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forevfangirlwrites · 4 years

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I'm obsessed with the actors au! first date/kiss for that au?

Part 1: Here (Part 2: Here)

The best thing about Percy’s life is that he has managed to score a date with The Annabeth Chase.

The worst thing about Percy’s life is that he has no fucking clue how he’s supposed to pull this off.

She’s a famous actress. So it’s not like he can just take her to Olive Garden and he does not have the budget for something super fancy and oh, did he mention, she’s famous, so going out in public is going to be an issue and—

He calls Grover.

“I can’t tell if you’re joking,” Grover says in utter disbelief over the line.

Percy groans as he plops down on his couch. “I almost wish I was, this is too stressful. I can’t do it, why did I even say anything?”

Luckily, Grover is his best friend and completely used to rambling that’s usually just a tad dramatic.

“You just need to play to your strengths.”

“Did you just quote a sports movie?”

“Do you want my help or not?”

“Yes, please, sorry.” Percy's too desperate. “Continue.”

Grover sighs. “As I was saying, it seems like she just wants to spend some time with you--though I'm still having a hard time believing that you actually scored a date with Annabeth Chase, are you sure it was her?"

"Grover!"

"Sorry, just making sure. Anyway, you should do just that: spend some time with her. And do what you do best.”

“Which is?” he asks, but he thinks he knows the answer. His oven is already on.

“Don’t play dumb, I have no doubt you’re stress baking cookies right now.”

“Okay, okay, but…” he trails off, another thought coming to him. “What if she doesn’t like baked goods?”

“Oh my god Percy, it’s baked goods, who doesn’t like them!”

Grover makes a fair point. (Plus, he’s pretty sure she’s posted stuff on her Instagram that was baked goods.)

So, miraculously, with some help from Grover and the okay from Cali, he manages to pull together something that he hopes is at least halfway decent.

The small, cramped café is already cute, but Percy hopes that by drawing down the blinds and lighting some candles and lamps he’s made it cozier. (He even bought a table cover for one of the two lone tables at the place.)

The bell rings just as he’s finished setting out some plates and his head snaps up as Annabeth Chase, in all her dark jeans and crème blouse glory, walks in. (Seriously, jeans never look that good on anyone and what probably really famous designer thought it was a good idea to have off the shoulder blouses because he might be choking a little right now).

“Hey,” she says softly while he stares.

She laughs and crosses the distance between them to smile sweetly. “Percy?”

“Huh? Yes? Hi, Annabeth, you came, I mean, of course you did, have a seat.” He gets the words out all in one breath and turns towards the counter where he’s laid out some food.

A hand on his arm stops him and forget Jason Grace’s eyes, her touch is electrifying.

“Percy,” she says slowly and he’s afraid he’s fucked things up and the date hasn’t even started. “Does it help to know that I’m nervous too?”

What?

She offers a small smile. “Believe it or not, I don’t normally do this, and I don’t know what’s going through your head but right now, I’m just a girl on a first date, and I’m nervous too. So,” she takes a breath, “let’s just be nervous together, okay?”

He wants to slap himself in the face for being an absolute (insensitive) idiot. But he doesn’t think that would help the situation, so instead he nods.

“Yeah, okay, sorry. Can we start again?”

Annabeth smiles, her first real true smile so far and Percy feels a warmth in his chest. She nods and he thanks every deity in the world

Squaring his shoulders, he turns properly towards her, taking in her appearance with a wide smile, and takes her hand. “You look beautiful,” he says, raising her hand to his lips. “And thanks for, you know...” His brain kinda short circuited when he kissed her hand, but he tries to power through anyway, “joining me tonight.”

She giggles as he pulls out a chair for her. “You look pretty cute too,” she replies with a wink and Percy tries not to have a heart attack.

“You’re cuter,” he argues back, as she slips into her seat. She makes a face and he shoots her a grin as he turns around to get the food.

“I don’t know about that, my view is pretty great,” she calls, and he almost drops the dish of enchiladas he’s made.

He tells his brain to come up with a quick and witty retort. His brain returns an image of Annabeth kissing him that is entirely unhelpful to the situation.

Turning back around with the dish firmly grasped in his hands, all he can manage is making the same face as she did fifteen seconds ago. But at least he doesn’t drop the food. Baby steps.

She laughs and he places the dish in between them, maneuvering around the drinks he’s already set out.

“Clearly you haven’t looked in a mirror,” he retaliates.

Annabeth rolls her eyes and smiles. “How about I call a truce and say that the food looks the best out of all of us. Did you make it?”

And the nervousness is back as some heat flares up to his cheeks and his hand comes up to rub the back of his neck. “Yeah, sorry if it’s not the best, it’s my first time making them, really and—“

“I’m sure they’re going to be good, now please sit down and have some too, I’m feeling kinda lonely here,” she jokes, but he catches the look behind her eyes.

He quickly sits down, wiping the palms of his hands on his jeans. Nodding towards the food, he aims for the casual that he had lost the moment he had served the food. “Well? Don't leave me hanging.”

Truthfully, he had already taste tested (he couldn’t serve something bad) and from the little he had, it seemed pretty okay. But that doesn’t stop him from anxiously looking over at her as he serves himself.

Annabeth's eyes widen as she chews and he hopes that's a good sign. “Percy," she says as she finishes up her bite. "This is so good! There’s no way you made them for the first time!”

He blushes again and wonders when he went from being 26 to 16 again. “I had help, my best friend Grover makes it even better.”

“Still. Do you like to cook?” she asks, taking another bite.

“Yeah, but I like to bake even more.”

Seeing her questioning face, he laughs, the tension finally easing from his shoulders. “Yeah, you’ll get to taste some of that later.”

She beams at him. “I can’t wait!”

“What about you? Do you like cooking?”

It’s kind of bizarre to be talking about cooking with Annabeth freaking Chase, but if there’s one thing he’s learned, she’s only human (an amazing, beautiful, talented human in his eyes, but still just human) and he needs to get over himself.

“I wish, I am horrible in the kitchen though.”

“What? No way? You’re telling me the guest star on Cooking with Dionysus can’t actually cook?” He jokes back.

She groans, leaning back in her chair. “Oh my god, that was so nerve wracking. Thankfully, I had a recipe and some help, even if it was snarky help.”

He leans forward. “Is he actually that snarky?”

Annabeth shrugs, her exposed shoulders rising and falling, and he represses a sudden urge to kiss the freckle on her right one. “Hard to tell. I don’t think he hated me though.”

“It must be tough, being around all these famous people, must be a lot of drama.”

She sighs. “Yeah, I mean, it’s a tough industry, but there are some really good ones out there.”

“Like Jason.”

“Like Jason,” she agrees. “I’m glad he told me about this place.” Her eyes wander the room and the nervousness about his choices crops up again.

“I hope you don’t mind,” he blurts, causing her focus to shift back to him.

“Mind what?”

Well now that he’s talked himself into a hole, he has to talk himself out of it. Nervous together, that’s what she had said right?

“That our date is here, I didn’t think being out in public would be the best so I tried to make it as private as possible and this was the only place I could think of that—”

For the second time that night, she cuts him off. “Percy, it’s perfect.” She lays a hand on his across the small table. “You’ve clearly put a lot of thought into this and I really appreciate it, thank you.”

He smiles, the anxiety slowly melting away. “Good, I’m glad, I was just kinda worried about it, you know, and I’m glad that you don’t mind this, so um, thank you,” he ends lamely.

“Don’t worry,” Annabeth assures, squeezing his hand, “I’ll make sure to plan the next one.”

“Next one?” Internally, he’s dying a little, but he has to play it cool you know. So naturally, his voice totally definitely doesn’t crack.

“We’ll see, depends on the baked goods,” she teases back.

He shoots her a conspiratorial smile. “How do you feel about cupcakes?”

As it turns out Annabeth Chase (like most people, as Grover would say) loved the cupcakes and Percy Jackson loved the way the frosting tasted in her mouth when he stole a kiss.

A/N: Thank you for sending a prompt! This AU is the most requested one that I get so I’m glad I was able to write a little first date bit to establish it a little more! I hope you liked it and thanks again!

#percy and annabeth #percabeth #percabeth fic #percabeth au #actress annabeth #barista Percy #first date

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perseusjackson-jasongrace · 4 years

Text

Empires on the Horizon VII

Jason is a CEO: Part VII

Here’s my masterlist for the next part and my other stuff

The next two parts are hella long. Enjoy my loves!

i want to

tangle with you

and fall into you

and feel all of you

your breath, your skin,

your hands, your heart,

your everything...

all of it, all of you

all around me

-butterflies rising

“Good morning Frank, why does it feel like I haven’t seen you in forever?”

“It’s only been a week,” He laughed, “Are you having withdrawal symptoms?”

“I think so,” He nodded gravely, “Heart ache, constant longing, and inability to stop thinking about cars.”

“Sounds like a terrible case.” Frank grinned, pulling the car into the road.

“Shall we grab some coffee to mend our gaped days?” He pouted.

“Reedpipes it is,” Dark eyes sparkled.

“How’s your grandmother?”

“She’s alright, thank you. Stubborn as a mule about going to the old age home but I told her I can’t be worrying about her while she’s alone in that big house. She says if I forget about her she’ll come back to haunt me and make my life miserable.”

Jason giggled and then quickly sobered at his friends look, “Oh she’s serious?”

“As the plague. My grandmother has never been the type to shower you in cookies and sweet hopes. I have no doubt she’ll be pouring river water in my shoes if I even think to forget about her.”

“Well then I better make sure you get as many days off as you need. She may haunt me for working you too hard.”

His friend shoved his shoulder a laugh rasping in his throat.

“What are the plans this week?” He held the door open to allow Frank to pass as they walked into the café.

“Nothing exciting,” He shrugged his shoulders, but Jason noticed the small blush.

“Looks like nothing,” He grinned.

The man stealthily ignored him, saddling up to the counter and engaging in a conversation with their friend.

“Jason Grace,” Grover Underwood greeted brightly, as he did every morning, “You do look much more this morning.”

“Much more what?” He frowned.

The barista gave him a warm, knowing smile, “What can I get for you?”

“I’ll have a chai,” He muttered, still puzzling over those words.

“And I’ll have a mocha,” Frank mumbled, excusing himself to take a phone call.

“What did you mean by more?”

“These past few months you have looked duller, like someone has taken the wind out of your lungs, the light from your eyes, the storm that sits in your chest. But now you look more. You look alive again.”

Words were a scarce commodity on his tongue, his brain a blunt rock trying to whittle broken toothpicks. Before he could conjure any coherent answer, Frank returned, grabbing their coffees and nudging him to a table.

“I know I haven’t been all that engaged these last few months,” He began, collapsing into his chair and taking in the man across from him. “I’m sorry for that. How are you?”

“We’ve got lives Grace, it happens sometimes.” His friend shrugged, tipping his cup in acknowledgement, “But I’m good thank you. We do need to talk though.”

“This sounds like a breakup. I swear to the gods Frank if you tell me you’re moving across the country or something I am going to murder you.” He narrowed his eyes, body tensing.

Black eyes danced with laughter, “It’s nothing bad, I uh– the thing is Hazel and I are….dating?”

“Oh,” He smiled, “Well that’s great! It’s about time honestly.”

“What?” He blinked in surprise.

“You’ve been pining over her ever since she came to work for me. I may have been preoccupied but I’m not oblivious.” He giggled.

“So you aren’t mad?”

“Mad?” He reeled, “At what? Of course I’m not mad. You are both consenting adults who know how to be professional and more importantly you guys are my friends. I trust you completely.”

“Wow,” Relief flooded through his face, “Thanks Jase.”

“You never have to be afraid to tell me something you know that, right?”

Frank nodded, black hair flopping, “Shall we get to work then?”

Grover’s words were still circling in his mind when they got to work and stayed with him through the day. He had always thought in his days since him and Luke broke up, he had hidden his feelings well enough from the rest of the world. It was a flinching realisation that he had not done as good a job as he had thought, especially if a barista could pick up on it. What had his friends and family known all these months?

***

That evening he walked into his building feeling a mix of conflicting emotions he wasn’t ready to unpack. He gave a distracted nod to the concierge and stepped into the elevator, sending off a final email to end a blissfully productive work week. Leo’s friend Harley was happy to meet and discuss the project and Jason prayed it would all go well. Working with Octavian felt like poison injected into his bloodstream. It left a vile taste in his mouth.

Shaking the thoughts, he walked into his apartment, chucking the keys on the counter and tugging off his tie. This evening he was going to sit down in front of the fire with a book, feet wrapped in fuzzy socks, and a finger of whiskey to savour.

“Jason,”

“FUCK!” He clutched his chest, whipping around “Holy Hades you scared the shit out of me!”

“Sorry,” The voice was soft, tired.

“What the fuck are you doing here Piper?”

“Please, please just hear me out.”

“How did you even get in?”

“They let me up. They think we’re still dating.”

He scoffed, scrubbing a hand over his face, “I told you I need some space. Time. I just need time.”

“I understand. I know this is probably creepy, but you weren’t taking my calls and none of our– your friends will help me get a hold of you. I just need to know if you’ll ever hear me out?” She sighed, and then quickly added, “It doesn’t have to be today. I just want to know if you’re willing to listen?”

He didn’t know how to tell her he would rather drown himself in tar than watch her justify their actions. He didn’t know how to tell himself that wasn’t true. He wanted to know why. That question burned like an SOS signal in his brain. Why did they do it? Why did they hurt him?

“I–“ He didn’t know what he wanted. He did. He wanted to sleep, to run away, to throw his name into the wind and let the flowers sing it till it was unrecognisable. He wanted to disappear. “I will hear you out. But I’ll reach out to you, when I’m ready.” He collapsed onto the couch.

She nodded, opened her mouth, and then snapped it shut.

“Is that all?”

She nodded again, turned to leave. “For what it’s worth Jason, I never intended to hurt you and I’m sorry that I did.” Before he had time to formulate a response, she had shut the door quietly behind her. He didn’t hear the soft sob that left his ex-girlfriend as she walked down the passage and out of his life.

He scrambled into the shower, scrubbing off the day with brutal force. He wasn’t sure when his life had turned into a mess of emotions and risks, but he didn’t like it. He wanted his order and discipline back. Wanted to wake up with a run, sign a beneficial contract with a business who cares, and collapse into a warm bed with the feeling of accomplishment and calm that had once followed him. He turned on some music, drowned out the voice in his head that says the life he remembers wasn’t calm it was safe, and it was boring. Some days he felt he’d rather take boring over this. He felt like someone had taken a battering ram to his nerves. But he’s pulled from his spiral by his phone, which dinged softly on the nightstand. Rubbing the towel through his wet hair he picked up the device to see one new message.

Zoe: Hey, was just thinking about you.

He smiled at the screen, thinking about the lady in question. It was too early to say where all this may lead but the butterflies in his stomach and the blush in his cheeks gave him hope.

Jason: All bad things, I hope?

Zoe: You Mr summa cum laude? Mr one party day per two study days? Mr we can’t go into that garden cause it’s private property? ;)

He laughed, half regretting telling her all the goody-two shoes ideals he maintained in college.

Jason: I never should have let you drag that out of me

She sent a laughing emoji back and he fell into bed, holding his phone to his chest. Maybe one day when he runs away to live in the woods he’ll ask if she wants to come. Maybe one day they’ll call the forest home. He almost pitched the idea, almost called her and lets it all rush into the air but at the last minute he chickened out. Finger hovering over the call button, but never quite reaching it. His plans for the evening were demolished when minutes later his eyes drooped closed, phone slipping out of his grasp and onto the pillow.

He dreamt of trees, the wind, sunshine made cloth, sparkling black eyes. He dreamt of life.

***

Jason was bubbling with happiness as he finished draining the pasta and drizzling some olive oil over it. He glanced around his apartment making sure the pillows were straight- as if they ever had the chance to get scrunched under his eagle eye- and the furniture was in its designated spots on the grid of tile. Zoe was coming over and although his apartment was generally immaculate the universe had a bad habit of stirring things up just when you think you’ve got it handled.

A knock at his door set off the zoo of nerves in his stomach but more than that it made him grin with overwhelming happiness.

“Miss Nightshade,” He opened the door.

“Mr Grace. You do look dashing.”

He scrunched his nose at her a gleam in his eyes, “Oh this old thing.” He pulled at the panda onesie she had made him order.

Her laugh was bright and beautiful.

“So what are we having for dinner? And is white wine okay?” She set the bottle on the counter along with her miniature backpack.

“Perfect, and we’re having pasta.”

She lit up at that running to hug him, “You do know the way to a woman’s heart don’t you?”

“I think it’s just to yours,” He wrapped his arms around her and lifted her to him.

“Fine by me. I’m not a big sharer anyway.” She winked.

He giggled into her neck, relishing in her clean spicy smell, and the warmth of her body.

“We have to take a selfie before we sit down to it. I want us in matching onesies documented for all eternity.”

“Me too, Leo says he’s never going to believe me unless I send him a picture.”

An hour, one photoshoot, two Instagram posts and a lock-screen change later they finally settled in to eat supper and watch whatever movie they could find on Netflix. He poured the wine and handed her a glass, tipping his own in her direction.

With a soft clink he brushed their lips together, “Happy three months my stella.”

She sucked in a breath, “My mom used to call me that. She said it rivaled my–“

“Your eyes,”

She nodded, looking at him as if he had read every page of the book that made up her, “Happy three months my thyella.”

He smiled into her, putting their wine down and cupping her face.

“The storm and the stars?” He breathed, “Sounds cosmic.”

“Sounds like magic,” Her eyes fluttered.

He closed the minuscule distance between them, capturing her lips softly. She tangled her fingers in his hair and tugged him impossibly closer. There was electricity and light pouring into their souls as they explored each, as they found life bubbling between them. He broke away for a split second before kissing across her jaw and down her neck. She moaned when his teeth nipped her collar bone and his lips soothed it over. He grabbed the shoulder of her onesie gently and looked up at her,

“Can I?”

She nodded, half breathless with need, “Please.”

So he tugged down the fleecy pyjamas, both of them giggling.

“Why pandas?”

“It was between this and sheep,” She laughed.

He kissed her shoulder with a smile and tugged the zip down fully.

“You sure?”

She cupped his cheeks and pulled him up, so they were eye to eye, “I’m sure, if I want to stop, I’ll tell you.”

He kissed her again, overwhelmed by his feelings, his happiness.

“And Jase?” She rested her forehead against his, “If you want to stop you tell me.”

He beamed at her, brilliant and unrestrained, “We are never getting to dinner.”

Pasta for breakfast, it turns out, is just as good as pasta for supper.

***

His shoes against the marbled floor of his office building clacked in time with his heart as he walked through the lobby on Monday morning, a week later. His thoughts spun with the things he had to do today and the people he had to make nice with. As much as he’s loved Project Hestia this last stretch has given him more trouble than the whole venture together. Him and the community were agitated to get it finished.

“Hazel Levesque, please tell me you have a cappuccino for me?” He groaned, stepping into his office.

“Good morning Boss,” A bright smile and bouncing curls greeted him, “Cappa is on your desk, and one Miss Reyna Avila Ramirez Arellano is waiting for you,”

“You’re a gem,” He blew her a kiss and disappeared behind his glass door.

“Jason Grace,” Reyna smirked, a coffee cup dangling from her manicured fingers.

He narrowed his eyes at her, “Is that my cappuccino?”

“If you can prove it,”

“Lawyers,” He grumbled, “How are you?”

“Great thank you,” And she was. He peered at her, his lawyer of many years. She was glowing.

“You look great,” He smiled softly.

“Now, now pretty boy, don’t get all sappy on me,” She scrunched her nose, “I hear we’re meeting new contractors today.”

“Yea Valdez sent them my way. I’m hoping we click because Titan gives me bad vibes.”

“Well me too. I looked through their updated contract and there’s still some things I’m not comfortable with.”

“Let’s get through this meeting with Harley and then bitch about contracts.”

Harley Davids was a small man with infinite energy and the spark of life glittering in his warm brown eyes. He was full of ideas and enthusiasm and listened intently to everything Jason wanted for this project. By the time the meeting was over, a rough draft of an incredible contract was drafted. They had been in the meeting room for two hours, but it had felt like mere minutes and when Harley left, whistling down the hallway and into the elevator Jason had turned to Reyna and hugged her for all she was worth. She laughed at him but squished his ribs back.

“I think we deserve to celebrate that!” He cheered, as they walked back into his office where Hazel was having an animated conversation with someone.

“Percy!” Reyna squealed, slamming into his open arms.

