#Actually I do care about Nico and Bianca's casting

[darkstarknight03]

I don't care about Nico and Bianca's casting. I care about watching Thalia get so angry at Bianca for leaving her little brother when she never got a second chance with her own. I care about the look on her face when Percy tells her that Bianca is joining the hunters. I care about her looking over the San Francisco skyline and coming to terms with the fact that her not-so-little sister doesn't need her anymore, and she will never see her little brother again, even though he is only a few miles away. I care about those being the things that convince her to join the Hunt. I care about her seeing Jason in Nico's eyes.

#Actually I do care about Nico and Bianca's casting #as long as the actors are treated with respect #But I just said that for dramatic effect #Thalia Grace #nico di angelo #bianca di angelo #jason grace #annabeth chase #Percy Jackson #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson tv series #The Titans Curse #The Hunters of Artemis #Hunters of Artemis #grace siblings #Jason and Thalia Grace #New Rome #TTC #percy jackson and the titans curse #pjo tv show

[bey0nd-1he-stars]

You owe me at least three days of rest in the infirmary - Solangelo

Masterlists

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Pairing: Nico di Angelo x Will Solace

Wanings: nightmares, insomnia, crying, implications of death (Bianca)

Word count: 890

Summary: The three says in the infirmary with some change.

 SIX | NICO

- You are my sunshine, my only sunshine

You make me happy when skies are gray

You'll never know dear, how much I love you

Please don't take my sunshine away -

The sleep had taken him back once again, but this time for just a few hours. When he sat up the blankets fell off him and landed in a pile in his lap. Nico rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around in the room. It was still a strange feeling to be there in the infirmary to get treated but with Will as doctor... Maybe it wasn't so bad after all. He shook his head at himself, he'd know the guys properly for a barley a week. Two days being on the battlefield, the two days coming after that Nico was holding the funeral ceremonies since all the half bloods insisted on dying heroically, and the two days after that he'd been stuck here, in the infirmary, sleeping most of the time. Nico had never had an easy time sleeping, he grew up with insomnia and after going through Tartarus alone, things didn't get better. After that he couldn't even close his eyes without seeing the terrible things he'd seen down there. Nico had never talked to anyone about it. He didn't want to, either. The only one who'd understand would be Percy and Annabeth and they were scarred enough so Nico really didn't want to bring it up.

The sound of scratching a pencil against paper made him step up from the bed he'd been borrowing the last two days. Will sat in his chair with his back turned towards Nico, his head down, concentration on something. He sang lowly and when Nico got closer he heard that it was lyrics from 'Your are my sunshine'. He smiled, Will had admitted that he wasn't much of a singer. At all. But to Nico, it was soothing and comforting, the sound of his voice reminding him that Will was still around, he hadn't left. When Nico was so close to Will that he could see over his shoulder and what he was doing, he realized that Will hadn't even noticed him yet. He smirked at the thought but let his gaze travel down to the paper. A pencil in Will's right hand created something Nico couldn't believe. He didn't see the whole picture, Will was leaning over half of it but it was just like the green hat she used to wear and her blank, dark curls.

All of a sudden, Will turned around in his chair, knocking Nico off his feet. He stumbled backwards, tripping over his own feet. A warm hand gripped Nico's in the last second, stopping him from falling over towards the floor. A shock of electricity went through his spine. He smiled a soft smile as he gained his balance once again. Will's hand was still in his, but for once, Nico didn't care. Actually, he enjoyed it a bit. The soft, warm hand in his made him, once again, remember that the son of Apollo still hadn't left him. 

"Oh gods, sorry Nico! I didn't mean to push you, I didn't even know you were there at all," Will said hastily. He shook his head and let go of Will's hand.

"It's fine, really. What are you-" he stopped when he saw the whole picture. Will had turned around to face him and at the same time he left the journal uncovered. There, covering the page, was a picture drawn by Will. A perfect picture of Bianca. It was just like he remembered her. With the green hat that casted a shadow over her brown eyes and the freckles that were splashed over her nose and cheeks. The brown shirt and a long skirt that flew in the wind. He couldn't take his eyes from the drawing, Will had done it with every single detail right. 

"It’s so-  It looks just like her," he said softly and smiled a little at the picture but tears started pooling in his eyes. Will's answer made him tear his eyes from the drawing and meet Will's blue gaze with wide eyes. 

"You can have it, if you want to," he spoke softly and Nico could't believe him. But something in him didn't feel right. Will had spent hours on this drawing, it was his. His glory to take and his to look at for admiration. Not Nico's. 

"I don't know Will. It's yours and you spent your time on it and-" Nico did come further into his protests before Will had ripped the page out of the journal. He gave it to Nico and that was enough to make Nico's tears fall over and roll down his cheeks. 

"Thank you Will, really. Thank you," he said as he whipped away the tears. Nico placed the paper on the desk behind Will again, not wanting it to get damaged. Then he carefully wrapped his arms around Will in a hug. He felt the son of Apollo stiffen under his touch but soon he wrapped his arms around Nico's waist, hugging him back. Nico relaxed at the warmth Will spread and the comfort. The smell of sunshine filled his senses again and made Nico realize that he was still wearing Will's clothes. But at that moment he didn't care. He just felt like he belonged for the first time in many years. He belonged at Camp Half-Blood for the first time ever. And he definitely didn't mind.

#will solace x nico di angelo #nico di angelo x will solace #nico di angelo imagine #nico di angelo #william solace #will solace #nico di angelo x reader #will solace x reader #the sun and the star #riordanverse #percy jackson

[apollo-kid-writing]

14, 15 and 30? (Pjo ask game)

Hey, thanks for the ask! (Before I answer these just keep in mind I haven’t read PJO in a year and HOO for like… five)

14. Most Heart-wrenching Moment?

PJO: I think maybe Nico finding out about Bianca’s death? It’s such an integral part of his story and it’s devastating on both ends really. There’s Nico’s anger and feelings of loss and betrayal, plus Percy’s guilt and terror as Nico loses control of himself. I don’t know, I think about it a lot.

HOO: Festus’ crash and ‘death’ outside the Midas house. Leo’s utter devastation at losing Festus had always hit me really hard, it really reads like the death of a pet. This is also, if I’m remembering correctly, one of the few scenes where Leo is actively expressing how upset he is around other people because that’s how visceral the loss is for him. I could go on about the symbolism of this scene but I don’t want this to be too long so I’ll just say this was one of the few scenes that still is really clear in my mind after all this time.

(Ironically, Titan’s Curse and Lost Hero are my favorite books from each series, who would have thought)

15. Best Canon Fluff Moment?

PJO: I really love Percy and Sally’s little scene on the beach in Lightning Thief if I’m honest. Maybe it’s the musical giving me rose-tinted glasses but Sally and Percy’s relationship is so important to Percy’s story and in this little scene it’s made clear just how much he adores his mom as well as how much she cares about him, the love is palpable.

HOO: I’m not certain this counts as a fluff scene but Annabeth and Frank’s discussion about the Chinese finger traps in Mark of Athena was so cute to me, it’s genuinely one of my favorite scenes with Annabeth in particular. Part of it might just be that it’s one of the few scenes we get of The Seven interacting with people other then their partner’s but I also like how it shows Annabeth’s tendency to overthink things. I don’t know I just think about this one a lot.

30. Demigod Most Likely To Stab Another In The Back If It Would Benefit Them?

PJO: Is saying Luke too obvious? I mean it’s actually canon he would do that. Other then him… Nico? I mean he does pull a sorta betrayal in Battle of the Labyrinth but I’m not certain because Nico doesn’t strike me as a backstabber so much as someone who is more likely to put the greater good over himself and his friends (ex. Isolating himself because he thinks that’s what everyone wants, searching for Thanatos at the risk of his own safety, etc.) Though he also tricks Percy in The Last Olympian so maybe it’s just a personal vendetta against Percy.

HOO: Octavian is an obvious choice but other then him… Piper, easy. The whole first book is her fighting herself on the concept of betraying her friends. I understand it was a blackmail situation but I think Piper just also has an inclination to be a little selfish. It’s probably due to her upbringing, since she’s used to having everything except affection and as such has probably come to value material/conceptual things a little more over people. I’m not saying she absolutely would on a whim but I think if pushed she would be the most inclined to out of The Seven/Main Cast.

#nico di angelo #leo valdez #annabeth chase #percy jackson #piper mclean #pjo #hoo #percy jackon and the olympians #heroes of olympus #erin’s thoughts

[aiyaar]

The whole "you did it yourself with Nico" is fucked up and here's why.

So after my post about how Nico was treated on Argo 2 I've received multiple messages and comments about Rick doing it wrong with making it as if Nico casted himself out and I feel like we need to talk about it.

I have a post about this but there were only few sentences and here I'd like to bring more details and explanations.

The whole idea of Nico feeling like a misfit just because he had a fixed idea is nonsense because we've seen Nico in TTC and you can clearly say that it's an extrovert kid, who likes to talk to people. So why would a sunshine child exile himself?

Of course, it all started when Bianca died. In PJO series multiple times were mentioned that because Nico is a son of Hades he has to have "his own path". That's how Percy thought and didn't even try to make Nico feel better or maybe more welcomed. Hera herself said that no one cares about son of Hades and Pan straight up ignored Nico, as if he doesn't exist (it all really pissed me off, like wtf). Everyone made it clear to Nico that he's unwanted and he lived with this thought ever since he was eleven.

In HOO, the way seven treated Nico, also made him even more convinced that people hate him and he should be alone. He thought that Jason was only pitying him and he felt angry about it. He didn't feel like he belonged in Camp Half-blood or Camp Jupiter.

Those thoughts can't come out of nothing but Rick made it look like everyone was always accepting Nico and he just decided that he's an outcast. It is wrong in so many ways, I can't.

"People are afraid of those who are different" and that's the whole thing with Nico. Everyone was afraid and didn't even bother to look deeper. Despite the fact that Nico showed himself very devoted and loyal multiple times, people still don't trust him just because.

And when Will said "There's people who want to be friends with you" just shows us how Will feels. Will is probably the only person who actually tried, not leaving him behind like a lost cause. We don't know the backstory but I feel like Will tried to get closer with Nico before and that was how Will felt, not other people.

I'd like to say that Rick probably ment well when he had done that, probably just putting it in a wrong way. But it would be much better of it was "you can feel like an outcast but don't let it get your spirit down and know that there's people around who care about you" considering how many of us relate to Nico on that level.

#sorry its so long #also i still don't understand how do the keep reading thing so sorru #idk if this ranting makes any sense #but i just wanted to say it #nico di angelo #heroes of olympus #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #pjo/hoo #will solace #jason grace #solangelo #frank zhang #annabeth chase #piper mclean #leo valdez #hazel levesque #reyna avila ramirez arellano #trials of apollo

[pastabrand]

Unpopular PJO/HOO/TOA opinions

This is gonna be wordy but I’m not sorry for it.

Percabeth is hella overrated. It’s nice, but I would prefer other ships over it and some of y’all Percabeth shippers are scary as hell

I love TOA. A lot people don’t like it because it doesn’t include the main 7 and another topic that I’ll mention later but honestly, I could care less. I’m glad that the others aren’t there other than cameos. It means they’re getting a chance to heal after everything and honestly, good for them. People like to cast TOA as an unnecessary spinoff that didn’t need to be included yet it gives y’all the type of character development you scream and beg for in other books. It’s literally the perfect character development trope you crave, yet puts a good spin on it.

Some of you haven’t even READ toa and say you hate it. Like what? How is that supposed to work.

PJO was way better than HOO. TOA sits in the middle of the two.

I love TOA because it shows Apollo’s character growth from one of the most arrogant, cocky, and prideful gods. And even then, he doesn’t go from that to a helpless mortal loving fool, he stays arrogant and prideful but less so. Not to mention more understanding of mortals and demigods live and what they go through. He doesn’t go from one extreme to the other, but one extreme to more of a center balance. It’s more natural that way.

While Jason’s death in TOA was sorta cheap, it goes to show demigods can die at the least expected times. If Jason had died during the war, then it would be “oh, well, that’s what war does. It kills people. Nothing new.” Compared to Jason going about life as normal and one small mission is his end. It’s more impactful and realistic that way. It goes to show that life as a demigod is always dangerous, fighting or not.

