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hazellvsq · 8 months

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frank/hazel/leo most popular pjo ot3? an analysis

okay so the love triangle poll had me thinking. i knew frank/hazel/leo had ship content on ao3, and i was curious to see if other love triangles or popular trios got the same treatment.

(this is very long and rambling)

this is the amount of ao3 content frank/hazel/leo has:

these are the other trios i was looking at:

last one is crazy lol. anyway, other potential trios like jason/reyna/piper or different combos of percy/annabeth/piper/jason all had less than 20 fics each. its possible i missed one but i'm pretty sure i tried of all of them.

for context, the general state of pjo character and ship content looks like this:

the vast majority of tagged fandom content with frank and hazel has them as background characters. finding content that centers them takes digging. aside from calypso/leo, they have the least popular canon ship, and the only other character that either has any substantial fan content with is leo. the pjo fandom has shipped leo with literally any character he was in proximity with, and hazel was a canon love interest of his. in addition, the pjo fandom has incredibly popular mlm ships and has gone through the time-honored tradition of finding ways to sideline, if not villainize, the canon female love interests. which makes these next stats so interesting to me:

a decent portion of works in both of these tags are frank/hazel/leo fics that got crosstagged. obviously, frank/hazel have more fics than frank/hazel/leo:

however, its impossible to figure out how many of these fics actually center frank/hazel, as opposed to them just being background characters. so i did a test and filtered out all of the more popular ships in their tag:

this isn't a perfect representation, because there are definitely frank/hazel centric-fics that had other ships in the background, and frank/hazel/leo aren't the main couple of every fic they get tagged in. still, though. that's less than the frank/hazel/leo fics.

the other thing about hazel and frank content is that they are the two characters who are most frequently headcanoned as straight. it's died down some in recent years but it used to be CONSTANT (it happened to leo too, but not as much). most fans thought they were the two most "traditional" characters, value-wise. so i was thinking, if frank and hazel got this much content for a poly ship, then the characters that this fandom actually thinks are gay have to have more:

and then i was like, hmmm well okay i'm very surprised there's not more for those three. but there's so many people who ship some combo of nico/percy/jason/will. i've seen so many big 3 edits that leave out the girls. there's no way frank/hazel/leo is beating out the white slash ship industrial complex.

frank/hazel/leo beat out the white slash ship industrial complex (big threesome is a very funny ship name tho).

my biggest guess would be that there was some sort of beef between the percy/nico and jason/nico crowds that has led to this lack of ot3 content. i wouldn't know. i'm wondering if they're going to catch up; its not far off right now. as far as i can tell will solace has no popular ot3's that broke more than 20 fics and is pretty much only shipped with nico.

other potential ot3's like jason/piper/leo...i have a theory that a lot of jason/piper shippers only really shipped it in conjunction with percy/annabeth because they were were a good secondary couple for percabeth-centric fics, and didn't care about leo as much (which could explain why there's more overall content for jason and piper than for leo). also, i think historically a lot of leo fans thought jason and piper were bad friends, although these days there's a lot more renewed appreciation for their trio. piper has also been commonly written as a ship obstacle since the inception of her character, when people thought she was homewrecking jason and reyna (the jason/nico crowd uses this trope too), which might be why she's not commonly put in ot3's despite having chemistry with most of the cast. on the other hand, the "ship wars" between hazel/frank and hazel/leo shippers in the mark of athena era were pretty mild, because most readers liked all three characters and didn't have strong enough feelings about either pairing to fight about it, whereas other ot3's don't get written because fans have a very strong preference for their other ships.

