#nico and his fucked up circle of friends <3
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what if akhlys ends up getting along with nico like percy & jason did w kymopolea. the goddess of misery and the boy who's known agony his whole life
#NO BC THIS WOULD BE SO COOL????#THE GOODESS OF MISERY WITH THE BOY THATS KNOWN AGONY HIS ENTIRE LIFE#BESTIES !! <333#no but seriously#the concept of this sounds pretgy baddass#he'd end up being his favorite and protected child#nico and his fucked up circle of friends <3#nico di angelo#nico di angelo x will solace#pjo#hoo#percy jackson#will solace#tsats#the sun an the star#pjo/hoo#jason grace#rick riordan#mark oshiro
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Happy (birth)day
This is my first writing since I wrote my school deadlines and I hope it doesn't suck entirely. Also!! Happy Birthday Danny (and Jason Grace of course!) Specific request I allowed is also by Danny :)
Pairing: Platonic Jason, Piper, and more! Romantic Leo Valdez x reader :)
Request: Can I request camp shenanigans where Jason and reader have their birthdays on the same week (like me and Jason!) So Piper and Leo throw us a surprise party in the bunker? Obvsly Leo and reader are dating 🥺 but you can choose whether Piper is just there for platonic support to her besties or of it's still Jasper era
Warnings: none!
Word count: 2.2k
-Asja
You were suspicious already when, as you had breakfast, Leo did not greet you excitedly. Even worse, you did not see your boyfriend at the Hephaestus table at all. He wouldn’t have forgotten about your and Jason’s birthday’s, right? Leo must be planning something, and as you didn’t manage to spot Piper, who arrived at camp a few days ago, you figured they must have made a plan together. Your suspicions were correct, as when you met with Jason to ask him if he had any ideas, you both were approached by Harley.
“Big bro Leo told me to deliver this,” he handed you a small device, saluted, and ran off.
“Thanks…?” you said, looking at his disappearing figure. Jason carefully took the device off your hands.
“He must be planning something,” Jason examined the device closely, “I’m guessing with Piper as she wasn’t at breakfast either,” he sighed, “I just hope they didn’t entirely skip breakfast.”
“I am sure they had something to eat, Leo loves food after all.” You noticed something on the device and quickly grabbed it, “Is this a button…?” you pressed it, and almost dropped the device as a small, hologram Leo came out.
“Sure hope the timer works on this thing, right Pipes?” Leo laughed, before stepping away and holding his hands behind his back, as if they were bound together. Off camera you could hear Piper laugh.
“Would be awkward if it didn’t,” her voice sounded, “otherwise the whole ruse might fall through. 3.. 2.. 1.. go!”
“Ah! I’ve been captured!” Leo looked around frantically, “I’m not sure where I am but I sure hope this lil thing will get out-” he coughed as he cowered, “Please, whoever finds this- I need help-” Leo pretended to think and shook his head, “All I remember is this name- Nona and something about a vault?” he looked straight into the camera, “please find me, and bring all your friends! I can’t die on my lover’s and my best friend's birthdays. It would ruin their lives! Please-” A loud rumble sounded from somewhere behind the camera, and Leo looked up before loudly exclaiming “FUCK” as the hologram stopped.
“Nona?” you asked and Jason laughed.
“It’s a Latin prefix for nine, he’s in Bunker 9,” he explained.
“Leo’s a nerd,” you said affectionately, “Well, let’s round up all our friends before Leo fakes his death again.”
───────────
Unsurprisingly, all your friends were really easy to find. As in, most of them were already talking, not suspiciously at all, in a circle, right outside the dining hall. Even more not suspicious behavior was when Jason and you approached them Percy very loudly went,
“Hey guys! I sure hope Leo is okay, ah-” Annabeth elbowed him.
“Happy birthdays!” she smiled, “Anything fun planned?”
“Funny that you mention Leo, Percy,” you sighed, pretending to be worried “seems like he’s in a bit of a pickle right now.”
“(Y/n), we both know he’s come out of worse situations,” Jason said next to you, and he put a hand on your shoulder, “The things he said was so cryptic, I think it’s for the best if we just let him figure it out on his own.”
“Oh?” Nico feigned interest, “I love cryptic hints, what are they?” You could see Will hide a smile as he looked at his lover.
“Something about a Nona-” you gasped, “Wait, Jason! Do you think it’s an ex?” Jason huffed, to conceal his laugh.
“Maybe, or it’s Latin for nine, but Leo doesn’t know much Latin so that’s unlikely.” Jason sighed, “I’m sorry (Y/n), I guess we’ll have to travel around the U.S. to find Leo.”
“Perhaps a monster is forcing him to learn Latin,” you looked at Jason, “and we both know how that changes people,”
“What do you mean, ‘how Latin changes people’?” Jason hit your arm.
“They get all serious, Jason,” you gave him a look of pity, “and for Leo that might be deadly.”
Jason gave your statement a moment of thought before nodding sadly.
“Who wants to hold a funeral?” he asked, “That way from this year on we can celebrate three things on this day.”
“How about we hold the funeral in Bunker 9?” Annabeth suggested, “It’s a place he loved most.” Before you could react, Nico started walking away.
“I’m getting a coffin, be right back.”
“Where will he get a coffin from?” Percy muttered and Will smiled.
“He still has some left over from refurbishing cabin 13.”
“Why?” Percy whispered, not expecting an answer.
───────────
As your little progression moved closer to Bunker 9, you had trouble keeping it all together. Nico had six skeletons carry an empty coffin up front. Meg and Grover caught up to you with a bunch of flowers, all potted, which each person carried one of. Except for Jason, who was carrying a torch to light the pyre with that was yet to be built.
The entire Hephaustus cabin was following you, holding up their banner, and Harley excitedly kept running around. Of course, you were certain everyone was aware that this was all a joke, especially when Chiron stopped you to ask what was happening and you simply went;
“Oh, Leo got killed by Latin,”
Chiron was confused, but did not ask further questions about the funeral progression. In the end, it made sense as Leo probably got permission to do something in Bunker 9. As you approached the bunker, you noticed that the door was opened, and as the skeletons with the coffin entered first you only heard a muffled “SUPRISE!” from inside. As you entered, most of the progression gave up the pretense, but Jason and you had a goal. So, fully ignoring Leo, Piper, and all the other people that were in the bunker, you both stepped onto the nearest empty table. You noticed Leo standing on the front row, but quickly looked away.
“Today,” Jason’s voice boomed over the crowd, which was being rowdy, “we lost our dear friend Leonidas Valdez,” The crowd was silent except-
“HEY! I am not dead!” Leo’s said loudly.
“Sometimes-” you sniffed, “I can still hear his voice. Gone too soon, rest in peace my love.”
“What the fuck happened-” Leo exclaimed.
“If I understand correctly,” Everyone suddenly looked at the entrance, seeing Chiron standing there, “You became Latin, a dead language.” Chiron’s scrutinizing gaze went over the party, “But as you seem rather alive, I think instead you shall be having stable duty for the next month, starting tomorrow, as you did not request to hold a party.”
“Aw man,” Leo sighed, “Can we at least hold it now?” he looked with a hopeful gaze to Chiron who sighed.
“As long as I do not perceive anything more to do with this activity. Happy Birthday (Y/n), Jason,” and he galloped away.
Jason and you burst out laughing, as Leo pouted at you two. After you calmed down, you slowly made your way off the table.
“Your timer didn’t work,” you said as you softly gave your boyfriend his device, and a kiss on the cheek. He fidgeted with the device for a little bit before he sighed.
“So you made it more dramatic?” he asked, after which he sighed, “I love you. Happy Birthday, my love.” he smiled, “Oh, and (Y/n) of course-”
“Hey!” you gasped and Jason laughed.
“Love you too, Leo.” he said as he put his hand on Leo’s head, petting him “Pisada Carinosa” he muttered.
“That’s it I am finding Nona and dating her-” you turned around, only to be met with Piper.
“You could date me if you’re done with Leo.” she smiled and you grinned, before hugging her.
“I just might,” you joked as you let her go. Leo quickly grabbed your hand, and pulled you towards him and pressed a kiss on your lips.
“Nuhuh- you are not getting rid of me that easily corazoncito,”
───────────
After a while, Piper said it was time for the main activity of the day. She led everyone into a “room” that was hidden behind curtains. As you walked in, you saw a gigantic screen and piles of pillows on the floor.
She instructed everyone to sit down, as Leo and her handed out buckets of popcorn and other snacks. You sat next to Jason, who was holding a letter.
“What’s that?” you asked, and Jason looked up.
“Thalia couldn’t make it to camp, but she left a letter.” He showed you a picture of her and Reyna, standing at the Grand Canyon, “it’s weird how that’s where it started,” he smiled sadly, “how far we’ve all come since meeting each other.”
“Hug?” you asked and he nodded.
Engulfed in your presence, Jason began to relax. Certainly, losing his memories was hard and he often doubted whether he deserved Leo and Piper as friends, or if they even wanted to be his friend. But nowadays, he couldn’t be more certain that what he had was his. You, Leo, Piper, Frank, Hazel, Reyna, Bobby, his sister Thalia. All these friendly faces, that mean so much to him. He thanked the gods for his spot in both camps, and for allowing him to be happy and alive. As he let you go again, he had to blink away his tears.
“Thanks,” he whispered, and he leaned back against the pillows. Shortly after, the big screen started playing. Before the movie even got to its proper beginning, Leo squeezed himself between you and Jason, leaning mostly on Jason. Piper sat on your other side, and cuddled up on your shoulder, as you leaned a bit against Leo.
The Barbie opening sequence started playing, to great delight of the people in the room.
“How?” you whispered, “This movie has barely been out for a week-”
“My dad pulled some strings,” Piper smiled, “got us a private release.”
“That’s awesome.” you grabbed her hand, and looked her in the eye, “Piper I love you-” she laughed.
“Anything for my friends.”
───────────
After the movie was done, Leo asked the real question.
“So who are the Barbie and Ken of Camp Half-Blood?” Out of nowhere he got out prisoner signs, one with Barbie on it and one with Ken on it.
“Jason is Ken, right?” Piper stated, “I mean look at him, it’s like he’s made for the ‘beach’ job description-” unanimous sounds of agreement came from the crowd, and Leo gave Jason the Ken sign.
“I fully agree.” Leo said, before he got interrupted by the laughter of Nico.
“Sorry-” the son of Hades wheezed, “Will’s pouty because he thinks Piper used charmspeak to convince people Jason is Ken-” Nico grinned as his boyfriend tried to forcefully shut him up by smothering him.
“Barbie is a doctor though,” you grinned, “I think Will makes a perfect Barbie.”
“Oh! I was going to suggest our local Barbie, Pip-” before Leo could finish the sentence Piper harshly stepped on his toe, before ripping the Barbie sign out of his hands.
“And our local Barbie!” she grinned evily, “Will Solace!” she handed the son of Apollo his sign, and he hesitantly accepted it, and he stood up.
“Well, as I am Barbie I guess I will go to my Ken now. I hate you for this Di Angelo,” Will walked towards Jason, and sat down next to him, slightly awkwardly. As you looked at Nico, you saw that the smile of sheer delight had not yet left his face, “Love you too, Barbie.” he called from across the room, eliciting some laughter from the audience.
───────────
As the party was slowly calming down, you had a moment of calm with your friends. Leo was softly holding you from behind, as you were conversing with Piper and Jason.
“Thanks for organizing this guys,” you said looking at Piper and Leo.
“It’s nothing,” Piper smiled, “I’m happy we got this many people here in the end.”
“Yeah, you’re welcome! Too bad I have stable duty now though.” Leo looked sulky.
“I might try to talk him out of it,” Piper said, “After all, your birthday is in like two days too.”
“That’s true, hey Jason,” you turned your gaze to the son of Jupiter.
“Yes?” he returned your gaze.
“Wanna fake our deaths for Leo’s birthday party.”
“Of course,” Jason grinned.
“Please don’t” Leo pleaded.
“I’ll help!” Piper smiled. After a second of silence, everyone broke out in laughter.
It was indeed a happy (birth)day.
#request#requests#admin asja#heroes of olympus#leo valdez#nico di angelo#cabinofimagines#coi#asja writes#xreader#xyou#x you#x reader#leovaldez#leo x y/n#imagine#fanfiction#leo valdez x reader#platonic x reader#gn!reader#jason grace#jason grace x you#piper Mclean x reader#reader insert#happy birthday!!!#will solace#percy jackson#annabeth chase
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Brocedes Shot glass of tears
1.
“So,” Jenson starts, shaking an unnecessarily large amount of salt onto his side of roast potatoes. “I learned something new the other day.”
Nico sips at his glass of Viognier — he’s having seafood. “How to spell your name?”
Jenson smiles at him. “You always were funny, Britney. No, did you know that it doesn’t matter if you don’t fuck — that it doesn’t actually kill you if you get that,” he waves a careless hand in the air, salt shaker shaking, “Fuck Or Die drug thing?”
He pauses. Frowns. “Or is it a flower pollen?”
“It’s a drug made from a flower, like heroin,” Nico says, instead of saying, no, he did not know.
Jenson hums consideringly. His faux pensive expression is hideously exaggerated. It isn’t as charming as Nico suspects he thinks it is. He also suspects that Jenson doesn’t much care at the moment.
“Or,” Jenson continues. “At least, it didn’t kill Lewis.”
2.
James isn’t returning his calls. Nico doesn’t even bother trying Valtteri or Bono. He has no desire to be laughed at so Susie and Sebastian are also out.
Toto picks up on the seventh ring.
“This is Wolff” he answers, already sounding tired.
“Is it true?”
“Ah, Nico, hello,” Toto starts. “Is what true?”
Nico makes an annoyed sound in the back of his throat. His gut is doing something weird and cramp-like, and his head feels hot and stuffed even though he only had three glasses of wine with a full dinner.
“Lewis. And the drug. Is it real?”
“Hmm. Is this Friend-Nico talking, or Sky-Nico talking?”
It is a question that Susie likes to regularly ask Nico, though her version of the term ‘Friend-Nico’ is distinctly more mocking.
Nico does not snap at him. He is in control, even when he isn’t. He is.
Nico has never carried a bag of sweets around in his pocket. He is not one for setting himself up for failure. He knows what he is good at and what he isn’t. It is it’s own form of self discipline.
Nico isn’t sure Lewis ever really believed that. Other people definitely didn’t.
“Toto,” Nico says, and Toto sighs heavily.
“It is true. He — he had no one, and nothing happened. He has been medically cleared. No lasting side effects.”
Toto says the words like they’re not the first times he spoken them, and still, there is a note of slight reluctant disbelief. He has e never been one for awe.
Nico hangs up without saying goodbye.
3.
The fan had been aiming for Sebastian.
Apparently they had taken offensive to his excessive flirting with everyone in his five foot radius. Nico understands their pain.
He doesn’t know what happened after Baku. No one does. But, even three years later, whatever it was meant that it wasn’t surprising to find Lewis hanging off of Sebastian’s elbow at races, laughing at his terrible jokes.
It is because of this that Lewis gets a face full of Amyl Nitrite, instead of Sebastian.
The layers of irony here amuse Nico for a nice long moment. It helps that Nico knows from Jenson that Lewis was left to deal with it on his own. No Sebastian in sight.
“His poor dick must be stripped raw,” Nico says over the phone.
Mark makes a high despairing sound. He doesn’t like it when they talk about Lewis’s dick.
4.
Ted makes Lewis laugh seven times in his three minute paddock pen interview on Thursday. Nico is used to seeing Ted make Lewis laugh. They're both pretty shameless in that regard.
There are no circles under his eyes - no visible ones anyway, concealer is a thing - or tightness around his forehead. Nico squints at the screen to see if he has any of those tiny broken blood vessels he gets he presses his knuckles into them, trying to sleep. He can't see any.
His braids are neat and pulled back from his face in a high pony and his shirt is loose around his neck, thick silver chain glimmering. He is wearing his usual amount of jewelry.
"You know what it's like, man," Lewis is smiling, face scrunching up behind his mask. "We always try to start off on a good vibe and see where we go build from there. We've got a good team and a good car, and I like where we're at."
He does not look like he's in any form of discomfort, let alone pain. He does not look like his dick is raw. This means nothing as Nico knows.
Ted says something else and Lewis laughs for an eighth time. Nico turns off his tablet.
5.
It is from Fernando that Nico finds out what happened in the end.
Fernando tells him that Lewis came to stay in his hotel room for the night, to ride out the drug’s effects, like this set of actions were obvious and he couldn’t imagine why Nico was even bothering to ask.
Absence, Nico realises, does not always make the heart fonder. At least where Fernando Alonso is concerned.
“Where else would he go,” Fernando says slowly as if Nico is particularly dim. “I don’t do that sort of thing, and I always have a lot of alcohol on me.”
He is filling another two shot glasses from a bottle of clear vodka he already had at the table when Nico arrived.
“Right,” Nico says. “Of course.”
And then: “Is that how he survived then? By drinking himself limp?”
The thought isn’t as funny as Nico would like it to be.
Fernando rolls his eyes. “I told him he didn’t need it. People are just weak. This drug does not kill. People get scared. They give in. They want. After, they are ashamed, so they make up stories, is all.”
Fernando’s mouth twists into something sour. The lighting in the hotel bar is low and dark, throwing shadows across his jaw.
“Hamilton is not weak,” Fernando tells him and Nico does not snap back that he knows.
Instead, he informs him calmly that his opinion on drugs and people’s susceptibility to them and their effects is outdated and uneducated and privileged. He leaves Fernando to pick up their tab. This seems to piss him off more than the lecture.
+1.
Lewis flips the pancake high in the air, grinning to himself as it lands perfectly back into the pan. He’s shirtless, shorts low on his hips, and barefoot. The curve of his belly is softer than it was back when they were racing.
“Morning,” Nico murmurs, pressing his mouth against the knob at the top of Lewis’s spine. His skin is still shower warm and only slightly damp.
“Hey,” Lewis says, reaching a hand back to squeeze Nico’s hip. “You hungry?”
Nico checks in with himself as he takes down two glasses from the cupboard. He opens the fridge to grab their jug of water — already Britta filtered and with several slices of lemon bobbing on the surface.
“Nah, not really, I’ll only have one or two.”
“Mhmm, okay.”
Nico pours them both out two glasses and grabs a pair of forks. He sits up on one of the island stools and sips at his drink.
He should really have his shot of apple cider vinegar and greens but his stomach is feeling kind of weird this morning and he wants to eat first.
Lewis’s cross tattoo is fading. He’ll need to get it touched up soon.