Jason’s anger to Percy for not noticing Nico’s feelings towards him is absolute bullshit. Fuck that as a whole. Nico acting cold and hateful towards Percy doesn’t and shouldn’t equal “I like you, notice me please”. The internalized homophobia should be Jason’s focus, not Percy’s lack of attention at Nico’s feelings.

Same for Leo about Calypso. Not to mention they both shove the blame onto Percy like its his fault when it really isn’t. Having your memory forcefully wiped mere months after a war isn’t gonna help when remembering stuff like that. Not to mention the Gods are bums who will try to do as little as possible and leave the rest to demigods. It leads to one sided anger and unnecessary confusion and guilt on the other side. Bad writing on Rick’s part tbh.

People need to stop acting like Jason didn’t die. That’s clinging into a ghost and not letting it move on. I hate to be the one who says it, but Jason is canonically dead and acting like he isn’t won’t change shit. It’s gonna lead to unhealthy habits in the future, trust me. You can’t write a fic post TOA then be like “oh yeah, Jason’s alive because I want him to :)))” because that isn’t how life works sweetheart.

People also need to stop pretending TOA doesn’t exist. You might not like it but you have to acknowledge that it is actually there and it follows the PJO/HOO timeline.

Paul was just a card to give Sally a nice man to lean on when it wasn’t necessary.

Percy should’ve been wayyyy more suspicious of Paul when he was first introduced. 6 years of abuse from a “father figure” isn’t just gonna go away because “oh he’s nice.” Guess what? Gabe was nice at first canoncially (even if it was for a very short amount of time).

Percy. Has. Serious. Anger. Issues. He’s sassy and stuff, sure, but he’s also got some severe anger problems that he both inherited from Poseidon and developed and festered over time from living with Gabe for 6 years.

Percy is the type to act like Hades or Apollo, attack a lesser being(s) because he can’t go after the big shot without fear of punishment. I wouldn’t be surprised if some his expulsions were from beating up various kids and/or teachers.

For the first half of TLT, Percy did not like Camp Half-Blood or consider it his “home” other than Grover and Luke. The camp treated him like shit because he was a noobie at first and then because he was a son of the Big Three. He hated Poseidon for his lack of care and lack of help when he and his mom were abused under Gabe. Had Luke talked to him during that time period and/or Kronos spoke to him in dreams, he would’ve joined the Titans. His loyalty for the camp didn’t form until near the end of TLT.

Nico and Percy basically had somewhat personality switches. Nico was an excitable, happy, laid back, and naive kid while Percy was a quiet, angry, and irritable kid. Nico’s switch came from Bianca’s death while Percy’s was more gradual. In the end, Nico became the quiet, irritable kid and Percy became the more happy, laid back kid.

Stop ignoring the fact that Nico, a literal 14-year-old, traversed into Tartarus. Alone. There’s always fics of Percy and Annabeth recovering or suffering from the after affects of the fall and war while Nico is relatively normal. The boy is not and has not been okay. His life has been one shitshow to the next ever since he was ten.

Both Percy and Nico have incredibly dark sides to their powers that they seemingly enjoyed that was fueled by anger. Percy with Achlys and Nico with Bryce. Percy admitted to liking torturing the goddess and Nico, though more subtly, seemed amused by Bryce and his attempts to justify his crimes and then frantic attempts to stay alive. Bryce literally says “I’m Bryce Lawrence! I am alive!” And Nico casually responds with “Who are you?” as he turns Bryce into a souless husk of a person. You cannot tell me that he wouldn’t have tilted his head innocently and cracked a small smile at that.

Piper’s portrayal as a Native American. Do I even need to go into that?

Percy. Liked. Luke. The boy knew the son of Hermes for what? 1 week? 2? Yet considered him to be a friend, possibly a close one at that. It probably went the same route Nico’s crush did. Hero adoration to actual romantic feelings but godspeed. Not because he just wanted to like a boy, but because, other than Chiron, Luke treated him with kindness, patience, and understanding as a male figure, something Percy didn’t really have growing up. Not to mention Luke helped Percy when no one else would. As a 12 year old, those type of feelings were bound to develop.

People who make the characters treat Percy and Leo as dumb, oblivious, or one dimensional sassy bois™️. Percy and Leo would be offended and/or defensive of such a thing because of childhood trauma. How many years do you think they can to endure that when they were younger from people they were supposed to trust or respect? You seriously can’t think they would be fine with it because their friends. Maybe a reference once or twice, but constantly? Absolutely not. Old habits die hard.

Solangelo seemed forced to me. I dunno, Nico’s whole confession felt like a ruse to get him set up with Will right away. I felt as though there wasn’t any real “connection” between the two prior to them getting together. It all felt rushed and out of place for the setting they were in. I’ve never understood it nor liked it and usually try to avoid it. That and Caleo seemed like a way to put all the characters in relationships so that they were “happy”, portraying that they needed to be with someone to achieve their happiness. Leo and Nico would’ve been better off single and learning to love themselves before loving someone else. Same applies to Sally.

Nico and Thalia would never get along because Thalia would be a reminder of what Nico lost (Bianca) and how easily how she could be replaced.

Demeter kids need more respect. I feel like that’s what Meg is for. To show that they can also technically be considered “Big Three” material because, if you forgot, Demeter is a child of Kronos as well. That means Demeter’s kids are cousins with the Big Three kids as well.

Aphrodite’s kids also need more respect. Aphrodite in the PJO universe is literally older than all gods, as she was born from Uranus’ gentials in the ocean and arose from there. Their powers could be exapanded wayyy more if they were focused on more.

Not to mention Poseidon kids could possibly gain attibutes of what would be considered Aphrodite’s powers since she was born from the ocean and vice versa. The possibilities are endless there.

That’s all I could think of for now! Lemme know what you guys think though.

#percy jackson #pjo #pjo fanfic #heros of olympus #trials of apollo #toa #hoo #unpopular thoughts

[i-want-anne-hathaway]

It’s the Lightning Thief time :3

I’m listening to the Deluxe edition because it’s not actually any different from the first one outside of some new songs. This is different than Heathers that has extra songs, takes out a song, and overall has a different cast.

I’m also on the phone @lesducks

The entirety of The Camp Halfblood chronicles makes me so happy. I hold it very close to my heart ngl.

WAIT, I NEED TO CHANGE INTO MY CAMP HALFBLOOD T-SHIRT.

It’s the way that George Salazar keeps getting casted as the outcast main character’s best friend.

I’m gonna try to point out any innacuracies. It’s been some five years since I last read this so this’ll be fun. Ms. Dodds was not a substitute, she was the regular Math teacher.

A new challenger has approached. @just-another-thespian

On one hand, I don’t like Percabeth. On the other hand, I do. It’s a very rocky relationship I have with their relationship.

CHARLIE BECKENDORF WOULD NEVER

The fact that I keep getting messages about somebody commenting on my old Percy Jackson Wattpad fanfics is make me so confused. I’m just like “I was like 9 years old, why do you like this?”

I love Luke. Any song with Luke is automatically the best.

“If I were Luke, I’d go insane too” -Robin

“Yeah, he was stuck at a camp with literal children” -Kate

It’s the way that on drown, she goes higher, and on float, she goes lower. Same vibes as the The King in You’ll Be Back.

I’m actually Kristen Stokes, I’m sorry for hiding this for so long.

The Campfire song is the first song I’d listened to from TLT musical, and I love it.

We’re not even talking about TLT, we’re talking about The Prom. I can’t put any thoughts down because we’re talking about Atlanta Prom and Nintendo Switch.

Abby has joined, and now it’s just a party.

Shoutout to Carrie Compere who played like four roles in this show, and she crushed every single one.

10+3=5

Good kid is such a projection song, but sometimes I see people say “good kid is such a [insert character that’s nothing like percy] and I’m just ???? I mean like I won’t stop you because you should be able to project all you want, but I am silently confused as fuck.

I’m trying to enjoy this musical, and I keep hearing Kate, Robin, and Abby talking about how stupid they are.

Grover is a whole mood in Lost. Actually, the whole song is a mood.

I am in love with Annabeth.

It’s the way that they snuck in the dam joke. It makes me so proud. Really seeing that the creators of this musical actually paid attention and cared about the books.

THE TREE ON THE HILL MAKES ME SO SAD! It’s so goddamn emotional.

It’s the way that I didn’t know what DOA meant for the longest team despite this song explicitly saying it multiple times.

I’m pretty sure at one point every song on here was my favorite song because every song is amazing. And it sucks because I was this close to convincing my mom to let me see this on Broadway, but she said NO.

I don’t want to listen to In The Same Boat or Try, but I’ve committed.

Luke is an angsty piece of shit, and I love him.

We sung Good Kid (Reprise) together with the lag, and it was amazing.

I rarely ever listening to anything on the Deluxe album besides Try and In the Same Boat, and now when listening to the other songs I realize how much I’m missing out.

PICK A SIDE SLAPS, HOLY SHIT! AND IT HAS LUKE! IT’S AMAZING! I WAS MISSING OUT!

I love Jorrel Javier’s voice so much.

I love the Bianca and Nico reference.

The part where Percy and Grover are just humming is so satisfying to me.

Jorrel is so amazing in this role.

I AM THE WITTLEST MINOTAUR, THE WITTLEST MINOTAUR!

I love that The Wittlest Minotaur is the last song on the album. It’s a very good finish.

Final Judgement: It’s a great and accurate adaptation of a children’s book that raised a lot of kids, and it still has good music and makes it’s own jokes while staying true to the source material.

#long post #tw death mention #tw capslock #tw cursing

[moonlit-maiden]

On Nico di Angelo, "Pairing the Spare" and How to Shaft a Complex Character in Less Than 500 Pages

This will be long. Strap in. This is long overdue.

So more longtime followers of mine may already know this but I adore Nico di Angelo from the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. They also know I continue to eastly, to this day, about how he was handled at the end of the Heroes of Olympus series. Now, I've never fully delved into the 'why's and I will do so now as it's probably best to actually articulate it at some point instead of continually lamenting it without presenting rationale.

First: WHY do I love his character so much? It all boils down to shared/similar experiences for social ostracization. Growing up, I was quickly pushed out of social circles due to who my parents were; immigrants. Simply existing with the ethnicity and cultural heritage I had labeled me as untouchable. To sum it up succinctly; white but not the "right" kind of white. Keep in mind this was at the end of the Cold War; attitudes towards Slavic peoples were poor as hell. Fuck, they still are 30 years later! Nico is ousted due to his heritage too; being a Hades child. It's not something he chose nor controlled. He himself did nothing wrong to any of the campers yet when word got out they pushed him away. The same happened to me. As soon as the school kids and/or parents realized my parents were Slavic immigrants they shoved me out. It still hurts to this day. As such, I can deeply empathize with Nico.

Why does this matter? Because that blanket social rejections fucks people up. Nico is shown throughout the series to be distrustful, preferring to isolate himself. He has been shown time and time again he is unwanted due to being a Hades child. Eventually you just... stop trying. When you beat a dog enough times it stops coming around. This is the same thing. In addition, Nico has lost his elder sister, Bianca. The one person he felt understood him because she, too, was similar to him. Now I have Opinions on Bianca that would piss off 99% of the fandom but it's irrelevant here. Her death occurs shorts before or after it's revealed Nico is a Child of Hades. He is 10 years old with no one and the whole camp rejects him. It's a cruel thing to do to someone no matter how much you try and justify it. Rick did an incredible job highlighting how racism, ethnocentrism and bullying harms a child. Nico immediately became my favorite for this and I applauded Rick for having the balls to shine a very uncomfortable light on a situation similar to mine. A situation, I'm very sure many first generation or immigrant kids can relate to.

So where did it all go wrong? To be blunt, Blood of Olympus. Now, the final volume of the HHO series is a hot mess in general. Almost ALL characters get shafted on way or another with mischaracterization, simplification or backtracker on character growth. Not to mention the plot feels very slapdash and messy at times. But again, another subject. We see Reyna and Coach Hedge start to really get to know Nico and realize the extent at how bad his abuse has been at the hands of monsters and demigods alike. Neither feels this is right and shows it as best they can while respecting Nico's boundaries. In the previous book, House of Hades, Jason does the same thing. But then we finally get back to Camp Half Blood and shit falls apart for Nico's arc.

