#and the mouths??? i can never fucking draw mouths well when Looking ar a reference?? and i did these two w/o any at all??
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Pure Blood 11 (Sirius Black x F!Oc)
Words: 2,143
Masterlist
Chapter 10 // Chapter 12
Chapter 11: We need a plan
"This is a very bad idea."
"I know.”
"I can't believe I'm part of this"
"Stop complaining, Reg. If I sink, you sink with me,” He rolled his eyes.
"How much longer will we have to wait for them?"
"It's only been five minutes," I tease and he complains again.
A day before the Christmas holidays, Remus decided to meet in the requirement room to discuss the brilliant plan, but only Regulus and I have arrived.
"Remind me why I'm here?"
"Because you care about me. I know you have millions of questions, but I’ll explain everything to you when everyone arrives"
"I don't understand what can be so important as to get together with my brother.”
"It's something ... serious" in that the door opens and the marauders arrive along with Lily Evans and Jenna.
"This will be a great party," says Sirius sarcastically.
Suddenly the tension reaches my body, as if, seeing everyone gathered was a slap of reality.
“Enough, Sirius,” Remus scolds at him.
"Does anyone want to tell me why we’re here?" Lily says crossing her arms.
“Not that I'm complaining to be by your side, Lily dear. But I also want to know,” says James.
Remus sees me and I nod. He stands in front of everyone and draws their attention.
“I know you have many questions, for now I can’t tell you… everything. I wanted to bring you together for an important reason, I have a plan for that reason not to happen. Today I’ll just tell you that and then we’ll have time to think about what to do during the holidays”
"What makes you think we’ll accept, Lupin?" asks Regulus defensively.
"Because this involves two people we care about.”
"What the fuck, Moony?" Sirius says furiously, approaching Remus.
But then he notices something and turns to me. He already knows what his friend is referring to.
"How could you tell them?"
"Sirius, calm down," says Lupin. Sirius growls.
"I don’t understand anything.”
"If you shut your mouth, Remus could tell you everything," I say annoyed.
"Whatever the princess commands," adds James, and I clench my teeth.
"Enough!" Screams Remus surprising us. “I asked you to behave and the first thing you do is fight like five-year-olds!”
"What's going on, Lupin?" Jenna says, he sighs.
“Although Sirius doesn't want to say it, we have a very important issue,” He looks at me and I doubt for a moment, but there is no going back. "The Black family and the Singhs have arranged a marriage between Sirius and Persephone."
"What!?" Ask different voices.
Sirius ruffles his hair.
"How can they do that?" The questions began to fall. Regulus and Jenna approach me while the others go with Sirius. So many voices, questions and screams overwhelm me, I step back until my back hits a wall.
"Silence!" Remus's voice echoed throughout the room. We all turn to him and he removes the wand from his neck. “How many times do I have to repeat it? I'm tired,” He raises his wand and casts a spell by muting everyone's voice except Sirius and me. "Nobody is going to interrupt us.”
"How didn’t I think of that before?" I try to joke, but nobody seems to laugh. "Difficult audience…” I say uncomfortable.
“Well, now. Obviously neither Sirius or Persephone want this to happen, so the plan is to avoid this wedding. According to their relatives, they want this to happen once we leave Hogwarts, I think we have time to come up with something. All together,” He says and then removes the spell. “I swear that if the tantrums return I will tie you to something…”
"I don't want to sound rude, but what does this have to do with me?" Lily asks a little red. “Don't misunderstand me, it’s horrible to be forced to marry and more if it is with someone you don’t tolerate," She looks at me with pitty. "But I don’t understand how I can help. Both families hate my… class”
“We'd be lost without you,” I say without thinking. “Wow, I wasn’t expecting to say that.”
Lily looks at me confused. I clear my throat.
“You're very smart, Evans. Remus believes that you can help us to make this work, the plan must be perfect and let's be honest," I say to everyone, "the marauders' plans don’t always work. I have all eyes on me. No one would suspect you.” I point out, “it's perfect.”
"Wait," Jenna adds. "What exactly will we do?"
"Does it mean we’ll all participate?" Peter asks. Now is my turn.
"I know you care about Sirius," I say to the boys, “and I suppose you care about me," I now say to Jenna and Regulus. “I know that we can’t bear each other, but I don't want to get married so young, and forced… I ask all of you to help us, I’m desperate for your help. It’s not a pact for us to get along and be best friends. I want peace between both groups to avoid the wedding. Then we can hate each other as usual.”
