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#and nico's perspective of the same is just

topnotchquark · 2 months

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Nico saying that Lewis gives his daughters boxes of presents every Christmas just got caught in my mind.

Imagine you were a mixed race boy born in Hertfordshire, different from everyone else around you. Bullied in school, being raised by your father to compete in a sport where money is very much of essence and you and your family do not have a lot of it. And then you meet this other boy who comes from the kind of life you dream to live one day. You're friends and fierce competitors. You find solace in each other. You visit Monaco for the first time with your friend, dreaming up the life you will have when you make it, when you beat out of the mould that the world thought it could capture you in.

And then you two grow through the ranks and you're at the pinnacle of your sport and you have what it takes to win and the world recognises that you can win. And you win. You win with your friend and fiercest competitor by your side fighting with you for those wins, and this fighting ruins something something that was valuable to both of you when you were still innocent and unsullied by life.

But despite everything that went into the doing and undoing of this relationship, you still realise that this person you once called a friend has a life and family beyond your bitter dynamic. He has children, and children need love and affection and good memories. And you're a better man now so you understand that. So you make sure the kids get gifts on Christmas. And you make sure of it every year. Afterall, if you met someone you loved deeply when you were both kids, wouldn't you feel a pang of nostalgia when they had kids. Wouldn't you try to extend the warmth that you couldn't find for your friend to his children. Afterall, whatever happens during childhood basically remains with you forever.

#and nico's perspective of the same is just #being bullied as a child and being profoundly lonely till you find this friend who is in many ways the yardstick for performance #and even when you go through all this rancidity and the love has almost evaporated down to bare bones politeness #you know there is something that remains deep down #and so he gets your kids Christmas gifts each year #both their childhoods were sites of pain and both of them found something with each other #and lewis honours that by being a positive presence in nico's childrens' lives #albeit from a distance #and of course we're no strangers to how much Nico loves his kids #you can bet if Lewis had kids Nico would do that same #sorry this caught in my heart a little #I knew he had been giving presents for a while and I always thought of that as very beautiful but seeing it on the tl made me remember #man #love haunts you in such peculiar ways forever #brocedes #lewis hamiton #nico rosberg #f1 #formula 1

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modawg · 1 month

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it’s so sad to me that nico like never learned how much percy tried to help him yk

like percy literally rounded up his closest friends after being the only one to find out nico was the son of hades and decided to at least try to give nico a chance to live his life when the kid literally just tried to kill him, his sister just died, and through everything percy knows hates his guts - like he took all that info and decided to make a suicide pack with his closest friends in order to protect nico when giving nico the prophecy would’ve been the most logical and honestly understandable thing to do

like genuinely do ppl realise how EASY it would’ve been to just give the prophecy to nico his ONLY living relative (other than hades) just DIED they could’ve been like “listen you take this prophecy give it 6 years you’ll be dead with your sister and literally everyone else you know and you’ll be a hero for it” instead even though percy has an entire life, people who love and care for him, and a future wife infront of him he takes it upon himself to DIE in 3-4 years how fucking BONKERS is that

he also almost abandons a WHOLE OTHER QUEST putting himself and annabeth in danger just bc dumbass nico is out doing god knows what in the labyrinth and ends up getting caught (he was doing smth i’m being dramatic but still)

could you imagine being percy your going to war (and from your perspective you’re going to die in the next week or so after methodically doing everything in your power to keep this other random kid who you think hates you from suffering that fate) that kid comes up to you with a plan so you trust him just do be stabbed in the back bc that kids father wants him to be the prophecy child even tho you’ve been mentally preparing yourself to die for the past like 3 years?? id jump that kid too if he randomly came into my deep dark prison cell trying to break me out and then shun him after all that

like i read the way nico talks abt percy and he just seems bitter all the time he’s like “psh percy and his fake friendship what a dweeb can’t believe i had a crush on THAT guy🙄” like you’d be dead if it wasn’t for his friendship gay boy

i want like 5 years into the future annabeth is sitting with nico one day and is like “lol yeah i remember that one time percy made us all pinky promise to keep you safe and we all thought he was dumb bc you hated him sm but he really just wanted you to have a good life and now look at you!! :)” and nico to slow turn to her “…what”

like to this day i get that nico was mad at percy for not protecting bianca and bc of his internalized homophobia or whatever but why not hate on the actual people who sent her on that quest rather than a random kid you just met who said he’d try WHICH HE ACTUALLY DID DO and not idk literally any adult figure who sent her into the fire to begin with

i just want nico to realise that percy is simply just a boy who literally wanted nothing to do with any of this and was trying his best to free nico of that same burden sigh (;_;)

like those two are the fattest example of a miscommunication held together by misunderstood betrayal

disclaimer this is obv dramatic and the prophecy definitely doesn’t work like that but like think abt it ok

