'll do it again!"

"But he didn't, my dear! Zeus wasn't powerful enough to kill me. He had to rely on a puny demigod to help, and even then, we almost won. This time, we will complete what we started. Gaea is waking. She has provisioned us with many fine servants. Our armies will shake the earth—and we will destroy you at the roots."

"You wouldn't dare..."

"Oh, yes. The Titans sought to attack your new home in New York. Bold, but ineffective. Gaea is wiser and more patient. And we, her greatest children, are much, much stronger than Kronos. We know how to kill you Olympians once and for all. You must be dug up completely like rotten trees—your eldest roots torn out and burned."

"You said a demigod killed you," Jason raises his voice. "How, if we're so puny?"

"Ha! You think I would explain it to you? I was created to be Zeus's replacement, born to destroy the lord of the sky. I shall take his throne. I shall take his wife—or, if she will not have me, I will let the earth consume her life force. What you see before you, child, is only my weakened form. I will grow stronger by the hour, until I am invincible. But I am already quite capable of smashing you to a grease spot!"

"We don't need you to tell us," Ara lifts her sword again. "We're perfectly capable of coming up with a new method."

"Be my guest, little godling," he summons a spear from the ground, slams his foot, and the monsters they had spent the last twenty minutes killing are all brought back to life.

Ara curses, and then she prays, but instead of reaching out to pros like Ares, or Zeus, she talks to her mother. "I still have love for Olympus, Mother, would be nice if you did something with that..."

"So, child of Zeus!" The giant slams his spear against an already destroyed chimney just to intimidate them further. "I have finished my boasting. Now it's your turn. What were you saying about destroying me?"

"I'm the son of Jupiter!" Jason lifts himself off the ground by a few inches. "I'm a child of Rome, consul to demigods, praetor of the First Legion—I slew the Trojan sea monster, I toppled the black throne of Kronos, and destroyed the Titan Krios with my own hands. And now I'm going to destroy you, Porphyrion, and feed you to your own wolves."

A roar is heard at the entrance of the house and Ara whirls around in shock: The Nemean lion tackles the wolves and tosses them out of the way as he runs to meet her. She goes to him, and the lion drops and rolls on his belly when he sees her.

"It's you! Get up, baby, I have a new chew toy for you..." She climbs the lion's back and the animal rises, growling at Porphyrion.

The giant snarls at him, lifting his spear. Jason jumps with no weapon in hand and clings to the giant's enormous arm, reaching for one of the weapons stuck in his dreadlocks, and stabbing his ear with it. "For Rome!"

Ara leans closer to the lion's ear and pats his head. "The more memories he recovers, the more he sounds like a dork, don't you think?"

Lightning hits Porphyrion as Jason jumps and rolls away before he can get stomped. Ara kicks the lion with her heel and he leaps, slashing and biting off the giant's armor. Porphyrion falls, trying to push the animal away.

While the lion attacks like crazy, Ara does a backflip and lands on solid ground. She can almost hear Lily scolding her about the damage done to her ankles and knees. The girl slashes clay monsters one by one as she runs to where Piper and Leo are.

"No!" Porphyrion grabs the lion from the neck like a badly behaved kitten. "You want to play dirty, godling? You want to use lightning, boy? You forget. I am the bane of Zeus. I was created to destroy your father, which means I know exactly what will kill you!"

"You're nothing but a knock-off!" Ara shouts. Her lion comes to the rescue now that the wolves are trying to eat her. "And we know your weakness!"

"Got it!" Leo shouts.

"Sleep!" Piper exclaims, and the cage crumbles down.

"Yes!" Hera gets out of her enclosure, grows in size, and glows brighter. "Now I shall have my revenge!"

Porphyrion slams his spear against the ground and disappears into thin air while the air charges with power. Hera's ready to finish this off. "Cover your eyes, my heroes!"

Ara hugs the lion and closes her eyes. She doesn't know if this will kill him, he's a type of monster after all, but she hopes Hera will spare him. The Nemean lion is a gift from her mother, and Ara intends to keep it.

Next Chapter ->

Taglist.

siriuslysirius1107 @ask-giggles1303 @ash-the-hoarder @im-planning-something-look @bandshirts-andbooks @coolninjapaper @thewaterlily @whenisthefall @1randomcomic @you-bloody-shank @sunflowergraves @owlalex44 @taylordaughter @typicalsolangelolover @writingmia @espressopatronum454 @slytherinnqueen @orbitingpolaris

#twoidiots writing #pjo fanfic #pjo hoo toa #pjo fandom #percy jackson and the olympians #leo valdez x oc #leo valdez fanfic #doo

8 notes · View notes

forevfangirlwrites · 1 year

Text

play stupid games, win stupid prizes chapter 3

A shout jolts her awake, her heart racing as she sits up way too fast making her head spin. Where is she? What is she doing? The blankets and room are unfamiliar to her in this disoriented state.

Light is coming through the window though the sun hasn’t completely risen, illuminating the bundle on the floor next to the bed.

Right. Jason’s party, the spiked punch, Percy leading her to bed—

Another shout rings the room, and she realizes it’s Percy. He’s thrashing a little, clearly having a nightmare of some kind.

Sliding off the bed, she kneels beside him. His face is contorted, and she feels her own eyebrows scrunch at seeing his face like that. She reaches forward, trying to shake him awake.

“Percy!” she says in a hushed tone. “Percy, wake up.”

Before she can shake him again, he jolts up, his hand grabbing her arm that was on his shoulder. She catches a glimpse of his wide panicked eyes before she is yanked down beside him, face inches away from his.

Percy’s eyes are closed again, his face still scrunched up, and he’s still gripping her arm. It doesn’t hurt but she’s a little scared at the reaction.

“Percy,” she tries again, trying to wiggle out of his grasp. He pulls her closer and now their bodies are touching, something she tries and fails to ignore.

In response, he thrashes more, bringing her half on-top of him. She lets out a muffled squeal at the action, her face undoubtedly turning red.

“Percy, wake up,” she says a little more forcefully. Her other hand is a little freer in her new position and she finds herself touching his face. “Hey, Percy, you gotta wake up.”

The touch makes him shiver and she knows because she feels it. He’s so close, his face still only inches away when his eyes finally open and he blinks slowly, coming to.

For a second all she can see are the sea-green of his eyes before he finally rasps out, “Annabeth?”

“Hey,” she replies, not knowing what else to say. Her own head feels pulled in ten different directions.

He immediately lets go of her arms and she quickly backs away a little, relieved that he’s awake.

“What…”

“You had a nightmare,” she starts to explain, somehow feeling like she needs to justify why they were so close and how she ended up half on-top of him.

He nods, clearly still processing and she quickly stands up to face the window. (And control her breathing because she has never been that close to Percy Jackson of all people).

“What time is it?” she asks, trying to talk about anything other than what just happened.

“Almost five in the morning.” His voice is still raspy. She turns back to see him standing up fully.

“Damn, we still have school.”

Percy lets out a small groan at her words as he stretches. (She doesn’t watch his back muscles).

“Fuck.”

For once in her life, she fully agrees with Percy Jackson’s sentiment.

-.-

It’s a miracle she makes it to school on time. By the time she woke Thalia up, she barely had time to grab a slice of toast before they both drove to Piper’s so Annabeth could at least change into the clothes she’d brought and grab her backpack. The three had made it to school just before the first bell.

Already the noise of the crowded hallway is making her headache worse. She’s still waiting on the Advil to kick in and wondering why she thought drinking for the first time was a good idea on a Tuesday night.

Percy’s voice from last night flashes through her mind I asked if you wanted some, I didn’t tell you to drink. That’s your choice.

A bad choice, apparently—well, at least until the Advil kicks in.

KEEP READING ON AO3

#percy and annabeth #percabeth #percabeth au #percabeth fic

15 notes · View notes

extrabluecement · 3 years

Text

percy and grover are best friends and annabeth and thalia are best friends end of discussion.

#do NOT say that piper and annabeth were closer than annabeth and thalia #IF YOU SAY JASON AND PERCY ARE BESTIES I WILL FIGHT YOU #do not fight me on this #justice for grover #percy jackson #pjo #grover underwood #annabeth chase #thalia grace #percabeth #hoo #heroes of olympus headcanons #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson canon

583 notes · View notes

kittypryde-bipride · 3 years

Text

five times percy leaned on his friends, and the one time he stood alone

Percy stands with Jason at what might’ve been the end of the world and his hands tremble.

He feels so much – the sea roiling in pain, responding to his inner fury; the earth lying dormant, having just lost its master – but when he looks at his friend, he just feels numb. Jason’s uncertain, afraid to touch him, as frail as he is still after Tartarus and this last fight, but too kind to leave him alone.

“Are you alright?” He murmurs, putting his arm around Percy’s shoulder and slowly lowering them to the ground together.

Percy’s bare hands touch the ground and his fingers dig into the dirt. He’d unmake the world if he could undo the last hour. He’d let Gaea win.

He doesn’t say this though- there’s too many gods lingering on the scene for honesty. “She’s dead,” is what he settles for. He thinks Jason gets the message.

“Leo’s gone, too.”

Percy looks to his friend and frowns. There are unshed tears in both their eyes- Percy thinks heroes shouldn’t cry, not after a battle they’ve survived, and wonders what he could’ve done better. “I don’t think we won.”

“No,” Jason agrees. “I don’t think we did. The gods did, though.”

Percy snorts, his throat burning at the movement, and he shakes his head. “What will you do next?”

“Keep fighting their battles, I suppose. Pretend like this meant something.”

“You think it didn’t?” Percy asks, his tone cautious- wary of those who might be listening, judging their all too mortal saviors.

Jason just stares at the scene around them. The Parthenon is burning. Neither of them have moved to put it out, with either the sea or rain, and it’s clear the gods themselves couldn’t be bothered.

“We were already the children of prophecy,” he says. “This shouldn’t have happened. I think we chose wrong.”

Percy thinks the brief time all seven of them were together on the ship. Some of them – Hazel, Frank, Leo, Piper – were too young to know better. But him and Jason? Annabeth? They were old enough to know these gods are not just. They were old enough to survive- would’ve survived, if things had been a little different.

He thinks to how no gods stepped forward to save Annabeth when she fell, and wonders if they sensed their disillusionment.

If this is a warning, it’s a dangerous one.

“This did mean something,” Percy replies, closing his eyes. He can feel every drop of water for miles- the sea, the ocean, the sweat on his fellow heroes. He digs his fingers into the earth until they bleed, feels his blood mix deep in the soil, can sense miles underground to its now broken core. He inhales and can practically taste the stench of blood in the air, can hear the pulse of every living being left on the battlefield, can see the golden ichor coursing through the veins of the gods. “This proved that we can fight side by side with the gods, and come out stronger.”

He leans his head against Jason and they gather clouds in the sky, summoning a storm. Rain pours down on them and Percy doesn’t feel weak anymore.

---

“I couldn’t protect her,” Percy confesses darkly to Grover, staring at a burnt shroud. The rest of the crowd has long-dispersed.

Most of the campers they’d been close to died in the Battle of New York. Piper and Jason are on a quest. Hazel, Frank, Nico, and Reyna are back in New Rome. Chiron is too weary to stay.

“It’s not your fault, Perce,” Grover says quietly, not making eye contact.

Percy shakes his head. His fist tightens and he has to consciously stop the earth from shaking in response. “I could’ve stopped it if I’d been paying attention. I’m strong enough.”

“If the gods couldn’t save her, there was nothing you could’ve done-” Grover tries to assuage him, but Percy knows better than to trust false reassurances.

“You don’t know what I can do.” The sky darkens at his cockiness and he grins up at it, all bared teeth and no joy. He wishes they’d throw the first punch. He thinks maybe they already have.

Grover grabs ahold of his arm, then tugs him into a close hug. “I can still tell when you’re upset, Perce. What’s wrong?” Percy stares at his friend incredulously and Grover sighs. “You’re right, that was kind of dumb of me, but you know what I meant. What you’re feeling isn’t normal grief.”

“What happened wasn’t normal,” Percy retorts harshly. His friend flinches and his resolve weakens- he doesn’t want to hurt what’s left of his loved ones. He just also can’t tell them the truth. “I’m sorry, I just- I could’ve saved her. They could’ve saved her. It- they were sending me a warning. This shouldn’t have happened.”

“Fixating on the dead isn’t healthy,” Grover says solemnly, eyes downcast. “She wouldn’t have wanted this for you.”

“Yeah, well,” Percy laughs bitterly and turns away. The earth grabs at him every time he takes a step, longing to be closer to their new master. He’s taken to walking barefoot. “I don’t think she would’ve wanted a lot of what happened. I doubt she liked either prophecy. Doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

“Perce,” Grover warns, but Percy continues.

“Doesn’t mean she didn’t die. Doesn’t mean the gods haven’t fucked us over every time they got the chance.” The mud beneath them is sliding towards his ankles and he lets the cool earth calm him- not yet, it seems to caution. It can’t lose another master so soon.

Grover is too focused on Percy to notice the slow-moving ground beneath them. “No one angry with the gods ever wins,” he reminds his friend. “The combined Titans couldn’t beat them. Gaea, a primordial, couldn’t defeat them. Luke died fighting them.”

“I wouldn’t die, if I challenged them,” Percy says quietly and his old friend freezes, panicked. The sky rumbles and Percy forces himself to laugh- wildly, freely, like he would’ve before his anchor to this world was ripped away.

“Ah, man, don’t joke about things like that,” Grover says nervously, eyeing the still angry sky. “No need to tempt fate.”

Percy grins bitterly and pushes down the empathy link- there’s no need for Grover to get caught up in further conflict. He doesn’t need to know what side his friend would choose, after so much time apart. “Sorry. Won’t happen again.”

---

Tyson walks with him on the bottom of the ocean floor towards their dad’s palace and Percy keeps his posture relaxed- he’s just visiting family, after all, no deeper motive.

“Father’s made all kinds of improvements to the castle since Gaea was defeated,” his brother says enthusiastically. “He’s locked the foundation in deeper to the seabed, cementing our stability, and he’s uncovered a whole new kind of rock under the surface. We’re mining it for new weapons.”

