#I have such a soft spot for Apollo and Jason being brothers | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fbfh · 4 years

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glowing - leo x reader

genre: fluffy mutual pining w quick (cute) resolution

word count: 1.6k

au: none??

pairing: Leo x Daughter of Apollo

requested: hell ye!! hope you enjoy it xo

warnings: none?? yr half sibs n nico are all protective over you but nothing unhealthy lol

summary: You and Leo have been crushing on each other and cockblocked by your siblings for too long, so you decide to take matters into your own hands.

reccomended songs: sunshine - atlas, musetta’s waltz - moonstruck soundtrack

a/n: not super edited but what’s new lol i just forgot how to spell edit for a hot second lmao

requests r open babes xo

Between your siblings being ready to maul someone with arrows (and bad music) at a moment’s notice, and Nico - honorary brother and the Apollo cabin’s unofficial bodyguard, dating is… tricky. Even your uncoordinated eight year old half brother Kevin has offered to bang on a guitar and scream, making everyone’s ears bleed. A few weeks ago, an Ares kid made your little sister Sophie cry, and Nico found out. The entire Ares cabin spent two weeks getting all the skeletons out of their closets. Literally. More human bones would appear every time they cleared some out, rattling unsettlingly. People generally don’t mess with you, or other Apollo kids, which you usually don’t mind. You wouldn’t even give it a second thought.

But you did give it a second thought. And a third. And a fourth. And several others. All of them centered around Leo Valdez. You’ve been admiring him from afar for weeks. You didn’t know why his friends were so hard on him at times. You got the vibe that if he started dating someone, his friends would give him the ‘hurt them and we’ll kill you’ speech instead of the other way around.

At first simply observing was cathartic, seeing him fix swords and laugh with his friends, but as time went on, it just became frustrating. You just want something to happen, you want to make him as happy as he makes you. The most frustrating part was that there had been so many missed opportunities. There was the time two weeks ago when you were flirting after picking up your harp bow from getting a few touch ups, the time after that you two lost track of time and watched the sunset on the docks, and just days ago when you stayed up late talking in Bunker 9 when neither of you could sleep.

Every single time, one of your siblings either scared him off or dragged you away before you could leave. Most recently, it was Will and Nico. You could swear Nico was muttering to Will, something along the lines of “what is it with that guy and going after my little sisters?” This wasn’t surprising, since they got together, the whole cabin has made Nico feel really welcome, resulting in him treating you all like sibling-figures.

You shake your head, trying to focus on the sparring practice that starts in a few minutes. Camp Half Blood and Camp Jupiter are arranging the first inter-camp capture the flag match, and everyone’s really excited. And training like crazy. If it goes well, it might happen as frequently as once a month, but you have to get through this one, first. Most of the extra time at camp has been spent practicing sparring, battle strategy, and other tactics. Campers were encouraged to watch other fights closely, try to spot defensive weaknesses, and study technique. Right now, Leo and Jason are demonstrating some method of something or other. You’re watching Leo fight, and you’re just… awestruck. You don't even know what to do with yourself. He's agile and light on his feet, and he moves almost like a cat. His muscles flex as he strikes, and your heart lurches. It looks like he's losing. All of a sudden he smirks, and shoots out a blast of flame, sending Jason stumbling back. Campers applaud at the successful win, and he jokingly bows.

"Thank you, thank you… I'm amazing, I know-" Jason shoves him jokingly, and clears his throat for the crowd's attention, while Leo gets a glass of water.

"Okay guys, pair up to practice sparring. Don't be afraid to spar with someone new, the more fighting styles you know the better…" you turn towards the water cooler. Watching him now, you could swear he's all god. He has a gold halo in the late afternoon sunshine, and a drop of water trickles down his face onto his neck. You make a small strangled noise and know this has gone far enough. You need to do something about this crush before it kills you. You walk over to him, and before you can chicken out, ask, “Hey Leo, want to spar?” He almost chokes on his water. He agrees, seeming pleasantly surprised that you asked him. You pull out your harp bow and he pulls out a large, flat hammer.

‘Good for offense and defense,’ you think, ‘he’s smarter than he looks…’

You start off slowly, getting a feel for each other, and your fighting styles. You spar for hours, and end up tied for wins and losing track of time. He gets you off balance with a fancy move, and next thing you know, there’s a nail gun at your neck.

“I win,” he pants, smirking. Your cheeks flush.

“Can you- show me how to do that?” you say, catching your breath. He agrees, and walks behind you, hands on yours. He shows you how to shift your weight, causing your opponent to lose theirs. His right hand moves to your thigh, readjusting your alignment.

“...Keeping your center of gravity low,” he breathes, his lips dangerously close to your ear, “so you won’t fall.” Neither of you move away yet. You turn your face towards his, eyes on the ground.

“Can you… show me again…” you breathe. A smile twitches at his lips. He leans in, and-

“Apollo cabin, inspection time!” You jump away from each other.

“All Apollo campers back to cabin seven asap!” you flinch at your brother’s voice, which you know is directed at you. You sigh, turn towards him, and yell back, “I’m coming, just finishing this sparring match!” You see him retreat and turn back to Leo. Before he knows it, you have him pinned to the ground.

“Gotcha,” you say with a smirk of your own. You lean further down, and whisper, “Meet me at the docks at midnight.” You pull away, and jog off toward your cabin, leaving Leo flustered and excited.

Later that night when you finally reach the docks, Leo’s already there. “Hi,” he says when he sees you, “I know I’m a little bit early I just… got nervous…” You giggle and reassure him.

“I just hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long,”

“Don’t worry,” he replies, “it was worth the wait.” You blush. He looks around, and you realize he’s nervous.

“Don’t worry about the cleaning harpies,” you comfort him, “I left them some muddy armor to distract them, we should be good for a while,” you both laugh a little, and you realize he’s staring at you. You look at him inquisitively, a smile playing at your lips and a blush creeping up your cheeks.

“What?”

"You're glowing," he breathes the words softly, amazed by your presence. You look down at your arms, and blush. Your cheeks turn a soft, fluorescent shade of rose. Bioluminescence was a very rare, pretty useless power that some children of Apollo could have. It did, however, allow you to act as a nightlight for your cabin, which everyone (older kids included) enjoyed. No one in your cabin did well in the dark, so everyone slept a little better since you'd been claimed.

“You are glowing, right? It’s not just me?” he asks, half joking.

“Yeah, no,” you confirm, snapping out of your thoughts, “that’s a… thing that happens sometimes. It’s saved me a lot of bruised shins in the middle of the night.” As you both laugh, you decide enough is enough.

“So, I’m taking the fact that you showed up here at all a good sign,” you say, knowing you have to start somewhere, “I don’t really know how to say this, so I’m just going to say it.” Your adrenaline is racing. Your limbs are tingly, and your heart is beating so fast. You know you have his full attention, which makes all of that worse. It’s now or never, you remind yourself, and I’m choosing now.

“I have a huge crush on you.” Visible surprise and excitement is all over his face and body language, and an involuntary smile starts on his mouth. You continue, partially aware that you’re nervous rambling at this point.

“I was hoping you might say it first, but my siblings and Nico are so intimidating and I was like forget that, I’m seizing the day, and…”

“And?” he asks, in a breathless smile.

“And… do you-”

“I like you too. A lot - just ask my friends, I never shut up about you-” You can’t hold back a giggle as you place your hands on his face and pull him in for a kiss. He’s stunned for a second before he kisses you back, gently resting his hands on your arms. You smile into the kiss, which makes him smile, and-

“What the hell, Valdez?!”

You jump, pulling apart from him.

“Will! What are you-” before you can finish the thought, darkness pools at his feet and suddenly Nico is standing in front of him. He greets Will with a mushy pet name and leans in to kiss him, but Will stops him before he can and clears his throat.

“Wha-” Nico turns his head, “...oh…”

You laugh in disbelief. Mr. High And Mighty was here for the exact same reason you were. You smile fades as you realize that even though you have dirt on him, he still has dirt on you.

“You know,” you say, reaching for Leo’s hand, “I don’t know if I saw you here, or what…”

Will wraps an arm around Nico, and starts in the opposite direction. “Funny, I don’t remember seeing you either,” he shrugs.

“Right,” you reply.

“Right.”

You both drag your respective boyfriends in opposite, more private directions. Suffice it to say, there was a lot more kissing that night - and no more interruptions.

#leo valdez x reader #hoo x reader #leo valdez imagine #heroes of olympus x reader #Heroes of Olympus

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sleepykittypaws · 3 years

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Celebrate the Olympic Spirit

Sure, the Olympics aren’t a holiday, per se, but the every-four-year, or two if you count both Summer and Winter editions separately, massive international sporting events sure seems like a reason to celebrate, especially given their recent, unprecedented delay. And what better way to get into the Games mood, than by watching a sports movie?

Here are my favorite motivating, inspirational, and aspirational tales of athletic derring do…

Favorite Sports Movies

The Cutting Edge (1992) - This figure skating romance was released around the 1992 Olympics, and actually name-checks that year's winter host city, Albertville, more than once. It's not good in the traditional sense of great storytelling or athletic veracity, but I loved it so very much I saw it three times in the theater as a teen. Watching it at some point during every Winter Games is a tradition for me so, yeah, I can’t help it, I love this silly sports movie/romance, which also features a bit of holiday feels.

Wimbledon (2004) - It's a rom-com. It's a sports movie. It's a rom-com sports movie that really should be better known. Notting Hill but set at tennis' best-known event. Paul Bettany and Kristen Dunst have surprisingly great chemistry, and there's more sports-related tension than you'd think.

Friday Night Lights (2004) - A football movie for people who don't really like football. a.k.a. 🙋‍♀️. The TV series it spawned is also brilliant (”Clear Eyes, Full Hearts,” indeed), and well worth a watch, but the original movie, starring Billy Bob Thornton, is, honestly, a masterpiece. Definitely Peter Berg's best work and the original book, written by Berg's cousin, Buzz Bissinger, is a great read.

Muriel's Wedding (1994) - You mean you forgot this Australian export, which made Toni Collette a star, was a sports movie? Yep, one of my all-time favorite movies, of any genre, this absolutely brilliant, ABBA-soaked comedy is not only a girls-night go-to, but also a stealth Olympic sport classic.

Remember the Titans (2000) - OK, football isn't in the Olympics, but it sure does make for a good sports movie setting. Even if this early 1970s-set story is most definitely Disney-fied, Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Ryan Gosling and a baby Hayden Panettiere really sell this sort-of true story.

Invictus (2009)-Rugby isn't an Olympic sport, or even one most Americans know much about, but this Matt Damon-led, Clint Eastwood-directed, based-on-a-true-story tale made me care about a sport I'd only tangentially knew even existed before watching.

Hoosiers (1986)-I grew up in Indiana so, by law, I have to include this basketball classic on any "best of" sports movie lists. Also, it actually is really very good.

Rudy (1993)-Ditto the above. But, again, it's hard not to root for Sean Astin (and Jon Favreau!) in this love letter to the Fighting Irish. Plus, there’s no better scavenger hunt task or TikTok challenge than going into a bar and convincing a patron to allow you to put them on your shoulders and march around chanting, 'Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.'

Miracle (2004) - Given how much more popular the Summer Olympics are, it's weird that the Winter Games seem to get all the good movies made about them, but this Kurt Russell-led true tale is another Disney sports movie classic.

McFarland, USA (2015) - Disney, and Kevin Costner, just really know how to make a sports movie, damn it! This movie made me care about cross country for which it, too, could have carried the title Miracle.

A League of Their Own (1992)-The best baseball movie ever. Yeah, I said what I said. Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty—even Madonna and Rosie O'Donnell are making it work. 1992 was a weirdly great year for sports movies.

Moneyball (2011) - A movie about baseball, and math, and yet it's also great, I swear. In addition to all of the above, it's also a stealth Christmas movie and maybe Chris Pratt's best non-Marvel, movie role.

Creed (2015) - This surprisingly effective Rocky reboot starring Michael B Jordan as Apollo Creed's illegitimate son has spawned its own movie series which, in many ways, exceeds the original Rocky franchise.

Rocky Balboa (2006) - Maybe it's because I was a toddler when the original Rocky came out, so only saw the ever-worse sequels as a kid, but this mid-aughts return to the character for Sylvester Stallone, as both writer and actor, is a triumph.