#hoo #pjo #heros of olympus #percy jackon and the olympians #percy jackson #hoo fandom #pjo fandom #hoo text post #pjo text post #nico di angelo

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doromoni · 21 days

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Clash of Champions | LH44 , MV1

Act 1. Part 2 : When all had fallen

Ships : Lewis Hamilton x Engineer! Reader , Max Verstappen x Engineer! Reader

Genre : Drama , Angst , Romance

Warnings : Morally Grey Characters

Summary : The rivalry between the titans of Formula 1 go off track and only one will reign victorious.

< Previous Next >

You remember 2015 as if it was tattooed to your brain. This was the year when cracks had started to appear in the Mercedes motorhome.

From an outsider’s perspective, it was all victories and celebrations — through what appears to be years of dominance ahead. However, destruction and chaos loomed between the walls of the 2 garages. The dispute between the drivers is growing gnarly and what was supposed to be kept on track was seeping into the personal lives of the people involved.

Lewis and Nico were ready to slit each other’s throats when given the permission and command. Moreover, the management did not give a damn about the rapidly growing hostility, for as long as one of them won . No, Mercedes didn’t care. And you saw how it affected not only the drivers , but the entire pit.

A person cannot forget a lifetime’s worth of friendship that easily. You saw it with your own two eyes , how the loss of friendship killed a part of Lewis and all you could do was sit there and pull him close into your embrace.

Paranoia had started to claw its way into Lewis’ mind; wondering if his teammate and Mercedes were teaming up against him.

You could do nothing to help, because you were going through the same exact thing. Not as Lewis’ partner, but as his race engineer. You cannot lie to yourself, and most importantly you cannot lie to Lewis and say that no dirty cards were drawn — because you know for a fact that several team calls were given without your knowledge or permission that had led to losses and misjudgments. You cannot deny foul play … not when Monaco 2015 happened.

“Lewis, you have a 21-second gap on Rosberg. Tires are good, keep that pace” You radioed towards Lewis as you monitored the data on the car.

“Copy, what lap are we? “ Lewis radioed back

“Lap 64, Lap 64 of 78. Keep your head down, A race win is projected, I repeat, a race win is a project— RED FLAG, RED FLAG! ” Just as you were talking, the signal for a red flag had lit and you and your team were informed of a crash.

Quickly gathering the information, you rallied it towards Lewis.

“Slow the car down, Red Flag, Red Flag. A safety car is deployed. Lewis , lay low and keep those tyres warm” You mentally cursed as what appeared to be a 21-second advantage for Lewis was no longer there.

“What happened?” Lewis questioned

“Verstappen and Grosjean touched on turn 1. Verstappen is out. “ You echoed

“Fuck! My pace was good. Are they ok though? Who was at fault?”

“I will get back on that, the stewards are now discussing” you replied.

Your eyes were focused on the data that was on your screen when suddenly at the corner of your eye you saw an engineer discretely say something to Bonno.

A look of apprehension clouded his features. And he sent you a look of remorse as he pressed what seems to be your mic connection to Lewis’ car. Horror ate your entire being as you realized what was about to happen.

Before you could do anything else, Bonno had radioed to Lewis.

“BOX, BOX “

Your world froze entirely, as absolute terror gave you whiplash. Rage consumed you and you stood from your chair not caring for the mess you’re making as you made your way towards Bonno and gripping his polo forcefully towards your height.

“HOW FUCKING DARE YOU!” You screamed at Him, now the other engineers tried to hold you back — but not before you could land a solid punch at him. Fuck HR, they could fire you for all you care.

You once again tried to claw at him, when you heard the confused voice of Lewis in your abandoned earphones.

Elbowing your way out of their grip, you placed the headset back on your head and reconnected to Lewis.