“Weapons for gods?” Percy asks curiously. “Is it that strong?”

Tyson nods. “Oh, yes. And it can only be forged in our deepest caves, with lava taken directly from the center of the earth.”

Percy fights down a surge of protective anger – he felt when they reached that deep, felt them steal from the already aching, unrecovered earth, though he hadn’t known what the interference was then – and smiles brightly instead. “Wow, that’s super cool! Have you been helping with any of that?”

“I’m the General of Father’s army,” Tyson responds proudly. “Of course I’m involved in the new weapon. We have to be careful of how much we touch it, though- it hurts anything not strong enough to handle it. I touched it and it burned my hand.” He rubs his arm, visibly remembering it- it must’ve been something terrible for that visceral of a response.

Percy grabs Tyson, then sends water to wrap around the scar, cooling and healing it. When he’s done, there’s not even a mark left.

Tyson gasps and looks at it excitedly, then pulls Percy into a bear hug. “Even Father couldn’t do that!” He bursts out. “You’ve grown very strong. Thank you.”

“It’s not problem,” Percy replies easily. They step through the pearly gates of Poseidon’s castle and Percy starts feeling out the terrain, paying attention to how the castle fits into the earth and how the sea feels protective over its inhabitants. “Damn, this does look impressive.”

Tyson looks at him confused. “You can’t even see most of our changes yet!”

“Guess I’m just so confident in what you can do,” Percy easily side-steps his question and keeps walking through the halls.

The whole castle is well-reinforced and surrounded in its element, but even the best-made structures can tumble down- look at the last couple hundred years of the Olympian’s influence, after all. It’s strong, but Percy’s willing to bet he’s stronger. Even if he can’t control more of the sea than his father, he can use the ocean floor and direct line to the earth’s core to wreak havoc- and that new weapon sounds like it was made for him to yield.

Poseidon’s always been a critical part of the gods’ offense and defense. Percy’s prepared to destroy him first, when the time comes.

He turns to his brother and high-fives him. “You’ll have to show me when you finish that weapon- I bet it’s gonna look so cool. Show me your room?”

Tyson cheerfully guides him to the housing part of the palace and Percy pushes down his guilt. This has to be done, and he’s resigned to be the one to do it- he’s got nothing left to lose, thanks to the gods.

---

Percy grabs the half-full bottle out of Thalia’s hands and pours it onto the ground.

“Hey,” she slurs, angry. “That’s a waste of some perfectly good whiskey.”

“And you’re fifteen,” Percy says smugly. “You’re a little young to be drinking that much.”

She glares at him and crosses her arms. “I’m older than you and you know it!”

Percy snorts. “You don’t look it. Don’t tell me Artemis lets the twelve-year-olds on the Hunt drink like that?”

She looks down and some of her defiance melts into repressed pain. “Yeah, well. Special circumstances and all that. Guess there’s some benefit to a dead kid brother.”

Percy’s casual combativeness crumbles alongside her own- he can sense the tears welling in her eyes and he decides not to mention it. “What happened?” He asks quietly- respectfully.

Thalia clenches her fists- she hasn’t stopped trying to mask her grief with rage. Percy knows the feeling far too well. “Apollo dragged him on a quest. Something about a prophecy. Helping him while he’s mortal. Jason didn’t make it back.”

“I’m not surprised he went,” Percy says. “It’s hard to find rest, when you’ve been at war that long.”

She laughs bitterly and shakes her head. “He shouldn’t have been on that quest. Artemis told me- he wasn’t named in it. He wasn’t needed for it. Why couldn’t they leave him be?”

“They knew he’d say yes,” Percy offers, shrugging. “They asked me and I said that I don’t do that kind of thing anymore.”

Thalia whips around to glare at him, practically snarling. Her tears are falling now. “You’re the reason he was on that quest? You’re the reason he died?”

Percy frowns at her- he must’ve gotten scarier sometime recently, because it’s enough to make her falter. “The gods are the reason he died. They shouldn’t have asked him to do that. But Jason wanted all those prophecies to mean something, in the end. He would’ve died on some quest, sooner or later.”

“Sometimes-,” Thalia starts, her voice thick with some pained emotion. “Sometimes, I want to tear apart the whole system. I- I want to leave the Hunters and march up to Olympus and murder my father with my own bare hands.” Percy raises his eyebrows and she lets out a sob. “How dare they take my brother from me and all I get for it is a measly bottle of booze? This isn’t fair, Perce, don’t tell me you haven’t thought about it-”

The sky thunders and Percy smiles carefully at her. The ground beneath them is hollow, aching, craving- he pushes down the urge to act. “I’d be wary of who listens, if I were you. Jason wasn’t. I wasn’t.” Her eyes go wide and he hushes her. “Don’t fight the gods unless you’re sure you can win. Are you sure?” She hesitates, just for a moment, and he grins knowingly. “Right. I don’t want to lose another friend- don’t make me, okay?”

She looks up at him and sniffs- this is the most broken down he’s ever seen her. It’s a sign of how few of their friends are left, if she’s letting him see her this weak.

“You said Jason said yes because he didn’t remember how to rest,” Thalia says finally, slowly. “But you said no. How- how did you find a way to rest?”

He looks her in the eye carefully and thinks- if he’s ever wanted an ally, now’s his chance. But he won’t drag someone innocent down with him in this crusade, can’t brand someone else as a villain, not until he’s sure he can protect them too. He’s loyal to his friends and his ideals and to the dead, so he’ll save them all in every way he can.

Sea green eyes meet electric blue and when he smiles, it’s all sharp teeth. “Who says I have?”

---

He and Clarisse fight back-to-back against the latest rush of monsters trying to invade Camp Half-Blood- they’re the only ones of their caliber left here, since everyone who could moved to the Roman camp to try and start their lives in peace.

He and Clarisse are too independent, too angry, too restless to be happy there.

In another life, Percy and Annabeth could’ve thrived in a domestic town in New Rome, but it’s too late for him now.

When it’s over, they sit outside the camp border listlessly. Threats like this barely faze them anymore.

Percy’s back at the camp for the first time in a few months and he’s been happy to catch up with Clarisse- she’s had to rise up in the absence of other camp leadership, and she’s done an admirable job. Even so, he’s not here without an agenda: he’s desperately searching for one reason not to carry out his plan; for something to stop him before he can’t take it back.

“How’s it been, sticking around here so long?” Percy breaks the silence finally. She knocks elbows with him and shrugs.

“Same old, same old. Young kids come in and need guidance. Mr. D’s gone and Chiron’s struggling, after everything that’s been happening, so I’ve been picking up some of that slack.” She grins at him, loose and familiar in a nostalgic way, and Percy’s reminded of camp meetings with Katie and Travis, Lee and Castor, Beckendorf and Silena. Annabeth. It’s just the two of them left now. “You could help out with it all too, if you wanted to come back. Getting sick of being a city-slicker again, Jackson?”

Percy smiles tightly at her. “I don’t know if the camp life is for me, anymore. I don’t think there’s a lot holding me here these days.”

“That’s fair,” Clarisse concedes. “But I see all these new faces in Ares cabin, each and every year, and I feel like I’m making a difference. Showing those suckers how to survive, how to go back home like I never could.”

“There’s no one in my cabin,” Percy says. “Would I really make a difference here?” And if he could, he’ll stay- he’ll stop all his plans, turn back on every heretical idea he’s had in the past year, dive headfirst into whatever will best help his fellow demigods. He and Jason are the same in more ways than one: they’ve played the hero so long that all they know is to be selfless for their people.

It’s just- Percy doesn’t think playing the good demigod will help anyone but the gods; and he hasn’t been loyal to them for a long time.

“Of course, you would,” Clarisse answers. “You’re practically a legend around here, you know- everyone hears about your quests and want to be the next to get a prophecy, to meet the gods.”

Percy feels the ground beneath them and he frowns. He’s in so, so deep, and he’s so, so broken, just like the earth. “I don’t want them to be blindly loyal to the gods, Clarisse.”

“Alright,” she mutters, clearly surprised by his intensity. “Well, you wouldn’t have to do that, I guess- maybe just show them how to have a life outside here? Tell them about how you’ve kept up with your family, how Sally’s doing-”

“My mother’s dead,” Percy interjects. It’s the one secret he’s kept for too a long time and now that he’s let it out, he’s made his decision on the fate of the gods- it feels real. “I went to their apartment after everything was over and a monster got her and Paul. She’s been dead since before we beat the Giants. While I was missing.”

Clarisse freezes, stunned and unsure of what to do. “Jackson, I-”

He stands and brushes off his jeans, then turns to face her. “It’s been good catching up.”

“No, wait, I-”

“I’ll see you again soon, probably,” he smirks and then starts laughing- it’s the first genuine one in a while and it tears out unbidden. He can’t stop it. He starts walking away and his feet sink deeper with each step, the earth swallowing him- protecting him. “May the best side win?”

---

Percy meets his friends on the battlefield and they all know he’s unbeatable, even alone. And he is alone, even with the sea and the earth and the blessing of the Styx and the blood in their veins- he can tell they think he’s gone as mad as Luke.

He lets them attack, the demigods who’ve been called up out of their retirement like he knew they would be – Frank and Clarisse’s blades reflect off his invulnerable skin, the earth won’t respond to Hazel’s commands, Nico’s skeletal armies are crumbling, Piper’s words can’t sway him, Grover’s plants can’t breach the ground to touch him – and

He lets them attack, the demigods who’ve been called abruptly out of their retirement like he knew they would be. Frank and Clarisse’s swords bounce off his invulnerable skin, unable to find his weak point. Grover presents a call to arms to the trees, but they can’t breach the ground to come near him. Nico’s skeletal armies crumble to dust as the water in the air erodes them. Hazel sinks into the earth with Piper by her side, trying to sneak up on him, but the earth protects him and traps them, half-buried.

He weathers it all until the gods arrive.

Tyson stands behind their father, face drawn in betrayal and horror, the newly forged weapon in his gloved hand. Percy holds out his arm – senses the earth in it, the metal mined from the ground and the lava it was bathed in – and summons it to him. He hefts the monumental longsword in his hand and even if the rest of the gods don’t know what this is, there’s fear in Poseidon’s eyes- he wonders what his dad would look like if he knew his precious castle has already crumbled, eaten by the ravenous earth.

He surveys the battlefield now that the demigods have fallen back, behind the gods, and sees Thalia standing behind Artemis. She looks conflicted, but too tired to make a stand- he’d known she wouldn’t stand up for him if it came to blows, not after everyone she’s lost in a fight. He thinks she’ll support him once he wins.

Percy closes his eyes, breathes in the stink of the fight, and he can sense everything: the ground beneath their feet, vapor in the sky, the sweat on their skin. The ichor in the veins of the gods.

He opens his eyes, sees them rushing towards him to try and defeat him, and clenches his fists. The ichor bursts and the gods fall- it was a great show of hubris from them, to even believe they could stand a chance against him.

He stares at his friend’s terrified expressions and laughs brightly, one last time. He’d been willing to martyr himself for this cause and he doesn’t quite care what happens now- he’s more than done his part to save the world. It’s up to them.

He sinks deep into the earth, letting it take him, and decides whoever wants to find him can come to him. Until then, he can finally rest.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28535157

#pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson #bamf percy jackson #dark percy #ao3

215 notes · View notes

phykios · 3 years

Text

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

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

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

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

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

God damn she’s a fucking idiot.

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

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

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

Well. One head in particular.

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

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

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

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

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

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

He grunts. “Yeah, it’s cool.”

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

“What? It’s just a rock.”

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

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

“What do you mean?”

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

“Why here, though?”

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

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

“No, I’m good,” he waves her off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Hey, are you okay?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“You’re Jason Grace?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Mr. Olympianides?” Luke politely interjects.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A huge mistake.

Her only thought is How dare he be so handsome.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Yes, Uncle Hades,” Percy says.

“Zoe?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And the world nearly collapses out from under her feet.

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

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

At the last possible second Annabeth looks over too.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“It has, Uncle Poseidon,” She agrees.

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

Thalia goes very still.

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

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

He understands what’s going on here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She spins on her heels, and walks away.

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

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

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

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

Her stomach rolls again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She shakes her head, miserable.

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

She nods.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s when she hears the muffled shouting.

Two voices she knows intimately.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Then he sees Annabeth.

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

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

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

“What, he dump you already?”

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

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

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

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

“I don’t!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Jesus, what did you eat?”

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

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

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

“Feeling better?” he asks.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Good. He’s gone.

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

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

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

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

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

“Sweden,” she says, on reflex.

“What?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

Annabeth nods into the mirror.

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

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

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

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

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

29 notes · View notes

black-is-beautiful18 · 3 years

Text

Hazy

Percy Jackson x Black OC

A/N: Percabeth is cute but they're just going to be friends in this fic. This is also inspired by Nigerian tales such as Mami Wata and Yoruba mythology, but it's also folklore from West Africa. I hope you enjoy.

***************************

Her coconut brown skin shown brightly under the sun. Her smile as dazzling and as bright as a full moon while her laugh....oh her laugh was like a song. A song you want to hear over and over again. Her dark tight curls stuck to her face as she tries to shield herself from the water being thrown on her by two girls. They look to be twins. With identical facial features, skin the color of vanilla, and locs that go down their backs adorned with gold clips that glint in the sunlight. There's not much a difference between them except that one is a bit taller than the other. They all were beautiful but not as beautiful as her. Wearing a royal blue bikini she looked almost like a goddess. The water on her skin made it so she was practically glowing. A dreamy sigh leaves Percy's lips capturing the attention of the blonde girl next to him.

"What's got you so distracted, Percy?" Annabeth questions as she ties her hair up into a messy bun." I told you that the others will be here soon. Y-are you even listening to me seaweed brain?" She huffs putting a hand on her hip when Percy doesn't answer. He just continues looking towards the water.

"What's up with him?" Thalia asks as she lays down her beach towel her black and blue one piece fitting her style perfectly.

"Beats me." Annabeth shrugs" He's been staring off into space for some time now and I don't think he's coming back any time soon." She waves a hand in front of his face and Thalia chuckles as she begins putting sunscreen on.