We were silent for a few minutes. Everyone thinks about my words.
“Okay," the first to accept is Lily, which takes a weight off me.
Remus, Jenna, James and Peter followed. We all look at Regulus, who sighs and finally accepts.
"I think it's a stupid idea" says Sirius. “…But I'm also desperate.”
"Good," Remus says with a smile. Then he invites me to continue talking.
“My mother sent me a letter to tell me that there will be a meeting at Christmas to announce the engagement. Sirius and I will keep complaining so they don’t get suspicious. Jenna and Regulus will be informed of all the details-”
"How can they do it? I don't think adults'll tell them,”James and Regulus laughs.
"They still see us as children, they'll think we don't understand and we'll just listen to everything,” Jenna nods.
“During the holidays we ought to think about all the options we have to avoid the wedding. Write down even the stupidest idea you have,” adds Remus. “We’ll write the progress and when we return we’ll meet again.”
Everyone accepts the first phase of the plan. After talking about some details everyone goes to the door to exit.
"Sirius, Percy,” Calls us Remus. Black frowns at his friend. "I think you should stay and talk. We’ll help you, but the two of you are the real problem."
“Remus!" I complain.
"You said it yourself: time for peace."
Everyone goes out and I am now alone with Sirius. For a few moments no one speaks.
"I used to call you that," He says out of nowhere. I look at him confused. “Percy."
Oh. I shrug, I really don't know what to tell him.
“You're right... Remus is right. We could make a peace offer,” I‘m surprised.
“I never thought I’d hear you say those words to me,” He shrugs.
“And it only took an engagement," He jokes, making me laugh.
It's strange. It's been a long time since he caused this in me. I feel his gaze, analyzing me.
"What?"
"When was the last time we had a conversation without trying to kill each other?"
"First year, before you replaced me,” He winces and moves nervously.
“I-I don’t-" I shake my head.
“Don't try to deny it or tell me any excuse, it is too late," I say.
“It's not like I want to apologize. People change. We both changed. I decided not to follow the steps of my family and you followed them to the letter.”
My body tenses.
“Not anymore," I mumble.
"Not because you don't want the wedding it means that you no longer obey Ares,” He says abruptly. I sigh.
"I'm not his favorite person right now, Black," I say looking him straight in the eye. He raises an eyebrow.
"Oh, now you're a bad girl?" He mocks, I roll my eyes.
“Just forget it. It's not worth it. I don't understand why Remus wanted us to talk, you always manage to ruin everything.”
"I'm always the bad guy in the story, right?"
"No, you're always the idiot.” He growls in response. "It doesn't matter anymore, we’ll have to hold on for a long time if we want the wedding to not happen."
Sirius just nods. Seeing that he won't say anything else, I decide to leave the room.
I walk through the halls until I meet the redheaded girl again.
"Sorry," I whisper and before I can continue on my way, she takes my arm.
“What’s your plan, Persephone?" I look at her confused.
"We just told you... a moment ago?” I say without understanding.
"I don’t mean that. Lately you’ve been... good. With me. What’s it due to?” The nerves return and I look at the floor.
"It's nothing,” I clear my throat and look at her. "You should be grateful, Evans.”
Why do I act as if nothing had happened? I have no idea.
"No. You can’t do that. The other time, in class, you defended me from the people that hurt me.”
“You were in the infirmary.”
“Gossip travels fast. You can't defend me and then pretend you're still the same girl who insults me every time I'm around. I want to understand what is happening to you.”
I take a long breath and for a few seconds I close my eyes. When I open them, her green eyes are waiting for a response.
“I'm learning."
"What?"
“I'm learning about Muggles and all that, I wanted- I want! I want to know why I should hate you, according to what my parents say…”
"I don’t understand-“
“And I don't expect you to do it, you couldn't. Listen…” I sigh, “All my life they’ve taught me to hate your class. I’ve discovered that most of the reasons are stupid and make no sense. It may be a poor excuse to blame my parents, but... I'm just understanding that…” I smile. “You're not that bad after all"
Lily analyzes my words and then smiles a little.
"How are you learning from that?"