It's plainly obvious to anyone who's ready the series in full that Nico is traumatized, even moreso then most of the cast. He has been physically tortured multiple times, psychologically tortured by the camp and emotionally manipulated by several individuals. Keep in mind, by HOO, Nico is roughly 14. Fourteen. Can you even image how that feels?! He's only just now, after Jason, Hazel and Reyna's persistence that they will not hurt him, that they genuinely care for his well being, that they don't care about his heritage (and don't care about his sexuality, from Jason specifically). And then Will appears and Nico magically forgets 4 years of pining for Percy. It's so jarring, like a screeching record! This is when we enter the issue.

In writing, there are many rules. Like all rules, they can be bent of broken under certain circumstances. The rule in question is the 'pair the spare' rule. The rule states that if the pain cast has paired off, do not pair of the "spare" aka the odd man out unless it's been led up to. Rick chose to ignore this rule and pair Nico with Will, citing that as a canon LGBT character, he wanted to send the message to LGBT kids that they were worthy of love. This in itself is not a bad message. What IS bad is execution. First, Will is a background character. He very much has potential, don't get me wrong! But outside of having a few minor scenes in final volume of the PJO series, Will has only ever been mentioned in passing. From what we've seen, he and Nico have never interacted. On top of that, Will who is a healer, completely dismisses Nico's trauma. This is a very big red flag. When someone is traumatized, particularly psychologically, the absolute last thing to do is to dismiss the experience as "teen angst" like Will does. It shows absolute disrespect for Nico as a human being. And he is a healer. He should know better. In addition, Nico himself is not fond of the dismissive personality Will is displaying, the 'I'm going to tell you what to do' persona because he's a doctor so 'doctor knows best'. And in Nico's POV he says as much in his inner monologue! Yet he's "drawn to him". I'm sorry, but I call bullshit. Nico has been shown in 9 1/2 books to be quite smart, paranoid about social intentions due to past experiences and won't take crap from no one, not even his own father, the Lord of the (fucking) Underworld. Yet he'll just grit his teeth and basically follow Will's lead with little complaint? It's so out of character it's jarring and painful.

We briefly see Nico and Will in the first Trials of Apollo book. They're acting like the normal couple with Nico being the "sassy, snarky" one of the pair. Please note it's been 6-8months since the end of BOO, in-universe. In this one scene it completely erases Nico's trauma, very valid feelings of distrust and hurt, his struggle with both his heritage and his sexuality, his years-long unrequited love for Percy, his grief over his sister and his struggle to make connections with his fellow demigods. Love is powerful but its not a cure-all. It doesn't make the years of hurt and abuse magically disappear (trust me. I know.) and it doesn't change someone's personality to well-adjusted.

Pairing Nico with Will at the end of BOO completely destroys his characterization from a writing standpoint. All the real struggle, grief and unpleasant consequences of abusing and bullying people who are "other" in socially-acceptable ways is wiped away in less then 50 pages. It also send a very VERY dangerous message to LGBT youth; find someone you're attracted to and they'll fix you. That's a toxic message to tell to straight kids so why the fuck would you tell it to LGBT kids!? Unlike most LGBT character in literature that I can tell are shoehorned it, Nico was planned to be gay from the start, I have no issue with this. What I do have issue with is throwing his character out the window so he can chase some cute blond ass. Nico deserves better then that as a character. People who suffered socially-acceptable abuse deserve better then that. Immigrants and first-generation kids deserved better then that. LGBT youth deserved better then that.

THAT is why I keep getting so pissed; Rick took a genuinely complex character and fucked him over so he could lazily pair the spare and not be accused of leaving the only canonically gay character single. But there is a reason 'do not pair the spare' is a rule. It's better to leave a character single then slapdashedly pair them up. This goes double for characters who have trauma in their life and trauma is a serious issue that should be respectfully addressed. Love is powerful. Love helps to heal. But the love of family (Hazel) or budding friends (Jason and Reyna) is just as important, valid and send a powerful message. It sends the message 'you are not alone. You are worthy of love. You are a human worthy of regarding of both your experiences and your fears.' Pairing Will with Nico completely and utterly stomps on this message. It sends horrible signals to LGBT youth and scraps his complex character into the token goth gay boy. And Nico di Angelo deserves better then what he was given.

Thanks for coming to my TED talk.

#nico di angelo #hoo #pjo #percy jackon and the olympians

[takaraphoenix]

Can I just say something, Hazel is not v. realistic. Like I'm 13 and i can't say the same for all 13yolds but neither me nor my friends dream of growing old w/ a husband and like rick makes her and sammy to be soulmates and that's not how a 13yo's mind functions. Also, she shouldn't be completely dependant on her. And as someone who has experienced racism its v wierd that she only experiences in her schooling rather than also w/ her mum and even in new rome. 1/2

2/2 : And Rick just randomly makes the chracters diverse but then he forgets that race is a part of character. I mean Hazel was living in the 40s as an African American and now when she’s resurrected we hardly hear anything about her experiences w/ racism. It’s not realistic. I’d expect her to maybe have some centering as a character on that. I just think that Rick cannot display characters out of his perspecitve at all and im just very annoyed. idk what do u think on this all

When I was thirteen, we all didn’t quite think past the point of high school graduation - our life was in the now. We definitely did not think about growing old and picket fences.

But yeah, I said it in a post before - many posts by now - but Riordan writes only what he himself experiences. And that is the life of a fifty year old white CIS het man. And while I can’t attest for the CIS part because I’m not reading that one series that features the genderfluid character, you can feel every other aspect of that list very strongly.

You can feel the “fifty year old” when you read about literally every single teenager dreaming about the white picket fence.

You fan feel the “white” when you read Hazel, Reyna, Piper and Leo.

You can feel the “hetero” when you read the clumsy coming out of Nico at the end of Heroes of Olympus. And actually also in Will’s flippant attitude when talking to Nico about it, because in my experience as a fledgling lesbian, older and more experienced gays and lesbians were being very gentle and welcoming and not like “LOL that’s why I was trying to talk to you for so long because I’m gay too!”. That was just to retcon in that Will was also gay; had Riordan actually cared about the gay sub-plot before, then we would have had interactions between Will and Nico in PJatO.

You can feel the “man” at every female POV in the Heroes of Olympus series. Every. Single. One.

Gotta admit, as a white girl from Germany, I do not know how things are for black people in the US (you know, beyond the generic news coverage online and the police propaganda in cop shows), but nowadays with things like Black Panther, Black Lightning, Dear White People, Timeless (seriously, the part that I adore most about that show is how it dives into the female and black history, the kind that’s brushed under the rug), also gotta mention One Day at a Time here for the Latinx representation, I realized just how very… white-author the Heroes of Olympus characters feel.

Especially with Hazel it infuriates me because she comes from a different time and to include how her experience is, how things have changed - and worse yet, how things haven’t changed - would be so incredibly interesting. How she experiences everything.

I mean, seriously, Percy got shunned for being a son of Neptune because Neptune was feared - but so was Pluto. Just how awful must it have been for the black daughter of Pluto in New Rome…?

But oh no, worry not, the black girl from the 40s with no knowledge of the modern world perfectly integrated into New Rome in 2010. No issues here at all.

We live in a time and age where not everyone can be straight and white.

We live in a time and age where representation isn’t just asked for, we demand it, because the world isn’t straight and white.

So the author of the book series where every single major character was white started sweating. (Beckendorf and Ethan were the only non-white characters and oh look, both got killed off.)

So he… he literally just looked around what there is to represent and just slapped a label on each of his characters, like a check-list.

We need A Black Character - Hazel, check.

We need An Asian Character - Frank, check.

We need A Gay Character - Nico, check.

We need A Native American Character - Piper, check.

We need A Latinx Character - oh, let’s be generous on that one; Leo and Reyna, double check.

I didn’t notice that back then, when I first read the books. But by now…?

I’m not saying I could do better - heck, unlike Riordan I also have the disadvantage of living in Europe and thus not even second-hand witnessing what the American Experience might be like for people of color - but if you decide to write a major book series and represent something you are not familiar with - may it be being gay, or from a different cultural background, or being a woman - then you should at the very least put the research into it to back it up.

Or, the easier cop-out, stick to what you did before.

And I don’t mean that as “just write whites”.

It really would be less of an issue if Heroes of Olympus had still been only from Percy’s perspective. Because we would have only gotten to meet the characters through Percy’s eyes - and not their own.

Because then we wouldn’t have had those flashbacks to Hazel’s past, we wouldn’t have to question how it came that those characters didn’t think about certain things or complain how they all seemed to think about other things collectively. And literally no one would have complained about a lack of POV changes, because PJatO didn’t have those - it was all Percy, so no one would have questioned if the sequel had also all been Percy.

It’s one thing writing about characters, but it’s different writing as characters. And in my personal opinion, Riordan shot himself in the foot by making HoO a POV split between this very diverse cast of characters, without having the actual background knowledge to flesh them fully out.

Not to mention the part where I generally think that going from one POV up to three and then to seven and nine different POVs had already been too much of a jump, but if you do that with so many different characters, who should also all have a different feeling to them, that only makes a difficult task that much more difficult.

Now, obviously, having the Seven all be white males would have been a disaster and also the wrong choice.

There are different things that could have been done though.

Like I mentioned, keeping it Percy’s POV, which we all would have been used to and no one would have questioned (heck, even if he had just done it a Jason and Percy POV due to Lost Hero).

Doing actual research for the things you write about. Also an option.

Or dialing down on the unknown. Let’s not forget, he wasn’t just juggling seven characters who represented something he wasn’t personally familiar with (also including Annabeth, because girl), out of the total of nine main characters all but three were completely new and had to be introduced.

In my personal opinion, he should have carried more characters than just Percy and Annabeth (and then later on also Nico, but not important enough to be one of the Seven) over into this book-series.

Clarisse, for example - she is over twenty, she is an experienced fighter and hero. That’d be a female character to be fully explored, but who has already been introduced (and would have made more sense than Frank, Hazel, Leo and Piper on terms of them literally having been introduced to the demigod world barely months prior with a total of one quest of experience before going to war).

Chris Rodriguez, who while never explicitely stated to be Latino as far as I remember, the name does imply and Riordan could have doubled down on that and included him. Hermes is a very diverse god, considering how much Riordan played with the powers of not overly powerful gods like Bellona or Aphrodite or Hephaestus, he could have done the same with Chris. It’d also have been fascinating to see the former traitor work hard to earn back his place at camp and to explore the mental strain put on him in the Labyrinth.

You would not have to start from scratch if you take characters you already have established. It makes everything easier, both for you as the writer and also for the readers, who don’t have to familiarize themselves with half a dozen completely new main characters.

And it takes away that edge of it being utterly ridiculous that, despite both camps having veteran heroes who fought in the Titan War and are around 20 years of age, they decided to send four kids who are essentially total newbies and of whom one is 13 and two are 15.

But yeah, those are just… personal picks on how he could have handled it better. Me, I simply wouldn’t have written about a prophecy of seven because this is a damn war. Seriously, the quest for Atlas, a minor stepping-stone on the way to the Titan War, already featured five main players with Percy, Thalia, Grover, Bianca and Zoe, only two less than this entire freaking war needed according to the prophecy.

Have it be the Giant War. Feature all of those new characters, but also your already established ones. Keep it first person Percy POV and show them fighting together, instead of singling only seven demigods out in something that is supposed to be an all out war against Mother Earth.

Neither of those are be all end all kind of answers to the problem, but suggestions on how it could have been handled differently.

The important thing would be growth and as someone for whom HoO was just too much, I can not judge that. Because everyone makes mistakes and everyone grows as a writer. So if Riordan saw what he did and learned from it - I know one of the Magnus Chase mains is a Muslima, another is mute, I think, and one is genderfluid, so if all of those are handled with more respect, research and dedication and it shows that he learned from the past, then that’s good and okay, because nobody is perfect and it’s all a learning curve, but if those are also just cardboard cut-outs put in place to be Representation, then that’d be… sad, I guess. And disappointing.

But, well, due to not having read that - and not planning on reading that - I can’t attest to it. I can just hope for the best for the readers who seek representation and got giddy about the prospect. I hope they didn’t get disappointed in that.