“ Y/N? Why did they tell me to box? Where were you? “ Lewis’ voice held so much confusion and doubt that it broke your heart.

“Lew, I - “

“ Y/N you said my tires were good. Why was told to box? Why am I boxing? “ Lewis countered before you could even answer.

You knew that Lewis had just lost his win. And you felt like it was somehow your fault.

“Lew … I'm sorry”

And just like that, Nico Rosberg had won the Grand Prix. While you lost the trust in every person in your motorhome and you gained contempt back.

After that incident, you had developed severe mistrust and it has led to nightmares and unhealthy amounts of alcohol. And only Lewis could break your cycle.

It was truly you and Lewis against everything. Or that was what you thought. Because , you didn’t know that Lewis has been fed false information about what happened, where everything was pinned on you.

Without your knowledge, Lewis’ trust in you had also formed a crack and doubt had nested itself in his heart.

No matter how coarse and dreadful , life still ensues and you are forced to move on — and continue with your life. Lewis had won another world championship.

It cant be denied that the prestige and glamour that the title brought has broadened opportunities for Lewis . Yet ,no one can argue that this has also broadened the target behind Lewis’ back.

And it had shown during 2016, Nico Rosberg was adamant about winning and he had done everything in his power to achieve his goal.

And painstakingly, Nico had won the title. Then not long after he announced his retirement.

Nico Rosberg has left Mercedes … and what did this mean for Lewis? Admittedly you were relieved by Nico’s exit; this meant the tension in the motorhome had been dissipated. You were no longer worried that the 2 Merc drivers were going to kill each other on track.

This meant, that you and Lewis could finally figure out what was between the two of you. You two could finally grow and develop your relationship. A relationship that wasn’t surrounded by anxiety and work . You could finally re-approach the promise that Lewis swore to you a year before.

He promised that he would rectify the contracts so that we didn’t need to stay in the shadows.

However, time continues to pass, days become weeks weeks become months and months become years.

It was now 2020, Lewis was experiencing what the title of Formula 1 Champion brought. He won another championship. And Lewis was living the life! And you had your moments too. You could proudly say that you are now a well sought after race engineer — with Race teams serving job offers left and right. But you have always declined , even if you so badly wanted to leave Mercedes… because you stayed where Lewis was.

4 years had passed, but you were still at the very beginning. You still waited for Lewis to make do his promise.

But as you gazed at him looking so alive and carefree as girls littered at his side while the music blasted in the bar.

The music was deafening,yet all you could hear was the pounding of your heart, as you felt the vile rush up to your mouth at the sight of your boyfriend holding another woman. And you could do nothing because to the world you were just his race engineer. Even after everything you sacrificed, you still cannot claim and shout to the world that Lewis Hamilton was yours.

Tears had started to drop from your eyes. As you felt the warm liquid run down your face , you felt a soft material in your hand. Looking down it was a handkerchief.

“ Pretty race engineers shouldn’t cry” A cold voice caught your attention, as you looked up to Blue cerulean eyes.

“Hi, We haven’t formally met. I’m Max” A smile graced his features, softening his usually cold appearance

“I don’t think we have. Well then, Hi Max! My name is Y/N. It is so nice to meet you”

Taglist : @vicurious28 @xoscar03 @barnestatic @stelena-klayley @sopheeg @imagandom @4-20-21-12 @doofenshmirtzevil-inc @itslagumi

Anyone interested to be added to the taglist? Drop a comment or DM me!

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seospicybin · 5 months

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TOO HOT TO HANDLE.

PART II

Changbin x reader. (s)

Too Hot To Handle masterlist

Synopsis: You and Changbin become contestants in a reality dating show, Too Hot To Handle. (13,1k words)

Author's note: I planned on posting it yesterday but i got so busy but here it is, hope you enjoy! :)

There are three things Changbin trying to digest at once.

One is that you kissed someone else last night. Two, Lana is not pleased so she doubles the fine as of this moment and that leads to number three, a total of $24,000 has been deducted from the prize fund.

You're following him as he walks to the firepit to have a talk with you, giving you a chance to explain yourself. You take a seat next to him with your legs pulled up and a cushion on your lap.

Changbin can't decide where to start, he's still having a hard time processing everything.