"I have my methods," I say quickly. "I know that even if I ask thousands of times for forgiveness I won’t be able to erase all the damage I did to you, I don't expect you to forgive me, Evans. I know I don't deserve it, but I think you should know that I won't do it again. At least not on purpose."
I don't know what she’s really thinking, but at least she already knows what will come later.
"I have this habit of wanting to see the good in people, Remus always says it,” She starts, "But with you it was different, at first I thought you had to be suffering too much to want to hurt other people, later I discovered that it was not enough reason to be so cruel,” I move awkwardly, “But now…” I observe her fearfully. "I guess you only needed time.”
Yes, time and an attempt of murder, the perfect recipe. I nod at her words, not knowing what to say.
"Jenna misses you, you know?" I groan at the change of subject. "I know what she did is wrong, but you’re best friends, you shouldn't let her go."
“When your best friend hides something so important in her life, and everyone knows it but you, you will know what I'm going through. I can't just forget that."
“Maybe not, but I don't think that by shutting you in, you can do something about it. She is still willing to help you with whatever you need, the meeting proves it. I don't want to tell you what to do, I have no right, but I can only give you some advice. Don’t let her go.”
Finally, Lily leaves and disappear in the nearest hall.
All this drama is not good for my health. I go to the Slytherin Tower, put on my pajamas and lie on my bed.
My eyes are fixed on the ceiling. I don't want to sleep, but my eyes betray me, my body is tired and tomorrow won’t be an easy day. I have no idea what will happen with my family, I'm not ready to face them. My plan was to stay at school, but the stupid family reunion wouldn’t allow it.
The only thing I can be sure of is that, if I sleep now, the nightmares will return. When I started the school year, they only visited me a few nights, but the news of the wedding brought them back.
Every nightmare takes away my strength and energy and I don't know what to do to stop them. Thoughts come and go until I finally close my eyes and the darkness begins to hug me without letting me go.
Taglist:
@treestarrrrrrrr @siriuslysirius1107 @thagreenmoonblack @madmaiden2890 @bloodorangemoonlight @ren-ela @avipshamitra @auroraaawrites @lizlil @findzelda
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Teen Titans Spotlight #7: Hawk
I finally found Rob Liefeld's reference for drawing guns!
This was the airport in Denver before it was replaced by the Illuminati.
I thought this scene was going to instantly morph into the cover. Stupid airports and their no guns policies! Although this was 1987. Couldn't you bring anything you wanted onto a plane in 1987?! Maybe I'm thinking of flying in the seventies. Once when I was seven, I remember sitting next to a guy flying with fifteen goats and a keg of sulfuric acid while I let the tired Catholic priest seated next to me rest his head in my lap.
Excuse me while I draw a MAGA cap onto Hawk in every panel of this comic book so it reads more like 2019. He's got their philosophy down pat on the first page! "I love everything lefties hate even if I don't know anything about those things! At least I fucking know what the 'AR' in AR-15 stands for! Idiots!"
The only problem with this initial scene is that the anti-nuclear canvasser puts his hands on Hawk and then security proclaims there was no provocation. No wait. I used the phrase "the only problem" wrong because there are multiple problems with this scene. One of the problems, I admit, stems from me reading this in 2019. When I first read the panel with security saying, "Let's go," I didn't read it as security breaking up the fight. I read it in the voice of every fucking kid on Twitch or Mixer ready to escalate some shit. I thought the fight was just getting started! Another problem because I should probably wring out more than one extra problem after saying this scene had more than one problem with it is that the canvasser even continues to argue his point with somebody who threatened to give them a fat lip. He's never going to get any signatures from willing people if he spends all his time arguing with people who are obviously not into his groove. Canvassers need way thicker skin than this guy has! Just say "Have a nice day!" and move on!
I didn't know that stripping down to your underwear was a valid defense for violently going apeshit bananas in public.
It's actually worse than stripping down to his underwear. Hawk actually had to unpack his costume and get into it to prove that he had the right to punch a hippie. Security is all, "Well, since you got the Twinkie product placement in, I guess we have to let you go. But don't go punching anybody who isn't a terrorist from now on, you got me?!"
The Stapleton Airport Security team have ferreted out a plan by "one of these Middle Eastern terrorist gangs" to sabotage the Crow Mountain Nuclear Power Plant. Hawk pulls his mask down and screams, "Not Crow Mountain! Nuclear is my favorite!" The Security Chief says, "Hopefully the guy you punched was actually one of the terrorists because that would make your actions seem less crazy in context later (even if you didn't actually know he was a terrorist) and also make our story seem less bigoted by making the terrorists white guys." Hawk responds, "Why isn't anybody biting my Twinkie? Don't you understand what an imperative is?!"
