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fanfreakinfiction · 6 months

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My Gods Are Not Kind to Lonely Mothers

Chapter 2: Trying to Understand

Ch. 1 | Masterlist 🖤

4.3K words // Din Djarin x pregnantf!reader

Pairing: Din Djarin x pregnantf!reader (Reader is younger but not weirdly young) Reader was a sex worker. Reader’s first language is one I made up she speaks pretty good basic but struggles finding certain words. Reader is pregnant!

Summary: How can Din understand and respect your plans without being apart of them? He tries to help, but your stubbornness rivals that of a Mandalorian.

Tags: SLOW BURN, Some fluff, made up Star Wars culture & religion, split POV, slight language barrier, mention of death, mention of child death, dark!, lots of relationship building in this.

Warnings: mention of child loss and grief.

A/n: Alright so let me explain Illa-ishi real quick because I never want to get the wrong idea across. Illa-ishi are mainly single mothers who birth at the lower pool of the Mountain of Mothers. The reason why Illa-ishi give birth at the lower pool and pass away, isn’t the gods punishing them for being single mothers. The journey up to the lower pool when a mother is in the throws of birth is so rigorous and difficult without the help of their partner that many perish from exhaustion. By the time they make it up the cliff to the lower pool some do not even have energy to give birth which is why there are skeletons in the bed rolls. Please comment or ask me questions if anything is ever unclear! Also I know this is a shorter chapter than Ch. 1, I initially wanted this to be a two part series but I found I have more to write than I thought. Anyways, enjoy this soft chapter! I will update this series every Friday.

Standing in the pool, you felt his hand on the right side of your waist. He'd carried you from the spot near the cliff into the shallow end of the hot spring and set you down into the water as if you were sacred. Paralyzed by the sudden display of kindness after the last months spent alone, you felt the cold metal of his helmet lean heavily on the back of your head.

A slow fear crept up from somewhere deep inside the traumatized confines of your heart, the fear immobilizing you to his actions just as they'd done the night he paid for your company. Frozen in place, thoughts of him pushing you into the spring and drowning you flooded your mind. Then you felt his left hand rest on the small of your back, leading you to think he'd take you again as he'd done in the expensive room back on Tatooine. You'd worked in that brothel for years and saw the desperation of men in need, the aftermath of what they'd done to women they had no emotional attachment for.

Just as you started to form a plan of action against him, you heard the softest noise from behind. It took maybe thirty seconds for the sound to register within your mind – he was crying. The strangled sound of a sob left the static of the modulator on his helmet, which was then followed by the most sincere "I'm sorry" you'd heard since the day your father had sold you.

For a moment, you just looked ahead at the milky waters of the spring and the steam swirling around you. The small green baby that the Mandalorian had brought with him sat nearby the shallow end of the pool, gazing into the water below, his small hand chasing the steaming swirls that rose into the air. You felt the life within you stir, your contractions coming inconsistently now, almost as if your body was confused. The warmth of the leather-clad hand on your right side tightened slightly as you heard one more sob break over the roar of the waterfall.

In a show of cosmic irony, you couldn’t help the small but sad smile that graced your lips as you trailed your bandaged right hand up to lace your fingers over the back of his hand, and you spoke, “Don’t cry.”

His sobs seemed to quiet, as if he hadn't expected your touch, your reassurance. The tension in his grip lessened. After a moment of his head resting on the back of yours, you assumed he regained his composure as he slowly pulled away. Shyly, you looked over your shoulder and offered a small tearful smile to his visor before turning your attention back to the spring. Taking careful steps forward, you found a place to lower yourself back once more into the murky depths. You moved to sit where your back was resting on the jagged rock wall.

Out of your peripheral vision, you saw him standing in the same spot. His hands were frozen in the air where they’d rested on your body, until he slowly clenched his fists and lowered them back to his sides.

He stood like a statue just looking at you, his weight shifted to his left, the grey of the flightsuit around his knees now a dark grey from the spring's water. The edge of his grey cape touched the surface of the spring, wetting the frayed and somewhat burned seams.

You felt an awkward discomfort as his helmet seemed locked in your direction. It really made you uneasy that you couldn’t tell where his gaze was or what emotion was on his face. Was he happy? He had cried… you had done the same when you found out.

“You-”

“What’s-”

You both spoke over one another in unison, causing a blush to creep up your neck as you looked away. As if some unseen force felt the tension in the air, the small green child, enamored with the steam of the spring, fell face first into the warm water.

“Grogu!” The Mandalorian’s voice bordered on panicked as he moved from his stiff position to where the child had fallen in. In a swift movement, the Mandalorian had grabbed the child by the tan robe he wore, pulling it to the surface within seconds of the splash. The child blinked his large eyes frantically as he let out some displeased grunts. Holding the child above the water now, the Mandalorian looked the child over and then moved to hold him in his arms. “We’ve talked about this…” The Mandalorian sighed as he looked at the child. You couldn't help the smile that graced your face.

"Does it get into problems?" You spoke carefully as you tried to remember the words in basic.

Being on your homeworld was the happiest you’d felt in years, and slipping back into Kith, your native language, was like putting on your favorite dress. But coming out of Kith back into basic was proving challenging; maybe the Mandalorian spoke Huttese, which you knew almost as well as basic.

“Yeah…he does,” the words fell in a resigned huff from the man clad in silver as he held the now dripping child.

“Oh…Is he…your child?” You asked slowly as you gauged the man’s reaction. Your eyes flicked from his helmet to the water covering your belly where your hands fidgeted under the water. Anxiety filled your thoughts as you waited for his response.

After a painfully long silence, the Mandalorian sighed and shifted to set the green child on the ledge of the spring nearby and sat next to the child, leaving his covered feet in the spring. Adjusting his cape as he sat, he turned to run a gloved hand over the child’s tan robe before speaking in your direction.

“It won’t look like him…if that’s what you’re asking,” he said dryly, and your head snapped in his direction, studying him for a moment before you thought he might be trying to joke. A smile graced your lips as you moved in the water to slowly approach him. Your right hand held onto the spring’s rocky wall as you moved towards him and the child who fidgeted with a metal object around his neck. Within a foot of the child, you looked the soaking baby over with a cocked eyebrow and critical eye before turning to face the Mandalorian.

“He is…” you paused, trying to find the word in basic as you felt a rush to do so, “…c-ute,” you sounded out the word slowly and looked up at the man sheepishly as the child made a surprised “eh!” sound and smiled toothily at you.

“Basic isn’t your first language?” It was almost not a question from the Mandalorian, and you couldn’t help but feel a hot embarrassment from his tone.

“No,” you said as you turned away again, caressing your belly under the water, “I am Kith.”

“I am Mandalorian,” he said, and you thought he might be patronizing you.

“I see and know,” you retorted back as you shot a soft glare his way.

A sound emanated from his helmet, and you thought it might be a sigh. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he started to say as he reached into his bandolier for something. “I am Mandalorian, but I am different from other Mandalorians. I am bound by a creed.” He pulled out a piece of paper as he spoke, and you recognized the paper immediately. “The Mountain of Mothers…” he spoke again as he unfolded the pamphlet. “You’re here because you believe in this?” He asked as he looked over the paper.

You eyed the pamphlet that Don Mai must have so generously forced into the bounty hunter’s hand. Your eyes trailed from the pamphlet back to his helmet, and you nodded your head yes.

“I understand,” he says as he looks over the pamphlet, the child next to him suddenly taking interest as well. “The creed I believe in… it is my responsibility to take care of foundlings.” His helmeted gaze shifts slightly from the pamphlet to the child next to him.

“Found-i-ling?” you repeat the word back to him slowly in confusion.

His head turns to look at you, and he hands the pamphlet to the child who plays with the paper.

“Foundling,” he confirms with a small nod. “Children who are adopted by my people, warriors of Mandalore… This is the Way.”

Your gaze moves from his to the child next to him, and you nod.

“He is found-i-ling,” you say in confirmation as you nod your head toward the green child.

The Mandalorian nods in confirmation, and you see his hands clench the edge of the rock.

“And you…” he starts, “you are also my responsibility...”

You hated that word. Responsibility. Such a long word that was so often thrown in your face as a guilt tactic. The foreman who your father had sold you to made sure you always had responsibilities.

You were no more than eight when your father had sold you to the greasy man on Tatooine, and your life had been work ever since. The foreman wasn’t completely cruel; there were masters on Tatooine that were far worse. You had a bed, food, and even a bath. The foreman protected you from disgusting prying eyes of patrons who thought you were merchandise and not just a helping hand. But he also worked you to the bone, washing pillows, washing gowns, sewing gowns, steaming tapestry, cleaning the rooms, making meals, fixing the building, making errand runs – your responsibilities.

“No,” the word fell from your lips as if it were law. The Mandalorian’s head tilted towards you as if he didn’t hear you.

“Yes. You are my responsibility,” he repeats. “This is the Way.”

“No.” The word was slightly more harsh coming out as you turned to face him now. The sun had finally fallen behind the sky, and you were almost surrounded in darkness as you stared him down.

You could sense his hesitation, the momentary lapse in response, but the Mandalorian was resolute. “It is the Way. We take care of our own. The Creed guides me, and I cannot abandon my responsibilities.”

The weight of those words hung in the air, the silence stretching between you. The cold grip of your past life clawed at your heart, and you couldn't bear the thought of being bound by another's expectations. You had yearned for freedom, for a chance to shape your own destiny, and here, in the darkening solitude of the hot spring, those dreams seemed to be slipping away.

—

Your face was starting to turn pink from the heat of the spring as the word left your mouth. Din sat there staring, or truthfully, he was glaring at you from under his helmet. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say your stubbornness made you more a Mandalorian than it did a Kith. He battled with himself; this was not a place he wanted to be.

Din had always been careful when it came to his intimate business. When he and Xi’an would mess around, he would always pull out even though he knew she had an implant. He’d never actually finished inside anyone before, not until he’d taken you. To ease his guilt, he had told himself it was because of his inebriated state, but he knew by the time he’d slowly stripped you in that warmly lit room, the Corellian Whiskey had worn off. Maybe it had been because you were the first virgin he’d ever taken, the tightness of your heat on his fingers like a Dathomirian witch's call. Maybe you were a witch, which is what he was trying to understand, trying to learn more about you.

His eyes had scanned the pamphlet now being crumpled by Grogu’s hands. He realized the Mountain of Mothers was a sacred place, much like the living waters on Mandalore. The stubborn part of him wanted to scoop you from the spring and carry you back to his ship to take you to Mandalore, but he couldn’t do that. You were too close to birth and he really had no place to interrupt your plans… plans he hadn’t been a part of. The dark parts of his mind reminded him.

"What is your plan?" He found himself asking you. He watched as you looked up at him from your spot beneath the comforting spring waters, your brow furrowing. You had placed your right arm on the surface ridge of the pool and had laid your head down to watch Grogu.

"I will rest here," your voice sounding tired, your hair damp from the steam as you offered a sad smile.

"For how long?" He asked next, watching your face carefully to gauge your emotions.

You shrugged and looked down at your belly. "Until Noona arrives.”

Please. Kriff. Please don’t let Noona be the name for this child, his child. He cringed internally.

"Noo-na?" He repeated back, trying to hold down the unhappy tone of his voice. You nodded your head as if he was an idiot.

"Noona," you said with a nod. "Or… Baby."

He breathed a sigh of relief, just Kith for baby.

"Then what?" He asked as Grogu stirred next to him, clambering up into the Mandalorian's lap, leaving a trail of water and the now soggy pamphlet behind as he climbed.

"We rest," you said sadly.

He didn’t want to admit it, but he was getting frustrated with this beat around the bantha approach.

"After you rest?" His voice sounded a bit more terse than he intended. He watched as your head snapped up at him in annoyance, feeling confusion at your sharp reaction.

"We rest," you replied back, matching his terseness.

"For how long?" He gritted his teeth.

You splashed the water as you threw your hands up slightly and glared at him. "Forever!" You shouted back at him, and confusion laced his face.

"I don’t understand," he replied, as Grogu pulled at his bandolier from his lap, a sign he was getting hungry.

A moment of silence lapsed as your gaze slowly traveled to the skeletons surrounding the pool, now shrouded in darkness. You sighed as you looked at the remains mournfully and then slowly back to your belly.

"Illa-ishi come here to rest, forever," you said.

The skeletons and bone fragments all made sense in his mind now, and it made him sick.

"What?" His voice was laced with confusion and a hint of anger.

Before he could register the emotions swirling in his chest, he was already standing up in the water. Grogu, sensing the shift, looked up warily at his father. The Mandalorian glanced over at the pack leaning against the black jagged rock next to your bedroll, and he moved towards it out of the water.

—

Your heart raced as you watched the Mandalorian abruptly leave the spring and walk towards your pack and bedroll. You watched with bated breath as he set down the green child next to your pack on the ground and knelt down to your bedroll.

"NO!" You shouted as you watched him start to roll the bedroll back up. You quickly moved from your position in the water, walking carefully towards the edge. In an instant, he was moving in front of you, leaving the small child behind. It frightened you to see the speed at which he moved, the menacing aura he gave off as he moved to bend down, eye level with you.

He rested one hand on his right knee and the other hand on the ground next to him as he spoke.

"I am trying to understand your culture, but I will not allow you both to die here," his voice was menacing and sharp, bringing tears to your eyes.

"We are meant to die here," your words came out laced in pain and fear as you tried to stare him down. His hands balled into fists as he stared back at you.

"Why," he asked, and you could tell he was angry, and it wasn't fair.

Why was he angry when he had played no part in the last months?

You instantly felt remorse at that thought.

Throughout your whole pregnancy, you wouldn't allow yourself to think ill thoughts of him, afraid they might pass into Noona. Really, it wasn't his fault. You had no way of contacting him.

After your night with him, you'd taken your cut from the foreman and bought transport off of Tatooine. You spent weeks hopping planets and seeing different worlds, grateful for the credits you'd saved over the years, but even more so thankful for the six thousand credits that bought your freedom.

When you found out you were pregnant, you'd been staying on the mining world of Gorse, visiting the moon Cynda known for its illustrious thorillide crystal mines. You felt as if your freedom was snatched from you once again.

You knew this meant you were destined to be Illa-ishi and knew you'd be birthing a dead baby at the lower pool. It hurt, and you felt it wasn't fair, to you or the life inside you. A life that wouldn't exist outside of your own body, which is why you hadn't even bothered seeking out the Mandalorian.

Besides, all you had to go off of was the sigil on his pauldron, and since the Empire decimated Mandalore, it was impossible that you could find him again. Most Mandalorians had gone into hiding, and being already two months pregnant, there wasn't enough time to try and figure it out. You had accepted that you would be alone, that you were Illa-ishi, and that you could only enjoy the months ahead while Noona grew inside you.

You had traveled back to Kith in your fifth month of pregnancy and taken up work alongside Don Mai, the self-appointed mayor who graciously offered you a job in the fuel station. But soon your time was up, and you'd started your journey three days ago with the accepted belief that you'd never leave the Mountain of Mothers.

Still, the rational part of your mind sympathized with the man staring you down. You honestly believed you wouldn't see him again, and yet here he was. You knew that Kith was a planet along the outer rim, and nobody cared to understand your culture. Your people were not warriors like Mandalorians, nor powerful witches like Dathomirians. Your people were peaceful and slow.

Don Mai had a point about one thing, "People need to see the wealth of culture we have here. Kith would want the galaxy to know of the sacrifices he made for his wife."

—

Your eyes searched his visor, and he watched as you struggled internally. For a moment, he felt shame at his tone because it elicited a glassy look in your eyes, but he was angry. Not angry at you but more angry with himself. He sat eye level with you, waiting for your explanation when he heard a sigh leave your lips.

“Illa-ishi do not make it to the upper pool to give birth,” Your words offered little to soothe his confused anger. He opened his mouth to speak, but you continued, “Illa-ishi die at this pool with our babes, as a price for our solitude.”

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. You truly believed you would die here, along with the life he helped create. He rose from the crouched position as he looked down at you in the now looming darkness.

He studied your face for a moment before his eyes drifted lower to your full breasts and belly. A twinge of pride at the sight of you was quickly extinguished by the look on your face. You looked sad, like you didn't want to believe what you did, like some part of you wanted to make it to the upper pool. Slowly he extended his right hand down to you before he spoke, “You are not alone, not anymore.”

—

Helping you from the pool carefully, he watched the steaming water rush off your body, leaving droplets all around you. A shiver quickly rushed through you, and he cursed himself for not being more prepared when he left his ship. He didn't even bring Grogu a snack. He stood in front of you, unconsciously zoned out as he tried to think of his next steps.

He didn't realize how uncomfortable you'd become by his gaze until you moved your hands to cover yourself in shame. Your face was flushed pink, and he realized you assumed he'd been standing there staring at you like some teenage boy. He felt a rush of embarrassment; he normally never spared a thought for anyone, never cared what they thought, but for some reason, he really didn't want you to think ill of him.

"Get back in the water," his voice was low, and it almost startled you.

He saw the look of confusion on your face, and he sighed audibly. "Just… you'll be warmer in the water until I can make a fire," he said reluctantly, and he watched your eyebrows shoot up.

"A fire?" You almost sounded excited.

He nodded as he moved to help you situate yourself back into the water.

The green child cooed from his spot, now sitting on your bedroll as he watched. After situating you back into the water, Din looked back to Grogu; he could tell he was getting hungry and tired.

"I need to go collect wood. Would you… just make sure he doesn't get into trouble?" The Mandalorian hesitated to ask you for anything, but he knew Grogu would just inhibit what could be a quick task. He watched your face as you glanced up at him from in the pool and behind him to the child.

"Yes," you said, almost so quietly that he strained to hear it.

"I won't be long," he told you as he stood and immediately walked over to the edge of the cliff to make his way back down toward the forested area.

Left alone with Grogu, you couldn't help but feel a mixture of emotions. The Mandalorian had been harsh, distant, and mysterious, yet he had also shown moments of compassion and care. You watched the child as he cooed and played with his small, metal pendant, seemingly unfazed by the ordeal.

—

The thought of a fire excited you after three days of eating cold food and sleeping on the cold ground. Maybe if Noona was tired and not ready to come, you could actually enjoy your last night of sleep. Surely Noona would be here tomorrow?

"Rissi, Noona?" (Right, Noona?) You spoke to your oddly calm belly. You thought back... when had your last contraction been? After the Mandalorian had shown up, but that had now been almost two hours ago.

You felt unease rise up into your throat.

You only felt this afraid once during your pregnancy, and it was when you hadn't heard Noona's heartbeat at the small makeshift medical office in the fuel station. It wasn't until you and Don Mai had realized the medical droid's radar equipment had malfunctioned that you found peace.

But now you could feel the panic and no peace. A part of your mind was whispering that Noona was already gone. You could feel the tears welling up in your eyes as you started moving frantically towards the shallow part of the pool. You rested your left hand on the soaked fabric of your dress as you clambered towards the edge of the pool.

"Pessi Noona... Pessi!" (Please baby, please.) you whispered frantically as you tried to feel anything. The rock floor of the pool felt harsh under your bare feet, and you slipped a little at one point, causing you to stumble.

From your right, you could hear the small green child make a grunting noise. Pushing yourself up in the water, you felt your breath quickening with panic as you moved out of the water. Tears were coming hard, and you couldn't stop the sobs that came from your mouth.