"What happened?"

You're fiddling with the tassel on the cushion, "I was trying to set Rita up with Nico and that just happened," you answer him.

"Do you feel different about me?"

You snort in reaction, probably thinking that he is joking but with the absence of a smiles on his face, you realize that he is being serious.

"No," you immediately deny.

"I know you also like girls," Changbin supports his assumption with a fact.

You stifle a chuckle, "Yeah and I like Rita, but not that way."

Stretching your leg, you put your foot over his leg and tip your head to the side, "You know I only like you," you say with a smile on your face.

Changbin would usually melt at the sight of your smile but not this time. This is not how he wanted to hear you say how you feel about him.

"How do I know for sure when you kissed someone else?"

You subtly roll your eyes to the side then put away the cushion, "The kiss meant nothing. We were just playing," you explained with an exasperated sigh.

This may sound like he's exaggerating things but Changbin doesn't like how you blatantly broke the rules and did it behind him.

"Put yourself in my position," he tells you.

"How would you feel if I kissed someone else and not telling you about it?"

Now that he has put things into perspective, he hopes you understand why he acts this way. It's not only about the kiss, he feels like you have dismissed him as your partner.

"I get what you're saying," you add a nod at the end of the sentence.

Seeing that you're slowly putting a space in between and the glints in your eyes fade with each passing second, he feels like he's the bad man here.

"I'm sorry," you mutter with a sad smile on your face.

The kiss, he can let it slide but the betrayal, he gets a little upset when you could have said something about it last night and he wouldn't have been this upset over a playful kiss.

CHANGBIN: I appreciate that she told me everything and apologized but I feel like I have to play it safe now.

It's been days and you're still on Changbin's naughty step.

You didn't think he would be this mad over a silly kiss, oh well, he didn't think the kiss you did with Rita was silly at all. You don't want to let this go on for too long but also, you don't know how to confront him.

Frankly, if something like this happened, you would have moved on to the next one. Considering that you're locked in and can't go anywhere, you're left with no option but to resolve it like two mature grown-ups.

The problem is you're really bad at confrontation and the way Changbin cautiously acts around you doesn't help.

"Was he mad?" Liam asks as he sits next to you on the side of the pool.

Your foot is playing with the pool water, "Yeah."

"You like him, right?" He asks, tilting his head to the back to let the sun hit his oiled body.

"I do like him," you shortly answer like it isn't obvious enough.

"What you did... I don't think that helps to convince him that," Liam says.

You listen to him only to hear that he says the same thing with Changbin and maybe this is your punishment, constantly reminded that you're the one at fault here.

"Yeah, no shit," you sigh.

Liam chuckles, "You know that, right?"

You lean back with your hands propped behind you, "I know..." you groan.

It's like he hears you're talking about him, Changbin walks out of the bedroom and heads down to the beach.

"Oh, my God! There he is!" You mutter through your gritted teeth at Liam.

"I know," he whispers, clocking him for you.

Not sure if he sees you or not, but your heart is sinking at the sight of him.

Liam starts talking after Changbin is out of sight, "Talk with him, tell him how you feel," he suggests.

It's easier to be said than done and also...

"I'm scared," you honestly share with a nervous laugh.

Liam chuckles again and wipes his sweaty forehead.

"Don't you see how big he is?" You jokingly say.

"Just be honest, be yourself," Liam wisely says and brushes his dark curls to the back.

"Yeah."

Well, you don't want this to continue so it's time to admit that you fucked up and have a talk with him. You don't know how but you'll try.

YOU: I kind of realized that I can't do that to people and like, expect them to stick around.

You're a man on a mission tonight.

Before that, you have to arm yourself well. You borrowed a dress from Sabine and have Rita style your hair, you want to look good, ravishing even.

You're sleeping still with the man but you need a glass of wine to muster up the courage to talk to him.

Changbin is looking fine in a light blue shirt that fits him so well, showcasing his broad shoulders and muscular arms. You get the urge to rip it off of him but you have to hold that thought for now.

Coming up behind him, you link your arm around his and sweetly smile at him, "Can I talk to you?"

He looks over his shoulder at you and slightly nods, "Okay."

Since everyone is out of the house, you pull him to the bedroom to get some privacy, sitting at the end of your shared bed.