"Definitely not coming back any time soon."

*************************

"Move, Zu!" I cry out laughing as I fight against the girl dragging me out of the water and towards our things.

With her locs pulled back in a low ponytail Zu shakes her head." Nope! Your going to talk to him!" She commands smirking.

Whining I twist in her arms to look to back at our older sister, well she's only 3 minutes older than Zu, but she's still older." Zuri! Tell her to put me down!" I beg pouting.

Zuri let's out a pleased laugh instantly making me groan." Oh not you too!" Rolling her eyes, Zuri points a finger at me." You're talking to him. We saw the way he was looking at you and don't think we didn't notice how hard you trying not to stare back at him."

Setting me down, Zu puts her hands on her hips." Girl, stop being such a guppy. It's clear you both are attracted to each other. Now go and talk to him or else Zuri and I are going to drag you over there."

Pouting I cross my arms." I am not a guppy!" I glance back at the black haired boy biting my lip." He is handsome...and his eyes," I sigh", they're as beautiful as the sea itself...."

"So?" Zuri asks tilting her head to the side.

Taking a deep breath I look at them." I...can't do it." I then try to run back to the water but they're quick to follow me.

**************************

"She winked at you, seaweed brain! I'm pretty sure that was a sign." Thalia says exasperated as Percy shakes his head." Do you see her? She's basically a goddess! There's no way she'll talk to me." Everyone groans or either rolls their eyes at the son of Poseidon.

"She's looking over here." Nico mutters glancing at his cousin.

"If you don't go talk to her I'm going to offer her a spot in the Hunt." Thalia says firmly causing Percy's eyes to widen.

"Plus, she's showing clear signs that she's interested and she's obviously looking at you. Not making a move is something you're gonna regret." Piper says shrugging as Jason feeds her chip. "She's also running away." He adds earning a smack on the shoulder

Sighing, Percy gets up" Fine. I'm going."

***********************

"Ugh! Fine!"

Wrapping my cover up around my waist I stomp off in the direction of the boy who caught my eye. I'm not angry. I'm just being dramatic because I know my sisters are right. As I'm walking I see that the boy is walking towards me as well. He rubs his neck nervously and I can't help but smile. Getting a bit closer I feel my face heating up.

"Hi."

I look at him surprised for a moment before laughing. He joins in instantly making me feel at ease.

"I'm Nia."

He smiles brightly almost making me coo at the way his face lights up but I control myself.

"I'm Percy and you're really pretty." He blurts out making me laugh.

"Thanks. I think you're pretty cute too."

I smirk as his cheeks . I go to say something but there are screams from the water causing me to turn around in alarm. People run from the water mothers holding tightly to their children and couples race to safety from something I can't see.

"Whirlpool!" Someone cries out causing even more panic.

"Whirlpool?" Percy and I voice our confusion at the same time. Looking up at him I notice he's already looking at me.

"Jinx!" We call out before giggling

"Nia!"

"Percy!"

Zu and Zuri come running over to me while a group of teenagers around our age run over to Percy.

"What's going on?" Percy and I ask just as a strange noise comes from the water causing us all to look. At first there's nothing but soon a lump begins rising out of the water. The way the sun shines against it sort of makes it look like a wet stone but I get the feeling that it is not a stone.

"Is that a friend of yours Percy?" A blonde girl asks using a hand to shield her face from the sun so she can see better.

"Nope. I have no idea what that is."

"Ikaki." Percy and his friends look at me curiously.

"Ikaki? What's that?" A blonde girl asks her eyes filled with suspicion and it's clear she's analyzing me and my sisters.

"It is a creature from our homeland....but how it got here I have no idea. They usually live in rivers." Zu mutters trying to think of a possible explanation but I know we can't waste time. We have to get rid of it even if it means exposing ourselves to demigods.

Calling out to my sisters I immediately begin giving orders." Zuleika, see if you can talk to it. If you can ask, why it's here and how it got here." She nods before taking off towards the water wasting no time in diving beneath the waves.

Percy and his friends are clearly alarmed as they see her disappear." Are you sure that's a good idea? What if that thing is dangerous?" A pale boy with shades on asks his voice not showing too much emotion but I can tell he's curious.

Turning to the group I shake my head" She'll be fine. Trust me." I say before turning to Zuri." Check to make sure no one was pulled under. It's clearly either hungry or in distress." She nods before disappearing into the water.

Looking to Percy and his friends I biting my lip as I walk backwards into the water." Stay here. You won't know how to deal with this and I don't want any of you getting hurt."

As I turn to go further into the water I feel someone grab onto my arm.'' Wait! You're not going to be safe either. Let me help.'' Percy says making me smirk as I look up at him.

''You are free to follow me son of Poseidon, but stay out of our way.''

I giggle at the cute confused look that comes on his face. He looks sort of like a puppy as he tilts his head to the side.

''How did you-''

I shake my head as I pull him along with me'' Aht Aht. We don't have time for talking.''

I pull him along with me until we're waist deep in the water'' Tẹle mi ati pe iwọ yoo rii.'' I whisper as I kiss him on the cheek. Pulling away from him I then dive into the water leaving the option to follow me up to him. As I swim further I can see my sisters and I can feel the familiar tinngling in my legs which tends to come with my transformations. Clearly the ikaki has stopped it's dance of death and now seems to be getting help staying afloat by Zuri and Zuleika. Usually ikaki are water spirits that take on the form of man-eating tortoises but they live in rivers. Not oceans, so I'm certain you can understand our confusion when we saw, or more like sensed, the ikaki's presence.

''What's going on?''

''He's disoriented and doesn't know how he got here. The last thing he remembers is eating some poor fool that got too close to him.'' Zuleika says shrugging which results in a groan from the ikaki.

I laugh'' I'm sure he was good, but we have to get you back home. Which river do you live in?''

The ikaki lets out another grunt and I nod.'' Zamfara River. Got it.''

''Nia?'' A familiar voice asks shocked

Looking behind me I smile as I see Percy.'' Just one moment.''

Zuri hands me a pearl and I kiss it causing it to glow. It floats out of my hand water swirling around it until it opens into a portal revealing a river bank.

''Here you go big guy.'' Zuri and Zu help the ikaki through the portal making sure he's all the way through and safe on the other side before waving as the portal closes.

Turning back to Percy I smirk.'' I'm certain this isn't what you expected, huh?''

He nods slowly'' Uh...you have tails.''

Raising an eyebrow I look at the twins and their matching red tails. The bottom of their tales, however, are black. I then look down at my own tail which is a deep blue, and just above my fins is a gold ring.

I giggle'' Yes. We have tails Percy.''

Zu rolls her eyes'' Haven't you seen a mermaid before? I thought you were supposed to be a son of Poseidon?'' She teases making Zuri giggle.

''Knock it off you two.''

I swim closer to Percy tilting my head to the side'' We have to go. Our mother will want to know what happened.''

Percy's eyes widen and he grabs my hands.'' But how am I going to find you? What happened to the...the''

''The ikaki is safe at home.'' I laugh as I give him a quick kiss on the corner of his mouth.

''And I'll find you. Don't worry.'' I give him one more kiss on the cheek before pulling away from him.

''Bye Percy~'' The twins sing teasingly before swimming away.

Giggling I blow him a kiss before swimming after the twins not missing the small 'whoa' that comes from Percy. It only makes me ore excited for our next meeting.

********************

A/N: Stupid tumblr ate my PJ stories so I’m reposting them...and if it looks weird it’s cuz I copied it from my Wattpad. 🙄 Enjoy tho!

@stars8melanin @prettyvintageafternoon

#percy jackson x black oc #percy jackson fanfiction #percy jackson x reader #percy Jackson x black character #black oc #percy jackson #unique writes

49 notes · View notes

icaruspendragon · 3 years

Text

Hey friends! After months of therapy/new meds, I’ve finally found the motivation and inspiration to not only start reading again, but start writing! I’m pretty excited, so here’s a snippet of my newest project.

Not a lot of her stuff had made it with her from California to New York. But that was okay she kept telling herself. A fresh start and whatnot. No one knows her here. No one knows what happened to her. She can just go to class and go home and focus on graduating and getting a job and maybe moving out of the country. Maybe to Italy or to Greece or England. That was her plan at least. And everyone knew that Annabeth was big on plans. Naturally, this plan seemed to go awry almost instantly while she was trying to move into her brand new one bedroom apartment. She had thought about trying to find a roommate, but the thought of being in close quarters with a stranger made her chest feel tight and her palms sweaty, so she had decided that this would be a solo adventure.

She had told her dad and stepmom over and over again that she could make the move by herself, that she wouldn’t need them to help her move, they didn’t need to spend the money to travel and to take time off of work and who would watch her brothers? Even though she didn’t have that much stuff she was starting to get overwhelmed at the boxes the movers were bringing up in what seemed like an endless stream and setting just inside her front door. The apartment had come pre-furnished, so that was good at least. She didn’t think that she would have been able to bring most of that stuff with her, anyway. She had been sleeping on her couch for months and didn’t think she’d be able to keep that up for much longer. She was trying to make a mental list of everything that she would need to go out and get tonight. New pillows, blankets, sheets, curtains, etc. She would need to find a place to get that stuff, hopefully somewhere that also sold groceries. She didn’t want to have to spend all day running around a new city and trying to unpack and trying to keep herself from having a panic attack.

She was trying to keep her mental list running and keep an eye on the movers and keep inventory of what was in the boxes and what she would need to unpack first and where they were putting the boxes that she would need to unpack first while standing out in her new hallway, trying to stay out of the movers way when she heard laughter. She looked over and saw two girls. One tall with olive skin and dark choppy hair and the other a whole head shorter with wild curls and tawny skin, both chatting animatedly about something. Annabeth was trying to tune them out and hoping that they wouldn’t notice her, and if they did, that they would just keep on walking. She wasn’t in the mood to be social. She hadn’t been in the mood to be social in quite some time. She wasn’t sure she remembered how to be social anymore.

“Hi! Are you moving in?” The shorter one asked. Of course they noticed her and of course they stopped. Annabeth swallowed and turned to face her, trying her hardest to plaster what she hoped was the approximation of a friendly smile on her face.

“Yeah.” She responded, hoping that the conversation would stop there.

“Oh, cool!” The girl responded. “Looks like we’re going to be neighbors. I’m Hazel, this is Piper, my roommate.” Hazel, apparently, gestured towards the girl standing next to her.

“Annabeth.” She introduces, nodding at them, hoping no one wants to shake hands.

“Nice to meet you.” Piper offers, a small smile on her face.

“Likewise.” Annabeth responds even though she doesn’t feel the same. Now that they’re closer she can see just how beautiful the two girls are and sense the ease with which they’re navigating this new situation. Annabeth feels a pang of jealousy. It doesn’t matter, she tells herself. She’s just here to go to class and get out of her. Not to make friends.

“What’s your roommate’s name?” Piper asks, one beautifully sculpted eyebrow raised.

“Oh, it’s uh, it’s just me.” Annabeth tells them, resisting the urge to avert her eyes to the floor. She knows deep down that these girls are just trying to be nice and warm and welcoming and whatever, but she really doesn’t want the reminder of just how alone she is. Not right now. Not right here.

“Where’d you move from?” Hazel asks, eyes following the mover bringing more boxes in.

“San Francisco.” Annabeth tells her, trying her hardest not to be short with this girl who is trying her hardest to be nice to a stranger, it’s not Hazel’s fault that Annabeth’s stomach drops at the mention of it.

“That’s cool. I’m from Malibu. Are you here for school?” This time it’s Piper who speaks.

“Yeah.” Annabeth responds. She knows that she should be giving them more than one word responses, but she wants nothing more than to hide in her new apartment and not come out for the rest of the night. She didn’t think that interacting with other people would have this kind of toll on her.

“I’m from New Orleans, so Piper and I both know what it’s like to be far from home.” Hazel tells her sympathetically. Annabeth offers her a tightlipped smile in return.

“Pipes, are the boys doing anything tonight?” Hazel asks, turning to her roommate.

“Are they ever doing anything?” Piper responds, laughing.

“Be right back.” Hazel tells her and then sets off down the hall.

They both watch her walk down a few doors, stop at one, and then enter without knocking.

Annabeth finds herself looking at the floor, trying not to feel too awkward in the silence and trying not to get overwhelmed. She’s never been that great at small talk and she hadn’t really planned for all of this to happen. She’d been going and going since yesterday, thinking about the next task ahead, not stopping to think about anything else. If she starts to think about literally everything else going on she’ll start to spiral.

Piper speaks up before Annabeth can get too in her head, “What are you studying?”

“Architecture.” She responds and then a moment passes before Annabeth remembers that it’s the polite thing to do to ask Piper the same. “What about you?”

“Communication and environmental studies.” She tells her.

“Interesting combination.” Annabeth responds, because she really thinks that it is but then she’s afraid that it came out snarky and even though she doesn’t want to be in this situation, she doesn’t want to be seen as rude.

“Oh yeah,” Piper tells her, smiling, “I couldn’t make up my mind and I wanted to do something that would end up helping people one way or the other so I decided to do both.”

Annabeth just nods because she can’t think of a way to respond. She’s saved from having to try and come up with something else to talk about or standing in awkward silence when she hears a door open and sees Hazel come out with four boys in tow.

“Ah. Reinforcements” Piper says but Annabeth has no idea what that means and the prospect of meeting even more strangers makes her want to vomit.

“What?” She asks, but before Piper can answer her, Hazel is calling down the hall.

“Annabeth, this is Jason, Leo, and Frank. Boys, this is our new neighbor, Annabeth.” Hazel states, pointing at each boy is turn. Jason is tall and stocky, Leo is wiry and thin, Frank is just big.

She is assaulted by a chorus of hellos and heys and smiles from all directions. Annabeth has no idea why her new neighbor has brought out what seems like half the building, but she really doesn’t want to stay to find out. Thankfully, one of the movers calls her over to inform her that all of her boxes are now in her apartment. She signs a sheet of paper and thanks the man for his work. She turns back around and sees five pairs of eyes on her.

“Did they bring everything up?” Hazel asks her.