Eddie the Eagle (2016) - That Hugh Jackman features in as many movies (spoiler alert) on this list as Kevin Costner surprised me, too. This story of the English ski jumper who became infamous for being, well, less than golden, is one of those non-Olympic triumph stories that really works. If you're going to watch one underdog-at-the-Games movie, I definitely prefer this this to the more ubiquitous Cool Runnings.

Love & Basketball (2000) - Only because I'm an anglophile is this great, chemistry-filled Sanaa Lathan and Omar Epps college basketball romance not my favorite sports-movie-meets-rom-com.

I, Tonya (2017) - Margot Robbie and a nearly unrecognizable Sebastian Stan are perfectly cast in this sarcastic, highly stylized look at the Tonya Harding scandal.

Pride (2007) - Apparently I like this swimming movie, which I think almost no one saw, better than critics, but I found this 1970s-set, Terrence Howard-Bernie Mac-starring story of inner city kids excelling in the pool emotional and entertaining.

Field of Dreams (1989) - This Kevin Costner magical realism baseball classic is often goofy and imminently tease-worthy and yet…It also works. Maybe it's no surprise that someone who loves cheesy Christmas movies as much as I do would have a soft spot for Field of Dreams.

42 (2013) - Chadwick Boseman is absolutely fantastic as legend Jackie Robinson. One of those movies that's ostensibly about baseball, but is really about so much more, except not in a pretentious way.

Race (2016) - Before Jason Sudeikis was Ted Lasso, he was famed track coach Larry Synder in this Jesse Owens biopic that is far from perfect, but still important. Plus, I honestly don't think Stephan James got enough credit for his relatively nuanced portrayal of Owens.

Goon (2011) - This overlooked gem starring Sean William Scott as a semi-pro hockey player whose main skill is his ability to take, and dole out, a beating, is surprisingly great.

Real Steel (2011) - This is a robot-boxing movie starring Hugh Jackman that is basically Rocky meets Over the Top—and yet it's actually really good. Yeah, I was surprised, too.

Forget Paris (1995) - OK, so maybe Billy Crystal playing an NBA referee doesn't really make this a sports movie, but it does begin and end (spoiler alert) at real NBA games, and I will die on the hill that this rom-com co-starring Debra Winger is wildly under-rated.

Bend it like Beckham (2002) - This girl-power sports movie has some highly questionable romantic dynamics (the coach is their love interest???) but this Parminder Nagra-Keira Knightley movie is also a heckuva sports movie and an inspiring immigrant story.

Bonus Pick: The Apple TV+ series Ted Lasso is one of the best things I watched in 2020, and I'm sure of that, because I watched it twice since, just to be sure. Jason Sudekis is absolutely perfect as an American college football coach taking over a UK Premier League team. This sweet show with a heart of gold is smart, funny, and absolutely impossible not to love—even for a cynic such as myself.

More Sports Movies Worth Watching

For someone not very into sports, I am, apparently, into watching movies about sports, so while not a comprehensive listing of the entire, vast genre, here are a few more suggestions I personally think are worth watching.

The Miracle Season (2018) - This movie about high school volleyball champs whose star player dies suddenly stars Helen Hunt and is a lot better than you'd think based on its tiny budget and, honestly, fairly small story. Just missed making my Top 25.

The Way Back (2020) - This Ben Affleck as a drunken high school basketball coach movie is a lot better than expected. Released just as the pandemic kicked into high gear, it was overlooked last year, but worth seeking out.

Fighting with My Family (2019) - Does it count if it's a show, not a sport? Either way (but that's why this isn't in my Top 25), this stealth Christmas movie/love letter to the WWE is a lot better than it ever needed to be thanks to some really great performances from Florence Pugh, Lena Headey and directer Stephen Merchant. Even The Rock reins it in.

Warrior (2011) - You couldn't pay me to watch an actual UFC bout, but this Tom Hardy story of (literally) battling brothers is incredibly compelling and well done.

Win Win (2011) - This movie isn't really enough about wrestling, even though its ostensibly centered around the sport, to make it into my Top 25, but it's still really good, and Amy Ryan gives an outstanding performance.

Fever Pitch (2005) - Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon star in this remake of a UK film whose ending they had to shift when the Red Sox unexpectedly won the World Series.

Fever Pitch (1997) - This Colin Firth-starring, Arsenal-centered original is much smaller, more realistic and arguably better than the big budget Barrymore-Fallon redux.

We are Marshall (2006) - A real-life sports tragedy made into a sports-movie tearjerker starring Matthew McConaughy. And my tears were very much jerked by the end.

Coach Carter (2005) - Samuel L Jackson plays real-life basketball coach Ken Carter and, because it's a Disney movie, doesn't use the F-word even once. Now that's a feat worthy of its own sports movie.

Invincible (2006) - Yes, it's Mark Wahlberg, and another based-on-a-true-story, Disney sports movie that hits all the cliches, but dang it, that works on me. It just does.

Glory Road (2006) - If you're sensing a theme with me and Disney sports movies…Well, you're not wrong. This look at the first all-Black starting lineup at the 1966 NCAA Final Four does, unfortunately, center white coach Don Haskins, played by Josh Lucas (though I always mis-remember it as Josh Charles), making the important story it tells less than what it should be, but it still mostly works.

Million Dollar Arm (2014) - Admittedly one of the lesser Disney sports movie entries, and another that centers a white guy in a film mostly about people of color (not a great look), this Jon Hamm movie about a scout seeking an Indian cricket star who can make it in the Major Leagues still mostly worked for me.

The Mighty Ducks (1992) - One of the few movies on this list aimed directly at kids, this beloved peewee hockey saga actually is cute, and mostly does hold up.

Cool Runnings (1993) - Kind of shocked this movie that is part White Savior-movie and part-wacky kids movie essentially making fun of a real group of athletes of color came out in 1993 and not 1973, but the earnest charm of John Candy and a general Disney gloss keep this from being totally unwatchable and mostly just mildly, rather than extremely, offensive. Not really recommending, but feels like it belongs on an Olympic movie list.

Nadia (1984) - This made-for-TV, mostly true biopic, starring Talia Balsam as Nadia Comaneci, was a Disney Channel staple in that network’s early days.

Munich (2005) - It's a movie with the Olympics very much at its heart—namely the 1972 Israeli athlete hostage tragedy—that isn't really about the Olympics at all, but this Steven Spielberg-directed movie about national revenge is compelling, if problematic if you think about it for too long.

American Anthem (1986) - Is this Mitch Gaylord-Mrs. Wayne Gretzky (a.k.a Janet Jones) starring movie good, realistic and/or well-written? No, no and none of the above. But did I still watch it 8,000 times as a kid on HBO? Yes. Yes, I did.

Men with Brooms (2002) - Once, on a business trip to Canada, my husband was stuck in a hotel that only got three channels, and one of them always seemed to be showing curling, which actually got him weirdly into this obscure sport. This movie wasn't quite as fun as I hoped, but it's still a mostly charming, if slight, Canadian classic.

Unbroken (2014) - The harrowing and incredible real-life story of Louis Zamperini deserved better than this Angelina Jolie-directed movie delivered, but it's still a serviceable version of a worthy tale.

Chariots of Fire (1981) - I remember being bored out of my mind by this movie trying to watch this movie on cable as a kid, but no denying that, if nothing else, the score is iconic and indelibly linked to sports-movie magic.

Without Limits (1998) - Jared Leto’s Prefontaine beat this one to the theaters, but this Billy Crudup-starring film is the better of the two movies about the life of running pioneer Steve Prefontaine. There’s also a 1995 documentary, Fire on the Track: The Steve Prefontaine Story.

Personal Best (1982) - Mariel Hemingway’s story of ambition at odds with love, is a sports and LGTBQ+ classic.

Olympic Dreams (2019) - The story of how this small, meandering movie was made during the 2018 Winter Games is, unfortunately, more interesting than the movie itself, but there is some charm in watching Nick Kroll as an Olympic dentist making his way through the real Village, while interacting with real athletes.

Foxcatcher (2015) - This excellently-acted story is more true crime than sports inspiration, but if you're seeking a look at the dark side of the Games—and don’t want to turn on a doc like Athlete A—this is very dark tale indeed.

Seabiscuit (2003) - Every great athlete deserves to have their story told.

Any Given Sunday (1999) - Oliver Stone and Al Pacino take on pro Football. 'Nuff said.

The Replacements (2000) - I mean, the movie isn't amazing, but Keanu Reeves is super charming and Gene Hackman is always worth a watch.

The Program (1993) - Another bit of a dark-side-of-football take, worth it if only for the fantastic cast: James Caan, Halle Berry, Omar Eps, Joey Lauren Adams.

Everbody’s All-American (1988) - Not a movie I particularly love, but this Dennis Quaid-Jessica Lange football story that spans decades has always stuck in my memory.

Bull Durham (1988) - Just let Kevin Costner play actual baseball already.

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kingburu · 4 years

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[FIC] Birb Funeral

Someone asked me a long time ago what would happen if in the Dearly Departed universe (where Jason is a Son of Hades and Nico is a Son of Jupiter, and everyone is conveniently where I wanted to place them) what would happen if Bianca ended up in Camp Jupiter and Nico ended up in Camp Halfblood. I wrote this a while back for funsies and probably won’t expand, but take an au of an au!

tl;dr: Godswap AU where Jason is a Son of Hades, Nico is a Son of Zeus, and they grew up as childhood friends!

A storm hits first. In twelve-year-old Jason’s ten years at Camp Halfblood, he’s never seen anything as abrasive and harsh as the dark clouds that consumes all winter sunlight, dimming the heavens as though he’s staring at his father’s domain itself. Thunder and lightning boom like a commandeering force, and the rain rattles against the magical barrier around Camp Halfblood, like pelting against hollow tin, but falls on campgrounds like a soft shower.

It rains for three days straight, weakening Hestia’s hearth, cancelling Capture the Flag, and irritating all of the Apollo Cabin, who grow antsy without the sun. Jason is nonplussed by the storm, comforted by the additional shadows that linger—but he’s never quite liked the silence it forced in Cabin Eleven. The silence that used to be comforting, but now hurts as he has to look at the empty bed—the one that reminds him his own chest feels empty, too.

On the third day, the eagles appear.

Jason’s already awake, inspecting the other demigods without cabins of their own as he hears the righteous call of three bald eagles flying through the forest. Other campers wake to their squawk, if not the thunderous storm as it seems to boom louder and demand their attention.

Then, a little boy appears through the forest, sopping wet and looking meager and small as he wobbles through the trees, with a nest of dark hair and bright blue eyes that reminds Jason of the days before the storm. He’s dressed in a ratty pair of jeans, caked in monster blood and—other blood, that immediately worries Jason—and a bright shirt with a lotus symbol on it. The eagles cry out again, encircling the little boy, and flank to either side of him like royal guards.

Jason jumps as those blue eyes scan their small crowd—widening as they make contact with Chiron—but then turns to him.

One of the eagles nudges the little boy, who stumbles forward.

“This,” the little boy says curiously, “is Camp Halfbird, right?”

Halfbird, Jason thinks, puzzled, and he swears he sees both eagles puff their chests out with pride. He doesn’t get to contemplate long—of all the people that are surrounding this little boy, those blue eyes are fixated on him, waiting for an answer. “It’s actually Camp Halfblood—but, yeah, welcome.”

“Oh,” the little boy says, and his shoulders heave. “Finally.”

And he collapses forward. There’s a cry in surprise—and out of reflex, Jason steps forward and catches him. His eyes trail over to the may stains on this boy’s shirt—the monster blood, the human blood—and he hears Lee Fletcher crying out for someone to get ambrosia, nectar, and all the works.

“Wait,” Jason hears himself saying, and the older son of Apollo stares at him in disbelief.

“Why would we wait, Grace?” Lee demands.

Jason props the boy up on his arm, the nest of dark hair bobbing as they move. “Because he’s snoring.”

Upon carrying the little boy to the infirmary, they all discover their newest camper has a vice grip and refuses to let go of Jason. Beckendorf, a much older camper, tries once while Jason takes this boy who can’t be older than nine or ten, and Jason’s head almost comes off with it. They stop trying when they hear a little sob. Jason thinks he hears a name—Bianca?—and confines himself to carry the boy to one of the cots.