He mumbled something into her hair, arms wrapped around her torso. Jason looked away, hating the pang that hit his chest. He longed for something that easy, that welcoming.

“Jason,” A velvety voice said, “How are you?”

He snapped himself to the present, “Wonderful, thank you. It’s good to see you again.”

“Oh you two know each other?” Reyna smiled curiously.

“Know is a strong word,” He laughed, “We met at the university dinner a few months ago,”

“Well I think we should all go out this weekend. We have something to celebrate after all!” She smiled, looking between them.

“Absolutely, everyone has been waiting for this project to close and it finally is. Haze, you and Frank? And I’ll invite Valdez and Annabeth.” He turned to his lawyer, “You get the word to Nico and Will?”

“Sounds like a party, send me the details. Oh, and we are not going to the disco bar again! I refuse to dress up in neon pink and striped socks.” Reyna gave him a warning look.

“This sounds like a story for the books?” Percy’s eyes danced.

“They are all evil, and I spent a good two months getting glitter out of everywhere.”

A golden laugh burst from the black-haired man, “My only question is how did glitter get everywhere?”

“I have pictures,” Hazel winked.

“Hazel, don’t you dare!”

“I mean I feel he has the right to know what you look like with pink pigtails, blazing yellow thigh-high socks, and about twenty tons of glitter plastered to your body.”

“Oh babe,” Percy gasped, “You cannot deny me this.”

“I hate all of you,” She grumbled, pulling the middle finger up.

“So Friday?” Jason laughed.

“Until then Grace!”

When he finally made it back to his office to do the last few things for the day, he felt for the first time in many a moon, hopeful. He let his mind wander on the quiet car ride home; thoughts were abstract and unimportant as they flitted in and out. Flashes of blueprints, the cool metal of an arrow, laughter, gold chandeliers, earthy skin wrapped in silk, the rush of water, shining green eyes…. green eyes?

Fuck.

“Everything okay Boss?”

“What? Yes, sorry, just remembering some admin I forgot to do.” He covered up quickly.

“Well we’re here.” Frank nodded to his apartment building.

“Thank you, see you tomorrow.”

He pulled up his text conversation with Zoe, already frantically trying to occupy his brain. If you can keep busy, you don’t have time to think.

Jason: hey, having a celebration night cause we finally sealed a contract for my big project. Friday? Can you make it?

She replied almost instantly: Be there! Send me deets.

And then he was throwing his phone on the couch, shoving his earphones in, and running until he couldn’t feel his heart beating. Running until his mind was white noise, till his legs gave out, until velvet words and ocean gazes were obsolete. That night his dreams consisted of nothing at all.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sorry edit real quick: if you didn’t catch it in the fic: Stella means star and thyella means storm

Tags (if you want to be added to/ taken off the tag list just let me know, all my channels of communication are open): @lesbian-peanuts

@leydiangelo

@queen-of-demons-and-hell

@msdrpreist

@sparkythunderstorm

@nishlicious-01

@lucyisblue

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my-random-ocs · 3 years

Text

Rise Up Chapter 2: We Fight Demon Scorpions

Pairing: Stiles Stilinski x OC (eventually)

Warnings: Angst, weapons, betrayal

<<< Previous || Masterlist || Next >>>

The next morning, the buzz at breakfast faded into the background as I attempted to wake up. I never really managed to fall back asleep after my nightmare.

A nudge against my shoulder made me jump, and I turned to see Silena sending me a worried look. “You okay?” She asked.

I nodded. “Yeah,” I said. I zoned back into the breakfast announcements. Apparently at around three this morning, an Aethiopian drakon had been spotted at the borders at camp. I was so distracted by my nightmare and tossing and turning that I hadn’t even noticed. The magical boundaries kept the monster out, but it stalked along the border, looking for weak spots in our defenses. It didn’t go away until Lee Fletcher, the Apollo cabin’s head counselor, led his siblings in pursuit. After shooting a few dozen arrows into its armor, it finally got the message and left.

“It’s still out there,” Lee was warning us. “Twenty arrows in its hide, and we just made it mad. The thing was thirty feet long and bright green. Its eyes-” He cut himself off, shuddering.

“You did well Lee,” Chiron said, patting him on the shoulder. “Everyone stay alert, but stay calm. This has happened before.”

“Aye,” Quintus said from his seat at the head table. “And it will happen again. More and more frequently.”

Wow, how helpful.

The campers murmured amongst themselves.

Everyone knew that Luke was planning an invasion into camp. Most of us expected it to happen this summer, but no one knew how or when. Our attendance was down, and that definitely didn’t help. When I started about four years ago, there had been over one hundred. Now there were only a little over eighty. Some had died. Some had joined Luke. Some had straight up disappeared.

“This is a good reason for new war games,” Quintus said. I didn’t love the glint in his eyes. “We’ll see how you all do with that tonight.”

“Yes…” Chiron said. “Well, enough announcements. “Let us bless this meal and eat.” He raised his goblet. “To the gods!”

We all raised our glasses and repeated the blessing.

I grabbed my plate, stood, and led my siblings to the brazier. “Aphrodite,” I whispered, tossing a hash brown into the fire. Mitchell showed Lacy what to do as I prayed to my mother. “Help me with Luke, and Grover, and protecting Amara…”

There was so much to list that I could have gone on all morning, but I headed back to my seat.

After a few minutes, I noticed that Grover was eating with Percy. Suddenly, my fork was halfway to my mouth when I felt somebody lift me by my shirt and take me to the Poseidon table. She plopped me down next to Grover and I swallowed my breakfast while Annabeth slid into the bench next to Percy.

“I’ll tell you what it’s about,” Annabeth said. “The Labyrinth.”

“Oh, okay, so we’re talking about this now,” I realized.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Percy told Annabeth. Campers weren’t allowed to switch tables. I wasn’t sure what the punishment was for switching, because it’s never happened. If Mr. D had been here, Annabeth and I would have been in big trouble, but he wasn’t here. Chiron apparently had already left. Quintus was still sitting at the head table, but didn’t say anything.

“We need to talk,” Annabeth insisted.

“But the rules-”

“Look, Grover is in trouble,” Annabeth interrupted. “There’s only way we can figure to help him. It’s the Labyrinth. That’s what Clarisse, Zia, and I have been investigating.”

“The Labyrinth isn’t in Crete anymore,” I continued. “Like a lot of ancient Greece myth stuff, it’s moved to America. Or, in this case, under America.”

“So… is the Labyrinth part of the Underworld?” Percy asked.

I shook my head. “No.”

“Well, there may be passages from the Labyrinth down into the Underworld,” Annabeth corrected. “I’m not sure. But the Underworld is way, way down. The Labyrinth is right under the surface of the mortal world, kind of like a second skin. It’s been growing for thousands of years, lacing its way under Western cities, connecting everything together underground. You can get anywhere through the Labyrinth.”

“If you don’t get lost,” Grover grumbled helpfully. “And die a horrible death.”

“There has to be a way,” I told him. Again. We’ve had this conversation more than a few times over the past few months. “Clarisse made it out.”

“Barely!” He countered. “And the other guy-”

“He was driven insane,” Annabeth interrupted. “He didn’t die.”

“Oh, joy,” Grover said sarcastically. “That makes me feel much better.”

“Whoa,” Percy said. “Back up. What’s this about Clarisse and a crazy guy?”

I glanced over at the Ares table. Clarisse eyed us like she knew what we were talking about, but as soon as we made eye contact, she quickly focused on her plate.

I lowered my voice as I turned back to Percy. “Last winter,” I started, “Clarisse went on a mission for Chiron.”

“I remember,” he said. “It was secret.”

I nodded. “It was a secret because she found Chris Rodriguez.”

“The guy from the Hermes cabin?”

Chris was a son of Hermes who had come to camp before I had. He was about a year older than I was, and used to be friends with Nisha and I, until he left camp soon after Luke did. Last summer, Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and I had found him on Luke’s war/cruise ship, the Princess Andromeda.

“Yeah,” Annabeth confirmed. “Last summer he just appeared in Phoenix, Arizona, near Clarisse’s mom’s house.”

“What do you mean he just appeared?” Percy asked.

“A few weeks after we got back from our quest,” I said, “Chris was found wandering around in the desert, in a hundred and twenty degrees, in full Greek armor, ranting about string.”

“String,” Percy said.

“He’d been driven completely insane,” Annabeth said. “Clarisse brought him back to her mom’s house so the mortals wouldn’t institutionalize him. She tried to nurse him back to health.”

“Chiron even came out and questioned him,” I added. “But it didn’t do much good. The only thing we were able to figure out is that Luke’s men have been exploring the Labyrinth.”

“Okay,” Percy said, trying to take all of this in. “Why were they exploring the Labyrinth?”

“We weren’t sure,” I said. “That’s why Clarisse went scouting. Chiron kept things quiet because he didn’t want to start a panic. The only reason he involved me was because… well, it’s Luke.”

“And he involved me because the Labyrinth has always been one of my favorite subjects,” Annabeth said. “The architecture involved…” Her expression turned a little dreamy. “The builder, Daedalus, was a genius. But the point is, the Labyrinth has entrances everywhere. If Luke could figure out how to navigate it, he could move his army around with incredible speed.”

“Except it’s a maze, right?” Percy asked.

“Full of horrible traps,” Grover added. “Dead ends. Illusions. Psychotic goat-killing monsters.”

“But not if you had Ariadne’s string,” Annabeth countered. “In the old days, Ariadne’s string guided Theseus out of the maze. It was a navigation instrument of some kind, invented by Daedalus. And Chris Rodriguez was mumbling about string.”

“So Luke is trying to find Ariadne’s string,” Percy said. “Why? What’s he planning?”

“I wish I knew,” I answered. “At first, we thought he wanted to use the maze to invade camp, but that wouldn’t make sense. The closest entrances Clarisse found were in Manhattan, so Luke wouldn’t be anywhere near our borders, let alone be able to get past them. Clarisse explored a little ways into the Labyrinth, but it was really dangerous. She had some close calls. Annabeth and I researched everything we could about Daedalus, but it didn’t help much. We can’t figure out what Luke is planning, but we know that the Labyrinth might be the solution to Grover’s problem.”

Percy blinked in confusion. “You think Pan is underground?”

“It would explain why he’s been impossible to find,” Annabeth said.

Grover shuddered. “Satyrs hate going underground. No searcher would ever try going in that place. No flowers. No sunshine. No coffee shops!”

“But,” Annabeth said, “the Labyrinth can lead you anywhere. It reads your thoughts. It was designed to fool you, to trick you and kill you-”

“- But if you can make the Labyrinth work for you-” I continued.

“It could lead you to the Wild god,” Percy finished.

“I can’t do it,” Grover insisted, clutching his stomach. “Just thinking about it makes me want to throw up my silverware.”

“Grover, it may be your last chance,” Annabeth said. “The council is serious. One week or you learn to tap dance!”

A throat clearing gained our attention, and my head swiveled to the head table, where Quintus was staring pointedly at us. I had a feeling he didn’t want to make a scene, but Annabeth and I were pushing it by staying at the Poseidon table for this long.

“We’ll talk later,” Annabeth said. She squeezed Percy’s arm. “Convince him, will you?”

Annabeth got up and went back to her table.

“It’s going to be okay, Grover,” I tried to reassure him. “We’ll figure it out.”

He just stared dejectedly at the table. I stood up and returned to my breakfast with Cabin Ten.

____________

That night after dinner, Quintus had us put on armor like we were going to play capture the flag, but the camp’s mood seemed more serious than that. At some point today, the crates from the arena had disappeared, and I had a bad feeling that whatever was in them was now running around in the woods.

Quintus stood up at the head table. “Right,” he said. “Gather ‘round.”

I found Ethan in the crowd and went to stand between him and Silena.

He was dressed in black leather and bronze. Mrs. O’Leary bounced around him happily, looking for food scraps to eat, then came right up to me.

I grinned, scratching behind her ears.

“You will be in teams of two,” Quintus announced. Immediately, everyone started moving around to get to their friends, he shouted, “Which have already been chosen.”

Everyone groaned.

“Your goal is simple,” Quintus continued. “Collect the gold laurels without dying. The wreath is wrapped in a silk package, tied to the back of one of the monsters. There are six monsters. Each has a silk package. Only one holds the laurels. You must find the wreath before the other teams. And, of course… you will have to slay the monster to get it, and stay alive.”

The crowd muttered excitedly.

“Lot more exciting than capture the flag,” Ethan grinned.

“Tell me about it,” I agreed. The goal seemed simple. Most of us had killed monsters before- that’s what we trained for.

“I will now announce your partners,” Quintus said. “There will be no trading. No switching. No complaining.”

“Arooof!” Mrs. O’Leary howled. She moved from my side to bury her face in a plate of leftover pizza.

Quintus took out a scroll and started reading off names.

Silena was paired up with Beckendorf, and she couldn’t hide her smile. I nudged her shoulder with mine, smirking. She shoved me playfully, both of us grinning. See, Silena had a crush on Beckendorf that neither of them would do anything about, and hoped they would soon, because it was super annoying how they wouldn’t tell each other how they felt.

Travis and Connor Stoll were paired up, which wasn’t a surprise. They did everything together. Clarisse was with Lee Fletcher. Percy and Annabeth were together. Grover and Tyson were paired together, which neither looked very happy about.

Then my name was called. “Ghaziyah Banerjee and Ethan Nakamura!” Ethan and I grinned at each other, and high fived.

“They don’t want to give anyone a fighting chance?” Ethan joked. Both of us were great sword fighters, and always rocked capture the flag when Aphrodite and Hermes were allied. I couldn’t wait to see how this would turn out.

____________

The actual game itself wasn’t important. Ethan and I almost beat Clarisse and Travis, but Grover and Tyson had a little issue. In order to make sure they didn’t accidentally kill each other, we missed the box with the laurel that would have made us win.

Luckily, Ethan wasn’t mad.

As I started taking off my armor, Ethan shuffled around nervously. “You okay?” I asked, undoing the straps of my breastplate.

“Yeah, I just-” He stopped. “I need to talk to you.”

I furrowed my brows. “About what?”

Ethan took a deep breath, then said all at once, “I wanted to leave camp.”

My eyes widened in surprise. “You-”

“I wanted to leave,” Ethan continued, “and join Luke’s army. But I don’t anymore.”

My mind was reeling. “You wanted to leave?” I asked, unable to keep the hurt and confusion out of my voice.

Ethan nodded, looking ashamed. “I did. I have a lot of anger toward the gods- you know that. And when I met Luke, so did he. The gods don’t pay enough attention to their kids, and he was really the only one doing something about it. But I realize… that he isn’t going about it the right way. I’ve decided to stay.”

“You have?” I asked, my hopes raising slightly.

“Yeah. I just- you’re my best friend in the world,” he said. “You’re the only one who actually accepts that my mother is Nemesis. You’re basically my little sister. The last thing I want is to mess that up.”

I processed everything Ethan just said, finally whispering, “So… you’re staying?”

Ethan nodded, beginning to smile. “Yeah. Yeah, I’m staying.”

I grinned, squealing happily, and gave my best friend a bear hug, causing him to laugh.

“Hate to break up the fun,” a voice called, causing me to pull back. I turned to see Clarisse. “But we have a problem.”

I tensed, placing my hand on my sword. “What’s wrong?”

“Percy and Annabeth are missing.”

I would love to say I didn’t freak out.

Truthfully, I just about had a heart attack.

The whole camp, including Chiron, searched the entire woods.

After about an hour, I was on the verge of a panic attack when we heard shouts that they had been found.

Ethan and I followed the voices to Zeus’ Fist.

“Thank the gods!” I exclaimed, launching myself into Annabeth’s arms, causing her to stumble back from the force. Before she could react, I pulled away and hugged Percy tight. “Where were you two?”

“We’ve been looking forever,” Clarisse added as I pulled away, examining my friends for injuries.

“But we were only gone a few minutes,” Percy protested, confused at my outburst.

“Only a few minutes?” I repeated. “What, did you time travel?”

Chiron trotted up, followed by Grover and Tyson.

“Percy!” Tyson cried. “You are okay?”

“We’re fine,” Percy said. “We fell in a hole.”

We stared at him, confused, then looked at Annabeth.

“Honest!” Percy insisted. “There were three scorpions after us, so we ran and hid in the rocks. But we were only gone a minute.”

“You’ve been missing for almost an hour,” Chiron said. “The game is over.”

“Yeah,” Grover mumbled. “We would’ve won, but a Cyclops sat on me.”

“Was an accident!” Tyson protested, then sneezed.

I would have laughed if I wasn’t so confused.

“A hole?” Clarisse asked suspiciously.

Annabeth turned to our mentor. “Chiron, maybe we should talk about this at the Big House.”

Suddenly, it clicked, and I looked at Clarisse, who seemed to have come to the same conclusion. “Oh, my gods,” I said in amazement, my eyes widening. “You found it, didn’t you?”

Annabeth bit her lip. “I- Yeah. Yeah, we did.”

About fifty campers started asking questions at once, but Chiron raised his hand, quieting everyone. “Tonight is not the right time, and this is not the right place.” He eyes the boulders like he just noticed something wrong with them. “All of you, back to your cabins. Get some sleep. A game well played, but curfew is past!”

There was a lot of complaining, but the campers made their way back to the cabins.

“This explains a lot,” Clarisse said. “It explains what Luke is after.”

“Wait a second,” Percy said. “What do you mean? What did we find?”

Annabeth turned to Percy, worry clear on her face. “An entrance to the Labyrinth. An invasion route straight into the heart of camp.”

After that, Clarisse, Percy, and Clarisse headed back to their cabins, and I followed. It was difficult wrangling a bunch of eleven- to sixteen-year-olds together for bedtime. And I thought living with a one-year-old was difficult.

I turned toward the cabins, and I noticed Ethan was still there, a little ways away. He looked like he heard everything, but I wasn’t too worried. I smiled, pretending nothing was wrong.

“Come on, let’s head back,” I said happily.

He nodded, but didn’t say anything.

I couldn’t read his expression, and it made me nervous.

We stopped as we reached our cabins. “Good night, Ethan,” I said quietly.

“‘Night, Zia,” he responded, and we went our separate ways.

#rise up #zia banerjee #teen wolf #teen wolf oc #pjo #pjo oc

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percysbluepizza · 4 years

Text

Oh we ARE impertinent

okay since @annabetncnase asked for it, my big ole post, UNEDITED about the Lightning Thief Musical on Broadway. good luck to anyone who attempts to read this shit

ACT 1

Prologue/Day I Got Expelled

Alright so there is big boom lightning at the very very beginning of the show because Of Course there is? But it also comes with a huge flash of light, which startled liTERALLY everyone in the audience. Very fun, good use of technical effects. First guy on is James Hayden (Luke + Some) and he opens with the line. Then KRISTEN FUCKING STOKES (whom I have grown to ADORE) and the rest of the ensemble (Sally, Claiese, and Grover) come on and have this AMAZING choreography. They’re singing and all and then these curtains (which have been up and are on my pic) get pulled away from both sides by the whole onstage cast and CHRIS runs up and does this slide thingy to the very tippy top of the stage, where he sat for a moment, then turned to the audience and started. I about screamed and I’m not joking, he’s so expressive and such a great Percy (god I’m in love with him great work). As the song progressed, I was impressed by the ability with lighting use and all these cool stage tricks to have the Mrs. Dodds and also the pen/sword thing! Jorrel plays Grover so well, he’s so empathetic and caring toward Percy and I!!! So the whole story of him getting expelled is explained and god it is so fucking sad. Percy’s voice cracks. Percy’s fucking upset clearly and doesn’t understand and ouch…. ‘So if you think you are a half-blood’ is said so gently, and then THE DANCING. Chris can dance. Like well. Very well. So during ‘THis ain’t Odyssey’s Odyssey” he did a big ole kick and danced his heart out. SO good.

Strong

So obviously there’s some talking in between the first piece and this one, and there was a scene change when the lights went out and now they’re in Percy’s apartment with his mom and Gabe. Gabe is like… god you seem him and you loathe him bc he’s played so well. Percy sprays a chan of ‘aerosol’ at one point bc Gabe smells. And Chris just captures Percy’s compassion so well… He tells his mom that she doesn’t have to stay with Gabe and doesn’t deserve that and ugh so good. There are genuine blue marshmallows. and the way they did the little fire with the fog in the bucket and Percy’s mom’s comforting him hhh.