"Pessi a Noona! Pessi! Pessi!" You cried as you made it from the pool to the harsh gravel-covered surface of the rock surrounding the pool. Looking down at your belly, you pressed your hands rather harshly to feel. You could make out two lumps at the top, maybe knees? You couldn't be sure.

You felt a tugging on your dress, and as you tried to look down past your belly, you caught a glimpse of a green ear. The small green child tugged fervently on your dripping gown.

"Noona a nissa movissi" (baby is not moving), you tried to explain to the small green child who you could hardly see. You sobbed and tried to move toward the bedroll. Through your tears, you heard the small child behind you as his feet pattered softly on the rock behind you. You moved to sit on a rock nearby, lowering yourself to the ground, you planted your feet and caressed your belly.

"Pessi Noona, gividas sotissi" (Please baby give me something), you cried as you continued pressing frantically, trying to get Noona to move or kick, anything.

You felt the lightest touch on your arm as you sat and hyperventilated. Looking to the left, you saw the small green child look at you curiously. His large brown eyes were full of so much emotion, something you couldn't place. Before you could make another sound, you felt the edges of your vision begin to fade.

Maybe this was it... the last moment with you and Noona... would the Mandalorian come back and disturb you? You didn't want to leave the Mountain of Mothers, you wanted to die here with Noona, stay here with Noona, forever…

The last thoughts flashed in your mind before you felt yourself succumb.

"Rest," a small voice whispered through your mind.

#din djarin #din djarin x female reader #din djarin x pregnant reader #din djarin x reader #pedro pascal #pedro pascal characters #star wars the mandalorian #the mandalorian #star wars fanfiction #my gods are not kind to lonely mothers #MGANKTLM

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chososdiscordkitten · 5 months

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pairing: Choso x depressed!reader

content: sfw, no nasty stuff, depression, mentions of family trauma, comfort, not proofread, sorry for any mistakes, idk just stuff from my brain.

word count: 594

Just thinking about Choso with a depressed partner.

Him knocking on your door after not seeing you for a while, “Are you okay?” he'd ask as he walked into your dark bedroom. Not being able to see you, only a lump under your blankets as he walked towards your bed. The light from the hallway lit up the room a bit.

Kneeling on the ground and calling your name. You wouldn't answer, only reaching a hand out to him. “What's wrong?” he'd ask, feeling how cold your hand was.

“Nothin.” you'd say, feeling his hand pulling at the blanket to see your face, seeing you balled up under the sheets, dark bags under your eyes. He had heard about depression, about how deeply it affected people's lives. And it hurt him to think that you suffered from it.

“Do you need anything?” he'd ask, seeing your eyes close and quiet tears leave your eyes. You nodded, telling him no without saying a word. Knowing if you spoke out, you'd start sobbing.

The mere question of ‘what's wrong?’ bringing stinging tears to your eyes. You felt him let go of your hand, and standing up. He was just going to get you some water or a snack, but you thought he'd leave.

“Could you stay?” you asked, looking up at him.

“Of course.” he'd say, walking to the other side of the bed and laying with you.

“I'm sorry.” you croaked, turning around to face him. He looked over at you, face puzzled at your apology. “I know you didn't sign up for this.” you continued, feeling his hands wrap around you as you cried.

“Don't apologize.” he mumbled, “I will be here through the good times and the bad.” he assured. “I will love you on your good days, and even more on the bad ones.” he continued, his hands holding you so tight that if he squeezed any harder you wouldn't be able to breathe.

I see him bringing you pomegranate seeds in a bowl, even though you weren't hungry, you'd eat them for his sake. Knowing that he took his time taking the seeds out just for you.

Always so patient and gentle, being the kind of person who would kiss your tears away when you talk about your past. Who would cry with you when he hears about what your family did and would feel your pain with you.

Holding you as he recites poems from memory when you can't get out of bed, holding you as you cry silently into his chest.

I see him being the type to convince you to finally leave your bed, “I read that plants grow better in the sun.” he'd comment as he put a sweatshirt on you, “I'm not a plant.” you'd mumble, as he took your hand and led you out the comfort of your bedroom.

“True, but I want to test a theory.” he said, holding your hand as he led you outside. You closed your eyes, feeling the warm sun on your face, and the cold breeze on your cheeks.

“This is called photosynthesizing” he'd say, a warm smile on his face as he watched you take in the sun. "Is it working?” he'd whisper, seeing a small smile appear on your face, “A little.” you smiled, feeling his hand tighten its grip on yours.

He knows photosynthesizing only works on plants, but he also knew that back in the 1800’s, they'd send people to the countryside for mental health. So there had to be some truth to it, right?

this is sum a lil short, ive been feeling pretty down recently and kept thinking about this. this is my personal experience with depression so im sorry if you can't relate or something.

#jjk #choso kamo #choso x reader #jjk fluff #jjk choso #jujutsu kaisen choso #choso my beloved #jujutsu kaisen x reader #jujutsu kaisen #kamo choso #fluff

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i-write-things · 2 months

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Obey Me! NB boys: Who would most willingly have kids

(Note: NONE of them would ever pressure you into having kids. I'm saying this now so I don't have to repeat it every time.)

1.Beelzebub:

Any surprise here? I can't remember where I saw it, but I do remember seeing somewhere he said he'd love to start a family. If you don't ask him about kids, he might ask you, first. He'd be a great dad, too. He'd be calm, supportive, and his kids would always be well fed and have plenty of exercise. They'd grow up big and strong like him! :) He'd also do that thing when they're little (and when theyre grown, too) where He'd use them as weights to lift up while he does push ups. He'd also carry them on his back everywhere. If it's a baby, he'd be a little tired of having to get up every night to calm their screams, but he'd get used to it because he makes himself a deal: he'll just get a snack every time the baby cries at night. Speaking of if it's a baby, he'd be afraid he'd crush it at first, and refuse to hold them. But once he finally holds them, he refuses to let any stranger hold them. His biggest fear is his child not being safe. Protective Beel! Oh, and they'd get a LOT of visits from uncle Belphie.

2.Mammon

Ok, here me out- he'd essentially be Bandit from Bluey (Dont ask). He'd make sure his kids are clever and he'd most certainly teach them to gamble from a young age, and how to cheat. He'd be very over protective, but also really fun. His worst nightmare is his kids growing up to hate him. He'll never admit it, but he stops cheating so much to earn money. While he wants his kids to grow up learning how to make quick cash, deep down, he just wants them to be good kids. So he also tries to set a good example and work for his money. All his brothers are shocked, and they'll tease him for it. And of course, Mammon being Mammon, will deny deny deny! The brother that baby sits the most for him is probably Lucifer, actually. (He doesn't trust Mammon at first. Jk, he trusts Mammon a lot with this, actually.... mostly)

3. Satan

You may be thinking, 'Pen, you're absolutely stupid and don't know anything about OM!, nor how to write in character', and you may be right, but let me cook!

You see, Satan at first isn't too keen on the idea of a child. All they do is scream and cry shit themselves and eat then cry some more. And when they're a teenager, they'll just sass him. And he does NOT like the idea of that. But all you have to do is appeal. Example:

Tell him to imagine the following: A 4 or 5, maybe even 6 year old boy or girl that's a mini version of him. Running around the house of lamentation, screaming curses about Lucifer, who can't do anything because they're a child who doesn't know any better. They'd be able to get away with anything and he could use that to his advantage. Now he's hooked, and he'll think about it, but despite his hate for poor Luci, he's still aware that it's a lot of responsibility. Which is why you have to reassure him that that's why you'll raise the baby together. Plus, imagine taking the child to the library, reading to them. They get to develop their own personality. Which is when teenhood becomes fun, because it's not about the sass, it's about the fun personality they've developed.

His biggest fear for his child is his child becoming like him. He doesn't want that. He'd prefer his child become like Lucifer than to see himself in his child (though not by a lot) Oh, and he trusts Asmo enough to be super gentle with the child. (Mostly because he threatened to kill Asmo if the baby is hurt) but also because he knows that the baby would be in gentle hands!

4. Lucifer

Lucifer isn't so quick to agree for 2 reasons.

He's always busy, what if he ends up neglecting the child in favor of work? And then you'll end up taking care of the child in its most vital years to have both parents present (though every year is vital to have both parents present). Of course, you'll just reassure him that Diavolo would give him some leave time in favor of raising the baby, and the brothers would help with his work load in the meantime.

2. Ok, but what about his brothers? That's the thing, he feels like he's already a father of 6. He won't be able to look after them as much because a baby is far too much time. They'll be running loose like chickens without heads in no time. You'll have to tell him he'll just have to have faith in his brothers. At first, he scoffs at the idea. But...he thinks about it. And the more he does, the more he agrees. Finally, he'll take you out somewhere private to tell you that he agrees. He wants to have a baby.

His worst fear is his child not feeling like he was present in his life. He already knows what it's like to have someone related to you hate youSatan, so it would be nothing new to him, though it would still hurt. Yet, his worst fear is his child growing up feeling like he was never there for his them. This will result in him constantly switching his attention time during teenage years from super clingy because he wants to be present, to a little distant because he doesn't want to come off as clingy. You better bring it to his attention and help him find a happy medium before your child starts to resent him for this. Oh, and the brother he trusts most to look after his kid is Mammon. This may sound stupid, but we all know Mammon would at least keep the kid alive. (Like Satan, he'll tear Mammon limb from limb if otherwise) but if Mammon isn't present, he'll ask Satan. Though, he can't be surprised if Satan has taught his child how to say 'fuck Lucifer' as one of their first phrases.

5. Asmodeus

Like Satan, he doesn't really want a child for the same reasons. They just cry, they take a lot of time, he won't be able to get his beauty sleep at night, ect. Also like Satan, you'll just have to appeal. Imagine all the cute family photos he can take! Plus, wouldn't the child be beautiful? 'Oh, but what about when they grow up and go through some weird emo phase?' Well, you guys will just have to accept them for that. And when (if) they grow out of the phase, y'all can continue to support them and then finally take family pictures again. And if they never grow out of the goth phase, you'll just have another Belphie. He laughs, and is a little more calm. It takes maybe some few months before he brings up the idea, saying that he thinks he's ready. His biggest fear is his child growing up unloved by their peers, so he tries to dress them up pretty all the time. You might have to remind him to let the child explore their own style for a bit, and he'll reluctantly agree at first, then be very willing later on. He doesn't want people to see his child as anything but pretty, but understands how important it is for the child to have their own style and feel supported for it. But he's keeping all them embarrassing baby photos. And he's definitely showing them off to his child's romantic partner (if they're not aro/ace). The brother he trusts the most to handle his child is Lucifer. He knows the child will be safe. He would pick Satan, but....y'know.

6. Leviathan

For obvious reasons, at first it's a no. He won't be able to play games as much, the baby will always be crying, ect. But you'll have to remind him that it's a team effort, and he won't be the only one taking care of the child. Plus, once the baby grows up, he'll always have someone to play games with. To which he responds they might not like games. You can counter that if they're constantly surrounded by games, they'll become a familiar source of comfort, and they'll likely love games. Same for any cartoon or anime he makes them watch. He'll give you plenty of excuses, but they're all bullshit. His biggest reason(and secret) is he thinks he'll be a horrible, embarrassment of a father. His child won't think he's cool, and might even get bullied a lot. I mean, imagine having some lame Otaku for a father. Sad, right? But just tell him that his child will love him because he's their father, and no matter what, they'll be proud to call him dad, just like you'll be proud to call him their dad. He tears up afterwards, and maybe a while later, he'll shyly approach you and tell you he's ready. He'll pay less attention to video games and anime for a while, but when he gets a break, if he's not sleeping, he's catching up on all the anime. His worst fear is his child becoming lonely like him. So he makes sure the child grows up with a pet of some kind. That way, they'll learn to be social. Oh, and if it's a boy, he'll try his damndest to name him Henry, and if it's a girl, Hana and/or Yuri. The brother he trusts the most is also Lucifer. He would say Beel, but he doesn't want him to eat his child (Beel would never), and he would say Asmo, but he doesn't want to receive an Asmo Jr. Oh, and Mammon isn't allowed near the child.

7. Belphagore

Last, and least surprisingly, Belphie. A child is wayyyyyyy too much responsibility for little old him. Plus, they cry all the time, he wouldn't be able to sleep. I'm not sure if you really could convince him to have a baby. If you did, it would be years in advance before he would agree. I think the best route is to just prove to him that the responsibility will be shared (and worth it), and he could still get sleep from time to time. Which would help. But if y'all ever do have a baby, he'll slack off a lot. You'll probably get into a couple of arguments because you'll be doing most of the work in toddler and infant years. (Most likely to get divorced over the child if y'all are married. Not saying it will happen, though. Just most likely out of the brothers.) Eventually, after ranting to Beel, he'll realize he has been a shit father at first. To the child, and to you. (Thank Beel for getting through to him). Like Beel, his worst fear is his kids not being safe. He really doesn't care how they turn out as long as they're happy and healthy. After he finally starts taking initiative as a parent, he becomes over protective. If its a girl, he sees Lilith in her, and he wont let her go. Obviously, he trusts Beel the most with his kids.

#i write for you #writing for you #obey me #obey me asmo #obey me asmodeus #obey me lucifer #obey me brothers #obey me nightbringer #obey me mammon #obey me leviathon #obey me satan #obey me beel #obey me beelzebub #obey me levi #obey me belphagore #obey me belphegor #obey me belphie

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mooodyblue · 3 months

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Hiiii I’m having a hard time with anxiety tonight bc I have emetephobia (fear of vomit) and I’m feeling nauseous

Could I request cg!e with little!reader who has emetephobia a and she’s REALLY NAUSEOUS so she’s losing her mind with fear and anxiety so bad she can’t stop shaking, she wants to curl in a ball and daddy really is trying yo comfort her?

I hope I gave you enough detail !!! Thank you so much ❤️❤️❤️

a/n: sorry this took me forever to write. ty for the request!

pairing: elvis x little!gn!reader

wc: 891

warnings: vomit mention, no actual vomiting involved

-> masterlist

elvis knew he messed up the moment he rented out a ranch too far from graceland, especially when he was the one doing the driving and you would be in the passenger seat. you didn't do well with long car rides, he learned that the hard way. but his stubborn self rented it out not knowing how far it was. he got it just for the two of you, and now he didn't even know if you'd make it there.

the reality of it all didn't hit him until thirty minutes in to the drive. he glanced over at you waking up from your nap, your arms stretching over your head as you glanced out the window. "still not there?" you asked with a pout on your face.

"no, baby. we still got a bit of time to go." he sighed. "you want a snack? how 'bout some juice?"

"no, i'm okay." you shook your head, facing forward and watching the clouds from the windshield.

some time when by when you began to get antsy, tired of sitting in the same seat for so long. you knew you sometimes got motion sickness, but always tried to take something beforehand to stop it. you turned your head to look at elvis, already feeling a little woozy. "did you bring my pills?"

he bit his lip nervously before giving you a quick glance then back at the road, "no, baby. i'm sorry. i completely forgot."

"oh. okay." you replied nervously. "that's okay."

of course, it wasn't okay. the more he drove, the more you felt yourself begin to get nervous. your body felt weird, there was the queasiness in your stomach, yet your heart felt like it was going at a million beats per hour. you wanted the feeling to pass so badly. your legs bounced up and down nervously, picking at your nails and trying to not think about the odd sensation in your stomach.

elvis noticed, glancing at you. "what's going on? you alright? need me to pull over?"

you wanted to say yes, yes, yes. but you didn't want to go off schedule if elvis had one. "baby, talk to me." he said, interrupting your thoughts and setting a hand on your knee.

"i don't feel good, daddy. i-i don't wanna get sick. i don't...." your eyes started welling up with tears. "don't wanna puke, daddy. i don't wanna."

his heart dropped, unsure of what to do. he knew how you got whenever you felt sick. anytime he, or anyone he knew was about to get sick—they'd be out of the house or he'd make sure you were in the other room. even then, he knew you couldn't stop thinking about the fact someone near you was still getting sick despite being away from it all.

it was worse when it was you. you can't escape from yourself.

"alright, alright. take a deep breath, honey." he said softly, his hand moving to rub at your back. "we'll figure this out. i'm gonna pull over at this lil' gas station and let you take a breather."

you were in tears, hiccuping and fighting off that awful urge to puke—your hands shaking and body trembling as you tried to let that feeling pass. you shook your hands at your sides to try and soothe yourself as elvis pulled into the parking lot, quickly getting out and heading over to your side. he knealt down as he opened the passenger door, taking your hands. "baby, hey. look at me." he looked right into your eyes, "i know you don't wanna get sick. if you need to, then just do it. it's scary, i know. but sometimes your body can't control it."

you let out a soft cry, squeezing at his hands. "i don't wanna."

"i know, baby. god, i know." his tone was sympathetic, doing his best to soothe you in the best way he can. "you wanna sit for a minute and let it pass? i'll go inside and see if they got somethin' for your poor lil' tummy."

you really didn't want him to go, but you took it like a champ and nodded, sniffling and sitting in the car with your stomach churning and head pounding. elvis returned as quickly as he could, hopping back into the driver seat and taking out a couple pills for you. "here," he opened your hand and dumped them into your palm. "these outta make you feel a little better, we can sit here till you feel comfortable again. that sounds alright?" he asked, handing you a tiny juice pouch.

his heart truly ached for you, he hated seeing you like this and always wished he could take that fear away from you, but he understood it was just something you couldn't control or get over.

he smiled as you took the two pills, finishing off your juice and nodding. "thank you, daddy. 'm sorry." you said shakily, wiping at your eyes.

"honey, don't even be sorry." he frowned. "i'm the dummy who forgot your pills. i bought a few extra just in case those wear off. you gonna be okay, lil'?"

"can we wait a little longer before you start drivin' again?" you nervously asked.

he gave you a soft smile, petting at your hair. "of course, sweetheart. of course."

#divider by saradika #elvis x reader

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divine-misfortune · 7 months

Text

Kinktober, day 1. High sex.

Pairing: Zephyr/Mountain/Phantom

Words: 1,100

Contains: Spit roasting, shotgunning, intox play (i mean obv), sort of objectification if you squint

Summary: Zephyr and Mountain share a blunt and a Phantom.

Starting off kinktober strong - huge shout out to @kroas-adtam for pulling this together I'm excited <33

Read on Ao3

Full.

Phantom felt full, fuller than he'd ever been. Even as his lungs screamed to swell and draw breath, devoid of oxygen or relief, their emptiness was a concern best kept at the back of his mind.

Though as if sensing his lungs silent plea, Zephyr's lithe fingers drifted from their place on his waist. Skating along the curve of his spine as graceful as they'd ever moved, Phantom could feel the burning cry simmer to a subtle heat at best. Not entirely satiated but quieted for the moment.

He moaned lowly, appreciative as he could manage around the girth of Mountain's cock stretching his jaw to its limit. With it sat right before the point it'd make him gag, dripping pre down his throat, Phantom couldn't offer up much more sound than that. Mountain's hand had abandoned his hair at some point, no longer guiding him, Phantom couldn't make himself move. His arms were barely keeping him upright. He didn't trust them to support much shift in weight but Zephyr did the work he couldn't. Every lazy thrust forward sent him nearly gagging around another inch of the earth ghoul.

Phantom blinked slowly, sluggishly, to clear the blur of tears away as he heard Mountain's lighter click uselessly. Only putting off sparks much to his chagrin.

"Dew's never around when you need him." Mountain grumbled as the sparks finally caught, and behind him Zephyr laughed.