And I hope he will continue to learn from mistakes and grow as a writer, because yeah I generally don’t wish anyone anything bad and I truly, truly loved Percy Jackson and the Olympians. He hurt himself by trying too many new things in the sequels and if he learns to handle that and return the writing to the quality of PJatO, that’d be pretty amazing.

#riordan critical #representation #heroes of olympus #pjoverse #anonymous #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #Heroes of Olympus

[imgonnabeyourbubblegumwitch]

I Love You, You Pay My Rent: Chapter 16

First Chapter (Prologue)

Previous Chapter (Chapter 15)

Nico had been living with Will for long enough to slowly have developed a grudging tolerance for his friends. Or at least some of his friends. No matter what Will said he didn’t think he’d ever be able to bring himself to warm to Drew. Part of it was jealously, part of it genuine distrust and wariness he reserved for pretty much everyone he wasn’t well acquainted with. It was a survival technique. But then there was also the fact he was probably just shoving all his frustration at Will towards her.

Lou Ellen and Cecil, however, were different. Loud and often obnoxious for a start, and somehow carefree in a way Will sometimes achieved and sometimes faked, and Nico could never hope to understand. But they cared for Will, that was obvious enough, so he accepted them as a kind of necessary annoyance. It didn’t mean he didn’t jump when Lou Ellen caught his arm in the middle of a street. He frowned at her, more confused and surprised than actually angry for once, and she let go with a look of apology.

“You look stressed,” she commented.

Nico stared at her blankly for a second. Lou Ellen frowned slightly.

“Coffee?” she asked. “Or maybe green tea or something in your case since coffee might set your heart to explode -?”

Nico blinked.

“Or not?”

Nico had arrived in town far too early to meet his father. He’d been unable to spend another minute in the house in the grips of the agony of a wait, when each second felt like he’d lived a decade. He had also been terrified of being late, and that had overwritten any contrariness he might have felt, any insistence that he didn’t care what his father thought of him and his time keeping skills. Whenever he thought of his father he felt ten years old again, and desperate to please.

“Yes,” he said abruptly, and his own words surprised him. But he had time to kill and though he thought he might feel too jittery to sit, he also couldn’t keep walking up and down if only because it felt like his legs were locking up.  He followed Lou Ellen distractedly into a café where he was assaulted with the smell of coffee grounds. It was a heavy scent but comforting and he fell into a chair feeling a tiny bit more settled. He was still awash on a stormy ocean on a rickety raft with a tornado incoming, but it felt like he’d at least just found a single life-preserver for all the good it would do him.

Lou Ellen had chosen the table. There was a half a cup of coffee waiting, and she picked it back up, watching him as she sipped. Something in her gaze reminded him or his father; though Lou Ellen was a more benevolent version he still felt that if she put in a little bit of work she’d probably see right through him.

“How’s everything going?” she asked.

He got the distinct impression that there was an undertone to that question, some kind of subtext he was probably supposed to pick up on but he was too tired, too distracted, to even bother attempting to work out where she was coming from.

“Good,” he lied automatically.

“Uh huh,” Lou Ellen said. There was no judgement at all in her tone, but again Nico felt something intangible just around the corner.

“You know you walked up and down outside that window about eight times before I went out and got you?” Lou Ellen asked.

“You shouldn’t have left your drink unattended,” Nico responded.

Lou Ellen raised an eyebrow.  

“I can see why Will likes you,” was all she said.

Which surprised Nico because he was still having trouble figuring that out, and half the time Will himself seemed to have trouble working out exactly what the point of Nico was.

That was unfair.

Will was –

He didn’t really know what Will was.

He was edgy and he was taking it out on his boyfriend because Will was an easy target at the moment.

“He’s not what people think,” Lou Ellen added. She was watching him again. Nico hated being watched, hated being in the spotlight, it made him want to duck out to run away, change his name and face and identity and only leave his house under the cover of darkness.

And he did feel like he wanted to shrink, could feel himself unconsciously making himself smaller, hunching his shoulders into his default defensive posture. But he was also aware that, actually, he didn’t feel as exposed as usual.

One day, he thought, Lou Ellen would rule the world. And she’d do it so silently and subtly that no one would even notice she’d taken charge.

“What do people think he is?” Nico asked.

Lou Ellen’s smile flickered on.

“Interesting question,” she said. “Do you want a drink?”

Hanging out with Lou Ellen wasn’t anywhere near as terrible as Nico might have imagined it, although that might have just been because interacting with her offered a strong contrast with what was to come. She didn’t really offer any further insight into the question of what Will’s deal was though she did reaffirm that Will really did like Nico and she had added in a vaguely threatening manner that it would be a real shame if one (or both) of them screwed it all up because they were being clueless morons.

In total he spent about half an hour with her and managed to do it all without planning an exit route or a variety of implausible excuses as to why he had to leave. Either that was a testament to Lou Ellen’s social skills or a testament to his personal growth. Eventually however, as mildly pleasant as the impromptu coffee date had been, he had to stand and explain he had to go visit his father.

“Good luck,” Lou Ellen said. “And don’t worry about Will. He’d stupid but I don’t think he’s quite stupid enough to let you go.”

She seemed to think for a moment.

“At least Cecil and I won’t let him be that stupid. And I think Kayla would strangle him if he did anything to jeopardise you two. So you’re probably safe.”

Nico shrugged in vague acknowledgment.

“I mean it,” Lou Ellen said. “He really likes you Nico. Anyone can see that.”

It was a relief to hear someone say that, even if that someone wasn’t Will professing his undying love directly - a situation he had to admit may be a little unrealistic this early into a somewhat complicated relationship. If that thought was a train it usually ran along the does Will like me tracks which lead in turn to Self-Doubt and Overthinking Stations. Occasionally the thought went on a little detour to if I want him to admit he loves me do I love him? town which tended to be the sort of stop that he got to in the darkest part of the night and had him stranded there, lost and panicking until the early hours of the morning.

In some ways his father turning up was almost a blessing in disguise. At least now he had something else to overthink.

Nico couldn’t remember his father having many particular traits, hobbies or quirks and his mental image of his father could be summed as cold and formal. His choice of restaurant reflected everything Nico knew about him: it was formal, somewhat aloof and distant despite, or perhaps because of, the plush and luxurious décor.

Nico felt instantly on edge. For a moment he wondered if his father had chosen the venue deliberately to make Nico uneasy, to meet him feel like a scared little kid again. The thought probably hadn’t even crossed his father’s mind, and Nico wondered if that was worse. His father didn’t have any clue what Nico liked, or maybe he just didn’t care.

His father was already seated. Nico, who wouldn’t have changed and didn’t have anything else to wear anyway, suddenly felt more conscious than he ever had of his slightly faded black jeans and old top. He fiddled with the hem of his shirt as he sat, barely able to meet his father’s eyes. In turn his father barely acknowledged him, merely glancing over the top of the menu and casting his eyes over Nico then turning back to his food choices

“Hello father,” Nico said, a little pointedly.

“Nico,” his father said. His voice lacked any warmth, but he didn’t sound disappointed yet.

Nico had to be satisfied with that and he picked up the menu, wincing at the prices. His father spent money like it meant nothing, and Nico still wasn’t one hundred per cent sure what he actually did.

“How is school?”

Nico looked up surprised.

“I don’t go to school,” he pointed out, a slight bite in his voice.

His father did look up then, and actually put the menu down to better fix Nico with a sharp stare.

“I thought you attended with Percy?”

“Well you thought wrong,” Nico snapped. “I haven’t been to school in years.”

“What on earth are you doing with your time?”

Nico was used to justifying his life to himself. He asked himself the question almost daily. What are you doing with your life? Why do you matter? And the more morbid would anyone care if you disappeared? He had yet to come up with an answer. He wasn’t doing anything. He was drifting. He worked in a bar. It wasn’t exactly revolutionary.

“I work,” Nico answered shortly.

“You should be at school,” his father said. “A degree would greatly improve your chances in life.”

Nico felt like screaming. It wasn’t like he hadn’t wanted to go to school. Had his father missed everything that had happened? Had he missed Bianca’s death? Percy dropping out of school? Jason barely making it through and eventually moving to the other side of the freaking country to escape everything? How had he missed the fact that Nico had been working in a bar since he was legally able to and before that in cafes and shops and anywhere that would have him just to make enough to survive?

Because he wanted to get out of the restaurant and book home as quickly as possible he just made a noncommittal sound and picked his menu back up, hiding behind it.

“Your mother would not have wanted you to waste your life.”

Nico grit his teeth. His cheeks felt hot, he was holding the menu so tightly his fingers began to cramp. He was saved by a waiter turning up to take their order. His father ordered some expensive fish and sparkling water. Nico asked for a coke and a burger, and, if sniffing in derision hadn’t been beneath his father, Nico was sure he would have done so.  

“Have you considered what you are going to do next? I assume you don’t want to be doing whatever it is you are doing now for the rest of your life. I certainly expect more from you. Your sister would have finished school by now. She’d be working hard.”

Nico didn’t even have the menu to slowly strangle anymore.

“Why are you here?” he bit out.

Hs father raised an eyebrow.

“I came to see you. To offer Percy my congratulations on his engagement. Do I need another reason?”

“Usually yes.”

“Nico this surliness is getting tiring. I tried to be patient after your mother and your sister but really it’s time to start growing up now.”

The napkins were fabric he discovered as he pulled one into his lap and tried to shred it.

“Their deaths were a terrible tragedy. But do you think Bianca would still be sulking? She would have stayed strong. She would not have ended up working in a bar.”

So his father did know. And all this was one big, Nico why aren’t you halfway to becoming a five star lawyer like Jason or at least pretending like you have a clue by going to college like Percy. It was a you’ll never be as good as your sister.

“You wish I had died instead of Bianca,” Nico said.

“Nico!”

He didn’t deny it. Nico stood, eyes hot and ashamed at himself for getting so frustrated. His father had never been any different. He never would be any different.

“Thanks for coming,” he said.

“Sit down Nico!”

Nico just shook his head. He threw the napkin down on the table and fled.

He had never wanted to go home more. He ran up the stairs to their door and stopped dead on the landing when he saw Jason and Percy waiting outside. Percy looked bored, slumped against the wall but Jason was standing tall and alert.

“Nico!” he said. “How did it – oh.”

Knowing Percy and Jason his entire life didn’t make it any easier to cry in front of them. He tried not to notice them exchanging glances.

“Why don’t we go back to mine,” Percy said. Nico turned to him, didn’t have to say anything before Percy held up his hands.

“We won’t make you talk but –“

“-you shouldn’t be alone right now,” Jason finished.

The only thing more frustrating than Percy and Jason’s almost constant good-natured sniping and bickering, or the times they used the word ‘bro’ out loud in actual conversation, were the times they ended up finishing each other’s sentences in joint concern over him.

“I’m not a baby,” he muttered.

But he did let them lead him back to Percy’s dorm room, if only because if they were waiting outside then maybe Will wasn’t in and they were kind of right – though he’d never admit that – for once he didn’t want to be alone.

Percy’s roommate – Grover? – was in but Percy took him to the side and after a brief muttered conversation he left saying something about needing to leave the library and or get lunch. He was about as bad at making excuses as Nico.

Once he’d gone, the three of them seemed to realise that after a period in childhood during which they had rarely been apart in their free time, they hadn’t been together in years. There was a bite in the air, unsaid things and some more recent arguments on his and Percy’s side. No one wanted to bring up the past but it was becoming apparent none of them really knew what to say. Percy quickly solved this by pulling out a bottle of tequila.

“I hate tequila,” Percy explaining, pouring them all shots rather generous shots. “It’s why it’s still here.”

He held up his shot glass.

“To crappy dads.”

They all toasted. It was something they could all get behind after all. Percy’s dad wasn’t necessarily horrible, but he wasn’t around much. Jason’s dad was some big shot something and was distant and hard to live up to. And Nico’s dad was –

He took the second shot Percy offered him, coming to the conclusion he didn’t really like tequila either.

“My dad said congratulations,” Nico said. “I hope for your sake he doesn’t feel the need to pass that message on in person.”

Percy laughed but also looked a little worried.