“Bon appétit,” Lewis declares sweepingly, setting Nico’s plate down in front of him with a flourish. He’s in a good mood this morning which means he deliberately butchers the pronunciation, saying it like “Bon apple teeth”, to annoy Nico.
Happiness on Lewis has always looked childlike.
It is strange — the times Nico thinks about it, after all these years.
You were going to kill yourself before letting anyone fuck you again, Nico does not say to Lewis. He cuts into the top pancake, smothered in syrup, and chews slowly.
Lewis turns back to the stove, already sure it will be liked. It’s a well used recipe.
Did you know that it was an old wives tale, or did you just not want to pick up the phone that badly?
Nico’s therapist has been pushing him to ask Lewis for years. Nico told her he will when he is no longer afraid of the answer. He is trying to be more honest, if not with Lewis than with himself and his therapist. She had looked remarkably unimpressed.
“This is enough for me,” Nico tells him. “Thank you.”
Lewis hums, throwing a grin over his shoulder. He is shimming slightly to the music coming from the speaker perched on-top the fridge.
Roscoe is snoring on the couch in the sitting room area of their open floor plan.
“I’m thinking of going swimming later.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“How much later?”
Nico thinks for a second. It’s a Saturday and he has no meetings. Neither does Lewis.
“I told my Dad I’d give him a call at around eleven, so,” he checks his phone. It’s a little before ten now. “Maybe have an early lunch after that and then go at around two or so?”
“Okay.” Lewis turns off the stove, plating up the last of his banana pancakes, and comes around to sit next to Nico. He turns a little so he’s facing him, knees nudging his thigh. “Sounds good.”
At this angle, one of Lewis’s nipple piercings keeps catching off the light when he moves to eat his food and winking at Nico. It’s vaguely distracting in a distant this is your favourite meal but you’ve just eaten kind of way.
“We’re having dinner on the yacht tonight,” Nico decides.
Lewis glances at him, that half amused look he only ever gets around Nico on his face, like he doesn’t even have to thinking about being that way, it just happens naturally.
“Okay,” he says again. “Sure.”
“I want to suck you off under the stars after,” Nico tells him and rinses off his plate before putting it in the dishwasher, and leaving the room to call his dad.
“And they say romance is dead,” Lewis calls after him, grinning, eyes hot. It would be embarrassing for him, the way Nico knows Lewis’s dick twitched when Nico said that, if Nico wasn’t just as easy for him.
#i don’t gen write brocedes but akira is tired rn and i love her and i can’t give her a hug but i can give her this#hope u enjoy anon!#sex pollen trope#brocedes#little fics#anon tag#niamh.asks
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solangelo marching band au part 3
epilogue
part 1 | 2 | ao3
so. it's been a bit longer than i thought it would be. but here it is. and it's about 3k more words than i thought it would be.
thanks to everyone who stuck this little au out until the end! and thanks for all the sweet comments and replies! y'all are awesome
tw brief mention of vomitting starts at, "He wasn't sure where they were when Will, holding the band at attention…" and ends at, "Horrible and disgusting incident avoided…"
-
One year later
Nico was sleeping soundly for once when his alarm went off at 3:30 in the goddamn morning, a criminal hour to wake up at if he did say so himself.
He was just contemplating what would happen if he stayed in bed when someone started banging on his door. "Nico! Get up! Will's gonna be here in a half hour!"
He got up.
It was still fucking night outside, so he stumbled around in the dark gathering clothes and his phone, keys, and wallet. Fortunately, he showered the night before, so he just changed in the bathroom and brushed his teeth, then went into the kitchen to make some cereal.
Hazel was already there, having gotten up before him. With dark circles under her eyes and a deadened expression, she didn't look much better than him. "Good morning."
Nico grumbled.
"Same."
And that was that.
Twenty minutes later, they were standing on the street outside their dad's house, and it was still fucking black as pitch outside and probably would be for another four hours or so. Next to him, Hazel was shivering slightly in her band tee and thermal undershirt.
Thankfully, that was when Will's old black Toyota Camry pulled around the corner, only seen by the headlights blaring out across the pavement.
Nico and Hazel walked down to the car and slid in, Nico into the passenger seat and Hazel into the back.
"Good morning," Will said, sounding more than a little groggy. The blond may have been more of a morning person than Nico, but he was very very diurnal. Only awake with the sun. The blond took a long sip from a McDonald's coffee cup before setting it in the cup holder. "How'd you sleep?"
A grumbled non-reply from both siblings was all the answer he needed.
"Me, too."
They drove in silence for a couple blocks. Then Will turned his head to look at Nico and seemed to do a double take. "What are you-stop drinking my coffee!"
"But I'm tired, and it's cold," Nico said as he finished his sip. "And my boyfriend didn't get me one."
Will turned to look at him for as long as it was safe while driving in the dark, mouth agape. "You don't even like coffee!"
Nico grinned into the cup. "It's four in the morning. Everyone likes coffee at four in the morning."
"I don't," Hazel said helpfully from the back. "But I wouldn't say no to some sweet tea."
Will groaned, a sound so full of longing that Nico would've believed he was dying of starvation had he not been able to see him. "God, I would kill for a good sweet tea right now."
"You two are so Southern," Nico said, though honestly his heart was warmed by the little exchange. He was glad that his boyfriend and sister could bond over something, even if it did make his heart ache for Italy a little.
"Yeah, yeah. You're just jealous that you've never tasted real Southern sweet tea," Will said, smiling. When Nico grumbled at him, he added, "Don't worry. We'll get you some this summer."
Right, because he was spending two weeks at the Solace family farm in June to meet his boyfriend's family before starting NRU in the fall. He was actually looking forward to it a lot despite the nerves. From what he'd heard, the Solaces were more like the Jacksons than any of his other friend's living parents, but still. It was going to be a lot. But for Will, he could do it. Maybe. Probably.
As they came up the hill to the school, Will spoke again. "Just out of curiosity, when did you go to bed last night?"
Nico's eyes widened. "Midnight," he said hesitantly. He hadn't done that on purpose, but seriously. What high schooler went to bed before midnight on a Friday night? Even the ones with a 4:15 a.m. call time?
Will's eyes swiveled to him. "That was four hours ago."
"Just be glad I went to bed at all." The last three years, he'd stayed up all night and slept on the bus which made last year's events all the more impressive. This year, he'd surely be more awake.
"Jesus christ," Will muttered, turning the car into the school parking lot. It was already about a fourth of the way full with band kids, so Will slid into a spot a few rows back. "That's not enough sleep."
"Yeah, Mr. I-probably-went-to-bed-at-seven-thirty-to-get-a-full-eight-hours."
Will's cheeks turned bright red. "That's not something to be ashamed of."
This time, even Hazel giggled from the back seat. "Yes, it is."
Will was still grumbling under his breath when they got out of the car and went into the band room. Inside, there were several teenagers ambling around, many of them practically sleepwalking. There were even a couple actually asleep in their chairs and at least one color guard member asleep under a flag silk. Nico was instantly jealous, even though he knew those silks were thin as fuck.
Will and Hazel went to their chairs at the front of the room because those overachievers were drum majors now, and Nico went to get his trombone from the instrument closet and set it by the door so that it was ready for the cargo drivers. When he came back, his uniform bag was already draped over the back of his chair. He frowned, then looked over at Will's spot to see his boyfriend smiling at him. Seeing Nico's eyes, Will cupped one hand in a half heart. In a moment of extreme sleep deprivation, Nico returned it.
More people continued to stream in as call time drew nearer, but Nico curled up on his chair and let his eyes close, at least until his phone buzzed in his pocket.
More than a little dazed, he blinked at Jason's contact.
Jason
Don't forget to go to the bathroom before you get on the bus
Nico closed his eyes and counted to ten.
Nico
did you really just get up to text me that
Without waiting for a response, he closed his eyes, then gave an annoyed curse as he opened them again and got up to go to the bathroom.
On his way back to the band room, he received a response from Jason that confirmed that, yes, he had gotten up specifically to text Nico to go pee. Good lord.
By the time he walked through the doors, it seemed most of the rest of the band had shown up, and Nico had to fight his way to his seat. A few minutes later, Will stood on his chair and blew his whistle to signal call time which meant Nico had 15 minutes to sit in his chair until they had to get on the buses, and that was exactly what he did. Sometime later, he vaguely registered the cargo guys coming in to put all their instruments in the storage truck and then the yellow buses pulling up outside the window.
When 4:30 rolled around, most everybody was ready in their chairs. Chiron, also suffering in a bright orange t-shirt and too little sleep, stepped up to the director's stand and said, "Buses are here! Let's go."
There was a collective groan as everybody stood up, rustling their uniform bags and clomping for the doors. Of course, as a low brass player, Nico was in the back. Hopefully Will got them a good spot.
Eventually, he made it outside into the cool night air, still behind the mob of orange t-shirts. Being the only people out at this time in their little bubble of lights, they cut a funny and kind of eerie sight, but Nico was too groggy to ponder that, so he instead followed the other seniors to the bus and found Will in a seat toward the middle back. He didn't even say hello, just threw his uniform bag on the floor and curled up on the seat with his head in Will's lap. The blond chuckled above him. "Sure, go ahead and take a nap. I'll wake you up for breakfast."
Without further ado, he closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Five months ago
Nico's dress pants crinkled uncomfortably on the metal folding chair beneath him as sweat dripped down his face, and he worried how he would play his trombone with the salty liquid in his mouth.
He ran out of time to figure it out, though, as the principal finished talking and started announcing names. In front of the band, the sun shining behind him, Chiron stepped onto the podium, raised his hands, and began conducting. Nico lifted his trombone to his mouth, then put it back down when he realized he had a long rest. The rest of the band dropped into pomp and circumstance, tucked away on the side of the football field.
The first few names, Nico didn't know, which meant they must've not been in band. They were barely through all of the B names when his rest was up, so, once again, he picked up his trombone and prepared to play. They hadn't practiced pomp and circumstance much in class, but this was his third time performing it, and it was an easy piece; he let his mind wander.
Somewhere out on the field, his friends were preparing to graduate in their caps and gowns, Jason, class president, preparing to give a speech to the crowd to say goodbye and send them off to the next big adventure, or whatever other euphemism he had chosen for his speech, and Nico was stuck behind a big yellow goalpost, literally on the sidelines.
It was a lot. Nico might even admit to having cried about it. But for once, he'd cried in the comfort of someone's arms, someone who wasn't about to leave him.
The song came back around to the beginning, and Nico let his trombone drop back to his knee. Over the years, the band had picked up the habit of clapping for each walking band member when they were resting, and this year was no different. As the flutes in the front row continued the melody, Nico listened for names he recognized. It would still be a while before any of his friends were called, though.
Unfortunately, that meant he stopped playing just as Octavian's name was called. He barely kept a boo from slipping out of his mouth, but when the freshman next to him - Macy, a strange coincidence - raised her hands to clap, he didn't refrain from lightly touching her arm and saying, "Don't clap for him, he sucks."
It was truly a testament to how much he'd grown into the section leader role (or how gullible freshmen were) that she nodded without question. He may have grinned a little.
Soon, the rest ended, and he was back in pomp and circumstance. The alphabet continued to pass, too, until Hannah Garrison was being called and eventually Jason Grace, met with the raucous sound of trumpet and drumline applause (plus some others that were definitely supposed to be playing) but which Nico only acknowledged with a huff into his mouthpiece and a stutter on his slide. He would feel that one later.
More names, more music. He was still playing when the Ms rolled around, and was thus able to pointedly ignore the announcement of Piper McLean, but his trombone wasn't up when the Rs started.
No, and he quickly realized it was much harder to ignore his feelings when there was nothing else to focus on, nothing but the pressing call of Reyna Ramirez-Arellano, especially not when his entire section erupted into applause. He weakly clapped his hands together, still refusing to look up at the stage.
The next time he started playing again, it was dark outside of the football stadium, and he was horrified to realize that his hands were shaking. He didn't bother trying to play. With the way his embouchure refused to take shape, it would just come out all breathy, anyway.
Objectively, he knew that he was reacting far better than he would've last year, far better than did at Percy and Annabeth's graduation, before getting together with Will, but the knowledge didn't stop the pain. It wasn't as bad as it could've been, but he still hurt, still felt just a little abandoned. He couldn't stop himself from thinking about what the next school year would be like without the backdrop of his cousins, when all their major presences were gone and he didn't get to see them everyday. And it wasn't just them. There were so many other faces he would miss: Clarisse, the Stolls, Rachel. It wouldn't be the same without them.
Leo was the final straw.
When the drummer's name was announced, the pressure behind Nico's eyes burst, and tears started rolling down his face. Somehow, he kept his trombone up, though his hand quit moving the slide, and next to him, Macy shot over an anxious glance. There was nothing he could do to reassure her. He didn't even have enough remaining focus to be embarrassed.
100 feet away, the principal kept plodding along, steadily making it through the list of names until he finally got to the last one - Frank Zhang, of course - and Chiron led the band into the finale.
Thank god. Nico immediately took his trombone apart with the rest of the band and shoved it in his case under his seat, then sat back, rubbing his wet eyes.
The tears were still coming. He couldn't stop that. But the big black empty chasm that had nearly consumed him last year wasn't there. Last year, the abyss had taken hold of him and terrified him, and he'd run away to his dark bedroom to wallow in despair and shame. This year, he could make it through.
The principal got up to say another few words, then introduced Jason, class president and valedictorian. Damn overachiever.
Anyway.
From all the way over on the track, Nico couldn't see his face, or anything defining of his features at all really except a bit of his blond hair. He also couldn't hear him too well, which was probably for the best. Even so, his eyes were still wet when 500 hats flew up into the air, and everyone stood, clapping and yelling and hugging.
The band also got up with the crowd, following the audience to go congratulate their kids. Nico looked around for Hazel, but she was already halfway across the field with her tuba. That at least brought the smallest of smiles to his face.
Trombone case in hand, he almost went to follow her. Then he caught sight of Will walking toward him.
It was easy to fall into his boyfriend's arms, easier to stifle his coming sobs in Will's white button down. He only gave himself a few seconds, though, because there were people everywhere, and he actually wanted to spend time with his friends before breaking down for the night.
But later, after everyone had gone home and Nico was in the safety of Will's arms in his bedroom, he did cry, a lot, and probably came out the other side better for it.
Now
"Breakfast in five!" Mr. D shouted from the front of the bus. Unsurprisingly, he said nothing else before sitting back down.
Nico groaned and sat up, blinking the early dawn light out of his tired eyes. "You said you were gonna wake me up."
When he didn't get an answer, he shifted on the cracked leather seat to face Will and barked out a laugh. His boyfriend was fast asleep against the window.
He took a second to admire how his hair shimmered in the new light like a halo. He was not ashamed to admit that he snapped a picture, but right after that, he shook Will's shoulder and said, "Wake up, Sunshine."
For a moment, he didn't do anything. Then, his eyes fluttered open, and he groaned. "Time's'it?"
Nico laughed at his hair sticking up on the window side as Will sat up. "A little before six."
Will yawned and stretched. "That's too early."
"Agreed."
Now that he could see out the window, Nico spied the bus coming up on a rest stop, and he could see that the BPO had already set up white folding tables full of snacks and whatnot.
The sight gave him pause. On the one hand, he and Will had first gotten close at a rest stop, and he would forever be grateful for that. On the other hand. On the other hand. They had been stuck there for six hours, and he didn't exactly enjoy their final moments there.
Before he could sort out his feelings, someone toward the front of the bus said, "Is it just me, or does anyone else not want to stop?"
Laughter rang through the seats, and more than a few people vocally agreed.
"Yeah, we might get stuck all day this time," Nico said, only half kidding. Will snorted.
Despite the trauma of the seniors, the bus continued on into the rest stop and settled in next to the other three big yellow vehicles. Slowly, as some people were still waking up, they all ambled out into the parking lot, leaving uniform bags behind. Most stopped to stretch on the way to the breakfast table, but some made a B-line for the bathroom.
Nico and Will followed the other seniors to the food. Calling it breakfast, of course, was a bit of a misnomer. It was more a display of what truckers might buy from a gas station if they were trying to be healthy: granola bars, fruit snacks, browning fruit, cereal bars, chip bags, and, because they weren't monsters, some fun size pieces of candy. At the end of the table were coolers of soda and water. Nico grabbed a granola bar and a Reese's, forgoing the drinks in favor of not pissing himself in the middle of the parade. Behind him, Will grabbed a bag of Doritos, and they made their way over to an empty parking spot to stand and eat.
They didn't say anything, still groggy and eager to not be at a rest stop. A glance across the lot said most of the other seniors were in the same boat.
It was kinda funny to think that their entire graduating class in marching band had rest stop related trauma. Trauma bonding, and all that.
A couple parking spots away, he spotted Hazel standing with her junior friends. She waved to him, and he smiled back but continued to glance around nervously like one of the buses was about to start smoking or something.
Back in front of him, Will finished off his Doritos, crumpled up the bag, and said, "I kinda hate it here."
Nico breathed a sigh of relief. "Me, too."
"It's stupid, but I'm terrified we're gonna get stuck," Will said. He tossed his bag in a nearby trash can.
"I know." The worst thing was, he meant it.
Will wasn't done, though. "I mean, I'm not mad it happened, because, obviously-" he gestured at Nico "-it turned out pretty great, but I never want to be trapped in the middle of nowhere for-"
"-for six hours, I know," Nico finished for him. "Yeah, I get it." He blushed, preparing himself for embarrassing vulnerability. "Besides, the great thing already happened, so if we get stuck again, it'll never turn out like last time. It'll just suck."
"Right." Will gave him a sickeningly fond look, then a smug grin overtook his face. "But it'll suck with you."
Nico's mouth dropped open as he processed Will's terribly romantic line, and he gently smacked his boyfriend on the arm. "That was so bad, you sappy bastard." Even so, he was smiling.
Will just smirked. "Wanna see if we can convince Chiron to head out early?"
"God, yes." I love you so much.
*Four months ago*
It was very odd being at band camp without any of his older cousins and friends. Objectively, he knew that they had each been there for the same four years and he was about to be, but something about them, following them around and succeeding them, gave them the impression of looming figures that had been there forever, almost like elementary kids thinking their teachers lived at school. They were eternal, perpetual; it was hard to believe they would never be in that position again, harder still to believe this was Nico's last time in this position, though, honestly it helped that Nico knew that Jason, Percy, and the others were asleep a couple blocks over at Percy's apartment because Nico and Hazel had come from there after a sleepover at Percy's insistence
They were at band camp. It was July 25, 9:30 a.m. Nico was the most powerful student in his vicinity since Hazel left him for drum major and no one applied for the other low brass section leader position. He hated it. But he also kinda loved it. But he also kinda felt like the roof had been ripped from over his head, leaving him to hold back the elements, because Mr. D was in charge of fundies for brass today, and his only instruction was, "Listen to your section leaders," before he sat down in a lawn chair in the shade of a large cedar tree.