The Minotaur/The Weirdest Dream

The transfer to this scene/piece is very quick, Grover comes running in with a trash can over his head and he asks if Percy told Sally about the field trip and she said no and it was just a big mess of miscommunication. He basically gets to the point where he says the Minotaur is after Percy and holy shit. This boy is massive. And the design of it is insane and it’s got red eyes and wow. ‘I hope you’re really a SWORD” and he fight and it’s all just great. Sally goes away, Percy kills the beast and then ‘Don’t pass out…” Poseidon is in a tank top and a open Hawaiian shirt as well as flip flops and just “oh look, a man in a Hawaiian shirt’ He takes the seashell and is just the most confused. And then they bring in Annabeth, pushing her on one of those dolly things and she’s ‘floating’ and the whole thing is a big dream. Up until she tells him “You drool when you sleep” right and the thing is… the banner for CHB unfurls and the lights come back up and all of that and just it’s a true rude awakening. Then he looked around the camp and was so confused, Annabeth (beautiful, amazing, badass Kristin) started explaining what was happening and he had no clue. She then calls for Mr. D

Another Terrible Day

I don’t think you guys realize how good Jorrel is. Maybe you do but we stan Jorrel. But he comes out dressed in not matching clothes with a bright button up (pink) and plaid shirt, suspenders. He’s angry. Percy explains that he has no clue what’s going and everything’s getting explained to him with the other demigods. The other demigods are so cute and I love them so much. And he’s yelling through a megaphone. Jorrel can do so many roles so well and he did a great job. “You’re a horse?!” also he just clops. Like it’s human legs. Clip clop bitch. With a tail.

Their Sign

Again the transition from the first song to this second one is really fast. Chiron’s comforting but god is Percy angry. I love that tbh. Chris is clearly upset and he feels for Percy. And he shows it. He’s upset and then Percy’s voice goes all soft… Love that. Luke starts being buddy-buddy and showing him that it’s gonna be alright. Supposedly.

Put You In Your Place

Fucking. Sarah. Goddamn. I can’t believe how good she is. We stan so hard. Her fit? Great. Her voice? Belted. Awesome. Annabeth truly out here though. SHe’s intimidating as fuck and she knows what she’s about. There’s so much cool battle choreo in this scene and it just looks great. There’s blocking and stabbing and it looks awesome. Also that guitar riff that she comes in with is rad. And then the bathroom thing. Great. Percy’s cornered and it clearly shows that his powers came as a last resort with stress and the way they flashed the blue lights is just great I love that so fucking much. And they’re asking about the way he figured out those powers and they’re freaked out. Cool shit. Also “The plan would have worked either way.” Holy fucking shit. Annabeth is fucking scary as hell. She gives zero fucks about Percy at the beginning

The Campfire Song

The way they made the campfire is so cool! Very techy. And I didn’t realize they’re sitting around the campfire eating dinner together as a camp. Very family much love I’m a big fan. They’re putting the food into the fire and then complaining and I love it. Percy’s so sweet trying to talk about his mom and then come back around once they tell him what’s going on. Also they have a cute dance they do together. SO unified and lovely. And then THE FUCKING SIGN COMES. Percy’s sign. The whole thing. They’re looking and he’s like “Is that a fork?” “I’m the Son of Poseidon? sweet!) Everyone freaks out when they’re sure he’s a son of Poseidon. Percy is told to go see the “Mummy in the attic” “That’s old people talk for Mom, right?” Cue the Oracle.

The Oracle

This sounds so dumb but kinda like… found the Oracle impressive. Spooky. 10/10 Also… side note… Chris plays Percy with a lot of random mannerisms and movement and it’s really quite fun to watch. Anyway the Oracle is big spooky and she’s in a huge dress and she’s pointing to him and it has all the people who are in the next scene sitting there underneath and moving the dress. Big cool. And the vocals! Sis can sing. And it’s just beautiful bc then Percy has to see Mr. D and Chiron, the first of whom wants to turn Percy into a dolphin. “Percy you have no choice.” “You’re expelling me again?” Basically Percy is getting kicked out of camp bc of his unwillingness to do the quest. And there’s the transition to Good Kid my friends.

Good Kid

Guys oh fuck. Oh shit. Chris just really came out here to kill with the vocals tonight. And My heart? He kinda does a fist thing toward what would be the Big House and walks off to sulk, starting the song and walking around being angry ugh. He climbs up the back of the stage (which is essentially scaffolding) and sits at the end to deliver the sad part of the line when everything goes piano-y and soft and essentially that’s him sitting at the docks at the lake and watching the water. Luke later finds him (“If you’re a son of Poseidon, don’t hide at the lake, that’s where everyone will look.” and talks to him about the quest, where they figure out his mom would be in the Underworld if she was anywhere. Also there’s a trident where Percy is the middle prong and the other two are blue and shine on him UGH yeah

Killer Quest

“Yeah I’ll do it!” Was delivered so well, so sweet and innocent. This kid just misses his mom. Also since when did Luke and Percy get a bro handshake? Grover shows up with a bunch of bags and says he’ll go too (Luke’s chilling in the background) and he gives him the official questing backpack. I think Luke leaves at this point to get some shoes. Annabeth is there with a bag telling him that she’s going too and that her mom will be excited and they’re all dancing together and god I’m so emotional. They dance and they all work as a team so well great work you guys. And the lights turn out with them starting their quest!

Lost

Return from intermission with a literal bang, as there are three demon triplet math teachers on the bus, with Percy on top and Grover and Annabeth inside. The driver’s screaming, they’re screaming, Percy hops off the top and then fights the fury outside and eventually… The bus explodes, with confetti raining over the audience. Awesome. The piece of paper is in Annabeth’s bag pocket actually. And Percy’s trying to be a reassuring friend to Grover, who’s freaking out, and he’s trying to keep Annabeth safe too… ugh great stuff. They move all together when they say “We’re lost in the woods” for the first time. Their priorities really become clear later in the song when they talk about what they’re wanting. Grover could not be more enthusiastic about the squirrel. Also this is the first time we see Annabeth laugh at Percy “I think that’s kind of nuts” is the line and she turns around to laugh into her hand. PURE AS HELL. Wandering aimless through the forest occurs for a minute longer until Percy decides. This point in the musical made me realize that these kids are young. Like 11 or 12. I love that. I felt that in this one. The kids go into Auntie M’s art studio. Annabeth’s asked to take a picture and she’s checking her hair in her dagger, meanwhile Percy’s getting a bad feeling now and Grover’s looking more and more intently at Uncle Ferdinand. Percy is then asked to join in. No camera you say? MEDUSA REVEAL. They do a big battle and Grover ends up picking up Percy and swinging him around to cut off Medusa’s head. Which gets thrown in her own fridge for the time being. Grover leaves.

My Grand Plan

Bitch. This was the moment I teared up a lot. She sat down and started singing and I felt. I FELT. I’m depressed as fuck at the moment and I started feeling things bc of this damn song. Kristin Stokes I love you. Anyway, she’s singing and Percy intently watches, and she’s telling the gods to Wise Up by pointing directly to the sky. SHe’s saying BITCH YOU WILL NOTICE ME. And the pain in her voice when she explains her family situation. The soft part? She’s talking directly to Percy and looking at him, telling him what’s going on. Dear god did I feel. I’m so proud of her my queen Annabeth Chase. She finishes explaining and Percy says: “No more fighting” and she says “Not between us anyway” and they shake on it. I love that. Then Percy decides to have a little fun with the gods and boxes up Medusa’s head. “THey’ll think we’re impertinent Percy.” “Oh, we are impertinent.” He writes both Annabeth and his own name on that box and ships it via the Hermes express. Grover comes back in. “While you guys were in here not solving all our problems, I found these!” “Three Amtrack tickets!?”

Drive

We boarding the train. WE singing. Life is dandy again. Percy sticks his hand in a dog cage and it bites him. They take a tractor which is scaffolding tied to a wheelchair which a guy pulls. They meet Bianca and then they meet Ares after arguing with each other. Cool guy. Also Percy looks so free and proud of himself when he’s on the back of the motorcycle “I mean, look at where I am!” He’s so PROUD holy shit. Also they all put one foot forward during the different lines god the Choreography so fucking cute dear lord. Anyway they’re going and going and they meet Bianca who’s got braids and then they move on!!! I love them! I’m proud. They take another bus. “This time we just won’t blow it up.” They’re sitting on the bus (or train not really sure) and all asleep. Percy’s dreaming now. And Annabeth and Grover are also sleeping. Each is on a chair and it’s kind of cute tbh.

The Weirdest Dream (Reprise)

Percy’s standing there in his dream and he’s very confused. This is ‘scary” and I love that. He’s standing and listening to the these people in his dream talking. Kronos is so fucking scary they literally make him scary. His voice is so deep and spooky and fuck man. Luke’s talking to him (downward, into a pit, technically on the top of the scaffolding) and he’s in a cloak and Kronos says Percy’s name and the lights flash all sorts of colors and then he’s back in his seat. Chris does a bunch of spins until he gets back to his seat and Grover’s shaking him awake, saying he was screaming. Annabeth can’t sleep either. Everyone’s on edge. Thalia’s name was mentioned in the dream and Grover sits up straighter and says he hasn’t heard that name in awhile.

Tree on the Hill

Oh shit this was so emotional. So Grover explains that he didn’t tell Percy this any sooner because he was afraid Percy might not want him to come. Big sad. But he starts the song and let me tell you I never felt like crying more. So Grover’s narrating this story and Percy’s listening on the train and above them, like with the main bridge, Annabeth, Luke and Thalia are slow mo acting out the details of the story until Thalia becomes a tree. Thalia is the same girl that plays Clarriese, and every other character almost omg. But when he’s explaining her turning into a tree, Annabeth and Luke stand behind Thalia and become the branches. So symbolic and so beautiful. Percy comforts Grover and then it’s the last stop.

DOA

THis song. At first I didn’t like it on the soundtrack. Skipped it. But goddamn what a bop. The sparkly dress, the funky tunes, the control of all of the kids so they all dance together. Also dying in a really big bathtub. Yeah. Real. The way they did the elevator with the lights moving in the background was actually super convincing and I Loved that. The dress sparkles all over and all the other background people are in cloaks are dancing too, including James who makes this beautiful jump I love it so much. But they’re all scared and cornered against the light and then have to reconvene together. They all get up from the ground frazzled and then Percy’s shoes start doing something weird. His feet start flying away from him and he’s confused and freaking out and all of a sudden they’re in front of the pit. Oh god the pit was so cool. I thought the feet were shaking and it’s so cool and and the pit literally looks like a pit. I know they’re looking into a light but it’s so scary! The shoes go down into the pit and the tartar sauce joke is made. I love this. SO scary. AND BOLT REVEAL. The line that Percy’s says “betrayed by a friend’ that accuses Annabeth after she pulls the bolt from his bag. I gasped. And then Hades comes around and he’s in a sparkly jacket and says he’ll have his friends and his mom back if he gives him the bolt and then gives them a chance to decide. Everyone walks off stage and he stands there and debates.

Son of Poseidon

Percy’s mom comes out and tells him that what belongs to the sea can always return. She does a little loop around him and he spins in a circle and follows her for a moment. He starts singing and GOD CHRIS. He’s realizing that he has the shell and all that. He blows the conch and a blue light shines on the right side of the stage, the PORTAL. They jump through the portal and they’re all excited that they survived. Standing on the beach and Percy pulled new shoes out and starts putting them on. He tells them that they’re his two best friends and he hugs them close and fuck man the original trio feels. They summon Ares. Ares comes out and he’s fucking ripped and got a pipe. A literal pipe. They start fighting and it looks like they’re losing, Annabeth lost her dagger (which was strapped to her thigh goddamn) and Grover’s down, Percy’s lost his sword. “Percy get to the ocean” He runs to the stage, Kristin and Jorrel run backstage and deliver the blowers with TP. “How about a lot of it!”He yelled and theres the music and he’s relishing the moment, Chris is just giving it his fucking all and there’s a lot going on and I just.. Was amazed beautiful. Great work cast. Ares is washed away and then Percy says: “You can escort us, back to camp.” They’re escorted back.

Last Day of Summer

Percy is standing there and he’s stunned essentially. What does he do now? He gets a letter from his mom with her newest sculpture and that she’s going to school. Annabeth passes him and talks to him about going home and she calls him Seaweed Brain. He and Luke battle when he accuses Luke of being the lightning thief. Luke fucking says yes right and then STABS HIM after trying to convince Annabeth to pick the right side (his side) and she disarms him but he takes a knife and stabs Percy. He runs away, Percy’s on the ground, Annabeth’s at his side and holding him. She’s giving him emergency ambrosia as he’s dying and he looks like he’s gone but then he comes back. She says Seaweed Brain and he says Wise girl and hugs him to her and SHIT man.

Bring on the Monsters

Percy motivates the camp. Tells them it’s real, shits getting real and they need to get ready. He’s got his sword and his fresh stab wound and he motivates them to get going, all of them sing and then Chris does his beautiful solo thing and stands in front with his sword and they’re all singing in the background. When he maintains his line on the bottom people are passing back and forth around him and touching his shoulder as they pass him and he yells excitedly back next summer at one point. And they all stand together in the back and the spotlight hits him as he says he’ll be back next summer and the guitar ends. damn.

The curtains come up and they’re all there taking bows and I love them. Main points: these boys flexible, they’re all doing kicks and all sorts of shit like that, jumping up and down and dancing as well as singing, I’m very impressed. also Chris plays Percy so well. He’s got all the things that were in my head for Percy for all the quirks and ADHD and UGH I love that. Kristin rocked my fucking world and Jorrel played every character so cleanly and had such great vocals. I love them. I love them all. The end.

If you made it to the end of this fucking long ass post send me an ask or a message bc I’m proud of you and you deserve a reward

#julz talks #tlt musical #I am very emotional and in love with every single on of them #also... I wrote this right after the show so I was just FEELING my dudes

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flightfoot · 5 years

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A Convergence of Apollos Chapter 2

I studied Hoodie Apollo’s face as we all ran out of Central Park. He looked guilty and bitter, though I wasn’t sure why. Because he sent us on this quest alone last time? At least, assuming he was right about being a mortal Apollo sent back in time by some method (note to self: ask how that happened). I didn’t think he was lying. The emotions he showed were too raw and genuine for that, plus there was God Apollo’s reaction to consider. But I still had a hard time believing it. A lot of strange things had happened to me since I became a demigod, but this would DEFINITELY go in my top ten.

“So where’s the Celedon?” Meg asked as we exited. Apollo thought for a moment, slowing down as a look of embarrassment swept over his face.

“I... uh... I... don’t know,” he admitted sheepishly. “Percy and Grover found her last time, I didn’t care enough to ask about it.” A bitter tone tinged the last part of that sentence. I was beginning to worry about this guy, whoever he was. He really seemed to hate his past self, or at least who he believed was his past self. “But they found, stopped her, and brought her back to Central Park by sundown, so it can’t have taken TOO long. So, uh...? Percy, Grover... where do you think we should look?”

I blinked, caught off-guard. I’d been looking forwards to not having to lead the quest. Oh well. At least I had more help than I originally thought I would.

A diva who wanted to make a name for herself singing to the largest crowd she could...

“Times Square,” I said after a minute. “It’s in the theater district and is full of tourists just walking around, able to hear her singing.”

Apollo smiled at me and nodded appreciatively. “That makes a lot of sense. It’s where I’d go, if I was a Celedon. To Times Square it is!” He walked authoritatively for a few yards in one direction, then stopped. “Er... how do we get there again? Normally I’d just fly over there in my Sun Chariot, but right now...”

Meg sniggered. “Come on, Oh Great God of Getting Lost. I’ll show you how to use the subway.”

Apollo shot Meg a slightly annoyed look, which she ignored. He huffed and started after her, Grover and myself close behind.

As we rode the subway, I glanced at the dead-turtle-lyre God Apollo had forced onto Grover. “Hey, Grover? Do you know how to use that thing?”

“Well, uh... kind of? I learned the basics, and us satyrs have a natural affinity for music, so hopefully that’ll be enough?”

“I can play it,” Apollo chimed in.

I nearly smacked myself. OF COURSE Apollo could play his own lyre, mortal or not. Though if he was mortal...

“Hey Apollo?” I asked. “Does the lyre have any powers of its own? Will it still work if the musician is mortal?”

“Oh yes,” he said, looking like Annabeth does when someone brings up architecture around her. “This is the lyre I used the first time I was turned mortal, in fact. I helped build the walls of Troy using this lyre.”

Huh?

Did he use the lyre as some sort of divine brick-laying tool?

I mean, I’d seen stranger improvisations (I will always savor Rachel hitting Kronos in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush), but it still seemed weird.

My confusion must have been evident on my face because Apollo continued explaining. “This lyre conjures up items based on the music you play. Back then, that meant bricks. Lots and lots of bricks. But it can summon other things too.”

“Like a cage for the Celedon?”

“Yes, like that,” he agreed.

Grover handed the lyre over to Apollo, but he hesitated a bit as he slowly held it out to Apollo, as if struck by a nervous thought.

“Er... Apollo?” he asked nervously, starting to chew his shirt in his anxiety. (He’s a satyr, he does things like that. One time he got so nervous and hungry he had eaten massive holes in his shirt before he’d realized it was even in his mouth. It couldn’t be salvaged, so he took it off and ate the rest of it.)

“Just... be careful not to scratch it, okay? Please? Apollo - er- the OTHER Apollo said he’d incinerate me if I did, and he’s really freaked out right now so I don’t know WHAT he’d do if it was damaged.”

“Incinerate..?” he said disbelievingly, his voice squeaking at the end. “I... said that?”

“if you damage it, I’ll incinerate you,” I recalled. “That’s what he said.”

“I...” the guy looked close to tears. “I... I shouldn’t have said that. I shouldn’t have even considered it. Your lives are worth more than a musical instrument. Plus you were doing a favor for ME. It was WRONG.”

He took in a shaky breath. “Grover, I know you’re not friends with me now, in this timeline. And considering how I acted, I’m surprised your counterpart is friends with ME in my timeline,” he said with a wry smile. “But I still consider you to be one of my friends, and I wouldn’t hurt you no matter HOW annoyed I was at you, even if you DO like Walt Whitman.” (I was confused at this, but Grover seemed to recognize the name at least). “I won’t allow you to be hurt either, not while I have the power to stop it.” his eyes gleamed softly, and for a moment I thought they were glowing. It was gone so quickly, I wasn’t sure whether it was a trick of the light. “If my past self gives you trouble, I’ll handle him.”

“Thanks,” Grover replied. “I thought with this quest that this would be a pretty bad birthday, but meeting you had made it less-bad than I thought.”

“It’s your birthday?” Apollo asked, looking surprised.

“Really, Apollo? You did this on Grover’s birthday?” Meg chimed in, sounding annoyed.

“I didn’t...” he closed his eyes for his moments and furrowed his brow. “I... thought it was Percy’s birthday?” he muttered to himself, eyes still closed. “Wait, but Percy’s next birthday he was turning sixteen, the Great Prophecy hinged on that, I KNEW this wasn’t his birthday...” he trailed off and opened his eyes.

He took in a deep breath and left it out, then took turns looking Grover and I each in the eyes.

“I didn’t care,” he muttered, his voice tinged with bitterness and self-hatred. “It didn’t matter to me whose birthday it was, or what you were already doing. Because I was a god, I was more important, my needs were more important than yours. So why should I bother remembering that it was Grover’s birthday? It had no effect on me, and I was the only one who mattered.”

“Then I was turned mortal again, and had to live with you, amongst you, as one of you, AS EQUALS. And I cared.”

“I don’t know what made the difference this time, exactly. I didn’t care the last two times I was turned mortal. But then again, those times, I stayed separate from most mortals and their struggles. I didn’t experience what they did. And I was still partially divine, I still looked like myself, I still had ichor in my veins. Or maybe because this time, I was with people who needed me. Not because I was a god, but for who I was.”

His eyes shimmered with unreleased tears. “My children...” he whispered. “I barely knew them, but they did everything they could to make me comfortable at Camp Half-Blood, even though I just wanted to sulk. They embraced me as family. I’d only appeared in their dreams every now-and-then. They acted more like family towards me in those few days I spent at Camp Half-Blood, than I had towards them in their entire lives. I couldn’t even REMEMBER the last time anyone had cared about me that much, AS A PERSON. I didn’t deserve them. I DON’T deserve them. I’m their father, and yet THEY took care of ME. I can’t... I can’t think of myself as their father. Not really. I haven’t earned the title. But they’re my family, and I will protect... them...”