i know frank/hazel/leo has its origins on ff.net, but it was mostly one author and mostly just kink. there's a much bigger variety on ao3. i'm wondering why people liked it enough to make it a side pairing for other fics, and at what point the bulk of content for it was written. i'm wondering what people get out of combining the three of them that you don't get from just two. is it because all 3 dynamics are so clearly defined in canon? some of them also are based on kinks like mpreg that historically exclude women, so why do these authors include one? this is also interesting because the rest of the fanbase, including both fans who ship frank/hazel and fans who think that shipping hazel with anybody is problematic, refuse to write about hazel or frank having sex to the point where it was a fandom meme for a while. except in frank/hazel/leo fics, where a large percentage have explicit content. i'm wondering which of the nico/jason/percy or frank/hazel/leo tags has more mpreg, but i'm okay not knowing.

if you made it this far, there's not a real point to this post, except pointing out that for characters who barely get shipping content, frank/hazel/leo is unexpectedly popular considering how much content exists about them otherwise, and also goes against popular fandom perception of the characters in interesting ways.

#i have NO idea what to tag this as lol #frank zhang #hazel levesque #leo valdez #frazeleo #i'm still kinda shook that this had more fics then the nico ot3 i did not see that coming #lost hero trio deserves more fics tho tbh like every combination of it has been popular at one point. its time for a merger #also this essay is not an endorsement or criticism of any ships listed idc about any of them #just trying to figure out what makes different ships tick in fandom #if someone ran a ot3 poll rn i do not think frazeleo would win. but if you ran it during the height of the pjo ship wars?#my running theory is that ship wars prevent ot3s. since ppl usually have a strong preference. this is just one of the rare cases where peo

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mrprettywhenhecries · 24 days

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take me out

Gator Tillman ✗ Win Lewis (oc) ✗ Kirby Rivers (oc)

✗ wc. 2.5k words ✗ warning(s)/tags. oc / oc / canon pairing, trans/nonbinary oc, Kirby uses he/him & they/them, drinking, talk of drug use, smoking, minor violence, transphobia/intentional misgendering, poly relationship intro ✗ a/n. for my lovely @babydollbaron & their oc, Kirby 🥺💚

When Win finds out about the girl that outed Kirby to the whole town, she lets her anger get the best of her, and the three end up drunk and high and have an important relationship defining moment.

[ masterlist ]

Win happened to glance up from the bar when the door opened, Gator striding in with Kirby at his heels and her mood lifted instantly.

“Hey, there’s my favourite guys!” she called, grinning as Gator leaned across the bartop to steal a kiss while Kirby hung back, climbing atop a vacant barstool nearby, his gaze carefully averted like usual when PDA became involved.

“What are you two up to?” Win asked, already reaching for an empty pint glass and filling it with Gator’s draft of choice.

“Knew you were gettin’ off soon and couldn’t wait any longer to see ya,” Gator drawled, winking at her as he accepted his beer.

“Uh huh,” Win murmured doubtfully. “You just wanted a free drink.”

“I can’t believe you’d think that!” he gasped and Kirby let out an amused snort.

Win laughed as she rolled her eyes, reaching for the bottle of whiskey behind the counter. “Yeah, yeah, I still love you though,” she teased before turning her attention on Kirby. “I hope you, at least, are here to see me,” she chuckled, flashing him a playful grin.

She could tell he was uncomfortable, their eyes darting around the half crowded room as they fidgeting in their seat, uncharacteristically quiet.

Win couldn’t think of a time she’d ever seen her friend so subdued, not even when he was high, not like this.

At her words, however, Kirby huffed a laugh and rubbed the side of his nose before leaning atop the bar conspiratorially, a grin tugging at his lips. “Well, let’s just say I’m not here for the drinks,” he joked, sharing Win’s smile.

“See, at least Kirbs has their priorities straight,” she taunted, giving Gator a wry look before turning back to Kirby. “Don’t worry, I’ll make it weak,” she assured him as she mixed a whiskey cola.

“You’re an angel, Winnie!” they exclaimed, once more quieting as they brought the glass to their lips, his eyes darting around the room as their shoulders hunched.