Now, 19 kids were staring at him expectantly, 7 of them freshmen that had never marched before in their lives. He sighed. "Everybody put your instruments down, we're gonna learn basics."
Now
They did not convince Chiron to leave the rest stop early.
("We have let people stretch their legs this early in the morning," he said, looking a little amused.
"Actually, I'm really looking forward to getting back on the bus and going back to sleep," Nico countered, and Will agreed with a perfunctory, "Yeah." He didn't see why people needed to move around when they were all still dreaming of their beds at home.
Chiron shook his head. "Sorry, boys. Not gonna happen.")
But that was a bit over an hour ago, and, after a short nap, they were now at NRU, milling around, sort of in parade block, while they waited for the marching to start. They were in the middle of Greek Town with frat houses on either side of the road they were standing on. The only difference? Olympus was leading the high school bands instead of bringing up the back.
"Nico?" Reyna yelled from her place in NRU's color guard block. She jogged over to him. "What are you doing in front? I thought I wouldn't get to see you until the end." The other trombones next to him glanced over curiously, then turned away in disinterest, but Will and Hazel, in their white and orange drum major uniforms, walked over to say hi.
Nico took a wild second to take in Reyna's NRU guard uniform: glittery purple sequins, set against bright orange over a short black skirt, hair pulled back into two tight braids. Her face was also covered in orange and purple glitter. She was probably going insane. At least in high school, they let her wear a men's uniform. "Yeah, they put us in front."
She opened her mouth, and Nico thought she was about to tell him something. Instead, she turned around and screamed, "Piper! Look who they put in front this year?"
It was hard to see through the color guard, but distantly, he saw someone vaguely Piper shaped in the flute section turn around, drop her jaw in shock, and turn back around to yell at someone in front of her. Then, she sprinted over and said, "Hey guys! How's band been without us this year?"
"Well, the freshmen-"
"Nico! Hazel! Hey!" This one was Percy, Leo close behind him. "And Will! How was the ride down?"
Before he could answer, Jason jogged over, and said, "Percy, unzip me."
What? Nico almost asked if he'd heard right, then Percy said, "I got you."
Nico's eyes widened, and he looked around the group. Will and Hazel had similar expressions of confusion on their faces, but Reyna, Piper, and Leo just looked amused. Frank came over then, and he and Hazel broke off to talk.
While Jason and Percy were doing...whatever they were doing, Annabeth wandered over, hair tucked up into her hat, and immediately got a look of exasperation on her face. "You two were serious about that?"
If Nico thought she would clear anything up, he was wrong.
Percy finished unhooking and unzipping Jason's marching band jacket which was somehow even uglier than the high school ones: overlapping purple N and R on thick orange and black horizontal stripes. Olympus' were simple orange with some purple whorls. (Olympus had struck some sort of deal with NRU for them to be allowed to use the same colors and logo as the college, resulting in the worst color scheme known to man.)
Then, Jason took the jacket off, and Nico stared. There were chip bags, water bottles, and other snacks taped to the inside of the garment.
"What the hell did you two do?" Nico asked wearily. Will looked like he was trying not to laugh.
"We brought you food," Percy said helpfully.
Nico gestured helplessly. "Why, exactly?"
Jason started pulling the food off the jacket and handing it to Nico and Will. "In case your bus breaks down again."
"Oh my god." Nico almost fumbled a granola bar. "What the hell are we supposed to do with all this?"
Jason stood and looked at Nico like he was the one being weird. "Tape it to your jackets."
That was the last straw for Leo apparently, who busted out laughing.
Annabeth eyed her boyfriend. "We told them not to do that, just so you know."
Will grinned at her. "We figured."
"Oh, and Thalia said she's in the crowd somewhere by Jupiter's."
Cool, Nico looked forward to seeing his oldest cousin. After graduating high school, she decided to go to a local automotive program instead of enrolling in NRU. Her dad had been pissed, but Nico knew that was probably one of her goals. "I'll keep a lookout for her."
Then, he looked down at the food in his arms and sighed, then reached over to unzip Will's jacket to start taping things to it.
Chiron and Mr. D were nowhere to be found, so they should still have plenty of time for this bullshit before the parade started.
When he was done, he looked up to see Frank handing Hazel food a few feet away. How come *she* didn't have to tape it to her clothes?
Then, because they weren't finished, of course, Percy took his hat off, careful of the plume, and took a Ziploc bag full of cold pizza out. "Put this in your hat."
Nico stared dumbfounded, and Will gave him a look that Nico assumed to mean, Your family is fucking weird. "Are you serious?"
Percy rolled his eyes and shook the bag. "Yeah, take it."
Internally cursing every single event that led him to this, Nico grabbed the bag and shoved it up into his hat. The hats were tall but tight, so it should stay fine. He'd once marched an entire half-time show with a Kit-Kat in it.
Finally, Reyna patted him on the back and said, "We should probably all get in line. Good luck today."
The others gave them similar messages as they filed back into their lines until just Nico, Will, Hazel, and Percy were left standing there.
Percy looked at Nico. "Hey, you guys are gonna do great today, alright?"
Nico nodded, confused. "Okay."
"Percy! Come on!" Annabeth yelled from somewhere in the clarinet section.
He ignored her, and Nico knew whatever he said next would be both important and uncomfortable. "We're all really proud and can't wait for you to be here next year." Nico opened his mouth, but Percy turned around and started running away. "Okay bye!"
With that, he ran off, and Nico huffed after him. What an annoying turd. Nico kinda loved him.
"That was sweet," Hazel said.
Nico was about to ask her where she put the stuff Frank gave her when Chiron walked up to the front of the band with two juniors Nico didn't know and Olympus' banner. That meant they were about to start marching. He stepped into line with his trombone.
Chiron turned to face the band, though he was really talking to Will and Hazel. "Everybody ready? We should be going soon."
They nodded. Now, it was just a matter of waiting.
While they were standing there, Will turned to Nico and said, "I can't believe I'm about to march four miles with Cheetos poking me in the chest."
"Same," Hazel said. "Although I think mine are Cheez-Its."
Nico had to laugh at that. "Well, I've got pizza on my head. I don't think any of us thought we'd be here."
Will and Hazel laughed, giving Nico a warm, fuzzy feeling. "Hey, how'd you get it to stay without falling out of your pants?" Nico asked.
Hazel looked at him oddly. "It's in my bra, Nico."
Nico wasn't sure how to respond to that. Thankfully, he didn't have to as NRU's band chose that moment to call everyone to attention. Will and Hazel started their beat clapping, and almost immediately, the drum line started in.
"Band!" Will and Hazel yelled. "Ten-hut!"
The whole band went rigid, everyone standing at attention. For the trombones, that meant holding the instrument horn pointing down, elbows at about a 90-degree angle. Their heels were together, toes apart. They were hyped and ready.
A minute later, they started walking. Contrary to popular belief, marching bands didn't actually walk with their knees up to their chests because that would not only be ridiculous, but it would make it harder to play their instruments. Instead, they did glide stepping which just meant walking with immaculate posture, keeping toes up, and moving hips as little as possible. It was the best way to walk while blowing into an instrument, and the best way to not break a tooth on a mouthpiece which had been known to happen.
They were still in Greek Town, so there was probably some time before they played any music. For now, it was just cadences, so Nico got to watch NERO's color guard. Their flags were just orange and purple blurs. It was awesome.
Eventually, they started playing music: the school theme song and their show song that year, 'We Will Rock You' interspersed with cadences.
They passed hordes and horses of people, many of which were pushing the boundaries of the road, and NRU guard member almost hit a kid. It was all part of the game, though. Happened every year.
They made it into the main part of campus by the library, then looped back out to go into the city. Pizza bouncing on his head, they passed apartments and restaurants, thrift stores and bodegas. At one point, they passed Jupiter's, and he thought he saw Thalia's dark head, but he couldn't be certain. It was hard to parse out anyone on the sidelines while playing.
He wasn't sure where they were when Will, holding the band at attention, suddenly gave him an urgent look and pointed over his shoulder. Nico turned and somehow managed to stay in step without whacking anyone with his instrument, and his eyes widened.
The freshman behind him - he couldn't tell which one it was beneath the hat - was way too pale and sweaty, and Nico knew exactly what was about to happen.
"Step out to the side and find Chiron," he said firmly.
Thankfully, the kid managed to step out of the block a second before vomiting and even avoided all the bystanders. Nico stayed turned around just long enough to see Chiron walk up next to the poor kid. They should be fine, but he made a mental note to check on them later.
Horrible and disgusting incident avoided, he went back to watching Will.
A few more turns later, they came up on the judges' table, and Will and Hazel started them on "We Will Rock You" for the final time. Nico did one last check of his posture and feet, called guide and cover down - they should be perfect.
And then that was it. They had passed the judges' table. The competition was over. They had two blocks left before they were done forever.
It was the first time that thought filled him with dread. For years, he'd been looking forward to leaving his shitty past behind. He wanted to go to college to be with his friends even though he still has no idea what he wanted to do, to finally leave the place that felt like it had been dragging him down. He was endlessly excited to start making a real life with Will where they had the freedom to think about their future away from the pressure and expectations of their looming parents. He already had a dorm lined up with his boyfriend, scholarships, an orientation date, he'd even finally scheduled his driver's test, but now? He was scared. What if he wasn't ready to leave Olympus?
Who was he kidding? The only thing still here for him was Hazel. Memories, old and new, were waiting for him with his cousins. He could cherish his last year here, but even with the overwhelming feeling of an ending, he knew he wouldn't miss it. Not that much, at least.
They turned the corner onto an empty street, one bordered by dorms with a big lawn in the middle dotted with trees. Drumline played the 'end march' beat. They stopped walking and dispersed across the grass, some people already tearing off their jackets and hats. NRU's band continued on toward the football field.
Nico walked right up to Will. "I can't wait to go here with you next year."
Will's eyes widened, clearly not expecting such honesty. "Me, too. Any particular reason?"
Across the field, a clarinet in a blue uniform crashed into a trumpet in a green uniform, sending them both tumbling into the grass, both giggling and shrieking the other's name. "No. I just really fucking love you."
Will's expression went unbearably soft. "I really fucking love you, too."
One week, one day before
As Lou Ellen Blackstone stepped out of the circle, Will glanced up at the scoreboard, lit up bright against the night sky. "Three minutes until halftime."
Nico didn't quite know how, but he somehow ended up in the middle of the circle. Now, he hadn't been planning on giving a senior speech since, honestly, he didn't think he was involved enough for anyone to care what he had to say, but, evidently, he was wrong because what felt like a dozen pairs of hands pushed him into the circle. His first thought was to panic; he couldn't find Will, and he hated public speaking. Then, he caught sight of his sweet, sweet boyfriend and managed to find his breath, even if getting the words out past the lump in his throat after the previous speeches was a struggle. "Hi, I'm Nico."
"Hi, Nico."
Despite it all, he grinned. "I have no idea how many of you know me because I never try to talk to anyone, but, but holy shit, I am so fucking ready to graduate." There were a few snorts, but he kept looking at Will who looked exasperated, if a bit sad. "But I have loved marching band, and I will probably miss you guys."
At that, Will's face took on a proud look as the people around them cheered. He even heard someone shout, "Mr. D-ass goodbye, di Angelo!"
Whatever. He was too focused on the tears in his boyfriend's eyes to care what anyone else thought of his speech. As far as he was concerned, it was the best one, at least until Will went.
And that one. Boy did that one make him cry. It might've been the worst half time show he'd ever marched.
But to him, it was damn good.
Now
"Third place drumline goes to Othrys High School with 89 points," one of the judges, a sweet looking older woman, said as she read off her clipboard to the several marching bands gathered on the lawn. "Second place is Pelion High School with 92 points." Everyone held their breath. "And first place with 98 points is Olympus High School."
Energy thrummed across the orange and purple-clad teens, but they refrained from celebrating. There were still two more categories to go. However, Nico did grab Will's hand in suspense. He was only human.
"Third place in visuals goes to Ithaca High School with 87 points, second to Othrys High School with 94 points, and first to Olympus High School with 95 points."
They were cutting it close with that score but thankfully still in the lead. Nico squeezed Will's hand tighter. The next category would be the decider.
"Third place in musicality goes to Pelion High School for 91 points, second to Othrys High School with 96 points, and third to Olympus High School with a whopping 99 points!"
They still didn't celebrate, waiting for the final call, but Nico and Will did glance at each other in excitement. They won.
The judge flipped the page on her clipboard. "Honorable mention for overall performance goes to Ithaca High School with 245 points; third to Pelion High School with 265 points; second to Othrys High School with 279 points." She paused, clearly drumming up drama even though they all knew who won by now. "And first place with the best high school marching band in southern New York goes to Olympus High School with 292 points!"
Now, they celebrated, jumping up and down and yelling, pumping fists in the air, the whole shebang. They had fucking earned this.
Someone at the front of the lawn handed Chiron the trophy (and it wasn't a small one, either, probably the size of Nico's entire arm), and Mr. D held up a hand. They quieted.
He didn't speak right away, taking a deep breath like he was going to give a lengthy speech. "You did good today."
When it became apparent he wasn't going to say anything else, they erupted in screams, possibly more raucous than before.
Nico looked up at Will and did a double take. "Are you crying?"
Will sniffled. "It's-it's a lot."
"Oh my god, come here." Nico pulled his head down to cradle in his neck. Chip bags crinkled under the uniform. "I'm gonna miss it, too."
They didn't stay like that long, constantly aware of where they were, so when they pulled away, Will's eyes were still red-rimmed and leaking, but thankfully not as wet as before.
The blond gazed up at the buildings in front of them, one of them to be their home next year, and never once let go of Nico's hand. "Are you ready?"
Nico followed his sightline. "Yep."
And this year, their bus didn't break down.
#solangelo#solangelo fic#solangelo fanfic#nico di angelo#will solace#my writing#my fic#pjo#pjo hoo toa#pjo fic
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So we all know the initiation ceremony. But my brain is always novacaine so this is what I got out of it:
Obviously, the first one is based on this quote:
"Lately Tristan, the resident failed murderer of the house, had been having daydreams. More like fantasies, really. Where he didn’t hesitate. Where he simply killed Callum with the knife in the dining room for the good of the group, as he had been so auspiciously assigned."
The second one is based on this quote:
"In Callum’s dreams, Tristan always died under the same circumstances. It was a bit like being trapped in a nightmare, or a time loop, with the dining room for a stage. Callum attempted different scenarios in his dreams, testing a variety of weapons. Bludgeoning Tristan with a candelabra one night, smothering him with the upholstered cushion of the dining room chair the next. Strangling, of course. Always a bit sexual, that. Poisoning his soup, which was ridiculous. They all knew Tristan had some kind of persisting aversion to broth. Methodology aside, though, what wasn’t clear was whether Callum understood why he was having these fantasies. Parisa guessed not. Probably Callum thought he was feeling something very male and powerful, like anger or betrayal. In reality he was childlike and lonely, and alone."
Third one:
This one is more complicated. So, Tristan is full-on having a breakdown:
“You’re the one who made it about power, aren’t you?” Tristan demanded, and Reina scowled. (TickTickTickTick—) “It was your projection. That wasn’t Parisa’s doing,” he snarled, tossing a hand toward the center of the circle to where Reina’s initiation ritual had been. “It was you. You’re the one who chose a knife, so what are you trying to—”
And then Callum is like:
“They don’t know, mate,” Callum cut in calmly. So calmly that Tristan mentally collapsed into yet another montage of improvised violence. Kicking the chair out from under Callum and sending it sprawling across the fucking Edwardian floors. No, yanking him up from the chair, then winding up and—
“They weren’t there,” Callum said. “They don’t know.”
Tristan doesn't so much as "calm down" as deflate. He shrivels like a plant without water. But his breakdown is put on hold, he starts yelling at Nico but not in the way he was yelling at Reina.
I like to think it's because Callum knows him so well, he knows what to say to just shut him down. It's a form of shorthand between them.
It's like "listen this is between you and me, they don't know us, you're fine".
Listen I swooned when I read that I have a problem.
Obviously, it's toxic but still my boys <3
THAT LEADS US TO:
@pink-luc0zade and I have decided that what Callum's unlying meaning to his words, “They weren’t there. They don’t know.” is "dude no look at me, they weren't there, they don't know us, it's just you and me bbygirl calm down"
HEAR ME OUT!
Callum Nova told me this himself while we were in a Mcdonald's parking lot sipping Grimace Shakes because we are best friends
#My blog is just my intense obsession with novacaine now (said like it was ever anything else)#novacaine#callum nova#tristan caine#tristan x callum#the atlas paradox
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Hi!
I just wanted to say that this week I chose to read some of the fics you have up in AO3 ( and by some of them I mean a lot) and I'm obsessed with your Sebchal Old Guard AU.
I haven't watched the movie yet, but I've been tempted in the past and your writing was the last reason I needed to do it.
That scene when Sebastian has apparently died and Charles holds him while praying in Latin, and he is so devastated about losing Sebastian because immortality is only a gift if Charles gets to share it with him.
That was..WOW..Yeah. No words. Tens across the board.
Those dreams of Lewis and Nico. The ending in Suzuka when Charles is wearing red again. People choosing to spend immortality together just really gets to me, I guess.
That fic really did something for me, and I have to thank you for it.
PS: your Nico/Jenson Soulmate fic made me see why people ship those two.
PS 2:"Red Gods of Old" is so phenomenal. I had to keep pausing to look at the wall and think about every paragraph.
PS 3: I was blown away when I saw you posted again, and blown away again because I had already read the Piarles piece, but didn't realize it was part of a series. I loved your first chapter. So angsty, and I hated the fact that you made me relate to Lando, but also thank for that.