“Do you think I have to invite him to the wedding?”

“No,” Jason said firmly.

“It’s him or me,” Nico said at the same time.

“Oh well when you put it like that –“

Nico’s eyes narrowed but Percy just took a third shot and didn’t finish his sentence.

“No,” Percy said screwing his nose up. “It’s still terrible.”

“Besides,” Jason said returning to the previous point. “If you invited him to the wedding our dads would probably turn it into world war three.”

Percy winced.

“Point made and taken.”

Nico’s phone vibrated. He was used to ignoring messages, sometimes for days, but since Will had his number and began texting him he found himself actually checking whenever a text came through.

“Is that Will?” Jason asked. Nico looked up at him, trying to figure out what the tone behind his voice was. Percy took the opportunity to snatch the phone from his grip.

“That’s really childish,” Nico scolded as Percy leant further back and away as Nico reached for the phone. Nico’s fingertips were inches away when Percy elbowed him and managed to push him back.

“Jason!” Percy called.

Jason caught the phone out of reflex.

“Don’t you dare!” Nico said, as he scrambled up.

“Well maybe if you’d introduced me to him I wouldn’t have to –“

“You know I tried!” Nico protested. “Come on give it back. Jason!”

“What does it say?” Percy asked.

“Jason!”

“Text him back!" Percy suggested. "Invite him over!”

“Jason seriously!”

Jason glanced between Percy and Nico, phone in the palm of one hand. Nico could lunge for it but Jason had quick reflexes; he’d move it before Nico could get close.

“I’ll give it back,” Jason said ignoring Percy’s groan. “If you text him and invite him over.”

Nico debated for a moment weighing up having to introduce his boyfriend who he was currently on very uncertain standing with, against the cost of buying a new phone. Jason gave him a pointed look, waving the phone. Percy was grinning.

“Fine,” Nico said in bad grace.

He opened up the text to reply and saw that Lou Ellen had apparently told Will Nico was going to meet his father. Will was asking if he wanted Nico to come home but there was a something almost passive aggressive behind his words. Nico guessed Will didn’t like he’d had to find out from Lou Ellen.

He told Will he was fine. He didn’t invite him over. He’d just tell Jason and Percy, Will was busy.

“There,” he said.

“Do we believe he’s actually done it?” Jason asked, with far too much insight.

“Not at all,” Percy said.

Nico sighed.

“Why don’t you want us to meet him?” Jason demanded.

“I’ve met him,” Percy said.

Jason turned to look at Percy  and then back to Nico, so quickly Nico was slightly concerned he’d just given himself whiplash.

“Percy introduced us,” Nico said with a shrug. “Sort of. He kind of threw him my way.”

“And look how it worked out for you!” Percy said with a grin. Nico glared at him.

“Well how do you know him?” Jason asked.

“He’s in my biology class. And he’s Connor’s brother’s friend. Besides everyone knows him even if they don’t know him.”

Jason was beginning to move from looking #offended to looking confused.

“What are you talking about Percy?”

“Come on even you all the way in LA must have heard of Will Solace.”

Jason blanched.

“Solace?” he asked.

“I hadn’t heard of him,” Nico pointed out, giving Jason a searching look. Jason met his eyes, all traces of the shock that had only half a second before been written so deeply on his face gone.

“Yes but you live under a rock and only occasionally emerge in the dead of night. Everyone else has a vague idea who he is. Just like everyone has a vague idea who the Kardashians are. Did you know Nico watches the Kardashians? Maybe that was a bad example.”

“I wasn’t watching –“ Nico tried to explain and then gave up.

“Jason?” he added when Jason still didn’t offer an explanation for his rapid loss of colour.  

Jason just shook his head.

“I didn’t realise it was Will Solace,” was all he would say, even when Percy began giving him a strange look.

“Anyway,” he continued, apparently mustering up some of his usual good humour. “I still think we should meet him. Even though one of us has apparently already met him.”

Percy shrugged good naturedly.

“Nico’s always liked me more.”

Once upon a time that might have had Nico trying to hide a blush, but now he just threw a pillow at Percy’s face. Percy protested, Jason got involved in the argument and they all got distracted from Nico’s boyfriend and relationship, which was undeniably what he wanted. But as the day wore on Jason seemed distracted and Nico noticed him on his phone several times, typing with an expression that was somehow both intent and far away. And when Nico left for home, Jason walked with him down the hall.

“How much do you like Will?” Jason asked.

It was an odd question, even for Jason who was overly invested in Nico’s wellbeing and love life.

“Why?”

Jason shook his head.

“It’s nothing,” he said. It didn’t look like nothing but Nico was too annoyed with him to care about asing further. Jason probably just thought Will was nothing but some shallow rich kid who’d drop Nico after a few months. Which to be fair was sort of what Nico had thought when he’d met him.

“Nico?” Jason had stopped at the top of the stairs. Nico had to turn to look at him, neck craned at an awkward angle.

"What?" he snapped.

“Be careful?”

Nico had begun walking down the stairs the pause had been so long and he'd been so convinced Jason wasn't going to answer. He turned back in frustration, but Jason was walking back towards Percy’s room, shoulders hunched and defensive.

"Jason!"

Jason didn't respond.

Next chapter

#its so late #my bad #i've had a cold #excuses #Will solace #will solace/nico di angelo #Nico di Angelo #solangelo #writing #fandom

[pldubrahs]

anyway, this has been a While coming and now im back in new orleans so LOTS OF GUSHING ABOUT THE LIGHTNING THIEF MUSICAL, UNDER THE CUT

the ambiance of the theater, dim and filled with soft storm sounds

this show does really beautiful things with overlapping singing and w harmonys and its So low budget but still so good and the cast is small but amazing and literally everyone but chris is cast into several roles and its just amazing

if u dont wanna read this whole thing, just scroll down to the end for a Special Surprise

ACT 1

the Bitter, Angry, Sad music, ltm is truly the Emo Rock Musical we deserve

i seriously almost fell out of my chair when chris mccarrell came out. he honest to god was SUCH a good percy, so fidgety and all his expressions were ON POINT

“CHROOONOOOOOOOS”

ms dodds in General she was hilarious for the literal 3 minutes she was onstage

the pen to sword transformation is literally just: chris hides the pen and grabs the sword from somewhere else onstage. during my show, in the ms dodds fight scene, the sword was on the back of chirons wheelchair and it got stuck so he had to trip after the chair as chiron wheeled off and TUG it off to fight

DID I MENTION HOW MUCH I LOVED CHRIS MCCARRELL AND HOW AMAZING HIS VOICE WAS? BECAUSE I DO AND IT W A S

sally is a BLACK WOMAN 

just in general, this show was Amazing at raceblind casting

sally sprayed febreeze after smelly gabe, like he leaned to look in the fridge and she stood behind him spraying febreeze directly at him for like 30 seconds

“he was handsome and strong and before too long- you came!” percy was roasting marshmallows and looking out towards the audience and sally was rubbing up and down the sides of her body during this before “you came!” and it was v funny

Strong in general was Great bc WOW IM LOVE THE “NORMALCY IS A SOCIALLY CONSTRUCTED MYTH” MESSAGE

grover and percy meeting outside camp

“oh look a goat” “percy!”

“he met a furie” “youre all furry! what happened to your legs”

the v cute friendship bickering, overlapping voices thing that percy and grover v often did. this was the grover and percy friendship that we always needed

during the weird dream when he sees annabeth and hes like “gee whiz shes the most beautiful girl ive ever seen”

and then when he officially meets her after hes not out of it, he says “youre my dream girl!” and then backpedals and its great

ANOTHER TERRIBLE DAY. DEFFS ONE OF THE TOP FIVE SONGS. MR D IN GENERAL WAS JUST AMAZING, GEORGE SALAZAR ROCKED IT

he kicked the chair over so much and then there was a part after his camp halfblood intern thing left so his chair didnt get reset behind him and so he kicked into the air, got frustrated, and put the chair up himself

“of course, who am i to give relationship advice, im literally the god of alcohol”

“you can hate it here, but i HATED IT FIRST”

so so so many Soft sex jokes and bc im a Child i loved them 

chiron is just a guy galloping with a horse tail its the cutest thing and everyone laughed bc like imagine a kid galloping w their legs high and w/e, but on an adult and slow motion

“you’ll get used to mr d. he can be a bit... well, he hates children”

luke was Very attractive and ALSO he had a lot of chemistry w percy and w annabeth and i, who remembered shipping percy and luke back in my Youth, was Living

annabeth deffs had a crush on luke dont @ me

also luke was Softly bitter. like he sounded like a modern kid, bitter and upset but saying it in a joking way; totally makes sense that no one suspects that he’d do anything w chronos bc all the kids are upset and he doesnt get dark until the very end of the show

“are you ever going to wear pants again?” “Nope!”

luke: “havent you ever played capture the flag?” percy, excitedly: “not with swords!” *makes swooshy lightsaber noises* annabeth, suffering, full of regret: “It’s not a lightsaber.”

“sexist much?” “no, i love girls” [muffled luke and grover cackling in the background]

CLARISSE, LOVE OF MY LIFE! her song was so so good

im sure everyone has mentioned this but the LEAF BLOWERS BLOWING TOILET PAPER TO REPRESENT WATER LITERALLY CHANGED MY LIFE

the campfire song

percys Soft concern for annabeths story about running away “wait is that true”

grover starting to cry during his part

“my father is chronos.... remember my lecture, he ate his children””....... chiron wins”

APHRODITE'S DAUGHTER’S STORY “godess of love, my moms aphrodite... i bring home a boy and shes there in her nightie! oh nooooo” “she steals my mascara and all of my dates!” wonderful

percy sings nicely about his mother and everyones like “hes doing it wrong”

“we dont care where our parents may be, as long as you are here with me!” FRIENDSHIP MAKES ME EMO

“havent you noticed that there arent any other little sea godlings running around? any sons of hades or daughters of zeus? the big three gods arent supposed to have kids!” i loved this tiny easter egg i love my big three kids

“look at the boy, hes clearly not a thief!” “oh, yeah no yeah yeah yeah no no yeah yeah no yeah no, youre right! you cant fake being that stupid unless youre a brilliant actor, but im also the god of drama, so i can tell you HES NOT”

“his lightning?” “yeah, we're not talking some crummy tin foil zig zag from some off broadway play!”

GOOD KID IS EVEN BETTER LIVE THAN IT WAS ON THE RECORDING IT RUINED MY LIFE

Killer Quest! is an amazing end of act song and v upbeat and cute

“so where is the underworld actually” “look for doa records” “its a record company? actually, im not surprised”

ACT 2

WE’RE LOST IN THE WOODS SOMEWHERE IN NEW JERSEY AND WE’RE NEVER GONNA MAKE IT TO LA

“half bloods to monsters smell like mickey ds, like tacos or take out vietnamese”

“dude are you talking to the squirrel?” “satyr powers, be nice. this squirrel knows every corner of the woods, maybe he can help us” “really? because i think that seems kind of nuts” [silence] “you hurt his feelings. tell the squirrel youre sorry.”

medusa in general, what a Good scene

ensemble members shaking maracas to make snake noises for her

medusa cant say “nemesis”

“ive done everything to prove to the gods that im the best and you- i mean, you dont even know how to hold a sword” “yes i do!, yes... i do...” “no, hands here *adjusts percys grip*” “i didnt ask for any of this: gods, monsters, quests- oh, wow, that is a lot easier”

my grand plan is the most annabeth chase song ever and i love it its such a good look into her character and i love her so much

“when boys mess up they always get another chance”

“cause most girl never win if theyre polite”

THE COMMENTARY ON HOW WOMEN HAVE TO BE IN TODAYS SOCIETY IN ORDER TO BE TAKE SERIOUSLY HELL YEAH

“the gods will think we’re impertinent” “we are impertinent”

the squirrel gave them three amtrak tickets

DRIVE IS A COUNTRY SONG AND I FUCKING LOVE IT IM HONESTLY SHOOK

i hate country except for this One Song

ITS ONE FOOT FORWARD AT A TIME; DUST OFF ALL THAT GRIT AND GRIME; WE STILL GOT A LOT LEFT TO DOOOO, CAUSE PEOPLE ARE COUNTIN ON US AND IM COUNTIN ON YOU! DRIIIIIIIIVE JUST DRIIIIiiiiiiiiIIIIIIVE STAY AHEAD STAY AHEAD STAY ALIIIIIIIVE

“is that chihuahua?” “its a chimera!”