Jason has to rock on his feet and stand to the tips of his toes—and practically falls over as he sets the boy down, arms still bound around him, but eventually manages to wriggle out of the grip. He stares at the boy, puzzled, as this new demigod just rolls into a ball, expression unseen.

The eagles caw outside—and from the window, Jason sees them soar past the window, evidently deciding to remain close.

“Jace,” Lee says, which startles him, “why don’t you get him some new clothes?”

Lee’s already washed his hands, rubber gloves on, and is picking up an arm to inspect this boy. He wrinkles his nose as his hand stains with mud.

“Oh—okay,” Jason says—and he stays just long enough for Lee’s apprentice and little brother, Will, pull a twig out of dark hair.

Jason sprints to the Big House. On his way back to the infirmary, he watches as both eagles spread their wings and shriek, glowering at him. Jason cringes, staring at them with hesitation.

The door opens, and Will pokes his head out curiously. He stares up at the rooftop and mimics Jason’s expression. “You think they’re going to stay long?”

“Hard to say,” Jason mumbles uncomfortably. He takes a thoughtful step towards the infirmary and the eagles make another sound of displeasure. A loud moan comes from the infirmary—childish and feeble, and the eagles suddenly cock their heads to that instead. Jason takes the distraction to climb the porch steps and sighs with relief. “Guess it depends on how long this kid wants to stay.”

Will pats his shoulder sympathetically. “We’ll find an animal that likes you eventually.”

New campers, of course, fall under the jurisdiction of Cabin Eleven, and Connor and Travis insist that this new kid already imprinted on Jason, despite not being the head counselor. Jason knows that this kid is recovering from whatever journey brought him to Long Island and the last thing he needs is to be at the mercy of the Stoll Brothers’ pranks, so he halfheartedly agrees.

The storm subsides pretty quickly after the kid arrives, and business seems to resume as usual. People are already placing bets on what cabin this kid belongs to—if he belongs to any cabin, and Jason tries very hard not to hope that this kid belongs in the cabin that the eagles and the obnoxious storm suggest.

He spends most of the time in the infirmary, passing on his sword-training classes to Clarisse—and the boy wakes up just long enough to be spoonfed ambrosia and change into a clean shirt and pants. Every day, they find at least one twig in his hair while they’re not looking. He doesn’t speak very much at first—eventually Will and Lee decide to just let Jason handle this kid on his own to tend to other campers who are at the mercy of Clarisse’s sword training.

On the third day of this kid’s arrival, Jason walks up the porch of the med bay and the eagles squawk angrily, per usual. Jason opens the door and notices the kid perk at his arrival, in contrast to the screaming eagles.

“You feeling any better?” Jason asks.

The blue eyes stare at him carefully, then nod. He squints thoughtfully at Jason, then speaks for the first time since arriving during the storm the other day. “They keep screaming death when you walk by.”

Jason blinks. “They?”

The boy gestures to the roof. “Lark and Sparrow.”

Blond eyebrows furrow together. “Who?”

“Lark and Sparrow,” the boy repeats.

It takes a moment, but Jason’s eyebrows raise, puzzled. “You mean the eagles?”

“Yeah.” The boy nods, then pauses. “They had an older sister—Cloud, but—well, she…” The boy’s eyes moisten and his gaze falls to his hands sadly. “She didn’t make it.”

Oh. Jason doesn’t quite consider it a superpower, but he can pick up on the tone of a mourning soul, even if it’s for an eagle. Lark and Sparrow, the eagles (Jason doesn’t think he’ll ever get his mind wrapped around that) clearly love this little boy very much. Unfortunately, no one at camp speaks bird, and they’ve gone almost a week now not knowing this boy’s story—even if he wants to tell it.

Jason retrieves a stool, setting aside the ambrosia sundae. “Do you…want to tell me about Cloud?”

The boy raises his head curiously, evidently surprised to be encouraged, and then nods. “Cloud was their leader. She’s the one that found me first in—in the accident. And then she promised me that the four of them would get to camp. She—” His voice cracks. “—she couldn’t keep that promise.”

Jason flashes a look of concern. After a few meals of ambrosia and clean clothes, the boy looks better, but feeling better is another story entirely.

“Lark’s a good listener though, I think she makes Sparrow feel better,” the boy continues.

The edge of Jason’s lip curls.

“What?” the boy asks, and he blinks.

“Nothing—I’m glad they got you here safe. I’m sure Cloud is proud,” Jason reassures. He reaches for the ambrosia sundae and at this point, the boy knows it’s for him. “I’ve never met birds that were named after other birds.”

The boy shrugs nonchalantly. “Names are names. Did you know that Hades named his dog Spot?”

Jason makes a face, watching as this boy pluck a cherry off the sundae and plop it in his mouth. Of all the deities the boy could have chosen (before they checked to see if he actually understands what’s going on—the death of Cloud the Eagle seems to suggest he does.) “I’ve—actually never thought about it that way.”

“It just sounds cooler because it’s Greek,” the boy says. “Like your name. Otherwise, people would be walking around calling you Healer.”

“I’m. Sorry, what?”

“Your name,” the boy repeats, and it’s impossible not to stare at the bits of whipped cream at the corner of his lip. “Jason.”

“You know my name,” Jason says slowly, on eyebrow arched in the air. This boy has been silent for the last two days, taking in his environment with wide, curious eyes. Jason had seen the boy’s mouth drop when Grover had come to check on him.

The boy’s cheeks flush, and he quickly nods. “I heard the other two say it.”

The other two, the boy said. Not Lee and Will. Jason blinks once again. “You know my name and you know the meaning behind my name.”

“It was in the Argonaut Expansion pack,” the boy continues. “The trivia in the wrapper.”

Much like Lark and Sparrow, Jason tries to connect the dots in his head. “You mean Mythomagic?”

The sundae falls from the boy’s hands, and to Jason’s surprise, those blue eyes suddenly glitter with excitement. “You know Mythomagic? Do you play? Do you have a favorite character?”

He’s vibrating in his seat, and Jason actually leans back to keep ice cream from falling on him. Jason reaches over and dabs the melted ice cream with a tissue. “I’ve dabbled. You’ll see some of the other kids playing Mythomagic here. It helps them understand our world better. Our—hey. So. Do you…understand how you got here? What’s going on?”

The boy stares at him, puzzled, evidently confused.

“So you and I—this entire camp,” Jason says slowly, “we’re halfbloods.”

“Halfbirds?”

“Halfbloods,” Jason corrects. “Demigods. It means that we’re half human, half—”

“Half god,” the boy finishes with an excited whisper. His eyes glitter again. “Like Mythomagic.”

“Yeah, exactly like Mythomagic—”

“Oh my god,” the boy says again—and the way he vibrates in the bed would make Jason think he was never healing in the first place. “My dad was a god? Oh my dad!”

Jason stares at the boy in surprise. For a kid that had emerged from the forest covered in blood and spoils, this is the quickest he’s ever seen a demigod recover from learning about their parentage. This kid is acting just like he sounds—a kid—and is now grinning from ear-to-ear.

“Who’s your parent? Apollo? Aphrodite?” The boy claps his hand on the mattress, then leans close to Jason with a gasp. “It’s Thanatos, isn’t it? That’s why Lark and Sparrow keep screaming death!”

“Um, Hades, actually—” Jason peels the ice cream sundae away from the bed before it can spill, unable to hide his surprise. Most people didn’t list gods outside the main twelve, let alone mention his dad’s lieutenant of all people. He expects the boy to gulp and shirk away at first—like other kids did when they realized they were suddenly standing with the child of the King of the Dead, but the boy’s hand fall and he stares at Jason with even more fascination.

“He has 4000 attack power,” the boy whispers in amazement. “5000 if someone else attacks first.”

Jason blinks, yet again confounded by this boy’s enthusiasm. “Yeah—I think I heard that. You’re not…scared?”

The boy doesn’t hear him. Instead, he’s mumbling again, evidently still stuck on Jason’s parentage with utter amazement. He falls silent, then looks back up to Jason with hopeful eyes. “Can we hold a funeral for Cloud?”

This time, Jason’s lips fold into the familiar shape, aching almost, into the first smile that he’s had in a long time. “Is that what you want?”

The boy nods up and down. “A funeral for Lark and Sparrow’s sister, and maybe a funeral for my—” The boy cuts himself off, the excitement suddenly waning. Jason can see it in the boy’s expression, something hitting him like a freight train, and it looks more solemn and more mournful than it did for Cloud.

Oh. This boy has seen death recently—and not just for the sister of someone else.

Jason reaches out and places a hand on the boy’s shoulder. Blue eyes look back up to him, sadder than the bouncing boy from before.

“We’ll give Cloud a Grecian funeral, just like in Mythomagic,” Jason says quietly. At the M word, the boy cocks his head back up, eyebrows furrowed. “And another for whoever else needs one. Whenever you’re ready.”

The boy sniffles, his eyes swelling with tears once more.

“Whenever you’re ready,” Jason repeats.

“Okay.” To his surprise, the boy throws his arms around Jason like the first day, vice grip and all.

Jason hesitates—but then folds his arms around the other boy, patting sympathetically as he hears the sniffles grow louder.

After Will and Lee give the okay, Jason plans a funeral in the woods for Cloud the Eagle—which quickly goes awry from the Grecian traditions that he had planned when Nico explains Lark and Sparrow’s constructive notes. Two of the notes include burying part of their sister “like humans do”—with things that she held dear. Nico whips a feather out of his hair, insistent that it came from the late bird, and explains that Cloud’s favorite items included bird seed and bottle caps.

Thus, Jason instructs Nico to fill a lunch box with bird seed and bottle caps (there’s a small intermission where Jason watches Nico lecture Lark and Sparrow about eating their sister’s afterlife food) before placing the eagle feather gingerly on top, then listens to Nico and the birds deliver a eulogy for their fallen comrade.

Grover plays the reedpipes as they lower the lunch box into the ground, and daffodils sprout over the mound. He’s touched, of course, that someone would care enough to want to hold a funeral for an animal of nature.

“Will Charon accept bird seeds?” Nico asks worriedly.

Jason doesn’t miss the way Grover suddenly squawks on the reed pipes, evidently amused by the question. He places a hand on Nico’s shoulder, not missing the way that Nico inches closer into his bubble. “Um, animals are out of Charon’s jurisdiction.”

Nico frowns, clearly upset.

“They usually get reincarnated. Sometimes as plants, or as new animals,” Grover explains. Jason has to hold back a sigh of relief—he doesn’t know how much more he can talk about death, but Grover is charmed enough. He gestures to the eagles. “Maybe a lark. Or a sparrow. Or—”

“Or a raven?” Nico asks.

Grover nods sagely, flashing a look that Jason has always received growing up. Then he ruffles Nico’s hair. “You sure know your birds, Nico.”

Nico shrugs, the worry about Cloud not reaching the Underworld dissipating. Then, he notices what Jason has been wary of since the young demigod’s arrival. Nico gestures to Lark and Sparrow, who’d given Jason the stink eye since arriving at camp. “Why don’t they like you? They keep calling you the Deathbringer.”

Jason cringes, and he notices Grover do it too. “Yeah—well, animals aren’t fond of me. They sense death.”

Another frown curls against Nico’s lips, and the next look that the flashes his birds causes them to behave and stand erect. “But you just helped them bury their sister.”

“Yeah, tell them that,” Grover mutters, and he nudges Jason affectionately.

“I am,” Nico assures, and he climbs to his feet. The eagles squawk nervously—and then Nico turns around, his blue eyes fully on Jason. “And you’re so cool.”

Grover spills into a grin, and Jason’s eyebrows raise in confusion. He can hardly call spending the afternoon filling a lunch box with bird seed and fending off grouchy birds cool. “You think I’m cool?”

Unabashed, this boy stares at Jason with the same intrigue as he did when Jason started comparing Mythomagic to their lives. “The coolest.”

Red flourishes in Jason’s cheeks, and Grover is elbowing him again. Before he can open his mouth, Nico turns to his pet eagles, hands on his hips like a doting mother.

“If you two can’t respect Jason for holding a funeral for Cloud,” Nico says in his best parenting tone, “then scram.”