"You're the one too stubborn to buy a new lighter, sapling." They pointed out as their nails dug into his hip, tone bored enough it hardly sounded like they were balls deep in him. Something so unnaturally calm about them as they pistoned forward again, cock dragging against the most sensitive parts of his inner walls. Phantom made a weak muffled sound. "Don't tell me you're going to hog this joint too."

"If you want me to share you just gotta ask baby."

The earthy scent was strong and thick in the room, windows and doors shut tight, leaving the smoke with nowhere to go but straight to his head. Phantom hated admitting to being a lightweight but he had next to no tolerance, a single joints worth of secondhand smoke left him dizzy. He didn't know if he could blame the floaty sensation on the weed outright, the two older ghouls and their actions certainly weren't helping him keep to solid ground. The haze behind his eyes, while mostly artificial, was entirely their fault. He dared to suspect the smoke to be purposeful, a ploy to ease him from his typical shy demeanor. Inhibitions were easy to forget when they'd effectively hollowed him out, emptied out just to be filled again to their liking.

Mountain inhaled deeply and settled an encouraging hand on the back of his head, and he did his best to let his jaw go slack like they'd taught him.

"That's it bug…" He exhaled and scratched lightly at his scalp. Just when he thought his head couldn’t get fuzzier the mere semblance of praise sent him further. "Just breathe through your nose, know you can take it. Taken more of me before, haven't you?" Mountain chuckled, laughter low and rich as honey.

"And he takes you so well...Don't you wisp?" Zephyr purred as they bottomed out. Skin to skin they spread his cheeks apart to watch the way his body clenched around them, groaning aloud. "Fuck you're still so tight, starting to think you don't want me to last."

Part of him doesn't. He selfishly wanted to feel the way their cock swells at the base, wanted them to tease him with the stretch of their knot before spilling hot and sticky inside of him. The idea alone makes his toes curl with excitement...But part of him does want it to last. Phantom had grown so accustomed to this state that his aching jaw was almost entirely forgotten. Masked behind a wall of bliss that ran vein deep, made his blood run hot and his muscle turn to puddy. Pliant barely described how he felt. Truly content to remain a shared toy between them, an afterthought if they wanted him to be, as long as he stayed stuffed full of cock he couldn't care less.

Above him, the joint changed hands and Phantom sank further along Mountain's shaft.

He could imagine the way Zephyr's lips closed around it, the red glow of the cherry as it burned away for them, pinched carefully between their fingers. He could also imagine the ruby tinged stare Mountain fixes them with, soft and nothing short of pure adoration, as well as the smile that surely split his face. He'd spent so long watching them watch each other. Fallen in love with how they loved one another, and how beautiful it was to love something and have it love you in return.

Fingers tangled through the back of his hair and he briefly debated how sweaty his curls must have felt before he's pulled. Phantom mewls sadly as he's tugged off Mountain's cock, eyes glued to it as the earth ghoul takes to stroking himself.

When did they swap the joint back?

Zephyr's other hand rested loose around the base of his throat while the other remained twisted in his hair. Seeing them, they're not as composed as they sounded, lip bitten red in an attempt to remain stoic.

The angle is different. New. And lets them fuck into the part of him they'd yet to seemingly mold around the shape of their dick. One thrust had his mouth falling open, his head tipping back to their shoulder, and they smiled coyly.

Smoke spilled out from between their teeth before they moved to catch his lips. It's hardly a kiss, but Phantom melts into it all the same, stomach swooping low with desire. Licking both the shallow moan and smoke from their mouth made his cock twitch. It kicks despite the hours of neglect. Still stood at attention and dripping onto the sheets, he almost reached for it until they abandoned his lips abruptly.

They pressed a warm, sweet kiss to his temple before they forced him back down to the mattress by the back of the neck. His head spun as he caught himself on his elbows. Mountain laughed again and cupped his jaw, lifting his face up to rub the wet head of his cock to his pink and swollen lips.

Phantom glanced up to his wide crooked smile as he pressed back into the heat of his mouth, smoke trickling out as Mountain moved to fill him once more.

#spicy tag #writing #void writing #phantom ghoul #mountain ghoul #zephyr ghoul #aeon ghoul #nameless ghouls #the band ghost #ghost the band #kinktober 2023 #ghostober

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hyuuukais · 3 months

Text

.・゜-: ✧ :- FICTIONAL REALITY .・゜-: ✧ :-

pairing • bang chan x fem reader

synopsis • fiction or reality? y/n preferred the former, escaping into another world, escaping her problems. so what happens when reality takes that away from her; wiping her own story-in-progress off both her laptop and beloved usb? and what happens when she opens the door in the middle of a crisis to none other then the love interest of her novel... and he's holding her usb?

warnings • general, blood/injury, yeonjun being possessive, choking

MASTERLIST | PREVIOUS | NEXT

CHAPTER SIXTEEN • DONE (1.6k)

Minho sits solemnly on his couch in dim lighting. The window is open, a light breeze moving the thin curtains ever so slightly. He has no recollection of how he got here, only that one minute he was staring into that damn mirror, and the next he was lying in his bed face down, blood trickling from his nose.

There were only a few moments for him to acknowledge the change in scenery before someone was pounding on his door, shouting his name. He hoped it would be you, but when he opened the door he was face to face with old friends.

"Wha- Hyunjin? Yeji?" He takes in their appearances, noticing the changes since the last time he'd seen them, now a couple of months ago.

Explaining what had happened was priority, sitting Minho down to reveal they'd been in and out of this other realm trying to find you after you'd left. As far as Minho knew, Yeji was the only one to know your location, but apparently that was a lie. You were smart, not telling a soul, knowing anyone could help him trace you no matter how close you'd been.

And now you were here, hugging him tightly in the doorway of his house.

"How the hell are we here?" You ask, barely containing your nerves. "I was in that place with Yeonjun and he forced me back here, but I don't know how. None of this makes sense. Why can't I just have peace? Why won't he let me forget him?"

"It's not supposed to make sense," Yeji says, closing and locking the door after Hyunjin.

You detach from Minho, confused. "What's not supposed to make sense?"

"All of this!" You flinch, and Yeji takes a deep breath to calm herself. "Whatever Yeonjun has been doing, he's messed with reality itself. Fiction has started to blend into our world. Soon enough, we're not going to be able to tell what or who is real or not."

"How are we so sure he's in control?" You think of the rooms, the bodies, the way he and you were connected.

Something isn't adding up, something else is at play here and you intend to figure out exactly what that is. Nothing has been going right and you are sick of it. Thunder claps in the distance, but you don't shrink down, you don't move. You walk right up to the damn window as rain pours down from the dark sky and you open it, feeling the drops hit your cold skin.

You are not afraid anymore.

You are angry.

"Why are you doing this?" Chan winces, trying to get to your side, but the pain radiating through his body is too much.

"If I can't have her, no one can." Yeonjun crouches, meeting Chan's eyes. "Real or not, you stole her from me, and I'm going to make you pay."

Another shot of pain goes down his body, crying out with his eyes squeezed shut. Head throbbing, remaining limbs numb, all he can do is think of you. Where are you right now? Are you safe? Is Jeongin with you? Questions and fears run through Chan's brain at the speed of light.

"Still thinking of her as you lay here dying?" Yeonjun tilts his head to the side, observing Chan's writhing body. "Interesting. She really succeeded in making you love her."

"She didn't- she didn't make me do anything," Chan grits out.

"Really? Because from what I know, that's the whole reason for your existence." Yeonjun stands, walking over to your body. He lays a gloved hand over your arm. "You don't really love her, and you could realize that if you join me in restoring the timeline. The one where she marries me and you're left behind, but you'd have control. You could love who you want, not who you were forced to."

"I would never do that," Chan breathes. "Never. Could never betray her like that. Like you."

"Betray her? She betrayed me." Yeonjun moves his hand away from you, clenching it into a fist. "You can't understand because I chose to love her, and this is how she repaid me."

"Love," Chan gasps. "Love isn't a transaction. No 'I gave you this, so you should give me that'. No wonder she left-"

A boot to the face shuts Chan up, rolling to his back. Using the hand he still has, he brings it up to his bleeding nose and mouth, lip split, and bone no doubt broken. He hisses at the contact, letting his hand drop back to his side. His breathing is constricted as Yeonjun wraps a hand around his throat, forcing him up onto his knees, breathing constricted. The only thing keeping Chan from falling back down is the strength Yeonjun uses to hold him up.

With a groan, Jeongin lifts himself out of bed. Around him is familiar; his room when he first moved in with his grandparents after the accident. The walls are bare and the bed is too small, wind whistling through the attic. He looks down, still dressed in the stark white clothing from the other realm. Head swimming, he stands up slowly, using the angled wall for support as he makes his way to the hatch. His descent is quiet, footsteps light as he passes where his grandmother must be asleep.

Everything is a hue of blue, cold and unforgiving. No photos hang on the walls like they used to, no trinkets are found in random places. Personality has been stripped from this house, only the bare minimum in its place. The stairs creak slightly under Jeongins feet, and he uses the side of each step to minimize noise. Although he isn't certain his grandmother is here, he doesn't risk it.

Outside snow falls, decorating the streets in white. Winter is beginning, roads slick with ice and the temperature dropping every day. When he exits the house, he isn't cold, even with the flakes hitting his bare skin. The streets are empty and no lights are on, eerily quiet as he walks on. Jeongin doesn't know where he plans to go, only that he needs to keep walking or something very bad will happen. He passes the café, but it isn't a café. In its place is a boarded-up building with broken windows, sadness spilling from within.

He needs to get inside.

The boards covering the door come off easily enough, a splinter or two here and there, but it doesn't hurt. His muscles don't ache from the force needed to pry them off, his back doesn't hurt from the one time he slipped backward. Behind the boards, the door is locked, but with one good kick, it comes right off the hinges.

"Stronger than I look," Jeongin mumbles, stepping over the piece of wood.

Just like his house, there's nobody and nothing here. It doesn't resemble the lively café Chan owns whatsoever, dark with a strong, musty smell lingering. Jeongin brings an arm up to his nose, feet guiding him up the staircase to the abandoned apartment above. Unlike below, this does look like Chan's, down to the chipped coffee cup left on the counter.

Down below, Jeongin can see someone staring back at him through the window. He startles, then squints at the figure, trying to recognize them but their face is blurred from the dirty glass. Wiping a spot clean, he looks down again, but they're gone.

"What...?" He places a hand on the window, scanning the empty streets for a sign of life.

Jeongin.

His head whips around to the dead apartment.

Little fox.

Something touches his neck and he looks back toward the window, backing up suddenly when he sees the large crowd of people, and right into something solid. It grabs him from behind and he struggles and yells, panic consuming him as they push him hard through the window and down, he's falling down.

Rain comes down in heavy sheets, threatening to drown you standing up as you walk out of the house and down the street. You don't know where you're going, only that it's where you need to be. Behind you, Minho calls your name, keeping a safe distance between you in your anger. The storm rages on around you as your own red, hot feelings rise the longer it takes to get to where you're going.

"It's not safe out here!" Yeji yells, jogging up to your side. "We need to get back!"

"I'm done hiding!" You stop walking, grabbing Yeji by the forearm, making her face you. "I'm done feeling small and letting him control my life when he's no longer in it! Time and reality are fucked because he can't handle rejection! Because he can't handle the fact that I'm becoming my own person again!"

Your voice is desperate, needing her to understand. "I need to be my own person again."

A beat passes before Yeji nods, wet hair plastered over her forehead falling into her eyes. You reach out to move it out of the way.

"I'll be okay." You pull her into a hug. "I'll be okay."

You let go and she's stuck to the spot watching you leave her again. Minho passes, but she places an arm on his chest to block him.

"What are you doing? She can't be alone-" Yeji shakes her head. "Yeji, let me go."

"Or what?"

Minho's jaw clenches and he feels another set of hands holding him back; Hyunjin. They won't let him go, won't let him follow you as you disappear into the night.

"You know something," he clues in, blinking.

"We have to let this happen," Hyunjin's voice is barely heard over the thunder.

●

notes • things r COOKIN!!!!!!! also! i updated the masterlist with a warning for the next chapter, so pls take a look! it wasn't planned originally otherwise the warning would have been there from the start, my apologies

taglist • @yongbbokkie @chaeryred @tenebrisirae @toplinelix @chansdoll @amaranth-writing @3rachachoo @linosjureumi @thebrownemo @tfshouldidohere @channie-143 @frogieeheart @kangaracharacha @skzswife @hopefulrascalstatesmantoad @palindrome969

TAGLIST CLOSED ^^^blue means i can't tag you

#.・゜-: ✧ :- FICTIONAL REALITY .・゜-: ✧ :-#skz #stray kids #non idol au #bang chan x reader #bang chan #bang chan x fem reader #skz fanfic #stray kids fanfic #bang chan fanfic #bang chan series

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try-set-me-on-fire · 8 months

Text

Tagged by @devirnis for Fuck it Friday! I thought of a way to do the lightning strike in the people become invisible to Buck when they’re close to death au… started writing it this morning…

In May, Buck stands in Hen and Karen's backyard with Eddie's arm around his waist. He'd cried through the ceremony because weddings always make him cry no matter who’s at the alter, but specifically because it was Hen and Karen and they'd looked so beautiful and so happy and he loves them so, so much.

It had been a rough year but he's standing in Hen and Karen's backyard and Eddie's arm is around his waist and he's coming back to work soon. He looks beautiful and happy, too, face no longer gaunt, exhausted, afraid. Afternoon sun hits his flushed skin and Buck never wants to look away.

He's standing in Hen and Karen's backyard with Eddie's arm around his waist and Karen grins at him and asks "So, when is it your turn?"

"Oh," he laughs a nervous laugh, eyes skittering off Eddie into the bushes. "Uh- I mean, he's already done the whole marriage thing, I don't know if…"

"Buck," Eddie says, and when Buck looks back at him he finds nothing but love there. "Sure I'll marry you."

"Oh," Buck says, and his voice is strange and every part of him not anchored to the weight and warmth of Eddie's arm pressed through their suits feels very far away.

Eddie turns more into him, kisses him twice. "Buck," he laughs, a sound that makes Buck feel more drunk than the champagne. "Marry me. Please, will you marry me?"

He nods, frantically, and as Eddie laughs again Buck says "Next year, next- in the summer, the- the end of summer, right before school. Sunsets- that's when the best sunsets are."

Oh, his smile, oh, his smile. "It's a date," Eddie says, joy all over him, and Buck curls down into his arms. He can feel Eddie’s nose pressed into the side of his head. "I have to get you a ring," he says, still laughing, a little wet this time. As Buck cries into Eddie's nice suit jacket their family around them laugh, too.

In the fall, Buck begins to disappear.

He thinks he imagined it, the first time. They're on route to a traffic collision and Buck glances down at his hand and for a split second only sees the red of the door behind it. He flinches bad enough, yanking his now solid hand in for closer inspection, that Eddie taps his knee.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, uh," Buck tears his eyes away from familiar calluses and freckles. "Thought I saw a spider."

Eddie makes a face and casts a distrusting look around the cabin, and that's the end of it.

A week later Buck raises a hand to shield his eyes from the sun and the light comes right through.

But I'm getting married, he thinks, like that has ever stopped a tragedy before.

@rewritetheending @shortsighted-owl @rogerzsteven @forthewolves @thewolvesof1998 @wildlife4life @buckactuallys @burins if you have anything to share!

#basically just what if Buck knew he was going to die throughout season 6 but not specifically how or when #he’s not going to have a good time!#chasing that car on the bike because he’s so tired of just waiting terrified at least if it happens around his team maybe they can save him #im not sure if he’ll go for the sperm donor thing because that seems more complicated with a fiancé #but he sure will think about what he’s leaving behind in the world #he’s a mess and Eddie is so worried but then it happens he’s struck by lightning he dies #and then he wakes up #so now what #tag games

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satancopilotsmytardis · 1 month

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do you think tomura would ever let dabi try to dom him? /which of ur shigarakis is most likely to humor dabi like that?

I don't think any dabi would get very far without either his brain shutting off the moment it feels good, or crying and begging for help bc it just doesn't feel as good as when his sir (or daddy.... 👀) does it.

or maybe, he starts crying bc oh no he's supposed to be making his sir feel good and he can't do it right and-- tomura takes pity on him. fucks him into the mattress since he tried sooo hard, tells him it's okay, it's not his fault he was made to be a pretty little cumdump.

So I have talked about this before, and I always said that them switching would go horrendously badly, however certain *ahem* phrasing in this ask activated the brain worms so:

Switching It Up

Ship: Shigadabi

Rating: E

Contents: BDSM, feminization, lingerie, Daddy kink, dehumanization, objectification, orgasm denial/delay, anal sex, anal fingering, oral sex mentioned, marathon sex implied, aftercare, cumplay, creampie, cum swallowing, humiliation kink, praise kink, Dabi Is Bad At Feelings and is Feeling Bad.

Word count: 5253

You can also read on AO3, here!

He had not cared one bit about subbing for Shigaraki when they first got together. Dabi has always been a switch and fairly ambivalent to his partners' gender and sex, taking what he could get when he could get it given his own appearance, and had been more curious than anything else when he caught wind of Shigaraki's interest. He had thought initially that Duster would end up being a virgin and would definitely need a few spins with a partner before he could trust the other man to not blow immediately if he was gonna get fucked by him.

But the first encounter Dabi had decided to start with a blowjob and by the time he was on his knees with Shigaraki petting his hair and losing a constant stream of filth too personalized and specific to be taken from pornos and Dabi had found out he had a cock big enough to go all the way down his throat and pull painfully at his staples, he had been proven abruptly and stunningly wrong. He hadn't even thought to ask about topping one he was being pulled up from the floor and held up against the wall as Shigaraki kept murmuring those filthy things and fingered him open so expertly that he'd nearly gone off before his dick even got touched. Then Duster fucked him so good he had cried because he'd cum so many times and he absolutely passed out. And the next morning, Shigaraki kissed him so gentle and sweet and told him what a good boy he'd been for him and Dabi was fucking lost.

He would have, embarrassingly, probably done anything Shig asked him to after that, but thankfully Tomura was experienced with this stuff and the safety practices around harder play. He made Dabi sit down with him and actually go through the things he wanted to do and what he didn't and set his limits. That had been nice too. And then came the part of the conversation where Shigaraki laid out what he liked and Dabi had nearly overheated. It wasn't a surprise, then, that Shig took his time introducing new play into their scenes, working it up hotter and hotter until Dabi was doing things that he never thought he would be into and that he would never admit to under the most heinous of tortures.

So he really, really had not wanted any of the other members to know what he and Duster were doing behind those closed and double locked doors. He was pretty sure the others were under the impression that the two of them had a strictly professional relationship. It wasn't any of their business so he hadn't bothered to say anything. He didn't want to get into it. They kept their play and their relationship very private.

But after taking the CRC mansion, they'd had somewhere safe to sleep and hide out, and Dabi had a little bit of money stashed away, and god damn it he missed playing rough with Duster. So he'd grabbed himself a new pair of pretty lacy pink panties and waited until all of the others were out of base for a few days. Compress and Toga were off doing some kind of heist for a fence of Compress's to bring in a little extra money and Twice and Spinner were supposed to be going out trying to hook up with some pro-heteromorph extremist group that they had found out about from papers in this base planning a raid against them. They were hoping that they would all be able to get on the same side. Two days of travel minimum since they couldn't use most more public routes, and then however long it actually took to do the job. Dabi thought it was pretty safe when he fingered himself open and dripping, put on his panties and one of Tomura's shirts, and nothing else before going to find his lover.