Now I wish Hawk was a violent, short-fused asshole who was only concerned with proper grammar.
Hawk tells the security guys that he'd love to help kill a few terrorists so call him if some shit goes down. Security is all, "Apparently we can't charge Teen Titans with assault so, um, enjoy your stay! Try not to punch too many Coloradans!" But they seemingly come to their senses when Hawk is out of punching range.
With all these snack references, I suspect the terrorists will be stopped by their love of fruit pies.
Hawk is in Colorado to attend an anti-terrorism seminar at a corporate funded think tank called the Kellogg's Group. Why is this comic book insisting on making my mouth water?! Does it know I'm currently not eating sugar?!
Hawk is the only hero to attend this anti-terrorism seminar because the other Teen Titans, the Justice League, and the Outsiders declined because they didn't want to be seen endorsing any particular group. Infinity Inc. wasn't invited.
Hawk makes a huge splash at the seminar with logical statements and incendiary truth bombs.
Almost got that terrorism sorted! Time for a Ding Dong!
Hawk leaves the meeting to go look at Colorado's natural beauty while fuming about wimps and losers. I'm sympathetic to writer Mike Baron's leftist viewpoints so I'm not going to start calling Hawk "Strawman" during this commentary. But, I mean, he's really quite the caricature of the super-patriotic, support-the-police-at-any-cost, hippies-fucking-suck redneck, isn't he? I probably didn't use dashes correctly in that last sentence but I felt it made it somewhat clearer. For the layman! I know grammar nerds are going all Grammar Hawk on me! "You wimp! You loser! You should be gunned down the Israeli way!"
The National Guard stops by in a helicopter to tell the Kellogg's Corporation that they need to evacuate. The Stapleton Airport Security Guard Detectives were right! Terrorists have captured the Crow Mountain Nuclear Plant! Hawk watches from his idyllic perch on the mountain and thinks more of his profound thoughts.
MAGA!
What the fuck is Hawk toting around in that ginormous case? Is it Mike Brady's architectural designs for a new theme park? Or is it a Banana Splits poster?!
I'm only five pages into this comic book and I don't think I've ever been so entertained. Hawk is fucking nuts. Is every character with "Hawk" in their name a ranting aggressive conservative bastard? Maybe it's characters with "Hawk" in their name or characters whose names begin with "H" and end with "K"? Is that what made Hulk so angry? Was it welfare queens, immigrants, and the estate tax?
Inside Hawk's gigantic tube is the Hawkglider. That's just a hang-glider made from PVC pipe and a re-purposed parachute.
"If you want something done right wing, you've got to do it yourself!" is the original Ayn Rand quote.
Hawk is a big dumb fucker. He might be the anti-Batman. He glides into the power plant to discover a guard unconscious on the ground. In one panel, he notices the guard has an insect bite on his neck. In the next panel, Hawk gets big by an insect and doesn't make any kind of intuitive or logical connection between the two. Instead he just explodes again, calls the bug a wimp and a loser, and rushes inside to kill some terrorists.
For such an angry guy, he sure sneaks comically.
Hawk discovers more guards out cold with bug bites. That makes him think, "More bug bites...what the heck...they should have called Orkin." Immediately followed by this panel:
"Gah! Where's my gun?!"
Hawk needs to stop being so comically angry, conservative, and stupid or I'm going to scan every panel in this issue.
Now I need to add misogy...wait. Is her name "Stupid Broad"?!
Hawk recognizes Stupid Broad because she was with Jerry, the hippie trying to stop nuclear power. She was outside protesting when the terrorists took over and since she had a wrench on her, she thought maybe she could stop them.
Stupid Broad introduces herself as Bonnie so I guess Stupid Broad is her superhero name. Hawk continues to curse the bugs and tells Bonnie to keep her wrench handy. At least he recognizes a superhero team-up when it's happening. How long before he accidentally calls her Dove?
Now I'm imagining Batman hunting The Riddler with some Gotham Police while he mumbles, "Never let it be said that Doctor Wayne's little boy was stupid!"