Thank your for sharing your writing, and I know sending this right now seems so convenient because of your post earlier, but I really enjoyed the reading sprint I had on your stuff and I wanted to say so. Sorry for writing so much this got a little bit longer than the single paragraph I had intended it to be. :)
anon this made me so happy. like so so so happy, insanely happy. the answer is gonna get long because i cant not ramble about all this, so, cut.
my sebchal old guard au is my favourite thing ive ever written and i love it so much and people dont often go for it, though i do have some wonderful asks in my inbox that im saving for a rainy day and i just. thank you for coming here to tell me this and i hope you watched the movie because its MASTERFUL. i put so much into that fic, for example i tried to figure out how to make two white boys be joe and nicky without being insensitive or appropriative about race, and how not to apply the fundamentality of joe's loveliness of being an arab man (gentle and kind and a poet in his soul) to this german dude. that one kept me up for a while, so i decided not to mirror it perfectly but to apply seb and charles' personalities into the context, except adapting the other way around. it was a challenge to write, because i wove so much little ideas and nods to other people in there, not the least lewis and nico as andy and quynh, and then in the end i just really wanted them to come a full circle and somehow tie it in with f1. i always do this in my au's, give a little nod to f1 somehow, just to show my love for it. anyways, thank you so much for reading it and just. i love that you liked it.
oh god the princess cake soulmate fic - i saw the prompt and i couldnt resist! it turned out to be a prompt by a tumblr friend so that worked out even better. i love nico and i love him with jenson and i need to get back to writing him some more soon tbh. he is such a complicated and interesting character and he has twists and turns and i just love him insanely much. (if you liked the soulmate fic, i refer to this fic as my princess cake master thesis, so you may like that one too, maybe.)
oh my fucking god. this part. this part had me stopping in the middle of my corridor when i saw it because like. nobody reads that fic? nobody knows it and its my first proper rpf that i wrote and i love it so much and i just. im just heart-eyeing you now, because that was me trying to figure out some things about seb and about ferrari and to make it work in my head so i know how to proceed, so, thank you for reading it, and especially mentioning it!
thank you also so much for reading my carlando, im very excited about it because i never wrote them and im a bit nervous about the characterisation but so far it seems like it has a positive reception. i made it angsty on purpose because lando is just a ball of anxiety and i rly tried to show it. im super hyped about the next chapter two, but please keep all your limbs crossed for my uni work, which i have to do tomrrow on penalty of death.
please, never think its inconvenient to read something as lovely as this ask, no matter if its because of a post i made or just because, it literally doesnt matter, because you took the time to come and tell me these lovely things anyway. it made me happy and it made me hyped up and thank you. and there's never ever too much rambling, i dont see this as rambling i see this as something lovely. thank you <333
#can you tell how excited i am to talk about all of this?#THANK YOU#lovely anons <3#wholesome wholesome wholesome#akira answers asks#about my writing. i ramble a LOT.#some shameless self promotion too bcs if i dont#who wil :D
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hello hi! I was hoping I could persuade you to talk a little about that whole losing bones and souls thing at some point possibly? if the mood strikes! it sounds like some very intriguing and also terrifying worldbuilding, ok thank you have a great day c:
yes i have been persuaded, the serotonin of the Little Blue Circle has done it
SO (<-that is a signal i will be. rambling quite a bit):
for context, it's for my fantasy WIP--GFS--about a bunch of queer disaster criminals which i first got the idea for when i was... like... 8???? i was Small that's all i know. but i didn't do anything with it until november 2018, when i started drafting and it was terrible! because i was still Bad At This! (we've established on this blog im a teenager right. well when ur a teenager u learn very fast)
But ever since like... December 2018, i've had the same general concept for the villains; seven monstrous creatures, which i've now realized are primordial gods because Why Chill, who are basically intent on burning down the whole world. But they're sleeping right now. They can't do anything.
The problem is that the protagonists are the ones who will eventually wake them up. (there's 1 protag for each monster.)
Now, as you can imagine, being prophesied to literally burn the world down is not good, and waking up primordial chaos gods cannot be good for your health. Basically if the gods half-wake with the protagonists' help they can start preparing to destroy the world, and then fully wake, take their souls (yoink) and pilot their soulless--but now powerful beyond compare--bodies as weapons of destruction.
But Nico, you cry, where do the bones come in??? Well that my friend is under the cut because this gets long. (Also tw for... violence described in text because loosing your bones is not easily talked about in a pleasant way)
So essentially come book 2, we have a lil disaster character: Rowan, my wonderful assassin child who is technically very much an antagonist till later on. She's also one of the prophesized, but it doesn't bother her because she was raised to die <3 family am i right
basically her side wants the world to burn. they want to start it over, because humanity is terrible. So her job is to get close to the other prophesized, then kill them in a very specific way so the other human villains can just fuckin take their bones from their corpses, do some weird freaky puppet magic, and give the power of waking up the monsters to 6 people on their own side (rowan already being the 7th) via... erm... consuming a potion made with their bones.
Fun.
(Yes this is extremely fucking fucked up) (also yes she has to kill them without breaking any bones. that is. Difficult)
But??? Why bones, you wonder??? why not blood or skin or spit??? And to that i say, incredibly cheerfully and not at all in a sense that should be terrifying, bones are the most useful part of the human corpse! At least in this fantasy world. Blood is where surface-level magic gets in and circulates through your body, but in the end, it seeps through your blood and into your bones. All the magic you collect that you never used (and you're constantly subconsciously collecting magic) settles in your bones, and if someone takes them, they have all of that.
Obviously the ability to wake up primordial chaos gods is not something that is used often, so pretty much since birth it went straight into their bones. Like all bone magic, it's really hard and draining to access, but is much more powerful because it was just stewing there and you have it all at once. So... yeah, if anyone besides the prophesized wants to use the Cool Bone Magic, they need the Cool Bones.
askhfjkshdfk idk if this makes sense, also feel free to ask More, but that's basically the rundown on "bones 'n souls". also fun fact the protagonists dont even know their bones are in danger til halfway thru book 2, so. thats a thing
(picture rowan trying to make sure none of these idiots break their bones bad enough to never heal... while said idiots are literally attempting to kill a government official and also dont know shes trying that. its funny)
anyway thank you for asking!!! hope you liked learning about the Bones And Also Souls they can lose!!! i hope i dont sound like a serial killer now!!! good day!!!
Edit: just realized an in-depth conversation about my magic system and world is. probably something i should use my taglist with @the-gay-lady-of-ravenclaw-tower @timelybees
#worldbuilding#wip gfs#bones n souls#rowan#my characters#my ocs#my worlds#writblr#writeblr#my wips#writblr asks#asks#this is a situation where 'i'll steal your kneecaps' is a viable possible threat
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Being in a polyamorous relationship with Percy and Leo would include...
requested by my babiest @hazzy
reader is gender neutral as always, also i’ve never writen polyships before so... headcanons to begin, and let’s see where that takes me!
this is kinda short and terrible, im SORRY in advanced
it happened so naturally
you liked percy first, a big crush kind of thing
mighty percy jackson, you know? how could you not?
but then you actually met him
he was so sweet all the time, kinda chaotic
in a cute way
leo was your best friend
everyone kind of thought you were together already anyways
he’s a flirty mess, he’s always been
but from one summer to another bOOM!
#nevillelongbottomed!
his flirting isn’t just funny anymore... it starts working
lots of confusion
and guilt
feeling awful for liking them both, and following their little flirty games
you feel like you’re playing with them, but you really can’t choose
Eros is kinda terrible sometimes, ya know, outed Nico... but he appears to you
and you’re SHOOK to say the least
“So... two boys, huh?” “Don’t make me say it out loud”
he introduces you to the world of polylove. you didn’t even know that was a thing. but it makes sense
you realise you might be polyamorous
flashforward to one night
you, leo and perce were doing guards as a punishment for pranking some apollo kids
leo was bored as fuck, which meant he got anxious and needed to fiddle with something and keep his hands busy
and you can tell percy isn’t displeased by leo playing with his fingers to keep himself entertained
they’re always flirting too, but you thought it was in a non-toxic-masculinity way. as bros
you realise you were probably WRONG
so you sigh deeply, and they both turn to you
percy chuckles and offers you his other hand
“it’s relaxing, really”, leo laughs, percy’s hand still on his
you sit next to them, leo being next to percy, and you between the blue eyed boy’s legs, facing leo
you try to take percy’s hand, but he starts playing with your hair
“i am bored too, you know?” he defends himself, and you nod
you start drawing little circles on leo’s calf with your pointer finger, and he moves his leg so it is against yours
you’re all somehow touching the other two
it’s all quiet, and warm, and nice
you feel so happy and full
so you spit it out
“i had a talk with Eros the other day, he appeared at my cabin” “you did? what did he want?” “yeah, did he just... appear?” “well... i had this thought eating my brains up... regarding love. and he helped me figure it out” “and what was it?” “you can’t not tell us now, you’ve already set the doubt, mi amor”
cue long silence, your eyes stuck to the floor while you took a deep breath
“i am polyamorous”
then more silence
percy’s hand moves away from your hair, and you feel your heart drop, afraid you fucked up
but he turns to look at leo
“i am bi”
leo then looks at you
“and i am pansexual, i think... so that’s the whole pack right here”
you chuckle nervously, your shoulders shaking slightly, finally releasing all the tension
“i was uh... i felt like there was something wrong with me, you know? because i... i liked you two. and it felt wrong, but when he explained it to me... it didn’t anymore”
“it doesn’t sound wrong... for me”
“it’s cool with me, if you get what i mean”
you three laughed at the realisation that you have all been feeling the same, but none had said anything
and thats how it started
NOW THE ACTUAL THING SORRY I NEEDED TO GIVE A BRACKGROUND TO IT ALL
you cuddle a lot, usually at cabin 2 since it’s just percy’s
you take turns on being on the middle, but its usually you
percy hugs you from behind, his nose nuzzled on your nape, and every now and then, he presses little kisses on the back of your neck
leo’s arms are wrapped around your waist, his head tucked under your chin, casually shifting it to place little kisses on your jaw or neck
their hands are intertwined over your hip, and percy tends to rest his arm on your side, but use his hand to play with leo’s curls
when it’s not the three of you together, it’s always two
as in, there’s usually always 2/3 around camp together while the other is busy
you and leo LOVE watching percy train, him being in absolute focus, the way he moves and the look on his face
so very good views of your man
percy and you sometimes just sit around cabin 9 to watch leo work
it’s one of the only times were he’s not fiddling with something or shifting nervously, he feels full and proud, he is genuinely happy and content with himself
when he asks for a tool, you two ‘fight’ to be the one to give it to him
percy and leo love watching you sleep
i know, kinda silly but they do
you look so peaceful, your arms wrapped around percy’s waist, head on his chest, while leo hugs you from behind, his hand running up and down your side, pressing kisses to your head
they look at each other in full awe of you, and whisper about how lucky they are
whenever you guys cant sleep together, it feels so lonely :(
the first time you slept all together, leo woke you up by knocking at your cabin’s window
“leo... what are you—“ “it’s percy...”
you managed to make it out through the window, not a second thought
you both find him sat in the edge of his bed, looking down
“baby, what’s wrong?” “can you stay here tonight?” “of course we can, mi amor”
he’s in the middle that night
you play with his hair, while leo sings some sweet spanish lullabies to you two
you three fall asleep, peacefully, on percy’s bed
percy kisses more passionately than leo, but leo kisses more. lot’s of lil random pecks, while percy kisses you two less times, but showing all of his love through the kisses
percy prefers holding hands, while leo prefers hugs
they’re both taller and they LOVE reminding you
+18 content, careful kids!
percy groans, while leo moans
percy is more of top than leo is. percy tops both you and leo. you bottom for percy but top leo. leo is a cute as fuck bottom
percy likes to give hickeys, but not that much to have them (he’s not a fan of having bruises on him... fuck gabe 2020), while leo likes giving them and getting them
you’re covered in them at all times, from both of them
your first time was so fun, and sweet, and caring
everyone was so careful and gentle, experimenting, trying to see what felt right for the others and themselves
percy moans sweet nothings, while leo swears:
“that feels so good, baby...”
“fuck— oh gods... that’s so fucking nice, mi amor...”
leo likes giving orals more than receiving them, while percy doesn’t mind to give of receive
leo gets very turned on by watching you and percy start
he’s a little mess, we love him
+18 content over!
aftercare is so sweet please
y’all help each other clean out
soft hand holding, little cheek kisses, gentle cuddling and small chuckles
you and percy cleaning out leo, and when he goes back to bed, you two shower together
leo and you always making sure perce sleeps and eats, cause he sometimes forgets to take care of himself
percy and you making sure leo doesn’t overwork himself, and helping him out of his selfconscious spirals
both of them making sure you’re safe and you know you’re loved and you matter the world to them
communicative, healthy relationship
you trust each other with everything, and you’re best friends before anything
never feeling unloved, or guilty, again
because you have two wonderful boys who love you
and two wonderful boys to love
#percy jackson#leo valdez#leo valdez x reader x percy jackson#percy jackson x reader#leo valdez x reader#percy jackson imagine#leo valdez imagine#pjo#pjo polyship#pjo headcanon#pjo imagine
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joan - what do you wish the series would cover next, or what kind of turn would you want to see it take?
!! okay this is a really fun question. ‘cause i’ve thought about this a lot. timeline-wise, I only got really involved with the fandom around the release of ATHD, and ever since then i’ve really enjoyed imagining the “next” events of the series. sometimes theories, sometimes just AUs, but it’s always fun!
and see, there are tons of things i’d love to explore in the context of canon. like sides switching from light to dark, or a side shutting themselves off, or serious backstory elements like the formation of roman and remus. tons of stuff that’d be super cool to think about.
but they’re not stuff i’d actually want in canon necessarily, you know? and they’re mostly not stuff i’d ever expect canon to actually do. so here’s a little incomplete list of things i’d love to actually see in the series, and which I think are (semi)-plausible:
1. Roman’s arc. had to add this one. I’m pretty sure it’s coming up after PoF (and it better) and I am so, so excited. roman’s been a slow-boiling pot of emotional turmoil for a while now and I just wanna see it spill over!
and look. don’t get me wrong, i love the pintroverts so much, but—yeah, i really wanna see thomas and nico go through a rough patch. thomas, and by extension roman, are pinning so many expectations on nico. they’re emotionally unready and using nico like a way to redeem themselves and feel better, instead of confronting their own issues. not to say the relationship can’t work out, but i can figure there’ll be some bumps on the road.
and possible failure with nico would be a great catalyst for roman’s full breakdown. he’s got everything riding on this guy! he calls nico “a chance at happiness”! and he’s the romantic side, he wants this to work out, so thomas will trust him again. and if it fails, it’ll break roman into tiny, tiny pieces.
plus, i know the season finale is probably going to be a two-parter, like with virgil’s episode? and i don’t know if i actually want roman to duck out, but i am really excited for some parallels to virgil’s arc. acceptance instead of redemption, being more than your function, every side being valued, and virgil and roman continuing to become closer together. if i do not get a remix of “you make us better” but virgil to roman, i will riot /j
2. Logan’s arc. then following roman, our braincell boy! logan is another steaming pile of issues who’s been repressing for far too long. i want to see him admit he has feelings. i want to see him cry. maybe this is the angst demon in me, but come on, he deserves it.
an aspect of logan that’s really fascinating to me is his relation to thomas’ own self-image and needs. logan defines himself by his use to thomas—he has the least belief in himself as a separate entity. and he’s felt sidelined for a long time, possibly ever since thomas became a youtube.
i think it’d be super interesting to see more of how their dynamic was before thomas made the career switch, how logan feels about it, and how his “lack of feelings” is an extension of his refusal to acknowledge his own personhood. he doesn’t let himself want or feel—and he’s actually kinda similar to roman in that regard. roman and logan are narrative foils in a lot of ways. which would make it kinda cool if their arcs were somewhat consecutive—logan helps roman value himself, and roman returns the favor.
oh, and i’d love it if virgil and logan could come full circle, too? virgil comforts logan during the whole thing, maybe even talking to him about cognitive distortions or using techniques logan taught him to destress. they’re really good friends and i wanna see more of that.
3. Janus becoming part of the group. i have so many feelings about janus. he’s poised to join the gang and start helping thomas from the inside, but his acceptance is still conditional, fragile, and fragmented. roman loathes him, logan resents him, and virgil has a history with him. and janus is gonna have to try and get through all that.
i already love his dynamic with patton, i really want them to be friends. i think a logan and janus debate would be fucking fantastic. i am begging for roman and janus to talk things out. and i really, really want to see virgil and janus become friends again.
but maybe what i’m most interested in is janus himself, and his relationship to thomas. i still love interpreting the “is that fair to him” line as referencing janus’ complex and difficult role as the keeper of all lies. he’s still hiding an orange side from us, probably, and he’s trying to keep everything stable.
what happens if he slips up? what happens if he gets close to patton and starts having new priorities? how did that affect his relationship with virgil? i want to really explore janus’ character and motivations.
and also janus and remus content. give it. this is an order.
4. Remus. Literally anything remus. Please I’m starving, I just want to see my trash boy, when will he return from the war?
Seriously, though, I’d love more remus. his thoughts on nico. his motivation, his daily life, his relationship with janus and the other sides. i think he could really be great friends with all of them if he was given time to settle, and my intruality heart says he deserves to be chaotic besties with patton.
and! and his relationship with roman!! i really wanna see them grow closer and be bros, while working through the deep complexities of their issues with one another. because right now roman has so many projections of remus as his worst enemy and the epitome of everything he doesn’t wanna be, and remus just…doesn’t care about all that. that’s so interesting!!
remus is just such a refreshing character in so many ways. he’s so blunt and open and honest, he doesn’t hide or repress anything, and that’d be so much fun to explore! plop him in the middle of the other sides and see how long it takes for stuff to explode. i wanna see him break the status quo just because he can.
5. Patton’s arc. oh, you thought his character development was done? not even close. he learned a lot from moving on, but pof proved he still has a long way to go. and tbh I think he’s in a really precarious position right now.
yeah, he’s finally opening up to janus and the others. but he’s also very vulnerable, very unsure, and very ready to throw himself out of the picture if thomas needs him to. he asked if janus thought patton was just bad for thomas, and he seemed ready to take that advice and leave thomas be.
which is. concerning. and I think as patton learns to pull back and let thomas--and everyone--stand on their own without him smothering them, as he learns to have faith in others and not feel pressured to fix everything himself, he needs to work on his own self-worth, too.
patton, like a lot of the sides, is separating himself from his function. and that’s gonna be painful and messy and probably include a lot of backsliding. i wanna see him talk to the others, really talk to them, and get the support from his friends he needs! and that includes:
6. virgil continuing to support his friends. virgil has been doing great character-development-wise, but again, he has far to go! and what I want to see more of is stuff like FWSA. him beginning to truly support his friends in the way they’ve supported him.
his friendships with roman and logan are so sweet and I wanna see more of that. please. and I wanna see him bond with remus and janus again, and most of all, I want patton and virgil to really sit down and talk about stuff. they’ve been going through it for a while and I want them to talk.
the sad part, of course, is that post-pof they’re probably in an even worse place. there’s a reason patton didn’t show up in FWSA even when matters of the heart were involved. they’re on thin ice around each other, and throwing janus and roman into it will just make everything more complicated.
but I believe in them! they’re good friends, and I think if they try, they can work through it and learn more about each other.