His eyes grew wide. “MICHAEL!” he shouted, startling the other passengers.

“Huh?” I said, confused. A nauseous feeling broiled in my stomach. Why would Apollo look so frantic about his oldest son? At least the oldest one at Camp.

“He... he died. In the Battle of New York City. I... I don’t know how. I and the other gods were busy fighting Typhon at the time. I don’t know if you can change anything. I don’t know if anything that happens now can change fate. But... still, please. Look after him?”

I looked at his pleading face, remembering the last time someone had asked me to look after their family. She had died a few days later. But...

“I’ll try,” I promised. I hesitated. “You know that I don’t have a great track record with keeping people from dying though, right? I promised Nico that I’d try to keep Bianca safe. I failed.”

“I don’t have the best track record with keeping people safe either,” he admitted. “I promised Thalia I’d check in on Jason, on her little brother. He went on a quest with me to help defeat one of the emperors, Caligula. He’d gotten a prophecy a few months before that said that if he and Piper helped me, one of them would die. He could have refused to help. No one could have stopped him. I certainly couldn’t compel him too, the way I am now. But he helped anyway, because more people would die if we didn’t help take Caligula down.”

He took a shaky breath as the tears ran down his face, unable to hold them in anymore. “The... the prophecy said that it could’ve been either of them. He decided that he would be the one to die. He couldn’t bear the thought of Piper dying. I... I said that we’d succeed without either of them dying. He just smiled and made a joke. But he... he asked me to make a promise. To.. to take the designs for some shrines he’d been working on back to Camp after he died, and... and to remember... to remember what it’s like to be human.” He let out a choking sob.

“Even then, even as he was about to march to his death, he was worried about his fellow demigods, OUR FAMILY, who we’ve mistreated so, SO badly. Because they were more important to him than his own life. He was a hero.”

His puffy and bloodshot eyes took on a steely glint. “I’m keeping that promise. I WILL remember this if I survive, if I regain my godhood. And I WILL make things better. I promise.”

This guy... he’d been through so much. He had so much self-loathing and self-hatred for what he’d done, and for what he’d failed to do. He recognized his mistakes and was trying to fix them. Because he CARED.

I pulled Apollo into another hug. He stopped holding back his tears, letting out huge sobs.

“He would be proud of you,” I told him. “You’re trying. That’s enough. He wouldn’t want you to beat yourself up endlessly.” I didn’t KNOW Jason, but based on what he’d told me, I was fairly confident I was right. “Just try. That’s the best any of us humans can do.”

Apollo smiled as he pulled away, breaking my hug. “Thanks.”

As we pulled into our stop, I took another look at Apollo. He looked nothing like the god I had seen earlier. He didn’t glow when upset. Yet right now, as he stared determinedly at the doors, ready to help capture the Celedon, to make sure she didn’t harm any innocent mortals, I thought that he’d never shone brighter.

#a convergence of apollos #fanfiction #trials of apollo #percy jackson #lester papadopoulos #apollo #grover underwood #meg mccaffrey #the trials of apollo #toa

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trustthemagentamadman · 5 years

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So I’ve just spent almost an hour in the Percabeth tag because nostalgia and I’ve seen a lot of these and I wanted to make my own

- Percy and Annabeth go to the same college (I don’t know which one, I’m thinking something in NY)

- Percy graduates mostly because Annabeth helped him study

- Annabeth is valedictorian

- Percy proposes on graduation day

- After College, Annabeth starts designing a section of Camp Half Blood like New Rome

- at the end of that summer, Percy celebrates his birthday at CHB

-Annabeth insists on him opening her present last because “I guarantee nothing would be able to top it”

- Her gift is a card that says “Dear Percy, Happy Birthday! I’m super bummed I couldn’t tell you that in person, but I can’t wait ‘til the end of March when I’ll finally be able to meet you, and even though that’s a while away, I already know I love you, and you love me, too. I’m super excited to tell you that, but until then, see ya later Dad. PS Tell Mom I’m sorry for making her feel icky all summer”

- It takes a minute to figure it out, but when he does, he looks at Annabeth, who’s holding a box

- She opens it to reveal a pregnancy test. It’s positive.

- Fast forward, it’s a girl

- Her name is Andromeda Grace Jackson (nicknamed Andi)

- Thalia cries when she hears her name

- Obviously Thalia was invited to the birth; she’s absolutely family

- They invited Grover too, but he figured it would make him queasy, so he stayed in the waiting room for all nine hours of labor

- The family of now-three lives in New Greece (they decided not to name it New Athens to avoid favoritism)

- They never have a shortage of babysitters

- They have family dinner with Sally, Paul, and Estelle every week so that their mortal family can see her

- They visit Frederick every time they go to Camp Jupiter

- Before long, baby #2 comes along, a boy named Jason Luke Jackson, followed quickly by another boy, Charles Magnus Jackson

I could come up with more, but it’s currently 4:30 in the morning and I ought to have gone to bed at a reasonable hour or at least not this late, so goodnight.

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pixiealtaira · 6 years

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Together

Hummel Holidays 2016 prompt 12: gingerbread

Pairing: Kurt/Adam

Note: see another cheesy title....

“Kurt, remember when you told me your dad took you to a festival of trees and the Nutcracker Suite? There is a festival of trees here that is matched with a gingerbread house festival. Everything will be up for bidding and the proceeds go to various youth arts programs around the city. They are looking for people to volunteer and to make creations.” Adam said as soon as Kurt answered his phone. “There is a poster up here at NYU.”

“Would we have time and what size for items?” Kurt asked.

“If I call and get details, will you work together on something for it with me?”

“It sounds fun.” Kurt said. “I’d love to.”

Kurt tucked into his class and instead of concentrating on set design from script reading, Kurt drew Christmas Tree themes that could be done for not too much and gingerbread houses.

Adam called just after Kurt’s class ended to tell Kurt he’d started the gingerbread and that tree had to be at least 4 feet tall or they could do a garland and wreath set. He told Kurt had had red, white, green and black four inch wide ribbon that would work for either and he knew someplace that he could get either trees or wreaths and to bring what Kurt thought would be fun to decorate with when he came.

Kurt stopped at the candy store on the way home and bought runts and chocolate rocks cotton candy in various colors and gum and all sorts of other little candies and candy’s like starbursts and gummies that could be molded. Then he saw an idea that made him smile and he knew what he wanted to do. He left with a bunch of starlight mints as well.

A stop at a craft store for plastic bulbs in various shaped and sizes, various colored boas and pompoms, googly eyes, felt, white yarn and big darning needles, cookie cutters of all shapes and sizes and smaller ribbon later and Kurt was on his way to Adam’s apartment.

Adam’s apartment smelled divine when Kurt arrived. Adam was behind the counter mixing another batch of gingerbread and Kurt went right to him.

“I’ve got an idea for a tree or wreath, I think it would work for either, but it is a bit odd.” Kurt said

“And that is?”

“Sesame Street.” Kurt said. “Mainly the monsters.”

“That could work.” Adam said. “Do you want to do a wreath or tree?”

Kurt sighed. “I think a tree. I also bought cookie cutters which we could use to make cookies or just hang on the tree and I thought we could make little candy containers as well…I figure we should have hot glue and heavy cardstock paper from making Christmas decorations earlier.”

Adam smiled. “Alright, let’s spill out all our treasures and see what we have that works. Draw up your ideas.”

Kurt drew out his ideas for the characters they would need and placed bulbs with each.

“I’ve got Big Bird, Cookie monster, Elmo, Grover, and Oscar.” Kurt said.

“How about Bert and Ernie?” Adam asked.

Kurt nodded. “We could do those.”

“How about Henry, the Count, and Kermit?” Adam asked.

“And Telly. And Zoe. And Rosita.” Kurt added.

“If we can make all those, we could then see what else we would need to make a tree look full.”

“We can google other monsters to add. I’m sure some have been added since I watched it much last.”

Adam laughed. “I know some have because when I watched it with my nieces last year I didn’t know several of the characters.”

“We’ll have enough, I’m sure.” Kurt smiled. “I need the hot glue gun. You draw out your gingerbread house plans. I’ll look up each monster so we can get the faces decent. I wish I could think of a way to do snuffy.”

Adam put on Christmas music and Kurt got to work on ornaments while Adam baked.

They chatted and sang along with songs and talked about baking with family and watching TV when little and what things their families had always done together.

It was a perfect way to spend the afternoon and evening.

Adam made dinner and they ate between putting up the walls of the gingerbread grocers. While they let the icing set on those, Adam dragged Kurt down to the dollar store and Kurt met Percy, who helped Adam start up the Apples when Adam was a first year at NYADA. Percy had the connections to several smaller fake Christmas trees. His sister had just had a winter wedding and was donating the trees they used to decorate with. He actually sent Kurt and Adam back to Adam’s place with two trees and enough lights to light them. Kurt gave Percy and his sister ornaments…the first set of Oscar and Henry which weren’t quite what Kurt wanted but was good enough to know which characters they were.

They built the front food stands for the grocers, little boxes and tables and bins to put under the awning Adam was making out of a fruit roll up. Kurt and Adam filled the crates and bins with runts and other small candies formed into veggies and fruits. They created a cobblestone type pavement for the front. They made roof tiles out of gum. While Kurt was piping the windows details, Adam strung lights on the tree and wrapped it in the green ribbon.

They had ended up with twenty monster and puppet ornaments. They had both heads of the two headed monster and Prairie Dawn and Abby and Guy Smiley, Ruby, and baby bear. They had extras their favorites…Oscar and Cookie Monster and Bert and Ernie and Big Bird and Harry, which Adam tucked into a box for their tree.

Kurt couldn’t help beaming when Adam called it their tree.

They decided to hang a dozen cookie cutters and then make two dozen treat tubes. It wasn’t a packed tree, but it was a full enough tree that both Kurt and Adam thought it might make the charity some money.

Kurt stayed over. He had come to love staying over at Adam’s.

Not just for the sex, like his roommates insisted. Oh, they had sex. Kurt hadn’t made them wait long once they got back together, since that had been one of the buttons Rachel and Blaine had pushed to get him back with Blaine for that brief time during March and April and May, before Kurt came to his senses in summer and broke it off again. Often they didn’t have ‘full out’ sex, as Kurt put it.

Kurt liked sleeping cuddled next to Adam, he liked midnight frottage and morning wake-ups via blow jobs. He liked the constant touching they engaged in at Adam’s, hands caressing as they passed each other, or held as they sat and watched something. Adam loved pulling Kurt’s feet into his lap as they sat together on the sofa, or tucking Kurt into his side for snuggles.

He liked watching things he liked to watch with Adam. He liked watching things Adam liked to watch.

He liked sharing space with Adam…and their lives. He hadn’t ever felt like things were evenly shared with Blaine…or even ever at the loft. It was wonderful.

And Adam was constantly coming up with things like the Gingerbread house to do. It made Kurt feel a part of where he lived. It was nice. And Kurt was ever so glad he had not messed it up completely.

#glee fanfic #hummelholidays #kadam

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spellbindingbeefcake · 6 years

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Smooth Evening || Z & Wally

As they both finally take initiative, Wally and Z go on a date. From their house to the bar, to the movies and back again, it’s a night of good food, good theater and some wonderful company.

Happened on 11/11/17

Wally hoped he looked good. He’d gone to their neighbors apartment to change, thinking it’d be nicer if he actually “picked up” Z at the front door. Wally hadn’t been on a first date in years and he wasn’t sure if he should have gotten all dressed up or just gone in something simple. He decided on a simple white shirt, brown leather jacket and jeans. Wally’s neighbor seemed to think he looked good, which helped to sate the blondes nerves. He went over to the door of their place and knocked. “Is there a Z here? You have a blonde, uh, hopeful demigod waiting outside.” Wally already knew he’d be bad at talking tonight. He hated this, feeling like there was pressure on him to do a good job and try to impress Z. It was easier when they had just been getting handsy on their counter top table.

Living as a hopeful, bright-eyed lover of romance in a city full of people meant experiencing a few of the same routines over and over again. For Z, those specific experiences usually fell into the category of first dates. Somehow, they never lost their magic, despite how often they lead to nowhere other than a night tousled in sheets and then a text message later indicating how ready the other man was for another taste. Chivalry may have died, but the romance stayed strong. The thought of how dreamy the night could be had led him to dress in something comfortable, but methodical. His violet colored button up fit perfectly. Two buttons were open nearest the collar and the sleeves had been perfectly folded up to reveal forearms lightly dusted with soft brown hairs. His wrists were adorned with two bracelets made of leather and his legs filled his grey colored, form fitting slacks in a way that gave just enough to the imagination as they lead down to a nice pair of black shoes. Honey eyes surveyed the man in the mirror as hands worked to tame the dark curls on Z’s head when a knocking sound reverberated loud enough to reach his room. With a nod to himself, he headed for the door, grabbed his beige colored trench coat and the key to their flat, and opened the door to reveal his roommate. An easy smile grew on his lips as he took in the sight of the taller man. “Very clean,” he said after a moment, tilting his head. “It’s a relief to know that I’m not overdressed.”

“You look fantastic, Z.” He opened up his jacket and smirked, looking over his body and tilting his foot up. “You like it? Just something I pulled out of the closet.” Wally put his arm out for Z, grinning at the other. “Shall we? I don’t know that they’ll give our table if we’re late.” A little joke to help ease his own nerves. “Then again, I doubt the bar will be backed on a monday night.” It had been about a week ago they planned on going on a real date, now the night was finally here. Wally and Z went down the stairs and out to the street. “So, I heard you’re going on a date tonight? Who’s the lucky schmuck that gets to kiss you tonight?” The blonde tilted his head as they went down the sidewalk. It wouldn’t be a far walk, just two blocks in fact. Thankfully the lived close to The Forum.

All that could be offered as a response to Wally asking about his outfit was another nod before took the man’s arm into his hands and chuckled softly. “What a gentleman,” he mentioned as they headed out of the building. He was incredibly excited about the prospect of going on their little date, though he’d hardly admit to it. Z decided to allow the small pep in his gait serve as an indicator for how delighted he truly was. “I am, indeed. I’m hoping my date is going to go well enough for him to earn a kiss from me.” The shorter man made sure to apply a bit of emphasis to the word just to play up the aura that was already present. “Ten points to you for using the word ‘schmuck’, though. Very nice touch.” His hand delivered a few soft pats to Wally’s bicep.

“Oh I think he’ll earn it well, trust me.” Wally looked down at Z and his eyes lifted. “Really, I’m getting points already? Damn, it’s going better than I thought. What does fifty points get me? Or, a hundred points?” Wally looked ahead. The street was lit up every with lamppost on the sidewalks, then brazers on the walls of buildings. He took a look up at the sky and smiled, silently praying to his mom that this went well. “The sky is clear tonight, it’s really pretty. Have you ever been star gazing before? I used to do it when I first got to camp. A few of us would go up and sit on the roofs of the cabin and just talk about who we thought our parents were, looking up at the stars.”

Perhaps it was the haze of event or the purity of the atmosphere, but there was something intransically magnificent about Wally tonight. He hadn’t ever been entirely unpleasant. In fact, Z would confidently say that on a general basis, his roommate was a little over tolerable at worst. At best, or nearest to it, he was a wonderful man. “If you can manage to get fifty points, I’ll hold your hand...I may even interlock our fingers. At one hundred points, though I wonder if you’ll be able to get that many, I’ll kiss you at the door after fiddling with my keys in proper date-night fashion.” He looked up then after, eyeing the stars. “What was it like? Camp Half Blood, I mean. What were you like there? I didn’t meet you until after you’d departed.”

Wally couldn’t help but chuckle at their little game. “Hmm, so using enormous and dignified words already got me a few points. What else can I do to earn your tokens of affection?” This was not nearly as bad as he thought. Wally found it quite easy actually to talk with Z. On a usual day, back when they had first been staying together, Wally never pressure to try and please Z. He wanted to make himself look good, naturally, but he never went out of his way to appear more than he was. “Mm, crowded for a long time. Until Percy, Grover Underwood and Annabeth saved the world and all, it was a little messy. Not every god had their own cabin, so all the minor gods, my mom included had to stay in the Hermes cabin. Staying on the roof was actually more comfy and then being sandwiched between other demigods. But, the rest of my time there was amazing. The activities were fun, I got to learn about who I was. I made some really good friends. I wish you could have been there with me while we grew up. I think you would have liked it.”

“That was a reasonable guess, but the reward came from the fact that ‘schmuck’ is Yiddish. It would be far too generous of me to give you points because you’re broadening your vocabulary,” Z explained as he tilted his head. A single star had grabbed his attention and held him there, too entranced in its twinkling to look away. “I can’t imagine how crowded the Hermes cabin must have been if so few gods are regarded as major to the pantheon.” Just the thought of children piled up on top of each other, for any reason, in a place designed to give them security was absurd and awful. Though, considering their heritage as a whole, it wasn’t entirely uncharacteristic. The Ancient Greeks weren’t exactly the moral apex of the civilized world. “Hm...I don’t think you would’ve cared much for me back then, nor would I with you at that age. You’re already a big baby now, but back in your camp days, I would’ve seriously thought you were infantile...” he trailed off as he moved his shoulder over and bumped it into Wally’s form as they moved. A soft chuckle left his lips. “...but I’m thankful that we met when we did. I was older and more patient, plus we grew up at different times. Right here and now is the perfect time, I think.”

“Then I will make sure to be on my best behavior tonight. I swear that by the end of the night I’ll have the most points.” Wally noticed Z was looking up for a while and then tried to see what he was staring at. Though it wouldn’t be good for neither of them to be watching the street ahead, so he looked forward as they made their first turn. “Well, there were only twelve cabins, each for one of the twelve olympians. Any child of any god not included got stuck in the Hermes cabin - until Percy set the gods straight.” Wally agreed with Z that now was the perfect time for them to be together. Wally was a real kid back then, despite being a kid. But, in his defense, it was a “camp”. You don’t really act like a grown up in camp. They got to the bar without conflict. Wally got them a seat at the bar. Right away he opened up the menu. “You wanna share an appetizer? Maybe some fried pickles or nachos?”

There was a promise on Wally’s lips that Z had no doubt he would keep. “Confidence definitely earned you five more points,” he said with his eyes still pointed up to the sky. His little star seemed to move and his lips opened ever slightly, eyes full of wonder. It hadn’t occurred to him to look down until Wally began speaking again, to which he lowered his head just a bit so that his upward gaze would be on the man’s face rather than his special star. “What an odd system.” He didn’t have much else to add. There had been talk of what Camp Half-Blood was like for many people, but he still couldn’t very well fathom the notion that gods could be divided in such a manner that they would treat the children of some like the destitute. As if being a demigod wasn’t divine punishment enough. He waited until they were inside Wally’s choice in dinner locations before he spoke again. “Oh yes. I would love to.” His mouth watered at the options, but he didn’t express it openly. “I think nachos might be better for the breath, though. That is, of course, if you’re really intent on getting enough points to earn a kiss.”

“I think we’ll go with the nachos then, Z.” Wally smiled at the bartender. “A long island iced tea please for me, whatever he is drinking, then nachos for appetizer.” He looked to Z quickly and said, “I’m only having the one drink, is that okay with you?” He then looked down at the menu, going right to the options for whatever kind of chicken strips they had. He actually hadn’t been to this bar before, so that was two new things he would trying out tonight. But Wally, chicke strips are basic. Go out of your comfort zone, witch! He to himself.

Wally had a habit of ordering for Z and the older man grew to think fondly of the gesture. It saved him the trouble of speaking any extra words to servers. This way, he could order just his drink and not have to worry about much else. “I’ll have a water, please,” he said with a soft smile. The server was regarded for but a moment more before leaving and Z watched over his date rather than look down at his menu. He knew what he’d be getting. There was always some sort of bite sized pasta or risotto to be offered in these places. “Are you alright?” His head tilted as he continued to survey Wally carefully. “You look as though you’re trying to refrain from setting your menu ablaze.”

Wally heard Z order a water but didn’t ask him yet why it was that he wasn’t getting even the simplest of refreshing sodas. Perhaps Z figured Wally was paying - which he was - and didn’t wanna empty the man’s wallet. “Hmm? Oh, no. No, I just can’t decide if I want this macaroni pasta with chicken strip, or if i just want the chicken strips. What do you think? Either way there’s gonna be a side order of mash potatoes.” He smiled a little and looked down at Z’s menu. “Don’t you wanna take a look?”