Both birds make a sound, evidently shocked, but Nico places a hand in front of him, halting their speech.

“No,” Nico says, “I’ll be okay here. Please go home.”

Jason watches in utter disbelief as both birds pick themselves up, glaring at him, before flying away.

Grover pats him on the shoulder. “You don’t want to know what they said.”

Nico falls to his knees again and pets the daffodils over Cloud’s makeshift grave. His eyebrows furrow together, evidently troubled at the departure of their friends, but seems set on his decision.

When he gets over his stupor, Jason clears his throat and walks up behind Nico, finally able to get close to this little grave that he helped make without prying eagle eyes. He kneels to the ground and pats a hand on the boy’s shoulder. “Let’s get you settled in at Cabin Eleven.”

#jasico #jason grace #nico di angelo #fic #dearly departed #au of an au #trying to find that writing bug while life is hectic

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randomwordprompts · 5 years

Text

If It’s Magic | Chapter 6

A/N: This took longer than I planned but it’s here! I don’t do summaries cause I want y’all to read it so do that lol

Warnings: Light Angst if you squint hard enough Taglist: @bartierbakarimobisson @oceanscorazon @supersizemeplz @wakandas-vibranium @wakandan-flowerz @yaachtynoboat711 @great-neckpectations @reaperdeldrunk @storibambino @babygirlofwakanda

September 2nd, 2015 - Manhattan, New York

Amira slept soundly in the king-sized bed, clad in only a t-shirt that was too big for her plump frame. She rested on her back because she’d fallen asleep with her hulking boyfriend on her chest, though he now resided between her legs, pressing soft kisses to her thighs. His attentions grew more and more lingering as he neared her sex, his beard tickling her skin. She stirred slightly when he parted her lower lips, his own wrapping around the bundle of nerves at her apex. It didn’t take long for Amira to fully wake up with a groan of his name, her hand snaking into the hair he’d pulled up into a messy bun the night before.

“Jason...shit, you’re almost as insatiable as me.”

“Almost? I think it might be a tie.”

She chuckled sleepily and muttered about how it wasn’t even close before pushing his head back down between her thighs. Jason grunted hungrily and continued to make a breakfast out of her pussy, smirking against her skin when she pulled his hair loose and ran her fingers over his scalp, scratching lightly. Her hips bucked towards his mouth as he worked for his wet reward, her voice growing louder when he slipped two fingers into her, curling onto her g-spot with ease. It didn’t take long for her to release into his mouth and onto his hand with a moan of his name, all her movements pushing his shirt that she wore up around her breasts. Jason pulled away and sucked his fingers clean, eyes on Amira as she sat up and removed the only fabric covering her body. He grinned and removed his boxers before climbing on top of her, hooking her thick legs up with his arms and pushing into her with one smooth thrust.

They moved in tandem, meeting each other’s ministrations as hushed profanities and short grunts were passed between them along with lustful encouragements. Without much warning Amira came again, scratching at his shoulders and chest as he worked her through her orgasm. Jason followed closely behind her, his warm seed shooting into her as he moaned into the crook of her neck. They rested for a moment in each other’s arms but Amira was the first to speak.

“That was lovely, but now you definitely have to feed me breakfast.”

...

“Girls, with a boy like that it’s serious…”

Lucy danced and bopped around her shared dorm to Eros and Apollo by Studio Killers, singing along to the lyrics as she did some light cleaning. At some point, she paused to just sing and dance, not hearing the front door open behind her as she belted.

“Soon he will eat your ass like cereals…”

“Now I know damn well she said ‘hearts’, not ‘ass’. Clean ya ears, Lu.”

She jumped at the sound of her roommate’s voice and turned to face Amira before running over and hugging her with a laugh.

“I thought it was ass, it’s the accent. But hey girl!! You got Jason to propose yet?”

“Bitch, it’s been like two months-”

“Three! Time flies when you having fun, but you should remember these things.”

Amira rolled her eyes and took her bags into her room, laughing though she truly couldn’t believe it’d been a whole three months since she’d officially started dating Jason. Her lips spread into a grin as she realized it would’ve been four if she hadn’t avoided him for a month after the night they spent together, assuming he couldn’t be serious about dating her. He did everything he could to change her mind, including an elaborate surprise that involved “Amira, be mine?” being sky-written in the middle of a New York day. Once she gave him a chance she realized Jason was charming, funny, sweet, sexy, and all around just a great guy. He was basically perfect for her.

Almost.

He may be perfect for her, but he wasn’t Xavier. A thought she found herself feeling guilty for thinking about more and more recently, but one she pushed to the side as Lucy filled her in on some of the campus gossip she’d heard since being back.

…

“Daniel, open this door!”

“Not happening.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“He’s not here Marcy, but I’ll make sure he knows you came by.”

Daniel sat on the couch writing on his laptop as he lied through his teeth for his roommate, the young man in question next to him rolling his eyes at the pure desperation he felt coming off the girl in question, Marcelline, on the other side of the door. He shook his head when she finally caved and left, not missing Daniel’s gaze on him.

“What?”

“The hell did you do to Marcy?” Daniel was plain and blunt, per usual.

“I only fed off her once and it wasn’t even a full feed! Every time I would get into what she was doing, she’d say cock and my dick would go soft.” Xavier exclaimed, tired of her completely.

Daniel made a face at the sound of the aforementioned word, shuddering at the thought of being in that situation.

“Damn, I didn’t even know Black girls used that word. Even still, I can’t keep covering for you when she comes here looking for yo ass.”

Xavier sighed, sitting down next to his roomie, “I know, I’ll talk to her later on today. For right now I need to focus on this damn Lit class. Who gives a whole ass assignment on the first day?”

…

Amira looked over her reflection one last time, smoothing her hands over the strapless orange sundress that adorned her frame. She decided to pair it with her clear chunky sandal heels and opted for a natural makeup look, ready for her lunch date with Jason. After adding some gloss to her lips and pulling her box braids up into a high pony, she grabbed her small purse and headed downstairs to wait for him so Lucy wouldn’t scream loud enough to alert their entire floor.

Once downstairs in the lobby, she pulled out her phone and began scrolling through Instagram while texting Francois to find out how the family was doing, pausing only when she heard an all too familiar voice call her name. Her eyes lifted to see Xavier just coming off the elevator, gaze widening slightly before her fingers floated across her screen to text her brother once more.

Xavier just came off the elevator...

Porque? Did he see you?

He called out my name and is walking over to me dude

OI RUN AWAY

FRAN I-

“Amira?”

“Xavier, hey!”

Amira stood to greet him with a friendly hug, ignoring the way her heart tugged at her to kiss him all over his face. She noticed he’d started growing his hair out over the summer, keeping the sides tapered low. She also didn’t miss the flicker of hunger in his eyes when she stood and he took in her outfit but chose to ignore it. Instead, she tried to keep the conversation light.

“You look good, how have you been?”

Xavier rubbed the back of his neck, a nervous habit of his, before he answered.

“I’ve been okay, how about you? We didn’t see you around campus much over the summer…”

“I was around for classes but I ended up staying with a friend till Labor Day.”

His brow raised then, wondering who this friend was since she didn’t say Lucy. Before he could ask they were interrupted by the ring of Amira’s phone, one look at the screen causing her to immediately answer it. He noticed her smile when she did, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes the way it used to when he made her smile. While he thought about that, Amira turned and walked a few feet away as she talked to Jason.

“You almost here?”

“That’s why I’m calling, babe. We hit some snags during the morning shoot so we’ll have to work through lunch. I’ll make it up either later or tomorrow?”

Amira sighed, hoping he was going to tell her he was outside to save her from this awkward convo with Xavier. Since that wasn’t the case she told him she understood and that they’d talk later, stunned silent when the words “alright, love you” left his lips. So stunned she hung up without replying. When she turned around she found Xavier standing where she’d left him, looking at his own phone. Just when she was going to say something to him, a shrill voice caught both his attention and hers.

“Xavier!! X!”

Marcy sped up her formerly relaxed walk down the hallway at the sight of the towering incubus, his face shifting just enough to show his exasperation if you knew him as well as Amira did. She invaded his personal space without warning, completely ignoring the fact that Amira was less than five feet behind her.

“Marcelline, back up. You smell horrible, criss...”

She looked like he’d punched her in the gut, checking herself for any stench and finding none. Before she could question him Amira finally spoke.

“He means your aura, honey. I can smell the desperation from here and I don’t even know you.”

“Desperation?! Listen here you fat bitch, I don’t know who you think you are but-”

Before she could finish her sentence Amira was in her face with a hand wrapped around her throat tightly enough to just cut off her air supply, her face an indifferent mask.

“Unlike you, I know exactly who I am, and right now I’m someone that could snap your neck between her fingers. Now clearly the gentleman doesn’t want to fuck you so take your L and keep it pushing.”

Marcy choked out a weak reply only to have Amira let her go with a forceful push, knocking her onto the floor before she scrambled away wheezing. Xavier looked at his ex with a wonder she hadn’t seen in a while, one that had her stomach fluttering. He opened his mouth but she held up a hand to stop him.

“I know. You’re welcome. See you around, X.”

Amira moved around him and walked towards the elevator before he grabbed her arm lightly, making her look back at him.

“Hey, wait. If you’re not busy could I take you to lunch? Just to catch up.”

“Xavier, I’m not about to-”

“I don’t wanna fuck you. Well, I do, but I also just miss my best friend. So have lunch with me?”

She pondered it for a moment, but she couldn’t deny the sincerity in his eyes.

“Alright, let’s go. But just lunch.”

#random stories #if it's magic #Amira & Xavier #original characters #randomwordprompts #my writng

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scandalsavagefanfic · 5 years

Note

I’d love an “I’m up for the challenge” with either Jason/Midnighter or Jason/Apollo/Midnighter. Could be a follow up to the cross over Into The Bleed or it could be completely fresh and stand alone. Either way is great!

This really is too long for a tumblr post. I’d suggest reading it here (I personally prefer to read longer things with AO3′s formatting). But you can still read it all under the cut.

57. “I’m up to the challenge.”

Explicit (breathplay)

Midnight/Jason Todd

2597 Words (oof)

“Hey, kid,” a deep voice calls out from behind him to gethis attention.

Jason sighs and rolls his eyes. Midnighter is alright, heguesses, but he’s Dick’s friend and Dick’s friends are all so tedious. Roy is a perfect example, he thinkstrying to ignore the fond warmth that the thought of the redhead brings to hischest.

The guy also calls him ‘kid’ and Jason finds that infinitelyirritating. Not only has he not been a ‘kid’ since before his parents died, butit’s kind of infantilizing and whenever someone calls him ‘kid’ or ‘son’ or‘boy’ they’re invariably trying to establish their authority over him.

And he really hates it when people think they’re somehowentitled to a say in his… anything.

But he turns around anyway. Truthfully, if Dick keeps makingfriends on his side of the “to kill or not to kill” line it could make his lifea lot easier. Especially if those friends like him and are willing to defendhim.

As he’s turning, he sees Steph’s lip quirk up and her browsraise before she walks through the magic, teleport, door thing.

Which he hears close behind him as he faces Midnighter’stoothy grin.

“You did pretty good work out there.”

Jason raises his eyebrows. “I’m trying not to be offended byhow surprised that sounded.”

“It is a little surprising,” Midnighter says smoothly, softbrown eyes twinkling with mischief. Somehow, even when he’s being insulting,the man is impossibly charming.

Jason crosses his arms across his chest and frowns at him,“I’ve been doing this since I was 12. Dick says you have a computer in yourbrain. You must need to upgrade your software if you’re stunned by mycompetence.”

There’s that grin again. Jason isn’t sure he likes it. Toomany teeth, too many sharp edges. It feels… predatory.

It gives him the chills.

“Dick told me you were kind of… brash,” Midnighter says thelast word with a lilt, making it clear that he’s being diplomatic, “I wasexpecting a fists first, strategy never mentality. But it’s pretty clear youthink things through.”

Jason scowls. Opens his mouth to tell Midnighter where hecan shove Dick’s opinion, but the other man talks right over him.

“You’re still a lot of bluster and bile though, aren’t you?”

“The fuck do you want, asshole?”

“What’s the matter, kid? We’re just talking. Didn’t take youfor the sensitive type,” but Midnighter’s eyes openly rake down his body,making what he wants pretty obvious.