It just to happened that he found him down in the living room, reading through more of the papers they had salvaged from the other rooms. He hadn't even looked up, immediately starting to say something about work so Dabi had marched right over and sat in his lap, wrapping his arms around his neck and simpering,

"Daddy, I need you." And that had gotten all of his lover's attention in exactly the right kind of way.

It hadn't taken long to have him half hanging off of the couch, Tomura's cock buried inside of him, fucking him so hard he was smoking, sobbing, and moaning so, so loudly, because each time he got close, his lover would change the angle or slow down to keep him from going over the edge.

"Daddy," he plead, bloody tears dripping across his cheeks as he clutched desperately onto him.

"Tell me what you want, baby girl. If you ask nicely, maybe you'll earn a reward."

And he knew what that meant by then. Meant he needed to beg, and he needed to be specific and ask for what he wanted clearly, or he wouldn't get it at all. "Please, please, Daddy, please, let me cum. It feels so good with your cock in my pussy. Want you to make me cum. Want your hand on my clit, please. Want your cum in my cunt, Daddy."

"Such a good girl, princess." And he'd moaned so loudly as Tomura had reached to start to stroke him--

"What the fuck?" The words were choked out and entirely out of place and the shock had Dabi's temperature flaring higher and their movements coming to a jerky uncoordinated stop and they both spotted Twice and Spinner, the later blushing furiously beneath his scales, but apparently too shellshocked to move from the doorway.

Twice had burst out laughing, and then his contradictions had cut in, "Not cool, guys! We all sit on that couch!" And that had broken Spinner's stupor.

"Holy fucking shit, oh my god, whose underwear--" Had lost the words in a choked squeak as Dabi saw the pink panties hanging off of the armrest and had felt himself blush furiously as well before he reached over and snatched them as if that would hide the incriminating piece of fabric. "No. Nope. Christ." And he had turned and left the room, still blushing, dragging Twice along with him.

Needless to say neither of them finished. He had really, really hoped that they would all repress that incident and never speak of it again. And then Twice, and about a week after him, Spinner, had started making little teasing jabs out of Shig's earshot.

"Hey, Dabi-- Yo, princess,"

"You gonna run that by 'Daddy'?"

Nothing particularly egregious, but humiliating all the same. He had ignored it, he was absolutely planning on acting like it never happened. Absolutely not going to tell Shig about it and get accused of tattling to his Daddy. But it soured his mood, and that was obvious no matter how he tried to hide it. The other's aren't totally assholes, so when they'd noticed how quiet he'd gotten, how little time he would spend around them again, they'd knocked it off and apologized, but that hadn't made him feel any better.

///

It's been three months since then. He fucked off for two of them, only coming back when they'd first reached out to the doctor, and then once again when the MLA pulled their bullshit in Deika. Then there was a solid month of restructuring the PLF and his lover and friends being treated so that they weren't broken anymore. And he hasn't scened with Tomura since they were walked in on.

He probably should be expecting it when Duster, once he's healed enough to think about those kinds of things again, bullies him onto the couch in the seating area in their room to talk.

"What's going on, baby girl?" And Dabi bristles, his gut souring immediately with his humiliation.

"Don't call me that!" He snarls. "I'm not a girl and I'm tired of playing one for you. If you want a girl, then just dump me and find one. Not like you don't have a whole army throwing themselves at you now."

He regrets the words as soon as they're out of his mouth, as soon as he sees Tomura's expression go soft and hurt with his surprise. He wants to take them back, but his aching pride won't let him. "...I'm sorry, Dabi, I didn't realize that was bothering you." His voice is measured and calm, but in the way it used to get when he was trying to placate Kurogiri or appeal to AFO's better mood, and Dabi feels even worse. "But I don't want a woman, I want you. You're... everything to me, Dabi."

Guilt gnaws through him and makes him feel impossibly small. He can't even meet Shig's eyes when he mumbles. "...I just don't want to play like that anymore." God, he'd never say that his mouth ever gets him out of trouble, but he didn't know it could get him into so much so quickly. He doesn't remember he felt like he was this close to tears when he wasn't being actively edged.

"That's okay, firefly. That's why we negotiate." Duster reaches over and hesitates a second, but then catches his hand between three of his fingers. "What can we do to make this work better for you?"

He should stop this, should just backtrack, should do something to explain to Tomura why he's so upset, but he doesn't have the right words. "I don't know. I don't like being..." He just stumbles into the wrong ones. "The sub all the time."

Tomura's grip changes, tensing a little more. He told Dabi when they first started sleeping together he really hated bottoming and that he very rarely ever subbed and when he did, it was not his favorite activity and he found it hard to get off like that. And Dabi said that was fine because Tomura's cock was a fucking miracle and he was happy to have it inside of him as often as he could without actually destroying his guts. "Okay, firefly. That's fine, we can figure that out too."

He means it too, still holding his hand and starting to talk about the things he's willing to do as a sub so that Dabi will feel better about their scening. And Dabi is in so deep, he can't say a word as he keeps feeling worse and worse.

///

But he still can't speak up. Tomura and he talk about him subbing with Dabi feeling sick the whole time, and go to bed without doing anything besides cuddling up together, and even then, Duster doesn't hold him close to his chest, cradling him and murmuring sweet little praises into his hair. He lets Dabi curl around his body instead. It doesn't feel right and he can't fall asleep for hours, and when he manages it, it's fitful and miserable. He's not even surprised when he wakes, gasping for breath, smoke pouring from his seams and an aborted sob caught in the back of his throat as he shakes the nightmare, the memory, of his father treating him like he was nothing, like he was small, pathetic, useless, the second he couldn't live up to his standards. Duster isn't in bed. But he never stays all night, and Dabi makes the wise choice to go cry in the shower so that there's no blood on the sheets or evidence of how badly he's doing for the other to find. Things are already so strained. Tomura's already worried about him, he doesn't want to make it worse when he's the one who's being an asshole.

He's mostly pulled it together, at least on the outside, by the next day. He's spent years perfecting his persona, putting it on again is like second nature, and he thinks it does a decent job of hiding how badly he is still feeling. But Tomura doesn't bring up anything sexual for the next week except asking if he knows what kind of domming style he prefers. He can't even contemplate that and shrugs, says he can do whatever Tomura likes. He's never dommed anyone before. He wasn't even into BDSM until after he and Duster got together, and he keeps pleading silently for his lover to see that, but he doesn't. He takes his words at face value because Tomura trusts that he knows what he can handle and what he can't.

Dabi cannot handle this.

Tomura kneels at his feet, his head down and his hands laying against his legs. He likes to be dehumanized when he's subbing. Not like how Dabi likes to be objectified. He likes to be a tool for his dom, something less than human, said that Dabi could use him as furniture, use any part of his body for his pleasure, just wanted him to take as much as he wanted out of him. And... not talk to him like he's a person.

"Toy," he tries to keep his voice even. It's been half an hour. He was pretending that he was letting the anticipation build the way his lover does to him so often when they have time for longer play, but he had been desperately trying to figure out what he could have Tomura do. Duster doesn't look up, but he knows he's listening. Normally when Duster wants to get things started, when he wants to move into the more overtly sexual aspect of their play, he teases or praises Dabi, rewards or punishes him to get him to where he wants. But that's isn't what Tomura likes. He doesn't need to be rewarded, doesn't care about praise, he only wants to know that he's being effective by bringing his dom pleasure. And he doesn't want to be talked to like that. He doesn't even want to be kissed-- had a bad experience with a dom who used to kiss him while they were scening. He doesn't want any of the things that make Dabi feel so good as a sub, and that's the only frame of reference he really has. He tried to do his research, found out this seems like a form of service subbing, but that doesn't mean he knows how to navigate it.

He thinks he would rather be putting in a fresh round of staples when he orders. "On your feet. I want to play with my toy." Tomura stands and Dabi follows, gesturing for him to move over towards the bed. "Strip."

His lover does as he's told, removing his clothes layer by layer almost mechanically and Dabi can't feel any arousal in the actions. neither of them are even a bit hard by the time he's finished and Dabi is near begging, rather than commanding, "And now mine." Just trying to get his lover's hands on him like they usually are. But this feels different too. Tomura doesn't strip off his clothes with lingering touches, or hot kisses, or filthy words murmured against his skin. He strips him down methodically, not letting his hands stray, not pressing kisses to his skin as he exposes it, just doing as he's told and not bothering with anything else.

"On the bed." He makes Tomura sit on the edge and climbs fully into his lap. He can be a dom who bottoms, he knows that, and he's just desperate to have something feel good, feel normal. He reaches over to the nightstand for their lube and brings it over, "Open your hand." He does. Dabi gives a generous squirt smearing it along his fingers and then breathing, "Open me."

His lover reaches around him, spreading him open and starting to work his fingers against his hole. Stroking and circling and Dabi wraps his fingers around his lover's cock and starts to stroke, pressing his face into his neck and nibbling and licking there since he can't kiss him. Tomura's neck is sensitive, and the stimulation they're both getting now seems to finally start to get their bodies on board, but none of it feels right. It's like his body is completely disconnected from his mind and he can't make himself enjoy this. He just can't. He whimpers and Tomura seems to think that it's a good sound, usually is when they're in bed together, and strokes a little firmer at that same spot inside of him. But it's not right.

Dabi catches his wrist. "Enough, I'm ready." He shifts higher in Tomura's lap, guiding his cock so that his head is just starting to stretch his rim and rubs against him as he speaks. It's been months since they were able to fuck. This should feel good, he should be desperate for it, but his stomach is in shaky tight knots the whole time he speaks. "I'm going to use your pretty cock as a toy and you," he tries, "aren't going to move unless I tell you to. You're not going to cum unless I give you permission. If you think that you're getting close, I want you to tell me. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

Dabi hides his face against his neck again so he doesn't see how hearing that, the wrongness of that, makes his eyes burn. He ignores it and sinks down. It doesn't feel nearly as good as it normally does when he gets to ride Tomura, this angle and gravity usually doing the work of pushing his lover in so deeply that Dabi is bleeding smoke from how good it feels. But even though it feels good because having his lover's cock inside of him always feels good, it's not the same. He doesn't have Tomura's hands on his hips, squeezing bruises there, telling him how cute he looks so desperate to be just a tight little fuckhole for someone to use, doesn't tell him what a good girl he's being taking his cock so deeply. Isn't kissing him or pulling at his hair or seams to put the perfect ache into his body that makes the pleasure taste so much sweeter. It's just this, and it's not enough, it's not right, and Dabi breaks with a sob,

"Red," Tomura tenses beneath him and then his hands are on his body, stopping him, pulling him off, one catching his cheek to pull him back so that he can see his face as blood drips across his face.

"Shit, what's wrong, baby g--" He stops himself and Dabi sobs a little more roughly.

"Daddy," the word is a broken plea.

"Shh, firefly, I'm right here. What do you need, sweetheart? What can I do to make it better?"

He can't remember the last time he cried like this, hard sobs that nearly choke away his words. He's spilling smoke, shaking like a leaf, and his head is so messy. "I--I wanna be," he nearly hiccups on the words. "Wanna be your baby girl, want you to kiss me, want to be good for you. Daddy, please, I'm sorry--"

"Oh princess, shh, it's okay, you're alright baby girl." Dabi keens as soon as he hears that, trying to press in even closer, desperate for the reassurance, for something to feel good after how heavy his misery has been as it sat inside of him for the past three months.

Tomura wraps an arm around his waist and lifts him easily, shifting their positions so that Dabi has his back against the mattress and can spread his legs to have his lover's weight settling between them, over him. Small beneath him in a way that makes him feel safe in a way he doesn't know if he ever felt before he let himself submit to Tomura. Daddy leans down and kisses him, kisses away the tears going over his cheeks and his hands move to touch him. They stroke gently over his seams, along his thighs.

"Baby girl, you can be Daddy's princess whenever you want to. I'm so proud of how hard you were trying. Would it be easier if I told you how good you were doing while we're playing?"

Still trying to give him what he said he wanted before and Dabi shakes his head with another sob. "Don't wanna be a dom." And Tomura's brows pull together. "Never wanted to be a dom. Just wanna be your sub. Just want you to make me feel good, Daddy."

"We can do that too, sweetheart, you know I love having you be such a mess under me--"

Dabi keens, the words putting a needy pulse of heat in him finally despite the sickness that has been tying up his guts for the past few months. He immediately tries to chase that feeling, rocking up and trying to grind his clit against Daddy so he can see how much he needs more of that. Finally sees a little heat flicker through his worry and Dabi tangles his hands in Tomura's hair and pulls him in for a harder kiss. He doesn't want to talk, doesn't want to think, he just wants Daddy to make him feel good and take everything else away. He whimpers loudly as that earns Tomura's hips settling more firmly between his thighs, his slick cock rubbing against his wet pussy and putting sparks there that there weren't before. He lets out a loud moan when Tomura reaches between them to wrap four fingers around his clit and stroke teasingly up his ladder. It feels so good that he's letting out another sharp sob as he rocks up into the touch.

"Already so messy, princess. So upset, but your pretty clit is still so wet, baby. You just can't help it, can you? Need Daddy's attention however you can get it, even if it means acting like such a desperate little slut." Shows him how much it's true when his clit twitches against his hand, dribbling out a little pre as he tries to fuck up into the lazy strokes of his fist. "Thought you would like being in charge and getting to demand all of it, but I should have known better. Little dolls like you aren't good at being anything but pretty little cumdumps."

There's smoke leaking out of him fresh along with his tears and whimpers. He's hot, he's so hot again. hot for the first time since they were interrupted and he needs it. "Please, Daddy, empty, hurts."

"Of course it does, princess." And one hand shifts, reaching for him and not hesitating to shove two fingers into his cunt, pushing in and immediately crooking to put a sharp pressure on his prostate. He moans loudly, rocking back to get more. "So here's what we're going to do, I'm going to fuck your hungry cunt until you're nice and full, princess. And then we're going to have a talk and you're going to do your best to keep your slutty hole tight and not spill any of Daddy's cum. If you can keep it all inside, then you'll get a reward, and if you can't Daddy is going to fuck your need throat until your tummy is just a full, understand?"

"Yes, Daddy." It's like the demand has put something back into its proper place. His whole body already feels more settled than it did before, his tears slowing to a stop and his head starting to float the way it's supposed to, the way that makes him feel so good when he's being Daddy's plaything. "Thank you, Daddy."

"You're welcome, princess. Now, let's see if you can keep being so sweet for me while I fill up your needy cunt."

His cock replaces his fingers and Dabi doesn't think about anything else for a long time.

///

Tomura fills him up three times, only letting Dabi cum once in turn, before he waits until he's able to focus and then pulls out. He cleans up the cum that was pulled out of him with the movement but then makes Dabi strain to hold the rest inside as they settle on the bed, Dabi cuddling up against him as tightly as he can as Tomura strokes his hair.

"Need to talk to me, baby girl. I don't... understand what happened. What didn't you like?"

And he's still a mess, but he's floating a little too, even as he tries so hard to keep himself full and wet. "Made fun of me."

"Baby, I'm never making fun of you--"

He shakes his head weakly. "The others. After." He doesn't want to say after what, hiding his face against his chest, some of that sourness starting to work back out of him. "Made fun of me for being your little girl. Didn't like it. Made it hurt." The arms around him tighten slightly, and Dabi tries not to cry again as he mumbles. "Worked so hard to be more than what everyone thought I would be. Didn't want them to think," his voice is barely above a whisper, "that you listened to me because I was letting you fuck me."

"Princess, you don't need to worry about that," he reassures him, pressing a kiss to his forehead and trying to wipe away some of his tears. "You've proven yourself to them, to me, over and over. Everyone knows that you are the hardest worker we have here." He hesitates. "And you know that I would have never given you this position if I didn't know you were capable of it? No matter what you want in bed, or how we play, you know that I think you could burn down the world singlehandedly if you put your mind to it, don't you, firefly?"

He's spent so much of his life being told that he couldn't be anything beyond a broken shell that even being told that now doesn't fully settle. It doesn't soothe away all of the hurt that's living inside him, that he's worried will keep living in him for the rest of his life. But it helps a little. "Okay." Sees it in Tomura's face as he resolves to tell him it every day for the rest of their lives until Dabi believes him.

"That's not how my princess shows he understands. You're our best soldier, Dabi, and what you like when we're playing doesn't change that." He waits expectantly.

"... Yes, Daddy." He is not going to examine why that loosens a little bit more of the knot in his gut. "I love you."

"I love you too, baby girl. Now, let me see if you've earned a reward," his hand moving down to his hole and Dabi whimpers, because he got so distracted by his sorrow he forgot to hold tight, and he can already feel Daddy's cum has leaked out over his skin. "Oh, princess,"

"I'm sorry, Daddy. It was so much." But this failure doesn't feel like the mockery or sourness before. Daddy set him an expectation to meet, and when he can't, he's not going to think less of him, not going to ignore him, or hurt him in a way that he doesn't like or can't handle. He's going to punish him a way they'll both enjoy, and he's going to clean him up afterwards and hold him. Won't stop loving him because he wasn't perfect. Won't stop knowing that he can do his job outside of their room just because he misbehaved in it.

"I know, princess, and it's been a while too." He strokes his hair with his other hand, "So Daddy won't put on your ring as long as you don't play with your pretty clit while you're being punished." Which has him starting to blush there already in needy anticipation. He always gets so hot with Daddy's cock in his throat, and that concession means that he's going to let him cum as many times as he can from having his throat fucked alone as long as he behaves.

"Thank you, Daddy."

Tomura wipes away another sticky track of his tears. "You're welcome, baby girl, now come here. Once you're all done with your punishment Daddy wants to give you a bath and spend the rest of the night doting on on his sweet little girl."

///

Tomura was absolutely true to his word, filling up his throat until Dabi had cum two more times and was a boneless puddle full of his cum. And then he'd carried him out of bed and had pampered him. A warm sweet-smelling bath with some bath melts that helped his skin feel soft, stop aching around his seams, and smelled so nice, and then got him dressed up in cozy pajamas, ordered him all of his favorite foods, and had spent the whole rest of the night holding him close and petting him as he murmured praises over and over again until Dabi was floating so high he hadn't even noticed he was hard from the sweet words again. Not until Daddy took him back to bed and swallowed up his clit so that he wouldn't make himself a big mess again before it was time to go to sleep.

He slept the whole night through for the first time in months, and wakes the next morning to a sticky note on their nightstand saying that he can stay in bed all day if he wants. Dabi immediately turns it to ash goes to throw on his clothes a quickly as possible, only ten minutes to spare before the lieutenants' meeting he's supposed to be at. Be starting with a report about how he and Geten's new training regiment for their soldiers is going that he absolutely does not trust the popsicle to not undersell beause he thinks that any training that's not complete isolation and to the point of collapse isn't good enough. He manages to get into the room before everyone has even settled into their seats and feels a sharp moment of triumph. It's met with a slight flicker of embarrassment as he sees Tomura standing off to the side with Twice and Spinner, four fingers on each of their shoulders and a placid smile that reminds Dabi so sharply of AFO that a shudder runs down his spine. He can't tell what he's saying from across the room, but the other two look like they're about to shit themselves with their terror, so he has a very, very good guess.

"Duster, knock it off!" He snaps. "They already apologized."

"I know," He lets go of them very deliberately, pulling each finger away from their skin one-by-one. "Which is why this was a conversation at all." He informs them both very pointedly.