You don't talk right away, you give yourself a moment to compose yourself and to also, admire him as he sits close to you.

"I like this on you," you compliment with your hand tugging at the collar of his shirt.

He smiles hearing your words and places his hand on your knee.

"How about me? Do you like what I'm wearing?" You ask, tipping your head to the side and batting your eyelashes at him.

He pinches at the hem of your dress and feels how thin the fabric is, "I like it."

You put your hand on his and lace it together with him, now that you're both relaxed, you can finally talk about it.

"After what happened..." you intently observe his face for any changes of expression to see if it's still a sensitive issue to him.

But you decide to wait until he responds to it.

He turns his head at you, "Yeah?"

You lick your lips before continuing to talk, "Do you feel like you trust me less because of it?"

Changbin inhales air and even with his head facing you, his eyes are nowhere looking at you. He scratches the back of his head and props his hand against the mattress.

"I don't want to say anything. Truthfully, I still don't know what to do about it," he answers.

It seems like he's still processing it and not yet getting to the place where he can just let it go.

You softly shake his hand in yours, "Hey, I'm sorry."

You apologize even though you have said it enough to him but you feel like you need to do it again to prove to him that you want to fix things between you and him.

And if that's not enough, you can prove it in another way.

"You know I wouldn't do it again," you remark with utmost sincerity.

As soon as those words are out of your mouth, he stares at you and perhaps, trying to see how much you mean those words.

"I know," He says, then holds your hand back and gently squeezes at it. He doesn't add anything else to it but sure, it's better than nothing.

"Can I have a hug?" You ask, ignoring the fact of how pathetic you might have sounded.

A smile rises on his face and he opens his arms to welcome you which you waste no time to dive right in. You eagerly throw yourself at him, sending both of you collapsing onto the bed.

Oh, how you missed being in his warm embrace! You never feel this comfortable and safe with anyone but him.

"We barely cuddle lately," you grumble at him with a pout.

"No, I cuddled you," he denies.

"Not enough," you complained and put your arm around his neck.

Changbin turns his head to the side and looks at you, putting away the hair covering your face as you snuggle close to him. Catching him off guard, you sneak a kiss on his cheek.

With his lips only inches away from yours, the temptation to kiss him is getting to you. To tease him and also check if he's up for a kiss, you make smooching sounds at him with your lips puckering at him.

Changbin holds you by the jaw, but instead of kissing you on the lips, he kisses you on the cheek. At that moment, you realize that he's not fully getting over it yet.

YOU: It seems like it's going to take a lot more time and I have to be more patient... [groans]

If there's one thing you should know about Changbin is that he has trust issues and that's why he doesn't want to rush into this.

However, he has to admit that he's been distancing himself from you and not realizing that he tortured himself doing it.

He's still sharing the bed with you but it feels much better when you're cuddling him like this.

The others are also still stretching and gathering their senses on their beds after Lana comes for her morning greeting.

You shift on the bed and lay on your side facing him, "Morning, big man," you croak with your eyes half-shut.

Changbin often wondered how you look this good even when you've just woken up. He tenderly caresses your cheek and his thumb wanders by itself, swiping across your lips.

He may as well touch it, feeling it but keeping it in his mind that he can't do more than that.

All of sudden, you open your mouth and take his thumb into your mouth, tugging it between your teeth.

He knows a way to make you stop and that is by tickling you back. He bites at your neck until you let go of his thumb.

"What are you going to do today?" You ask, slinging your hand around his chest.

"Working out," he answers.

Dragging your hand down his chest, you slip your hand under his t-shirt and pinch at the flesh on his abdomen.

"If you keep working out, you'll get bigger," you mumble.

"And that's a problem to you?"

"If you get too big, I won't be able to hug you anymore," you pout.

He pulls you close and holds the side of your face, "Then I'll be the one hugging you," he simply resolves.

You get quiet but overlap his body with yours, "Play with me today."

This is the side that he rarely encounters in you that makes him feel needed, that he is not just some guy you kiss and have fun with.

In fact, Changbin secretly wishes that you're clingy to him, not the other way around.

He puts his arm around you, resting it on the arch of your back as he asks, "What are we going to play?"

You pursed your lips as you thought of an answer, "Uhm... we can get naked and stare at each other's body," you giggle at the end of your words.