Jason wishes he’d left his helmet on when his ears heat andhis face flushes.

“If you’re hitting on me, your game needs work,” Jason snapsas he turns to leave.

Just ahead and a bit to his left is a TV, some bookshelvesand a nicely appointed sitting area. To his right is a kitchen. Straight infront of him, across the room is a big window that takes up most the wall and adining room table with chairs. To the right of that is a floating staircasethat goes to the loft bedroom and bathroom on the upper level.

But, other than the door to the bathroom and the one to theops room behind him that he just came through, where Midnighter remains, heavygaze burning into Jason’s shoulder blades, there is no other door in the entireapartment.

“Going somewhere, kid?”

Jason just barely manages to keep from jumping when thewords are rumbled into his ear close enough that he can feel the warmth of theother man’s breath.

When he turns around Midnighter is standing only inchesaway, towering over him. Jason hadn’t realized the bastard was quite that quiet…or tall.

Alright, it’s only a few inches—four, maybe?—but it feelslike a bigger difference when Midnighter is standing there in sweats and at-shirt and Jason is in full Red Hood getup and still feels intimidated.

He manages to stand his ground.

“I’m leaving. Door.”

Midnighter’s whole body looks coiled, ready to pounce. Hisface turns absolutely wolffish when nothing happens.

“Oh yeah, everyone’s authorization to use the Doors has beenrevoked. It was a temporary arrangement remember?”

Jason glowers at him.

“Guess you’ll have to ask me nicely.”

They stare at each other in a standoff. Jason glares.Midnighter leers, sliding his hands into his pockets and leaning casuallyagainst the doorframe. Still taller than Jason.

Jason huffs. “Fine. Please.”

“That wasn’t exactly ‘nice.’”

“Jesus Christ,” Jason mumbles, pinching the bridge of hisnose.

He shifts back a bit, looks up at Midnighter from under hislashes. “Please, call me a Door, M. Pretty please with a cherry on top?”

His tone and posture are sugary sweet, dripping in badlystaged innocence and submission, obviously mocking and insincere. But itdoesn’t stop the pupils of Midnighter’s eyes from swallowing the brown irises.

His tone is low and husky when he answers, “Sure thing,sweetheart. Door.”

Jason swallows and lets his gaze linger on the other man’sface for a moment.

Then he summons back his bravado and snorts as he stridesthrough the portal…

…And into a room he doesn’t recognize, the space dominatedby a huge bed and some plants.

But he makes a face at the familiar giant window just beyondthe floating stairs leading down.

“Seriously?”

“You weren’t specific,” Midnighter growls from behind him,having followed him through instead of just walking up the stairs, “You didn’ttell me where you wanted to go, so I sent you where I wanted you.”

An impossibly strong arm wraps around Jason’s waist and ahand grips him firmly, just above his elbow. Midnighter brushes his nose andmouth softly up Jason’s neck making him shudder.

Teeth lightly tug at his earlobe, before warm breath puffsagainst his ear, “Still think my game needs work?”

Jason opens his mouth to stubbornly insist that, yes,Midnighter still needs to work on his flirting but then the hand around hiswaist dips teasingly beneath the band of his pants. It doesn’t touch anything,just rubs little circles into his hipbone. But the skin there is sensitive, thefingertips warm and gentle, and the area (not to mention Jason in general)isn’t used to being touched. His eyes flicker closed as he enjoys thesensation. Just for a second, before he gets out of here.

Midnighter sucks at his neck. Jason’s breath hitchesslightly and he stumbles back, just an inch, into the other man’s arms, resolvecrumbling.

“Hmmm,” Midnighter hums agains his skin, vibrations pulsingdown his chest, “You know, I’ve been hitting on Dick for months just to watchhim squirm. But one look at you and I knew we’d end up here.”

“God damnit,” Jason swears, trying to shrug out of the hold.Midnighter chuckles and tightens his grip, pulling him even closer. “Let me gojackass. You can’t mention my fucking brother and expect me to fuck you.”

“I’ll take that bet.”

“It’s not a bet, you piece of shit. It’s a fact. You want,Dick? Go work him over and leave me the hell alone.”

“Oh I’d leap at that if he offered. But he won’t. That kid’sstraight as an arrow.”

Jason doesn’t bother to refrain his derisive snort. He’s pastbeing polite and he’s never heard a more absurd comment in his life.

“It’s true,” the hand in Jason’s pants moves up, sliding underhis shirt, over his abs to pinch and pull at a nipple causing him to inhalesharply, “Dick’s a good sport and he’s happy to let people think whatever theywant but he only swings one way and it’s toward women who can rip him in half.”

Jason wishes he was struggling harder. But he’s mostly givenin to Midnighter’s sultry touches. It’s been a long time since someone wantedhim like this. Even if he is just a consolation prize.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, babe,” Midnighter says whiletwisting his hands into the fabric of Jason’s shirt and jacket before knockinghim back onto the bed where he bounces, “Wanting to bend you over has nothing to do with Dick… obvious punsnotwithstanding.”

Jason doesn’t even notice the self-satisfied little smirkMidnighter gives himself. He’s too distracted by the fact that the other man isholding his jacket and Kevlar shirt in his hands, leaving him naked to thewaist, chest exposed.

“Wha—how did you—“

“Computer in my brain, remember?”

Jason scowls and moves to get off the bed. Midnighter is onhim in the space of a heartbeat, shoving their lips together and pressing Jasoninto the mattress.

He pushes at Midnighter for all of six seconds before he’sonce again giving in, wrapping his arms around the deadly killer on top of himand moaning into his mouth.

He feels Midnighter smile victoriously against his lips.Jason makes a mental note to care about that later.

Right now, however, they’re both wearing too much clothing.

Midnighter seems to agree as he tugs Jason’s pants off hiships and down to his knees. He tries to help, tries to kick his boots off, butthey won’t budge, the clasps keeping them firmly in place.

“Leave them,” M growls before he takes a nipple between histeeth and nibbles just a little too hard.

Jason cries out and then there’s a tongue licking a hot wetstrip over the area before the mouth leaves. Then he shivers when Midnighterblows on the wet spot, chilling his entire chest.

There’s a clinking sound and Jason’s arms are raised abovehis head. Soft, cool leather wraps around his wrists and buckles cinch to holdhim in place. He groans at the idea of being restrained, cuffed, legs trappedin his pants.

With one hand, Midnighter holds his shoulders flat to thesheets. With the other, he guides Jason’s legs up and over to one side,cradling them in one arm, so that Jason’s weight is on one hip and Midnighterhas the access he needs.

“Keep your shoulders flush to the bed. I want to see every twitchof pleasure on that gorgeous face of yours.”

Jason shudders again, closes his eyes and takes a deepbreath, trying not to blush. It’s insane how badly he wants this, and howembarrassed he is at being so exposed right now.

Then a slick finger presses lightly at his entrance and heloses on the no blushing front when he feels a wave of heat roll down hisentire body.

“Jesus, kid,” Midnighter hums as he circles the ring ofmuscle with a feather light touch, teasing, “You look good in pink.”

That just makes the warmth under Jason’s skin burn hotter.

Jason throws his head back and moans loudly when Midnighterwiggles the finger past his rim. He clinches down instinctively and M swearsagain.

“Fucking tight ass,” he grumbles but it’s playful andaffectionate.

He pumps his finger in and out, swirling around, tugginggently at the tight muscle, massaging until Jason finally relaxes into themotions. Then he adds two more.

Jason gasps and thrusts up into the air, barely keeping hisshoulders down as ordered.

“Oh my god,” hebreaths, lost in a haze of sensation, “holy… get inside me already, douchebag.”

“Impatient, greedy, little boy, aren’t you?” Midnighterrumbles, twisting his fingers and curling them to press into that delightfullysensitive little gland.

“Christ! Oh… shit… yes—impatient—god…”

Midnighter chuckles, hooking Jason’s legs, both of them overone broad shoulder raising his hips off the mattress, and lines up his cockbefore gripping Jason’s shoulder with the hand not holding his legs in place.

He nudges forward, the tip of his dick putting just a hintof pressure against the ill-prepared hole.

“You sure?”

“Fuck you. Just fuck me,already.”

That’s all the permission M needs.

He drives his hips forward and the air is driven fromJason’s lungs.

Midnighter is thick.Impossibly huge inside him. He clinches reflexively as Midnighter starts topull out and yelps.

Midnighter swears under his breath and suddenly Jason is bentat a very weird angle as the man on top of him captures his mouth in a sloppy,needy kiss, and bears down, driving into him with abandon.

Jason tries to reach for him, tries to wrap his arms aroundhim, to hold onto something, anything that might help ground him. But all hedoes is jerk the chains as the cuffs chafe his skin.

He moans, desperate, and tries to meet each thrust but hisposition doesn’t give him any leverage, no power. A small part of his mind thatisn’t lost in lust thinks that may have been on purpose.

He’s close and he hasn’t even been touched. He tries toreach down to touch himself and whimpers when he’s caught up by the restraintsagain.

A low, resounding chuckle washes over him and suddenlythere’s pressure on his throat pinching his windpipe closed.

Jason tries to claw at the hand but once again, can’t move. Hewhines at the building frustration, and the strange pleasure he takes at thatdenial. He’s completely at the mercy of a man who punches people so hard he canliterally rip a heart out of a chest.

The thought of that strength at his neck, holding his secondlife a breath away almost sends Jason over the edge.

The grip eases and Jason sucks in exactly one breath beforeit closes around him again. He’s getting light headed, stars are popping in hisvision.

Another brief release, even shorter, before he’s strangledagain.

And another.

The pace quickens, pounding into him with inhuman power andferocity. The slap of skin and pleased grunts is deafening as his eardrums pop.

Black starts to creep in on the edges. Through his lashes,wet with tears he didn’t realize he’d shed, he sees Midnighter’s black, hungryeyes watching him closely, sees those delicious lips curl into a playful smile.

“You gonna come before you pass out, kid?”

It’s like a dam breaks and relief tingles through him as hefeels his seed splash across his belly. He chokes when Midnighter lets himbreath and hears the other man swear, feels his release flood into him wherethat giant cock is buried deep, when his own gives a second, weaker gush of come.

Jason sags in the restraints. He’s breathing hard, drippingin sweat. He’s more exhausted than he remembers being in years. And at peace ina way that makes him think he needed this more than he’d realized.

Midnighter doesn’t release him. Just flops onto the bed nextto him, breathing perfectly even, not a drop of moisture to suggest anyphysical exertion. That annoys Jason for some reason.

He works his mouth for all the saliva he can summon andswallows, trying to lubricate his dry, sore throat.

“You—“ He croaks, pausing to swallows again, “you don’t looklike you did anything.”

Midnighter smiles, “Perks of the enhancements, kid. Takes alot to wear me out.”

Jason feels a surge of energy and heat pools immediately inhis gut. He smiles back. “I think I’m up to the challenge.”

Midnighter looks down at him, face full of dark promises.

His face splits into that toothy grin.

“Oh kid. I’m gonna wreck you.”

Jason wiggles his hips and tries to kick off his bootsagain.

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” he taunts through his ownimpish smirk.

#jason todd #midnighter #midnighter/jason todd #writing prompts #asks #starcityrebels asks #my fic

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willandlyra · 7 years

Text

when i rise i see you falling

a couple of anons have requested something with will being the insecure one, or a bit of a mess, in the relationship. so:

in which will is sad, and neither of them really know what to do but they’ll try.

Will’s main problem is – well, actually, that’s a part of it. Will doesn’t know what his problem is.

He knows Nico likes him. He knows it because he knows how Nico is when he doesn’t like someone. And this isn’t that. He knows Nico likes him because he doesn’t shadow travel midway through a conversation just to piss Will off, because he knows that the whole ‘fading out of existence thing’ still gives him the shakes.

He knows that Nico likes him because they sit together at the campfire and Will teases Nico, and his face glows hot and pale scarlet underneath the light of the burning. He knows it because their fingers brush together and Nico’s eyes widen like little moons, and he knows it because Nico fakes inexplicable, uncontrollable zombie epidemics so as to sit with the Apollo table at meal times.