Christ. I'd forgotten just how long we've been dealing with this whole "leftist media" bullshit. But it fucking worked. The media was so fucking upset that they kept getting called biased that they simply stopped actually reporting on news and just became parrots of right-wing talking points. It's no surprise that I probably have spent more time shitting on journalists and newscasters in these comic book commentaries than I've spent shitting on Republicans. Because the journalists should know better and have instead chosen the easy, cowardly way of avoiding constant criticism.
Hawk continues to ignore the bug situation until a giant Preying Mantis made out of bugs approaches. It calls itself Arachnid and it wants an end to all sort of fun things: nuclear power, the destruction of the rain forest, the use of chemical pesticides, the production of acid rain. It's practically asking for an end to humans! I hope Hawk kills it!
At one point during the confrontation, Bonnie asks about the Arachnid, "What is it?" This is how Hawk responds:
At first I thought he was being controlled by the bug bites. But, no, this is just his standard demeanor.
After Arachnid states its grievances, Bonnie shouts, "Right on!" Hawk yells, "SHUT UP!" Is this the kind of comic books Comicsgaters are dreaming of going back to? Except for the part where the audience understands Hawk is a huge asshole. They probably read this and, every few pages, rush out into the street to find another guy to high five.
Bonnie starts talking about some Frank Herbert book while Hawk asks out loud, "How does a bunch of stupid bugs expect to destroy a nuclear power plant?" Luckily, Arachnid is a helpful bug golem. It's all, "Termites!" Hawk should have saved his Orkin line for this moment!
There's only a few pages left so when do they introduce the Fruit Pie Wizard and his magic wand of fruit pie creation?
Arachnid disappears into some cracks while the nuclear plants alarms go off, warning of an imminent meltdown. Hawk's plan is to randomly throw switches hoping to get lucky enough to stop the meltdown. Bonnie's plan is to look disaster in the face and find the silver lining.
So every thing he said up until this point was supposed to be encouraging and complimentary?!
Before Hawk can start throwing switches and writer Mike Baron has to do some actual research on what effect that might have on a nuclear power plant beginning to meltdown, Hawk notices an organ in the control room. Hawk's new plan is to hook the organ up to the PA system, play some screechingly high notes, and drive the bugs away! If this works, lawmakers will probably introduce a bill to put organs into every public space, just in case of another terrorist attack by insects.
Hawk's plan works and the police thank him for saving Colorado. Then they immediately turn on Bonnie and threaten to arrest her for trespassing. She doesn't strip down to her underwear to prove she's a Teen Titan though, darn it. Instead, Hawk uses his pull as a Titan to get her off the hook. The cop doesn't appreciate it but what can he do? This is Teen Titans Spotlight On: Hawk, not Teen Titans Spotlight On: Podunk Denver Police Officer.
Later, Hawk returns to the anti-terrorism seminar and basically proposes organs in every public place. What a fucking douche.
The issue ends with Arachnid extending an invitation to Hawk to meet with its queen to discuss negotiations of peace with the insect kingdom. Or maybe it's just Queen Bee behind this all and she's in some serious need for an angry fuck.
Teen Titans Spotlight #7: Hawk Rating: B+. Fuck, I was entertained. No wonder all these assholes love Fox news. It's fun having people tell you that what you think is right and confirming your beliefs that the people who think differently are angry fucking dumbies.
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Hi! I love your aphrodite cabin fics. Could write something about one of the aphrodite boys and an ares boy?
As I just mentioned Stefan noticing how an Ares guy waschecking him out, I’m gonna assume that’s who you want ;)
Hope you enjoy! Just a quick drabble that’s unedited and was wrote in an hour ENJOY MY SPELLING MISTAKES.
Piece of Data - Drabble.
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Stefan was a distraction.
Both in the sense of because of his absolutely entrancing beauty(his own words) and, well, in the technical sense.
He liked the focus on the first part, okay?
He was bait, he absolutely knew. Mitchell was in a treesomewhere, knocking out the blue team as they edged towards their flag, andScarlett and Drew, along with a few Hermes girls, were on guard duty – probablya mile away.
Mitchell had at least winced when he gave out Stefan’sposition, an apologetic look on his face.
An Ares kid wouldn’t be able to refuse a fight, especially fromsomeone who was doomed to lose from the beginning. They’d – hopefully – be distractedenough with Stefan to not notice when Sebastian and a few Apollo kids snuck by.They had used this strategy before, and the last person to have this job was inthe infirmary for days, but it worked and they were desperate for a win.