Z’s eyebrows furrowed as Wally spoke, but they evened out in tandem with the private laugh that escaped from him. “I think you should go with the chicken strips if it was the defining factor of the pasta,” he suggested, nodding a bit. “Though a macaroni does sound pretty delicious. How about you get one and I’ll get the other for later? I don’t think I could do a side of mash, though.” He’d choose something green. If he were nothing else, it was conscious about his carb intake for the sake of maintaining his body mass index. “Not until dessert. I prefer to ask about the specials first and only open the menu when it’s time to try something drizzled in chocolate or caramel.”

Wally’s mouth popped open and his jaw locked. “Z! That’s really sweet dude, what a great idea. So, we’ll each get the other thing. But if you like pasta, get the macaroni and - oh, did you see this? It’s a four-cheese macaroni.” Wally licked his lips and made an obnoxious popping noise. He laughed a little and put his elbow on the table, resting his head while looking at Z. “Specials? Aren’t you a fine dining man? Next time I’ll try and reserve a table at That Snooty French Place.” Wally looked over, seeing the bartender plant down one water and one long island iced tea. Wally smiled at him. “Can I get a water too please?” He only took a sip of the fruity drink, looking back at Z again. “So, did you see the news, about The Alley?”

The look was absolutely adorable and Z had to blink in order to avoid staring. “Four cheeses? I’ve gone to Olympus,” he reveled, though the tone he used gave off a level of ambiguity that could’ve just as easily been sarcasm. He smiled anyway, perhaps a little brighter when the other man’s body language made him feel as though he were the only thing worth looking at for a moment. He was being hopeless. “I don’t think you’d survive very long at ‘That Snooty French Place’. Vous avez l'appétit d'un enfant.” Once again, he gave the bartender a wordless look of gratitude, but quickly returned his attention elsewhere. This time, it was on his glass of water, which he brought to his lips. “Yes. I knew the divide was...serious, but I hadn’t thought on just how serious it was until this.” It was a half-truth. He had an idea, thanks to Callum. To stop seeing someone strictly because they weren’t Roman meant he really was in over his head by living in New Rome.

Wally’s eyes widened a good bit when Z slipped into a French. It was then that his hand reached for the long island iced tea and he took another sip, rolling his eyes. “Ah,” he said, annoyingly. “I may not speak French but I did understand ‘appetite’. So I’m going to assume you just said,” he cleared his throat, “‘Wally, you are the smartest, greatest man I’ve ever met and I am so hungry for you.’” He tilted his head and then raised an eyebrow. The waiter returned with the nachos and asked if they were ready to order. Wally nodded, giving Z a look that suggested they’d pause the conversation. “I’m gonna have the chicken strips with mashed potatoes. He will have the four cheese mac and cheese chicken pasta. But we’re gonna keep the one menu to look at desserts.” He smiled as their waiter nodded with a soft expression and went to go put their orders in. “Yeah, does it make you feel any way about living here?”

Now, Z had two looks to commit to memory when thinking back on the night later on. There were many things Wally didn’t know about his roommate and Z looked forward to seeing the reactions to each. Just as he went to reply, he noticed the server. As Wally spoke, he snuck a hand over to the nachos and pulled one tortilla chip away from the mass. Hungry eyes watched as the cheese strung the whole and he brought it into his mouth before anyone could notice. His hand covered his mouth as he chewed, which did a bit to muffle the sound of his crunching, but he managed to swallow it before the server left. “I absolutely did not say anything like that, but I respect your attempt at translating,” he said finally, smiling for a moment before keeping his features schooled. He didn’t want to give off how bothered he was by the thought of what had happened recently. “I don’t think my opinion of New Rome has changed much from this. Admittedly, I don’t know much about this culture, so I imagine it felt different for me than it did for you. Are you going to be okay to live here longer?”

Wally plucked a cheesy covered nacho from the basket and popped it in his mouth. His stomach cheered as it finally received food for the first time in seven hours. Wally was just now realizing how hungry he was. “Those are pretty good.” Wally shrugged his shoulders and nodded. “That makes sense. It worries me a bit, but I’m trying to focus on the good stuff, ya know? Like controlling my powers -- so I don’t give my friend a pair of ears, even when they match his person.” Wally winked and nudged his side. “Did you have a nacho yet?” Wally took another and smiled. “They’re very good!” Wally looked at his drink, wondering if he should have another sip. He’d ordered the beverage to help ease the mood, but Wally wasn’t feeling the need to do so at all. Instead he sipped heavily on his water and took another nacho, pleasing his tummy.

“That’s awfully positive of you. Though, I think your powers of perception need just as much work as your magic,” Z said with a pointed look. His hand reached out to grab another nacho and eyed it before chuckling a little to himself. “If you didn’t notice me eating a nacho earlier, I could perhaps give up my career as a medical psychologist and become an assassin instead.” After taking the food into his mouth, he made a few motions with his hands as if he were chopping the air. It only made him laugh more around the food. His eyes turned to half moons and his cheeks got a little rosy. Once he was done chewing, he spoke again. “I could be a secret agent—a sleeper agent!”

“Nah, your life would be way to easy an assassin. All you would have to do to get your guy is to put him to sleep then kill him in any way you see fit. You need to do something that,” Wally thought on the word for a moment, “challenges you. Something totally opposite from helping others and sleeping.” He smirked. “Maybe you could be a lawyer? Like that kid Otis, have you met him? Son of Nemesis.” Wally slapped Z’s arm suddenly, pointing over with gusto as their food arrived. “That was really quick, thanks!” He smiled up at the waiter who accepted the gratitude and went off since the two young men seemed alright. “Okay, lemme know how yours taste.” With that, he dug into one of the chicken strips, then dipped it in honey mustard and then took a bit out of that. Wally moaned again, looking over at Z and nodding. “Oh dude, chicken strips never fail to be a classic anywhere you go.”

Z thought over what Wally said and had to agree as he calmed down from his laughter. Though he couldn’t imagine himself actually going through with killing another person, he had to admit that his powers gave him an unfair advantage in the field. “I have met Otis, yes. Lovely bloke, but being a lawyer would be even easier. I could just hypnotize people to tell the truth,” he shared just before the food came. He ignored the other man’s childish patting in excitement in favor of smiling at his meal. The fork had already been placed into the pasta when he was addressed. Z scooped some up and then pressed the tongs of the fork into a piece of chicken before pulling it all into his mouth. With a groan of his own, he nodded silently. “I’ve truly gone to Olympus...:”

“Glad I could take you there.” Wally nudged him again and winked. As the date continued, Wally only got happier and more excited for what was to come. The food was good, he’d barely touched his long island tea, and Z was just great company to have around. Wally took this time though, while they talked to think about what it’d be like dating Z. He imagined that it was just like this, only with more kissing and touching, which he was all for. As they finished up, Wally looked over at Z, after handing the waiter his money. “So, you still up for a movie?”

Dinner had carried on with pleasant conversation and a mutual gushing over the deliciousness of the food they’d ordered. Z had managed to get Wally to eat some of his pasta off of his fork, which was a sight to behold given how absolutely adorable the blond looked enjoying the meal. The food was heavy, but not overly so, and had managed to make the darker haired man a bit sluggish. His body fought the urge to slump backward and slouch—his perfect posture would suffer. Once the server came by to collect the payment, Z let his eyes fall on Wally instead of at the man now wandering off. “You were serious about the dinner and a movie sort of date?” he asked. The corners of his lips upturned, pushing his cheekbones up until his eyes became half moons yet again. “I think that sounds lovely and certainly worthy of some brownie points, but only if I get to pay.” The way his eyebrows lifted showed that he wouldn’t waver on this.

Wally smirked and nodded at his date. “Of course. The theater has a few good movies playing, but I thought we’d see Thor: Ragnarok. You like Marvel movies, right?” The blonde beamed at the way Z’s eyes showed. They were easily the most beautiful thing about Z’s face. “You can pay for the popcorn and drinks. I’ll buy us the tickets.” He smiled and nodded at the waiter when he came back with the change. Wally left a nice tip and got up, offering his arm again to the son of Hypnos. “Shall we, Mr. Z?” He walked out of the bar with Z, so happy that he was still sober and immensely proud of himself for not acting weird or trying to be something he wasn’t. “That food was so good. We’re gonna have to go there again. Gods though, your dinner was delicious!”

Z couldn’t help the way his face lit up at the thought of seeing the new Marvel movie. He had intentionally avoided looking at any trailers and advertisements so he could be completely surprised while watching the film. Originally, he’d planned to see it sometime in the following week by himself, but getting to see it with whom he deemed the closest person to him currently sounded amazing. He was too excited to even fight Wally’s suggestion on who would pay for what. “I’d love that,” he said, tone not nearly as boisterous as his thoughts. Though, the sultry and smooth nature of his voice didn’t ever personify excitement very well. “We shall.” He took Wally’s arm and they were off into the evening air again. As they walked, he thought about where they would sit in the theatre. “I agree. It would be a nice lunch place if neither of us cooks. You picked the perfect place.”

Wally was so happy that Z was on board to see the film. He too was anxious after catching up on all the Marvel movies he hadn’t seen. Hopefully this would compare to Spider-Man: Homecoming. The trip to the theatre wasn’t that long and when they got there, Wally looked positively giddy. “Alright, I have something to admit. Chris Hemsworth . . . he might be one of my favorite celebrities. So, if I fall for him again in this film, we might have to end things. Is that okay? You can find some other marvel stud, I’m sure.” Wally bought their tickets and went inside, pointing over to the counter. “Go on, boy, get your daddy and you some foods.” He laughed at that, having put on a thick and very bad country accent.

“I’m more of a DC actor man anyway,” Z commented as he considered the ratio of attractive actors in each production company. With people like Henry Cavill and Jason Momoa, Marvel’s casting direction never really stood much of a chance. “You can have your god of thunder because I’ll have Superman.” The tickets were paid for and Z could barely contain his own personal giddiness, which came in the form of his smile getting a bit wider. It faltered just a little when Wally used the poor quality accent, but it was replaced with a gentle snickering. “Don’t ever call yourself daddy again...Please.” With that, he headed toward the concession stand and ordered their popcorn bucket deal with two drinks. He settled on a lemonade for himself and a sprite for Wally. It didn’t take long for any of it to be prepared; and, once it was done, he looked to his date. “Are you ready?”

Wally rolled his eyes. “Is it because of Wonder Woman? I don’t think the Amazons would treat you any differently just because you like DC more, Z!” He got louder as Z walked away, then just gasped and yelled across the commons area. “I bet you’d let Superman call himself daddy, hmm?!” Wally slowly walked over, tickets in hand. He nodded to Z and smiled. They walked into their appropriate theater and took a few seats in the mild. He looked over at Z and smiled. “I guess we chose a movie where we can’t make out. Unless it’s bad.” Wally looked back to the screen then bit his lip. He leaned over, eyes still on the screen and whispered. “Let’s hope it’s bad.”

There was a bit of pink tint to the tips of his ears as he finished up with the concession stand, cursing himself for allowing Wally to once again find a way to make him feel even the slightest bit embarrassed. “You’re incorrigible,” he said, for what felt like the hundredth time in their time of knowing each other. When they arrived in their theatre, Z had ushered them to the perfect spot and he sat down, wide eyes staring at the screen and getting all the more enthralled by the pre-movie games that flashed on screen. “I suppose you’ll just have to wait and see.” His voice was hushed as he turned to eye his date’s profile. “Besides, if it turns out to be half as amazing as Spider-Man or Guardians, the excitement may be electric enough for you to get even more time snogging me after the movie.”

Wally blushed a little and nodded. “Just don’t eat all the popcorn, okay?” Wally dug his hand into the bucket and - despite having just eaten a full meal, scarfed down a fistful of popped kernels. The trailers went by too slow it seemed. He didn’t have much interest besides the one that was for Justice League, in which he nudged Z at the appearance of Superman in a dream sequence. “There’s your guy.” But once the movie came on, Wally’s mouth went off. He was good at that, not talking during a movie. It was the one time he seemed to actually not be able to talk. Wally would remember just laughing till his cheeks hurt from this movie, because that’s basically what happened. He was loving it from beginning to end. The comedy, the costumes, Thor. He cheered at the end and was shaking Z by his arm, looking at him for answers. “Well? What did you think?”

Z was almost positive that Wally’s jaw practically unhinged in order to fit that much popcorn in between his cheeks. It reminded the man a bit of a chipmunk storing its nuts for winter and that image only made him think even more fondly about Wally. It remained as the only image that he could really commit to memory until the Justice League trailer came on, which he perked up to watch his celebrity crushes. The movie was met with an equal amount of thorough tunnel vision. He laughed at many of the jokes and inside references, found himself awestricken with the visuals of the battle sequences, and appreciating the small nods to Marvel’s shift into a more light-hearted plot environment. The cheering from beside him pulled him away from the credits and he crinkled his nose, chuckling. “I thought Valkyrie was easily the most enjoyable part of the movie,” he said with a shrug that defied how chipper his tone had become. “I did think Thor was exceptionally fit in this, though. I really liked it.”

Wally rolled his head back onto the seat and let his mouth hang open. “That was so good! Like, easily one of the best films. I loved it. I loved Thor and Hela and Korg and Valkyrie!” He laughed a little and looked at Z. “She was really cool! I loved that thing she did with her ship and the gauntlets, ya know?” Wally’s hands worked to help create what was he thinking of. He got up and took Z’s empty drink and threw it into the bucket of popcorn - or the bucket of kernels left. He walked out of the theater with Z, breathing in the fresh air of the late night and putting an arm around Z’s shoulder without much thought. “So, did you have a favorite part? And do you see now why Thor is such a G.O.L.F. aka God I’d like to fuck.”

“Absolutely. Marvel is really stepping up when it comes to movies recently and they did not disappoint me with this one,” Z said as he followed after Wally, gait filled with more ease than it had before. There was really nothing like watching a good movie with someone you enjoyed. It filled him with immense happiness, and taking in the night sky once they exited had only given him more to be happy about. “I did have a favorite part! It was when Hela told Thor and Loki to kneel before her. The command...the raw power when she caught Mjolnir...I loved it! And yes...I admit that Thor is insanely hot.” He fanned himself jokingly as he laughed a bit, letting his body move in closer to Wally’s after his arm had been strung across his shoulder. “The short hair was all sorts of yes. I wanted to run my fingers through it.”

“I’ll be honest, I kinda want Hela to destroy me. I think it’d be fun. I’d totally let her kill me.” It hadn’t even occurred to Wally before that moment that Thor and Hela were real. There were tons of Greek myth movies and the Greeks were real. Was Thor, Odin, Loki and the rest of them all real too? He shook away the thought and just smiled at Z. “Her destroying his hammer was so cool. I don’t know if I have a favorite moment thought. But it’s all just super good. I can’t wait for Infinity War. That will be so freaking bomb!” Wally looked around them as they walked. His kept falling to Z. “Little disappointed we couldn’t make out. Would’a been pretty hot, but, ya know. It is what it is.” He sounded like he was trying to play it off, act cool and all. But really, Wally wanted to kiss Z again. They got to the apartment, having had a lovely walk between the theater and here. “So, I guess we say our good nights here? Maybe uh, you go in, then I’ll go in a few minutes after you? Just to, you know, make sure we do this first date thing right.”

His laughter only got louder and more genuine at what Wally had to say about Hela. “Words have never resonated with me more than just now,” he said in between fits of inhaling air, body only drawing closer to Wally’s in his comfort. Z would think on such a reaction later, when the high from their first date had settled down and had been replaced by their routine. “I couldn’t be more anxious about what Marvel could do to possibly make the franchise any better than it already is. This film was top.” They talked a bit more about the movie as they wandered toward their apartment. It was still a bit strange thinking about the fact that they were doing this date night thing despite living in the same place, but the quirkiness of it all was somehow enchanting. Z pulled out his keys when they got to the door.. “I think before I go inside and you twiddle your thumbs for a bit to keep the fantasy…” he trailed off, hand shaking a little to hear the jingles of his keys. He intentionally dropped them and gasped in obviously mock shock. He smiled warmly, yet with a hint of a challenge. “Could you?”

Wally rolled his eyes and nodded, smiling. He bent over and slowly went to pick up the keys. “Gotta be careful, Z. With those kinda butterfingers, you might drop more than just your keys.” As he stood up and handed the keys back to Z, he pocketed his hands in his shoulders. “I had a wonderful time tonight. I think - I wanna do it again.”

Z had expected as much from Wally when the keys were returned to him without much attached to the sentiment. He rolled his eyes, letting his smile show more teeth as he gripped the other man’s jacket in both of his hands. “That was the part where you did this…” he started, pulling on the material to yank Wally’s body down enough for them to be at eye level with Z standing on the tips of his toes. His eyes closed as he planted the softest of kisses to Wally’s lips. They tasted of buttered popcorn and a hint of honey, all too sweet.

Wally closed his eyes as he melted into the kiss, smiling against the man, putting his arms softly around Z’s waist. It was quick, the kiss, but memorable. As he brought himself away, licking his lips and staring quietly at Z, he realized he had stopped breathing for a few seconds. Wally quickly fixed that by sucking in a long draw of air and then blushing. “That . . . that was really good too, Z.” He ran his fingers through Z’s hair and leaned in to kiss his cheek. “Sleep well, buddy.” He winked at Z, grinning as he took a step back to let Z go in.

The kiss had been short and chaste, but something about it seemed to go on forever. When they parted, Z’s eyes fluttered open and he found himself laughing again. His grip on Wally’s jacket weakened and he tipped his head back a little to gaze into his roommate’s eyes. “Congratulations on your hundred points,” he whispered. He then released the man in time with a kiss being planted on his cheek, which only made him smile more. He pulled a rather comedic face when he turned to open the door, shooting back a look that involved him sticking his tongue out to his roommate. It dissolved into a smile sooner than he intended. He’d blame it on the moment being still too romantic. “You too, Wally.”

#para #para: z #god this took so long to do haha #and its sooo long #they went on a date #it was good

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amazing-percy-jackson · 7 years

Text

Senior Year Chapter 2

Heres chapter 2

word count: 4,231

Chapter: 2/?

Percy's POV

Percy sat down at the table having finished almost all of the cookies they had made earlier that day. Annabeth was on his side with his mom across from him. He brushed the crumbs onto his hand then onto the empty plate. He learned the hard way to never brush crumbs onto the floor.

"I've been meaning to ask. Where's Paul? I haven't seen him at all." Percy looked at his mom, who was sipping on some tea she had just made for her and Annabeth.

"He is at the school having a meeting trying to get ready for the school year. Speaking of the school..." she said looking at Annabeth. "Do you have everything you need for school? Are all the papers in order? Do you have the supplies?"

"Well Chiron made up some paperwork from all the schooling I've gotten at camp and all my other schools. He also talked to the principal on the phone to square everything away. He made sure that they knew that you are my guardian, legally. So all the paperwork is good. But for the supplies. Not really. All I brought is a couple t-shirts a couple shorts and jeans, my blueprints and a few books...." Annabeth rattled off everything she put in her bag. Sally smile and got a weird look in her eyes.

"I feel a shopping trip," she said happily. Percy groaned getting out of his chair to put the dirty plate in the sink.

"Percy never really liked shopping," Sally explained, "I always make him try it on. He says I embarrass him." Sally rolled her eyes. "Maybe if you come he would be more willing. How about tomorrow? We can make a whole day out it. We can get some back to school clothes and all the supplies you need before orientation on Saturday."

"Mom since when did we have the money for a whole day of shopping?"

"Well since you asked, I actually am getting a book published. The publisher sent me an advance a couple days ago. It is definitely worth more than a day of shopping." She had a huge smile on her face. Percy couldn't help but show some teeth too. He couldn't have been prouder. All those years of her telling him story after story have finally paid off. He crosses the room to hug her for the millionth time today, but he would never get tired of feeling her arms around him.

"What is it about?" Percy sat down by Annabeth again.

"Would you guys hate me if I told you it's about these three kids going on quests and two of them realizing that they love each other." Percy sat straighter and Annabeth repeatedly said, "No we could never hate you."

"You wrote your book about us and Grover?"

"Yes. What else would I write about?"

"What about all those stories you told me as a kid that you wanted to write?"

"Well I hope I can get to write all of those too."

"I hope you do too, Mom. If anyone deserves it, it's you." He got up to kiss her on the cheek and put their c now empty cups in the sink. He started to walk away when Sally gave him a look he knew very well from his childhood.

"I haven't done dishes in like a year Mom!" He complained.

"You know not to leave dirty dishes in the sink Perseus." His eyes widened and he turned on his heels quickly rising off the plates and putting them in the dishwasher.