Win frowned, following Kirby’s gaze and she noticed Gator tense, his own gaze turning sharp as he peered in the direction Kirby was, silently searching for trouble before his eyes met hers for a moment, speaking volumes. They both knew why Kirby didn’t go out much.

“Hey Lewis, you’re free to go,” Frankie, the owner, grunted as he rounded the bar to take her place and she nodded, untying the small black apron around her waist.

“Thanks Franks, can you mix me one?” she asked, joining Gator and Kirby on the other side of the bar.

“Comin’ right up.”

Frankie poured her the same drink she’d just made for Kirby, but considerably stronger. “There y’go, darlin’,” he said, sliding the glass atop the bar to her before heading away to see to another customer.

Win took a sip and sighed, finally relaxing. “That’s more like it,” she murmured, leaning against Gator’s side.

“So, what’re the plans for tonight, fellas?” she asked, waiting for Kirby to respond. Instead they let out a sharp gasp, followed by a groan as they shrank in on themself, their head snapping back to the bar top.

“Actually, can we maybe, kinda, get outta here?” they asked in a hushed voice, forcing a humourless laugh as they checked over their shoulder once more and ducking back down.

Gator’s eyes scanned the room to see who Kirby’d been looking at while Win frowned, setting her glass down.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, leaning in closer, her hand coming to rest against Kirby’s hunched back, rubbing soothing circles.

Kirby grimaced and shook his head. “Nothing! Nothing, I’m just, uh– I just wanna get this fun evening started, that’s all!” he exclaimed, trying to sound cheerful.

“Oh no, I know that tone,” Win said, not budging. “Who do I need to fight?”

Kirby looked down at the half empty glass in their hands and let out a long breath before nodding toward a girl at the other end of the bar chatting up some guy.

“So, that girl, she and I had a thing, or I thought we could,” he murmured, his voice hushed. “She was really into me, we started making out, but she uh, got a little too handsy before I could explain the whole no penis thing—“

They shrugged, rubbing the back of their neck awkwardly. “She freaked out, turned into a massive bitch about it and basically told the whole town I’m a freak,” he explained, keeping his eyes carefully on the bar top, his face heating with embarrassment.

“So there, now you know—“

Before Kirby could say another word, Win threw back the rest of her drink and stalked off with purpose, squaring her shoulders as she made her way to the other end of the bar, red filling her vision. Striding up to the girl Kirby’d pointed out, she stepped between her and the guy she was in the middle of talking to, cutting them off.

“Hey—!”

“You the one that outed my friend to the whole town?” Win asked, ignoring the girl’s outburst, her jaw flexing.

“What?” she asked, confused, til she glanced past Win to see Kirby sitting at the bar and trying to shrink into their seat as much as possible. “Oh, you mean that freak that pretends to be a guy to trick women?” she scoffed. “Yeah, I had to warn the other girls in town, so they wouldn’t fall for her sick tricks,” she sneered.

Win merely flashed her a tight smile, her anger boiling to the surface before she closed her hand into a fist and decked the other woman straight in the nose.

“Oh shit,” Gator hissed, jumping up from his stool.

“You fucking bitch, you broke my nose!”

“You’re lucky that’s all I broke,” Win spat, feeling Gator’s arms circle around her, lifting her easily to drag her away, still spewing a colourful string of expletives.

“C’mon, let’s go,” Gator said, catching the collar of Kirby’s shirt as he passed, pulling him toward the door as Win struggled in his grasp. Once outside, he hustled both of them into his truck despite Win’s protests, Kirby crawling into the cramped backseat as Gator pulled out of the parking lot.

A tense silence fell over the truck as Win stewed, slowly calming down when Kirby finally broke the silence, taking a deep breath and huffing a laugh, their lips stretching wide.

“That was so fuckin’ hot!”

The words hung in the air for a moment before they all began to laugh, Kirby’s amusement infectious.

“The look on her face was priceless!” he exclaimed, wiping at the tears that had gathered in their eyes from laughing so hard.