He took a breath, his position under the guise of guarding a‘secret’ entrance (with poorly thrown vines covering the small cave to nowherethat would hopefully act as another distraction), and allowed himself to notfocus on the amount of concealer he was going to have to buy to leave thecabin.
Stefan was resting against the side of the cave, running hisfinger around the detail in the handle of his blade, when he heard the tell-talestomping across the dirt, heavy-footed and heading straight his way.
He stood straighter, his sword coming up, already knowing –Ares kids were the only campers whowalked that way, and Stefan was in the wide-open.
He wasn’t any good with a sword, not like Mitchell was withhis bow, or Drew was with her knives. He was average, able to beat maybe Sophiaon a bad day but never a match forLacey.
And he definitely wasn’ta match for an Ares kid.
But he was anything, he was stubborn, and he wasn’t goingdown without a fight, however terribly fought.
Maybe if he got a few bruises Mitchell would feel bad enoughto persuade Connor into sneaking in a pizza like when Lacey broke her ankle.That’d be nice, at least.
The camper – tall, clearly male but hidden behind distanceand the gold cover of his mask – emerged from the side, coming to a slight stopas he noticed Stefan in the clearing. The gray Ares symbol was stark againstthe honey armor, a threat and a promise in the image.
He was big, that was obvious even without the bronze armorcovering his impressive biceps and wide shoulders. He took a few steps closerto Stefan, a moment of hesitation crossing before he pulled out his sword.
Stefan dug his heels into the dirt, a determined lineangling across his face. The kid looked to be alone, but Athena and Ares hadteamed up for this game so trusting his eyes was out of the question.
“You’re not going past here.” Stefan told him, keeping hishands steady on the cool metal.
The guy took a step forward, his sword swinging with hisstep. “Why they’d put you out here? On your own?”
His voice seemed to be filled with light concern. Unsure ifit was mocking, Stefan scowled instead.
“I don’t need anyone out here.” Stefan lifted his sword overhis shoulder, ready for when the other guy would inevitably attack. Vaguely, hethought of pizza.
The guy paused, his face still hidden under his goldenhelmet. “You’re bait, aren’t you?” He glanced around, apparently looking forwhatever Stefan was hiding. Desperately, he hoped his teammates weren’t stupidenough to run right away.
Stefan huffed out a breath, a little offended. I mean, justbecause it was true doesn’t mean thisAres jerk could say it.
“Are we going to fight, or what?” Stefan asked, less urge toactually fight, more urge to swing his blade at the other guy and maybe denthis armor up a bit.
The Ares jerk was interrupted by the snap of a twig, apparentlysignificant enough to make his whole body freeze up. Stefan resisted the urgeto reach out and pet the other guy’s tensed muscles – they were actually prettyspectacular.
The guy snapped out of his brief shock, spinning around tostare into the forest, leaving his back exposed which was…unheard of, with Areskids.
Whatever the guy saw had him turning back to Stefan, anervous line making up his shoulders.
Damn, did this guy have nice shoulders.
Stefan was weak, okay?
The guy glanced behind him, a nervous motion, and took astep back. “Go.”
Stefan paused, his nervous hands tightening around hisblade. “What?”
The guy waved his hands to the side, still staring behindhim. “Go! Before Quinn and Astrid get here.”
Despite what Scarlett had been drilling into him since hisfirst Capture the Flag, his defense dropped at that, and his stared up at theother boy with a look of confusion. “What are you talking around?”
The guy huffed out a breath, and Stefan had the suddenlydesire to know who he was actually talking to under the armor. “Just go,Stefan!” His words sounded like they were being demanded through gritted teeth,“I don’t want you to get hurt, okay? Go!”
Stefan blinked a few times, and it wasn’t until the guyreached forward and pushed him back that he finally came to his senses. Anotherpair of stomping feet was suddenly audible, and while Stefan could brave thepunch of a single demi-god, three on one? No one would blame him for running (exceptDrew, but she would blame him on the rain if she could figure out how).
He stumbled back, finally realizing, and shot off before hecould think to utter out a thank you or question.
The plan fell apart anyways – Sebastian twisted his ankleand Hina and Kayla got captured before they could use the distraction. Blueteam won, and it was enough for them to agree to try the plan again next week.