"Got it." Spinner squeaks out.

"Good. Take your seats." They scurry to do so and Shig takes his at the head of the table. "I believe we're starting with the troops?"

Dabi does his fucking level best to give a good showing of everything ounce of progress that they've made on that front. It's enough that even Geten has to admit to the group that things are progressing better than his first month on the mountain training alone had yielded. And by the end of the meeting, he feels a little more of the knot in his gut lesson as their work is acknowledged by the entire assembly without an ounce of input from his lover.

Thanks for asking!

#tanco speaks #ask #asks #shigadabi #my writing #mha fanfiction #fanfiction

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halothenthehorns · 1 month

Text

Chapter 2: THE BRONZE DRAGON

Magnus saw that last word and just stopped. Just sat there frozen and looked like he wanted to cry. Why? Why was Percy's life like this?

"Magnus?" Under any other circumstances, Magnus would have been equally confused and delighted why Alex sounded so concerned over him.

"The, Bronze, Dragon," he slowly drug out every word like he was trying to suck the water off of a rock. A very pointless and disgusting task.

"Whatever nice things were said about Hephaestus need to be revoked right now!" Percy agreed with every dreaded line on Magnus's face.

Nico made a little yeep noise as well, his first thought being Bianca leaping into that thing's mouth and making it do the chicken dance as well.

"Please let this be an adventure about you getting shrunk down and fighting an armadillo lizard*," Jason was the only one who sounded excited. Then Percy considered for a moment and even nodded like that could have some fun before Magnus read on in dread before anybody else got crazier ideas.

One dragon can ruin your whole day.

"One dragon can ruin someone's whole life Percy!" Magnus groaned. He begged of the following words to please be something like Peleus with a stomach ache! An actual, made-up bad dream? A very oddly themed birthday party for some kid not cursed by the universe?!

"Surely that's why I'm there, to make it go from one to the other," Percy offered with half-hearted hope of his own he just had to help a dragon egg hatch or something cute and innocent... like his life was ever that easy.

Trust me, as a demigod I've had my share of bad experiences. I've been snapped at, clawed at, blowtorched and poisoned. I've fought single-headed dragons, double-headed, eight-headed, nine-headed and the kind with so many heads that if you stopped to count them you'd be pretty much dead.

"Nobody was ever going to ask you to reminisce about the hydra Percy," Thalia sighed. Why couldn't that have been his worst dragon experience?

"Frankly all that just made me think to ask you, again, how are you alive?" Jason nodded.

"Luck and some mild skill," Percy reminded.

But that time with the bronze dragon? I thought for sure my friends and I were going to end up as Kibbles "n" Dragon Bits.

The evening started simply enough.

"It always does with you," Will nodded without surprise. He alone seemed to have a pretty good idea what this one was about, and aside from rubbing Nico's arm to help chase those shivers away he didn't want to spoil the fun for anyone.

It was the end of June.

"Oh," Percy said in surprise as he did a double take. "This happened, before that thing with Clarisse though! That explains the weird smell!"

Nobody else had a clue what he was talking about, they just all kind of assumed Clraisse smelled like motor oil.

I'd come back from my most recent quest about two weeks before, and life at Camp Half-Blood was returning to normal. Satyrs were chasing the dryads. Monsters howled in the woods. The campers were playing pranks on one another and our camp director, Dionysus, was turning anyone who misbehaved into a shrub. Typical summer-camp stuff.

Magnus stopped cold like he'd been the one turned into a shrub. Which was ridiculous, he didn't have a single leaf on him.

"He turns them back Magnus," Will shrugged.

Magnus counted to ten in his head before deciding against asking for further details.

After dinner, all the campers were hanging out at the dining pavilion. We were all excited because that evening capture the flag was going to be totally vicious.

The night before, Hephaestus's cabin had pulled off a huge upset. They'd captured the flag from Ares – with my help, thank you very much –

"Nobody was thanking you Percy," Thalia scoffed.

"Well maybe more people should," Percy tried to give her big pouty eyes, but it was ruined by everybody laughing to much and he couldn't begin to hold it.

which meant that the Ares cabin would be out for blood. Well... they're always out for blood, but this night especially.

On the blue team were Hephaestus's cabin, Apollo, Hermes and me – the only demigod in Poseidon's cabin. The bad news was that for once Athena and Ares – both war god cabins – were against us on the red team, along with Aphrodite, Dionysus and Demeter. Athena's cabin held the other flag and my friend Annabeth was their captain.

"I need politics and details stat!" Jason turned and pleaded to Percy like he was going to fall on his knees.

Will lit up, clearly all for going into the latest drama that had caused such shifts in dynamics to occur, but Thalia and Percy groaned in sync, quite loudly. Seems as if unless they were the ones running the teams they weren't going to happily sit around and play back who had pranked whom, what revenge was needed, and the height of impressing others.

Jason sighed but reluctantly gave in that could take hours just to get caught up on a week's worth, but gave Will a very obvious look as if book marking him for later.

Annabeth is not somebody you want as an enemy.

"Which is why Percy seems to make a life goal of it!" Alex chuckled with a very pointed gesture at him like they'd missed her target.

"I only aim for the best," Percy puffed his chest up with pride and swooped back his hair.

Thalia smacked him in the stomach, causing him to deflate and the gray strands of hair to fall back in place as she smirked, "in everything except grades."

Right before the game, she strolled up to me. "Hey, Seaweed Brain."

"Will you stop calling me that?"

"I didn't call you anything," Will said innocently.

Only Nico laughed while the others groaned even louder at the terrible pun. Though Magnus ignored them all with interest. That was, in fact, the first time he'd heard Percy wanted her to stop that, and as far as he could tell from the light-hearted smile on his face now and the passive eye-roll, Percy hardly meant it.

She knows I hate that name, mostly because I never have a good comeback.

"The worst atrocity I could name," Alex sighed.

"You should never be brought to a comedy show," Percy said with a hint of dread. She'd heckle anybody and get herself thrown out...though Percy wouldn't believe that wasn't her goal going in.

She's the daughter of Athena, which doesn't give me a lot of ammunition. I mean, "Owl-head" and "Wise Girl" are kind of lame insults.

"Lame but classics," Alex nodded contemplatively. "Surely you could get creative with all the world of nerd insults. Poindexter might suit her, or-"

"We are not going to sit around and make up insults about her, or her cabin," Thalia sighed.

"Just trying to keep the playing field even," Alex said, though raised her hands quickly in surrender.

"You know you love it." She bumped me with her shoulder, which I guess was supposed to be friendly, but she was wearing full Greek armour, so it kind of hurt.

"Both," Jason snorted.

"Definitely both," Percy agreed as he rubbed his shoulder with the biggest smile.

Her grey eyes sparkled under her helmet. Her blonde ponytail curled around one shoulder. It was hard for anyone to look cute in combat armour, but Annabeth pulled it off.

"Cute, huh?" Will's little laugh was so infectious even as he rolled his eyes hard. "How, on earth, Travis ever bet against me that you two would end up together I'll never know when you literally had these thoughts running through your brain."

"Why were there bets?!" Percy seemed to be missing the teasing part of that as he once again frowned at Will. "Where is this magical bulletin board?"

"Right next to the one with play tryout dates," he said saintly. "Up in the Big House, don't know how you've missed it."

Percy didn't seem able to close his mouth to properly get anything back and Magnus took pity on him and moved on before he'd have to.

"Tell you what." She lowered her voice. "We're going to crush you tonight, but if you pick a safe position... like right flank, for instance... I'll make sure you don't get pulverized too much."

"Retreat! Re-treat!" Jason enunciated very clearly. "This is a trap! Percy, please run for your life!" He said it in a pretty bad imitation of a robotic alarmed voice for some reason like a crappy fire drill.

Probably because it would have had as much effect on Percy then as it did now, who was to busy grinning at the challenge to hear a word.

"Gee, thanks," I said, "but I'm playing to win."

She smiled. "See you on the battlefield."

She jogged back to her teammates, who all laughed and gave her high fives. I'd never seen her so happy, like the chance to beat me up was the best thing that had ever happened to her.

"Percy is doomed," Thalia agreed casually. "Apparently even without fighting with me he can't avoid screwing up these games."

"I helped win the last one!" He spluttered, breaking out of his delusion of her hair escaping its helmet to glare at Thalia non-effectively. "You could have a little faith in me, I know her, her tricks!" He ended with a pretty sad stutter and crossed-eyed concern if this was a trick in a trick to make that any kind of believable.

Beckendorf walked up with his helmet under his arm. "She likes you, man."

"Sure," I muttered. "She likes me for target practice."

"Both," Jason said again with absolute confidence.

"Definitely both," Alex chuckled.

"I almost believed you that time," Percy sighed.

"Oh we're serious," Jason and Alex assured.

"Nah, they always do that. A girl starts trying to kill you, you know she's into you."

"What is this, playground rules?" Magnus sighed. He was no fool, he knew full well his cousin liked Percy back, but it was clearly complicated with her for several reasons and he assumed that's why she didn't act on it more. Who was this ding-dong, whose name he only vaguely recognized, trying to assure Percy of anything?

"Makes a lot of sense."

Beckendorf shrugged. "I know about these things. You ought to ask her to the fireworks."

Percy sighed. He'd really been wanting to talk to somebody about this back then, and Beckendorf seemed like the guy all of a sudden, but now that the moment was here...it felt like a waste of breath. What could he say Percy didn't already know?

I couldn't tell if he was serious. Beckendorf was lead counsellor for Hephaestus. He was this huge dude with a permanent scowl, muscles like a pro ballplayer, and hands calloused from working in the forges. He'd just turned eighteen and was on his way to NYU in the autumn. Since he was older, I usually listened to him about stuff, but the idea of asking Annabeth to the Fourth of July fireworks down at the beach – like, the biggest dating event of the summer – made my stomach do somersaults.

Then Silena Beauregard, the head counsellor for Aphrodite, passed by. Beckendorf had had a not-so-secret crush on her for three years. She had long black hair and big blue eyes, and when she walked the guys tended to watch. She said, "Good luck, Charlie." (Nobody ever calls Beckendorf by his first name.) She flashed him a brilliant smile and went to join Annabeth on the red team.

"I think she was beckoning to him," Alex said with a brilliant smile. Will and Nico both laughed hard at the pun while Jason and Magnus joined the groaning this time.

"Uh..." Beckendorf swallowed like he'd forgotten how to breathe.

I patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for the advice, dude. Glad you're so wise about girls and all. Come on. Let's get to the woods."

Percy laughed along loudest of all. Finally, somebody else's girl misshaps wasn't at his expense!

...it felt a tad forced in his throat for some reason though he didn't like. A nagging idea in the back of his mind that had sporadically been cropping up. Now here, thinking of the beach, talking to Silena, the thought tried so hard to crystalize into something- but the idea was gone as his stomach pitched in pain and his skin felt a great flush of heat. He knew that feeling, he knew better than to mess with a memory like that.

Naturally, Beckendorf and I took the most dangerous job.

"Naturally," Will repeated in a very posh, british voice.

"Because if we gave Will the most dangerous job he'd stop to sniff the oranges to much," Nico smirked.

"We all have our strengths," he agreed without batting an eye.

While the Apollo cabin played defence with their bows, the Hermes cabin would charge up the middle of the woods to distract the enemy. Meanwhile, Beckendorf and I would scout around the left flank, locate the enemy's flag, knock out the defenders and get the flag back to our side. Simple.

Why the left flank?

"Because Annabeth wanted me to go right," I told Beckendorf, "which means she doesn't want us to go left."

"Please tell me you at least considered a double cross? Then a triple cross. Then a quadruple cross-"

"Jason!" Percy groaned. "I'm well aware Annabeth's going to pull one over on me, but I had to pick a lane! I'm sure I threw off her whole plan by just showing up."

Jason just shook his head at him, but then, he also would have been interrogating Annabeth about every layer of her plan if she were here and refused to tell him, so Percy didn't feel that bad about stopping him from pitching every way he was going to be wrong.

Beckendorf nodded. "Let's suit up."

He'd been working on a secret weapon for the two of us – bronze chameleon armour, enchanted to blend into the background. If we stood in front of rocks, our breastplates, helms and shields turned grey. If we stood in front of bushes, the metal changed to a leafy green. It wasn't true invisibility, but we'd have pretty good cover, at least from a distance.

Alex threw her head back laughing. "Somebody got jealous of Annabeth's hat!

"Ooo," Thalia said with interest. "Where's mine?"

Percy had some half-baked remark about her doing extra chores for him to help get Beckendorf's favor, but he choked on the words and nothing really came out except some spit while Thalia patted him on the back with a troubled smile she tried hard to look real.

"This stuff took forever to forge," Beckendorf warned me. "Don't mess it up!"

"You got it, Captain."

Beckendorf grunted. I could tell he liked being called Captain.

Thalia was still listening with great interest, and clearly decided she had her own turn at co-captain with him stuck in her craw more than letting him dwell on why he kept pressing his thumb between his eyes.

"Oh sure, him you just conceded the throne to! I was born to be a righteous, mighty warrior to lead armies, but this guy you just hand the crown."

Percy's shaking hand fell, a teasing smile instantly back. "Try getting accepted into college Thals, then maybe I'll watch you run your own team right into the river."

They even started bartering back and forth about who would get which cabin before Magnus bravely cleared his throat and waved the book around before they realized Annabeth would have to pick a side. That was a blood bath waiting to happen.

The rest of the Hephaestus campers wished us well, and we sneaked off into the woods, immediately turning brown and green to match the trees.

We crossed the creek that served as the boundary between the teams. We heard fighting in the distance – swords clashing against shields. I glimpsed a flash of light from some magical weapon, but we saw no one.

"No border guards?" Beckendorf whispered. "Weird."

"Overconfident," I guessed. But I felt uneasy. Annabeth was a great strategist. It wasn't like her to be sloppy about defence, even if her team did outnumber us.

Jason was over there muttering, "trap, this is a trap," and even spelling it out under his breath repeatedly while Thalia was still smirking and muttering about Percy botching this up like he had to hers. Percy sighed again about what great faith his friends seemed to have in him, but at least the headache was staying at bay.

We moved into enemy territory. I knew we had to hurry, because our team was playing a defensive game, and that couldn't last forever. The Apollo kids would get over-run sooner or later. The Ares cabin wouldn't be slowed down by a little thing like arrows.

"What about trick arrows?" Alex asked with interest. "Tip them in all kinds of fun stuff, or attach any number of things to activate-"

"I think we should just ban Alex's desert privileges before she even gets there," Percy grinned.

"Take away my chocolate, dudette, see what happens," she smirked.

"That sounds like a Chiron problem," Percy shrugged, picking at the hem of his shirt without concern.

We crept along the base of an oak tree. I almost jumped out of my skin when a girl's face emerged from the trunk. "Shoo!" she said, then faded back into the bark.

"Dryads," Beckendorf grumbled. "So touchy."

"Am not!" a muffled voice said from the tree.

Magnus was pretty proud of himself for laughing along at the mild moment instead of, say, freaking out the tree's could decide to kill them all in their sleep. Again.

We kept moving. It was hard to tell exactly where we were. Some landmarks stood out, like the creek and certain cliffs and some really old trees, but the woods tended to shift around. I guess the nature spirits got restless. Paths changed. Trees moved.

"They what?" Magnus yelped like his tail was on fire. "They just, move their whole tree, and roots, and plant them, and, they what?"

"It's pretty funny to watch, they just hike their leaf skirts up and their branches get top heavy sometimes so they-"

Thalia finally smacked Percy to get him to stop while the others couldn't stop snickering at the look of miserable acceptance on Magnus's face when he couldn't decide if Percy was telling the truth, or worse, nobody had any clue how or why the dryads did that and it was just another level of crazy.

Then suddenly we were at the edge of a clearing. I knew we were in trouble when I saw the mountain of dirt.

"A child of the ocean's worst enemy," Thalia snorted. "Take notes Nico."

"I've never tried just throwing soil around," he admitted with a smile that didn't mean he wouldn't be willing.

Percy narrowed his eyes contemplatively who would beat whom, earth-shaker versus child of the Underworld. He'd just have to challenge him to a digging competition to prove it later.

"Holy Hephaestus," Beckendorf whispered. "The Ant Hill."

"Do you all take your parent's names in vain?" Jason startled in surprise.

"Well it would just be weird if he said Holy Aphrodite, now wouldn't it," Percy shrugged.

"So who should Jason pray to? Merlin's Mankini," Alex smirked.

"If I've ever dabbled in witchcraft Alex, I would use whatever spell I could to burn that image from my mind," Jason sighed.

I wanted to back up and run. I'd never seen the Ant Hill before,

Why is Ant Hill capitalized, Magnus let the stray thought flit through his mind without interrupting to point it out. He just wanted a few more seconds of delusional peace this was just a sacred place and they were in awe of all its nonlethal help.

but I'd heard stories from the older campers. The mound rose almost to the treetops – four storeys at least. Its sides were riddled with tunnels, and crawling in and out were thousands of...

"Myrmekes," I muttered.

"Oh this is bad," Jason already realized. Percy never remembered the name of a monster otherwise.

That's Ancient Greek for "ants", but these things were way more than that. They would've given any exterminator a heart attack.

"Me too," Magnus promised with an opener like that.

The Myrmekes were the size of German shepherds. Their armoured shells glistened blood-red. Their eyes were beady black and their razor-sharp mandibles sliced and snapped. Some carried tree branches. Some carried chunks of raw meat that I really didn't want to know about. Most carried bits of metal – old armour, swords, food platters that had somehow found their way out here from the dining pavilion. One ant was dragging the glossy black hood of a sports car.

Magnus face planted the pages and groaned with misery. He'd been expecting a dragon, he'd been trying to mentally prepare himself for scaly beasts that could eat them! Now there were two, or more likely two thousand more deadly things running around! Why was Percy's life like this?!

"Now those are the kind of bugs that can take over the world, survive the apocalypse and become our new lords of the land," Alex grinned with wild delight, wondering if she could turn into something metal.

"They have to work on their infrastructure before I'd consider it," Percy said, resisting the urge to plug his nose through memory.

"They love shiny metal," Beckendorf whispered. "Especially gold. I've heard they have more gold in their nest than Fort Knox." He sounded envious.

"Don't even think about it," I said.

"Now that's a roll reversal if I've ever heard one," Nico chuckled in surprise. His stomach was pitching in disgust at the idea of mounds of treasure, he could all to easily picture Bianca in there picking up a hair pin and his old figurine again...so it was much more fun to imagine Beckendorf holding Percy's straps back at the idea of these things getting their jaws on a gold skateboard.

"I was not one of those weird kids who tried to drown and burn ant hills," Percy sniffed.

"Dude, I won't," he promised. "Let's get out of here while we..."

His eyes widened.

Fifteen metres*50 feet away, two ants were struggling to drag a big hunk of metal towards their nest. It was the size of a refrigerator, all glittery gold and bronze, with weird bumps and ridges down the side and a bunch of wires sticking out the bottom. Then the ants rolled the thing over, and I saw a face.

Magnus was about one word away from throwing this book in that trashcan that vanished things to nowhere. He'd give Percy better memories, he'd make up ones that didn't involve...all of this.

I just about jumped out of my skin. "That's a –"

"Shhh!" Beckendorf pulled me back into the bushes.

"But that's a –"

"Dragon's head," he said in awe. "Yes. I see it."

"So it's only his head," Magnus sighed in relief, the book's saving grace. "I can live with that."