“Uh, yeah.” Annabeth responds, wondering why they’re all still standing there. She really just wants to get inside and sit in silence for a few minutes before getting to work on her next plan.

“Where’s Percy?” Piper asks, turning to the boys.

“He’s at his mom’s watching Estelle.” One of the boys, Jason, tells Piper.

“Well then, I guess he’s excused.” Piper says.

Annabeth notices the playful banter between the two, between all of them, really. The ease with which they are all interacting. She’s never had a big group of friends like what they have. It had always been just her and Thalia. And she had always thought that she was okay with that, but now she and Thalia were separated by thousands of miles and one impenetrable secret, as she observes the five strangers in front of her, she feels the snarls of jealousy growing in the pit of her chest again.

“Percy can make it up to us later, we need to get started.” Hazel tells the group.

“Started?” Annabeth asks.

“Yeah. We’re gonna help you unpack. It’ll take you forever by yourself!” Hazel responds, the excitement in her voice palpable.

Panic instantly rushes through her veins. This was not on the list of things that could potentially happen today. Annabeth didn’t have a plan for this. She had one for if her stuff got lost, if the movers were late, if all of her stuff arrived broken, she even had a plan for if something happened at the leasing office and she wasn’t able to pick up her keys for her apartment. She had made zero plans that factored in overly polite neighbors and their squadron of male helpers.

“Oh, you really, I mean, it’s fine. You don’t need to. I can, I can handle this.” Annabeth tells her, floundering. Trying to find a way out of this.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Hazel responds. “I saw how much stuff they were bringing up, and it’s already pretty late in the day, between the six of us, we’ll all be able to get it knocked out in no time.” And dammit, she’s still smiling. Annabeth doesn’t think she’ll be able to get out of this one. Not without being considered a huge bitch. And she knows that she should be grateful, she really does, and she’s trying very hard to be, to be grateful and thankful and a whole host of other nice feelings and words that these five perfect strangers would be so willing to give up their evening to help one imperfect stranger unpack the boxes that have weighed her down all across the country. She is trying very hard.

“It’s really no big deal. I had planned on doing it all by myself, anyway.” Annabeth tells them.

“Well, now you can plan on having some help.” Piper tells her, gentle smile resting on the corner of her mouth. “You can try and fight Hazel all you want, but once she makes her mind up about something, it gets done.”

The big guy, Frank, laughs and Hazel shoots him a look.

“What?” He says, raising his hands in defense, “You and everyone else knows that Piper is right.”

“Whatever.” Hazel responds, rolling her eyes, but there’s no malice in the word or the gesture.

“Welcome to the building, Annabeth.” Leo tells her as he opens her door and just walks into her apartment.

#I’m back on my bullshit #but this time it’s pjo #percy jackson #percabeth #fanfic

20 notes · View notes

percabethfeelsfandom · 3 years

Text

Writing Prompt: Nico Visiting Elysium

SPOILERS FOR THE BURNING MAZE AND THE TOWER OF NERO

The walk to Elysium was one that Nico was familiar with. Some days his feet would bring him there subconsciously, hoping to one day find his sister among the souls that resided there.

That day hadn’t come yet. But the heroes that were there were familiar with his presence, they weren’t bothered by the shadows beneath his feet, the tendrils that clung to his wrists, and winded themselves around his sword handle, ready to shoot out at his command. They didn’t blink an eye at the bags under his eyes, no matter how much sleep he got. When you’re a spirit constantly surrounded by death, you forget what life looks like. The same went for Nico.

It had been a while since he’d been to the Underworld to see his father and step mother, but the way the rubble crunched beneath his feet was almost comforting. He knew where the dips in the hill were, where to avoid the holes and minor chasms.

The environment and atmosphere of the Underworld began to shift the closer he got to Elysium.

Nico’s eyes adjusted to the brightness of Elysium, and the glittering blue lake where The Isles of the Blest resided. He shouldn’t have been able to enter through the gates, but being a child of the Underworld had its perks. The gates opened at Nico’s touch and Nico was greeted with the beautiful view of Elysium. For a home made for the dead, the place exuded a significant amount of life and light, yet it lacked the warmth real life did. It was beautiful in the way jewels were beautiful, sparkly and well-cared for, but not the way flowers were, in their life and their aliveness.

The trek to the pavilion where he usually met with spirits was hard, it didn’t get easier to see the spirits of heroes Nico had watched or felt die in battles he had also fought in. Every time he saw the familiar gleam of Hunter-silver he had to hold back a flinch. The flowers of Elysium were of gold and silver and Nico had come to the realisation that they were the only plants that didn’t wilt in his presence, it left him feeling an odd sense of pride as he picked one from the ground and placed it in his pocket for later. There was no breeze down here, yet the grass rippled in colours of the rainbow as spirits passed through, wanting to see why the child of Hades was present. Small voices called out to him beyond the gates, wanting to feed on his light, and his life but he pulled up a barrier in his mind, imagining a fortress to protect himself.

He stood in the middle of the pavilion and held out his hand. He wouldn’t need food to summon who he needed to speak to, he knew that they’d come.

“Jason Grace.”

His voice came out stronger than he thought it would. But he still wasn’t mentally prepared enough for the shape of Jason to appear so easily. He knew that Jason had died in his school uniform, but someone had taken the liberty to put him in a purple Camp Jupiter shirt, despite this, the colour was pale, as if all the colour had been bleached out.

Nico caught himself against a pillar as Jason’s form materialised by Nico’s feet. Jason was kneeling as if he was praying, head bowed and arms out trying to hold himself up.

“Jason?” Nico repeated.

The silvery outline of Jason seemed to grow brighter, before he rose to his full height. Nico tried not to stare, but it was difficult not to notice the gaping holes in his chest that glowed with silver through the purple shirt.

“Nico?”

When he was little, Nico had been taught by his mother and by Bianca that eye contact was important, it was rude if you didn’t meet people’s eyes when you were speaking to them. But over the years he had also learnt that in order to meet people’s eyes constantly, he needed to be prepared for other people to look into his eyes, allow them to see that vulnerability that he knew he showed.

Nico forced himself not to avert his eyes as Jason looked at him astounded, his wire framed glasses still sat atop his nose but Nico could no longer see his reflection in them. Everything about him looked the same, his voice too.

“Hi Jason,” Nico breathed, blinking hard. It was getting significantly harder to remain standing as Jason watched him. It had only been a couple of months since- but Nico hadn’t been able to bring himself to come down and search for him. It was a pain that reminded him all too much of the time when he'd just found out he was a demigod and his world had turned upside down.

“You’re angry with me,” Jason said, a small smile growing on his mouth. Nico let out a choked laugh and shook his head.

“I’m learning that grudges do me no good, especially against...especially against the dead,” Nico admitted. He waited for Jason’s form to blur into a corporeal version, but he remained in a hazy silvery state, like Nico was in the middle of an Iris message with him and Nico guessed perhaps they were; except instead of being miles apart and trying to communicate, it was the absence of Jason’s life and the existence of Nico’s that enabled them to talk despite Jason’s body being buried at Camp Jupiter.

“I always thought I wasn’t scared of death…when you’re a demigod of a prophecy you learn to be, and then Leo died, and I knew. I knew that whatever happened I had nothing to be scared of because he’d be here for me…”

“And then he wasn’t,” Nico filled in. Jason nodded, looking beyond the pavilion at the Isles of the Blest.

“I knew that he wouldn’t be here...yet, I don’t know, maybe it’s selfish to wish that I wasn’t alone-”

“It’s not,” Nico said firmly, standing up straighter to meet Jason’s gaze. With a sharp intake of breath he realised that he had slightly grown since he’d last seen Jason, and now he’d be immortalised at this height.

Jason seemed to notice at the same time, losing his train of thought as he looked down at Nico.

“You’ve grown taller,” he said fondly. Jason reached out almost as if he went to pet Nico’s head, but his hand passed through Nico, leaving him with a brain freeze. Jason noticeably winced and muttered an apology. The pain in Nico’s stomach was second to the odd feeling of familiarity. It had been many years since Nico had had an older sibling, and only recently had he become one again, yet Jason, in their small time period of knowing each other had grown closer than Nico would have thought. It was a nice thought, to think he had someone else watching over him, even if it was beyond the life he was currently living. Nico found himself thinking about Bianca again, the way he always did when he felt lost.

“I saw your plans for the temples,” Nico managed. He gripped the hilt of his sword, using it to ground him as his emotions began to unfurl, curling around him like a dark cloud.

“Apollo kept his promise?”

“He was adamant in doing so.”

Jason smiled, and it made him look younger, bringing a light to his face that should’ve been hard to achieve in the Underworld but he made it look easy.

“Will you try for the Isles?” Nico asked, and though he tried not to, fear laced his words as he watched Jason look at the island in question, a wistful look upon his features.

“Maybe…” Fear, as hot as lightning struck Nico in the chest, and he thought he was about to say goodbye to another demigod he had looked up to.

“But not yet. There are heroes here. Heroes that I fought with during the titan war, one’s I didn’t know the name of, same with the giant war. I think it’s time that I learned them.”

"Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you still scared?" Absentmindedly Nico placed his hand in his pocket where he kept a small token of luck, the familiar groove in the old mythomagic toy bringing him a bittersweet comfort.

Jason tilted his head to the side for a moment, thinking before he shook his head.

"Not anymore, no."

As he spoke, his light began to flicker, becoming more of a mirage than anything. Nico poured his power into him, praying to his father for more time. He had so much more to say, messages to pass on, and- he just wanted more time.

“Piper she-”

“Is she happy?” Jason asked, interrupting. Nico thought of Piper with her girlfriend, and the life she was building outside of Camp Half Blood and nodded slowly.

“And Leo?” He continued. This time Nico thought about Leo’s easy laugh and his constant energy, bouncing off the walls, and his smiles around Calypso.

“Yeah he’s happy but-”

“And Reyna? Percy and Annabeth? Frank? Hazel? Are they all happy? Right at this moment?” The question almost took Nico by surprise but he wasn’t lying when he said his answer.

“Yes.” Images of the other demigods, speaking via Iris message, and on visits to each other's camps flashed in Nico’s head. Reyna and her pledge to the Hunters echoed in his head, an almost mirror to Bianca and Thalias. The pictures Annabeth and Percy had sent to Chiron when they had arrived at college, pinned on the board in The Big House. Then of his little sister with her purple cape, matching Franks.

“They’re happy,” he repeated, more sure of himself when he said it. Jason seemed to relax.

“And Thalia?” he asked softly.

“She’ll be okay,” he replied honestly.

“I never wanted to leave her.”

“She knows.”

“What about you, Nico? Are you happy?”

The question jarred Nico and he hesitated to answer, thinking hard about it. He thought about the haze he had been in right after Jason’s death. The nightmares that had resurfaced, the voices that called to him from beneath the ground.

“I want to be.” It was the closest to the truth he could get. Will’s face flashed behind Nico’s closed eyelids, and unconsciously Nico smiled and nodded with more certainty.

Jason smiled again.

“Then I’ll be okay.”

53 notes · View notes

gratiaverticordia · 4 years

Text

so @blackpercy asked for some of my jewish jason headcanons and i uhhh will oblige.

• Jason never really had much concern for Beryl Grace’s family, and even less so after the events of BoO. He tried to run away from them as much as he could, and Thalia didn’t like to talk about them. This arrangement worked for the two of them.

• After the breakup, he was kind of at a loss, though. He couldn’t exactly come back to Camp Jupiter after having effectively ditched them for the Greeks and he didn’t really want to be around everything in L.A. that reminded him of Piper.

• He went to CHB for a couple of weeks during the winter, and moped around. It got bad enough that everyone had to call Percy.

• Seeing Percy and Sally’s relationship should hurt, but it kind of served as a reminder that Jason has a mortal family. Percy even suggested that he look into the living relatives of his mother. This might be as good an idea as any to occupy himself, and Jason goes with it.

• He Iris messages Thalia to talk about it, and she dislikes it but eventually opens up that Beryl Grace did have a sister and an older brother, but recommends against him looking for them. She doesn’t explain why, and tells him he doesn’t even have a way to prove his identity, nor can he explain what he’s been up to all these years.

• He looks for them anyways, a Michael and a Susan Grace, and e-mails them saying he’s a son of Beryl. He never gets a response from Thomas, but he does get one from Susan Grace, who’s in her late 50s at this point. She’s actually married now, and lives in upstate NY, so it’s not too much travel. She agrees to meet him, as she remembers that her sister had a daughter and an infant son.

• Percy goes with him for moral support. He knows how difficult meeting a long-lost relative can be, and wants to be there for Jason especially if it doesn’t work out.

• Percy notices the mezuzah on their door, but he doesn’t know if Jason even knows what it is, or to what an extent he’s been taught about the world outside New Rome.

• His aunt immediately recognizes him as a son of Beryl, citing that they look a lot alike, and Percy even noticed the aunt and nephew have an uncanny resemblance. She even remembers his stapler scar!

• Susan lives with her wife Sara and has two children Ariel and Isaac! Ariel is a twenty years old non-binary teen (they/them pronouns), who is currently in college and not there two meet Jason and Percy, and Isaac is fifteen, a year younger than Jason (he/him).

• They of course talk to Jason about his life and what he’s been up to all this time. Obviously Jason can’t tell them the truth, but he does tell them that he was adopted and raised near Oakland.

• Of course, she talks about Thalia. Jason doesn’t want to tell this perfectly nice couple that Thalia doesn’t really want contact, so he just tells them they’ve never met and that he didn’t know about her. He feels terrible for lying, but he doesn’t want to ruin his chances to be accepted here (he’s a people pleaser and y’all know I’m right).

• He eventually deflects the conversation about their life. Though to Percy it’s pretty obvious, Jason had yet to realize that they were Jewish up to this point, but Susan pretty openly talks about it. She mentions his mother Beryl didn’t like to talk about their heritage and wasn’t as connected to their Judaism as herself and her brother are.

• Jason originally feels like it makes sense, since his mother had a relationship with a polytheistic Greek deity, but he doesn’t say anything, for obvious reasons. But he goes home thinking about it, and how strange it was that he didn’t know about his own heritage.