7. bonding between the dark and light sides. basically already covered this one but guys. i want everyone to bond. i want logan and remus sharing cool facts. i want janus and virgil being snarky best friends. i want patton and remus teaming up to make stuff happen, and janus calling logan out on his repression, and virgil and remus listening to mcr and just. them, okay? them. glad we had this talk.
8. a breaking down of the dark sides and light sides altogether. i don’t necessarily mean anyone becomes a dark side (although it’s such a fun idea.) I mean really digging into the morality and formation of the “sides”, and eventually dismantling them.
the dark and light sides aren’t good and evil. they’re sides that thomas wants around, that are useful, and sides he doesn’t. and as janus becomes wanted at the table, and as patton and roman pull away and become less useful, it’ll be interesting to see how those dynamics shift.
the issue of identity is really at the heart of sanders sides. how much of you is you, and how much of it is what others want? are you beholden to others’ expectations, and how do you find personal worth? what defines you--by what measure is a man? how does a person change and grow? can they? or are they always, at the core, what they began as?
these questions obviously don’t have simple answers, but they’re stuff I wanna see talked about. i want to see the difficulty of even finding the line between selfishness and selflessness when you exist to serve another self. actions can be selfish and selfless all at once, a mass of contradictions that’s anything but black and white. and I wanna see more of that.
an idea I toy with sometimes is having a brief, or not so brief, reversal of dark sides and light sides. remus and janus, and maybe virgil, become more listened to. and roman, patton, and logan become the sides in the background. i dunno if it would actually happen, but I think it’d be interesting to consider--because once again, it’s about use versus value and wants versus needs.
if thomas wants a side, will they stick around? what about if he only wants to want them? what if he wants them as a friend but doesn’t need their function? what if they don’t think he wants them? what if any number of things?
i want to see discussion and deconstruction of the sides as a whole. i want to see them really dig deep into their purpose and formation. i want everything laid bare. and then finally, I want:
9. thomas ends the series by letting go of the sides. i am such a fucking sucker for bittersweet open endings like that. it wouldn’t be a full erasure of the sides, they’d still exist in the mind palace, probably hanging out and having movie nights and being a family. but they wouldn’t talk to thomas anymore.
i think it could be a really profound note about not only letting go of parts of your life and moving forward, but how c!thomas should work to stand on his own. yes, the sides are parts of him, but he’s more than the combination of their input. he’s his own person. he’s real. and I think he needs to work on being more self-reliant, in the moment, and start to discover his identity not in pieces, but as a whole.
the sides weren't bad for him. not in the slightest. they’ve helped him understand and come to terms with any number of things. but sometimes people grow and move forward, and they have to say goodbye to some parts of their life. that’s a fact. and with the ongoing theme of moving on and chasing the future, i think thomas would reasonably do that--end the series with a goodbye.
10. and...orange side. i’ve talked a lot about my ideas for the orange side, but suffice it to say, i’m looking forward to them. whoever they end up being.
so yeah, that’s a very long post about my ideas that isn’t half as long as it could be dhfgsjhs i’ve considered writing something like a canon divergence AU, or just rambling on tumblr, but for now that’s what I got. and this is all to say, hire me, sanders sides writing team /j
#sanders sides#patton sanders#logan sanders#virgil sanders#roman sanders#janus sanders#remus sanders#long post#asks and answers#anon#ts ask game#i'm so sorry for the length this went overboard sgfshsjks
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what do you think are some iconic/memorable schumi moments? i just got into f1 and would like to know more about him bc somehow i can’t really find anything like that about him.... just stats which are incredibly impressive but i can’t find anything about how he behaved or just anything about his personality..... thanks <3
:) Hi anon, thank you for unleashing the beast.
Ok I love you for asking me this thank you SO MUCH. Welcome to the circus I’m glad you’re here! Also yeah, Schumi is often talked about in terms of statistics and not as a human, Which is a shame bc like! Schumi is fascinating and the dynamics on the grid in late 90s F1 is so much fun! Also, this is mainly going to be late 90s -> early 2010s stuff bc I was born in 98 so uhhh I didn’t properly witness ANY 90s stuff and had to learn about it.
OK so I got super carried away but I’ve divided this into 3 sections: Drives/races that I think showcase some of his talents, human moments we need to talk about more, and Chaotic Little Bitch moments. The key thing to remember w/ Schumi is that he personally tends to be nice but as soon as you put him in a competition, Bastard Mode activates like a cat’s pupils going wide.
I am so sorry for the following short essay. Also some crashes are briefly mentioned but only ones with absolutely no injuries and there’s no details.
Chaotic Little Bitch Moments
Schumi debuted as a SUBSTITUTE driver for Jordan when one of their drivers was in police custody (yes. really.) The highest a Jordan had qualified all year was 10th and in his DEBUT at SPA, one of the toughest tracks, in the middle of the season, Schumi qualified that Jordan 7th! THEN his clutch failed before the first lap was even complete, but Benetton and Jordan WENT TO COURT to fight each other to sign him for their team before the next race in Monza. He couldn’t debut normally he HAD to cause a scene and set the tone.
The Red Strings of Fate: He qualified 7th, his iconic 7 starred helmet, his first victory next year was ALSO at Spa - his first complete race would be at Monza, Ferrari Holy Ground, and he finished 5th which 👀 1) he was immediately racing with The Greats. 2) Mr 5 Championships With Ferrari.
Winning a race by taking a stop and go penalty on the last lap, crossing the finish line in the pits, and making such a complicated argument about said penalty that in a hearing that was SUPPOSED to be Mclaren protesting the race result the stewards scrapped the entire penalty and the 3 who awarded it handed in their licenses??? Iconic.
Austria 2002 where Rubens was ordered to give the win to Michael. And then Michael fucking made him stand on the top step on the podium like “oh no no no RUBENS deserves this” and made a big SHOW out of it and its like “Michael stop you’re not making it heartwarming you’re making it WORSE Michael STOP” The Tension of germany 2010 podium VS the theatricality of THIS podium.
Team orders were banned because of this which also makes this indirectly responsible for Fernando Is Faster Than You having to be a coded message. You can’t escape him,
Blocking Alonso in Monaco qualifying and then, years later in 2010, overtaking Alonso technically illegally at Monaco (the race was ending under safety car, but the safety car doesn’t lead them over the line it pits and they’d crossed the safety car line and the regulations were NOT specific about the rules) and getting a 20 second penalty bc Damon Hill was a steward. Haunting FERNANDO specifically at Monaco like the ghost of christmas past? Getting a harsh penalty because ANOTHER driver he’d fucked over was a steward? Forcing the FIA to rewrite the rulebook to account for his nonsense when he was in his FOURTIES? I don’t know another chaos king.
Winning the 1995 championship by crashing into Damon Hill, getting AWAY with it for some reason, and then trying to do the same thing in 1997 to Villeneuve, failing to do so and simply rebounding off of him harmlessly, almost COMICALLY, and beaching his own car in a gravel trap at which point the FIA said “I have had ENOUGH of you Wacky Races Man!” and disqualified him from the entire championship
Forcing Mika off the track so bad at Spa 2000 that Mika realized the only way he was gonna be able to get past him was to re-invent the overtake and go for it whilst they were passing a backmarker. (The overtake itself is at 2:05 in the video but the build up to it is Important bc the key part it’s not just badass, it only happened bc Mika knew who he was dealing with.)
Spa 1998 was a Ridiculously Chaotic race it truly was the Mugello 2020 of its year, and after a crash at the start that took out almost the entire grid Schumi accidentally collided with Coulthard later in the race. (The teams used to have a spare car at every race then, so the race was able to continue after a restart.) This wasn’t a racing thing, Coulthard was getting lapped. So something in Schumi SNAPS, and he storms down the pitlane and tries to fight Coulthard while the mclaren and ferrari mechanics both hold him back and finally drag him away. He projected into the future, saw Coulthard was gonna talk non-stop shit about Seb, and acted accordingly.
Monaco 2012 Pole don’t talk to me about this I still can’t believe the audacity of this man to get the only pole of his comeback, at MONACO, at the ONE RACE where he had a 5 place grid penalty to take!!
In general, I know Cheating Bad but. I HAVE to admire the brainpower it must take to have the rulebook so memorized that whilst driving an F1 car Schumi could spot a loophole the size of the eye of a needle and then dance through it, forcing the FIA to add ANOTHER page to the rule book specially for him bc nobody else even REALISED that loophole existed.
Human Moments
A quick rant about Mika and Schumi’s entire friendship. After Spa 2000 Mika goes up to Michael, says something like “Don’t ever do that again” then they’re friends again. They had this mutual understanding that Racing was not Reality. This goes all the way back to their F3 days they were rivals AND friends for their entire career. They truly were the Sewis of the era if Sebastian was like 50% more evil. Their entire dynamic is “You’re the only motherfucker in this pit lane who can handle me”. Schumi would do some bullshit and every other driver would throw up their hands in frustration and Mika would just go “Okay” and drive better to put him in his place bc he was the only one who could keep up, and Schumi very visibly LOVED that he’s grinning after Mika owns his entire ass with that overtake at Spa. They were unstoppable force meets immovable object and I’m so sad their rivalry isn’t more talked about bc the way Mika is the only driver who can get him to behave like a normal human being is SO entertaining.
This is a sad one so I won’t link it but he started crying in the 2000 Monza press-conference with his brother and Mika when he equaled one of Senna’s records. The press kept trying to ask questions about it and Mika just has this death grip on his shoulder and tries to get them to stop or let them take a break and it’s so sad but also important to know about.
Once said he didn’t want Mick to race in F1 bc the pressure of his name would put Mick under so much stress and he wanted his son to be happy. (He fully supported Mick in his endeavors! But only after making absolutely sure it was what Mick wanted, and making sure he knew he could just race for fun if he wanted and it didn’t have to be F1)
This whole interview just after Mick was born with the Schumacher family. Special shout out to Gina on his head the entire video and also Corinna talking to the press while Michael is captivated by Mick. Me too Michael.
Once allegedly pleaded to take a stray kitten home from the track?
I reblogged this yesterday but. Sticking like glue to Sebastian at an F1 test and immediately being like “This is my new son he’s gonna go far”. There’s a lot of pictures out there also of Michael being a guest at the karting races Seb went to as a kid and baby Seb visibly losing his fucking mind at being given a trophy by his idol. Every day of my life I think about him trying to ruffle Seb’s hair through his helmet at Brazil 2012
WInning the championship in 2000. Him thanking the entire team individually and pausing mid-celebration to kiss his wife Corinna so tenderly it’s in the F1 opening. Also, the way it literally cuts from the rest of McLaren looking like they’re attending a funeral to Mika grinning at him and hugging him fucking SENDSSSSS me.
Schumi was a little shit in all the 2010-12 press conferences like, lowering Lewis’ chair, playing with a microphone wire, but ESPECIALLY corrupting baby Seb and getting him to mess with Nico Rosberg.
He’s just GOOFY! Like I refuse to let him be remembered as a terrifying force of nature he was so goofy kind of similarly to Seb. PLEASE watch this incredibly awkward interview he did with Coulthard on a golf buggy where they both had to pretend they hadn’t thought about murdering each other at least once. I think Sky F1 should force Brocedes to do this when covid’s over. “Do you mind if I drive?” “Yes.”
EDIT: I CANNOT BELIEVE I forgot the 1999 Canada press conference where Eddie Irvine and Mika Hakkinen get into a water fight and Schumi immediately grabs a towel and hides behind it and is like “I had NOTHING to do with it” 🥺 adorable, actually
A lot of people at Ferrari, including Rob Smedley (who was on the other side of the garage with Felipe Massa so not in his inner circle) have said that a lot of the success of the team came from Schumi’s LEADERSHIP more than anything, that he’d make the team get together to bond all the time. When Schumi moved to Ferrari in 1996 they were NOT dominant. He did the same thing Lewis did - went to a team that everybody said would be a huge mistake and helped build them up behind the scenes.
THIS bit of the Canada 2011 Rewind where his engineer gives him the strategy and he’s like “... OkaAaAaAay?” and then when it turns out to be the wrong strategy he cheerfully tells them it’s too late. Little shit.
Speaking of Mercedes I also wanna say that like. They were a MESS in 2012 and his car DNF’d because of a failing on their part MULTIPLE times. (In Canada qualifying his DRS was stuck open and they couldn’t close it.) He did not say a single bad word about them EVER even though the press used this to attack him non-stop as washed-up and bad without Ferrari to cheat for him. At Ferrari he was the exact same with the team, any bastard antics Schumi had for his rivals did not extend to the engineers and crew.
OK this one is soured bc Top Gear is trash BUT if you were like, a kid in England who followed motorsports? Schumi’s fake reveal as The Stig on Top Gear was like the coolest, sickest thing,
Please view this image of Schumi and Mika when they were young and stupid
Iconic Races
ok so I have limited myself to a few races that show off some of his key strengths!
Hungary 1998 / France 2004 - STRATEGY/SPEED - Schumi switched to a 3 stop strategy in 98 and a FOUR STOP strategy in 04 and won both races. In order for the strategy call to work he’d have to basically make every single lap a qualifying style ‘flying lap’ and you best fucking believe he DID THAT. God I fucking miss when Ferrari was the king of strategy.
Argentina 1998 - has it all. Talent, battling Mika, pit lane mind games with mclaren, and bullying coulthard xxx
Spain 1996 / a majority of the wet races - RAIN - One of Schumi’s nicknames was Rain Master bc he was so fucking good in the wet. If it started raining and you were a Schumi stan you were cackling evilly before the red lights even went out. I single out 1996 bc it was his first win for Ferrari and it was unexpected but in most wet races, even Canada 2011 post comeback, you can see Schumi thriving.
Malaysia 1999 - Schumi missed pretty much the entire second half of the season with a broken leg, came back for the last 2 races with everybody murmuring about whether he would struggle, and immediately put the Ferrari on pole. Also worth noting is that he was the number 2 driver for these 2 races bc his teammate Irvine was fighting Mika for the championship and he went along with that without complaint, allowing Ferrari to win the constructor’s championship if not the driver’s.
Monza 2002, 03, 04, or 06 just because it has the energy of the tifosi kneeling at the feet of an idol to their red god.
Brazil 2006 - Fuck All Y’all - Schumi’s last race for Ferrari. He got a puncture and ended up almost lapped, and then drove his way back from that to 4th bc he couldn’t go out without reminding us he’s a bad bitch.
Monza 2012 - Defending - Don’t tell F1 Twitter that there’s actual footage of Lewis and Michael having a genuine lengthy battle on track but DO watch Michael defending like a motherfucker and Lewis breathing down his neck for half the race we need to talk about this more.
Valencia 2012 - This isn’t necessarily anything special but I cried in my living room over the only podium of his comeback so it goes on here. It doesn’t have the same impact if you haven’t been watching him struggle with the car for years, DNF-ing from car failure most of 2012, and having BBC F1 telling you he’s washed up every single weekend, but you can just enjoy one of the best drives of FERNANDO’S entire career as he DRAGS that Ferrari by its hair to a home grand prix win and then watch the crowds embrace him like jesus and also Schumi being happy on the podium. Also, the very start of this clip from the press conference: him forgetting what language he’s supposed to be speaking
Basically, Schumi was a hyper-competitive ambitious bitch who turned into a goofball as soon as he switched the engine off. This is by NO MEANS everything if I was making an exhaustive best races guide I’d do more research and another post but I hope this is what you were looking for?? THANK YOU SO MUCH for letting me go MAXIMUM SPECIAL INTEREST and I apologize.
#asks#Schumi#Mika#Alonso#long post#god I'm so fucking sorry#Anonymous#This is not comprehensive bc I didn't want to accidentally turn this into a whole research project especially if you're new to it!
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Flight of the Bomble Bees Ch. 2: The White Wolves
Summary: Not all white dogs are good omens.
A/N: Warning for Tubbo getting triggered by fireworks. Thought I’d add a heads up. Guy’s an unhinged mad scientist, but he’s still a seventeen year old with a lot of unresolved emotional and physical trauma.
Chapters: 1, 2
Roman was telling the story of Thomas and “Nico”, Virgil interjecting to try and add in some embarrassing detail, as they headed back to the base. Ranboo making himself look less human, his horns growing out and a long tail with a fluffy ends trailing behind him, before he joined up with the group. He looked nervously at Tubbo who smiled at him and began showing his new superhero suit.
During this exchange, Patton let out a gasp, “Puppy!”
Logan looked over to see a dog, a smaller spaniel or at the largest some husky, but it wasn’t. The beast approaching them was a fully grown wolf.
Tommy and Tubbo looked over and froze as the wolf kept walking over. Several people just parting for the massive canine.
“Uhhh,” Tommy warned cautiously.
“Lea?” Ranboo asked in confusion as he walked over to Patton and the wolf. “What are you doing here?”
“I think he likes me,” Patton smiled as he let the wolf sniff his hands and arms.
“She . . .” Ranboo faltered nervously. He’d meant to speak more but the words caught in his throat.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Patton corrected himself before turning back to the wolf, his hands scratching and petting the wolf. “Who’s a pretty lady? You are! Yes, you are!”
“Is this your wolf?” Logan asked hesitantly as Tubbo picked himself into the sky to look around for someone.
“Yeah,” Ranboo asked before correcting, twisting his tail in his hands, “but no. She’s one of Techno’s wolves. He usually keeps them in southern Scotland on some property that he and Phil own.”
“Yeah, but what’s this one doin’[1] here?” Tommy demanded, the wolf turning from Patton to sniff at Logan for a little bit. Patton looked a bit put out when the wolf’s interest went somewhere other than him.
“She’s kinda[2] mine,” Ranboo explained.
“Yours?” Tommy scoffed, sounding hurt. As they spoke the wolf turned to Virgil who tried to keep his body as far away from sharp teeth and crushing jaws. So then she moved to Roman who gave the wolf a couple uncertain pats. “How the fuck is she yours? Those hounds are Techno’s.”
“Yeah,” Ranboo’s tail fluff suddenly the most interesting thing in the world to him. “You remember how I used to live with them? I used to help Techno take care of the wolves and he let me name one. He even gave it a purple collar to tell her apart.”