And, you know, there was the whole thing where Will asked Nico out in the most awkward way possible, and the two of them tend to hole up in Nico’s cabin or behind a tree or lie down in the tall grass (Will’s pick, not Nico’s. Nico claims to have had enough experience with Demeter’s overgrowth, whatever that means) and make out until their lips are sore and their eyes are bright.

Yeah, that too.

But there’s this other thing.

There’s this horrible thing inside of him that crawls out at inconvenient moments. When he can’t sleep or when Nico’s stuck in the underworld with his father, and he hasn’t had a chance to talk for a while. When Percy Jackson makes a joke and Nico laughs and like, not a big deal, but also.

Percy Jackson saved the world a couple of times and jumped into Tartarus after his girlfriend, and how do you compete with that?

So it sneaks up in the night, this little black feeling, like bed bugs or stupid monsters. Not big enough to do anything huge, like cut open the skin and scar, but enough to leave a sore spot.

Starts sort of like this:

So Nico and Jason will spend hours duelling, just for the fun of it, with swords and their weird ass powers, and campers will literally fill out to watch, placing bets on which Son of the Big Three is gonna win this one.

Piper joins in, putting her bets on Jason – sometimes, like a supportive girlfriend – or Nico if she’s feeling like that’s her lucky call. Hey, she goes where the money is, much to Jason’s indignation.

But then Piper also had a part in the whole saving the world thing. Piper hasn’t sat on the side lines helplessly, unable to save a single soul when your friends are saving everything around you.

These thoughts aren’t fun, and they make Will feel a little queasy, guilty for even letting himself think of them. He shuts his eyes tight for a moment and when he opens them he catches Nico looking at him from where he’s in the midst of dodging Jason’s attacks.

Will plasters on a big smile, cheers him on. Places a bet.

After the duel, Nico ignores everything else and makes headway straight for Will, who may or may not be hastily trying to make an exit. Because he’s got that feeling again.

Nico is sweaty and his hair is tangled, and he’s breathing a little more heavily than usual, shoulders shuddering with the weight of extra breath.

“Grace, you lost me the last of my drachmas!” Leo screams from afar. “How could you do this to me!”

Nico raises an eyebrow and smiles a little.

“Giving into the temptation of gambling, and at such a young age too,” he says. “So sad.”

It’s a Will-type comment, one meant to make him laugh, and it makes him realise that Nico doesn’t really know what to say because he knows something’s up.

A few years ago people were weary of the death kid who glowered from the other end of the room, and now he’s reading feelings from across ocean spaces.

“Yeah,” Will attempts. “I’m getting a little worried – I’m pretty sure Drew Tanaka is going to end up with his cabin at some point, with the way this is getting. Time to tell Chiron?”

“Oh, Mr D already knows,” Nico says. “Totally approves, of course. Says it reminds him of his ventures to Vegas. I don’t even wanna know.”

“Not sure I do either.”

Nico laughs, and then pauses, and then reaches out and grasps Will’s hands squeezing his fingers lightly now that all but the last few dregs of campers are left in the area.

“Is everything okay?” he asks.

Will smiles and says, “you worry too much.”

Nico isn’t perfect, and Will knows this better than anyone.

With glory comes a whole bunch of other things. Dark matter and memories that don’t belong in any living person’s skull. Dreams of dying and thinning away on only pomegranate seeds, feeling yourself slide away into shadows.

There’s a haunted look in Nico’s eyes, sometimes, and the same ghost mask is thinly veiled over the faces of the Seven, and Will wouldn’t trade that for anything.

But people died trying to do the things they did, to save the world and fight off the monsters, to stop the bed bugs biting, gnawing at the ankles of the youngest campers there. So when Will bandages up the broken wrist of an Ares camper, or dries the hot wet tears of a little girl in his own cabin, when they thank him in small, tinny voices, Will can’t help but shudder.

Because they shouldn’t be thanking him.

They aren’t thanking the right person.

It comes out of nowhere sometimes, a little like things that go bump in the night.

Each and every demigod at this camp has some sort of scars attached to their skin. And some of these are more obvious than others. Will spends so much time patching people up in the infirmary, not only physically, after duelling incidents or general illnesses that come and go, but soothing his patients when they wake with night terrors.

Like clinging to tidbits of light to stop someone from fading out of existence.

Will’s the head medic. The rest of his cabin look up to him like some kind of icon, in awe of his healing powers, his focus on a patient and the way he keeps it together. But that’s a whole other problem. They don’t realise that just like the rest of them, he’s damaged goods.

Nico looks at him the same way.

Says in awe, reaches up with soft bony fingers to drag a light touch across Will’s cheeks. He breathes things like, ‘you’re amazing’ when he’s healed someone, and the colour has gone from his skin. In awe, like he doesn’t understand how Will has these fingers that are perfect for fixing things up.

If Nico called himself damaged goods, then Will would hit the roof and he’d come down with a smart ass answer and a scowl, listing reasons why that’s not true, why Nico kicks ass, why that’s the dumbest thing he could ever ever say. Wait til his eyes are closed in thought, because Nico can’t always pull all the self hatred out of him, no matter what Will says.

Gently kisses the thin skin of his lids.

Says, “you’re fine, Death Boy.”

And yet – when it’s his own face he’s looking at and his own heart he’s stabbing at with rusted arrow ends, none of that comes to mind.

And there’s just this Nothing in front of him – this big white blank space. And so in spite of all the love he feels off the backs of his family and his friends, and the boy that kisses him before he goes to bed, it reads with just a few little words that hurt like bee stings: you’re not worth it.

Not worth it, not worth them, not worth him.

It’s not always this bad.

It comes and goes like coughs and headaches. Sometimes he falls asleep and it’s gone by morning. But sometimes it sticks in the back of his brain, thick and black and ugly. Sometimes he can’t stop thinking about it and he can’t sleep at night and he thinks dark thoughts like:

Not worth it. Not worth him.

After all, he lives in a camp full of heroes and if he isn’t one of them, what does that make him?

Nico picks up on his silence, a few days after a particularly bad spell has been leaving him in all these different kinds of blue. They’re at the campfire, and people are singing some dumb songs, taking the piss out of quests and destiny and the joke life of each and every demigod. About dead beat parents.

Merriment and red cheeks, but there’s something really heavy holding down Will’s heart.

“Are you okay?” he whispers. His hand reaches out and takes Will’s, threading their fingers together. Nico’s hands are always cold but it feels kind of good against the heat of the flames.

“Yeah,” Will tells him.

Flashes a bright light smile, but of course, Nico doesn’t buy it.

“I’ve been worried about you. These past few days, something has been off. I can tell.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Nico sighs.

“Whatever, Will. If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to. But you don’t always need to be the Camp Medic, you know? Or the big brother, or the head of the Apollo cabin. It’s okay if you’re not sometimes. That’s – it’s fine.”

Nico’s cheeks are a little aglow, and Will is touched. He knows that Nico doesn’t find these kind of things easy. That words plucked from the bottom of the heart are as easily accessible as flowers blooming in Tartarus.

But he’s trying and Will’s tired because he’s just not really sure if he’s worth those words, or that smile, or the hands soft and warm and holding his own.

His little siblings love him because he can patch up wounds in a flash and he’ll make them laugh, poke their noses and muss up their hair. His older siblings laugh with him, and he teases them about other campers who their cheeks go red around, and makes sure they get enough sleep.

But they’d love Michael more, if he was here. If they could hear the jokes that Lee used to make.

And this is a primary difference between the heroes of Camp Half-Blood and Will: they don’t always save the people that they love. In fact, very often, they lose them. But they at least get a chance.

Will’s brothers died and he never even knew they needed him.

Will has had bad days before.

When he’s not wanted to get out of bed but he does anyway because he has to. And he snaps and snipes until Kayla demands he take a break from working the infirmary.

He’s curled up with Nico and fallen asleep on thick duvet covers. Especially warm because Nico is almost perpetually cold except to Will, who often thinks he feels like he’s the warmest person in the world.

But he doesn’t often have bad days like this. And it’s obvious, because neither of them know how to deal. Nico wants to help, yet doesn’t know how – doesn’t know whether to reach out and touch or keep his distance, and Will can’t tell him either way because his head is swimming and he doesn’t know what he wants.

He just wants this sadness to stop – the third bad day this week. Or, bad night, because it’s in the midst of the night when his voice cracks and the words spill out, the things inside of his head trailing like weird slime and leaving stains. And Will hates this, the kind of vulnerability that shows.

He's usually so okay – made of stone and built not to break. Each and every demigod has this sometimes, when something inside snaps and subsequently, everything crumbles. Will is particularly good at ignoring these waves. At least, usually, not now.

Mouth down-turned into a small frown, and Nico scratches at his head.

“But I don’t understand,” he’s saying. “You shouldn’t – you shouldn’t feel that way. You’re not – you’re worth more than that, Will.”

Will makes a small sound.

“You’re worth everything, and you don’t need to go on – on stupid, dangerous quests to do that. Not going on a quest doesn’t mean you’re not a hero.”

“Pretty sure it does, di Angelo,” Will says, with a little bit of humour in his voice, but it sounds kind of empty. Like fish in the underworld.

Nico shakes his head. “Look, no, listen to me. It sounds – gods, it sounds so lame – but like. If anyone is gonna be a hero here, it’s you. You patch up the Stolls like, every day. And put up with the Hermes cabin and work overtime after Capture the Flag. I don’t even want to know how many times you’ve healed Leo and Jason and Percy after duelling. Especially Leo – him and his stupid fire tricks – but like. See what I mean. Or where I’m going, at least?”

“Yeah,” Will does. He gives Nico a slight smile. “It’s sweet.”

“No, it’s not. It’s true.”

“I don’t know…”

“Well I do,” Nico huffs a little impatiently this time. “You don’t know your own worth. Well, I do, and so does Kayla, and so does Austin. And it’s a lot, so this sadness you’re subjecting yourself to – it’s bullshit. I get it. Really, I do, but…”

“Nico,” Will says gently. “I appreciate what you’re saying. But I don’t think you can make this go away.”

Nico looks at him.

Nods, slowly.

“Okay,” he says. “I guess I can’t. But I can stick out with you, right?”

“What do you mean?” Will asks, and despite himself he’s got a little smile forming on his lips at the determined look in Nico’s eyes. Light, fiery – like very much living things.

“I’m just gonna stay here – as long as you’re cool with that – until this shit gets out of your head. And if you want me to say stuff and like, tell you over and over that you’re the coolest person I’ve ever met, I will. So… yeah.”

“We’re in your cabin,” Will reminds him.

Nico blushes. “And you’re lucky I like you. No one else is allowed to spend so much time in here.”

Will lets out a little laugh, a bit wet, like there are tears caught in the back of his throat.

“I’m lucky you like me,” Will says. “I’m lucky I have you.”

He lets himself fall against Nico, lets his head fall against his lap as Nico’s hands reach out, his fingers running through the crown of blonde curls. And it feels good, nice, soft. Safe. Nico bends down a little, presses a cautious kiss on his temple.

This is unfamiliar territory. But they’re learning.

And the black stuff around Will’s heart is starting to thin out like ice on a warm morning, on a sunny day, though it might take a while longer to thaw entirely.

They fall asleep near like that, half snoozing and falling onto each other, wrapped up in one another and exchanging sleepy kisses, and Nico whispers, when he’s not so sure Will is still listening, is still even awake, “you’re really, really, really worth it.”

In the morning they wake before the sun has fully risen, dregs of pale light streaming into the cabin.

Nico’s already holding Will’s hand.

“You were as cheesy as me last night,” Will tells Nico, and there’s a little smile on his face when his cheeks pinken.

“Yeah, well,” Nico mutters. “You bring out the worst in me.”

“I kinda like it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. And Nico?”

Nico looks at him, raises his eyebrows expectantly. “Mm?”

“Thank you.”

Will still doesn’t know what his problem is, or why he gets so sad sometimes, or why the shadows seem to whisper around him that he’s not good enough, and he’ll never be a hero, and he’s not worth it.

But the good thing about having a boyfriend with weird, cool, underworldy powers?

He’s very good at chasing those shadows away.

note: lame and random, but i’m really unsure about this one, just bc i wrote it whilst a bit of a Mess and the structure is a little weird. im not sure whether i like it enough to put it into my canonverse series on ao3 so please let me know if you think i should or shouldnt do that.