• He does some research about it, though he still feels very weird on the whole subject due to being a demigod, despite knowing there were Jewish campers at Camp Jupiter. Percy isn’t sure what to tell him, and asks Annabeth about Magnus’ friend Samirah, since she’s also a child of a polytheistic deity in a monotheist religion.

• Jason thinks the meetup might be a good idea, and he goes to Boston, alone this time, and they get along rather well. She even asks him about flying! Amir is there too. Jason eventually does get to the bottom of what’s bothering him: he doesn’t want to feel like he doesn’t belong in yet another community because of his father.

• Both Sam and Amir tell him they can’t make their decision for him, and that he needs to do more research, and Sam explains to him that he doesn’t necessarily have to see the Olympians as gods in the strict sense, and that just because his father is Jupiter doesn’t mean Jason can’t forge his own identity and community or that he owes him any worship.

• Eventually, Jason finds the courage to talk about this to his aunt Susan! He e-mails her asking about his Jewish heritage and how to get closer to it. She invites him to temple for a Shabbat service.

• Jason eventually makes the decision to gradually incorporate aspects of Jewish living into his life. He starts taking online Jewish classes, and learning Hebrew. He struggles with the language aspects due to his dyslexia, though.

• The first mitzvah he engaged with was tefillin. He usually attended service twice a week, once on shabbat and once during the week. He continued this schedule after moving back to California.

• He also kept up with his Jewish studies. He doesn’t eat kosher, but does pop around the East Bay Oakland JCC, and keeps in touch with his family. He’s still indecisive about picking out a Hebrew name.

#jason grace #judaism #jewish headcanons #headcanon #jewish jason

150 notes · View notes

judgejurythceif · 3 years

Text

What the Seven’s relationship should have been like

We didn’t get to see a lot of the seven bonding as it was more focused on the quest, which makes sense in the story. But, I feel like some relationships people had and everyone instantly being best friends doesn’t make sense. So here’s a web of what I think the relationship between each member of the seven should have been like, with explanation.

Key

Pink- Dating

Dotted Pink- Crush

Close Friends- Blue

Friends- Green

Civil- Grey

Distrustful- Orange

Percy + Annabeth - Dating

Okay, I feel like this seems kind of obvious so I’m not going to go into much detail, but there were five books that built up their relationship with each other. It’s a healthy relationship and they trust each other. I might explain this in detail later why I ship Percabeth and why it’s not toxic but I’m not going to right now.

Percy + Jason - Friends

Okay, the bromance stuff was completely made up by the fandom except I think for one time where they called each other “bro.” They also have sort-of a Greek-Roman rivalry going on, but after the fight in Kansa, they seem to ditch that except for a couple of jokes about them being able to beat the other in a fight.

Percy + Leo - Distrustful

I’m pretty sure (I haven’t reread HoO in a while) that Leo didn’t like Percy. But Percy definitely didn’t trust Leo after he bombed the Romans while he was possessed. He knows that Leo wasn’t in control, but it was very important to Percy that the Roman and Greeks got along, and Leo blew up the Roman camp.

Percy + Hazel - Friends

Okay so they definitely became friends in SoN when they were on a quest. I just don’t see them becoming really close friends like Percy is with Grover and Thalia? Like, I can see them as the type of friends that talk in school, but not the type of friends that would schedule days to hang out together unless it was for a project.

Percy + Frank - Friends

Basically same as Hazel and Percy. I love their friendship, but I can’t see them trying to figure out time to hang out between their schedules.

Percy + Piper - Close Friends

Okay, this is partially influenced by posts I saw about the potential for their friendship, but I definitely see a lot of potential for their friendship without headcanons and just reading the books.

Annabeth + Jason - Civil

So, in different circumstances, like a mortal au, I can see them being friends. But in the canon universe, her boyfriend disappears, Hera gives her a clue, she goes thinking Percy will be there, and it’s some Roman kid that’s supposed to be his replacement. I just don’t see them being able to get past that and actually be friends. I don’t think she would hate him or distrust him though, because he didn’t exactly have a say in it.

Annabeth + Leo - Friends

Okay, there was so much potential in this friendship and Rick just ignored it. Annabeth and Leo both like to build (Annabeth more so the planning part of it but still), they’re both extremely smart, and they’re also both dating people that are considered the hero of their respective camps. I just feel like we could have gotten a lot more interaction from them.

Annabeth + Hazel - Distrustful

Okay, so we’re going to start this from Annabeth’s point of view: your boyfriend goes missing for months, you go to find him, and he’s just chilling with some new Roman friends he found? He didn’t even tell you anything? Time for Hazel’s point of view because that’s all I have for Annabeth: There’s this boy that shows up at camp, he’s a son of Neptune and also your cousin. He has amnesia and doesn’t remember anything except for his girlfriend. If you hadn’t know what Percy and Annabeth’s relationship was like and how well they knew each other wouldn’t you find that a little suspicious. Also as Reyna mentions, Minerva (Athena’s Roman form) doesn’t have demigod children. It would probably be harder to trust a child of someone who isn’t supposed to have kids.

Annabeth + Piper - Close Friends

It’s implied that they’re pretty close friends in canon while they’re at Camp Half-Blood, and I love that, but it’s like the second they were on the Argo ll Rick completely forgot about that. I think they only interacted once or twice on the ship.

Annabeth + Frank - Distrustful

This is pretty much the same as Annabeth and Hazel’s but a little less distrustful. I see it as more distrustful at the beginning, but as time goes on they grow closer and maybe become friends.

Jason + Leo - Dating

I will die mad that this ship isn’t canon. It had much more potential than Piper and Jason, which seemed kind of forced. I think that this ship would definitely be better if Jason didn’t wake up on the bus already dating someone, and everyone had time to figure out their feelings.

Jason + Piper - Friends

I just don’t really feel like they worked together as a relationship. Hera literally forced it together when Jason woke up on the bus. If I was Rick Riordan (and I am very obviously not since I’m making this post), I would just not have made Piper and Jason wake up on the bus already dating. You need to give them time to figure out what they actually want to do and not shove them into a relationship on the first page.

Jason + Hazel - Friends

This is purely based on the fact that they’re both Roman and I’m assuming they talk at the Argo ll meet up parties that Percy mentioned. They get very little time to talk in the books (I don’t remember them talking at all) and they never mention each other. Hazel seems sad when he dies though so it’s kind of implied they were friends. (Am I still supposed to tag for spoilers for that?)

Jason + Frank - Friends

This is again based on the fact that they were both Roman and the fact that Jason promoted Frank to praetor in the middle of a fight. You probably don’t do that if you only kind of know the person, you need to build a relationship* with each other and trust each other.

Leo + Piper - Close Friends

Hmmmmmm, okay. They definitely knew each other before Jason just popped onto the bus, and they were definitely close (possibly dating?) But I see their relationship ship as more of a sibling relationship instead of romantic. 10/10 I love them though.

Leo + Hazel - Close Friends

Okay, so. Because Frazel isn’t happening in my mind, there isn’t any weird tension between them except for the Sammy thing. So, they figure that out and through that just become really good friends. I would also die for this friendship. That was underdeveloped because Rick rushed a love triangle.

Leo + Frank - Friends

Okay, no Frazel here still so there’s no weird tension between “are you trying to steal my girlfriend?” which was the main part of their relationship. Frank would definitely be wary of Leo because of his fire powers but Calypso gave him the fireproof fabric and he made the bag for Frank’s firewood so they definitely don’t hate each other.

Piper + Hazel - Friends

Okay, this just seems like a really neat friendship to me? They don’t interact that I can remember beside the visit with Aphrodite/Venus and they don’t really talk during that. There’s definitely a lot of potential for a friendship here though.**

Piper + Frank - Friends

Okay, I absolutely love the potential for this friendship. Again, it didn’t happen because Rick is a coward but I absolutely love this and they would be such good friends.

Hazel + Frank - Close Friends

Okay, so. I put two lines between them. ‘Crush’ and ‘close friends.’ No matter what’s going on, I feel like Hazel would have a crush on Frank. He obviously doesn’t like her back, because he is two years older than her. I know that people are saying Frazel isn’t problematic, and I somewhat agree, but I feel like if Hazel was aged-up a little it would be better. No matter what, they’re definitely going to be best friends though. And Hazel definitely still carries his firewood.***

*by ‘relationship’ when I mention it, I don’t always mean a romantic relationship.

**I do really want to put all of them as friends, but I just can’t see that happening, as they were seven demigods out on a ship and told to save the world. In a random group of seven people, there’s going to be at least one you don’t like.

***Another point I wanted to put on here but don’t know where to put it is that Rick forced them all into relationships. A lot of teenagers just don’t date anyone, and that doesn’t feel reflected at all in his books, as he just pairs every single character off with someone.

34 notes · View notes

riordanversephantom · 4 years

Text

So hi, since I’ve been crying for like... the past hour? (Lol future Phantom here, it’s taken me like an hour to compile this) here’s a collection of moments from my Riordanverse fanfics that I really like or made me chuckle because I need some feel good. These are all from my Ao3 and I’ll leave links.

“You know usually people show up at someone’s house when the person is home,” Nico said, starting to make himself a sandwich. Thalia laughed.

“You’re telling me that while you’re sitting here the same as me making a sandwich?” She leaned back on the stool, gripping the counter to keep her balance. Nico rolled his eyes.

“I don’t intend to show up while he’s not here.”

“You’re funny Nico.”

“Thanks, I get that a lot,” Nico raised one eyebrow, Thalia laughed again.

(Percy’s not home)

“Jason fractured his ankle...while on the rock wall…” Will looked up at Nico, “he can fly, how did he do that?”

“He’s silly like that.”

Will paused for so long that Nico thought he had finally fallen asleep.

“Cecil brought me some Zebra cakes today,” Will mumbled, “he wasn’t injured but they tasted good. I appreciated it. He probably stole them.”

(Just go to bed)

More under the cut

Nico couldn’t help but crack a small smile, “thanks Kayla.” He gently took the sweatshirt from her. This was one of Will’s favorites (and also Nico’s favorite to take).

“Since you’re practically a member of the family now, I wanted to look out for you,” she yawned and glanced behind her, “since things have been a bit quiet with Will visiting his mom.”

“Yeah,” Nico agreed.

She smiled, “I guess I’ll let you get back to bed.”

Nico nodded, “goodnight Kayla.”

“Goodnight Nico,” she yawned again and started to trudge back to her cabin.

(Miss him the most)

“Look at you, I think we still need to have that competition of who looks worse after crying,” Will smirked.

“I still think it’s you,” Kayla cracked a small smile.

“It’s probably still me,” Will sighed, “let’s get back before Austin gets worried and the harpies come kill us though.”

“Yeah…”

(I’m still here)

But Will, half asleep and frightened had somehow ended up on the front porch of the Hades cabin at four in the morning. When Nico opened the door he had stumbled into Nico’s arms, enveloping Nico into a huge hug.

“Oh,” Nico whispered, running his fingers through Will’s hair.

“I…” Will swallowed hard, “nightmare I… didn’t know… what to do.”

He wasn’t crying but the panic was evident in his voice. Nico nodded silently and led Will inside, shutting the door behind him.

(Understand that I love you, dear)

“It’s fine,” Leo wiped some grease on his shirt and shifted on the chair, “I know what I’m doing.”

Jason doubted that, but he crossed his arms in front of his chest and watched. Leo’s chair that he was standing on looked old and worn, it looked very close to falling apart. Jason got a bit closer just in case Leo fell.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to help you?” Jason asked again.

“Why? Are you worried?” Leo let out a sigh and turned to Jason, the chair wobbled and he threw his arm out to steady himself. Jason hissed and quickly stepped forward, his arms outstretched.

“Yeah, a bit,” Jason responded, “I don’t want you to fall. Let me help.”

(How tall are you)

“I’m thinking about hiding away in the woods for a while, maybe we could talk, maybe kiss,” Leo suggested with a shrug.

(How tall are you)

Will buried his face in his hands, tugging at his bangs. He didn’t say anything, Nico was too afraid to do anything at the moment.

Finally, Will let out a shaky sigh, running his fingers through his hair, “you know what,” he laughed without humor, “nope, it’s been a long week.” Will turned towards the desk and started to tidy up the papers he was working on.

“I’m going to bed, I can’t do this right now. I haven’t slept all week and I’m exhausted,” Will turned back to Nico and put a hand on his shoulder, he smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes, “I’m glad you’re back Nico. I’m too angry to actually welcome you home properly so instead I’m going to sleep for the rest of the day. Then come back to this conversation as a well rested organized individual.”

(Cause it hurts)

(like go seek out any other of his friends to alert them of his return, or iris messaging his sister to let her know he was all right) he sulked back to his cabin.

He did eventually do the second thing and Hazel was more than thrilled and relieved. Though when he first iris messaged her, she yelled at him so loudly Frank and a couple other kids actually came in to see what was going on.

(Cause it hurts)

“Did you come here for something?” Will finally asked, clicking his pen absently. He looked back over at Nico.

“Oh right,” Nico walked over to where Will was sitting and plopped himself right on top of the desk, “I came for you.”

“For me?” Will raised one eyebrow, leaning his chin on his elbow.

“It’s getting late, I was getting impatient for you to come back,” Nico said, crossing his arms in front of his chest stubbornly.

“Oh so you missed me?” Will smirked. Nico thought he shouldn’t look so smug.

“Don’t act like you don’t miss me too when I leave for a bit,” Nico huffed.

“I’m not going to act, I’ve admitted it before and I’ll do it again.”

(I trust you as my eyes)

“There we go, that’s my Will,” Nico mumbled, “sometimes nightmares are just nightmares. Nothing more.”

“No stupid prophecy or foreseeing of death,” Will squeezed Nico tighter.

“Just a normal old punch in the gut from your subconscious.”

“I hate my subconscious.”

“Me too.”

(My subconscious hates me)

“Oh, hello Sunshine.”

Kayla woke to her brother’s voice. For a second she thought he was going insane and actually talking to the sun. Then she remembered what happened at three am last night… or well, this morning.

(Not yet brother in law)

The two of them were quiet again. A leaf fluttered onto Percy’s face. Annabeth swiped it away without a thought. He licked her hand.