“maybe if you hadnt brought all those dam snacks” “uh it was the hoover dam and i was hungry!”

ares drives them to las vegas and when they get there he says “this is where i... get off” and its HILARIOUS i love lowkey sex jokes

gentle easter egg to bianca and nico re: may 1st 1939

“the oracle can can it ill save my mom and savE THE PLANET!” im love percy so much

tREE ON THE HILL IS ABOUT THALIA AND IT MADE ME CRY GOD WHAT A GOOD SONG and grover feels like a failure and annabeth is like “no u saved my life ur a good friend and a good guardian <3 friendship”

THE FERRYMAN TO THE UNDERWORLD FLIRTS WITH GROVER

“you wanna hear my demo?” “uh-” [loud music plays] “im sorry i couldnt hear you over this SWEET ASS RIFF”

YOURE IN THE D.O.A. AND YOURE HERE TO STAY YEAH YOURE STUCK FOREVER NEVER GET AWAY NO HOPE FOR SURVIVAL YOURE DEAD ON ARRIVAL

“oh! do you have any josh groban?” “we will.” I CACKLED

DJ CEBERUS W A COOL 3-HEADED DEADMAU5 ESQUE MASK

the ferryman also attacks them all like “youre not gonna save the planet, you wont protect your friends, you wont be remembered”

everyone says this but “i think this pit is tartarus” “LIKE THE FISH SAUCE?”

“why would chronus want my shoes?” “they were really cool shoes”

bitter, sad hades who just wants people to stop thinking that hes the bad guy and for his brothers to come visit him

“one does not simply walk out of the underworld”

W H A T  B E L O N G S  T O  T H E  S E A  C A N  A L W A Y S  R E T U R N

small reprise of good kid as he considers hades offer and then the melody cHANGES and percy realizes that the seashell, a gift from a god, can SAVE THEM and its beautiful because SON OF POSEIDON IS A GOOD SONG

“maybe my dad was a screwup too, his best laid plans always falling through... maybe he never knew how to care but hey, thats life, and life aint fair... but i think my dad mayve thrown me a line, and better late than never, ill finally get a sign!”

its a good song kids

the kids get to the oceans and they FIGHT ARES and ares and percy are both singing, percy singing The Son Of Poseidon chorus and ares singing Put You In Your Place and its b e a u t i f u l

THE TOILET PAPER THROW- basically they bring in like 6 leafblowers w toilet paper rolls attached and the first five rows get covered in toilet paper. as someone who was in the fifth row, it was amazing

poseidon comes in, they have a Heart To Heart, he brings sally back to life, he flirts with sally, its hilarious and awkward

“the gods are unfair but we’re not total dicks”

percys like “you dont have to stay w gabe anymore” and sallys like “smh boy u cant solve all my problems. you saved my life, now i have to figure out how to live it”

he gives her medusas head

“what is this” “its a... do it yourself scupture kit” “oh! *begins to open it*” “no no no its, um, medusas head”

“well, as my official protector, you can officially escort us back to camp” “and youre conscience this time!”

chiron is also cast as poseidon so like he runs into the camp scene after a quick change and says “i hoofed it here as quick as i could!” 

last day of summer happens and w/e its cute but whAT REALLY MATTERS IS LUKES BETRAYAL: okay so the music slows and goes into the minor key and percys like “we still dont know whos working w chronos :/” lukes like “yeah it sucks” and he starts singing about how he doesnt trust the gods and how the gods hate them and how they need to take over the world and put the gods in their place--he and percy do their handshake fist-to-the-chest thing and luke is serious and percy does it but hes v confused and it Hurts. this is the first time in the show that luke sounds just Bitter and Angry instead of jokingly deprecating and its quite the effect

THE DARK GOOD KID REPRISE 

“ill do anything, i dont care if i hurt anyone, it doesnt pay to be a good kid, a good kid, a good son" GOD IT HURTS luke has so much pain and i feel so bad for him like yeah hes evil but,,, hes had a hard life

annabeth comes in and DISARMS LUKE but PSYCH luke has a small switchblade and STABS PERCY IN THE BACK (bc they cant use scorpions onstage)

percybeth moment interrupted by clarisse’s loud coughing and grover

percys like “we cant just sit here and wait for our parents to fix things.”

“the gods will say we’re impertinent” “we are impertinent” goddamn that symmetry

“are we ever gonna once have it easy?” my poor poor kids

percy- “feeling ready” annabeth- “feeling stoked” grover- “feeling queasy”

THE SEA DOESNT LIKE TO BE RESTRAINED

bring on the monsters is just a Good song

also hey if you got to the end of this, congrats! i have a ltm audio and either in a message or in an off-anon ask and ill hook u up

#lightning thief musical #the lightning thief #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson musical #lydia talks about stuff

[shleezaemour]

Back at camp 20 years later ( part of the soangelo 20 years of marriage series)