“What do you mean he gave you one?” Tommy spat in a jealous huff. “He barely let me touch ‘em[3]!”
Lea finally reached Thomas, who upon seeing Roman and Patton, and the other Sides being able to get close to it, reached out to give the wolf a pet. Before she snarled and sank her jaws into his arm, the only thing keeping it from being crushed was the lightly reinforced suit he was wearing.
Thomas screamed in pain.
Thankfully the wolf let go and began to back up and let out a long, piercing howl.
“Incoming!” Tubbo warned as he caught sight of who he was looking for.
“What do you see?” Logan put himself in between the wolf and Thomas, who was holding his arm. “Princey, get him up and out of the way.”
“Techno! Techno’s coming!” Tubbo warned, a terrified tremor to his voice.
People scrambled to get out of the way as Roman enchanted himself to fly and picked Thomas up to start flying him back to base.
Which took them out of the safety of the group.
There was a hiss in the air as something whistled through the air and hit Roman. The small rocket exploded like a bright firework.
Roman screamed in pain and crashed back to the ground with Thomas.
Tubbo screamed in panic, even though he was a safe distance from the explosion, trying to shield his eyes and face from the explosion. Ranboo caught him when he fell.
“Bee? Bee? It’s okay, I’ve got you.” Ranboo promised as he held Tubbo in his arms. Tubbo was shaking wildly in terror, curled up in his husband’s arms.
Virgil’s magic whipped into the air as the wall of wolf teeth hit them. His barrier holding protectively as Patton fretted over Roman who was quick to pick himself up.
“I’m fine,” Roman stood up and pulled out his sword, putting Thomas and the minors in the center of the group. Logan was already signally for backup. Trying to count the number of wolves. His brain got to thirty before it was hard to keep track of them and he wasn’t sure if there were more or he’d miscounted.”
Eventually they saw Techno himself, the tall and hulking figure with a boar mask over his face. Lea circled back around to him from her place in the pack and Techno gave her a quick scratch on the head.
“Finally,” Techno smiled, axe in hand. “After all this time.”
Logan braced with his stun batons, he knew Virgil’s shield would not protect them indefinitely. He watched Philza hanging back about fifty feet, bow and arrow in hand but not notched and raised at them.
“You’re part of Dream’s gang, aren’t you?” Logan probed, trying to get as much information from their attackers as possible.
“Ehh, Dream and I are just old friends,” Techno dismissed. “We’ve just been a couple rounds in a death pit.”
“I see,” Logan commented, watching Virgil’s magic begin to sputter, the force of maintaining a barrier getting to be too much.
“Techno,” Tommy greeted tensely.
“Tommy, back up, I’m not here to fight you,” Techno warned.
“You almost hit Tubbo,” Ranboo reminded.
“Yeah, didn’t see him,” Techno admitted. “Was more focused on trying to find the legate and his head popped up, so . . .”
Techno made a shooing motion with his hand towards the three kids. “. . . you three should get out of the way before I accidentally hit one of you.”
Logan took a glance at Ranboo who was still holding Tubbo. “When the barrier lowers, I want you to take him away from here.”
“I,” Tubbo seemed to regain his composure, his false eye glowing, a radioactive symbol visible from behind his fringe. “I’m up, let me at him.”
Jackie and Silver were speeding in, sending a message to Logan how Bing and Oliver were on standby.
“Absolutely not,” Logan told him. “This is foolhardy, we’ve already had a minor causality, and I will not allow another under my watch.”
“I got your back Bo,” Tommy promised.
That got Techno angry, “Tommy, stay out of the way, you’re in over your head again. And this time I’m not saving you. I don’t want to fight you guys, I want the legate.”
“Well, that’s gonna be a problem then, innit?” Tommy dared.
“Fine,” Techno spat, pulling out three vials of swirling magical cocotions. “You asked for it!”
Tubbo and Tommy were summoning weapons as the vials shattered on the ground and magic wafted up at Techno. Tubbo quickly pulled out a handful of potions and smashed them around their feet, magic filling the bubble. The Sides and the three minors felt charged with strength as Techno let out a shrill, high pitched whistle and the wolves all attacked at once.
Tubbo took to the sky again. Throwing down potions on top of Techno, spells trying to cancel each other out and Techno dodging. “See how you like some fuckin’[4] sparks, shitshow!”
Ranboo summoned a scythe as Phil notched an arrow and let it fly at Tubbo. The tall teen cutting his sword into the air and making the arrow shoot at the ground in front of them.
“Ehh!” Techno smiled. “Finally growing a spine kid?”
“Boo! Get out of here!” Tubbo ordered his husband.
“Not with out you!” Ranboo told him.
“Heh, gay,” Tubbo smiled.
“Come on, Bomble, work with me here,” Ranboo demanded in exasperation, trying to keep arrows off of Tubbo.
“Helping!” Tubbo dove down to slap a disk on Ranboo’s. Metal clipping and unfolding out with the aid of what Logan suspected was nanites. It made an almost all black suit with a visor that looked like bandages wrapped around his eyes.
Ranboo faltered and in that time an arrow nicked Tubbo’s ankle.
Jackie and Silver were trying to keep the tide of wolves at bay while Tommy tried to continuously rush for Techno, which was much harder because Roman and Logan were trying to keep him away and keep Techno off of Thomas.
Virgil’s spider legs sprouted as he tried to pull Thomas away, hissing and spitting at the warrior trying to hit them with an axe.
“Anxiety! Pass him!” Janus called over the chaos.
Some time in the chaos and din of battle, Janus had wormed his way in and held out a hand.
Hesitating for a bit, Virgil tried to figure out if this was an illusion or a trick before shoving Thomas towards Janus who was sprouting multiple arms and snakes poured out from him. A large one coiled around him, enough to grip but not to strangle, other snakes almost forming a protective cocoon around Thomas who was almost dizzy with everything going around him.
“Go! Go!” Janus ordered and began trying to roll the mass of snakes through the onslaught of wolves. Virgil screamed as a set of canine teeth chomped on one of his spider legs. Virgil ripped his leg away, the limb almost snapping off under the pressure but Janus and Virgil were starting to get away from the fight.
“Move!” Janus ordered Virgil as they tried to put distance between the fight and themselves.
“Where are you going?” Techno pulled out one of the green eye orbs and tossed it. The orb shattered and Techno appeared right behind the group, cutting through several of the snakes with his axe but Janus quickly began building them back up as Thomas was trying to backpedal from the guy trying to hit him with an axe.
Ranboo took the opportunity to grab both Tommy and Tubbo and opened up a small portal right on top of himself to get them back to the heroes’ base. Taking them from the battle and the wolves trying to snap at them. Much to Tubbo and Tommy’s immediate anger.
Janus summoned his staff and redirected the blow that would have hit Thomas right in the chest.
Thomas looked at Janus in surprise as the deceitful Side protectively coiled more snakes around him.
Techno immediately began swinging his axe to cut through the mass of snakes. The instant Thomas was in any danger of getting hit, Virgil used his spider web threads to tug Thomas out of the way long enough for Janus to build his serpentine shield back up.
“Come on! Fight me! This is what you’re good at!” Techno ordered as his axe came dangerously close to Thomas on each swing but Virgil and Janus kept him out of harm’s way each time.
“You want a fight, you’ll get it from us,” Janus hissed.
“He’s a lover, not a fighter!” Patton yelled out as he tried to get back into the fight before Phil shot him in the shoulder with an arrow.
In response, Thomas grabbed his arm right where Patton had been shot and let out a choked gasp.
“What do you mean he doesn’t fight‽” Techno demanded, sounding enraged and insulted in the same breath. “He’s a legate, that’s all they know.”
“I don’t,” Thomas whimpered, hiding behind Virgil and Janus. “I don’t know how.”
“All your arms can fight, how do you not know how to fight?” Techno snapped.
Thomas stayed defensively quiet, but Techno was the one who pulled away. He let out a frustrated scream. “What was the point?”
“Mate, yah[5] okay there?” Phil walked closer.
“I brought my dogs out for nothing, Phil,” Techno complained as Philza just smiled in amusement at him. “For nothing!”
“Least yeh[5] got some exercise, mate,” Phil chuckled. “We can head over to Arizona, there’s supposed to be a pit over there.”
“It’s not the same,” Techno complained. “This was going to be my fight.”
Techno huffed before looking over at Phil, “Fine.”
The combatant finally lowered his sword and stomped away, letting out a shrill whistle and all the wolves began to pull away from their fights to cloud around Techno and some of them began pushing around his hands.
“Yeh[5] freaks done?” Jackie demanded.
“Yeah, if Techno can’t get his fight, then he’s done,” Phil smiled. “He’s done, we just gotta[6] take the dogs back.”
“Those are wolves,” Logan reminded.
“Yeah, bred from hellhounds, mate,” Phil smiled. “Yeh[5] all lucked out that he couldn’t get his fight.”
Phil made his way carefully through the wolves to talk to a very upset Techno, while Thomas looked back at Janus and Virgil who were still braced for a fight, snakes still coiling around Thomas, spider silk everywhere.
“You,” Thomas looked up at them with shock, “you saved me.”
“Yeah well,” Virgil fumbled, kneeling down to Thomas’s level. “Supposed to be a hero, it’s what I do.”
Thomas leaned in and rested his head against Virgil’s arm. Virgil flinched and Thomas had one eye light up purple, and the other with a bright yellow. He leaned into Virgil who let out a gasp as one of his eyes lit up. Janus looked down at them.
“I think perhaps you two should go back to the base, while he’s still distracted,” Janus told Virgil.
The scene was briefly interrupted by Thomas letting out a gasp in pain, his eyes returning to their normal color and the group looked over to Patton, who was already receiving first aid for the arrow sticking out of his arm. The tip was still coursing with magic to ensure it would puncture through armour and shields alike.
“How bad is it?” Logan asked.
“I’m fine,” Patton gritted his teeth.
Thomas, almost robotically, got up and walked over to Patton. Logan was quick to come in-between Thomas and Patton, extending out one of his battens to keep Thomas away from Patton.
“He needs all the energy he can get right now,” Logan warned.
“You guys all give me energy, I should be able to give some to him, right?” Thomas suggested.
Patton shakily lowered Logan’s hand.
“Be careful,” Logan’s tone carried an unspoken threat in it.
Thomas nodded and set his hand on Patton’s injured arm, closing his eyes in concentration.
At first Patton felt the white hot pain grow hotter and chil the areas around him, before the pain started to melt away. Patton hummed in contentment, leaning into Thomas. The wound starting to knit itself back up as a huge bruise was secretly growing underneath the sleeve of Thomas’s arm.
Thomas pulled away, and Patton almost fell against him, blinking in blurry disorientation.
“Mmm, tired,” Patton complained.
“We’ll get you back to the base,” Logan picked Patton, cradling him gently against his chest. “Magic can only do so much.”
“I want marshmallows fer[7] pillows,” Patton mumbled, bringing a small smile to Logan’s face that was hidden by his visor. “I like marshmallows.”
“Go, I’ll make sure you aren’t followed,” Janus told Virgil.
“I get it, I get it,” Virgil grumbled as Logan and Roman led Thomas back to the base and Virgil brought up the rear.
Janus and Techno’s eyes met as the Core Sides retreated with Thomas. Janus followed the group from a distance. Jackie took Patton from Logan to speed the injured Side back to the base. It left Logan to break from the group and make his way back to where Silver was watching Philza and Techno.
“Morality alright?” Silver asked.
“He will be,” Logan said, “I want to keep my eye on things.”
“We’ll be gone soon enough,” Phil told him. “Don’t much like being next ta[8] Ent’s territory. Reeks ‘a[9] sad empath o’er[10] there.”
“You are Tommy’s guardian,” Logan reminded, getting a message that Jackie had helped speed both Patton and then Thomas to safety.
“He causin’[11] trouble?” Phil sighed.
“No, but he is seventeen,” Silver told him.
“He’s a spawnling, age is fuckin’[4] relative, mate,” Phil told them in a rather dismissive tone. “Fundy’s been fourteen fer[7] four years now. Bet Tommy’ll be seventeen fer[7] a while longer.”
“That still makes him a minor,” Logan spoke up.
“Look, mate, if I gotta[6] sign somethin’[12], I will,” Phil sighed as he leaned against the wall. “But I’m tellin’ yeh that it means shit an’ all. Tommy could go out an’ do whate’er he wanted an’ I wouldn’t stop him.”[13]
“For as much as you claim Tommy is an adult, he lacks the experience or the fully developed prefrontal cortex crucial for decision making,” Logan refuted. “We need your signature, how long will you be in town?”
“Long enough,” Phil evaded. “I know where yer[14] base is, I’ll head over there, then I’ll meet back up with you, Techno.”
Techno’s eyes glanced between the heroes, “If you’re sure.”
“Oh yeah, we’ll take a shortcut ta[8] the cabins,” Phil told Techno.
Techno let out a whistle and all the wolves gathered around him. “Yeah, yeah, got you.”
Techno began to walk away with his hounds.
Silver waited until Techno was far enough to wait before he asked, “How much do you spend on feeding all those animals?”
“Oh, we’ve got e’en more at the cabins, an’ we keep animals ta help feed ‘em, but it’s a lot, a lot a lot,”[15] Philza answered.
Philza did wind up heading to the base with the heroes to read through and sign some paperwork. He stayed outside as Tommy uneasily watched from the cameras, occasionally yelling obscenities at his father from a speaker and Philza was just shouting them back at him as Tubbo was laughing and eventually joined in.
The other heroes would have intervened to take the mic away from Tommy but it seemed to put Philza in a better mood and he left after the papers were done and he was given a copy.
Calmer, the winged demon left, Techno had been waiting for him and the two of them disappeared into the night. Leaving the heroes to lick their wounds and brace for the next attack.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Accessibility Translations:
1. doing
2. kind of
3. them
4. fucking
5. you
6. have to
7. for
8. to
9. of
10. over
11. causing
12. something
13. But I’m telling you that it means shit and all. Tommy could go out and do whatever he wanted and I wouldn’t stop him.
14. your
15. Oh, we’ve got even more at the cabins, and we keep animals to help feed them, but it’s a lot, a lot a lot
#Superhero AU#Masks and Maladies#tw: triggered character#footnotes#Logan Sanders#tubbo underscore#Patton Sanders#Roman Sanders#Virgil Sanders#C!Thomas#tommyinnit#Ranboo#Janus Sanders#Technoblade#Philza#the hound army#Tubbo gets triggered by fireworks#unhinged Technoblade#slightly unhinged Tubbo#LAMP#platonically married Tubbo and Ranboo#putting a couple cinnamon rolls in danger for plot reasons#Philza isn't the best parent#but he's also not the worst#Philza isn't the worst parent#but the results speak for themselves
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This is some Nile!POV Joe/Nicky cuteness that is also the start of the sequel Brother of My Heart and Sono Qui (and Feed My Soul, but there’s no smut here). I wanted to have this posted today, but I’m depressed as fuck and have about 1500 words to go on this lil ditty, so I’m posting a snippet. For shameless validation purposes. Let me know what you think <3
Joe led the way into a cozy back room, flooded with morning sunlight. The back doors were flung open, and Nile could glimpse the trees that she had seen poking out the top of the garden wall before. They were heavy with orange fruit that matched the bowl on the kitchen counter.
The walls were a soft white, reflecting the sun’s rays and turning the whole space to gold. The dark wood of the rafters reminded her of Provence, and she smiled.
“Did you build this one, too?” She asked while the coffee percolated. Joe hummed, shaking his head.
“The foundations of this one might even predate us.” He replied, choosing a tangerine from the bowl and digging his thumbs in to peel it. “We didn’t buy this place until after the Second World War.”
“From the way you guys talk about it, I thought it must’ve been your oldest place— your first place together, or something.”
“Nicky had a hell of a time in the Pacific theatre. And then as a medic in France through the end of the war.” He popped a segment of fruit into his mouth, “We were separated for a long time— longest ever, actually.”
“You didn’t serve in World War 2?” That didn’t sound right to Nile. They fought for what they thought was right, they were an army of four— but Joe skipped out on the biggest war in modern history?
“Joe and I worked in intelligence.” Andy cut in while Joe chewed, “More covert work.”
Nile just nodded, swallowing the thousands of questions bubbling up her throat and filing them away. It was too early.
You ask one question, and suddenly everything‘s a story— she thought, How do people not immediately know you guys are old people? I feel like I’m talking to my grandma.
Not that she was complaining. She had loved her grandma’s stories— it was why she loved history, and wanted to study art. Her stomach clenched, and not for the first time, she remembered what Andy had said— I don’t remember what my mother looked like… or my sisters…
Nile didn’t want to forget her grandma. She didn’t want to forget a minute— the Sundays in the kitchen after church, the smell of earl gray and Werther’s caramels, the peace lily she watered every day after Dad’s funeral.
Hearing stories of all the things they remembered was reassuring. At least they didn’t forget everything.
“Nile?” Joe’s voice shook her out of her thoughts, “Coffee?”
“Yeah. Yeah, thanks.” She took the mug with a deep breath, “Sorry, I’m still a little tired. You were a spy?”
Joe smiled like he understood something unspoken, nodding “Yes. Many times in my life— but I’d never been away from Nicky like that. Three years, it was Hell.”
“It was Hell to listen to your pining.” Andy nudged his shoulder, smiling into her mug.
“You barely even saw me!” He tsked, wagging a finger at her before turning back to Nile, “Anyway, a couple years after the war was over, we decided we needed a break. We picked Malta simply for its position— smack in the middle of the sea between Italy and Tunisia. We didn’t expect to love it as much as we did, but it was a buyer’s market, and…” he started out shrugging, looking down at the orange in his hand, but when he glanced up, he did a double take.
At first, she thought he was looking at her, but he couldn’t be. His gaze was too soft, his smile too charmed, his quiet laugh seemed too practiced for it to be for her. Andy snorted into her mug, her eyes doing that thing that you would expect of a person seeing a baby animal.
“Good Morning, my heart.” Joe cooed, his smile beaming.
Nile looked over her shoulder, and sure enough, Nicky was at the foot of the stairs on the other side of the living space.
He was a sight, all ruffled and tanned, blinking sleep out of his eyes. He was wearing thin shorts and a singlet tank top that must have been Joe’s. It was stretched out just the littlest bit too much for his lanky frame, but what really made Nile choke on her coffee was his hair.
“Finally!” Andy greeted as Nicky plodded his way through the living room to the kitchen, “After 196 years, the long hair returns!”