"I'm gonna have to use that one," Annabeth said.

"Don’t think you're gonna get off easy, either, Annabeth. I love you, but you are gonna have to start earning your keep." Percy turned around to give her a teasing look.

"Don't worry Sally. I'm sure I’ll earn my keep better than Percy."

"Is that a challenge?" Percy asked.

"No..." Annabeth said giving Sally a look. Percy walked back to the table, gave Annabeth one more stare, then told them that he was going to start unpacking. He walked back to his room leaving the two people he loves most in the world to talk alone, most likely about him, but he didn't care.

He got to him room, stopping at the door to take it all in. His bed in front of him, the dark blue covers pushed to one side. The window next to the bed by the head. Sometimes he would it open to listen the sound of New York better at night. His desk under the window with a view of the apartment complex across the street. The closet across the room from his bed, his hamper inside under his hanging clothes. A big dresser to his left across from the window. He really only used the dresser to put miscellaneous thing in that he didn’t have a spot for. It wasn't a big room, but was his room. It wasn't like his cabin, too big for him it made him feel all alone. But just the right size for him.

He would say that it doesn't look like it had been touch in the months he was gone, but he didn't remember what his room looked like when he left over 8 months ago. He also knew better. If Annabeth had been here with his mom then she was definitely in his room. Percy unzipped his bag. He dropped all the clothes that were in it into his hamper. He kinda forgot to do his laundry before he came. Okay... He didn’t forget he just didn’t do it. He left almost everything else at camp. He really didn't want anything here to remind him of his other life. Except Annabeth of course, and a few Camp t-shirt. Other than those everything is at his cabin. He set his bag on the floor hearing harder thunk than he should have.

He reached in the grab the phone Leo had made. Oh, right, he thought, Already forgot about you. He turned it over in his hand, inspecting it. It looked just like an iPhone. Percy pushed the button in the front and the lock screen opened up. It was a picture of Leo, of course, on fire making the words 'Your Welcome' with the flames. Percy chuckled at the picture. He slide his thumb across the bottom to unlock it. He then saw another picture of Leo, but this time with the words 'Really you don’t have to thank me'. He tapped on the contacts app to see that it was filled with people just like Leo said. He scrolled through them. He chuckled at every contact name. Beauty Queen. Blonde Superman. The Guy That Starts With F. Scary Blonde. Cursed Kid. Goat Man. Supreme Commander of the Argo 2. It was the last one that got him though...Birth Giver of the Great Percy Jackson. He laughed out loud holding the phone to his side.

Annabeth came running to see what was the matter his mom right behind her.

"What are you laughing about Seaweed Brain?" He held up the phone and he could hear his mom suck in a breath.

"Percy you know that phone aren't good for demigods. What are you doing with that?" She almost reached out for it but Annabeth intervened seeing how Percy couldn't answer her.

"No, it okay. Leo made them for us. He designed them so that they are safe for demigods to use. I don't know why Percy is laughing so hard though?"

Percy held out the phone for Annabeth to take. She read off all the contacts giving a chuckled as she read the name for his mom. Percy looked at her when Annabeth read it and saw her blush a little. Annabeth kept reading until she got to the name for her.

"Scary Blonde.....?" She said in a tone that told Percy she did not appreciate it. She handed the phone back to him. Percy took it laughing even harder at her face.

"Yeah," Percy said wiping the tears off his face and facing his mom. "Leo made these so we can stay in touch, while staying out of danger from monsters. He made you one too." He handed her the black phone and explained that it can only be used to call other IMPhones. She took it gratefully.

"Hey Annabeth can I get a picture of you?" Percy said opening the camera.

"Why?"

"Because Leo made the lock screen and home screen his face, and I don’t want to look at that every time I use this. I would much rather see your beautiful face."

"Well since you asked so nicely." Annabeth walked to sit down next to Percy on the bed. She posed for a picture with him. It was probably the first time she genuinely smile in a long time. He took a couple more of her until she had had enough and was telling him to stop. He set the home screen as the best picture of her and his locked screen as the picture of both of them. He then went in and changed a couple contact. He changed them all to the appropriate names except Grover's, his mom's, and Annabeth's. He changed those to G-man, Wise Girl, and just Mom.

"Check your. What did he put for me?" Annabeth went out to grab her phone from her bag and came back in a couple seconds later. She pushed the button and laughed at the picture. She showed me the picture of Leo which I laughed at again.

"Ummm....He has you as....." She started laughing before she could get it out. "He put you in as Water Boy!" She fell over on the bed laughing. Percy started laughing too and couldn't stop. They hadn't laugh like this in what felt like forever. And now that they started they couldn’t stop. Mom came in to see what the matter, but they couldn't even tell her. They just laughed more when she said okay and left.

Percy couldn't explain why he was laughing anymore. The Water Boy thing was funny about 5 minutes ago, but it really shouldn't be funny anymore. Maybe they were finally having the mental breakdown, but in an unusual way. Annabeth sat up holding her sides with tears running down her face grabbing Percy's shoulder and telling him to stop laughing. She opened her camera and took like a billion pictures of Percy. Every time he told her to stop she would take another and claim she had to change her lock and home screen too. He took a deep breath in and out trying to calm down so Annabeth wouldn’t take anymore pictures. He was starting to calm down when Annabeth went into her phone and changed his name to Seaweed Brain and changed everyone else to their own names. Then she went in and changed her screens.

"Oh man. That really wasn't even that funny, Percy."

"I know, but it was funny, if you know what I mean." He leaned back pulling her with him. They just laid there giggling every once in a while, but mainly just thinking. Thinking about the next year. Their Senior Year, together.

Percy looked at the clock that was still on top of his dresser. 4:48. Mom was going to start dinner soon, if they still eat at 5:30 sharp. She would coming in soon to see what they want. They would have to get up soon. Reluctantly, Percy pushed off the wall, sitting up. Annabeth fell over into the spot Percy was.

"What are you going to want for dinner?" He asked.

"I'll eat whatever Sally makes."

"Ooohhh. She doesn't like it when you can't decided. Trust me. We'll have some pizza. I have been craving some of my mom's pizza for the longest time." As if on cue Sally come in to ask what they want to eat and Percy replied with pizza. Sally asked if he wanted to help get dinner ready, which he nodded enthusiasticly in reply.

"I'll just be in my room unpacking," Annabeth said.

Percy walked into the kitchen. He grabbed the flour, salt, and yeast as he crossed the room. Sally grabbed almost everything else. He grabbed the mixing bowl out of the dishwasher, freshly clean. He set it up and started measuring out the recipe he knew by heart. He wasn't sure when he noticed that his mom was just leaning against the counter. She wasn't doing anything but watching.

"You could help a little, you know," Percy said.

"It looks like you got it all under control."

"Barely," he whispered under his breath. He knew that she heard him. Some part of him wanted her to ask what happened. He knew that he would feel better with her knowing. He would tell her every part. Once he starts he wouldn't be able to stop until he told her everything. She would hug him, holding him like he was a little kid again. He would start to cry when he would feel her strong arms around him. And he would feel better when he was done. But another part him wishes that she never knows what happened to him and Annabeth. Percy knows that could never happen though.

What will happen when one of them has a nightmare. Screaming in the middle of the night. Waking everyone up. Holding each other until the other calms down. How was Percy going to tell her when Annabeth was breaking down in his arms? Or when Percy was crying and calling for Annabeth? No. He couldn't do that to her. He has to tell her.

"Was it that bad?" She asked. She crossed the kitchen and put a protective arm around his shoulders. Percy almost broke down with that one touch.

"Worse," he confessed, voice cracking.

"Sweetie when you want to talk...I'm right here."

Percy sighed with relief. He really shouldn't be surprised that she isn’t pushing him. She has always been really cool with stuff like this. Percy honestly didn't know why he freaked out for a second back there. He was, once again, for about the hundredth time that day, thankful that he was back with his mom. For a horrifying second he was also thankful that he couldn’t remember her for almost seven months. His mom was on the other side of the country worried sick about him....while him? He was running around the country with no memory of her on dangerous quests. He was thankful for a second that he didn't have to go through all that worry himself. But it was only for a second.

"Okay, Mom," Percy said blinking back tears and continued cooking.

Paul came home about ten minutes before the pizza was done. Percy was pretty much a mess all over again. Paul handled it more like a man, but Percy could tell that Paul was glad he was back. They were right in the middle of a hug when the timer went off. Percy crossed the living room into the kitchen. He checked the pizza quickly before pulling it out.

"Hey Annabeth can you get the plates?" Percy said gesturing in the general direction of the entire kitchen behind him. Annabeth started opening random cabinets trying to find the plate.

"Percy where do you keep the plate?" Annabeth said giving up.

"In that one." He nodded his head.

"Which one?"

"That one." He nodded it more vigorously.

"They're not here," Annabeth said closing the cabinet she thought Percy was pointing to. Percy quickly cut the pizza and walked to Annabeth. He reached past her to the cabinet to her right.

"This one," he stated. He pulled out four plates and handed them to her. He watched as she walked to the table and started setting the it. This is all he ever wanted, he thought. This. Him and Annabeth living together. Monsters are nowhere in sight. Prophecies are nowhere in sight. The gods are nowhere in sight. That’s when it hit him. The life that he and Annabeth can have. This, living together, making dinner together, going shopping together. That's all he ever wanted, Percy realized, from the day he met her at the Big House.

He was kind of sad that he didn't realize it that day, but their relationship was a bit rocky at the beginning, with all the fighting and them barely being able to stand each other. He thought about where they are now, where they were then, and what they had to do to get here. If anyone deserved this life that Percy was thinking of, it's them.

"Are you just going to stand there looking at Annabeth all day, or are you going to serve us some pizza?" Sally asked sitting down next to Paul on one side of the table. Percy felt the red creeping up his neck. "Sorry," he mutters as he brought the pizza to the table.

"Blue crust," Paul said with a hint of surprise. "I think I'm more surprised that I'm surprised than I am at the blue crust." Percy chuckled taking his seat next to Annabeth. He placed a slice on her plate then on his after Paul served his mom and himself.

"Well it's a special occasion. It called for blue food," Sally said. "So how was the meetings?" Sally asked as was Paul taking a bite.

"The usual. We didn't really talk about anything but somehow talked about everything. I really had no idea why I went." Paul took a bite chewing contently.

"This is really good Percy," Annabeth said through a mouth full. Sally looked at her with a look that only a mother could pull off. "Sorry," Annabeth said swallowing "It's just so good."

Percy could feel the heat up to his neck now. "Thanks," he muttered folding his pizza in half and taking a bite of his own.

"He hasn't cooked for you?" Sally asked.

"No. At camp you don't really get to cook and on the Argo 2 Leo had it so that the food you want just appears in front of you. Percy has never had to cook for me before," Annabeth said taking another bite holding her pizza with two hands.

Paul looked like he was about to question Annabeth but then thought better.

"You know that if you fold your pizza you can eat it with one hand," Percy said nodding to her pizza.

"Are you seriously criticizing how I eat my pizza, Percy"

"No. I'm just saying..." he said going back to his own slice. "At least you don't eat the crust first. If you did that then we would have a serious issue."

"I remember this one time-" Sally started.

"If you gonna tell an embarrassing story about me Mom I really rather you not," Percy said with a small smile. He glanced sideways at Annabeth trying to hint to his mom.

"Please," Annabeth said. "She already told me the most embarrassing ones."

"Like what...?" Percy asked. He could feel his eyes widening and the heat advancing to his cheeks. He wondered if he really wants to know just how much the love of his life knows about his early years.

"Well I told her about the time you tried to go to school in your Nemo jammies. And the time you tried to convince me that you didn’t eat all the candy even though you had blue lips and a blue tongue. Or the time you came home from school and tried to tell me that you just put a little dent in a school bus when really you blew it up." The heat from his cheeks now covered more of his face with each story she talked about. Percy looked over at Annabeth to see her trying, and failing, to hold in her laughter.

"Or how about that one.." Annabeth said trying to catch her breath "That one where you tried to give him a bath but the water wouldn’t touch him." She was laughing uncontrollably now. The heat radiating off Percy's face was enough to cook this pizza.

"Mooooom," he whined. Annabeth was wiping the tears from her eyes, Paul was chuckling, and Sally was smiling fondly with an innocent look in her eyes. Percy groaned giving up and went back to his pizza.

The rest of the dinner they played catch up. Sally and Paul told them what had been happening since Percy disappeared, they told Paul about their shopping trip tomorrow. They really just tried to know everything without asking the big question. What exactly happened? Percy knew that the question was coming and dreaded it. He also couldn't wait for it to be asked either. He feels like he has this huge weight on his chest and he knows that will go away once his mom knows everything.

They finished the pizza and Percy cleared the table and started putting the dishes in the dishwasher with Annabeth's help.

"I'm gonna tell them what happened after we're done," he said giving her a heads up. He didn't want to spring retelling the worst time of their lives on her.

"Okay," she said looking at him, "It probably best before tonight."

Percy and Annabeth finished loading the dishwasher and joined Sally and Paul in the living room. Percy and Annabeth took the love seat while Sally and Paul sat on the couch perpendicular to the love seat.

Percy took a deep looking at his Mom then at the ground. "I woke up somewhere in the north with no memory and a wolf, Lupa, looking over me..." Percy continued from start to finish. Annabeth put in every time she thought Percy missed something, or to tell what was happening at Camp-half blood at the time. They got pretty far without stopping, that was the easy part of their story. Sally and Paul didn't say anything the whole time. Sally looked like she was close to tears for some part but kept it together. Probably for my sake, Percy thought. Then they got to Annabeth's solo quest and then... They had to stop there. Percy looked at Annabeth and saw what he felt. He didn't know how to continue but did for his mom.

"...Then... Annabeth was being dragged into the pit. I tried to stop. To grab onto to her before she fell in but I couldn't. We both went over." Percy looked up to see the corner of his mom's eye sparkle as a tear fell. "I held on as long I could to tell Nico to get to the other sides of the doors. Then we fell..." He looked at Annabeth's hands folded in his own. He could feel them trembling, or maybe that was his own hands. He stared and them as he told them as much as he could without breaking down. Just saying that it was the equivalent to hell and that they got out on the other side but not without more than a few scratches. He continued with their story until he finished it with, "and now here we are."

Sally had tears rolling down her cheek, but thank the gods she is taking this better than Percy imagined.

"At least you two are here and safe and alive. That's all that matters."

"Mom, Annabeth and I sometimes, most times actually, have nightmares about..." He looked down again at their hands. Annabeth was making small circles with her thumb against his skin. "It's bad," he finished blinking back tears.

"How bad?" She asked.

"Nightmares," Annabeth replied. "Panic attacks. Flashbacks. Paranoia. I mean right now the only thing keeping me sane is Percy." She held up their tangled hands.

"Oh," Paul said.

"We just wanted you to know before anything too bad happened," Percy said looking at his mom.

"I am still just glad that you are alive." She crossed the room to put a hand on Percy's cheek and wipes the tear that he didn’t know had fallen.

"We're barely fine, borderline okay...but yes we are alive," Percy says releasing Annabeth's hand to stand up and give his mom a hug he has so desperately been craving for the past eight months.

#Senior Year #percabeth #percy jackson #Annabeth Chase #Chapter two #percabeth in high school #goodehighschool #pjo

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percy-the-sorcerer · 7 years

Text

Interrupted

So this fluffy Percabeth oneshot is for @percyyoulittleshit! I hope you like it Mari! :D

Honestly this was quite a lot of fun to write, so I hope everyone enjoys reading it!

“It feels like we haven’t seen each other in ages,” Percy complained, as he walked through the cabin area of Camp Half-Blood. It was a sunny August day, and many campers were milling about.

“I know, Seaweed Brain, but you know I’ve been so busy helping with the New Athens plans. And you’ve been doing a lot of training sessions. Besides, that’s why we’re having our picnic today!” Annabeth said happily.

Percy nodded, his usual smile returning to his face. He grabbed her hand, ready to take her to the beach, where he had planned on having their picnic, when someone interrupted them.

“Percy! Annabeth!” Piper shouted from behind them, panting out of breath. “We need you.” She was dressed in shorts and a blue t-shirt, and Rachel was next to her, a small smile on her face, dressed in her usual paint-stained attire.

“For what?” Percy asked reluctantly. “We were just about to--”

“There’s a meeting in the Big House,” Rachel said, interrupting Percy. “Chiron says you guys need to be there. There’s no time for you to go to the beach--you need to come now.”

Percy looked at Annabeth, disappointment written on his face. “I guess we have to go.”

“It shouldn’t matter too much.” Annabeth smiled. “How about afternoon tea?”

“Who has sandwiches for tea?” Percy grumbled halfheartedly.

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

“Fine,” Percy turned to Rachel and Piper. “We’re coming.”

“Great,” Piper said, her eyes brightening. “Let’s go.”

Percy and Annabeth followed them, now focused fully on what this emergency meeting would be about.

“Well, that was a waste of time,” Percy said in annoyance, as he and Annabeth walked out of the Big House over an hour later.

Annabeth nodded in agreement. “Did Chiron really have to hold a meeting just to discuss the summer’s strawberry quotas?” she wondered. “Seems a little overboard to me.”

“Oh, was that was it about?” Percy said dryly. “I fell asleep.” Despite his joking tone, Percy had drifted off for a few minutes when they were discussing the mathematics of the ratio of substance to camper for each strawberry.

“Anyway,” Annabeth said, looking back to ensure neither Piper or Rachel were running to them to call them back to another futile meeting, “how about we go on that date now?”

Before Percy could agree, he felt someone clap him on the back.

“Percy,” Grover bleated. “Annabeth. What are you guys up to?”

Percy grinned. “Grover! What’s up? I thought you were spending today in the woods?”

“I was,” Grover agreed.

“We were just about to go on a--” Annabeth started, but Grover didn’t let her finish.

“I need help,” Grover confessed, a pleading look plastered on his face.

“With what?” Annabeth asked, unable to help herself.

“The dryads,” Grover muttered. “They started a fight again, and things have become a... bit out of hand. I tried to stop the--but they’re not listening.” He sighed dramatically.

“You’re the Lord of the Wild though,” Percy said skeptically. “Why aren’t they listening to you?”

“Oh, you know,” Grover shrugged. “I guess they’ve seen me on all my dates with Juniper, so they don’t really view me as an authority figure. You guys on the other hand…” He didn’t need to finish the sentence.

Annabeth sighed. Percy’s stomach rumbled.

“I guess you’ll just have to wait till later.” Percy patted his stomach.

Ten minutes later and they were trekking through the woods. “Just like old times, isn’t it?” Grover joked. “You guys wanting to be alone, while I’m on a quest with you.”

“Grover!” Annabeth reprimanded him. “You know it’s never been like that.”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” Grover said, holding his hands up. “But it is like old times, just us three--”

Grover was mid-sentence when a dryad came flying towards them, bolting through the woods in panic. Before they knew it three others had come out too in a scuffle. Percy noticed that the lake nearby was also very noisy… three dryads had somehow ended up in it, and the lake nymphs had been dragged into it too. Soon the noise was unbearable--the noises of them all screeching, the splashes of the lake and the general shouts of confusion.

Percy and Annabeth quickly dragged two of the dryads off each other and tried to separate them to calm down the situation. Unfortunately, no matter what they did it didn’t seem to be working, and more and more nymphs were joining the fray. The new campers, having heard the commotion, had gathered outside the wood to find out what it was all about--they weren’t used to the nymphs’ fighting yet. Some of the more adventurous ones had ventured into the wood to find out what was happening.

“What are they fighting about, Grover?” Percy asked desperately.

“I don’t even know,” Grover said helplessly.

“She started it!” One dryad hissed, before jumping on the other dryad that she had been pointing about.

“Where’s Juniper?” Annabeth asked.

“Oh, she’s sleeping, we kind of had a late night and I didn’t want to wake her up,” Grover said casually while a lake nymph caused a massive splash to his left. Suddenly, a camper ended up in the lake and another found herself in the middle of a large group of dryads.

Annabeth doubted any of them were aiming at anyone anymore, and that they were now just fighting for the sake of it. As Percy rescued the camper and dryads who had found themselves in the lake, she suddenly lost her patience with the whole ridiculous commotion.

“Everybody! STOP!” Annabeth yelled, her grey eyes glaring at them all. Everyone froze. “What on earth is all of this about?” Annabeth asked, daring someone to answer her.

One of the dryads started to accuse another, and then the other accused her back. Soon, everybody was accusing everyone and whilst no one had jumped on another, it was clearly all about to kick off again.