“Gross, Percy! Are you ten?” Annabeth cried out, wiping her hand on Percy’s shirt.

He laughed, “you asked for it, putting your hand too close to my mouth.”

“I was getting a lead off of you like a loving girlfriend.”

He stuck his tongue out at her. Annabeth furrowed her eyebrows, gathering a ton of leaves that were settled around her and dropped them on his face. He sat up spluttering, spitting leaves out of his mouth.

“That wasn’t nice!” He exclaimed, shaking the leaves from his hair.

(Content)

“You’re a whore,” Drew glared at Will.

Lacy gasped, she looked like she wanted to say anything, but she didn’t.

“ Wow ,” Will puffed out his cheeks before letting out a slow breath, “A whore ? I’ve been called a lot of things, but a whore ? That ones new.”

“Just like Apollo,” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Oh yeah, that makes sense,” Will nodded in agreement, “but, well I hate to break it to you, but I’d like to think I’m pretty faithful to my boyfriend. Unlike you so, I think that the term ‘ whore ’ would better apply to you.” Will clicked his tongue and shrugged.

“Well,” Drew spluttered, obviously running out of insults, “at least I can get a date without even having to try.”

“Drew that is enough,” Piper spoke firmly, her voice cold, “you too Will.” She seemed a bit reluctant about that last part.

Will held up his hands in defense, “hey, I didn’t do anything. Anyway, getting a date with no effort doesn’t really sound like love.”

“ Will, ” Piper shot him a pointed look, Will shrugged.

(Nail polish is gay)

I mean obviously there are a ton more since I have so many fics on my Ao3 but this was just a couple (a lot) from some of my more “recent” fics. If you’ve made it this far, thanks and I hope you liked these small little bits. Check out my Ao3 for more riordanverse fics and follow me on TikTok for cosplay (@phantomxlegend for both).

104 notes · View notes

forevfangirlwrites · 3 years

Note

how about a really jealous percy au ehile they are studying at uni?

Percy’s had a rough week. Well, more like a rough month, but especially a rough week. So, he tries to take the night as a chance to relax. He’s at Jason’s with Annabeth and a few friends, sipping beer, watching Jason and Piper go at it in Mario Kart and just having a chill time.

That is until, Luke walks in.

He’s never liked Luke that much, they just don’t mesh together and he’s not really sure who invited him tonight. But given that Luke is Thalia’s friend, that’s probably it.

“Luke! How are you doing?” Annabeth greets from her place beside Percy.

Maybe it’s the rough week, maybe it’s the alcohol, but for some reason that irks him.

He knows it’s dumb, it’s just a hello. But he can feel himself getting annoyed.

Maybe it’s because Luke looks good. Neat and put together in a way that Percy hasn’t felt in a while.

“Annabeth, good to see you. I’m good, what about you?”

Annabeth smiles brightly and responds with something that Percy doesn’t pay attention to because Annabeth also looks good.

Well, she always looks good. Her hair is out of the usual ponytail, tumbling out in curls across her shoulders and even though she’s just wearing jeans and a white tee, she looks unfairly attractive.

Percy, on the other hand, knows his hair is unkempt (and not in a cute way). His clothes are wrinkled since he hasn’t had any time to fold anything, and even the pizza on the table in front of him looks unappetizing as he remembers all the junk food he’s been eating out of convenience.

This semester is kicking his ass. Letting out a sigh, he finishes off the rest of his beer.

“Did you get a haircut? Your hair looks really good,” he catches Luke saying.

Pursing his lips, he holds back a sniping remark. Luke is grating on his nerves today.

Annabeth shakes her head, making the wavy curls bounce a little. “No, just decided not to put my hair in a ponytail today.”

He needs another beer.

“It suits you.”

“Annabeth” Percy interjects loudly, unable to tolerate any more of this.

She turns to look at him curiously, no doubt wondering about his volume and tone.

“What’s up?”

Shit…he doesn’t actually have something to say. He glances at the empty beer bottle in his hand.

“Um, could you…get me another drink?”

Annabeth, as ever, sees through his request. “You sure? You’re acting kinda strange…maybe you shouldn’t have any more.”

He tries not to huff at her words.

Standing up, mostly just to get away, he turns to her. “Never mind, I can get it. Do you want something?”

She shakes her head, but he can feel her eyes on him as he walks away.

Normally, as he’s been told, he’s a really easy-going kind of person. So anger is something he hasn’t felt in a while…but he can feel it now, brewing up.

Ditching his path to the kitchen, he heads for the bathroom instead in an effort to calm down.

Mistake.

The mirror is just a reminder of how shitty he looks. Disheveled, bloated, with bags under his eyes, he can’t compete (though he tries to remind himself it’s not a competition) with Luke.

Somehow feeling worse than when he came in, he leaves the bathroom and automatically returns to his spot, trying not to think much more about anything.

Luke and Annabeth are talking about some show (that he doesn’t have time to be watching) and he leans back against the couch to stare up the ceiling, wondering what the hell he’s doing here.

Running a hand through his hair, he looks back at the screen, focusing on Leo’s callouts of the game in front of him rather than the fact that Annabeth barely registered that he’d sat down.

But even that distraction doesn’t last as he hears Luke say something about tomorrow night. He doesn’t know the context, doesn’t need to, he’s just so done with everything.

As casually as he can, he stretches so his arm is around Annabeth, while still keeping his eyes on the TV screen.

Normally, he’s not one to get jealous, but tonight is a night of many not-normal things apparently.

Annabeth, seemingly absently, scoots a bit closer to him. He takes it as a win and relaxes a little as he pulls put his phone.

Another mistake.

-.-

Read on AO3: LINK

A/N: Thank you so much for the prompt! This ended up a bit longer than I had thought so I’m linking my AO3! Also, I’m sorry this took such a long time to write! I hope you like it and that it was the jealous Percy content you were looking for!

15 notes · View notes

greekgrad12 · 4 years

Text

know

tlh/son content i didn’t ask for :)

(tw!! mentions of not eating and depression)

**********************************

It had been four months, five days, and twelve hours since Percy Jackson disappeared. Four months, five days, and twelve hours since he kissed her goodnight and went off to his cabin. She was supposed to see him the next day. They had planned to eat breakfast together and then go to the stables to hang out with Blackjack. It was meant to be normal day, and yet, it ended up being the beginning of Annabeth’s worst nightmare. She thought he’d be back by now. She thought she would have been able to find him at this point.

One week, she would catch herself thinking, He was able to find me in barely one week after Atlas captured me. Why can’t I find him?

The last four months have been hard, but Annabeth had recently fallen into a new kind of despair. Something more than an ache, more than a sinking feeling in her chest. The feeling made her physically ill. Over half of the time, she wanted to scream, and her siblings encouraged it. They tried to convince her that it could help, but she was too numb to ever put in the effort.

The past week had been her worst one yet. Annabeth barely left bed, let alone the Athena cabin. She spent every day staring at Daedalus’ computer looking through missing people’s reports, searching for strange happenings around the world, and trying to come up with new search plans. She hadn't eaten in days and it was beginning to be noticeable.

Her brothers and sisters tried to reason with her, but she wouldn't budge. Piper tried to comfort her, but Annabeth didn't want pity. The Stoll’s stopped by and tried to make her laugh, but she barely breathed out a chuckle. Even Will Solace made an appearance and tried to convince her that she needed to be taking better care of herself.

“Percy wouldn't want to see you like this,” he’d said.

But how would he know what Percy would want? She was his girlfriend. She was his best friend. She was the one who felt like she was dying every morning when she woke up and realized that this wasn’t all a big nightmare. Annabeth was the one who’d lost someone she loved, again, and couldn't do anything about it, again.

She didn't even have Grover to lean on. If she were to let anyone in right now, it would be either him or Thalia, but they were both off leading the satyrs and hunters in a search party. At least they were doing something. Chiron hadn't let her leave the camp in who knows how long. Apparently, she was too big of a risk in her present state. Annabeth thought that was bullshit.

Somehow, the girl had managed to feel more weak, useless, and alone then she ever had before, and yet, at the same time, she felt nothing.

A knock on her cabin door pulled Annabeth from her computer screen. She assumed it would be one of her siblings trying to coax her into coming to dinner again, but she was surprised to see none other than Clarisse la Rue leaning against the door of her cabin, hands behind her back.

“What are you doing here?” Annabeth’s voice came out croaky. She hadn't spoken all day.

“Could ask you the same thing,” Clarisse replied as she walked further into the room towards where Annabeth sat on her bunk, “It’s dinner time, princess.”

Annabeth rolled her eyes at the big girl looking down at her, “I’m not hungry. And I’m busy.”

Clarisse scoffed, “Yeah, and I don't buy it. You missed breakfast and lunch today, and dinner last night. And the night before, and the night before that.”

“Like I said, I’ve been busy.”

“Annabeth,” The end of the bed dipped as Clarisse took a seat. The blonde didn’t want to look up from the laptop, but there was something strange in Clarisse’s voice. She still sounded annoyed, but it was almost comforting, gentle even.

When she looked at Clarisse, she was met with an expression she’d never really seen on the girl’s face before. It could almost be described as a mix between an aggressive don't bullshit me and a gentle I know. Annabeth hated it.

I know.

I know this is hard for you. I know this hurts. I know things will turn out okay.

For some reason, everyone assumed that they knew what Annabeth was going through. That they knew what she was feeling. But how could they possible understand what she was feeling when she couldn't put it into words herself? Annabeth was no stranger to loss, but this? This was different. She’d always been a tough girl. She’s always been the one who was able to hold herself together and put on a brave face for the sake of doing what’s important. But this? Loosing Percy? Her Seaweed Brain?

They had been through so much together and so far they’d survived. Together. And now she's facing all of this alone. Annabeth isn't some damsel in distress. She survived without Percy before, so she wasn't sure why she suddenly feels like she can't breathe without him.

She didn't want to be reminded of those stupid words ever again, “Don't.”

Annabeth was surprised that Clarisse even heard her. The word came out in a harsh whisper and the waver in her voice didn't help.

Rather than give her the typical pity look, Clarisse just sighed and brought her hands out from behind her back. In her right hand, she was holding a water bottle, in the left, a piece of pizza wrapped in a napkin, extra olives. Annabeth just stared at it.

“Who sent you?”

“Believe it or not, I come by my own free will,” Clarisse placed the food and drink down in front of Daedalus’s computer, “You’ve been ignoring everyone. I think Malcolm was about to send out an Iris Mesage to Thalia and have her bring the hunters back so she could try her hand at talking to you. Figured I’d give it a go before we resort to that.”

“Why do you care if the hunters come here?”

Clarisse got quiet and looked down at the food she’d brought in. There was a look on her face, it almost as if she was contemplating what to say. It took a moment before she finally let out a sigh and spoke up, “Those hunters jump back really quickly. They were back to the hunt in no time after the Titan War. And it’s tradition to have a game of Capture the Flag every time they visit. We haven’t played since before, well, everything-“

“And you don’t want to loose to them again,” Annabeth scoffed. Of course Clarisse would have her own agenda in mind right now. The blonde had half a mind to throw the pizza into her face and-

“No,” Despite Annabeth’s rude tone, Clarisse remained calm, “I just don’t want to fight. Not for a little while longer at least.”

Annabeth wasn’t sure how to react to the confession. She’d never heard an Ares kid say they didn't want to fight. Especially Clarisse. The other girl must have sensed Annabeth’s confusion, or read it right off of her face, because she explained further, “The um... the last time I was in an actual fight was right after Silena... you know.”

This time it was Clarisse who was avoiding eye contact. Of course Annabeth knew, she was right there when it happened. She witnessed first hand as Clarisse’s tough walls crumbled at the sight of Silena’s death. No camper was excited about training after the war was over. A majority of the summer had been spent as if they were kids at a normal summer camp and not a bunch of demigods who had just fought in a giant war where half of their friends had died. For a moment, just moment, they were normal.

But training would have to start again eventually. Wars come and go, but monsters will always return. However, no one was eager to jump back into making a game out of war when they had just barley survived a real one.

“Yeah...” I know.

Annabeth stopped before those cursed words could slipped through her lips. She and Silena were very close friends. She missed her all the time. She would be reminded of her when she walked past the Aphrodite cabin, or when she went to see Backjack, or, even worse, when she hung out with Piper. Annabeth loved and missed Silena so much, but she didn't know what Clarisse was going through.

When Chris came back to camp, Clarisse and Silena became closer than ever. The daughter of Ares found someone she could confide in and trust. A person who she could let her walls down with, but it was more than that. At least, that’s what Annabeth was starting to believe.

Looking back at the days after the war, Annabeth now realized how familiar this all must be for Clarisse, because she was the exact same way. Well, maybe not the exact same. The daughter of Ares didn't spend her time searching news reports or making up search plans, but she retreated in her own way. It wasn't until Chris intervened that she started to get back to her old self.

“Clarisse,” Annabeth asked, gently, “How did- I mean, with Silena- you-”

Clarisse snickered, but it wasn't harsh in any way, “I think this is the first time I’ve heard an Athena kid sound so unsure. Just ask.”

“How did it feel?” the blonde was straining not to let tears fall from her eyes, “When she- when you lost her?”

“It felt like...” Clarisse bit her tongue and leaned her head back, as if she were trying to hold something back too, “It felt like I’d just lost what made me whole.”

“Why?” the question came out softer than she’d intended.

Then, for maybe the first time in her life, Annabeth saw a soft smile appear on Clarisse’s face, “Because I loved her. Just like you love Percy, just like he loves you.”

Love.

Annabeth didn’t know when she stopped trying to hold back her tears, but by the time she realized her cheeks were wet, it was too late to do anything about it.

“I don’t know how you feel, but I know what you’re going through. Though, hopefully, not completely. Jackson is still out there, I know because that headache he always causes me to have is still here,” Annabeth laughed for the first time in months, “Look, I do intend to help you find him, and I will hit him over the head for leaving, whatever the reason, I don't really care. But you have to start taking care of yourself again, Annabeth. What you're doing, it’s dangerous and stupid. Believe me, I know. And we don’t call you Wise Girl because you’re stupid.”