You sure know how to keep him amused but that sounds like a dangerous game to play and it's only 8 in the morning. You seem to know that he would skip on it as you kiss him on the cheek before getting up from the bed.

The weather is nice today too and Changbin is having a productive day, as in he manages to finish his workout routine as planned.

It was a good day, well, until Lana assembled everyone in the cabana.

Changbin makes space on the seat next to him the moment he sees you coming and you plop down the sofa with your feet up.

"What's going on, guys?" Sabine asks everyone.

"You tell us," Liam teasingly says to her.

The cone lights up after everyone gathered around her and Changbin's eyebrow perks up at the sound of the way too familiar melodic chime.

"Here we go..." Shane mutters with a nervous sigh.

Even though he didn't do any rule breaks, Changbin still gets nervous whenever Lana starts talking because there's a big chance that she'll come with a piece of bad news.

"To further aid your personal growth, you must learn to resist your urges," Lana starts with a cryptic message.

Changbin doesn't like the sound of it and it instantly puts him on high alert. He notices that everyone else seems to be holding their breath as well.

"So, I am putting some of you to the test."

He is yet can't tell if that's good or bad, either way, hearing the word test, he knows that it's not going to be easy.

"I have arranged two dates..."

"Ooh... dates," Sabine coos in excitement and sparkling eyes.

"Both with new arrivals."

He hears you snicker next to him and he feels a little uneasy with it. When he looks around though, everyone is looking excited for it. New arrivals mean these people are not yet conditioned with retreat rules so yeah, Changbin can smell troubles.

"The first new arrival is... Jax," Lana announces.

The name attracts interest from everyone but the males specifically. While the girls... he sees that Sabine looks a little worried.

"I have allowed the new arrivals to select who they want to ask out on their dates," Lana further informs.

No, wait, Sabine is right to be worried.

Changbin catches you glancing at him before looking away and he wonders if you're worried too.

"Jax has chosen..."

Everyone may not be losing money today but that doesn't keep the tension from keep on building in the cabana.

"Oliver."

Sabine gasps at the mention of his name and nods, she has no power to stop him since Lana is the one running the retreat.

"You seem so happy, Ollie," Liam teases him.

Oliver remains coy about it, then a grin blooms on his face, "It is what it is... I guess," he says with a nonchalant shrug.

Changbin feels bad for Sabine because Oliver seems like the type who would jump ship when the opportunity presents itself.

However, Lana is not done talking yet.

"And date number two will be with... Gareth."

The announcement is being welcomed well by the girls and he turns his head to see you remaining calm about it.

"Well, well, well..." Sabine sighs, probably hoping that he'll pick her to get back at Oliver.

"He's also been allowed to choose his partner for this afternoon date."

You look at him and smile, "Are you nervous?"

Changbin subtly shrugs in answer but deep down, he's nervous that you'd get chosen.

"Gareth has chosen..."

CHANGBIN: We have been kind of, like, going up and down so I am worried... I'm worried that her head will turn a little bit.

Can't tell if your manifestation works or Lana reads your intention but you're surprised when you hear your name being called. So this new guy, Gareth, has chosen you to go on a date with him?

You scoff and look at Changbin to see his reaction, he's rather a bit aghast.

"I would be worried," you tell him.

Realizing that sounded like he would mistaken it for something else, you correct yourself.

"I mean, I would be worried if I were you."

This is what you need. This is a good opportunity for you to show him that you're into him and you're going to prove him that.

"You may leave now to get ready for your dates," Lana orders you and Oliver to leave the cabana.

You hope you get more than just his silence but Changbin remains calm about this whole thing. You kiss his cheek before getting up from the sofa.

You wait for Oliver to walk over to you so the two of you can leave together.

As Oliver gets to your side, you like your arm with his and say, "We got it, Ollie!"

"Yeah," Oliver half-heartedly says.

You turn to everyone to say bye and just before you turn to leave, Rita teasingly shouts, "Don't cost us more money, Miss Kissy!"

Getting dressed for the date inexplicably excites you and Oliver keeps on laughing hearing you squealing while you're doing your make-up.

"Are you excited?" He asks while he's fixing his hair in front of the mirror.

"Yeah," you answer without looking at him.