Will and nico are back to their old ways at camp. Only now they can embarrass their kids! Memories of the old days resurface and they get wrapped up in eachother once more afraid to let go. I own nothing. Review at will. Enjoy!! Love the reviews so far guys! If you guys see something happening in the story that you might want to see let me know and I'll do my best to work it in! Nicos POV Getting ready to start training in the arena today was nerve wracking. I haven't trained actual students for going on two decades. My kids of course but the kids were easy to train and let's face it... naturals. With him and Will as parents of course they would be and of course with Reyna as their bio mom they were made for battle. I decided on my usual black in black. It was hot today so I went with a tank top in hopes to possibly catch my husbands eye. After last night I was feeling very sexy and I wanted to ride out that ego boost. Grabbing some gear I put my hair into its usual man bun and made my way toward the grounds. Will had already left for the infirmary to assess it and make plans for teaching the healers. My three glorious children were already at the arena albeit half asleep and looking like they could kill me for what I was wearing. Fucking teenagers I'm 38 not fucking dead!! A gathering of kids started to pile in as I set up practice dummies and targets. I walked up to the crowd as I finished to be met by a few wolf whistles from a few of the girls. Bianca and Naomi cringed at them. I may be 200% gay but wolf whistles were always appreciated. "Ok kids how many do we have?" "There's about 60 of us papa" Bianca answered for me, "Good ok well I'm going to show you guys a few blocks and strikes. Then I want you to pair off and practice. No holding back guys! War isn't practice and it isn't pretty. It's actually pretty serious. I've been through two of them by the time I was 15. Plus countless battles and random monster attacks. Ok Bianca your going to help me out showing striking and blocking " She rushed over happy that I'm using her as an example. I'm not supposed to say hat she's the best fighter out of the three but.. she's the best fighter. Naomi was gifted with more of my talents with shadow travel and hypnokinesis but Bianca was a great fighter and strategist. She had Geokinesis and used the earth as a tool and a weapon. So proud! Paul well... he was great at archery and a glorious singer and guitar player but he wasn't a fighter. Much like his father he would rather be on the sidelines catching those who fall. I could see Bianca trying to slip something past me. I heard it before I saw it. I caught the throwing knife before it hit my shoulder. My little show off. Trying to show the kids how tough she was. Ok that maybe my fault and I blame Reyna too. Not for the biological standpoint but I'm pretty sure she had a talk with her yesterday about asserting dominance over the other fighters. "Ah well nice try BiBi but no cigar" "Father !! Don't call me BiBi infront of the other campers !" She stressed between her teeth. Oh she pulled out the "Father" card. Not papa or dad but father which means she was pissed! Well then maybe she shouldn't be throwing Stygian knives at her "Father". "That was a great throw though! If you all were watching you saw that it was going for my shoulder. I promise this was not an accident or a miscalculation. My daughter was simply not wanting to hurt me to bad if I didn't catch it. Bianca here is an amazing shot and if she wanted to aim for my head or heart she would have nailed it!" She smiled. "Thanks papa" Great I'm papa again. "I think you should give a demonstration of what you can really do!" Someone shouted. Who was that? Mother fucking Jason Grace! My best friend. Godfather to my children was challenging me. "Put your money where your bolts are Sparky!!" Jason headed toward me. Of course son of Jupiter only got better looking with age. In his practice gear it looked like he was planning on helping out anyway. Jason had asked me to help him with Powers control classes he was going to be teaching later this week so I guess he thought that meant he was supposed to return the favor with battle practice. What the hell the more the merrier. "Let's do this Deathboy!" "Hey it's Deathman now!" "Oh someone's cocky!!" "Fine before Bianca and I demonstrate the strikes and blocks how does everyone feel about a full hand to hand demonstration?" The crowd cheered. I could see Will in the back. He must have walked here with Jason. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he was the one who came up with this little challenge. My husband I swear always looking for a way to get me sweaty. Jason and circled eachother. I looked around the arena for spots with shadows. Luckily it was partly cloudy day even though the temp was up. Plus the trees and beams cast shadows as well. Not that I couldn't travel in pure daylight. I learned somewhere in my early twenties that I could use the shadows made by my own body to travel. I also learned how to grab the shadows and use them almost like they were ropes. Jason was sizing me up to. Checking wind and other factors. I picked up my Stygian sword as we circled eachother. Flipping his coin an imperial gold sword shot into existence. Clash! We shot at eachother so fast most of the kids bumped into eachother trying to follow our movements. A dance ensued of clashing metal. Jason tried to fly up to gain leverage but I used his own shadow to pull him back down. Wildly flipping and striking eachother the adrenaline of a real fight filled my ears. I loved this. Sliding between his legs I knocked him off balance and ripped the leg of his pants. Twirling around he hit the butt of his sword against my jaw catching me off guard. Blood filled my mouth. It was leaking down my chin. I smiled as I circled him again. That's what I'm talking about! Once again a dance of us playing off eachother ducking and twirling. Getting closer he kicked my legs out from under me and had me on the ground. Not going to lie it was a little sexy. Pushing my sword against his I felt he was gaining position. Fuck it I let him think he was winning long enough. I traveled and landed on his back my sword to his throat. Blinking sweat out of his eyes he tapped the ground and conceded. Applause rang out! I helped him to his feet. "Almost had me there old man!" "Who you calling old you little ankle biter?" "Yeah well Will is over there I think he's going to kill you when he sees my jaw" "Nah he can fix that in a millisecond." Taking off my shirt I wiped some of the blood off my chin. More wolf whistles. "Jason why don't you and Bianca show everyone the 3 strikes and blocks?" "Yes of course! Bi Bi my love come join me!" Bianca didn't bat an eyelash when Jason called her that. Figures. I saw my husband and headed toward him. --------------------------- Wills POV Most of the morning I checked out the infirmary. Everything seemed to be in order except that the kids seemed to not know how to properly make unicorn draught. As I taught them the proper measurements I saw that my father had been busy. I had atleast 15 new siblings and these were just this generation. Kayla was teaching a class on reattaching limbs in the back room and Austin was focusing on Apollo hymns. I was happy the siblings from my generation were here helping. Seems like a lot of us came back to help with this war. Drew Tanaka was in the infirmary heavily sedated. On her way here with her family they were attacked by the arai. Drew lost her son and her husband. 3 of her girls made it though. They were in the arena with Nico learning to fight. Piper was next to her half sister holding her hand. None of us liked Drew. She was a pain in the ass and always looking to tear someone down but she didn't deserve to lose part of her family like that. "Where's Jason?" "The arena helping Nico" "Where Percy?" "The beach. I think he's meeting his dad and Tyson. " "That's good. Stay with Drew will you I'm going to check in on Arena training see if they need an on site medic" "Good idea. You know how those two get." "Yeah. Where are your two boys?" "They are still at school for another week. My father is taking care of them and will send them along once they finish. Don't worry about them Will between Jason and Nico training them through the years and Marcus having my charm speak they will be fine. They will make it. Drews husband was mortal. He didn't have a chance. " "Sad. I'm glad the rest made it and you're right Marcus and Tom will make it here on their own. It's just hard to imagine the kids getting older you know?" "Gods do I. The worst part is the only thing I can think of is that the only way we could win this war is Annabeth. How are we going to win without her?" "Well we haven't truly lost her Piper. We have everything she knew in that library. The answer is in that building I'm sure of it." "Yeah your right. " "Ok I'm out. Send someone if you need me I'm ok to probably be patching kids up down there" "Hey Will! Take Raze with you !" Austin called out. Austins son Raze grabbed two medical bags and smiled at me. My nephew was going to be a great healer one day. He had the drive and was less musically inclined than his father. His mother was a child of Hecate so Raze had a special punch to his healing abilities. "Cmon Raze let's patch up some cuts!" "Yes uncle Will!" "Good man!" We headed toward the arena. Jason was coming up beside us. Guess Piper was wrong. "Hey Grace your wife thought you were at the arena!" "I'm heading there now I just had to deal with some stuff." "Stuff?" "Yeah stuff." He eyed Raze and gave me a look of I will tell you later. "So you going to help out my husband or just be a pretty distraction for the girls to swoon over?" "I'm a little to smart for the hot for teacher complex thank you and I wouldn't worry about me getting stared at. I saw Nico this morning heading down and he is going to break a few hearts fighting in that tank top. I don't know what diet plan you have him on but he doesn't seem to age or gain weight like the rest of us." "Yeah fucking bastard. I watch everything that goes into my mouth to the point of obsession. I've gained 10 pounds. Nico eats fonzis and drinks wine and keeps the six pack of a 21 year old Adonis. Makes me sick" "Yeah I'm sure it does. Except you get to touch that Adonis every night." "Do I ever!" Raze coughed and blushed. Guess that's TMI for a 13 year old. I stood in the back and handed Raze the bag and showed him the supplies we may need. Jason was challenging my husband in a "who had a bigger dick" contest. I hate to break it to Grace but I saw him naked once in the locker room at the gym. Nicos was bigger. Lucky me. Poor Piper. They began their contest in a whirl of limbs and metal. I was always amazed watching Nico fight. So fast even after all this time it's like he never left. The smile of his face while he fought was a bit frightening. His battle smile. Where I dreaded a fight Nico lived for it. To the point that I was afraid of him getting bored at home but his father kept him busy and once the kids were old enough to train he had them handling sharp objects. I was not happy about that but it was a battle I had to lose. Plus the kids were naturals. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the best fighters in the camp of their generation. Nico had them at it 5 nights a week for the last 8 years. Jason got Nico in the jaw. Blood stained Nicos teeth and dripped off his chin. Still smiling through it. I was both revolted and turned on at the same time don't ask me why it was always a confusing feeling seeing Nico in full battle mode. Sweat clung to him making his tank top look like it was painted to his skin. Damn I'm a lucky man. Nico finished Jason a lot quicker than I thought. Breaking up he had Jason do the first demos with Bianca and he headed toward me taking his shirt off. The wolf whistles started and I could see the hickey I left on Nicos hip. "Hey doctor could you help a damsel in distress!" "Oh yes you are so distressed!! I can practically smell the endorphins pouring out of you." "What no kiss!" "Not with a mouth full of blood like that babe. Come here let me check you out." I placed my hands on Nicos jaw and and sang. My hand glowed slightly as I felt his jaw healing and the bite mark he had on his inner cheek close up. "Thank you sweetie that feels better" he took a bottle of water and rinsed his mouth out and wiped up the blood. I kissed him after that. Paul came up to us while the others were watching Bianca and Jason. "Dad you should take papa to the infirmary he has some cuts on his back. And uhh the bruise on his hip maybe you could do something about that..." "That's not a bruise Paul that's a hickey I left of your papas hip from last night!" "Lalalalalalalala I don't need to hear this and I'm almost certain it's child abuse!" "What you don't want to hear about how your dad loves me?" "Love is fine! Hand holding and hugs not hickeys and blow jobs" Paul turned beet red. "Do you think he's jealous that we got laid last night and he didn't?" Nico chided "Maybe though he looks a bit red do you think maybe he might have got some too last night maybe one of the Aphrodite girls?" "Both of you!! I swear this is child abuse!!" He stomped off. "Why do you do that to him Will?" "Because it's soooo easy. I'm not condoning teen sex but that kid is wound so tight sometimes I kinda wish he would get a girlfriend and loosen up" "Teen sex? Hell we were only a year older than him when we started having sex and before that we were doing a lot of other stuff" "Exactly it's natural. He's smart and informed he's not going to knock up some girl to soon. I just wish he would let go a little." "You would not feel the same if it were Naomi and Bianca." "That's different they are girls and I don't want anyone to take advantage of them" In that same moment the girls took their opponent to the ground. "Actually maybe we should be scared for the guys they date? " "Oh I'd be terrified to date the Hades girls" "Hey! You dated the Hades boy!" "Yeah and the Hades boy was like 20 times more femme than those girls" "Are you saying I'm girly?" "I'm saying your delicate and do your make up better than Piper does" "Point taken" "But I like that about you" "If you like me so girly why didn't you just date a girl?" "I tried but their dicks weren't big enough " "Oh my gods you have to save that one to say infront of Paul " "He would die " "Yes he would. But I stand my ground I like you just the way you are. You may have a few femme qualities that I like but you never look more manly and sexy than when your fighting " "Careful Doctor Solace im susceptible to flattery." "Oh well maybe we should go back to the infirmary for these little cuts. We could make out in the storage closet like the old days." "Chiron was sooo mad when he caught us" "He wasnt mad about us making out he was mad that we were crushing the supplies" "Yeah he seemed to not care about us to much" "Well I think he was just happy for us. If it took me having my hands all over you to keep you from running away from camp than he was fine with it" I sat down on the bench and Nico sat on my lap giving me access to heal his cuts. "Speaking of having your hands on me" "Why are you so touchy babe I swear we have had more sex in the last week than we have had in months?" "I don't know I guess it's a combination of us having more alone time than usual and us being back at camp where it all started." "Oh I see. Well I'm not complaining I just wanted to know where your head was." "I guess it's been stuck in memory lane since we have been here" "What's on your memory lane now?" "You know just reliving all the firsts we had here. The hearth where we first held hands" "The capture the flag game where I first kissed you against that tree" "The first time you spent the night in my bed" "Oh yeah. Clovis came to get me you were having a nightmare. I came in and held you until you could go back to sleep. Then I fell asleep. " "You held me so tight" "I never wanted to let go" "You never did" "Do you remember the first time I told you I loved you?" "Yeah I broke my wrist falling out of a tree cause I miscalculated my landing spot when I traveled. I was trying not to cry when you were setting it. We were alone in the infirmary and you were whispering sweet nothings trying to keep me calm and distract me from the pain and you said "Nico it's ok baby I have you I'll make it go away. I love you I won't hurt you" and I stopped breathing" "I didn't even realized I said it. It just popped out seeing you upset" "When I started breathing again I told you I loved you too" "Yup and that's when I realized I said the L word" "You cried" "I did not!!" "You so did" "Well I did love you. I loved you then and every minute after that." "I'm so happy Will. You know that right ?" "So you still love me?" "I love you so much that the idea that we are going through another war makes me want to run away with you and the kids. Wrap you all in bubble wrap and keep us in s bomb shelter until it's all over" "We can't do that Will. We have to be here" "Oh baby I know. But the idea of waking up and not having you on the other side of the bed. That the spot next to me would be cold. That the smell of clove and lavender would never fill my nose in the morning as I bury my face in your hair. That I would never get to trace my fingers up your spine as you lay on top of me head against my heart. The idea that it could happen takes my breath away and ties my stomach in knots. The thought of it hurts so much that my throat feels tight whenever you leave my sight. I just want this to be over so that we can go home and sleep in our own bed and hell I would love nothing more than to send the kids to my moms for the whole summer just to make love to you at any given moment. " "Gods I love you William" he leaned into me and I settled my nose into the crook of his neck. "I love you too Niccolo" "Wanna go back to the cabin and wash up before lunch? Looks like Jason has the class?" "Let me check with him first. HEY JAY!! YOU GOT THIS?!" "YEAH BRO GO WASH THE BLOOD OFF!!" Nico gave him and thumbs up and we walked back to the cabin. --------- Nicos POV I started the shower. I really was covered in dirt and blood and sweat and it was disgusting. Will was back in our room laying on the bed with his eyes closed. "Hey baby?" "Yeah what's up neeks" "Come join me?" "Can't reach your back?" "Can't reach my heart actually thought you could help me find it" "Oh well that's not possible cause that's mine and I'm keeping it" "Well if that's the case then why don't you show me why you still have it" I pulled him up into a kiss that was so much more than a kiss. I could feel him pouring every worry he has over us being here into it. Conveying every ounce of love for me for the kids for our life back in Long Island. Shedding his clothes we tumbled under the water still his mouth on mine. I both hated and loved how much taller he was than me. The water bounced off of him and into me. Washing away the stress and heaviness. He grabbed the loofa and began to wash all the things that had marred my body from this morning. All while never having his mouth leave me. If it wasn't on my mouth it was in my shoulder or my neck. Moving his lips over me sometimes not moving them at all. Keeping them still but parted over me. Feeling him breathe over my skin as he lathered and soaped my body. Dropping the loofa he trailed his hands across my abdomen nuzzling the nape of my neck. "I love you " "I love you" Kneeling down he peppered kisses down me. Pulling my foreskin back he engulfed me in his mouth. Watching the water cascade over him as he bobbed his head reminded me of the first time we showered. In this very shower. It was less smooth than this was. *** flashback*** I was in the shower after a very hard day of training til I practically dropped. Will had convinced me to finally call it a day and half carried me home. I was rinsing my hair when I realized I had left my razor on the sink. My legs needed a good shave and I didn't want to get the floor all wet. Will was in my room reading yet another medical journal. Fuck it I'll get him to hand it to me. "WILL!" I heard the door open. "Yeah Neeks what's up?" "Could you hand me my razor it's just on the sink there." "Your shaving your face in the shower? How can you even see what your doing?" "I'm not shaving my face just give me the damn razor!" He opened the glass door peaking his hand through. Jokingly he said "Want company" he laughed. "Um yeah, yeah I think I do" Silence. Oh shit I went to far. We have only made out like twice and had about a few dozen kisses this was to soon. Fuck what was I thinking! Then I heard him taking his clothes off. Oh shit he was coming in here! He's going to see me naked! What if he doesn't like it! What if I don't like it! Opening the door again he came in with his eyes closed. He felt around til he found me. Good lord he was so much better looking without clothes! Freckles all over him and I do mean all over! "Will open your eyes" He opened them slowly. Looking me up and down the smile in his face grew. "Wow uh your.. your naked " "I usually am in the shower" "Yeah uh so umm what are you shaving?" He asked embarrassment coloring his face at the comment. "M-my legs actually. I don't like hair on me. It's just a thing I have." "Well um. Want me to help you w-with that?" "You want to shave my legs for me?" "Uh sure" "Ok" He took the razor and kneeled down (I have a large shower with a seat in it and everything) I put my leg up on the seat and he lathered my legs and with a slightly shaky hand he began dragging the razor over my leg. He was super focused. By the time he finished both legs his breathing had picked up a bit and he began to shake himself instead of just his hands. "Will are you ok?" "Yeah I just.. um.. Nico" he stood infront of me. Leaning down to kiss me he backed me into the stall wall. "Can I- can I touch you?" "Yeah I .. sure but only if I can touch you back" "Yeah yeah of course" Lowering his hand he kissed me and began to touch me. I thought my knees would give way. I had never experienced anything like this. My skin set itself on fire. I reached my hand to him in the same way and oh... I gasped "What?! Are you ok ?" "Yes it's just.. your bigger than I thought you would be I mean I didn't think you were small I just.. I don't know what I'm saying can you shut me up!" Cutting my rambling off with a deep kiss and a firmer stroke. We began a slow but steady rhythm between us. My breath was hitching against his mouth. He was gasping little noises of pleasure into mine. It didn't last long but gods was it good. He came first shooting it all down my freshly shaved leg. Soon after I came into his hand in a long shiver and deep moan that I didn't even know I could make. Breathing hard against eachother he said.. "So that happened" touching our foreheads together. "Yeah it did" "Was it ok?" "Yeah... yeah it was amazing " "Ok" "Ok" Breaking from my recollection I looked down at him there. We had come so far from that moment yet here we are. Same shower. Same feeling. I loved him so much and I wanted to feel his love on me. He got up and sat on the shower seat. Pulling me to him I could feel his erection on my back. Reaching his hand around me he prepped me. Feeling his fingers slide in and out of me easily. I explored his mouth with my tongue in long slow strokes. Grabbing my hips he lifted me into him. My back to his chest sitting in the shower. I set the pace with his hands on my hips. I took my time wrapping my arms around his neck from behind me. Keeping on arm wrapped around me he used his other hand to stroke me in time to my grinding. I love the fucking I do but I live for these moments. Me making love to him. Slow and steady. Being able to hear his breath and his little moans. I could feel him getting close and I was about to come way to early but I couldn't hold it. A string of Italian flowed from my mouth as my orgasam peaked. My words set him off and I could feel him pulsating against my prostate in little spurts. Still kissing him. Kissing my William. Feeling his heart settle from behind me. Holding me to him. Holding me never letting me go.