“QUIET!” Percy yelled, realising what was happening. “She asked a question--so can one person calmly answer her please?”

Nobody spoke. Some of the nymphs drifted away inconspicuously.

“Well, perfect. It seems like you guys don’t have a problem, so that means you should stop fighting.” Annabeth clapped her hands together. “If there’s no issue, we’ll be on our way.”

Percy and Annabeth started to walk away, Percy picking up their lunch, which fortunately was still intact, when Percy turned round and warned, “And don’t cause Grover anymore trouble, else we’ll be back!”

He shook his head. “Those nymphs will be the end of me,” he muttered.

“Both of us,” Annabeth agreed.

“Finally some peace and qui-”

Percy was unable to finish his sentence when Jason sprinted towards them. “Percy, Annabeth!” he called out.

Percy sighed. “What is it, Jason?”

“There’s been an accident,” Jason said, an awkward face crossing his look. “We need your help. Leo was working on the 3D printer we received to model some of your newest designs, but it--”

“Look, Jason, can we deal with it after we’ve eaten?” Percy said, gesturing to the food in his hand. His stomach growled in agreement.

“No, Percy, I need to fix this,” Annabeth said reluctantly. “We need to start modelling those designs.” She looked him in the eyes apologetically. “I’ll need your help too. We can make it dinner, ok?” He nodded slowly, knowing she was right.

Jason smiled. “Cool, I’ll show you the way.”

“What do you mean it’s not working?” Annabeth asked in a low tone to Leo. Leo gulped, and Percy didn’t blame him.

“It just stopped working!” Leo exclaimed. “We were doing what you asked, and modelling some of your latest designs for temples and houses in New Athens. I was processing them, and Jason, as a good Pontifex Maximus does, was helping fetch them for me.”

“Until it stopped working,” Jason said sheepishly. “I think it might have had to do with a static electricity shock or something.”

“What static electricity shock?” Percy frowned, narrowing his eyes.

“Leo was annoying me with his jokes,” Jason said defensively.

Annabeth scowled. “And why haven’t you fixed it Leo?” she asked. “Why do you need me, you’re surely good enough?”

“The designs for New Athens are your area,” he explained. It was true, Annabeth had been working on them carefully for weeks now. “I didn’t want to break it any further, and potentially mess up the models. You’d kill me,” he muttered.

“I haven’t ruled it out yet,” Annabeth warned him, before leaning over the machine to have a look.

Five minutes passed and Annabeth was examining the diagnostics of the machine. “I don’t understand,” she said in frustration. “The machine’s not broken in anyway. The graphics board is calibrated at 98%, easily within the correct range. Even the communications is set to 820 Hz which is within 5% of typical diagnostics. Why isn’t it working?”

Percy turned around, a plug in his hand. “I think I’ve found the problem.”

They all turned to him.

“It wasn’t plugged in,” he explained, with a shrug, plugging it in. It switched on and whirred into life.

Annabeth turned to Leo and Jason, her grey eyes flashing dangerously. “What’s going on?”

Leo’s face was that of a deer caught in the headlights. “Oops,” Leo squeaked. “Uh… I don’t know how that happened…Accident?”

“What do you think that was about?” Annabeth asked in a low voice, as they once again walked through the main cabin area. The sun had turned orange now, and was nearly dipping below the horizon.

“I don’t know--Leo’s an idiot?” Percy smiled, trying to lighten the mood. They’d both been waiting for this date for a long time now and it had so far been delayed again and again by seemingly silly things.

“I know, but don’t you think something’s going on? Chiron would never normally have such a useless meeting and even if he did he wouldn’t call us to that sort of thing. Grover normally has everything under control in the woods and honestly they didn’t seem to be fighting over anything. And now this--Leo must have realised it was unplugged.”

“I don’t know, Annabeth.” Percy sighed “Maybe it’s nothing?” He shrugged. “Either way, let’s forget about it and enjoy our picnic dinner!” He smiled at her.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Annabeth smiled. “Even I’m starving now.” They slowly made their way towards the beach, catching up with each other.

Suddenly Nico popped out of the shadows in front of them. “Hey guys.”

Annabeth looked at Percy, determination on her face. Her lips pressed thin, she shook her head at him. Percy agreed silently.

“Guys?” Nico asked.

“Yeah?” Percy asked, a little more angrily than he had meant.

“Uh, probably not a good time--”

“It’s not,” Annabeth muttered.

“But I kind of need your help,” Nico told them. “I… I don’t know how to help Adam. I’m meant to be training him, but I just don’t know what to do and how to help him and you know I’m not very good with all this people stuff and--”

“Nico,” Annabeth said quickly. He stopped. “Don’t be silly. We all know you can do it. You’re as good as any of us. Just believe in yourself.” “But--” Nico interjected.

“No buts,” Percy shook his head firmly. “You can do it, Nico. You don’t need our help. Now, go, Adam needs one of the best trainers in camp, and you are.”

Nico opened his mouth to try and protest, but looking at the two of them he knew it was helpless. He scowled.

“Well, bye, Nico,” Annabeth smiled, before taking Percy’s arm and continuing down the path.

“Good luck!” Percy added.

Nico cursed under his breath. Panicked, he disappeared into the shadows. He had to warn them…

Percy and Annabeth walked slowly towards the beach, smiling at each other and looking at the stars which were starting to appear in the sky. “It’s such a beautiful evening,” Annabeth said in awe.

Percy had to admit that despite all their frustrating disturbances, the starry night made up for it. “Well, not as beautiful as you.” Percy smiled at her. She blushed.

“You’ve looked worse yourself,” Annabeth teased.

Percy placed his hand on his heart. “Wow, what a compliment!”

Annabeth laughed before turning to look at him again. “Okay, you look lovely this evening. Better?”

“Getting there,” Percy teased. “I wish I’d made something more than sandwiches, I’m starving.”

“So am I,” Annabeth agreed. Just as she said this she heard a slight noise from the beach.

“What was that..?” Percy muttered, looking around.

Another oddly muffled noise came from a different spot. Percy and Annabeth hadn’t yet climbed the last hill on the path to the beach, so they couldn’t see who or what was hiding there.

Percy drew out Riptide and they walked carefully towards the beach.

Slowly they climbed to the top of the hill.

“Do you think anybody’s ther--” Percy was interrupted mid-question.

“SURPRISE!” Leo yelled jumping in their face. Percy was an inch away from cutting Leo in half.

Suddenly loads of people filled up their vision as the beach came into view, and some music started. Lights adorned the beach and a table with two chairs and torches was now present on the soft sand.

“LEO VALDEZ I WILL KILL YOU!” Percy cried, his heart having leapt out of his mouth.

“You’ve already tried, Jackson,” Leo laughed.

“I think I’ll try again,” Percy muttered. Annabeth was laughing now. “Not funny.”

Annabeth raised her eyebrow.

“Okay, fine. A little bit funny.”

Piper rolled her eyes as she put drinks in their hands. “Come on! We’ve got a table and food and candles and music and everything.”

“Food?” Percy’s eyes lit up. “Sounds good to me!”

“What’s going on?” Annabeth asked at the same time. She could see many people on the beach. “Is this--”

“A surprise date!” Piper said happily.

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “It’s not a surprise date, we planned this.”

“No, you planned a picnic,” Piper corrected her. “But most of us--” she gestured at the many campers behind her--”thought, that after all the hard work you’ve done these last few weeks, you deserved a super special night. So we prepared the best date either of you will go on--Lacy’s words, not mine.”

Annabeth smiled--so that was what was going on…

“So the whole day you were distracting us so you could set up?” Percy asked.

“Yep,” Leo responded. “But you didn’t go with Nico, so he quickly shadow-travelled back to warn us you were on your way.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “That’s why they’re still setting up the final bits.”

“You play a risky game, Valdez,” Annabeth said. “I was ready to kill you myself over that 3D printer.”

“That’s how I roll,” Leo said, sticking his tongue out.

They made their way over to the table.

Leo pulled Annabeth’s chair out for her, and Jason pulled out Percy’s chair for him, acting like a waiter.

Leo grinned at them. “My wish is your command.”

“Good,” Percy said, “Well, you can start by…” Percy found a lot of ways to make up for Leo scaring him.

After a few minutes a lot of the campers had withdrawn and Leo and Jason had gone to get their food.

“Well, this was a nice surprise,” Annabeth muttered.

Percy grinned. “Yup. Much better than sandwiches… even ones I’ve prepared.”

“You know, we’re alone now…” Annabeth said. “We might as well use the time while we’ve got it.”

Their food had arrived just as Percy and Annabeth broke apart from their kissing, something they hadn’t been able to do enough of in the past few weeks. Annabeth smiled.

“After food, you’ve got many more treats in store,” Jason promised them. “Grover’s even arranged a special pan-pipes performance.”

“I thought these were supposed to be good things,” Percy muttered. Annabeth smirked.

“Well, we’re looking forward to it,” Annabeth told them.

“You know,” Percy told Annabeth, after they had gone again, “a candle-lit dinner on the beach of Camp Half-Blood… I’m not going to lie, they’ve done a pretty good job.”

“They have,” Annabeth agreed. “Our friends can be pretty cool from time to time.”

Grey eyes met green eyes over the table. They were once again by themselves, and as they both leaned in for another kiss, needless to say the food was left alone for a little while longer.

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bowmanx7-blog · 5 years

Text

Scandal & Scoundrels - The Lost 1887 208 West 54th Street

By the time this shot was taken on March 19, 1916, the block had significantly changed. from the collection of the New York Historical Society

In the spring of 1887 Samuel McMillan, a prolific developer in the 1880's and '90's, commissioned architect F. A. Minuth to design a flat building at No. 208 West 54th Street. It was not the first time the two had worked together. Minuth, as a matter of fact, had designed an apartment building on the same block just a year earlier.

Minuth filed plans for the 25-foot wide structure on March 25. They were vague, calling only for a "five-story flat" with a tin roof to cost $26,000 (just over $691,000 today). The results were much more exciting.

Minuth's design had all the bells and whistles of the Queen Anne movement. The understated brownstone basement and first floor upheld four stories of red brick, ruddy terra cotta and stone. The artistic stoop "floated" from the sidewalk to the entrance.

The entire plan was (typically Queen Anne) asymmetrical. Instead of being executed in cast metal, as would be expected,the four-story angled bay was of brownstone. It encompassed a riot of giddy decorations--polished granite columns at the second floor, carved pediments and panels, a make-believe roof, complete with carved shingles, above the fifth floor openings. Not to be outdone, the single windows to the side grew progressively showier with each subsequent floor, until the topmost wore a terra cotta seashell. The third, fourth and fifth floors openings sat above half-bowl Juliette balconies with swirling iron railings.

Topping it all off was a steep gable and ornate terra cotta rondel. The elaborate pressed metal cornice upheld a tall parapet.

Somewhat unexpectedly, McMillan retained possession of the building for several years. Apartment buildings, or flats, of this type were operated nearly as boarding houses, with a proprietor keeping close watch on things. McMillan leased No. 208 to a proprietor, or manager.

Among the first tenants were actress Maude Granger and her husband, playwright Alfred Cecil Calmour. Born as Anna E. Brainard on Christmas Day 1849, she was highly popular with theater audiences and would eventually appear in several silent films.

In addition to her beauty, Maude Granger was among the the top box office draws of her day. photograph from the collection of the New York Public Library

Like most other women in the building, Maude a maid. She was wealthy enough to own her own carriage, a team of horses, and to employ a full-time groom. It may be that she was leaving New York on an extended tour in the fall of 1889 that prompted her to sell her horses.

On October 11 that year she instructed the groom, Edward R. Lloyd, to go to "Van Tassell & Kearney's...to sell a team of brougham horses," according to The New York Times a few days later. Van Tassell & Kearney's was Manhattan's premier horse and carriage auction house. Lloyd did what he was told, received a check for nearly $9,000 today, but then forged her name and disappeared. Five days later he was tracked down by detectives and arrested in Ontario, Canada.

Living in the building about the same time was stock broker Charles T. Schlesinger. The well-to-do bachelor was a man's man, or as The Sun described him, "a well-known athlete of the New York Athletic Club." Schlesinger was a member of that club's water polo team and its football team.

At noon on October 30, 1891, he left his apartment and walked down Broadway to meet his two sisters who were out shopping. The women had previously mentioned to Schlesinger that a man had harassed them on the street. He no sooner met them, than they told him the same man had been trying to "force himself on their attention." They pointed out John F. Walker. Schlesinger told his sisters to continue their walk and that he would follow discreetly.

Sure enough, Walker "again made himself obnoxious to the ladies," as described by The Sun. Schlesinger caught up with them, told his sisters to keep walking, and demanded an explanation from the cad. Walker delivered "an insulting response" which earned him a punch in the face from Schlesinger. Walker retaliated with his heavy cane.

A well-known lacrosse player, Lionel Moses, was passing by and jumped in. He advised Schlesinger to move along before things got out of hand while he detained Walker. He rejoined his sisters and at 33rd Street they boarded a Sixth Avenue streetcar. But Walker did the same.

When the car was about at 42nd Street, Walker sat down opposite Schlesinger and pulled out a "large self-cocking revolver" and said "I'll finish you right here." The athletic broker balanced himself on the seat with his palms and thrust his feet into Walker's stomach. "Then he sprang upon Walker and they fought for possession of the pistol."

Understandable chaos and panic ensued. The Sun reported "The car stopped and conductor, driver, and all the passengers deserted it, leaving the two men struggling...A colored boy, who sat next to Schlesinger, holding in his arms an immense floral horseshoe, dropped the flowers like a hot potato, and jumped out the window, carrying the sash with him."

Policeman Farley jumped onto the stopped streetcar and tried to disarm Walker, "but had to use his club before Walker would drop the weapon." At the police station, Walker said he was a graduate of West Point and former officer of an Ohio regiment. Insisting he had acted in self-defense, he demanded that a letter be send on his behalf to Grover Cleveland.

The case took a surprising turn when it came to court on December 7. As it turned out John Walker was indeed a former captain in the U.S. Army. The New York Times reported "It was shown in the Court of General Sessions yesterday that he was subject to fits of insanity, and had often annoyed women." Judge Cowing dismissed all charges providing that the United States Army would take charge of him. Walker was taken to the Military Insane Asylum in Washington D.C.

Not long after McMillan sold the building to Mary G. Barrymore Valentin in January 1892, a shadier type of tenant began taking flats. Falling into that category was former actress Lilyon Beardsley. Minnie C. Warren's suit for absolute divorce from her husband, attorney Lyman E. Warren, landed in Superior Court on January 10, 1894. In addressing the jury, Judge Dugro said that the only question they needed to decide upon was:

Did defendant at any time between Oct 30, 1890, and May 27, 1893, live in improper relations with Lilyon Beardsley, otherwise Lilyon Daniels, otherwise Donna Madixxa, otherwise Mrs. Smith, otherwise Mrs. Abbot?

The jury apparently decided that Lilyon and the attorney had, indeed, had improper relations. Minnie was granted her divorce.

In 1905 Susan Merrill took over the operation of the building. She had earlier run a boarding house where, in 1902, she had a terrifying roomer--Harry Kendall Thaw. Susan later testified that repeatedly girls would call, thinking they were to audition for a stage play. After Thaw took them to his rooms, the landlady would hear screams as Thaw took a whip to the bound girls. She tried to evict him, but he threatened her, promising to kill her if she said anything about his behavior.

Susan was horrified when Thaw appeared at No. 208 West 54th Street and rented a three-room apartment. She testified at his trial for murdering Stanford White, "In West Fifty-fourth street I heard the same screams and when I ran up to Thaw's three rooms I found him with two girls. The back of one of the girls was all black and blue and her arms bleeding. Thaw's face was red, as I have described. She told me she was twenty-two years old." Thaw was already married to Evelyn Nesbitt at the time.

In April 1916 the estate of Mary Valentin sold the property to Mary I. Smith. She immediately made improvements, including a new bathroom. But modern plumbing did not improve the respectability of the tenants.

Mrs. Margaret Hill lived here at the time. Although born of a good family, according to newspapers, she had nefarious leanings. It seems that she was expecting an influx of cash in the beginning of June 1916, when, according to The New York Times, she arranged "for an elaborate renovation of her apartment."

But two weeks later she was nowhere to be found. Police descended on her apartment on June 22 to find only her maid, Frida Johnson, who said she did not know where Margaret had gone, and only that "before leaving had ordered her furniture to be put into storage."

Margaret, as it turned out, had gained the trust of the multi-millionaire spinster Gertrude Claypool, the niece of former Governor Bookwalter of Ohio. Over a period of days she drugged the elderly woman, hoping that she would not notice the increased doses. Then, when Gertrude was essentially incapable of reason, Margaret and her cohorts abducted her to a Newark hotel where they had her rewrite her will. Included in Margaret's share would be $4,000 outright (around $120,000 today).

But the scheme fell apart when Gertrude later realized what had happened and notified police, Now they were on the trail of all the participants. Detectives carefully combed through Margaret's belongings, finding the same drugs that were used on the victim, photographs and other evidence.

Gertrude had named names and identified Margaret Hill as one of the main figures. Assistant District Attorney Dooling, did not hold back, saying, according to the New-York Tribune, "this band of blackmailers, card swindlers, opium users and smugglers lies at the end of so many lanes of evidence that he is not sure yet just which of these crimes will form the basis of the indictments."

Louis Levy was a tenant in the 1920's. His motives were, perhaps, well intended, but his means of resolving a problem were more than questionable. On February 13, 1922 he and another man strode into the office of theatrical booking agent Walter B. Sheridan in the Gaiety Theater Building on Broadway and 46th Street. According to Sheridan, they accused him of putting "scantily draped women on the stage" at a show he was arranging in the Bronx. Sheridan assured them everything would be according to the law.

Both men reacted by pummeling Sheridan, breaking his nose. With blood pouring from his face, Sheridan followed the fleeing duo down the stairs, hollering for help. According to The New York Herald, "with the memory of the recent holdup in the office of the Morrison Pen Company fresh in their minds, occupants of the other offices began running into the corridors shouting for the police."

On the street things got chaotic. As workers from the building shouted that robbers were at work, the crowd on Broadway stopped and jammed the street. Traffic could no longer move and the tie-up lasted until police could finally restore order.

Levy had been seen running from the building and was arrested for felonious assault. His alibi was not convincing. "He said he had gone into the building with a friend whose name he could not recall and that he had run because he saw everyone else running," reported the article.

The building, now owned by Margaret Mills, was described as "furnished-room house." Among her tenants in 1924 was 35-year-old divorcee Susie Nelson. Susie was carrying on a sexual affair with 29-year-old married police officer James J. Sullivan. The dead-end romance not only nearly ended her life, but landed Officer Sullivan in more than his share of hot water.

Sullivan worked nights and on December 8 at about 3:40 in the morning, he reported sick at the station house. He then went to Susie's apartment at No. 208 West 54th Street. Five hours later he went into the hallway to use the restroom and, while there, heard a gunshot.

Susie had taken his service revolver and shot herself in the chest. The wound was not fatal and she told police at the West 68th Street Station that she was "discouraged with life." James J. Sullivan was suspended from the force pending an inquiry, and had much explaining to do when he got home to Queens.

The old apartment building was convenient for Thomas Healey, who lived here in 1926. Although he worked as a finance company collector, he was also part-owner of the nightclub next door at No. 210, the Club Biarritz. During Prohibition, questionable activities went on in such places, and the Club Biarritz was no exception.

In December that year McKewn Whitcomb came into Manhattan from his home in South Orange, New Jersey for a night on the town. According to his complaint later, he "bought three bottles of ginger ale and received a bill for $21, which he protested." (The ginger ale was admittedly pricey, the three bottles equal more than $290 today.)

He went on to claim that the waiter directed him to Healey's partner, Frank Timpone, who "beat him." Then both Healey and Timpone took Whitcomb "to a room on the floor below the club, which was on the third, and beat and robbed him of $42, all he had."

Before they released him, according to Whitcomb's testimony, "Timpone seized me by the throat and threatened to crush in my skull. Healey told me he was a detective and threatened to him me on the head with a blackjack." They put him in a taxicab and "Healey told me if I made a complaint it would go hard with me." He made a complaint. The men appeared in court on December 16.