Then, Annabeth did something she never thought she’d ever do. She shut her computer then reached out and gave Clarisse la Rue a hug. Just as Annabeth was sure she was about to get body slammed, the other girl hugged her back.

“No offense or anything,” Annabeth said, pulling away from the girl and wiping tears off of her face, “but this all seems very un-Clarisse of you.”

The girl chuckled at that, “Silena taught me to open up about my feelings. I’m beginning to realize that I wouldn't be honoring her if I decided to backtrack into my old secluded ways just because she’s gone. However, that being said, if anyone asks, I came in here, yelled some sense into you, and you don't know about my mushy side.”

A small smile appeared on Annabeth’s face, “Deal.”

“Good,” Clarisse said, leaning back onto the bed post, “Now, I'm not leaving until you drink your water and eat your pizza. After this, you're going to the bonfire and having one night off, and if you argue I will go all Ares on you. We have every resource available out there looking for Percy. I know it’s your specialty and all, but you shouldn't be stressing yourself over things you can't control. He’ll come back to you, he loves you too much to stay away much longer.”

After that, there wasn't much more convincing to be done. Annabeth ate her food and drank her drink while having a civil conversation with Clarisse. She’d gone back to talking and teasing like the Clarisse Annabeth knew, but now she was someone else. The last thing the blonde girl ever imagined was to have Clarisse la Rue, daughter of Ares, help her sort out her feelings, but now she knew.

Annabeth knew why it hurt so much that Percy was gone. She knew why no one was able to comfort her, not in the way that he did, and she knew why losing him hurt so much more than anyone else. She knew why she had this dark feeling surrounding her, even still now, because one heart-to-heart over a piece of pizza won’t just take that away. But she knew it was possible. Clarisse was proof. Annabeth can come back from this and find Percy. She knew she could. She knows she can.

Because now she's knows why it’s so important.

It’s because it’s Percy.

And it’s because she loves him.

#I suck at ending I'm sorry #did I cry while writing this?#that's a secret i'll never tell #(but yes)#percabeth #percabeth fic #percy jackson #annabeth chase #clarisse la rue #clarisse x silena #pjo #pjo headcanon #pjo fanfic #try and tell me clarisse wasn't in love silena i dare you #I wrote this in like twenty mins so please excuse that terrible grammar #i really don’t know where i was going with this but have fun with it i guess #I feel like if my brain wasn't so chaotic this would have come out a LOT better #writing about tlh/son era annabeth makes me sad

67 notes · View notes

winryofresembool · 3 years

Text

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 25

aka Caleo uni au

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

Chapter summary: Halloween aftermath

A/N: Sorry for the wait again! This chapter wanted to become long (for my chapter) so I just couldn't finish it in time. About the future schedule, there won't be another chapter this week but given it's only Tuesday now, I think I may be able to update again Friday next week. Fingers crossed!

Thanks for all the comments again, you guys make me so motivated to continue! ♥ But I won't rant more, now I'll let you know what happens after the cliffhanger of ch 24.

Words: 3,8k+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / AO3

...

Calypso woke up with her head banging in pain and a sour taste in her mouth. She also felt like throwing up. What was even worse than that, though, was that she had no idea where she was. She was still wearing a flowy, white dress instead of her pajamas and she didn’t recognize the bed she had slept in. Perhaps the strangest part was that she could hear light snoring from the floor behind the foot of the bed. She sat up on the bed so she could see who caused the sound, panic starting to surge in her veins when she recognized the dark mop of hair under a blanket.

It was Leo, sleeping on a mattress that had been taken from the other side of the double bed she had been sleeping in. What on earth had possessed him to sleep there, Calypso wondered worriedly.

Pulling a cover over her (which, she knew, was silly because obviously Leo had already seen her in her dress earlier) she continued scanning her surroundings and slowly started making some conclusions. This had to be Jason and Piper’s house, where they had stayed the night after the Halloween party. A party. Right. Her last clear thoughts were from the moment when she had seen the two Hunter girls arrive at the party. After that, she remembered vaguely fleeing the room and finding something to drink, and that’s when her memory got really blurry. And that was the truly scary part. She hadn’t been truly drunk even once within the past five years but she did know way too well what had happened the previous time she had done that. The biggest mistake of her life.

Before she allowed her mind to draw any more conclusions, she decided to rise from her bed and check up on Leo. He was still sound asleep and since the blanket had partially fallen off of him, she could see that he was wearing a tank top and boxers, which she took as a good sign. Since they both were at least somewhat clothed, she thought it was quite unlikely that they had crossed the line that she was not ready to cross. But that didn’t mean that nothing had happened.

“Ahem,” she cleared her throat while wrapping the bed cover around her a bit better, trying to make Leo wake up. She needed to do that at least twice more before he finally stirred.

“Wha… Woah!” He yelped with surprise when he realized where he was and with whom, quickly pulling his blanket over his mostly bare legs. “Morning, Sunshine. How are you feeling today?”

The panic had momentarily made Calypso forget about her headache and dizziness but now that Leo reminded her of it, she realized they hadn’t disappeared anywhere. Sitting back on her bed, she sighed.

“I’ve been better, that’s for sure.” She rubbed her forehead for a moment. “The worst part is that I have no idea what happened last night.”

“You… don’t remember any of it?” Leo asked while sitting up, and Calypso thought she could hear a hint of disappointment in his voice.

“I do remember what happened before my first drink,” Calypso clarified. “But not much after that.”

“In that case, I think I can help you fill some gaps,” Leo replied. “If you want to.”

“That would be good.” Calypso tried to undo some knots in her hair with her fingers, sighing with frustration. “Maybe you can start with explaining why we are both here. I mean, in this room. I think Piper and Jason have several extra rooms in their house.”

Leo’s face turned bright red at the implications of Calypso’s question. He had to clear his throat before he managed to answer. “Um… You were really not feeling well last night… And to be honest, some moments you seemed pretty desperate to… I don’t know, it seemed like you were trying to escape from Thalia and Reyna every time they tried to talk to you. So, um, we, as in, me, Piper, Jason, Annabeth and Percy thought that someone should probably keep an eye on you. Just in case. So. I volunteered.”

Calypso wanted to keep Leo distracted so he wouldn’t ask more about Thalia and Reyna so she asked: “But why you, and not for example Piper? She lives here so it would have been easier for her. You could have just driven home and come to pick me up today or something.”

“That’s… that’s true but I felt it was my duty… as your flatmate, of course… to make sure you’re OK,” Leo stuttered. Calypso had a feeling it wasn’t the whole truth but she didn’t push it. “Alright,” Calypso said. “But why were you sleeping in this room? Like I said earlier, there are other places…”

“Ahem,” Leo made a coughing sound again. “That’s because you asked me to stay here. And I’m not lying about that. You can think anything you want about me but I would not do anything without your consent… um, not that any of that has even crossed my mind, gods.”

Even though Calypso was relieved to hear that because it proved that nothing had happened between them, she had to admit to herself that perhaps a tiny part of her was a bit disappointed. Leo’s reply made it sound like he did not have any romantic feelings towards her. Or then he was a liar. Either way, Calypso wasn’t sure what she should think.

“I… asked you to stay with me?” she repeated instead.

“Um, yeah,” Leo replied, his fingers tapping on his blanket absentmindedly. “You said something about nightmares… and I dunno, you just didn’t wanna be alone. Piper asked if you’d like her to stay but… you picked me? I don’t know why.”

There was a long pause before Calypso answered. Maybe it was her dizzy head making her make decisions she usually wouldn’t, but she thought there was no reason to deny it anymore. Feeling the warmth on her cheeks, she finally replied: “That’s because – I hate myself for this, but - you… you mean more to me than her.”

“I… what?” Leo frowned, looking like he was wondering if he had heard right.

Calypso sighed deeply and hid her face into her hands. She hated how fast her heart was racing in that moment. “I’ve been trying to deny that for several weeks now, but… I guess the drunk me was more honest than what I usually am.”

Leo crossed his arms, inching closer to Calypso on his mattress so he could look at her directly. “But… but… what does it mean? I mean, I do have an idea because I’m not an idiot even if I seem like one – but I need to hear it from you.”

“Leo Valdez, it means I like you! In a very non flatmate like way! There, are you happy now?” Calypso’s voice started cracking and she felt like she was on the verge of tears.

“Of course I am!” He exclaimed, almost jumping up from his mattress. “I think I’ve had a crush on you ever since you got mad at me for smashing your table!”

Calypso’s mouth opened in surprise. “You… have? But… how?”

“When you got mad at me that time, I saw some fire in your eyes. Like, OK, I’m gonna admit that you looked hot from moment one but I didn’t care about that. I didn’t,” he repeated when Calypso looked at him skeptically. “I know a lot of girls who kinda remind me of you with their shiny long hair, perfect eyelashes, et cetera, but many of them are the type of people who used to laugh at me at high school. And I mean, not in a good way. But when I saw that fire, somehow I was convinced that you were different. You have just the kind of spunk that I like and you’re not afraid to call me out when I deserve it – but you’re still fair and don’t judge the book by its cover. Fine, of course I was worried I was wrong and you wouldn’t forgive me for that mistake. But, somehow, this one time, I was right. And I only got more convinced as I learned to know you better.”

“Leo…” Calypso was starting to lose the fight against the tears.

Leo looked extremely worried when he realized she was crying. “What? I thought you’d be happy to hear that? I like you – you apparently like me for whatever crazy reason – what’s the problem?”

Calypso tried to brush off the tears from her face before answering, her eyes sparkling with frustration. “The problem is that you just made this – what I should do – a hundred times harder! If… if you hadn’t answered to my feelings, I could have just tried to accept that and eventually moved on. But… how are we going to live with this knowledge, live under the same roof… when nothing can happen?!”

Leo started to freak out. “What do you mean ‘nothing can happen’? Calypso, could you please finally be clear with me? Why did you just confess your feelings and then say… that?”

Calypso didn’t miss that Leo used her full first name, a thing he did quite rarely. Her voice was still a bit hoarse when she answered:

“Alright. I have plenty of reasons but here’s the first one: In the past… I’ve had nothing but unsuccessful relationships. I may have been really young back then, but it made me doubt myself, Leo. Several guys I really liked - and I imagined they liked me back - told me some big words… only to run to their ‘real’ girlfriends at the first possible opportunity. You’d probably say ‘but that was many years ago, screw those guys’!”

“Damn right, I would!” Leo exclaimed, slamming his fist on the floor next to him to emphasize his point.

“… And I wish it was that simple but it isn’t.” Calypso shook her head. “There’s more to that story than I care to explain right now. And then I met Percy a couple of years later and thought that maybe I’d be ready to try again. Well, you know what happened. It did not work out and I decided that when I’d finally have my freedom… I mean, when I’d move out and start my studies, I would make sure that I really am ready for a relationship before starting one. And I’m sorry, but… I don’t think I’m quite there yet. I want to learn to love myself before… you know.”

Leo finally stood up from his mattress and sat down next to her on the bed, not even caring about the fact that he was still wearing only a thin tank top and boxers anymore.

“I guess I can understand that,” he said, spontaneously taking her hand into his as a comforting gesture. “I’m no stranger to self doubt.”

“Then I guess we have that in common…” Calypso sighed, allowing Leo’s hands to remain on hers. “However… that’s not the only reason why I think it would not be a good idea.”

“What else is there?” Leo asked.

Calypso looked down at their intertwined hands sadly. “Well… I think I’ve told you my father is not the nicest of guys… But the truth is, I left home without his consent or knowledge. So, he’s probably looking for me right now. And if he does find me, I don’t know what will happen. I may have to go back. And I definitely don’t want him to find out about you. He has money and a lot of power and he’s capable of ruining anyone’s life if he wants to. He’d probably blame you for hiding me and have you arrested or something… It would break me if something happened to any of you, because of me.”

“Why… Why haven’t you told this to me before?” Leo’s grip on her hand tightened slightly and even though Calypso didn’t dare to look into his eyes, she imagined that they were burning in anger like she had seen a couple of times before.

Calypso rubbed her forehead tiredly with her free hand. “Because… what would you do in that situation?! I’d arrive at your home and introduce myself: ‘hey, I’m Calypso, your new flatmate, and by the way, I’m running away from my father who may or may not have kept me as a hostage for several years, but yeah, nice to meet you!’”

“A hostage?” Leo was practically growling now.

“Well… “ Calypso was suddenly hesitant, realizing she had revealed more than intended. “I was allowed to go to places… sometimes… but never alone… And I was homeschooled so… I did spend a lot of time at home… but we had a huge mansion… So it wasn’t like I was trapped in a basement or something…”

“But that doesn’t make it any more right!” Leo was almost yelling now. “I want to do something, I want to let people know what kind of person he is so he can’t keep doing that to you or anyone else anymore!”

“Leo, you can’t!” Calypso squeezed his hand, finally looking up at him. “Do you know how dangerous that would be?! And I swear, with his money he would only make the police go quiet about the whole situation… The main thing is that I’m here, right now, and relatively safe. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe he doesn’t care where I am. I don’t know what he’s thinking, to be honest.”

Leo was quiet for a while, breathing heavily and fiddling with the bed covers. “Well… Fine, I’ll let that be, for now. But I swear to gods, or the River Styx, or whatever the hell those ancient Greeks used to swear on, that if he does something to you, I will not let it be anymore. I… and I think I can speak for all of our friends, that we all… will make sure that he will go down with a bang.”

Leo’s comment about the ancient Greeks managed to cheer Calypso up a bit. “You sound like you would physically fight him. And how exactly would you do that?” she asked. “With your tools?”

“That’s not a bad idea!” Leo exclaimed, getting into his fantasies. “I would definitely bring my trusty hammer. Or, I could build a…”

“Hey, now, I was not being serious! But you sound like you are,” Calypso stopped him by putting a finger on his lips. “I absolutely don’t want you to do anything where you could get hurt.”

“Me? Getting hurt? That’s unheard of,” Leo attempted to joke once Calypso removed her finger from his lips.

“Alright, now you’re not being serious. Didn’t you once tell me that you joke especially when you’re nervous?” Calypso remembered one of their earlier conversations.