[rippedjeansandloudmusic]

Every Twenty Years

My bfffl were chatting it up about ship AU’s and I came up with this,

WHAT ABOUT PERSON A HAS HALLUCINATIONS OF PERSON B WHEN THEY’RE A KID AND A THERAPIST CONVINCES PERSON A IS THAT PERSON B IS JUST A’S PROJECTION OF A ROLE MODEL OR SOMETHING AND THEN HE GOES ON TO BELIEVE THAT BUT AFTER YEARS PERSON B FINALLY MANAGES TO CONVINCE PERSON A THAT THEY’RE STUCK INBETWEEN DIMENSIONS (WHICH THEY ARE) AND HAS TO HAVE PERSON A HELP THEM ESCAPE BECAUSE HE CAN’T FUCKING HANDLE IT AND WANTS TO BE WITH PERSON A HELP ME

Aka the Solangelo AU nobody asked for.

So, I decided to write it because I needed something to do.

This has been happening for years.

Nico was around the age of six when it started. And eleven when it got serious

His father was never stable enough to care for him on his own. That’s his therapist’s theory as to why he developed this figment.....his mother had died merely years before. His father had become distant, causing Nico to yearn for a parental figure.

But, the man had shown up way before his father had become distant.

He was six when Will showed up.

It was barely a year after the accident, the lightning. The storm that had taken his mother away. His sister, he believed was at a friend’s house down the street. 

Nico was outside playing on the front lawn when the man appeared across from him. The boy had to be a lot older than him. An adult Nico thought. But, why is an adult wanting to talk to me?

The boy was tall and muscular, the body of an athlete. He approached Nico as he sat on his father’s lawn, kneeling in front of him.

“Hey, Nico,” The man said planting himself beside the six-year-old. 

Nico was confused. Why was an adult talking to him?

“Who are you?” Nico asked and the man gave him a sad smile.

Why was he sad?

This was the first time Nico realized he didn’t like seeing the man sad.

“Will,” The man said. He scooted closer to Nico, pointing at the small figurines that litter the lawn.

“You still play Mythomagic?” Will asked and Nico, being only six, failed to catch that he said still. 

“Y-Yeah, uh,” He stuttered. He was never exactly calm in the presence of adults.

“My sister showed my how.” He continued, though now had a child sized smile on his face. Though on Nico’s frail form it seemed to stretch for miles. The adult, Will, would sit beside Nico as he described how the game worked. How, even though most kids didn’t agree, he thought that Dionysis the quote unquote, wine dude was his favorite card. Despite only having five hundred attack points. About how Hades could attack with five thousand points, but only if your opponent attack first. He barely got into the fact that Zeus’s bolts could do six hundred damage when his sister came barreling down the sidewalk and caught him in the front lawn.

 “Hey, Neeks!” She called to him. Nico looked up from the small figurine featuring a tall, shirtless man with a long beard and trident, and smiled at his sister.

“Bianca!” He called out before standing up and running towards her.

She picked him up in a hug, twirling him around for a second, emitting giggles from the younger boy, before setting him back down on the cement.

“What’re you doing?” She asked as the boy grabbed her hand, dragging her over to his small spot on the grass.

“Talking to Will,” He said simply, sitting back beside the older man on the grass.

Bianca raised a brow, casting a glance around the lawn to find the other boy.

“Where is he?” She asked. 

Nico laughed, hitting her shin and pointing to the man sitting beside him. “He’s right there!”

Bianca was a little confused. There isn’t anyone here, she told herself. Then, a thought rose to the forefront of her brain. Imaginary friend.

“Hello, friend of Nico’s,” she said, sitting beside Nico.

Will cracked a smile, raising a brow at young Nico. Nico erupted into laughs at his expression, causing Bianca to give him an odd look.

“What, Nico?”

“Look at his face!” He said pointing at him. 

Will pretended to be annoyed. “It’s not nice to point, Nico,” He chided and Nico’s hand slowly lowered.

“What’s his name, Nico?” Bianca asked. Nico looked to his older sister.

“Will.....uh, Will.” He replied.

Bianca played along.

“Hello, Will!” She said, waving at where she believed Will to be. Will waved back. “Hey, B.”

Nico laughed again. “Her name isn’t B! It’s Bianca!”

Bianca was a little more confused. She assumed that he was still playing this out.

“It’s okay,” She said. “He can call me B.”

Nico pursed his lips together, looking at Bianca for only a second before another smile dominated his features.

“Okay!”

“Hey,” Will said to gain the boy’s attention.

Nico’s head snapped in Will’s direction, and he got a confused look.

“Yeah?”

“Why don’t we play a round of Mythomagic?”

Nico smiled again, nodding, and quickly began setting up the board. Bianca shot her brother an odd look.

“What’s happening?” She asked.

“Will wants to play a round,” He stated before turning to his sister.

“Didn’t you hear him?” He asked again.

Bianca was now a little concerned, but brushed it off. Her friend, Zoee’s little brother also had an imaginary friend. It’s normal, she remembered her friend telling her. Most boys his age are going to have a fictional friend.

“Sorry, I didn’t,”

Nico was eleven when his sister died.

He began wearing darker colors, hoping to dissolve into nothingness. His cousins, Percy and Jason, had come by and tried to help. He pushed them away, his subconscious somehow convincing him it was their fault she was dead. Soon after, though, he began to blame himself.

Will was by his side more frequently, then.

“Why don’t we play a round of Mythomagic, Nico?” The boy asked. He shook his head, pulling his legs to his chest and burying his face in his knees.

“No, it’s stupid,” He replied, his voice slightly muffled by the jeans at his mouth.

Will got up, and ‘sat’ on the bed beside him. He wanted to comfort the younger boy. Hug him, perhaps? But as soon as he raised his hand to do said hugging, his hand passed right through Nico’s body. Will, if he could feel such things, felt like he just got a kick to the gut. 

Another reminder, he thought to himself glumly.

“Hey,” He tried to get Nico to talk again. “Why don’t we go for a walk, then?”

Nico shook his head again, his ever-growing long hair spilling onto his face to cover what little was previously seen.

Will felt another kick to his stomach.

Trying again, Will placed a ghostly arm over the younger boy’s shoulders. He thanked any higher power they had here when his hand didn’t pass through. Nico turned and planted his fragile head into Will’s shoulder, letting tears fall.

Will felt tears of his own well up, though he didn’t let them fall.

He couldn’t even if he wanted to. 

He was thirteen when his father took him to a therapist.

Well, it wasn’t exactly his father to take him.

He was in the back of his personal driver Julius Albert’s car. His father was almost never around anymore, always on business.

Nico pulled the partition back, and sunk into his seat.

“Nico?” The all-too-familiar voice called out to him. Nico turned his head, making sure that Julius Albert couldn’t hear their conversation, before turning back to Will. 

Nico had noticed something these past few years. Actually, two somethings.

1. Will never aged.

He had asked how old Will was, and he responded simply enough, ‘Seventeen.’

2. He never changed his clothes.

He had asked about this, to, and gotten a more vague answer. ‘Can’t.’ He was always wearing a simple, even though they were ugly as hell, pair of tan khaki’s and a faded orange shirt. Will had explained that, at one time, it had said something. But the words had faded overtime. Though Nico could swear sometimes that he could make out the faint outline of what may have been a horse.

“Do you know why you’re father signed you up to see this therapist?” He asked and Nico scoffed. “Yeah, because he hates me,”

Will got out a fake laugh, before shaking his head and turning back to him.

“No, Nico,” he sighed, “he’s taking you to her because he thinks you’re.....” Will tried to search for the right words. “Not right in the head.”

Nico turned to his friend, raising an eyebrow.

“What do you mean, not right in the head?”

Will sighed, trying to find a way to explain this without sounding weird, or not getting across the entire message.

“You know how Hazel can’t see or hear me?” He asked. Nico flinched at the mention of his friend. Hazel was a year younger than him, but was in his same year at school. Year 8. She was the only person to talk to him, even though Will had stopped showing up to school with Nico years ago. They still thought that his half-permanent scowl and black attire made him scary. She hadn’t commented when he said that he had a friend named Will, not even when he explained that only he could see him. If anything, she pulled him closer, sometimes coming over after school to hang out and talk. Will rarely came during those times, and only when he was alone.

Nico nodded wordlessly.

“Well,” Will began again, “that may be because I’m not here, for lack of better words.”

Nico turned to him, and eyebrow raised. 

“Huh?”

Will sighed, shaking his head and smiling sadly down towards the ground.

“Think of me like a ghost, and you’re the ghost whisperer,” He settled with.

Nico scoffed. “I wouldn’t be a whisperer, I’d be the king.”

Will laughed but Nico remained silent, only cracking a smirk. He didn’t laugh much after Bianca’s death. 

“Okay, Ghost King,” Will mocked. “What I’m trying to say is, there’s a reason why no one else can see me...”

“Do you have a reason why?” Nico asked.

Will bit his lip, and Nico found himself staring at the action. Before quicly snapping himself out of his thoughts and looking back to Will’s eyes.

“It’s a story for another time,” He said. “But, just know, that regardless of what they say, I am real.” 

Nico turned to him, a little offended that Will would think otherwise, and scoffed.

“I know that, Solace,” He started. “I’m not a fucking bigot,”

“Hey,” Will chided. “Don’t swear,”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Solace.”

The therapist, who he would come to know as Miss. Dodds (though he liked the term old scary bat lady) had told Julius Albert that Nico had ‘visual and auditory hallucinations of his desired parental figure’. Will had explained, later in the day, that those words meant that he was Nico’s thoughts of who the perfect parent would be. Nico had teased him at the time, saying ‘you would make a terrible father,’. Will had agreed.

Only because you would be distracting me the entire time, Will thought to himself.

Nico was seventeen when he realized Will was acting weird.

Mrs. Dodds hadn’t come to a conclusion as to why the manifestation was still around. Not even old therapist lady had an explaination.

Nico now knew (thought) that Will wasn’t real. Only a hallucination.

But, that didn’t keep him from talking to the teen. They were now the same age.

It was around the first of June that Nico realized Will was acting.....differently.

Will was generally a very happy, optimistic, and jumpy. Always smiling. Most of the time the two were bickering, and Will would try to hit Nico upside the head when he did something stupid. Though, his hand would always just gloss through Nico’s head, earning a sad face from him.

Nico was in his room, laying on his back and staring at the ceiling when he heard something crash. On his feet almost immediately, he looked around the room.

“Shit....” He heard a voice hiss. He looked towards the origin of the noise, and was shocked to see Will standing in the middle of his room, a broken globe beside him. 

“Well,” He mumbled. “I think today’s the right day...”

“What the hell, Solace!” Nico called out. “How the hell.....” He was staring at the shattered glass globe on the floor. Dad’s gonna kill me, a part of his brain thought. Though, the other part was screaming, How the hell did he just do that!?

Will turned to him, a desperate look on his face. 

“Nico,” He said, his voice almost a whisper. “I need your help,”

That’s the end. I’ll probably continue it sometime soon, maybe under the tag Every Twenty Years? 

#solangelo mortal au #solangelo #Mortal AU #mortal!au #teen!nico #ghost!will #every twenty years #hope y'all liked it #chapter 1 #new chapter #percy jackson #heroes of olympus #fanfiction #solangelo fanfiction #Nico di angelo #will solace #hazel levesque