Dr. Alvin Bakst owned the building in 1967 when it was eyed along with other surrounding properties as the site for a major structure. Bakst sold and the following year the massive 42-floor 1700 Broadway was completed; ending a rather sordid history for the 25-foot wide slice of West 54th Street.

photo via www.rubenco.com

Source: http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2018/10/scandal-scoundrels-lost-1887-208-west.html

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gwynnew · 6 years

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Miss Piggy's 'a mess inside': Frank Oz and puppeteer pals reveal Muppet secrets

Frank Oz poses with Muppets Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy in August 1977. (Photo: Mirrorpix/Courtesy Everett Collection)

A conversation with the “Muppet guys” is not like a conversation with other people. During a roundtable interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Fran Brill, and Bill Barretta spoke thoughtfully and fondly about their experiences creating and performing Jim Henson’s Muppets. At the same time, these friends speak a language all their own, a playful cacophony of gestures, jokes, character voices, one-upmanship, and riffs on their shared memories. It’s something that really needs to be experienced to be understood — but you don’t have to take my word for it.

Oz’s documentary Muppet Guys Talking (available March 16 exclusively at MuppetGuysTalking.com) gives Muppet fans the chance to pull up a chair and enjoy a casual, intimate conversation between the longtime colleagues. The film’s participants include director Oz (performer of Fozzie Bear, Bert, Cookie Monster, Missy Piggy, Animal, Grover), who was Henson’s closest collaborator during his lifetime; Goelz (The Great Gonzo, Bunsen Honeydew, Traveling Matt, Boober Fraggle, Beauregard), who started out as a puppet maker and became a principal performer; Brill (Prairie Dawn, Zoe, Little Bird), one of the few original female performers on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show; Barretta (Pepe the King Prawn, Bobo the Bear, Big Mean Carl), who began performing with the Muppets in the ‘90s and now plays several of Henson’s characters, including Rowlf and Dr. Teeth; and Jerry Nelson (Count von Count, Snuffleupagus, Emmett Otter, Robin), a longtime Muppeteer who died in 2012 after a long illness. Muppet Guys Talking was produced and conceived by Oz’s wife Victoria Labalme, who saw in the Muppet performers’ relationship something that deserved to be captured on film.

Watch a trailer for ‘Muppet Guys Talking.’

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In the first part of our interview with the Muppet guys, the four performers reveal their secrets for getting into character, including what they’re doing underneath the floorboards while the Muppets are above their heads. Oz tells us the one word he needs to say to become Bert, and Baretta explains the facial expression that makes the difference between Dr. Teeth and Rowlf.

The performers also talk about how their characters have changed over time, particularly Miss Piggy, who Frank describes as “such a mess inside.” Brill speaks about her experience being the only woman working on the Muppets, occasionally taking on characters who were “kind of chauvinistic… but funny.” The friends discuss the hazardous situations they sometimes put themselves in for the sake of the Muppets, whether it was Oz lighting his arm on fire for a commercial or Goelz working his Fraggle Rock character from inside a landfill. Finally, Oz details the perfectionism that made him put his friends “through hell” on Muppets Take Manhattan — and opens up about how he used to sabotage Sesame Street takes.

Read on for the full conversation and stay tuned for Part 2, in which the Muppet guys share their memories of Jim Henson.

Yahoo Entertainment: Tell me, Frank and Victoria, what made you want to make this particular film with these particular people.

Frank Oz: I don’t know anybody else!

Dave Goelz: He has no other friends.

Fran Brill: Certainly no one who would agree to do it.

Oz: It was all because of Victoria. I wanted to do it in the beginning because I wanted to give these guys their due — people don’t know these guys. But then Victoria made me realize there was a larger reason.

Victoria Labalme: I think it’s very rare in today’s society to see this kind of spirit of collaboration, of playfulness, of professionalism mixed with fun, of a sense of real respect and listening to each other and bringing the best out in each other. And I thought that should be shared with the world.

Goelz: Well yeah, we’re living in a cynical time here. The whole culture is more cynical than it was then. And I think part of wanting to do this is to talk about that innocence and the way that it brings out more in people, creates a safe environment and spurs creativity. And life is better.

The ‘Muppet Guys Talking’ poster features the hands of performers Bill Barretta, Fran Brill, Dave Goelz, Jerry Nelson, and Frank Oz (Photo: Vibrant Mud)

The Muppet Guys Talking poster is just your hands, in position as if you’re working puppets. When I hold up my hand, it’s just a hand. But when you do it, the hand is alive. What are you thinking when you hold up that hand?

Oz: As soon as I put my hand up, I’m observing.

Brill: Waiting.

Barretta: Listening.

You also talked a little in the movie about how when you have the puppet up top and you’re beneath the floorboards, you do a lot of overacting to create small reactions in the puppet. Are there habits you have with the characters that nobody sees, movements with your face or body while you’re under the shot?

Goelz: Sure, we make these ridiculous expressions. One of my favorite things to do is always to stand in front of Frank’s monitor and mirror his face.

Oz: I wouldn’t want people watching me, because then I’m self-conscious and I can’t perform.

Goelz: That’s exactly what used to happen. I would mirror your expression and you would lose it, and we’d have to do another take.

Dr. Teeth, performed by Jim Henson, sings “Can You Picture That?” with The Electric Mayhem in ‘The Muppet Movie’ (1979). Drummer Animal was performed by Frank Oz, bassist Floyd by Jerry Nelson, and saxophonist Zoot by Dave Goelz.

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Barretta: One thing I learned, actually — when I first started doing Dr. Teeth, Dave brought up that when he would watch Jim perform Dr. Teeth, he would do this [grimace smiles] kind of through his teeth.

Goelz: As much of a smile as he could get. He would just strain at it.

Barretta: And it also creates a sound quality that’s different from a character with a similar voice, like Rowlf.

Oz: Also it’s important physically. Animal is always [grinning and doing Animal] “wiiiide”, so I gotta be always wide. It depends on the size of the mouth.

Goelz: And that comes from the puppet.

Zoe, performed by Fran Brill, was introduced to ‘Sesame Street’ in 1993.

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Brill: With Zoe, she was designed like a football, with a very wide mouth, so I tried to do a Carol Channing thing — [Carol Channing voice] “because Carol Channing talks like that” — and I tried, and I tried, and it just was very forced and didn’t feel like it was coming from me. But I think I usually take my cue from, what does that puppet look like and what is the mouth doing?

Barretta: Also, I think a lot of times we’re using our arms to make them walk and move in a certain way. I walk a lot in place. Like if I’m doing Bobo, you know, [does Bobo, walking in place] : when I’m walking I kind of do this thing under there, because he’s very stiff in his neck and then I turn this way a little bit — but my whole body is doing it down there, hoping it translates.

Goelz: Yeah, Bobo can’t turn his head.

Barretta: [Doing Bobo] “What’s goin’ on back there?”

Goelz: It’s a weakness in the puppet that becomes a strength in the character. That limitation is fun.

Brill: Well said.

Bobo the Bear, performed by Bill Barretta, and Beauregard, performed by Goelz, in a ‘Muppet Musings’ sketch from 2011.

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Frank, you talk in the film about having a “lock” for the character, a certain sound that you make to get into Grover. Is that something that you have for all of your characters?

Oz: I haven’t worked with them for so many years, but I did with Grover, I did with Bert —

Goelz: What was Bert’s?

Brill: I was just going to ask.

Oz: Yelling “Ernie” like Costello would be yelling for Abbott. [As Bert] “Ernieeee!”

Bert, originally performed by Oz, and Ernie, originally performed by Jim Henson, on ‘Sesame Street.’

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Is that something the rest of you do or did?

Barretta: I growl for Dr. Teeth a little bit.

Oz: You do that normally anyway.

Goelz: I think it happens in the early stages of a character more than later, because later it’s reflexive. A couple years ago I did a character, a new one called Chip the IT Guy, and I had a little key phrase for him. It was [as Chip] “I’ll figure it out.” And I always went back to that when I was trying to figure out who the heck he was, for the whole season I was trying to develop the character. And I was also trying to surprise myself all the time. There were a lot of times when he was startled by somebody and he had to react, and I made a point of not planning it and just doing something on the spur of the moment. As opposed to creating the character in my head, I just thought, what would happen if I just try to live it? And make a stupid reaction, a ridiculous reaction, and not know what it’s going to be? I had a lot of fun doing that.

Chip the IT Guy, performed by Goelz, introduces himself on the half-hour ABC comedy ‘The Muppets’ (2015-2016).

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Brill: I think as soon as I get my hand in a puppet that I do all the time, and I see her on camera, everything is right there immediately: the voice, who she is, how she stands, everything. With a new character, I’m sort of learning as I do it. Like waiting for the puppet to tell me okay, she stands like this. It’s sort of discovering who she is at that moment. I think it just becomes instinct, like most jobs after a while.

Dave Goelz, Fran Brill, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, and Bill Barretta in a still from ‘Muppet Guys Talking’ (Photo: Vibrant Mud)

The characters that all of you have played for a long time – do you find that those characters have changed with you?

Brill: Prairie Dawn was my first real principal character. I was handed this little puppet, and she was supposed to be very, very sweet. But that was very boring to me, to just be very passive and sweet all the time. So she got a little stronger over the years. But with Zoe, there was nothing. No drawing. They just wanted somebody who would be a buddy of Elmo. And that was much more difficult, because there was nothing to look at visually for me where I would come up with a character. But I went around and I watched other three-year-olds, because they wanted her to be three, and seeing how they acted, how they moved, how they talked, and came up with some catchphrases that at least gave me some basis, like [as Zoe] “Don’t joke me!” But they both changed, of course. The more I got to know who they were, the more they changed, if that makes any sense.

Prairie Dawn, performed by Brill, on ‘Sesame Street.’

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Barretta: Pepe was written at first — he was supposed to be this guy who just wanted to be in show business but had a language barrier. But then over time, I don’t know how it happened, he just became this kind of ladies’ prawn, you know? He was very much into the women. And then women seemed to respond to him for whatever reason.

Brill: The accent. Has to be the Latin accent.

Pepe the King Prawn, performed by Barretta, in scenes from ‘Muppets in Space’ (1999)

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Barretta: And I think he’s blunt, and he cuts through a lot of the crap. Now he’s much more confident and just loves his life, because he’s got women all over the world. He can go to any city and he has a place to stay. So yeah, he changed over time.

Goelz: We’ve done some of these characters for a long time, it’s like 40 years, so there’s also the element of trying to keep them interesting. And keeping them interesting to us means finding new wrinkles, new nuances to their character. With Bunsen Honeydew, he started out to be kind of a guy who misses the big picture because he’s so specific, and over the years I’ve added a lot of joy to him. He just loves the specificity so much, that I find ways to amuse myself with that while we’re shooting things.

Bunsen Honeydew, performed by Goelz, in a Muppet Labs sketch from ‘The Muppet Show’ (1976-1981).

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If I were thinking about, from a viewer’s perspective, which Muppet changed the most over time, I would say Miss Piggy.

Oz: Yeah, probably so. But Piggy is a different situation. I’ve said this before: her beginnings were in the women’s liberation movement, just by accident. And I don’t consciously change things, but the characters don’t interact with the world — I interact with my world. And I don’t interact in such a way where I say, “Oh, I’ve got to put that in my character.” I think because of the zeitgeist, it just kind of happens without me knowing it. But Piggy’s a little different. Piggy is such a mess inside, that I think as the years go on, she gets more and more emotional baggage. And that’s mainly why she changes. She keeps being rejected by the frog. She keeps trying and cannot do the things that she wants to, like tell jokes or dance. So I think she has this emotional baggage that hurts her more and more and more, and as a result she covers more and more and more. That’s what I think.

There’s something Dave says in the film, and, Frank, you used it in the trailer: “To create a character, I find a flaw in myself, amplify it, and try to make it lovable.”

Oz: And by the way, Muppet Guys Talking is great because I never knew that! We found out about these things we didn’t know.

Goelz: I have an endless supply of characters.

Well it’s interesting because you think of these characters as lovable, but hearing you guys talk, some of them really come from this place of pain.

Oz: If not pain, seriousness. If you’re coming from a funny place, you’re screwed. It’ll never be funny.

Barretta: For me they have to be rooted in reality first, grounded so that they’re real to me. And then things can come on top of that to make them silly or fun or crazy. And actually, Frank gave me a note — and I don’t remember when it was, but Frank had told me to be very specific about the character’s background, where they come from, where they live, what kind of jobs they’ve had. Just very, very specific things about their life to create that backstory that only you need to know. But it feeds opportunities or scenes or whatever you’re doing with them.

Oz: And there are characters like Animal who’s just two-dimensional.

Barretta: Carl is one who doesn’t change or grow.

Big Mean Carl, performed by Barretta, on ‘Muppets Tonight’ (1996).

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Fran, I want to ask you about being a woman —

Oz: Me?

Brill: You cannot answer that question!

Oz: I apologize, I’m sorry.

It’s funny that Frank jumped in because as Miss Piggy, he was the main female character on the Muppets.

Goelz: Had to have it all.

So this was pretty much the norm when I was growing up: I’d watch shows and most of the characters would be boys, who were defined by different traits — the smart one, the silly one, the leader — and then there’d be one girl who was defined by being the girl. The Muppets certainly have more nuance than that, but they also were a group of characters with very few women and very few female puppeteers. So Fran, what was it like for you coming into that dynamic?

Brill: It honestly never occurred to me that, oh, I’m the only female here. It really didn’t. They just needed a girl, so I just became another person who became a puppeteer who was doing the female [characters]. I didn’t feel a weight of responsibility of being all things to all women or anything like that. I remember, I guess it was on Muppet Show, where I had to be one of these — I call them the “ta-da women,” who go “Ta-daaa!” And I thought, yeah, this is kind of chauvinistic, it may not be PC — but it was a funny character. And they dressed her kind of sexy or whatever, and all she ever did was go, “Ta-daaa!” But I had a lot of fun doing that kind of a character. You can do so much with puppets that you can’t really do as an adult or an actress. You can get away with murder just being as stupid as you possibly can be, because it amuses you, and then hopefully it amuses everybody else. I’ve never thought about it before, but I don’t think I could do a character who I didn’t like, or think was funny or interesting myself.

Oz: No, I couldn’t either.

Jerry Nelson and Bill Barretta in a still from ‘Muppet Guys Talking’ (Photo: Vibrant Mud)

But Frank, did you feel a responsibility with Miss Piggy — I remember she was on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post, representing women in the workforce?

Oz: She was on tons of covers. She was huge. She was massive, yeah.

Miss Piggy, performed by Oz, and Kermit the Frog, performed by Henson, in ‘The Great Muppet Caper’ (1981).

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Did you feel a responsibility of any kind to live up to a certain ideal with her?

Oz: If one lives up to anything external as a performer, you’re screwed. That’s not one’s job. That is not something that is my responsibility. My responsibility is to entertain and perform the script with my fellow performers and try to bring that alive. After that, it’s none of my business.

Brill: Exactly. If you thought about that, you’d get frozen. You can’t say, oh, I have a responsibility for all the females who are watching.

Oz: And that’s when things get really dull and didactic.

One of the highlights of the film is when you talk about all the insane situations that you found yourselves in, and that Jim put himself in, while performing the Muppets. I’m wondering if you have specific memories of a moment when you went, “Oh my god, I cannot believe I’m doing this right now.”

Oz: I do. I was 20, still too frightened to do voices. But there were two characters called Wilkins and Wontkins, and they were performers for these 8-second commercial spots, and they sold things – mainly coffee. So the idea was that Wilkins says something positive about Wilkins coffee: “Hey, don’t you love Wilkins coffee?” And Wontkins says something negative about the coffee, and then Wilkins does something violent to him, just destroys him. The first one I saw, he blows him away with a cannon. But we were doing a lot of them, and one was Wontkins saying, “Old Man Wilkins hired me to sell his crummy coffee.” And then, this is bizarre, but a match comes in and lights Wontkins in flames, and Wilkins says, “He just fired you, too!” So what happened was, there’s something called cold flame that magicians use, and you can put it on your finger and light it, and it will burn. But the actual finger won’t burn, the liquid around it burns. And so I had cold flame all over my arm to protect it, and behind the stage there, I had a big bucket full of water. And on the first take he lit the match, and the whole thing went “Whoosh!” and went right down my arm, and burned all my hair off! And of course, Jim said, “Okay, take two.”

Goelz: On Fraggle Rock, we had a head writer named Jerry Juhl. He was a longtime part of the Muppets, one of the first four people. And I had a character named Traveling Matt who went out into the field every week, exploring and misunderstanding what he saw. So Jerry would sit in his office and think of things for me to do. One week I was sent out to a chicken coop, and I was in a little closed room with a dozen chickens, which is not pleasant, on the ground, lying down under a moving blanket, working this character. And Jerry is back in his office, typing something else, and just smiling and thinking, “He’s probably in the chicken coop.” The next week I was in a little tiny pen, on the ground, next to a 700-pound sow. The zookeeper said, “If she starts to roll? Get out.” And then I found myself at the city dump covered in garbage — I’m covered in garbage, Matt is sitting on top of it. And then there was the roller coaster. It took 13 trips to do all the shots, and he sent me there because he knew I didn’t like roller coasters. And so again, he’s sitting in his office, working on something else, going [checks his watch, chuckles].

Did you have any experiences like that on the Muppet movies?

Barretta: Driving things is always a little uncomfortable, when you’re in the front [with the puppet] and there’s somebody driving from the back and they’re hiding back there. And you’re not sure how well they can really see, but you have to trust them.

The hazardous taxi scene from ‘The Great Muppet Caper,’ featuring Henson as Kermit, Oz as Fozzie, and Goelz as Gonzo and Beauregard.

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Goelz: In The Great Muppet Caper, there was a shot where Beauregard was driving a taxi, and Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo were in the backseat. And the car came down a city street, went around in a loop, and then went right in the front door of a hotel.

Oz: Smashed right through it.

Goelz: Broke a breakaway door. And there was a driver wearing a Beauregard suit, so he was driving and he could sort of see through the mouth, and Frank, Jim, and I were on the floor of this little Austin taxi cab —

Oz: In the backseat.

Goelz: Well there’s no seat, it was taken out.

Oz: I mean supposedly in the backseat.

Goelz: Yeah, and the characters were working above us. So we’re sitting right on the floorboards with a little cushion. And the door was three inches wider than the car on each side. So he had to line it up just right, or we were going to hit the side of the door and just all get crushed, because we didn’t have seatbelts or anything like that. And he’s going like 25 miles an hour, doing this loop, skitting around in a circle. And he goes right in the door and he makes it — it was perfect. But I’m just sitting back there thinking, it’s Jim and Frank and I — what happens if he clips the door?

Frank, when you directed Muppets Take Manhattan, did you end up putting anyone in mortal danger?

Goelz: He put us through hell.

Oz: Not danger, hell.

Goelz: Yeah it was hell, it was different. In hell there’s no death. There’s no chance of getting killed in Frank’s movie and not having to work with him anymore.

Oz: What happened was, I had co-directed Dark Crystal, which means I was learning on the job while helping Jim direct his movie. And then I shot Muppets Take Manhattan next. So that was my first movie by myself. And I thought I had to do everything myself, and I thought I had to know everything — every first-time director’s mistake. And I was just so hard on these guys. Dave hated my guts.

Goelz: Oh, for years! Years. Still a little residual.

Oz: Because I did all my characters also. I was directing and doing my characters. And I also knew what these guys can do and what they can’t do. And so I pushed them, and of course it wasn’t very nice and I was an a**hole. That’s what happened. I put them through hell.

Brill: But you only asked for a couple of takes, right?

Oz: There was a time I was pretty intense. Very intense.

Brill: “Take 42! 43!”

The opening number from ‘The Muppets Take Manhattan’ (1984), directed by Oz.

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What’s the most takes you ever remember doing?

Brill: Oh I don’t remember. But Frank does that — because you’re very self-critical of anything you do.

Oz: That’s true.

Brill: So with a Bert and Ernie skit, or something like that, you would say, “Oops, sorry, sorry guys, I didn’t get that.” I sometimes thought you did that just because you wanted to do it over and over again, because you still hadn’t achieved exactly what you wanted.

Oz: Oh yeah, I was terrible. The idea is, you have a playboard here [above the puppeteer’s head] and you can’t see. So the worst thing to do — you can’t have your head up. But if I’m doing a lousy take, I’m going like this. [Peeks head up from under the playboard.] It was terrible! But you could control a take that way. If I didn’t want them to accept my lousy take, I’d put my head in the shot. “Oh, I’m so sorry!”

Goelz: I worked with him for 44 years or so — this is the first time he’s admitted that.

‘Muppet Guys Talking’ is available for streaming on March 16 exclusively at MuppetGuysTalking.com.