Joe grinned and Nicky chuckled, running a hand down his face like he could scrub the sleepiness away. “Yes, and it needs to be washed.”
He came up beside Nile with one of his big, warm hands and squeezed the back of her neck, wrapping her into a hug that smelled like detergent and Joe’s sandalwood cologne. She squeezed him around the waist, her smile curving her lips without a thought. He shuffled around the room to Andy, murmuring something soft and Italian that made her smile before hugging her too.
Andy curled her hand around the back of his head, petting through the long strands and humming in contentment. Joe grinned, his eyes catching Nile’s across the counter.
“When my Nico first cut his hair, I think Andy was more bereft than I was.” He said it like a stage whisper, making Nicky snort, unwinding from his friend’s arms while Andy lazily flipped Joe off.
“Don’t worry, Andy, Joe made a very persuasive argument for keeping the hair.” Nicky grinned, turning to the man in question and pressing a soft kiss to his lips. He slipped around him behind him, looping his arms loosely around his waist. Nicky sandwiched himself between Joe’s back and the kitchen counter, making the other man hum and lean into him. He peeled off a slice of tangerine and held it over his shoulder for his love. “And yet, now I am the one who wakes up alone in our bed,” he tsked, even as he took the offered bite, “very rude, Yusuf.”
“And what did you expect of me? We have guests, Hayati.”
“You could have woken me and told me we had guests.” He shook his head at Nile in a universal gesture that said can you believe this guy? Even while Joe did the same thing, rolling his eyes in a long suffering way toward Andy.
There was some grumbled Italian kissed into Joe’s neck. It made his eyes crinkle as he laughed, holding out another orange slice.
Nile rolled her eyes fondly, sipping her coffee and wondering how these two soft, sleepy men could possibly be the hardened warriors of epic battles and old paintings.
“I was just telling Nile about how we came to own this palace.” Joe said, slipping out of Nicky’s arms so he could pour another cup of coffee. Nicky hummed, nodding.
“You told her how much I hated it here at first?” He smirked, just a tiny flicker of a thing as the other man pressed a mug into his hand.
Every few minutes with these people, Nile felt like she heard a record scratch. There was always something deeper with them, even in a nondescript little house on the edge of the sea.
“You hated it?” Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline, “But I thought this was your spot.”
“It is now, but there was baggage for me in Valletta that we didn’t know until we got here.” He shrugged, “By then, I figured it must be fate— God telling me that it was time to fight that particular demon.” He looked over at Joe, whose smile had gone tender. Andy nodded at the dregs of her coffee, leaning into Nicky’s side. “The core of this life is learning to change, Nile.”
The silence hung heavily for Nile, but she had the feeling that this was normal for the others— it had been in Provence, too. Every once in a while, something jogged a memory and pulled a feeling or a thought right out of the depths of them. It didn’t matter what time of day, or where in the world they were, sometimes things just hit them. Like Chicago.
It was weirdly comforting.
Times like this usually meant a story, and Nile wanted to hear this one. She needed to hear this one.
“But how d’you keep changing without forgetting?” She finally asked with a voice that was smaller than she wanted it to be.
Nicky smiled. Like Joe, he looked softer than he had in the church or the lab or in Provence. There was an ease in the set of his shoulders, and the circles under his eyes were less like bruises. He smiled at her, and she almost believed that he was just a 30 year old man.
How did they do that? Act their age, while also being indescribably ancient? Being her friend, while also being like her brother, and her grandma all at once?
“I’ll trade you a story for an onion.” He said. Andy snorted, and Joe choked on his orange slice.
“What?”
“I’m going to make omelettes— chop half an onion and mince some garlic for me, and we can chat about Valletta.”
She smiled, “Deal.”
#joe x nicky#nicky x joe#kaysanova#the old guard fanfiction#the old guard#my writing#continuation of the To be Human series#Nile freeman#im writing but im depressed#hahaha fun
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because you gave me a shot (and its been a long time since someone gave me a shot)
words: 2,552
solangelo week day 3: fantasy
read on ao3
When Nico asks Will to go to homecoming with him, he wasn’t expecting a yes.
Sure, they had a thing. They were friends, no more than that, but they were definitely closer than your average two friends. Maybe they were just comfortable with each other, or maybe it was because of Nico’s massive crush on Will that he may or may not reciprocate.
To each their own, though.
Nico wasn’t going to ask him out, originally. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure that he wanted to go to homecoming himself, much less with the boy he had liked for years, (that is, if Will said yes.)
If Piper and Annabeth hadn’t brought it up during lunch, he probably wouldn’t have asked Will at all.
They’re talking casually as they do during their shared lunch period. It’s no different from your normal Friday, although Nico can definitely see Piper and Annabeth sharing some pointed looks with each other every time he and Will got into another deep conversation.
(By deep conversation, he means he would go off about something and Will would sit there and nod. He never seemed upset about it though, and he once told Nico that he liked to hear him talk about the things he was passionate about, so Nico never stopped.)
The moment the two bring up the homecoming dance that night, though, Nico knows he’s being set up.
He doesn’t partake in the conversation at first, hoping that if he keeps quiet and doesn’t give his opinion about Annabeth and Piper’s dresses that they’ll drop the subject, but he gets no such luck.
“So,” Annabeth says, crossing her legs. “Are you going tonight, Will?”
Will looks up from his sandwich in surprise.
“Um, I don’t know. I don’t really know who’s going, so I don’t know if I have any reason to,” he explains.
Nico knows what’s coming next without even hearing Piper start talking.
“Really? Because Nico-”
“Do you want to go to homecoming with me?” Nico asks before she can even finish. If he’s going to ask out Will, he’s not letting Piper do it for him.
“With us, I mean, ‘cuz we’re going as a group, but, like, with me with the group,” he continues rambling out an explanation, trying to ignore the way his heart had leaped into his throat. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Annabeth and Piper rolling their eyes at him.
“Oh,” Will blinks. “Yeah, okay. I’d like that.”
“Okay,” Nico says. “Okay, cool. Sounds good. I’ll, uh, text you tonight, then.” He can feel heat creeping into cheeks, and does his best to push it away. He was not expecting a yes after that mess of an invitation and holy shit Annabeth and Piper that high five was not subtle.
“Okay,” Will nods.
Before Nico can stutter out anything else embarrassing, the lunch bell rings, saving him. He says his goodbyes to Will and the girls quickly before making his way to his art class. Even with the loud, overlapping conversations and crowded space that the hallway brings, he’s still replaying the conversation in his head.
Nico enters the studio a little bit pinker, and a little bit more confident in himself.
—
Nearly three hours into the dance, Will still hasn’t shown up. No, text, no apology. Not even an excuse as to why he stood Nico up.
Nothing.
It was too good to be true. He should have known.
Nico curses at himself internally. He should have known. Just when he felt like he finally did something right, the universe reminds him that everyone in the world is against him once again. As much as he wants to keep denying that Will didn’t stand him up, he did.
And it fucking hurts. A lot.
Maybe it wouldn’t have bothered him as much if Will didn’t act so genuinely excited to go to homecoming with Nico. If he didn’t want to go, or only said yes out of pity, he could have at least hinted to Nico that he wasn’t going to show up.
All day though, Will kept giving him that look; the look that he saved just for Nico. And as they were leaving their chemistry class that they had together last period, Will had told him “see you tonight!” before splitting off to their respective study halls.
For the first few hours, Nico tried to act like it was something besides him that caused it. Maybe a family emergency, or maybe he was too nervous to dance with another boy in front of the school (if he even was planning on dancing with Nico that was.) But wouldn’t he have sent Nico a text, or said no in the first place if that was the case? Even Will had sent him a shitty excuse, Nico still probably would have accepted it over whatever this feeling was.
Yeah, no. By the third hour and still no word from Will, he wasn’t going to keep lying to himself. This was him being stood up.
It just sucks, because Nico thought they had something. For once in his life, he really thought someone was giving him a shot, and yet. Which meant he was probably making up anything between him and Will because he just wanted it so badly, and Will was too nice to say no.
He’s right back at square one.
No, he’s been at square one the entire time.
That hurts too.
Nico is still moping by himself at the table like he has been for the entirety of the dance when, out of all people, Reyna out of all people comes out and grabs his arm. He didn’t even know she was here.
“Come on,” she says. “We’re dancing.”
Usually, Reyna can get Nico to do anything, but the last thing he wants to do right now is dance.
(That part sucks too. The situation has essentially ruined his first homecoming, which he should be upset about. He isn’t, though. Because it’s Will , and because Nico is tired, and he can never be mad at Will even when he isn’t tired.)
He groans, pulling his arm away from her. “No, we’re not.”
“Nico,” Reyna says, pulling at his arm again. “You don’t need a dance partner to dance. Now come on.”
Maybe he’s considering her point, or maybe Nico just realizes this isn’t a battle he’s going to win, so he stands up.
Nico follows Reyna out onto the dance floor. The majority of their student body is already swarmed together. It’s sweaty, and crowded, and makes Nico feel weirdly embarrassed like he doesn’t belong in this group.
He’s about to tell Reyna he’s going back to sit down, but before he can escape, she pulls him into a smaller group of their friends off to the side. It’s still connected to the bigger crowd, but they’re in a kind of circle and everyone’s dancing, and it feels okay.
“See? This isn’t so bad?” she elbows Nico, who rolls his eyes. She’s right though. It’s actually kind of fun. None of them are particularly good dancers, but nobody is really paying attention to each other either. Everyone is doing their own thing.
A new song starts, and it’s one Nico recognizes from his childhood. Everyone in the room does too, and immediately more people come out to the center of the gym. The dancing gets faster paced, and the energy builds until its exhilarating.
At some point, their circle gets bigger, and Nico finds himself pushed more into the center of it. His first reaction is to get the heck outta there, but after a few seconds, the energy is back, and he just lets go.
Lets go of Will. Lets go of the school. Lets go of everyone around him, saying his name (he did not know this many people knew who he was.)
Lets go of the night altogether and just lets himself exist .
And somehow, every bad feeling he previously had is gone. It’s all replaced with the absolute exhilaration and genuine happiness to be there.
The song ends, replaced by the start of a slow one. Thankfully, Nico doesn’t feel his heart sink like it had for the past 3 hours every time he watched couples group together. Instead, he just tales the minute to breathe.
To his surprise, Annabeth makes her way over. She’s wearing a blueish gray dress that stops right above her knees, the color matching with her boyfriend, Percy’s tie.
“I’m sorry for what happened at lunch,” she tells him. They’re not even that close, and she’s at least half a foot taller than him, but she still grabs his arm as if he’s her date instead. “I always think about how long I waited for Percy to ask me out, and I didn’t want you two to have to sit through that weird gray area, but it wasn’t what I thought it was.”
Nico shrugs. “Yeah, well,” he says vaguely, then “It’s okay.” Because it is. He honestly feels the best he’s felt all day in this moment.
She grins, raising her eyebrows slightly. “I saw you dancing. Will doesn’t know what he’s missing,” she says, and it causes heat to immediately rush to his face.
Before he can respond, though, his eyes catch something (more like someone.)
Will Solace is making his way across the gym floor to Nico.
Annabeth notices too, patting Nico’s arm before returning to Percy and the others. Meanwhile, his eyes are still trained on the approaching boy.
“Looks like I missed a lot,” Will says softly. He must have come in at the tail end of the song, which means he saw Nico, proving what Annabeth said.
Nico’s still so shocked by him, and his presence even after 3 hours, and the soft blue button up that matches his eyes that he’s paired with a navy blue flowered tie. His hair is slightly styled, but the curls still come through around his ears and in front of his eyes.
It’s too much, and yet he can’t take his eyes off of Will.
He’s here. For Nico.
“The dance started three hours ago,” Nico finally says, because that’s the only thing he can say. He wants an explanation, wants a reason to forgive Will.
“I know, and I’m sorry. My family is crazy, and there’s only one car, and my mom was in between gigs and my siblings were being annoying, and none of that matters because I am so, so sorry.”
“You could have texted,” Nico responds in an attempt to ignore the feeling, and he notices how hurt he sounds. He is hurt, and he’s scared for whatever excuse is to come next.
“I cracked my phone earlier on my way out of school, and I don’t have your number memorized, so I couldn’t reach you,” he fishes said phone out of his pocket and shows it to Nico. It is indeed cracked, and bad enough that it won’t turn on. It almost makes Nico laugh, the way he brought it just to prove himself. As if he needed to prove himself to Nico.
“I’m really sorry about being so late,” he continues, and he sounds so desperate it tugs at Nico’s chest. He’s still looking at Nico right in the eye. They’re so dark in the dance lighting they almost look black, but he can see the tiny bit of blue reflecting in the light that is searching, begging for his forgiveness on this.
“You’re going to need to get your phone fixed at some point,” Nico smiles slightly. “I’m better at texting than talking to your face.”
“Oh yeah?” Will raises his eyebrow, and he’s still searching Nico’s face even though they both know exactly what's going on right now. “Why’s that?”
“Shut up,” Nico shoves him slightly, but Will holds onto his arm, and pulls him in close.
“So am I forgiven?” he asks as they begin to dance together slowly. He says it in a way that Nico can’t tell if he’s joking or being serious, but the answer is obvious.
“Yeah,” Nico nods against Will’s chest. (He’s taller than Nico, too. Basically everyone in the school is.) “Yeah, you’re forgiven.”
And maybe Reyna is right. Maybe he doesn’t need a dance partner to dance.
But it’s so much better with one.
—
The two of them are sitting outside the school together after the dance winds down. They’re both waiting for their rides. It’s like a cruel race to see who gets here faster: Nico’s neglective dad (honestly, his stepmom is probably the one coming) or Will’s mom who works late night gigs.
At least it gives them more time together though before they’re separated for the weekend.
(Nico is really praying Will gets his phone fixed at some point over the weekend so they can text or meet up. He doesn’t know if he can wait until Monday morning to see Will again.)
They’re holding hands, too. Will had grabbed Nico’s hand after they sat back down after their dance together and hasn’t let go since.
“Thank you for waiting for me,” Will says, taking Nico by surprise. (There’s been a lot of surprises tonight.)
“I wasn’t expecting you to,” he continues, squeezing Nico’s hand softly. “When I realized I was going to be late, really late, I thought you were going to leave. And that I blew my one shot at this.”
He squeezes Nico’s hand again, not quite making eye contact with him, but he shifts a little closer so their thighs are touching. Nico feels his heart leap into his throat.
“I didn’t want to,” he admits. “I kind of spiraled a bit, but Reyna and the others were able to drag me out of it. It never crossed my mind to leave before then, though. I guess part of me just knew, or was just really, really hoping you would show up.”
“And then I did,” Will grins cheesily, finally making eye contact with him, and Nico almost forgets how to speak as Will’s face inches closer to his
“And then you did,” he agrees after a second.
“I’m glad you stuck around.”
Nico swallows. “Me too,” he says. It’s barely a whisper, and Will wouldn’t have been able to hear him if their lips weren’t an inch apart.
Will glances down, then back up to Nico. “Since you asked me to homecoming,” he starts, his eyes flickering back down for a moment. “Can I ask to kiss you?”
Nico’s chest swells. “You don’t have to ask,” he says before closing the distance between them.
Will shifts slightly, kissing him deeper. Nico’s hands come up to rest on his cheeks, then slide up, running through his hair. He has no idea what he’s doing, but it feels right.
And sure, they’re on a bench outside of their high school, where literally anyone or their parents could see them, but none of that matters when Will pulls back after a minute, his eyes wide and lips slightly pinker.
“I’m really glad you stuck around,” he says, and Nico laughs slightly before pulling him back in.
Yeah, despite the negative feelings that the night started out with, it was worth it to be able to do this.
—
solangelo tag list (message to be added/removed)
@unicornsgomooo @anxiouswinter @soulangelou @number-of-fucks-i-give-0 @underworldystuff @theeloquentsnake @solangelover@thefandomsaretakingover @internallyexplodingrainbows @hairasuntouchedaspartoftheamazon @motivatedcryptidtamer @emilyfairchild @wherethewildthingsare-nt @hetapeep41 @blavk-dahlia
#solangelo#nico di angelo#will solace#pjo#heros of olympus#sw#solangelo week#solangeloweek2020#liz writes.com
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HELLO, LADIES, WORMS, HOMOSEXUALS
As we know I check the novacaine tags daily
GOD COMPLEX CONTINUATION
GO READ IT HEEEERREE: complex mind, simple life
WHY YOU SHOULD READ THIS FIC:
REINA AND CALLUM MOMENTS
Friendships <3
Second chances
Callum is pathetic but also depressed
Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers!
"Callum felt immense relief when Reina called him. He answered on the first ring. Then cursed himself for acting so desperate."
HE MISSES HIS BEST FRIEND </3
"Callum wasn’t unfamiliar with the lingering, heavy sadness and emptiness in his chest. In fact, depression wasn’t that unfamiliar to him either. It hadn’t always been his own depression he was accustomed to, but he was quite used to the numbness it brought with it. Sometimes in the deep of the night, he’d close his eyes and think back at a time when he didn’t feel numb all the time. Most of those times, his head would circle back to Tristan . Then he’d get up, order himself a drink and drink until his eyes fell shut again."
AWWWWW MY POOR LITTLE GUY
"The last person he spent the night with was, well, Tristan. The name needed its own trigger warning at this point."
TRIGGER WARNING: ❗❗❗TRISTAN CAINE❗❗❗
"But Reina just let out an amused noise before she tightened her grip on him and settled into the mattress. Callum let himself relax enough until he fell asleep. There was no mocking him the next morning. There were no teasing questions about him always being the little spoon or not. Reina didn’t treat him as if he was weak or fragile. And the next night, Reina wordlessly rolled on her side and threw her arm around his body again when she went to sleep."
I'm going to cry /pos
“Reina asked me to come with her to visit you because she was worried about you. And I thought she was overreacting because no one ever worries about you,” she started. Callum felt a stab at that statement. It was true, so why should he feel so terrible about it?
“But this isn’t you. What’s going on? Is it because of Tristan?”
“No,” Callum said. Because it wasn’t about him. It was about Callum . Everything about himself was what was wrong. He was wrong."
This is exactly what depression is like...
👁️I FEEL SEEN👁️
"Eventually, even Nico and Libby contacted him. Libby sent him a postcard from London. Telling him she got his address from Parisa and that she wished the card would be a nice souvenir for him to have in his house. He hated how sappy it was. It was a hideous card with the big ben on it. He hated it. He hung it on the fridge."