#solangelo #solangelo fic #solangelo fanfic #solangelo fanfiction #fic #dont write when ur sad kids #weird shit happens

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chatcolat · 7 years

Text

Ossuary chatcolat

One shot about Nico and Will going on a not-date trip to an ossuary and coming back boyfriends or something. Solangelo

Nico wasn’t sure why he was spending so much more time around Camp Half Blood. Though he had been in charge of performing proper funeral rights for all those who died fighting the Earth Mother, Greek or Roman, he ended up back with the Greeks.

At first he spent most of his time with Jason, and then Piper by extension. With a lot of support and encouragement from Jason, he finally told Piper that he was gay. It was not easy, but it no longer made him shake and feel like vomiting. Being a daughter of Aphrodite, the news made Piper ridiculously excited.

“We should find you a boyfriend,” she insisted.

“No, really, let’s not,” he insisted, trying not to glance at the Apollo cabin. Piper was mourning Leo still - they all were - and focusing on Nico seemed to make her a lot happier.

“Play along and I promise to keep her from causing any actual harm,” Jason pleaded under his breath. Nico nodded. He would never say it out loud, but he liked the attention.

“You can’t tell anyone else, though, okay?” He explained.

“Duh,” Piper replied. “Also, I am SO glad you got over Percy. You can do better.”

She scouted around the camp grounds, watching kids play volleyball, canoe across the lake, or pick strawberries in the fields. Her eyes landed on Drew Tanaka, whispering with a few of her friends. She frowned thoughtfully. “Also, if anyone gives you trouble, or tries to push you into anything, you let me know and I’ll bring the full wrath of Aphrodite down on them.”

Nico turned beet red while Jason laughed and said something along the lines of I told you telling Piper would be a good idea.

There were a lot of things Nico liked about camp. He liked his cabin, even if he was the only one in it. He had been decorating, making it more like a home - it wasn’t perfect, but it was better. He liked the lake and the strawberry fields. Sitting out in the late summer sun stirred far off memories of his childhood in Italy. Those memories used to be painful, a too-bright spot in a world of dark, but with things looking a lot less gloomy lately, lying in the grass on a summer day no longer made his heart ache. He was starting to prefer spending time in the sun to time in the dark of the Hades cabin. Sure, he still liked the shadows – they would always be a part of him, his birthright – but he realized that didn’t mean he couldn’t live in the light too.

When he went to visit Hazel for a weekend in New Rome, she commented, “Nico, you look so healthy! I swear you used to look covered in talcum.” He hadn’t noticed, but his skin had darkened to the deep olive shade it had been in his childhood. He felt better, stronger. His head no longer ached with poisonous thoughts. His chest no longer hurt all the time as it tried to carry the weight of his hopelessness.

“Piper and Jason are going to go look for Leo again, but they’re settling here for school,” Nico told her. It made him a little sad. He would miss having them around all the time. The thought of being known used to terrify him, but now? Now it was comforting. He would miss that comfort.

“Percy and Annabeth’ll be back in New York though!” You won’t be alone. Hazel knew him too, just a different side of him. The dark, lonely thoughts of children of Hades, lost in time, swirled through her head too.

“Plus you can always come visit us!” Frank insisted. Nico smiled. Frank meant it, and that meant the world to him.

“Of course. Jason wanted help with the postmortem aspects of his Pontifex Maximus job,” said Nico. “But I’ve been making friends at Camp Half Blood, too. The kids of Apollo won’t leave me alone.” He said it like he was annoyed, but he didn’t mind. Especially when it was really just one particular son of Apollo that seemed to take pleasure in constantly inserting himself into Nico’s life. He should tell them, but he wasn’t sure he was ready. Hazel was, after all, still adapting to a lot of modern conventions. Having a homosexual brother was perhaps a little too much just yet.

Will Solace had proved the words he spoke during the battle with Gaea true. Nico was wanted at Camp. People invited him to play volleyball, pick strawberries, and even play capture the flag (as long as he kept his “Underworld magic” out of it). He had been dragged into learning how to row a canoe. More than a few campers got a kick out of seeing the son of Hades struggle at something.

“It’s comforting for them to see you aren’t perfect,” Will explained after fishing Nico out of the lake.

“Of course I’m not perfect,” his face was bright red. He hoped Will thought it was from nearly drowning and not because their hands were touching.

Will laughed. “Yeah, you’re just the strongest demigod of the century or something. No big deal.”

Nico scowled and a few kids around the docks backed up. Will shoved him back in the lake.

“I thought you were my doctor!” He spluttered as he came back up, desperately trying to grab the edge of the dock. He could swim, but just barely. It was more of a dog paddle.

“Yes. Exactly. You need to stop glaring at everyone and lighten up or your face will get stuck like that.” He made a very exaggerated imitation of Nico frowning. “Doctor’s orders.”

Nico grabbed Will’s unguarded ankle and pulled him in as well. When Will resurfaced, the two of them put on quite a show of trying to beat each other to the ladder. A small crowd gathered around and to watch, laughing at their theatrics. Nico could very safely say he had never enjoyed an afternoon more.

He told Reyna first during one of their Iris messages. After she moved back to New Rome, they had made a regular talking schedule. Nico felt like he now had two sisters in the Roman camp.

“I hope he’s better than a legacy of Apollo,” she muttered. But when Nico reminded her of the boy that had bickered with him through the entire battle with Gaea, she smiled. It wasn’t like Reyna was giving him her blessing, but just being able to talk about it made him feel more confident, less anxious. His heart palpitations no longer scared him after that.

The night before Piper and Jason left for their cross-country search for Leo, he told them about how his heart sped up and little butterflies fluttered to life in his stomach every time Will smiled.

Piper, who had been anxious the past few days as they prepared for their trip, lit up like it was Christmas. “Perfect choice. Excellent choice.”

“Don’t push him,” Jason chided. Piper shook her head.

“I’m not, am I Nico?” Nico didn’t want to turn this into a thing, he just wanted some advice. He didn’t want this to end the way his slow, painful burn for Percy had been.

“Just tell him,” Piper told him. “Be straightforward and upfront. I wasted so much time trying to get Jason to pay attention – or, well, that’s what Hera made me think – but really, it is a waste of time and energy.”

“And if he’s not into guys and I make a fool of myself?”

The two exchanged a look.

“Nico,” Jason began. “The whole camp knows Will is gay. He even got some people together last year to go to Pride in the City.”

This was news to Nico. Most things about Camp life were, but this was especially new. It made his old anxiety bubble up again. What did people think, then, about how close the two of them had grown? They were just friends after all. But did people think it was more than that?

“Just go for it!” Piper encouraged. “And then Iris message us EVERYTHING. If you need any curses from Aphrodite, I’ll rush back here in a heartbeat. I also think Clarisse will smite anyone who gives you trouble. She can be a brute, but her hearts in the right place.”

“Do what makes you happiest,” Jason smiled at him. Nico smiled back. It didn’t hurt anymore.

A few days after Jason and Piper left, Nico was laying on one of the hills that overlooked a strawberry patch. It was a pleasantly warm day and he had drifted off. It wasn’t a true sleep – he could still hear camp life going around him– but peaceful enough anyways. There was a cool breeze coming off the water, rustling the soft grass. The smell of ripe strawberries hung in the air. A shadow passed over his face and the grass beside him rustled. He cracked an eye open and caught a glimpse of Will settling into the grass next to him with the small backpack he carted around sometimes. It was mostly medical textbooks with disturbing images and gruesome descriptions of various ailments.

He was flipping through a notebook, no doubt filled with notes in his meticulous handwriting. How a dyslexic wannabe doctor had that nice of handwriting, Nico would never know.

Jason’s words floated back over him. Everyone knows Will is gay. Did that mean Will already liked him? Is that why he went out of his way to hang out with him? Were they still friends or had they become something more? Friends. How did you tell when that line was crossed? Could it be crossed without them even speaking a word of it? Nico snuck another peak at Will, opening his eyes just enough to see the boy, but not enough that would give him away.

“I know you’re awake,” Will said after awhile. Nico quickly closed his eyes.

“I was sleeping,” Nico corrected. “You woke me up.”

Will shrugged but smiled when Nico finally opened his eyes and turned to face him. “You’ve been ‘sleeping’ up here all morning. You missed lunch, which is bad for your health. Time to wake up. I’m still your doctor.”

Nico laughed, and regretted it. Even when he didn’t mean to, his laughs still came out bitter. But Will either didn’t notice or was used to it by now.

“What’re you doing?” Nico asked casually, trying to get a better look at the notebook. It was filled with drawn images of different types of bone breaks, each bone carefully labeled, with detailed instructions on how to set them. Will was good at drawing. He took his studies a lot more seriously than Percy.

School and studying were curious to Nico. He had barely attended a class since the 1930s, so things like college were not open to him. Percy and Annabeth would start school in New Rome next year and here Will was studying for a specialized medical program in New Rome designed for demigods who had a little more medical training than the average mortal college student. Will’s books fascinated him. He had even convinced Percy and Annabeth to let him look over some of the summer homework they brought when they visited on weekends. Annabeth explained a lot of it to him, but be struggled over the words – more from lack of formal education than the typical demigod dyslexia. Part of him wished he could go off to college with everyone else.

“Going over some notes from a few textbooks a son of Apollo in New Rome sent up. Just wanna get ahead, you know?” Will shrugged. Nico didn’t know, but he kept it off his face.

“Is that a thing people do, or just you?”

Will looked at him and grinned. When he smiled there was no denying that he was a son of the sun god. When he smiled, Nico wasn’t sure how long he could go on trying to sort through the endless stream of questions in his head. Friends or friends?

“It’s recommended, but I’ve already skimmed all the books for first year bio students, so…“

“Both?” Nico finished from him with a laugh. He sat up and looked over the book. Cliché as it was, Nico was already something of an expert of skeletons, even if some of the more scientific names escaped him. For example, he knew about the three small bones in the ear, but he didn’t know they were called the ossicles collectively (Will had a small note next to them: how they hell do you break these?). Will’s handwriting was really nice. He smelled nice too. No, stop that.

“So, I was thinking,” Will smiled in a way more befitting a child of Hermes than Apollo. “There’s only a few days until camp closes for the summer, but a few weeks before school starts again – at least for me.”

Nico nodded. He had been trying to decide what to do with himself during the Camp offseason. He didn’t want to go back to traveling alone again, but he wasn’t sure what other options he had. Staying around Camp Half Blood while everyone else was gone seemed pointless.

“And I was thinking, you know, we could take a trip.”

“What?” Nico was caught off guard, the sentences churning like the Labyrinth down a path he hadn’t expected.

“Right,” Will looked a little embarrassed. “See, I was reading some stuff online, like weird places to go and what not, and I found this awesome church-“

“Full of bones?” Nico knew where this was going. “Because I’m the son of Hades?”

Will had moved from embarrassed to flustered. “Well, yes, but it’s actually really cool. There was this blind monk - no wait, back up – there’s this special kind of church with like some holy dirt, so a lot of people wanted to be buried there, but after awhile there was no space and they were trying to expand. So then they start exhuming bodies and this blind monk starts making cool-,” he cleared his throat, “making art with them, so more people could buy plots to bury their dead, but the bones never leave consecrated ground.” He paused to take a breath then muttered, “I thought it was really cool. And I feel like you are the only one who isn’t going to judge me for that.”

“Oh, I’m judging you, Son of Apollo.” Nico laughed. Will was good at making him laugh. Maybe if he did it enough it would stop sounding so disturbed.

“But, it’s cool right?”

Nico looked around. Generally, he tried to avoid talking about bones and things around other people. It added to the Son of the God of the Dead creep factor. But if a son of Apollo admits it first? And they were friends, right?

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool. Where is it?”

The anxiety in Will’s face melted into another one of those award-winning smiles. Nico felt a little dizzy.

“Just outside of Prague!” Will grinned. Nico opened his mouth to comment but Will beat him to it. “No, wait. See, I know it’s far. But we could fly there in less than a day! I don’t have a passport, and I bet yours expired like what, 70 years ago? But we can borrow the Apollo cabin chariot.”

“That sounds like an abuse of power,” Nico teased.

“Probably. But I haven’t left New York in years. Plus, there’s a bone chandelier.”