Stefan ignored the worried glance Mitchell shot him as hevolunteered as bait.
-
Stefan was actually really into science.
Always had been – his dad was always off at work and hiscollege-age babysitter clearly had no reference for children age material andwould therefore simply read her class textbooks for him as a bedtime story.
They always worked to put him to sleep, that’s for sure.
But when he was ten – before everything with his familyhappened and he was forced to run off to the vague idea of a camp in New York –the bedtime stories actually became…cool. Maria was long out of college bythen, but didn’t think to trade her reading material for anything moresensible.
So when other kids were reading A Series of Unfortunate Events, and fell asleep to characters of HarryPotter – Stefan was getting chapters of Physics textbooks, and dreamt ofexploding stars and black holes.
And, because of that, Stefan had never had less than A- inany of his science classes.
It’s also why he was so fond of experiments.
And this, right now, this situation was an experiment.
He had his materials – himself, mainly, but also his weaponand armor.
Procedure – go along as closely as possible to last week’sevents, staying alone in the clearing as bait.
His purpose – find out why exactly a son of Ares wouldresist the opportunity to fight – and if he’d do it again.
His hypothesis: As the situation was the same as last week,the son of Ares would come back to the clearing. The result: Unknown, more dataneeded.
Stefan waited there, his finger tapping out a nervouspattern on his handle. He had taken off his helmet long ago, more curious todetermine who the guy was. Anyways, it was within arm’s length and wouldn’ttake more than a moment to put on.
It took a bit longer then last week – perhaps due to theDemeter attack they planned on the West end of forest, but he was back.
It was the same guy, Stefan knew. The mental image of hisstrong shoulders, not even weighted under the heavy armor, had been a frequentmemory of the last week.
The armor added just enough bulk to distort what Stefan knew– he’d been staring that the other cabin all week, desperate to find familiarlines in their bodies, a familiar note in their voices.
The guy walked slowly to him, not even disgusting the facthe was heading straight for Stefan. He hadn’t drawn his blade, not like lasttime, but kept his arms loose at his sides.
The guy sighed as he stood in front of Stefan, and the soundwas almost amused. Weird. “Didn’t you learn from last time you shouldn’t hangout here alone?”
Stefan leaned on his sword, the blade sinking into the softearth a bit. “I can handle myself.”
He hummed, “So that’s why you’re bait right? And where’syour helmet?”
“I don’t want hat hair.” Stefan told him, angling up hischin like he’d seen Drew do.
Something like laughter shook the guy’s shoulders and Stefansuddenly so suddenly wanted to know who it was. “Aphrodite kids, of course.Shoulda known.”
He had a slight southern accent to his words. Stefan fiercelywished he had paid more attention to when the Ares and Aphrodite kids wouldmeet up, wish he knew more than justtheir names and ass shape.
He added the fact of the accent to his data, continuing on.
“I’d say the same about you except…” Stefan grinned, and heknew how it made him look. He let off a bit of his allure – not much, they werepublic after all – and said, “You didn’t fight me. What was that about?”
He shrugged, drawing even more attention to his shoulders which, um, fuck. “I like you.” He said, matter-of-fact. Stefan’s cheeks, embarrassingly,heated up at the frank sentence. “I’m not gonna fight you if I like you.” Hecocked his head to the side, his voice curious. “Is that why your cabin put youhere?”
Stefan opened his mouth to deny the fact except, um, didthey?
They were all forced to watch Mitchell moon-eye over Connorlast summer, each sworn to stay out of each other love lives. They would neverdirectly intervene, no, but this was the kind of subtle motions his cabin wasfluent in.
Stefan paused. Didthey?
Before he could answer – thankfully, because Stefan had no idea – the guy froze up again, likelast week, and spun towards the forest, then Stefan.
He cursed, “Clarisse is coming.” The guy hissed, not pushingStefan away – like last week – but pushing him back towards the cave. “Hide!”
Stefan actually did as told because, um, Clarisse was fucking terrifying.
The cave wasn’t big, just enough space to walk around a bit,hardly standing at full length.
But it was perfectfor hiding – specifically if you curl up in the corner of the shadows.