"Right, buddy, you keep thinking that," Will muttered low enough Magnus only squinted suspiciously at him. What on earth made the poor guy think the rest of the body wouldn't come with the head?

The snout was as long as my body. The mouth hung open, showing metal teeth like a shark's. Its skin was a combination of gold and bronze scales, and its eyes were rubies as big as my fists. The head looked like it had been hacked from its body – chewed by ant mandibles. The wires were frayed and tangled.

"Robot dragon," Magnus sighed, trying to decide if that made this horror better or worse. On one hand he could imagine Tyson punching it in the face a little easier. On the other...robot dragon!

"I bet Percy sticks his head in that and tries to scare Annabeth," Alex snickered.

"I'm worried where the rest of the body is," Jason frowned how a camp had a whole dragon buried somewhere in there and what else was just under their feet.

"Hey, I just realized," Magnus looked a little extra miserable now for some reason. "Where's Tyson? I'd feel better with a fire-breathing machine around if he was."

"He went back to the Cyclops forges the week before," Percy said reluctantly. "Trust me, I was missing him right about then too."

The head must've been heavy, too, because the ants were struggling, moving it only a few centimetres with every tug.

"If they get it to the hill," Beckendorf said, "the other ants will help them. We've got to stop them."

"I take it back," Nico said with a puzzled frown. "Everybody at your camp is just nuts."

"So glad to not be the exception for once," Percy nodded his agreement.

"What?" I asked. "Why?"

"It's a sign from Hephaestus. Come on!"

Magnus dropped the book in his lap and pressed his hands to his ears. "I never want to hear of another sign from your parents!"

"This is a good one," Will tried to soothe, though his voice hitching a bit gave away the lie, so he finished, "eventually."

Magnus gave him a baleful look and wondered how many people the robot dragon killed just by stepping on them before that eventually happened. There really was just no point arguing though he should skip to that, Percy's reaction was probably going to be worse than whatever the dragon did.

I didn't know what he was talking about, but I'd never seen Beckendorf look so determined. He sprinted along the edge of the clearing, his armour blending into the trees.

I was about to follow when something sharp and cold pressed against my neck.

"Surprise," Annabeth said, right next me. She must've had her magic Yankees cap on because she was totally invisible.

"I guess that makes sense," Jason chuckled. "She'd know better than to take her eyes off of you."

"She just wanted to jack that armor for herself," Alex smirked.

"She doesn't need it," Magnus said blankly.

"But I'm sure she has a whole speech ready about Percy stealing her thing," Alex insisted.

I tried to move, but she dug her knife under my chin.

"You've been held at knifepoint enough in your life," Nico shook his head, "I think I'm with Alex, she's just jealous she never got her turn at that too."

"I'm sure Annabeth has a list somewhere of what she wants revenge on Percy for and this was just a convenient outlet," Will chuckled.

Silena appeared out of the woods, her sword drawn. Her Aphrodite armour was pink and red, colour coordinated to match her clothes and makeup. She looked like Guerilla Warfare Barbie.

Thalia laughed way to hard at that one, but she'd been making Barbie jokes about that cabin for years and was probably just mad and appreciative of Percy getting to that one first.

"Nice work," she told Annabeth.

An invisible hand confiscated my sword. Annabeth took off her cap and appeared before me, smiling smugly. "Boys are easy to follow. They make more noise than a lovesick Minotaur."

Magnus looked newly traumatized at that sentence. "Who, who would he be lovesick after?"

"Geryon probably, he's the only monster with enough heart and a love of cattle," Alex said slyly.

Most of the others didn't seem to know whether to laugh or gag at that input and Magnus decided to read around her for it.

My face felt hot. I tried to think back, hoping I hadn't said anything embarrassing.

"You did not actually," Jason said helpfully, for once. "Though I'm sure it's just a matter of time."

There it was.

No telling how long Annabeth and Silena had been eavesdropping.

"You're our prisoner," Annabeth announced. "Let's get Beckendorf and –"

"Beckendorf!" For a split second I'd forgotten about him, but he was still forging ahead –

"Right towards the deadly ants," Will sighed.

"Annabeth truly will block out any other thought," Nico sounded grudgingly impressed.

straight towards the dragon's head. He was already twelve metres *40 feet away. He hadn't noticed the girls, or the fact that I wasn't behind him.

"Not the, greatest backup," Jason frowned.

"Credit for determination," Thalia shrugged.

"I bet he invents something that forces people to eat his dust," Alex chuckled.

"Come on!" I told Annabeth.

She pulled me back. "Where do you think you're going, prisoner?"

"I imagine her dragging you all the way back to Alcatraz and throwing you in the cell Braries used to be in just to prove her point," Magnus admitted.

"Labyrinth or no Labyrinth," Percy agreed.

"Look!"

She peered into the clearing and for the first time seemed to realize where we were. "Oh, Zeus..."

Beckendorf leaped into the open and struck one of the ants. His sword clanged off the thing's carapace. The ant turned, snapping its pincers. Before I could even call out, the ant bit Beckendorf's leg, and he crumpled to the ground. The second ant sprayed goo in his face, and Beckendorf screamed. He dropped his sword and slapped wildly at his eyes.

The collective shudder that went around the room may have knocked a few more support beams off their hinges. That went from zero to a hundred real quick from a friendly game to a death sentence. If this kid died, or even was maimed from these horrible injuries Percy was going to take that very personally...

I surged forward, but Annabeth pulled me back. "No."

"Charlie!" Silena yelled.

"Don't!" Annabeth hissed. "It's already too late!"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded. "We have to –"

Then I noticed more ants swarming towards Beckendorf – ten, twenty. They grabbed him by the armour and dragged him towards the hill so fast he was swept into a tunnel and disappeared.

Magnus was left sitting there shivering for several moments at the brutality of that. Bianca's and Zeo's deaths had been blunt, but not so much an out of the blue considering who they'd been fighting and the quests they'd been on. They didn't even know this guy, and it had just shot out of nowhere, like all those shrouds at camp were still waiting to float up.

"No!" Silena pushed Annabeth. "You let them take Charlie!"

Jason took an uneasy breath, trying to keep well off his face he wasn't sure how to take that. She'd saved Percy and Silena's life by doing so, but the cost felt ruthless.

"There's no time to argue," Annabeth said. "Come on!"

I thought she was going to lead us on a charge to save Beckendorf, but instead she raced to the dragon's head, which the ants had momentarily forgotten. She grabbed it by the wires and started dragging it towards the woods.

Percy's mouth was a fantastic showing of his feelings for that. She had never once shown an inclination for stuff over somebody's life, she hadn't even blinked at throwing Deadlus's wings away, she was as much a figurehead in that camp as him for kids to look up to. He'd follow her lead, but not exactly without hesitation when she was going to be crazier than an automaton about it.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. "Beckendorf –"

"Help me," Annabeth grunted. "Quick, before they get back."

"Oh, my gods!" Silena said. "You're more worried about this hunk of metal than Charlie?"

"Did that sign from Hephaestus involve some part of saying a child of Athena would become addicted to dragon heads?" Magnus asked in absolute concern for her mental health.

"You'd be lucky if a sign from a god had a message that clear," Thalia scoffed.

Annabeth spun around and shook her by the shoulders. "Listen, Silena! Those are Myrmekes. They're like fire ants, only a hundred times worse. Their bite is poison. They spray acid. They communicate with all the other ants and swarm over anything that threatens them.

"I liked my world better when I didn't know all of that," Magnus huffed, doing a poor job of ignoring Alex grinning in fascination and studying her hands like she was already imagining them with feelers.

If we'd rushed in there to help Beckendorf, we would have been dragged inside, too. We're going to need help – a lot of help – to get him back. Now, grab some wires and pull!"

Will watched as Percy clenched his hands and prepared to do as asked. He'd been about to follow Beckendorf without a clue. As much as everyone at Camp considered him a leader, it was really they all followed Percy's lead. Annabeth keeping Silena's head on was something to be proud of, Percy was the camp's beacon of who to shine the light on.

I didn't know what Annabeth was up to, but I'd adventured with her long enough to figure she had a good reason for what she was doing. The three of us tugged the metal dragon's head into the woods. Annabeth didn't let us stop until we were fifty meters* 55 yards from the clearing.

Magnus whistled in appreciation. "You drug that thing half a football field!"

"Almost a full blue whale," Alex grinned.

"At minimum as long as these books are laid out," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"It felt as long as the Jersy Turnpike," Percy groaned as he rotated his shoulder in vivid memory.

Then we collapsed, sweating and breathing hard.

Silena started to cry. "He's probably dead already."

"No," Annabeth said. "They won't kill him right away. We've got about half an hour."

"How do you know that?" I asked.

"Is she an entomologist too?" Jason sighed with envy.

"She's a Greek-ologist," Percy reminded with pride.

"I've read about the Myrmekes. They paralyse their prey so they can soften them up before –"

Silena sobbed. "We have to save him!"

"What Silena's siblings are probably thinking of her being in Annabeth's company for to long," Nico muttered. That girl didn't have an ounce of tact...and he was kind of annoyed he probably would have gone into details of their eating habits too without realizing that wasn't helping.

"Silena," Annabeth said. "We're going to save him, but I need you to get a grip. There is a way."

"Call the other campers," I said, "or Chiron. Chiron will know what to do."

"I don't think an exterminator has enough bug spray for this problem, let alone him," Magnus shivered.

"Where's a monster ant eater when you need one," Jason agreed.

"Why would you want Echidna back right now?" Will looked at him strangely.

Annabeth shook her head. "They're scattered all over the woods. By the time we got everyone back here, it would be too late. Besides, the entire camp wouldn't be strong enough to invade the Ant Hill."

"Then why is it there?!" Magnus cried in exasperation, he looked very near tears. "I demand an explanation why you and your entire nutjob of a family feel the need to have this in your backyard!"

"Lots of monsters got in before Thalia's tree was blessed," Will shrugged, completely unphased by his minor tantrum. "As you just read, we can't exactly kick them all out even if there was a reason to."

Magnus sighed and muttered an apology, reminding himself there was just no point in arguing any of this.

"Then what?"

Annabeth pointed at the dragon's head.

"Okay," I said. "You're going to scare the ants with a big metal puppet?"

"Annabeth does love taking part in our play, she's nearly always the star," Will snickered.

Percy gave him a long-suffering sigh. He was not going to strangle Will, he promised himself. He was just having fun, that was overkill, he would not strangle this idiot because of a joke...

"It's an automaton," she said.

That didn't make me feel any better. Automatons were magical bronze robots made by Hephaestus. Most of them were crazed killing machines, and those were the nice ones.

"What does that make Daedalus?" Alex mock whispered.

"The best of the worst," Percy snorted.

"So what?" I said. "It's just a head. It's broken."

"And sadly, I think the mermaids realize that, considering they dragged it there," Magnus sighed.

"Myermeks," Thalia corrected.

"Not if they're going to kidnap people back to their lair and drown them in acid they're not," Magnus sniffed.

"Percy, this isn't just any automaton," Annabeth said. "It's the bronze dragon. Haven't you heard the stories?"

I stared at her blankly.

"How to sum up these books in one sentence," Nico smirked.

Annabeth had been at camp a lot longer than I had. She probably knew tons of stories I didn't.

"Percy, you really don't have to keep repeating yourself," Jason shook his head.

"We just assume Annabeth knows every story ever, she's read every book and probably sleeps on a throne of them," Magnus rolled his eyes.

"I bet her favorite is probably still something mundane, like Star Wars," Alex said with a little wrist wave.

"Star Wars has a book?" Percy asked blankly.

"Would you guys stop trying to confuse the poor guy," Thalia said with a tragic expression as she moved to cover his ears, "you're crumbling his entire worldview!"

Percy smacked her away and called them all clowns and a few other choice words.

Silena's eyes widened. "You mean the old guardian? But that's just a legend!"

"Whoa," I said. "What old guardian?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "Percy, in the days before Thalia's tree – back before the camp had magical boundaries to keep out monsters – the counsellors tried all sorts of different ways to protect themselves. The most famous was the bronze dragon. The Hephaestus cabin made it with the blessing of their father. Supposedly it was so fierce and powerful that it kept the camp safe for over a decade. And then... about fifteen years ago, it disappeared into the woods."

"Ooooh," Nico said in surprise. "Beckendorf's reaction actually does make sense now."

"Better than some other ancient prophecy about the end of the world," Percy agreed.

"And you think this is its head?"

"It has to be! The Myrmekes probably dug it up while they were looking for precious metal. They couldn't move the whole thing, so they chewed off the head. The body can't be far away."

"But they chewed it apart. It's useless."

"Not to mention, um, why did its batteries run out?" Magnus frowned. What did these things even run on? He'd never thought to ask.

"I'm pretty sure Annabeth could make a toadstool useful," Percy reminded.

"Not necessarily." Annabeth's eyes narrowed, and I could tell her brain was working overtime. "We could reassemble it. If we could activate it –"

"It could help us rescue Charlie!" Silena said.

"Hold up," I said. "That's a lot of ifs. If we find it, if we can reactivate it in time, if it will help us.

"I'm surprised that has you pausing," Thalia said. "Your life is a big series of what if's."

"What if I die, what if I die, what if I die?" Jason repeated, throwing up a finger for each.

"The day I stop worrying about that is the day I get cursed with immortality," Percy reminded with nothing but dread.

You said this thing disappeared fifteen years ago?"

Annabeth nodded. "Some say its motor wore out so it went into the woods to deactivate itself. Or its programming went haywire. No one knows."

"Do they hibernate?" Alex grinned. "Did it go off looking for a mate? Maybe he wanted to go on a better adventure where some poor farm boy finds him and saves the world."

"I need you to keep your ideas far away from Cabin 9," Will frowned at her. "If they make these things any more realistic, I will cry right along with Magnus."

"I'm just trying to foster encouragement and creativity," but Alex batted her eyes in a purely menacing way, a clearly deep want to have a robot dragon that she could ride into battle and slay the entire planet.

"You want to reassemble a haywire metal dragon?"

"I want Annabeth to have normal hopes and dreams," Percy sighed.

"Sorry Perce, wanting to date you doesn't fall on that list," Jason smirked.

Percy considered for a moment if the trade would still be worth it for his bladder's sake, but he didn't get the chance to linger on it.

"We have to try!" Annabeth said. "It's Beckendorf's only hope! Besides, this could be a sign from Hephaestus. The dragon should want to help one of Hephaestus's kids. Beckendorf would want us to try."

"Never have I yet heard being related to any of this stuff has made it more friendly! With the exception of Tyson!" Magnus balked.

"Exactly, I think some of the other kids are due for some," Thalia shrugged.

I didn't like the idea. On the other hand, I didn't have any better suggestions. We were running out of time, and Silena looked like she was about to go into shock if we didn't do something soon.

Will had a very unpleasant bubbling feeling in the pit of his gut. Wondering at Silena's decisions, if she'd been considering calling Luke for help in some deluded idea. He'd gotten a first hand look at the kind of despair that had been on her face for days and had no wish to keep thinking on all this in the slightest, but it's not like he could boot her out of Percy's memories.

Beckendorf had said something about a sign from Hephaestus. Maybe it was time to find out.

"All right," I said. "Let's go find a headless dragon."

"Maybe if you don't attach his head back he'd be less scary?" Magnus sighed.

"I hope they name him Reid!" Alex grinned.

We searched forever, or maybe it just seemed that way, because the whole time, I was imagining Beckendorf in the Ant Hill, scared and paralysed, while a bunch of armoured critters scuttled around him, waiting for him to be tenderized.

"To bad you can't start a bucket brigade from the kitchens," Jason frowned, "dish soap and lava would probably clear this problem up easier."

"We'll call that plan B," Percy shivered, well aware they only had one chance at plan A for Beckendorf to live...and there was a really horrible feeling deep inside him that made him worry if he even did...

It wasn't hard to follow the ants' trail. They'd dragged the dragon's head through the forest, making a deep rut in the mud, and we dragged the head right back the way they'd come.

"Talk about going around in circles," Percy sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck, "this head's doing full 360's."

"And somehow still making more progress than you on your capture the flag game," Jason muttered, well aware that wasn't on anyone's radar right now, but a part of his mind that never stopped working regardless.

We must've gone five hundred meters* over 500 yards – and I was getting worried about the time – when Annabeth said, "Di immortales."

We'd come to the rim of a crater – like something had blasted a house-size hole in the forest floor. The sides were slippery and dotted with tree roots. Ant tracks led to the bottom, where a large metal mound glinted through the dirt. Wires stuck up from a bronze stump on one end.

"You just know that thing would have some crazy rumors about it if you didn't know what it was," Alex chuckled. "Zues's wifi hotspot, tree that used to house a magic tree house that went evil, flying fish spawn from there."

"I am convinced you are the child of whatever god of stories is out there," Thalia shook her head in pure endearment of her.

"And I love it!" She threw her arms wide and smacked Magnus in the face while the others got a mild laugh from her antics.

"The dragon's neck," I said. "You think the ants made this crater?"

"Ant's are great at excavating their own mounds, but how well do they dig up stuff?" Magnus agreed in surprise that sounded kind of deep in the earth for them to have just found.

"Annabeth would know," Percy frowned he had no clue what was really going on, as usual.

Annabeth shook her head. "Looks more like a meteor blast..."

"Though now I am absolutely over here wondering if Hepeahsuts's big sign was his recreation of the dinosaur event or something," Nico grumbled if he'd thrown a meteor to take this thing out and his kids were just uncovering the remains.

"Hephaestus," Silena said. "The god must've unearthed this. Hephaestus wanted us to find the dragon. He wanted Charlie to..." She choked up.

Jason winced, that didn't seem very in line with these gods he'd heard of. Heaphusts hadn't even flinched when told the camp might be overrun, but he wasn't going to argue the point with anyone right now.

"Come on," I said. "Let's reconnect this bad boy."

Getting the dragon's head to the bottom was easy. It tumbled right down the slope and hit the neck with a loud, metallic BONK!

"I wonder if he enjoyed the ride," Thalia chuckled.

"That had to have been better than getting dragged away from his body," Will nodded, while Percy shivered at the idea of this thing being awake while all that happened.

Reconnecting it was harder.

We had no tools and no experience.

Annabeth fiddled with the wires and cursed in Ancient Greek. "We need Beckendorf. He could do this in seconds."

Alex took a deep breath before saying, "The man who built it doesn't want it, the man who bought it doesn't need it, the man who needs it doesn't know it."

"Are you seriously invoking the freaking sphinx right now?" Percy groaned. "One monster at a time isn't enough?"

"Oh, I know!" Jason waved his hand.

"Poor timing Alex," Magnus agreed while Jason was still glaring at Alex with his hand raised.

"I just thought it particularly appropriate right now," Alex said with the whole hope it didn't actually come true. "And since when do you need permission to talk around here Jason?" She shot at him in exasperation.

"The answer's kind of morbid, just making sure I should," he finally lowered his hand with a shrug.

"No morbid jokes until after the person is rescued," Thalia said swiftly as Percy started looking a little gray around the edges again the longer this dragged on.

"Isn't your mom the goddess of inventors?" I asked.

Annabeth glared at me. "Yes, but this is different. I'm good with ideas. Not mechanics."

"There's an I in both of those words though, so I'm kind of surprised to hear that," Jason chuckled.

"Annabeth's never claimed to be a solo act," Magnus reminded with a hopeful smile. "Even from Percy's first quest she knew she needed someone to get her out of camp rather than trying to go it alone."