“You’re such a little spitfire,” Gator chuckled, looking over at Win before glancing back at Kirby, his grin lingering for a moment before tearing his eyes away and back to the road.

“I couldn’t help it! I couldn’t just let her get away with that!” Win cried, the aftershocks of her laughter still clutching her.

“C’mon, let’s get our drink on, firecracker,” Gator snorted as he parked in her driveway.

“You got any of that good grass with you, Kirbs?” Win asked, craning in her seat to look back at them.

“Why yes, madam, I do,” he replied, ducking his head to hide a grin as he slipped out the back seat.

It wasn’t long before the three of them were high and drunk and lounging together on the couch, Win growing more affectionate with each drink she finished, pulling Gator’s arms around her and leaning her head on Kirby’s shoulder.

“Hey, seriously though, Winnie, I wanted to thank you,” Kirby said, rubbing at his heavy lidded, bloodshot eyes. “No one’s ever stood up for me like that before. It really means a lot, though—“ they let out a huff and ran their fingers through their mess of bleached hair. “I’m afraid your reputation may have just gotten worse,” they added wryly, their lips twisting apologetically.

Win shrugged, waving the thought away. “That girl was a bitch,” she grunted, setting her empty glass down on the coffee table. “Besides, she clearly doesn’t know what she’s missing out on.”

Kirby lifted an eyebrow at her. “Oh yeah? And what’s that?” he chuckled awkwardly and Win pouted in response.

“Well, you’re super sweet for one, and two, you’re attractive as hell—“ she said, her words slurring slightly.

“Tell us how ya really feel, why don’tcha,” Gator snorted and Win swiveled to fix him with a pointed look. “You know how attracted to you I am,” she huffed, poking her boyfriend in the side. “Am I not allowed to find Kirby sexy too?”

“Sexy?” Kirby repeated incredulously, sitting up straighter, their eyes darting to Gator and away again quickly, clearly not wanting to step on any toes. “I’m flattered, truly, but Win—“

Before they could finish politely telling Win that they didn’t feel comfortable getting in the middle of her and Gator, she was already leaning in for a kiss.

“Ope!” Kirby yelped, quickly turning his head to avert crisis, Win’s lips harmlessly finding their cheek instead and her pout deepened.

“You don’t wanna kiss me?” she asked, peering at him through her lashes and Kirby squirmed in his seat, his face flushing hotly.

“It’s not that–!” they exclaimed, swallowing thickly, his eyes darting to Gator as he wet his lips. “I–You’re–dating Gator, and as much as I like you, I’d never do that to you guys,” he explained, raising his hands and dropping them back to his legs helplessly, almost deflating, but Win merely looked thoughtful, a mischievous grin stretching her pink lips.

“What if we both kissed you?”

For a moment Kirby’s mouth fell open and they blinked at her, sure they’d misheard.

“Huh?” was all he could get out, looking between his two friends in confusion, their stomach flipping almost hopefully.

“Would that make it fair?” Win asked, raising an eyebrow, her lips curled like the cat that got the cream.

Before Kirby could protest on Gator’s behalf, trying to explain to Win that her boyfriend wouldn’t want to do that, she stopped him, silencing them with a finger to his lips.

“I’ve seen the way Gator looks at you, I’d say he’s interested.”

At her words, Kirby turned to gape at Gator, now completely flabbergasted. Of course they knew that Win had noticed their attraction to her boyfriend, but he hadn’t actually thought that their attraction would ever be reciprocated.

Now it was Gator’s turn to turn red, his gaze darting away as he shrugged, fighting for nonchalance.

“I mean, I can see the appeal,” he murmured, his hazel eyes hesitantly turning back to Kirby.

“Wait–just to clarify here, because I’m extremely stoned here and I wanna make sure I’m hearing this right–you’re okay with this?” Kirby exclaimed, fixing Gator with an incredulous look.