“A bone chandelier?” Nico really wanted to go, but there were so many things that could go wrong. Monsters could attack. Mortal police could discover their lack of papers. Nico might do something stupid and kiss him.

“Yes, wait a minute,” Will was on a roll and cut him off before he could voice the first two. “Let me finish dispelling all that negativity flowing out of you. You spent all summer in Europe, I know. But it was running from monsters and being captured and so on. Plus, with the giants and Gaia gone, most monsters tend to avoid you anyways right? So being a tourist is probably better. Plus, did I mention no soul-sucking shadow travel?”

Nico couldn’t argue. He wanted to go and the practical side of his brain seemed to be on holiday. Part of him even wished they could go back to Venice, but that was pushing it. “How are we funding this?”

“I found some very sweet deals for lodgings as long as we can forge some decent passports, and Connor owes me, so that is also easily taken care of. Do you have a bit of mortal money?”

“Funny enough, I have an account that’s been collecting interest since the 1940s.”

Nico was not really sure how Will had managed to book this trip so fast – the internet sure is amazing – or how they had managed to cross the north Atlantic with only two monster attacks, but three days after their conversation on the hill, Nico found himself wandering through the streets of Prague. Half the roads were cobbled and the buildings all looked like the world had when he was a kid. But it was still undeniably a 21st century city. As he sat at a Starbucks across from a tram stop he thought I should bring Hazel here. This place was timeless, which made it a perfect place for time displaced demigods.

“So,” Will started as he came back out to the table with their drink orders. Nico looked at his espresso suspiciously but said nothing as Will settled into his seat, looking content with whatever was mixed under all the whipped cream on top. “Prague is pretty cool.”

“We have Starbucks in America,” Nico pointed out. He tried not to make a face as he took a sip. It was not espresso. His displeasure did not escape Will’s notice.

“Okay, you are still obviously missing a few points of modernity. No one goes to Starbucks for their quality coffee.”

“They get those?” He pointed to the thing Will was happily drinking.

“Frappuccino,” Will provided.

Nico frowned. “Is that supposed to be Italian?”

Will shrugged and offered the drink to him. “It’s caramel.”

Nico looked at it with skepticism, but accepted it anyways. It was a lot better than his ‘espresso’. He handed it back longingly. “Yeah, okay, it’s good.”

“The trick is to not think of it as coffee,” Will said with a wink and took another big sip.

Nico realized awhile ago Will made it hard for him to think straight, so he was not too surprised when he saw his hand reach out to pull the drink back for another sip.

“I can get you one,” Will laughed.

Nico shook his head as he handed it back. “Aren’t you still playing doctor? This much sugar’ll probably kill me.”

Will shrugged and pulled the lid off to eat some of the whipped cream. “So tomorrow we take the train out to Sedlec,” he stumbled over the Czech name, but it didn’t seem to bother him. “Should take and hour or so.”

“All this regular travel takes forever,” Nico muttered. Sure, it was easier to cross continents in a plane or a chariot, but the idea of taking a train for an hour when he could have just shadow traveled in a few minutes a few months ago? It hurt. He how long until he could start using his Ghost King powers again?

“Ha. No. Don’t even start. If you disappear into the shadows, this trip will suck. I can’t make excuses for this trip without you.”

“Aha, the real reason you wanted me to come along. I’m being used so you look less creepy for suggesting going on vacation to an ossuary.” Nico was joking, or at least, he said it like he was joking. Part of him worried it was true. The part of him that had no friends until a month was still convinced this was all a dream or some crazy trick concocted by some other campers. But no. They were friends, right? Friends? Maybe?

“Yes, that exactly. I didn’t invite you for your company or anything,” Will said. Nico could appreciate the snarky tone. Will handed the drink back to Nico. “By the way, on a scale of one to umbra, how shadowy are you feeling today?”

“You aren’t actually my doctor,” Nico replied.

“No, but I am your friend. I’m allowed to worry.”

Nico wished making his heart stop fluttering was as easy as shadow travel. “I’m fine. Probably a two or three – a solid ray of sunshine.” They both glanced down at his black jeans and skull tee-shirt and laughed.

After a moment of silently passing the Frappuccino back and forth, Will said, “I would be sad if you disappeared, though. Not just because it’d be hard to explain back home, but because I would miss you.” Will’s nervous eyes wouldn’t meet his, which only made Nico’s heart beat faster. If he was nervous too, did that mean he was trying to figure it out too? Were they friends or friends?

There was a tension in the air that wasn’t there before, like they both realized that sneaking away for a trip to Prague together was maybe not something normal friends did. Was this, sitting and drinking coffee together, a date?

No, no, no. Nico scolded himself. Thinking like this made his heart beat faster and the tumbling of wings in his stomach almost unbearable.

He reached for the Frappuccino and stood up. “Wanna explore the city?”

Will grinned. “There’s this giant radio tower with giant babies climbing up it.”

Sedlec Ossuary was tucked out of the way in the little town. They ended up going to another church first before getting directions to the church of bones.

“This is it?” Will asked. They stood in front of a much smaller church than the last one.

“I feel death,” Nico said by way of affirmation.

Will scoffed. “You said that about the last one.” It wasn’t his fault. Churches were haunted places. Funerary rites and graveyards left lots of spirits and bones hanging around. This could be applied to small European towns in general. So many dead over the centuries from war, plague, and hatred. It got overwhelming.

“Yeah, but this one has a skull on the gate.”

Will looked up and nodded. “Right. Here we come, bone chandelier!” He said it with a little too much enthusiasm but the other people milling about were either also tourists who understood the macabre interest or locals who were probably used to it. No one even glanced twice at Nico.

They walked through a tiny and crowded but loved graveyard and into the church. There was a small admittance fee they paid to a very bored looking youth, and then steps down into the crypt. Will hesitated at the top, his eyes fixed on the bones fixed to the walls. Some dangled down over the stairs. Others imitated the architecture, following arches around the ceiling. On a low wall over the stairs was what looked like a crucifix made of bones with femurs making sun rays around the skeletal representation of Christ. Nico thought it was kind of awesome.

“You can’t chicken out now.”

“Why are we here again?” He asked. For a second, Nico genuinely believed him. The doubts that any of this was real or possible swam around in his brain. Then his eyes met Will’s blue ones and Nico realized he wasn’t asking why he was here with him, he was remembering his demigod mortality. Going into basements decorated with bones was definitely a no-no for children of the gods who didn’t want to die. “Nothing is like, gonna kill us down there right?”

Nico relaxed and tried to smile in a way that was comforting, but he wasn’t sure that was possible for a child of Hades in a church of bones. “No angry ghosts. The magic dirt must have been really good. Plus you’re with a son of Hades. This is my element – literally.”

Will nodded, then slipped his hand in Nico’s and started down the stairs. Nico, surprised, came stumbling after, his face growing warmer with each step. There were lots of tourists around them. Plenty of people to notice. What would they think? Would they turn away in disgust?

None of them paid the two teens any attention. Will’s hand was warm and a little sweaty from the summer heat. Nico never wanted to let it go.

“Oh my gods,” Will muttered as their eyes adjusted to the low light at the bottom of the stairs. There were giant mounds of bones all around them, piles taller than the two of them put together. An actual crucifix hung on a dark wall surrounded by skulls. Two smaller crucifixes like the bone one above stared at the body of Christ. Will was transfixed by the year and name on the wall next to them, made entirely out of curving human ivory.

“I like the style. Think I could get that in my cabin?” Nico joked. Will turned to him, a mischievous smile on his face, ready to make a comeback but he froze, his eyes fixed on something over Nico’s shoulder.

“I think you need that,” he gestured with a nod of his head, squeezing Nico’s hand a little tighter. Nico turned. How he had managed to miss it, he would never know, but there in the middle of the room was a giant chandelier made of bone.

“Yes,” he breathed. It was terrifying, but oddly beautiful. Nico didn’t know the names for all these bones, but he recognized jaws, and hips, and legs. Spines made up swooping candle holders topped with skulls. Four pillars of skulls surrounded it on for sides.

“I’m thinking this blind monk was a son of Hades,” Will muttered, leaning gently against him as they admired the sheer number of bones collected in one place.

“Yeah, I gotta say, even Hades palace isn’t quite this intense,” Nico joked. “Maybe Dad should find this guy and have him redecorate.”

Will grinned, squeezing Nico’s hand again as he pulled him along to look at more of the room. They spent a good hour down there, quizzing each other on the names and locations of the bones. They did end up drawing attention, but for their excellent knowledge of skeletal structure, not the fact that they were still holding hands. They got stopped by a few tourists who wanted to ask them questions and at one point even had a small crowd going.

“You two are so smart!” a middle-aged lady complimented them after Nico explained that the large flat bones around the skulls of the chandelier were from the pelvis. “Your parents must be so proud!”

They both glanced at each other, thoughtfully. Would Hades or Apollo care? What about their mothers?

The laughed about it later over ice cream from a shop next to the ossuary.

“I think Apollo’d be creeped out by this place,” Will laughed. “No way he’d go into the crypt.”

“Hades would probably be unimpressed. It’s so… peaceful. I’ve never been to a peaceful cemetery before.” Nico was staring at the impressions of skulls made with mosaic tiles on the wall. Then Will’s hand brushed his on the table and his eyes blinked in time with his suddenly racing heart. Will hesitated, less confident when they weren’t plunging gung-ho into a monk’s morbid art project.

Piper’s words echoed in Nico’s ears. Be straightforward. Without looking away from the mosaics, Nico reached for Will’s hand, lacing their fingers together. He waited until Will’s fingers settled gently over his knuckles before turning to face him.

Will’s eyes were brighter than the sky, silently asking all the same questions that were floating around in Nico’s head.

“I wasn’t sure,” Will said.

“Yeah,” Nico was too nervous to say anything witty.

“You can be really hard to read sometimes.”

“I get that a lot,” Nico tried.

Will smiled a little. It wasn’t his usual, son of the sun god smile, but a smaller, more self conscious one. It felt private and special.

“I like you,” he said. Nico’s heart collided with his ribcage.

“I like you, too.” Will’s smile widened. He looked like a dork. Nico realized he was smiling too and probably looked equally ridiculous. He didn’t care.

“You can’t actually put a bone chandelier in your cabin,” Will told him. “I think using the bones of dead campers would really put a damper on the space.”

Nico laughed and for once it didn’t sound like he was in pain.

They were sitting in a monastery park in a residential district that evening, eating takeaway from a Czech restaurant across the street. Will had held his hand the rest of the day. There were a couple old folks who looked at them a bit funny but no one said anything. They were leaving tomorrow, but Nico almost wished they weren’t. Something about this whole trip felt magical in a very normal and not god related way. He liked that.

“Just so you know, I’m pretty sure Apollo cabin placed bets,” Will said, taking a swig of his drink.

“What?” Coke came out of Nico’s nose.

“My siblings, they’re placing bets about whether or not we’re getting together.”

“Yeah,” Nico choked, trying to mop up the mess he made with napkins. “I got that, thanks, but why exactly? Isn’t this, I don’t know, private?”

Will shrugged. “What is privacy at Camp Half Blood? Didn’t Percy used to take Annabeth to the bottom of the lake to get private time when they first started dating?”

Nico didn’t know how he could be relaxed about the whole thing. “Last I checked, neither of us can breathe under water!”

“Uh, that’s what Hades’ cabin is for. No one would go near there without your permission. That’s why you can’t get the chandelier,” Will joked. Then, more seriously he asked, “Does it embarrass you that much?”

“Yes! Of course it’s embarrassing! I get embarrassed for Piper and Jason all the time!” There was a lot more to it than that, but Nico wanted to be brave for Will. For himself.

Will smiled a little. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“I was finally falling out of all the gossip,” Nico whined. Flopped dramatically into the grass next to Will. Will still looked a little hurt so he added, “I guess it can’t be helped.”

“It can’t?” Will looked hopeful.

Nico shook his head.

“I’m tired of the shadows.”

Notes: Sedlec Ossuary is cool. Less than a week after writing the note in Will’s book about breaking ossicles, I ran into a colleague in the city WHO BROKE ONE. It was a very funny situation.

#solangelo #nico di angelo #will solace #hoo #pjo #fic #fanfic #oneshot

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