The stomping got closer, the sound lightening as she emergedin the grassy learing. Stefan couldn’t see the head counselor, could hardly seethe edge of the guy’s back through the vines – now was really not thetime to notice but Stefan was suddenly so grateful that the Ares kids nevermissed leg day because damn -
“I cleared this area.” Stefan could barely hear the guy tellher, “Roxy and Hunter took the east part of the forest.”
She grunted in agreement, “Good. They’ve got good eyes. Youdone here? Annabeth is about to make the attack for the flag and we needdefense.”
“Yeah, I’m done – let’s go.”
There was a moment of silence – a pause, and Stefan wonderedhow long he should wait before crawling out. The quiet was broken, and whenClarisse spoke up, her voice was much more closer then Stefan would havepreferred. “Did you check that cave?”
“Nothing there. Some spiders, a few garden snakes.”
That must have been the right thing to say, because Clarisse’svoice was much more distant as she responded. “Gross. Alright, find Eliza and –“She cut herself off, her voice edging up. “Shit! That’s Kayla! Get her!”
Both of them shot off after Kayla, hopefully missing howHina was shadowing after her, Sebastian ahead.
He was left alone, the sudden quiet leaving him with aphysical presence in the cave, as well as a major fact.
Stefan…had to figure out who that guy was.
It couldn’t be Archer – much too young – and they hadmentioned Hunter. That left…Sherman, Mark, Arsen, and Ellis. For the first timein his life, Stefan cursed the similar, tall, muscular build that all the olderAres teens carried.
He needed to figure this out.
And he needed more data.
-
The red flag was flowing through the air, and his team was still screaming their heads off.
Scarlett had cried, and Mitchell was still pretending hispink eyes had to do with lack of sleep.
They had thrown Stefan in the air, each demanding to know howhe’d managed to distract two Areskids while Sebastian and Hina snuck by without even getting a bruise.
Stefan was still laughing, pretending like his story wasmore interesting then “I hid in the cave”and pretending to take the tale to his grave.
His siblings and friends surrounded him, each high on theirown version of the game. Mitchell and Connor, disgustingly, were lip-locked inthe middle of the crowd, Connor’s winning move of delivering the other side’sflag apparently still being rewarded.
Stefan was laughing as Lacey hung off him and Sophia’sshoulders, her feet kicked up so she could swing between them. Both of them,giggling, hugged him tight, Sophia’s hand coming up to ruffle his hair. Theypulled away, running off to apparently octopus Sebastian as he held Sabrina onhis shoulders.
Their team was integrated with each cabin freely running backand forth, a Demeter girl hand-in-hand with Scarlett, a Hermes guy trailingafter them both, each of them beaming with victory as they ran off. There wasalready a rumor the Hermes cabin had a victory celebration planned, and fromthe several cotton candy machines being wheeled out, it wasn’t just that.
Stefan was just peeling off a hug from Sabrina, Sebastianrunning off in her wake as she shot away, when something – someone – caught thecorner of his eye.
Ellis – one of the Ares kids around his age, strolled up toStefan, grinning, and Stefan’s world nearly took a 360.
Ellis…had really nice shoulders.
And had always stared at Stefan’s collarbones more then normal (which, Stefan had amazing collarbones, he knew this, so it was to be expected to a certain extent)
Stefan had the sudden vivid memory of one of the Hermes kidsSpring Break parties last month, where there was too much alcohol and not enoughadult supervision, where Stefan had made out with three separate guys in onenight – Malcolm, who still avoiding his eyes, Basil, who was the biggest flirt inDemeter and still winked at Stefan from across the Mess Hall, and –
And Ellis.
He had been so fuzzy that night, just happy to be in someone’sarms with all their attention on him. It had been the end of the night, andStefan was always, uh, excited afterhis third drink, and Ellis had…
He blinked, nearly dizzy with the forgotten memory.
…Ellis had dropped him off with Mitchell, laughing andpulling off Stefan’s arms as Stefan tried to push down his pants. He winked,telling Stefan to come back if he actually remembered anything in the morning.
Stefan hadn’t, not at all, only remembering bits and piecesof warm mouth and dark hair, not really thinking of how he ended up waking upin Mitchell’s bottom bunk. Had only known it was three guys instead of the two he remembered from Sebastian’s later teasing about one-upping him.
Ellis was grinning down at him now, amused, his helmettucked under his arm.
And that….that was the last piece of data.
Hope you enjoyed, anon! And I apologize for my many mistakes but i’m tired and I have homework
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