Percy grinned with delight at that nugget while Jason nodded his agreement in mild apology.

"If I was going to pick one person in the world to reattach my head," I said, "I'd pick you."

I just blurted it out – to give her confidence, I guess – but immediately I realized it sounded pretty stupid.

"Well at least you finally realize the stupid shit that comes out of your mouth," Thalia chuckled. "Progress."

"Will it stop him from doing it? No," Nico smirked.

"Stop me from doing what?" Will asked innocently.

"Stop encouraging him Nico! You did that on purpose!" Percy groaned in protest to every word of this. Nico was to busy snickering to even pretend otherwise, and it was so far removed from the depressed little kid Percy only had memories of he didn't have the heart to act on that strangling threat again.

"Awww..." Silena sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Percy, that is so sweet!"

"Was it?" Nico asked blankly. Well crud, he clearly had no idea how to flirt.

"Annabeth wasn't impressed, so it's anyone's guess," Percy sighed, a slight blush still on his cheeks.

Annabeth blushed. "Shut up, Silena. Hand me your dagger."

I was afraid Annabeth was going to stab me with it.

Causing very unfair laughter around the room while Percy hung his head. He already had no clue what was going on, did he need a live audience for it?

"Does she kiss you again?" Alex asked eagerly, leaning on the edge of her seat.

"Then we'd have to call her out on bad timing," Magnus shook his head. "Beckendorf's about to die, not him."

Percy was rubbing his lip with a mosh pit of butterflies in his stomach, he couldn't make himself speak or they'd all come out. It's not like he was opposed to the idea, though that was ten times more morbid than even Alex could probably ever be if it was some odd new tradition like holding his hand underground was...

Instead she used it as a screwdriver to open a panel in the dragon's neck. "Here goes nothing," she said.

And she started to splice together the celestial bronze wires.

It took a long time. Too long.

I figured capture the flag had to be over by now. I wondered how soon the other campers would realize we were missing and come looking for us. If Annabeth's calculations were correct (and they always were), Beckendorf probably had five or ten minutes left before the ants got him.

"I trust Percy's internal clock pretty accurately too," Thalia shivered for that poor guy, even knowing the other Huntresses would consider her a traitor for doing it. "He always gets to the microwave right before it goes off."

"The one thing I've never managed to explode, it was to vital to my life," Percy agreed.

Finally Annabeth stood up and exhaled. Her hands were scraped and muddy. Her fingernails were wrecked. She had a brown streak across her forehead where the dragon had decided to spit grease at her.

Percy's fingers curled tight around his camp necklace to try and hide the fact his heart skipped a beat. How was it possible the worse she looked the more he couldn't look away?

"All right," she said. "It's done, I think..."

"You think?" Silena asked.

"It has to be done," I said. "We're out of time. How do you, uh, start it?

Alex frowned and paused and sighed. She knew she shouldn't get offended at them calling the dragon an it, but she'd have preferred if they just kept referring to the creature as the dragon, or even used they, them pronouns. This was a machine though, and she didn't want to start picking fights about that kind of topic right now.

Is there an ignition switch or something?"

"I really hope nobody left the key in their pocket, we don't have time to find out where the hotwire is," Nico frowned.

Annabeth pointed to its ruby eyes. "Those turn clockwise. I'm guessing we rotate them."

"Are we sure she doesn't have a manual shoved up her sleeve somewhere," Jason looked fascinated how she'd found that out from some wiring and was probably going to be picking up a new hobby soon...hopefully not specifically of the metal dragon variety.

"If somebody twisted my eyeballs, I'd wake up," I agreed.

"Good to know," Thalia nodded to Percy's eyeballs great concern. "My next course of action was to start cutting out teeth if you didn't soon."

"I wake at the drop of a hat," Percy tried to defend.

"When your life's in danger," she completely agreed while Percy looked pleadingly at the ceiling.

"What if it goes crazy on us?"

"Then... we're dead," Annabeth said.

"I always admire her confidence!" Will burst out laughing.

"Yeah, because you've never been on the receiving end of it," Nico muttered.

"Great," I said. "I'm psyched."

"Psyched as an ADHD kid in a filing cabinet," Thalia snickered.

Together we turned the ruby eyes of the dragon. Immediately they began to glow. Annabeth and I backed up so fast we fell over each other.

"Awww, the first thing it sees is what we all put together in the first five seconds too," Alex said with a posh wave of her hand. "So sweet of you guys not to leave him out!"

"You're lucky that dragon's probably color blind Alex, or you'd be his dessert," Percy rolled his eyes.

The dragon's mouth opened, as if it were testing its jaw. The head turned and looked at us. Steam poured from its ears and it tried to rise.

When it found it couldn't move, the dragon seemed confused. It cocked its head and regarded the dirt. Finally, it realized it was buried. The neck strained once, twice... and the centre of the crater erupted.

The dragon pulled itself awkwardly out of the ground, shaking clumps of mud from its body the way a dog might, splattering us from head to toe.

Percy had gotten some in his mouth and he spat nothing out in here in disgust. Silena had looked more like Mud Bath Barbie, and Annabeth seemed to have gone brunette there for a strange moment she was so caked down.

It was, by far, the least important thing to be happening in this memory, but struck Percy as strange all the same why he couldn't get the idea out of his head.

The automaton was so awesome, none of us could speak. I mean, sure it needed a trip through the car wash,

"Which Percy has ample practice in," Jason chuckled.

"I still might need a few test runs to make sure I get the settings right," Percy gave him an obvious look. "Are you volunteering?"

"Only if you promise no flesh eating horses or robot dragons are in there at the same time," he sighed because he knew he wasn't getting out of it now.

and there were a few loose wires sticking out here and there, but the dragon's body was amazing – like a high-tech tank with legs. Its sides were plated with bronze and gold scales, encrusted with gemstones. Its legs were the size of tree trunks and its feet had steel talons. It had no wings – most Greek dragons don't – but its tail was at least as long as its main body, which was the size of a school bus. The neck creaked and popped as it turned its head to the sky and blew a column of triumphant fire.

The longer the description dragged on the quieter Magnus's voice got, until he was sunk far enough back into his seat it looked like it was eating him and he was whispering.

Alex sighed and had no other clue how to get him out of this silly funk, it's not as if a dragon was going to appear in here. So she leaned very close to his ear, he didn't even notice as his eyes never left the page, and casually said, "boo."

Magnus startled, fell out of his chair still hugging the book to his chest, and then lay across Alex's feet for several moments glaring up at her before raising the book to hide her face and continuing to read in a normal volume like nothing had happened.

"Well..." I said in a small voice. "It still works."

"Thank you Percy!" Magnus jabbed at him, letting the book fall against his nose for a moment without care.

"Here to help man," Percy nodded, studying him in concern what they were supposed to do if Alex stepped on his face.

Unfortunately, it heard me. Those ruby eyes zeroed in on me, and it stuck its snout five centimetres* an inch from my face.

Magnus shivered from head to toe, probably causing a new crack in the floor where he lay. He was likely to curl up into the fetal position in moments, and Percy couldn't blame him as he gagged on the remembered smell of gasoline and tabasco filling his nose and the pitiless hunger in those ruby sockets.

Instinctively, I reached for my sword.

"Dragon, stop!" Silena yelled. I was amazed her voice still worked. She spoke with such command that the automaton turned its attention to her.

Silena swallowed nervously. "We've woken you to defend the camp. You remember? That is your job!"

The dragon tilted its head as if it were thinking. I figured Silena had about a fifty-fifty chance of getting blasted with fire.

"The other half is getting her head ripped off like a real Barbie," Thalia informed in case they'd missed that.

"Nah, she's got this," Will grinned. There was a lingering sadness to his smile nobody else understood, but he had full knowledge she could lead anyone into battle, even a dragon.

I was considering jumping on the thing's neck to distract it

"Percy!" Thalia smacked him upside the head. "Why, in the gods names, is that, your, first, thought?" She started smacking him repeatedly on the arm.

"Because I'm pretty sure it would work," Percy shrugged, watching in mild fascination as it seemed to hurt her hand more than he felt it the longer she kept going.

when Silena said, "Charles Beckendorf, a son of Hephaestus, is in trouble. The Myrmekes have taken him. He needs your help."

At the word Hephaestus the dragon's neck straightened. A shiver rippled through its metal body, throwing a new shower of mud clods all over us.

The dragon looked around as if trying to find an enemy.

"We have to show it," Annabeth said. "Come on, dragon! This way to the son of Hephaestus! Follow us!"

Just like that, she drew her sword, and the three of us climbed out of the pit.

"For Hephaestus!" Annabeth yelled, which was a nice touch. We charged through the woods. When I looked behind us, the bronze dragon was right on our tail, its red eyes glowing and steam coming out its nostrils.

It was a good incentive to keep running fast as we headed for the Ant Hill.

Magnus's voice was pitching in and out like bad reception now, ignoring the glitter of Alex's toenails in the corner of his eye easily enough as he still wasn't as convinced as Percy seemed to be that dragon probably wasn't so much as following them but chasing them.

When we got to the clearing, the dragon seemed to catch Beckendorf's scent. It barrelled ahead of us, and we had to jump out of its way to avoid getting flattened. It crashed through the trees, joints creaking, feet pounding craters into the ground.

It charged straight for the Ant Hill. At first, the Myrmekes didn't know what was happening. The dragon stepped on a few of them, smashing them to bug juice.

"Good dragon," Alex crooned.

Then their telepathic network seemed to light up, like: Big dragon. Bad!

"Somebody get me a magnifying glass!" She yelped.

"Alex, it was dark out when this was happening," Nico reminded.

"I can use the moonbeams, I'll get creative," she promised.

Nobody was really sure how that was going to start or end, and they were kind of scared to ask. Magnus, however, finally sat up and leaned against his seat now that at least the dragon's focus wasn't on Annabeth and Percy anymore.

All the ants in the clearing turned simultaneously and swarmed over the dragon. More ants poured out of the hill – hundreds of them. The dragon blew fire and sent a whole column of them into a panicked retreat. Who knew ants were flammable?

"Every psychopath I've ever met," Magnus scoffed.

"Guess you meet more interesting people than I do Magnus, and that's saying a lot," Percy said with a raised brow. The place had been lit up like a bonfire in seconds, how the rest of camp hadn't come running was an honest mystery.

But more kept coming.

"Inside, now!" Annabeth told us. "While they're focused on the dragon!"

Silena led the charge; it was the first time I'd ever followed a child of Aphrodite into battle.

A hiss of pain fell from Percy's lips this wouldn't be the last, but though he rubbed his temple he was almost smiling at the bad feeling too. It was kind of cool to realize in the moment this was Silena coming into her own, getting a chance to realize a memory was so awesome the first time doubled.

We ran past the ants, but they ignored us. For some reason they seemed to consider the dragon a bigger threat. Go figure.

"Their mistake," Jason scoffed.

"I'm not arguing the point," Percy rolled his eyes.

"Because you're an idiot," Thalia chuckled with nothing but affection.

We plunged into the nearest tunnel and I almost gagged from the stench. Nothing, I mean nothing, stinks worse than a giant ant lair. I could tell they let their food rot before eating it. Somebody seriously needed to teach them about refrigerators.

"Would Chiron and Mr. D be okay with them piggy backing off their electric bill though?" Nico smirked. "I already don't think they're holding up their share of the rent."

"It smelt worse than Smelly Gabe," Percy insisted. "I would donate- okay, I don't even get an allowance there, but if this is a recurring problem I'd flip the breaker switch or something!" He smiled at the others getting a laugh out of this while he fought the urge to gag. He was happy for them, truly, they only had to hear about this and not live it...though it only made him miss Annabeth more every word she'd be plugging her nose same as him.

Our journey inside was a blur of dark tunnels and mouldy rooms carpeted with old ant shells and pools of goo. Ants surged past us on their way to battle, but we just stepped aside and let them pass.

"To bad they're not all storming out to argue which is better, Antz or Bugs Life," Alex sighed.

"I'm sure they'll go back to their clubs and debats as soon as their home isn't under attack and the kiddos are full of goo," Nico said with her level of chipper, which was kind of starting to concern Percy. He hadn't sounded depressed in hours.

The faint bronze glow of my sword gave us light as we made our way deeper into the nest.

"Look!" Annabeth said.

I glanced into a side room, and my heart skipped a beat. Hanging from the ceiling were huge, gooey sacks – ant larvae, I guess – but that's not what got my attention. The cave floor was heaped with gold coins, gems and other treasures – helmets, swords, musical instruments, jewellery. They glowed the way magic items do.

"That's just one room," Annabeth said. "There are probably hundreds of nurseries down here, decorated with treasure."

"That's kind of cute," Magnus grudgingly admitted, all of his long, messy blonde hair still mostly on one side he was ignoring and reading through. "I wonder if they burst out and pick a favorite toy or something."

Alex resisted the urge to run her hand through the mess and straighten it out for him as she instead hummed in agreement.

"It's not important," Silena insisted. "We have to find Charlie!"

Another first: a child of Aphrodite uninterested in jewellery.

"I bet if it was cursed jewelry she'd at least hesitate," Jason said in mild defense.

"Nah, she'd find a way to work that curse with her outfit, it's their own magical gift," Percy sighed.

"Right up there with yours getting into trouble," Thalia shook her head.

We forged on. After six more metres* 20 feet, we entered a cavern that smelled so bad my nose shut down completely.

"I'm going to be sick," Percy promised, his stomach rolling at the memory alone.

"This is not class Mr. Jackson," Alex said in a snooty voice. "You were not excused!"

"Does anything get us out of your class Miss Fierro?" Will asked curiously.

She thought about it for a moment before shaking her head. "Nope, you will all sit and listen to my brilliance or so help me you will get homework!"

"You're not even reading," Magnus frowned up at her accusingly, giving her the excuse to swat his bangs into his face and watch him for a moment shake his long hair out to fix it.

"You're more evil than Mrs. Dodd's," Percy frowned, though his hand fell lax from his stomach at the distraction.

"I'm not the one forcing you to read this," she reminded with a touch of hurt, "and the homework is encouraged to be worked on together."

"Okay, just as evil as Chiron," Percy chuckled.

The remains of old meals were piled as high as sand dunes – bones, chunks of rancid meat, even old camp meals. I guess the ants had been raiding the camp's compost heap and stealing our leftovers. At the base of one of the heaps, struggling to pull himself upright, was Beckendorf. He looked awful, partly because his camouflage armour was now the colour of garbage.

"Damn, I don't even think Silena could find a way to match shoes with that," Jason heaved a tragic sigh.

"Hospital gown," Thalia said flatly.

"Charlie!" Silena ran to him and tried to help him up.

"Thank the gods," he said. "My – my legs are paralysed!"

"It'll wear off," Annabeth said. "But we have to get you out of here. Percy, take his other side."

Silena and I hoisted Beckendorf up, and the four of us started back through the tunnels. I could hear distant sounds of battle – metal creaking, fire roaring, hundreds of ants snapping and spitting.

"What's going on out there?" Beckendorf asked. His body tensed. "The dragon! You didn't – reactivate it?"

"Afraid so," I said. "Seemed like the only way."

"But you can't just turn on an automaton! You have to calibrate the motor, run a diagnostic... There's no telling what it'll do! We've got to get out there!"

"I'm now imagining him with seven kinds of wrenches having a fit over a monkey belt or something," Nico admitted.

"Think it's just called a tool belt Nico," Will offered. Nico smiled as he imagined Will pouring over car manuals to try and impress his dad, and then Will showing him a few.

As it turned out, we didn't need to go anywhere, because the dragon came to us. We were trying to remember which tunnel led to the exit when the entire hill exploded, showering us in dirt. Suddenly we were staring at open sky. The dragon was right above us, thrashing back and forth, smashing the Ant Hill to bits as it tried to shake off the Myrmekes crawling all over its body.

The sudden blast of air and light felt like a second rise out of the underworld. Percy remembered gaping up at that monstrosity, fire and smoke setting its golden face like the sun of a new day, sparks flying from every scale as it roared in pain. That dragon had saved their life, and he was once again just left wondering if Grover would want a hug from it or would consider that a first class meal.

"Come on!" I yelled. We dug ourselves out of the dirt and stumbled down the side of the hill, dragging Beckendorf with us.

Our friend the dragon was in trouble. The Myrmekes were biting at the joints of its armour, spitting acid all over it. The dragon stomped and snapped and blew flames, but it couldn't last much longer. Steam was rising from its bronze skin.

Even worse, a few of the ants turned towards us. I guess they didn't like us stealing their dinner. I slashed at one and lopped off its head. Annabeth stabbed another right between the feelers. As the celestial bronze blade pierced its shell, the whole ant disintegrated.

"Great, another thing to lug back," Alex huffed.

"We did not need a trophy of this event," Percy groaned.

"Slackers!" She sniffed.

"I – I think I can walk now," Beckendorf said, and immediately fell on his face when we let go of him.

"There's a right and wrong place for a pratt fall man," Jason said with a nervous laugh.

"Nobody ever said to Percy," Thalia finished for him.

"Charlie!" Silena helped him up and pulled him along while Annabeth and I cleared a path through the ants. Somehow we managed to reach the edge of the clearing without getting bitten or splashed, though one of my sneakers was smoking from acid.

"What is it with your bad luck and shoes?" Jason frowned.

"I was destined to be bigfoot in another life?" He shrugged.

Back in the clearing, the dragon stumbled. A great cloud of acid mist was roiling off its hide.

"We can't let it die!" Silena said.

"Awww," Alex grinned. "Don't ever let someone say I never agreed with a child of Aphrodite!"

"How I wish that would have been her mother's response," Thalia nodded along sternly. The goddess of love was probably up on Olympus somewhere watching and applauding at all the drama instead of actually swooping in to help, if she wasn't engrossed in a hollywood celebrity magazine first.

"It's too dangerous," Beckendorf said sadly. "Its wiring –"

"Charlie," Silena pleaded, "it saved your life! Please, for me."

Beckendorf hesitated. His face was still bright red from the ant spit, and he looked as if he were going to faint any minute, but he struggled to his feet. "Get ready to run," he told us. Then he gazed across the clearing and shouted, "DRAGON! Emergency defence, beta-ACTIVATE!"

The dragon turned towards the sound of his voice. It stopped struggling against the ants, and its eyes glowed. The air smelled of ozone, like before a thunderstorm.

Thalia gave a not-so-quite chuckle at the rare power she allowed to course through her. It was a heady feeling she wouldn't ordinarily enjoy sharing with a dragon for a moment, but this one had saved a camper's life.

ZZZZZAAAAAPPP!

Arcs of blue electricity shot from the dragon's skin, rippling up and down its body and connecting with the ants. Some of the ants exploded. Others smoked and blackened, their legs twitching. In a few seconds there were no more ants on the dragon. The ones that were still alive were in full retreat, scuttling back towards their ruined hill as fingers of electricity zapped them in the butt to prod them along.

Magnus snorted fantastically and threw his head back laughing.

"Are you done acting like the world is ending again?" Alex asked as she watched the nerves twitch around in his throat. He had a really strong jawline usually obscured but for this angle.

"For now," he agreed as he hoisted himself back into his usual seat.

The dragon bellowed in triumph, then it turned its glowing eyes towards us.

"Now," Beckendorf said, "we run."

This time we did not yell, "For Hephaestus!" We yelled, "Heeeeelp!"

Magnus immediately groaned again, eyeing the floor as if considering how much less he'd looked like a dragon sized snack from down there.