Leo’s smirk disappeared. “Want me to be honest? I’m not great at the feelings stuff. But I just heard you tell me that you like me. For a moment I was like: ‘hey, for once the chick you like likes you back, maybe this could work out’. And then you told me that apparently your father is some kind of psycho who is still controlling you, his adult daughter. I am glad that you told me about all this but you can’t expect me to stay calm when someone I care about is in danger. You wouldn’t stay calm either, would you?”

Calypso shook her head. “No. You’re right. I would also want to help you. And I really am sorry, I wish things were different and we could… Maybe one day. That’s all I can say.”

Leo sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. “OK. I get it.”,

A silence fell into the room as they both tried to take in what had just happened. Some automatic reaction made Calypso lean her head against Leo’s shoulder as if she was trying to tell him with the touch that she really was sorry. She was thankful he did not shift away. Eventually, she asked:

“So… tell me more about last night. Did I embarrass myself badly?”

“Naah…” Leo lied at first, a smile returning to his face as he remembered some of the things that had happened.

“You just flinched,” Calypso noted. “I felt it. You’re totally lying.”

“Fine. It was pretty funny when you had a karaoke duet with Piper and were too drunk to be able to read the lyrics from the screen so you came up with the words yourself. And at one point you just suddenly switched to Greek and none of us could understand what you were saying. But it wasn’t that bad. And even drunk your voice was kinda impressive. And your dance moves were definitely better than mine.”

“Wait, what? I danced too? Gods, please tell me no one filmed that,” Calypso asked, horrified.

“I can promise no such thing!” Leo grinned, and Calypso stopped leaning her head against him, instead elbowing him on the ribs. “Ow! I’m just joking! I don’t know if Piper got any photo material of that but I was busy dancing with you so I didn’t have time to film anything. Promise.”

“Alright. Sorry.” She lowered her head on his shoulder again.

“Guess we’ll have to hunt down Piper after this,” Leo said with amusement before recalling something. “Anyway, something kinda weird happened too. Like I said, it really seemed like you were trying to avoid Reyna and Thalia and I have no idea why. Every time they got close, you were like ‘gotta get a drink’ or ‘let’s go dance’ or ‘bathroom break’. I’m not even sure if you greeted them. Can you explain that?”

“I… uh,” Calypso tried to come up with something that she wouldn’t have to tell the whole story. “My half sister Zoë… She used to be a Hunter. But she died some years ago. An accident. I think those two probably knew her and… the wound is still too deep so I didn’t want to have to talk about her. It would have ruined everyone’s night.”

“I’m sorry,” Leo said, causing chills in Calypso’s back by running his thumb on the palm of her hand. “I had no idea... Feels like I’m learning a lot more about you now than I have the past few months…” “I probably should have told you about that earlier… So I’m sorry too.”

Leo bit his lip as if he was struggling to decide something. “If it makes you feel any better… I know how it feels to lose someone important. My mum. She died in a fire. Yeah, the fire that started my fear,” Leo confirmed Calypso’s suspicions. “She was the only family I had and after that I went from home to home and no one wanted to keep me… Sometimes I ran away too… That kept going until Emmie and Jo finally found me. It… doesn’t really get easier, but somehow… you still learn to live with it. Because you have to.”

“Yeah. I know the feeling. But if you have to find something positive out of this situation… at least we’re safe now. And we’re not alone, right? That’s what they’d want for us, right?” Calypso sounded a bit unsure, though.

“Yeah. You’re right.” They stayed quiet for a while, but this time the silence was comforting. Finally, Leo decided to break it, in his typical way.

“No offense, Cal, but you could use a shower. For all of our sake.”

Calypso quickly sat farther from him. “Oh my gods, Leo, that is so not appropriate, especially in a situation like this! What’s wrong with you?”

Leo put his hands up defensively. “Was just trying to be honest! The alcohol and the throwing up did not do good to you.” “Geez, I hate you,” Calypso mumbled.

“That’s fine because I hate you too,” Leo claimed.

“Not what you said a moment ago,” Calypso retorted.

“I could say the same back at you.”

Suddenly both Leo and Calypso burst out laughing, needing to release the tension the whole conversation had created. Calypso didn’t remember when she had last laughed that long or hard but she didn’t care, it simply felt right in that moment. When she and Leo finally calmed down, she said quietly:

“Maybe we are idiots, both of us.”

“Maybe. But normalcy is not for me. I learned that a while ago.”

“Same, to be honest.”

Calypso and Leo’s eyes met. Some barriers had been broken that day and even though there was still a lot of work to do, Calypso realized that it had felt good to talk to Leo. He hadn’t judged or questioned, at least not in the way she had expected. He had seemed to accept that she’d come out of her shell with her own terms. Something about it all just felt so right, and when she remembered that he had also admitted he liked her back… she decided it was time to get a bit crazy. Screw the consequences, if they couldn’t enjoy this moment, then what could they enjoy? That’s why she let her hand brush his cheek before resting it in his hair, gently lifting his chin with her other hand so he’d know her intentions…

“Do you think… we could forget about the stupid rules just for a moment?” She asked, resting her forehead on his.

“I think I’m down with that,” Leo smiled at her softly (Calypso didn’t like admitting it but that soft smile never failed to get to her).

They closed their eyes and started leaning even closer, but just when their lips were about to meet, the door opened. The couple quickly separated when Piper peeked in.

“I heard some laughter from here so I thought I’d come to check…” Then she noticed their expressions. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to interrupt!”

“Didn’t interrupt anything,” Leo mumbled, although it was quite clear from his voice he was disappointed.

“Yeah, no worries,” Calypso tried to reassure her as well, although her eyes seemed to be interested in a wrinkle on her dress.

“OK…” Piper wasn’t at all convinced but she didn’t comment on it more. “Well, I just wanted to tell you that we have breakfast downstairs. Whenever you’re up to it.”

“Yeah, we’ll be there in a minute! Just let me… clean up a bit.” Calypso exclaimed, getting up and starting to head to the closest bathroom. Leo also got up from the bed and started pulling on the clothes he had had under his costume the previous day.

“See you soon then,” Piper said, leaving the very flustered couple to get prepared for the day. Calypso could imagine that she and Jason would probably get good laughs from this once she and Leo would leave.

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

17 notes · View notes

vidimillion · 4 years

Note

Jasico in Atlantis/Treasure Planet &/or Pirates AU?? Mostly just thinking about that fantasy treasure huntin' adventure flavor...

it took a while for me to get the time to write this and even longer to get the inspo for it. honestly was a blast to think up tho. thanks for the req!

jason grace is the son of the king, groomed to one day be the one to take the throne. whether he liked it or not.

the young prince was the king's ideal son— handsome, smart, athletic, kind... the picture perfect image of a leader. a young man who liked to read stories about adventure and ride horseback into the kingdom, where he'd look at the other kids his age, playing around.

look. look, and never join.

his older sister thalia, the ex-crown princess, has not been seen since jason was a little kid. at least, not officially, because in reality she had been visiting her baby brother in secret for years. she'd been on the run the whole time, but always found a way to come back to her brother.

jason loves her, he does, but he resents her a little for leaving the pressure of the kingdom (and their father) on him. though every time he asks her, she only smiled at him and whispered, "don't worry about anything. I have a plan."

he never understood what she meant. he wanted to believe her, but as his eighteenth birthday and thus his coronation grows closer, he still doesn't even know what he's supposed to be believing in.

a few weeks shy of his coronation, thalia asks him to meet her at the beach three days before the big day. he never expects her visits, them being few and far between, so her setting a schedule was a surprise to him. he worries about being caught, with their father doubling down on security as the coronation draws closer. she insists though, and jason yields. three days before his coronation, he sneaks out to go to the beach, but she isn't there.

he walks around for a little while, trying to look for her, and for a second he worries that she was caught by someone while she was waiting for him. before he can begin to freak out, he hears a low hum in the distance. he walks around the beach, by the rocks, and decides to try the cliff to find the source of it. by the time the cliff is in view, the humming starts to sound like a baritone song. his mind doesn't think to question it, doesn't recognize anything amiss, and before he realizes it he's running for the cliff's edge and he's staring straight down into the sea.

when he wakes up, it takes his hearing a while to come back, and the first thing he notices is the moon is still high in the sky.

"—lure him into the water, I didn't want you to make him jump off a cliff!"

that voice sounds like thalia, jason thought, the first coherent thing he's conceptualized in a while.

"I can't help where he goes, I just tell him to go!"

that sounds like the voice he heard before he jumped.

"hey, he's awake."

that voice sounds... hot.

jason's eyes open to a black-haired, olive-skinned boy with a jawline that could cut fucking glass. he mumbles groggily, "Did I die?"

Hot Guy smiles like jason told him a half-funny joke, "Why do you think you did?"

jason groaned like he was both in pain and was immensely tired. "You look like an angel."

that was definitely not the answer Hot Guy expected, because he immediately flushes red and sputters. jason's eyes focus behind the Hot Guy and sees thalia wolf whistling at him, and a fucking siren with a long sea-green tail bursting into laughter. "You're not dead Jay," thalia says, "but we're definitely very far from home."

(more under the cut. like a lot more.)

apparently, his beloved sister became a fucking pirate after running away. jumping from ship to ship, she’d been gaining a reputation for herself before pledging her loyalty to one of the most formidable pirate crews on the seven seas (and the only one that's all-female). the 'plan' she'd had, that she'd foreshadowed for almost years, was just to get her half-siren friend percy (who can apparently go from siren to human form at will, which jason thinks is awesome) to lure jason into the sea where they could get him.

jason politely admits that it sounds super stupid. thalia does agree, but enforces the fact that it did work.

the ship jason is currently on is apparently, percy's. he's the captain of a crew of five, six if you include him, named hazel, frank, leo, piper and annabeth. thalia just likes to visit sometimes.

they're tiny, and they're all very young, but jason's doubts about their capabilities vanish once percy tells him that people call them the six. jason's heard of them, obviously— his father has been trying to catch them for months now. his father was already furious knowing he wasn't able to capture a crew so small in size, imagine what would happen if he found out the oldest one of all of them is nineteen.

jason, on his first few days on the ship, feels numb. thalia had percy set him up in the med bay, at the back of the ship where the only thing he can hear is the crash of water. he thinks about his kingdom, his father— what was he going to do without an heir? what was the kingdom going to do without a king? he feels relieved, he feels guilty, he feels like he's failing the one thing he was born to do and feels like he has a chance to pick what he wants to do.

jason closes his eyes, thinking, and doesn't notice someone had come in until a cold hand lays on his forehead. he jolts his eyes open and it's nico, the Hot Guy who was with thalia and percy. nico tells him he was just checking jason's temperature and he turns to leave, but jason stops him and asks him to stay. there was "no" already on the tip of his tongue, but jason didn't stand for it. nico desisted, only to wonder why jason was so adamant about making him stay.

jason asks why percy didn't call him a part of the crew. hesitantly, nico tells him it's because he isn't. he's not an official pirate of any crew, and instead runs around ship to ship and coast to coast, either striking deals with the more reasonable pirates or taking out crews of them all on his own.

jason asks him why he keeps moving around like that. as a short answer, nico tells him it's for his father's work. jason feels like there's more to it than that, but he doesn't push.

the medicine thalia insisted he take was making him a little loopy. he barely recalls what he was saying, but apparently it was stupid enough to make nico laugh and respectful enough to make him stay. the medicine doesn't make him too loopy for very long, just a few hours, but the next night when jason found himself wanting company again, he played stupid so nico would stay with him.

(hazel, nico's half sister and apparently the only reason he sometimes travels with their ship for a few days, was the one in charge of taking care of him while he was forcefully bedridden. he realized she knew what he was doing when all three of them were talking one day and she gave him a thumbs-up behind nico's back.)

nico leaves once jason's off bed rest. he asks hazel whether or not she knows when they're gonna pick him up again, and she tells him the week and a half he was there with them was actually the longest time he's ever stayed.

he keeps asking for a while after nico's left. after four weeks, he stops asking.

six months later, they pick nico up again at a bustling port. it's also the same port where jason decides to leave.

jason spends the first night off the ship in a warm little inn, but he doesn't sleep. he thinks he really should sleep more when he didn't realize a fucking intruder got into his room until he heard the soft thump of their feet on the floor. he gets into a melee battle with the black-hooded figure, still quick on his feet even though he hasn't slept in weeks, but eventually the intruder has him pinned down to the nearest flat surface. jason almost bites them before the figure rips off their mask to reveal— it's just nico.

somehow, they end up sitting on the roof of the inn, sharing a bottle of wine nico denies he stole but jason absolutely knew he did.

nico asks jason why he decided to leave the crew, even after getting so irreversibly close with all of them— which he knows jason did.

jason answers that by telling him about his kingdom, back across at least three seas by now. he tells nico about how the town square shines gold almost all hours of the day and glows even at twilight, but the further you get from the kingdom gates the more you see filthy alleys and dirty children. he tells nico about the times he'd go into town in disguise and see how many horrendous things are happening, then eavesdrop on council meetings and figure out why.

he also tells nico about his father, and he keeps it as brief as he can but nico understands what he means.

he tells nico he has to go back, get his kingdom and his crown no matter what chaos he knows would've erupted. he thinks of the councilmen, of dukes and lords he knows will be doing anything for a chance at the throne, now that the crown prince is missing. he tells nico about them, then he tells nico about his people, and he doesn't need to tell nico the rest to know he gets it.

nico still asks why he has to be the one to go back, when on the sea he has percy, piper, leo, thalia, freedom. in return, jason asks why nico is always running.

because i have to, is the answer to both their questions. maybe i'm wrong, but i think i have to.

three days later, after additional goodbyes and promises to write, they start a journey back to jason's kingdom. jason tells nico he shouldn't come, that it'll be a journey of peril that won't get any easier when they do get to the kingdom— nico just glares at him and continues to pack two horses even more aggressively. jason relents.

so now it's just the two of them, both running back and running away, but at least this time they've got a friend.

#jasico #pjo #jason grace #nico di angelo #percy jackson #percy jackson and the heroes of olympus #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #pirate au #royal au #(???)#my writing

65 notes · View notes