HE HUNG IT ON THE FRIIIIDDDGE
"Of course, they asked Tristan to come then. Tristan would come, he’d fix Callum’s bad mood and everything would go back to normal again. Tristan would again just do whatever anyone asked of him. He’d learn to deal with the annoying pathetic little shit that was Callum Nova because no one else wanted to do it. That way everyone was unburdened and Tristan had someone to fix and to fuck. That was all he was good for anyway. "
THE WRITING IS SO GOOD!! MY HEARTSTRINGS!!
“You’re gonna burn the onions,”
“I’m not expecting you to pay me or anything. I just came to see you,”
“I didn’t invite you,”
“You didn’t have to. I’ve always wanted to see you. Ever since we left the palace,” Tristan said. Callum didn’t look at him, instead looking at the pan again.
“The onions,”
Callum: ohhh noo lets not have an emotional conversation, tHe oNiOnS TrIsTaN ThE OnIoNs
(I love him <3)
“We’re not having sex tonight. I said we could start with you staying one night, but that is off the table,”
“Saving that for marriage?”
“Definitely."
*dies of laughter* /pos
“Of course not. Why would I go through so much trouble just to get into someone’s pants?”
“Cause I’m good in bed,”
HAHAHA THEM <3
"Nothing like how they used to be in the palace. There were no roles they both fell back into when they were together again. And Callum was grateful for it. Maybe it could mean a new start."
KUDOS! KUDOS! KUDOS! KUDOS! KUDOS! KUDOS! KUDOS!
I LOOOOOVE ITTTTTTTTTTTT
SO SAD AND SWEET AND AHHHHHHH
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i just want nicco and martino to be happy 🥺 I love your take of the s4 storyline with the abo setting! ill be waiting patiently for your next update
Part 3 // This one is a little long, a little smutty at the start
Since Marti is distracted, a little too tired, Nico reminisces about last night, just now able to fully connect the hazy memories together. They didn’t take a shower, so he still feels...hot all over. His jaw is sticky with the sloppy kisses Marti gave him, his mouth open, pressed against Nico’s jaw when he came. He remembers his dry throat asking Martino to go slower and how it took him a second to come back to the present time and understand what Nico was asking, slowing down, maybe a little too slow even.
Nico knew his omega was loud and clear and a little jealous when he asked in between kisses if they could not use a condom and how Martino looked him dead in the eyes and nodded his head. Nico can’t remember being more turned on in his life. Maybe they made a mess on their way to the bedroom, pushing furniture away, putting each other on top of tables, counters…
Nico is sure there are marks everywhere on both their bodies because they were not careful last night. They were both desperate, letting their alpha and omega finally meet and do whatever they had to do and it was mind blowing.
He knows the back of Marti’s head is probably stinging still. He remembers holding it a little too tightly because he was desperate, he needed Martino to look at him and see how much he loved him, how much they are still a thing for Nico.
“Gio said that you’ve been working out.”
“What?” Martino opens his eyes suddenly, very confused and probably angry because from what Nico can tell on Marti’s face, he is sure Gio wasn’t supposed to be giving him any information about how Martino was doing while they were broken up.
“What? You think I don’t ask about you? You think they don’t want to tell me how you’re doing?”
“They were my friends, I supposed they would respect my privacy.” Martino looks away to the side like a stubborn little child.
“They are our friends and they do respect your privacy, but you’re being stubborn now.” Martino tries to move, to push Nico aside so he can leave, but Nico doesn’t let him.
“Fuck, Nico, if this is about a fucking interven-”
“Hey, hey, it’s not. It’s not. They talk because I ask nonstop, stop being so grumpy with the ones that are always on your side. They didn’t choose me, Martino, but I know how to be annoying to get what I want. And I wanted to know how you were doing...” Nico gently moves his hands up from Martino’s chest, touching his cheeks, following the freckles, “I needed to know if this distance was killing you the way it was killing me.”
Martino closes his eyes again, moving to lie on his back again, covering his eyes with his arm and Nico lets him, still watching quietly.
“I’m proud of you for taking care of yourself...I never thought someone would ever manage to convince you to work out. You’re lazy, you know…”
“Yeah, I guess anger is a good fuel to make me do it.”
Nico smiles even though he shouldn’t because he knows where Martino is trying to go. But Martino is still the grumpy creature he remembers so maybe there’s a way to his heart again. Maybe Niccolo can build a relationship between them again, another one because the first one he lit on fire and watched it burn in front of his eyes, with punches and curses. He won’t mind if he has to do all the work this time. Martino is worth it.
“I thought you were mine.” Martino lets it slip suddenly and Nico looks up at him again, at Martino’s arm, still covering his eyes.
“I am.” Nico says without thinking too because it’s that simple to him.
“You had sex with him.”
Nico swallows hard, his fingertips touching the seam of the pillow underneath Marti’s head, trying to find some comfort on the texture and counting the little circles the stitches make. He shouldn’t have and he has no excuse for it. Even though it was a mistake that happened months and months ago, Nico knew what he was doing, how it would ruin him for Martino if he ever gave Nico a second chance.
“I can hear you thinking.” Martino pushes the sheets away from him, slowly sliding to the side, away from Nico, pressing his palms against his eyes to dry his tears as he gets up, putting his clothes on.
“I made a mistake.” Is all Nico can say, knowing Martino can smell all over him how it pains him to admit what happened.
“Do you like him?” Martino stops on the side of the bed, close to the wall behind him, putting his hands down and back to lean against them on the wall.
Nico sits on the bed, so nervous and anxious he has a hard time turning his thoughts into words that’ll make sense together.
“What? No, Martino. We’ve been through this. I love you and I’m yours. I chose to be yours and I’m so happy I did. No matter how many times you run away, as grumpy as you can be, I won’t make the same mistake again. And I’ll wait for as long as you need until you run out of your grumpiness and anger and disappointment.”
“I thought you were the one who wouldn’t fuck me over, Nico. I expected even from Gio. To walk away one day when he and Eva work their issues out, but I thought we were solid, that I could trust you and you wouldn’t walk away. I’m fucked up in every way possible, but I thought you were able to handle it.”
Niccolo crosses his legs in front of him, stuttering again, clenching his jaw not to break down. Martino gives him the time Nico is silently asking for this time, hoping Marti won’t leave him while he’s diggesting how badly he hurt Martino. They both stay silent for so long that Martino decides to move from the wall, sitting on the arm chair close to the window.
“Are you seeing someone else?” Nico asks without meaning to, finally looking at Martino again. He lifts his head too, looking at Nico, a little surprised it seems.
“You don’t know that already? I thought the information was finding its way to you.”
“They’re not snitching on you. They answer what I ask. I didn’t ask them that, I wanted to hear it from you.”
Niccolo doesn’t really want to hear it, but he brought them to this and now he has to hear it.
“I can still smell Luai sometimes. In your bed, in the bathroom,” Martino changes the subject and Niccolo looks around like he’ll find proof of what Marti is saying, but of course he doesn’t. Martino probably has his senses heightened by anything that can belong to Luai.
“Stop searching then.”
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, Niccolo. You’re fucking someone else and you ask me what I’m doing?”
“I’m not! Martino! Stop! I’m not fucking anyone else. Yeah, he slept here a few times, we had a thing for a month or even less. And that was a long time ago.” Niccolo mindfully breaths slower, in and out. He’s tired, so tired and he doesn’t know what else to say. Martino is that stubborn that he won’t listen unless it’s what he wants to hear.
“I love you. I’ve always been in love with you. You wanna know about me and Luai? You’re not gonna leave it alone until you hear it, so okay. We had sex. More times than I could remember, but it was just sex, it was just us being dumb,” Nico can tell Martino is not liking hearing all of that, his hands grabbing the arms of the chair so tightly it makes his fingers even paler, his chest moving quicker and deeper with each breath, but Nico needs to give him some of his own medicine.
He sees Martino opening his mouth, asking him to stop, but he doesn’t listen, Martino needs honesty and so Nico will give it to him, as raw and honest as he needs him to be, “We were needing proof that we would never work. I don’t love him, never did, never will. Because he’s not you. No matter how much you think he’s more important, he’s not. He’s a friend now, not even a close one. I can’t stop thinking about you. Since Luai, I never had sex with anyone else, I didn’t even kiss anyone else.”
“Stop. I get it.” Martino says firmly this time, his eyes filling with water and Nico wants to hold him, to kiss him until their lips get sore again, asking him to come back home. Martino asked for honesty and now Nico is ready to give it to him. He understands everything clearly and he wishes he could have felt this way before, a year ago, when Martino needed to know where his heart was and Nico stuttered for a second, more than enough time to burn the bridge between them.
“I wish you knew how tired I am. I’m sure it’s all over my smell, but you can’t bring yourself to smell it, just constantly looking for proof that I’ve been with someone else.”
“I haven’t.” Marti cuts his sentence again and Nico frowns, a little bit in shock, “I haven’t had sex after you. Trust me, I tried. Guess I was too shitfaced to make it happen when I tried.” Martino is not looking at him when he confesses. He slips down the chair, looking up at the ceiling and Nico can’t help but feel a little happy and relieved. He can totally picture a drunk Martino trying to have sex with strangers, probably so grumpy it made whoever it was lose the interest.
“I’m happy.”
“Because you’re selfish.”
“More like desperate. You’re an alpha, my alpha. We’ve been apart for a year. I was so scared...you would find someone else.” Nico admits, remembering of the nights of sleep he lost, thinking about Martino merging with someone else.
“You were with an alpha. You actually dated another one. I was in a lot more risk than you think you were.”
Nico smiles even though he knows he shouldn’t, “No, you weren’t. You just don’t wanna accept it. I was never his, Martino, not like this. Not like us. Never would have happened.”
“This conversation is pointless.” Martino sighs, annoyed, still staring at the ceiling.
“It’s not. I’m not letting you go now. You’re here now, you’re back, even if you don’t want to. If you came here, it’s because you still care. And if you walk out that door, I won’t stop trying until you accept me back.”
“I knew when you were having a heat.” Martino moves his head to the side so they can see each other, “Thought I was going to lose my mind. I had to argue with Gio to lock me inside his house. Imagine if I came here and you were with Luai.” Martino laughs ironically, “Would love to hear you asking me to stop punching him again.”
Nico bites the inside of his cheek. Martino does not want to know what happened during the first heat he got after their break up.
“When I was alone, it was painful. Thankfully you forgot some of your clothes here. I wish Gio didn’t listen to you.”
Nico doesn’t elaborate, Martino knows him, no matter how much he tries to fight it now, and he knows Nico is talking about Martino coming home to help Nico with his heat, not about punching his ex.
“Like I said, guess the going up and down mountains every morning helped me after the first few.” Nico stretches his legs straight again, slowly lying down, closing his eyes. Martino won’t ever be the same, he’ll never give Niccolo a real chance. He’ll always find ways to not trust him.
“I wish you would just do it.” Nico can’t see, but he’s sure Martino was too inside of his own head to understand what he’s saying so he continues to make himself understood completely. “Bite me. We both want it, you just pretend you don’t.”
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Chapter 4
Read from Chapter 3
It would be a bit of a stretch to say no one had ever rejected me . Yet, it did not happen often and it did not happen when I like like someone. Not only was I rejected but I was also friend zoned. Which is crazy because I usually did the zoning. Everything comes back full circle indeed. It had been a week since I had my ego bruised and I have to say, I was being a big girl about it. With Darcy's friend shooting the cheer "movie", she was left alone a lot of the time. Time she usually spent with me....because we're friends now.
Kill me now!!
Not that I don't enjoy her company. Au contraire, being near her all the time. Listening to her silly jokes, hearing her laugh and the way she would get pa Her boyfriend is one lucky bitch.
I was currently sitting in the house's common room, making use of the uncharacteristic quiet. Seemed like there was some party I was not invited to because the whole house was almost empty. It didn't bother me much; but as time ticked on and Darcy still hadn't made an appearance I became more and more curious.
Darcy did not strike me as a party girl. and her friend could not have dragged her because she had a meeting with Mimi today. (Yes I had learnt the schedule to see what times I could be with Darcy, yes I am a simp.) It took everything in me not to barge out and go look for Darcy: 1. We hadn't made any plans and 2. It would be plain weird. So I stayed my ass in the chair.
A couple of minutes after trying to focus of the copy of Shakespeare in my hand. The door to the common room burst open to reveal Kaitlyn, one of the girls in the opposite dorm. Putting her hands on her knees (thot shit), she tried catching her breath.
"Boys, " she panted. "The boys are here."
So this is why she ran?
All of a sudden it hit me. Darcy hadn't ditched me, she was busy with her boyfriend. I wasn't sure how to feel about that. On one hand, she hadn't ditched me and that gave me semblance of peace(??) And on the other hand she was with her boyfriend, someone who I didn't need to see to hate.
I was so engrossed in weighing the pros and cons of my love life. (if you can even call it that) That I hadn't realized Kaitlyn had been speaking until Darcy's name came up.
"What did you say about Darcy, sorry I'm hard of hearing" I needed to not come of as too curious.
"Her boyfriend came in a car and brought her a bouquet of flowers," Kaitlyn swooned.
"How do you know that?" It wasn't strange for guys to bring presents to their girlfriend. But I doubt Darcy announced it to the whole school.
"He came in a car, with his friends. He's like a year older," Kaitlyn spoke so animatedly. "He got out of the car with this huge ass bouquet and got on one knee and everything." After narrating the story complete with hand gestures. she fell onto the chair opposite me with all the drama of a Disney princess.
"How romantic," I deadpanned.
"I know right" Kaitlyn sighed completely oblivious to the sarcasm. "I wish someone would do that for me." Men would do the bare minimum and hetero girls would swoon. The bar was in the absolute pits of hell. Also, I doubt Darcy liked all the fanfare around the bouquet of flowers and their delivery. I needed to go see all this for myself.
Standing up I dusted imaginary dust of myself and moved to put the book back in its place. Kaitlyn was still sprawled in the chair with a goofy smile on her face. I do not know what would have happened if she been the one to get flowers. I wanted to say goodbye to her but I doubt she would have heard it over her self-excitement, so I made my way out of the room.
I had not made it far when I heard someone calling my name. I turned to find my longtime friend and partner in crime Robin jogging towards me.
"Where the hell have you been? I've been looking for your bitch ass everywhere." Robin and I had been friends for as long as I can remember. Our mothers had been bestfriends and roommates in the same sorority house. Our friendship was a given. We lived on the same street, went to the same school and did almost everything together.
We even came out together, him as bisexual and me, as lesbian. This broke our parents who had hoped we would end up together hearts but they got over it. Or at least I think they did.
Ignoring his question, I asked one of my own. "Why is my school crawling with degenerates from your school?"
"Wait you didn't know?" He furrowed his eyebrows in genuine confusion. "We're having some lame ice breaker. Never wrote to you cause I thought this was something you'd have been all over."
"I've been busy," I shrugged.
"Busy doing what?"
"You knowww....this and that" He looked confused. I wanted so desperately to share this whole Darcy thing with someone else but the thought scared me. I don't know what of, but the thought of another person knowing terrified me. Maybe it was the shame of being friend zoned.
"Is it a girl?"
"Wh..what...no" Hesitating and stuttering through your answer is never a good thing. I cast my eyes to the ground to avoid Nico's.
"Uh huh" Was all he said, not buying my bull. "You know what I think?..." I didn't get to find out what he thought because just then the loud revving of a motorcycle cut through the air, demanding everybody's attention. I looked down to the park in front of out hostel to see one big motorcycle flanked by two smaller ones. I guess the big one belonged to the head honcho.
"Ghost riders," Robin said, coming to stand beside me. "Ninja name, trash guys."
I giggled at that. "I'm guessing they don't tickle your fancy." I teased.
Robin just rolled his eyes at me. "They are bad news, like really really bad news. Like gang shit, and not in a cool fun way but in an you could probably get killed way." My brows shot up at his statement. Gangs were nothing new but high schoolers in a gang would be pretty bad. Imagine being this hormonal and having the equipment necessary to kill.
"That sounds bad,"
"Bad? Try awful. I stay 5 feet away from them all the damn time, I will not be caught up in any of their shit. Not even by accident." Robin was usually very dramatic but something told me he wasn't exaggerating.
Suddenly, the girls seemed to burst out in cheers, I looked down to see the head honcho lip locking with Darcy.
My Darcy! My grip on the railing tightened hard, and I tried leaning forward to get a better look but I felt a hand pull me back. I turned ready to give Robin a piece of my mind before catching myself. Did I really like Darcy enough to yell at Robin?
Robin had one eyebrow arched at me. "I know I said some stuff but you look ready to end him"
I cast one more look at the park and grabbed Robin's hand and started dragging him to the common room where no one would see or hear us. There I spilled my guts about everything till now. Robin sat there quietly listening to me ramble on and on. It felt good to get it all out. When I was done, he had a very Joker like smile on his face and for once I was grateful he would eventually have to leave.
"I've seen a lot of strange things in my day," he started. "But I have never seen anyone get under your skin so fast."
"You don't get it, she's just amazing" I argued.
"Look at you with heart eyes," Robin teased. I punched him in the arm. "Stop it"
"Ok, ok," he laughed. "Look, I know you think you've met the love of your life but you might want to pace yourself a little. I mean do you really know this girl? Like know know her? She was kissing one of the ghosts for crying out loud."
"I know her," Sort of. "I know she would never be mixed up in some illegal shit." Robin had raised some good points but I knew Darcy would never get mixed in any illegal activities. Or would she?
"How do you know?" Robin asked
"I....I just do, ok?" But did I?
"All things you know about Darcy are very surface level things-"
"I wouldn't consider knowing the way she looks when she comes surface level," I interrupted.
Robin shot me a look but continued anyway. "Why don't you take sometime to get to know her better, like where she's from and where she met her terrible boyfriend." He was right, I knew he was right and judging from the look on his face, he knew that I knew he was right. "Besides," he continued. "You and her are not together so use this friend zone wisely."
"Gah, fine." I hated playing the waiting game, I'm not known for my patience.
"Good," Robin pat my head. " Let's go, I need to get back to school as soon as possible."
"Alright" With that we left the common room and made our way downstairs. I walked Robin over to his ride, a 6'5 muscular guy I was 85% sure he was fucking. "See ya later, alligator." Robin yelled as the car took off.
"You're such a loser." I yelled back as the car disappeared behind the gates.
#~my art~#writers#my writing#writblr#love#gang life#teendramaedit#gay kiss#motocycle#boarding#boarding school#wlw art#wlw post#wlw writing#im trying my fucking best#please give feedback#love you all#i promise i'll get better#ok#wlw yearning#wip#sexy cute
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