"Don't even think about it," Alex huffed as she grabbed the back of his shirt.

"I am being punished for a crime I did not commit!" He huffed.

"The two kind of sound the same," Will offered in a not at all helpful kind of voice. "Maybe the dragon just thinks they're charging off again to a wasps nest next."

"Will, that's worse," Magnus yelped. "You hear how that's worse, right?!"

Percy finally cleared his throat and reminded him to either get it over with or give it up, because, you know, he'd already lived through it.

The dragon pounded after us, spewing fire and zapping lightning bolts over our heads like it was having a great time.

Jason couldn't help a little snort of laughter he tried his hardest to pass off as a muffled sneeze. He couldn't help it, that dragon had been through it and sounded more like a puppy having fun without yet realizing his playmates weren't squealing with delight.

"How do you stop it?" Annabeth yelled.

Beckendorf, whose legs were now working fine (nothing like being chased by a huge monster to get your body back in order)

"There's a whole world of self-motiavting posters and workout videos missing out on this dragon marketing," Thalia nodded.

"One that the mist should keep them very far away from!" Percy frowned accusingly at her.

shook his head and gasped for breath. "You shouldn't have turned it on! It's unstable! After a few years, automatons go wild!"

"Would he have rather they left him for dead?" Nico asked conversationally.

"Not a hundred percent sure being rescued into a dragon chase is what I'd call great," Magnus reminded with exhaustion in every syllable.

"Good to know," I yelled. "But how do you turn it off?"

"Someone really needs to tell Hephaestus it's a design flaw not to be voice activated shut down with a secret password," Will would give them that.

"I'll do it," Percy said without hesitation, which was pretty much the worst person to be sent to do it and also the only one who would tell a god to do it.

Beckendorf looked around wildly. "There!"

Up ahead was an outcrop of rock, almost as tall as the trees. The woods were full of weird rock formations, but I'd never seen this one before. It was shaped like a giant skateboard ramp, slanted on one side, with a sheer drop on the other.

"You guys, run around to the base of the cliff," Beckendorf said. "Distract the dragon. Keep it occupied!"

"That, is the worst sentence, in the English language," Magnus looked pained he'd said those words together.

"Followed very closely by, look, I didn't want to be a half-blood," Percy actually nodded his agreement.

"What are you going to do?" Silena said.

"You'll see. Go!"

Beckendorf ducked behind a tree while I turned and yelled at the dragon, "Hey, lizard-lips! Your breath smells like gasoline!"

The dragon spewed black smoke out of its nostrils. It thundered towards me, shaking the ground.

"Maybe that's a compliment in dragon?" Jason asked bemusedly.

"You are way to calm about this man!" Magnus groaned.

"Percy's not freaking out," he reminded, throwing a thumb at him. "He just kind of looks annoyed at this, I'm betting because he lost his chance to win capture the flag more than this."

Percy smiled his automatic reaction was to agree with that...but it didn't erase the insistent strain on him through all of this. There was something he was forgetting about all of this, something about Beckendorf and Silena, but the circumstances didn't feel right. This did feel like just another day at camp, so it wasn't bothering him to much.

"Come on!" Annabeth grabbed my hand. We ran for the back of the cliff.

"So we can now put underground, and being chased by a dragon on that list," Thalia snickered.

"I, have a minor preference," Percy said, smiling like a dope and not like someone who was being threatened by a dragon. Magnus really felt alone that should be a bigger concern than it was.

The dragon followed.

"We have to hold it here," Annabeth said. The three of us readied our swords.

The dragon reached us and lurched to a stop. It tilted its head like it couldn't believe we'd be so foolish as to fight.

"No, no, like a baby unsure what to do next," Jason grinned in delight. "Think a puppy waiting to see if he gets treats for doing a good job."

"Jason, you are not adopting the electric murderous dragon," Will sighed.

"Aw, come on!" Jason frowned. "He sounds so cool, and I bet Beckendorf keeps him in great order."

"Mrs. O'Leary has a playmate her size," Nico couldn't help but chuckle along.

Alex whooped in delight and loudly seconded that, well hiding Will's wince and no actual answer.

Now it had caught us, there were so many different ways it could kill us it probably couldn't decide which to use.

"Well the fire's obviously his go to, but he probably used up all that on the ants," Magnus said with dripping disdain.

"Stomping you means he'd have to dig out Percy from between his toes, I don't know if they like to groom themselves as well as cats," Thalia nodded along.

"I bet his bite force is, the best, he might want to slice you up just for fun so you don't go down in one swallow," Alex said seriously.

"I am going to find a way to bury this dragon back where he came from," Percy frowned.

"Aww," they all mock groaned like Sally had just threatened to take their new toy away before busting out laughing.

We scattered as its first blast of fire turned the ground where we'd been standing into a smoking pit of ashes.

"Still think this is cute Jason?" Magnus shot at him.

"Like a puppy who doesn't understand he shouldn't bite," he agreed with a sunny smile.

Then I saw Beckendorf above us – at the top of the cliff – and I understood what he was trying to do. He needed a clear shot. I had to keep the dragon's attention.

"Yaaaah!" I charged. I brought Riptide down on the dragon's foot and sliced off a talon.

Its head creaked as it looked down at me. It seemed more confused than angry, like, Why did you cut off my toe?

"Percy, that was just rude and a complete overreaction," Thalia couldn't help but play along with Jason's joke now.

"I got Mrs. O'Leary already trained," Percy said deadpan. "I'm sorry if I hurt the murder-happy dragon's feelings!" He finished in complete exasperation at the pair.

Then it opened its mouth, baring a hundred razor-sharp teeth.

"Percy!" Annabeth warned.

I stood my ground. "Just another second..."

"Percy!"

And just before the dragon struck, Beckendorf launched himself off the rocks and landed on the dragon's neck.

The dragon reared back and shot flames, trying to shake off Beckendorf, but he held on like a cowboy as the monster bucked around. I watched in fascination as he ripped open a panel at the base of the dragon's head and yanked a wire.

"I want that engraved on the cabin's door," Alex said in awe.

"That's, not a bad idea," Will agreed, his tone as light as usual, but a little more wistful than it should have been.

Instantly, the dragon froze. Its eyes went dim. Suddenly it was only the statue of a dragon, baring its teeth at the sky.

Beckendorf slid down the dragon's neck. He collapsed at its tail, exhausted and breathing heavily.

"Charlie!" Silena ran to him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek. "You did it!"

Annabeth came up to me and squeezed my shoulder. "Hey, Seaweed Brain, you okay?"

"Fine... I guess." I was thinking how close I'd come to being chopped into demigod hash in the dragon's mouth.

"You were great." Annabeth's smile was a lot nicer than that stupid dragon's.

"We all have our own idea of beauty," Jason snickered.

"I'm more surprised he's not thinking, monkey see monkey do?" Thalia rolled her eyes at where he kept touching his cheek as if Annabeth had abandoned him on a real reward.

"You, too," I said shakily. "So... what do we do with the automaton?"

Beckendorf wiped his forehead. Silena was still fussing over his cuts and bruises, and Beckendorf looked pretty distracted by the attention.

Percy huffed and grumbled for a moment he wouldn't know what that would feel like, since Annabeth had gone to studying the dragon like it was another Parthenon she'd need to know every detail of. At least he'd been a part of this story, he realized with a surprised smile. Now next time some idiot kid didn't know the story of the bronze dragon, Percy would get to enlighten them for once.

"We – uh – I don't know," he said. "Maybe we can fix it, get it to guard the camp, but that could take months."

"Worth trying," I said. I imagined having that bronze dragon in our fight against the Titan lord Kronos. His monsters would think twice about attacking camp if they had to face that thing. On the other hand, if the dragon decided to go berserk again and attack the campers – that would pretty much stink.

"Or we could host cowboy events to see who can wrangle it into submission again," Alex offered.

"Chiron will make you sleep in the strawberry fields if you suggest any such thing!" Percy tried to splutter and protest, but some part of him worried their activities director would go for it as some kind of communal practice.

"I can live with that," she grinned in delight, and Percy felt a smile tugging at his lips in admiration. Nothing scared Alex, not a threat even Mr. D could try to put against her would dampen her.

"Did you see all the treasure in the Ant Hill?" Beckendorf asked. "The magic weapons? The armour? That stuff could really help us."

"And the bracelets," Silena said. "And the necklaces."

"There it is!" Thalia nodded like a heavy weight of concern had been lifted away.

"What would you do with all your free time at Camp if you didn't have a feud with them?" Will snorted.

"Be very bored I'm sure, probably help Alex bring more fun into that place. You boys could use the practice," she grinned a smile worthy of a dragon that made all of them silently weep a bit.

I shuddered, remembering the smell of those tunnels. "I think that's an adventure for later. It would take an army of demigods even to get close to that treasure."

"Maybe," Beckendorf said. "But what a treasure..."

Silena studied the frozen dragon. "Charlie, that was the bravest thing I ever saw – you jumping on that dragon."

Beckendorf swallowed. "Um... yeah. So... will you go to the fireworks with me?"

Percy still vividly remembered the first time he'd gotten a compliment from Annabeth, after he'd run that bus with the furies off the road. It was a feeling of such power flowing through him, like he could do anything in that moment.

Sadly, Annabeth was rather stingy with her compliments, or he probably would have been able to defeat Kronos by now.

Silena's face lit up. "Of course, you big dummy! I thought you'd never ask!"

Will savored the laughter that blasted through the room with his eyes closed for several moments. It was probably the last laugh Silena and Beckendorf would ever get. Even Nico and Thalia probably didn't know in detail what was about to happen. They knew she was the traitor, but they probably didn't even know Beckendorf as more than just another name in a long list of people they'd lost in the war, they just weren't around camp enough to know as he did what was soon coming.

Beckendorf suddenly looked a whole lot better. "Well let's get back, then! I bet capture the flag is over."

I had to go barefoot, because the acid had eaten completely through my shoe. When I kicked it off I realized the goo had soaked into my sock and turned my foot red and raw. I leaned against Annabeth and she helped me limp through the woods.

The laughter increased ten-fold, Will's always somehow had the power to do that as Percy's tapered off with a flush of embarrassment. "It, it really hurt guys, have you ever walked on twigs barefoot, and um, there were rocks around-"

"Just stop Percy," Thalia was rubbing a stitch in her side, her eyes swimming with delighted tears.

"Yeah," he agreed with a shameless sigh. He'd been trying to find any excuse to pluck up the courage and ask her, having her to lean on so close just like always felt like a comfort rather than a hindrance.

Beckendorf and Silena walked ahead of us, holding hands, and we gave them some space.

Watching them, with my arm around Annabeth for support, I felt pretty uncomfortable. I silently cursed Beckendorf for being so brave, and I don't mean for facing the dragon. After three years, he'd finally got the courage to ask Silena Beauregard out. It wasn't fair.

"Some things never change," Jason said with a shake of his head that didn't suit him, he had that tone like one speaking twice his age again. "You'll be fifty and still stumbling over a compliment for her again."

Percy smiled at the dream he was painting, he found it hard to imagine he lived another birthday, let alone so many compliments later, but it was a nice idea.

"You know," Annabeth said as we struggled along, "it wasn't the bravest thing I've ever seen."

I blinked. Had she been reading my thoughts?

"Um... what do you mean?"

Annabeth gripped my wrist as we stumbled through a shallow creek. "You stood up to the dragon so Beckendorf would have his chance to jump – now that was brave."

Percy's mind froze...and then went more haywire than a dragons. Wait, she had been talking about him, right?! Not some other doofus who stood up to a dragon and cut its toe off? Did she want him to ask her out or was she just mocking him? Had she ever called Luke brave? What if he asked and she looked at him like he was covered in ant goo-

"Or pretty stupid."

"Percy, you're a brave guy," she said. "Just take the compliment. I swear, is it so hard?"

We locked eyes. Our faces were, like, centimetres apart. My chest felt a little funny, like my heart was trying to do jumping jacks.

"I really thought reading the rest would help him break out of, that," Magnus said, gesturing at his sagging face.

"Guys, I think we broke Percy," Alex announced grandly.

"It was bound to happen eventually," Thalia sighed, waving her hand in front of his face. "I half expected this back when she kissed him in the volcano."

"I'd just go ahead and finish man," Jason said without bothering to hide the laugh in his voice. He always was extra animated when a capture the flag game went on, and this seemed to have surpassed the others. "She'll call him an idiot here in a sec and things will go on like normal.

"So..." I said. "I guess Silena and Charlie are going to the fireworks together."

"I guess so," Annabeth agreed.

"Yeah," I said. "Um, about that –"

I don't know what I would've said, but just then, three of Annabeth's siblings from the Athena cabin burst out of the bushes with their swords drawn. When they saw us, they broke into grins.

"You're alive!" Jason mock cheered. "We already had the search parties assembled and everything with practice!"

Percy finally gave himself a little shake and looked around at him. "How terribly inconvenient of us, how about we skip back into the woods and play hide and seek next, oh wait, we just ruined that game!"

"The game probably wasn't ruined for everyone," Magnus offered, "I'm sure somebody had fun tonight." It just never seemed to be him.

Judging by the smile lingering on Percy's face though, they were pretty sure he was happy with his hour returned of seeing her covered in a new coat of mud, oil, and sweat as his arm stayed around her only in his mind.

"Annabeth!" one of them said. "Good job! Let's get these two to jail."

"Doesn't defeating a dragon and living through Myrmekes get him a get out of jail free card?" Magnus protested.

"I never even manage that in Monopoly," Percy sighed. She was as scary as Tyson, he usually went broke before he even got close to drawing his first card.

I stared at him. "The game's not over?"

"Damn," Nico said in surprise. "I really think Percy spaced out watching her a little to much, I thought much more time had dragged on too."

Magnus was at least laughing in surprised agreement again while Jason was looking at the book with a very calculating expression.

The Athena camper laughed. "Not yet... but soon. Now that we've captured you."

"Dude, come on," Beckendorf protested. "We got sidetracked. There was a dragon, and the whole Ant Hill was attacking us."

"Uh-huh," said another Athena guy, clearly unimpressed. "Annabeth, great job distracting them. Worked out perfectly. You want us to take them from here?"

Annabeth pulled away from me. I thought for sure she was going to give us a free walk back to the border, but she drew her dagger and pointed it at me with a smile.

"Nah," she said. "Silena and I can get this. Come on, prisoners. Move it."

I stared at her, stunned. "You planned this? You planned this whole thing just to keep us out of the game?"

"No way," Thalia sounded way to proud even if she shook her head. "No way she managed all of that."

Magnus didn't really think so either. As clever as she was, even she couldn't have put all that together.

"Percy, seriously, how could I have planned it? The dragon, the ants – you think I could've figured all that out ahead of time?"

"She did!" Jason gasped, causing a flare of jealousy in Percy at the look of admiration on his face. "She totally did! Oh my gosh, this girl is a genius!"

"Annabeth wouldn't put those two in danger like that," Magnus insisted.

"Not on purpose," he still had a wild grin in place, "but I'll bet you anything she somehow tracked down where that dragon was buried, unearthed it just enough to show the head, and then waited, hoping the ants would time it with her game."

"Her game?" Percy groaned. He thought Annabeth was a genius too, but she might believe someone as smart as Jason over him.

"That's a lot of if's," Magnus looked personally offended now if his cousin had decided to put a deranged dragon back into activation for a flag.

"It probably all didn't go according to plan," Jason was getting wound up now as he babbled excitedly. "I bet she planned on Percy and Beckendorf seeing this by telling them which direction to go and hoping Beckendorf would spend his time fawning over the dragon and forget about the game, not go charging the ants!"

"How on earth did she excavate a whole crater and find that thing and I didn't even notice?!" Percy demanded.

"Maybe she got Tyson and the forest dryads to help before he left," Jason shrugged, "maybe she-"

"Guys!" Thalia finally interrupted with a bright smile as Percy was clearly winding up to argue back. "One of these days, we're going to get out of here and you can interrogate Annabeth all day."

Jason still had a smug, 'I'm right,' look on his face while Magnus and Percy exchanged, 'I hate every minute of this' expressions, but Magnus was almost done with one more of these, and that was enticing enough for now.

It didn't seem likely, but this was Annabeth. There was no telling with her. Then she exchanged glances with Silena, and I could tell they were trying not to laugh.

"Yeah, I'm on Jason's side," Alex grinned along. The plan had probably gone to hell, but those two badasses had brought it back and still come out on top.

"Well don't look at me," Will reminded as Nico was watching him as if waiting to see if he was holding out. "I was on Percy's team! They weren't going to be sharing that kind of info with the enemy!"

"You – you little –" I started to say, but I couldn't think of a name strong enough to call her.

"Owl breath," Alex offered.

"Traitor," Magnus grumbled, she was the cause of this heart attack.

"Genius!" Jason crowed.

Thalia couldn't stop laughing at all of them, she had a pretty good idea Percy wasn't going to be the only one tackling Annabeth when they met now.

I protested all the way to the jail, and so did Beckendorf. It was totally unfair to be treated like prisoners after all we'd been through.

But Annabeth just smiled and put us in jail. As she was heading back to the front line, she turned and winked. "See you at the fireworks?"

Kronos might as well have appeared and trapped him in a time bubble. Percy froze with whatever expression was on his face. Had she just asked him out?! Like on a date!? The fireworks were on a beach, where they might just stumble into the ocean and, and... he sighed as the rest of the night's events swam easily to mind now. Still a little foggy around the edges, but with clarity that he was trying to connect two events that were not having it. The fireworks had been a spectacular show, he'd watched every color of the rainbow flash across her face that night and heard her laugh at the amazing designs their fellow campers created. She had gone down to the ocean and rinsed herself off, but there had still been mud creased into her skin and a streak of oil in her hair that nearly covered up her gray bangs.

She had been happy, on this night, but when Connor and Travis went racing past yelling in delight and throwing popcorn and hotdogs around from a stand no one seemed sure where it had come from, and Chiron announced how good it felt to have so many here on this night as he held a moment of silence for those they lost, Annabeth had bowed her head and clutched the beads on her necklace Percy had never been a part of. She wasn't there yet, with him or Luke.

She didn't even wait for my answer before darting off into the woods.

I looked at Beckendorf. "Did she just... ask me out?"

He shrugged, completely disgusted. "Who knows with girls? Give me a haywire dragon any day."

So we sat together and waited while the girls won the game.

Percy laughed along with everyone else. There was a relief in it, the tension in the room always just under the surface at being locked in here managed to vanish for just that moment that they knew they couldn't hang on to. Percy's life was hectic and chaotic, sometimes it felt like his closest friends made that worse rather than better, but it was his life being shared with them, and he wouldn't have it any other way...otherwise he might not ever find out how he got down here.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

Annabeth absolutely planned this and you cannot convince me or Jason otherwise.

Though I don't think she meant for Beckendorf to get captured. Most likely she expected Percy and him to try and find the dragon's body and for Beckendorf to fix it and wake it up while they followed invisibly to keep an eye on them and all that would have taken up time until the game was won. Annabeth only stepped in when she realized Beckendorf split off, but I don't think she saw or heard where he split off to.

*Not a goofy name I made up by the way, but a real animal. Go look them up, they're adorable!

#pjo #Percy Jackson #Thalia Grace #Jason Grace #nico di angelo #will solace #Alex Fierro #Magnus Chase #happy the dragon #charles beckendorf #silena beauregard #annabeth chase #percabeth #solangelo #big three kids

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