“I said I was, didn’t I?” he replied, the tips of his ears burning. “So let’s do this before I lose my nerve,” he muttered and Win’s grin widened.

Slipping from his side and into Kirby’s lap, she took hold of his face and leaned in, giggling softly against his lips as she kissed them, slowly at first. “This okay?” she whispered, pulling back just enough to check on them, Kirby nodding breathlessly before pulling Win back in, his hands squeezing her hips as they explored her mouth with their tongue, Win boldly reciprocating, moaning into Kirby’s mouth before once more pulling back to let Gator have a turn.

When his mouth met Gator’s, Kirby squeezed his eyes shut, just waiting for the other man to pull back in disgust, but he didn’t.

The kiss was much more hesitant than Win’s, but felt just as right, and Kirby let Gator set the pace, his breath hitching when Gator’s tongue swiped against his lips, slowly testing the waters before delving deeper.

When Gator finally pulled back, Win beamed at the pair of them, grabbing Gator by the scruff of his neck for their own passionate kiss.

As Kirby watched them, his heart pounding in his ears and his head swimming, they couldn’t quite be sure if they were dreaming or not, but when Win claimed his lips again, Kirby decided if it was a dream, it was a damn good one.

The next morning, Kirby stirred, their eyes still shut as they came to, at first noticing how warm they were before realizing they were pressed between two bodies. Their eyes snapping open, Kirby froze at the sight that met him–Gator asleep facing him, their legs entwined and his hand resting on Kirby’s neck, while snuggled up behind him was Win, her face pressed to his shoulder and her arm slung over his middle, her hand snaked under his shirt.

“So, it wasn’t a dream,” they murmured, unsure exactly what to do–torn between not wanting it to end and wanting to make sure the others didn’t regret what had transpired the night before, now that they were all sober.

Win began to wake before Kirby could decide on a course of action, snuggling closer with a sleepy moan, her arm around their middle tightening.

“Mornin’ handsome,” she breathed, her voice muffled against Kirby’s back.

“Uh, morning,” he replied, breathing out a nervous laugh. “You know I’m not Gator, right?”

Win lifted her head, propping her chin on Kirby’s shoulder. “I know.”

“Oh, okay. Uhm, that’s good,” they murmured–at least Win didn’t seem phased, but Win wasn’t exactly the one he was worried about.

When Gator’s jaw cracked in a large yawn, his eyes fluttering open, he let out a soft groan before clearing his throat, and Kirby offered him a nervous half smile.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Gator answered, a little bewildered, though his lips twitched slightly.

Kirby pulled in a deep breath and sat up, pulling his knees to his chest as he looked between his two friends.

“So… as much as I enjoyed this–” they said, gesturing to all of them. “–I think we should probably have a little conversation.”

Win rolled to her back, stretching through a yawn. “I don’t see what there is to discuss,” she said, rolling back to her side and propping her head in her hand. “The truth came out last night, it seems we’re all into each other. So, let’s do this,” she suggested.

“Is that even… allowed?” Gator asked, his brows furrowing in confusion, til Win barked a laugh and took his hand.

“Of course it is. We can do whatever we want,” she answered.

“You sure?” Gator asked doubtfully, and it was Kirby’s turn to grin, shaking his head ruefully.

“As long as you want to,” they agreed, holding their breath for his answer.

Gator shut his eyes for a long moment before opening them again, his gaze drifting from Kirby to Win and back, the corner of his mouth finally lifting as his expression softened.

“I think I’d like to give it a try,” he decided, his face dusted pink.

Win let out a cheer before piling on top of both of them. “Finally!” she exclaimed, pulling Gator and Kirby closer, snuggled between them. “Now, can someone make me some eggs and toast to help get rid of this hangover?”

“I can help with that,” Kirby chuckled, their heart fuller than it had been in a long time.

#gator tillman x oc #gator tillman #oc: win lewis #oc: kirby rivers #ot3: lewrivman #joz.fic

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