Oliver spins on his feet to look at you, "This is weird for me because I've never been with a girl long—"

Lana chimes in, interrupting Oliver's talk, and both of your heads turn in the direction of the cone sitting in the corner of the dressing room.

"What's up, Lana? Did Gareth cancel?" You jokingly ask.

"I hope you're both looking forward to your dates his afternoon," Lana says.

Oliver sits on the chair across from yours to hear what Lana has to say next.

"To further assess how you deal with temptation, I have not told the new arrivals that they are guests at Too Hot To Handle."

You gasp in surprise, "Lana, you naughty!"

"You must decide at what point you tell them," Lana finishes.

You and Oliver exchange a horrified look on your faces, realizing that this is not just a date, this is a test, for real.

"Oh, fuck..." Oliver quietly mutters.

That changes everything. That means that they will not hold back from breaking the rules because they don't know the rules even exist in the first place.

You lean back on your chair and sigh, "I think the best strategy is to tell them right away," you comment.

Oliver looks at you and smirks, "But then they won't try to kiss us," he innocently says.

There's no surprise that Oliver is not afraid to play with fire and as someone familiar with the game, you can relate to that.

"Yeah, that's not fun," you agree while nervously chuckling.

Oliver walks over to the mirror once again to check on his hair again. He brushes his dirty blond hair to the back and lets a few strands fall over his face.

"What I got myself into?" Oliver sighs.

When it's time to leave, Oliver gives you a quick hug before parting ways to go to your respective dates.

"Good luck out there," he says to you.

"Be good!" You reply with a way to him but at the same time, as a reminder to yourself.

YOU: I hope this Gareth guy is ugly... [clasps hands together] Please be ugly! [A moment later] I know he won't be ugly [sighs]

Lucky that you're wearing sandals because the walk to get to where date is quite far.

Despite feeling pressured to break the news to the new guest, you're also feeling good. The plan is to enjoy it and have fun, you want to flirt because you feel like making Changbin sweat a little.

There he is, Gareth, sitting on the picnic mat and basking in the pale afternoon sun.

Hearing you coming his way, he turns his head and cracks a smile when your eyes meet. He scrambles to get up and hug you.

"Hi, hello," he says to you with a strong British accent.

He then offers his hand to help you sit on the space next to him on the picnic mat.

It's only been a week in the retreat yet you're already forgetting how to be on a date. He looks at you and you look at him, checking each other out in silence.

Gareth is a whole lot of attractive. He's tall, probably six feet two, and with his shirt left open, you can see the sculpted abs. Other than that, he has beautiful eyes.

Lana is doing an impressive job because she's testing you with such an attractive man. Not sure about Gareth, he's been quiet from the moment you met and you start to wonder if he has second thoughts about choosing you.

After a moment, he hands you a glass and fills it with bubbly wine.

"You're more beautiful in person," he suddenly says.

You scoff and without you realizing it, it turns into a shy smile, "Really?"

He licks his lips after sipping his drink, "Yeah, you're beautiful."

"Thank you, Gareth," you thank him and sip your drink.

You take a moment to look at him, finding something on him you can compliment even though every part of his body is praiseworthy.

The sunlight hits him right on the eyes yet it only makes them beautiful, mesmerizing.

"You have beautiful eyes," you return the compliment with a smile.

"Thank you!"

"Is it uh... Brown?" You wildly guess.

"Why don't you see for yourself?" He dares you with a sly grin painted on his face.

Without hesitating, you lean in close to see him up close until you can see yourself in his eyes. Gareth stays still so you can study his eye color.

"It's uh..." You find it hard to focus when he's intensely staring back into your eyes, "Green?"

Gareth doesn't say anything but smiles, "Are you even looking at my eyes?"

You back away and burst into laughter in reaction, flustered for getting caught looking at anywhere other than his eyes.

"Should we have a toast?" He suggests with his glass already raised.

You do the same, raising your glass in the air, "To what?"

"To the nicest date ever," he answers with a seductive smile.

With Gareth, you feel like you're getting the attention you wanted to get from Changbin and you start to worry that your head is about to turn.

You clink your glass with him and repeat his words, "The nicest date ever."

YOU: Gareth is tall, he's nice, he's a handsome man. What's not to like about him?

It's a fact that you have never been on a date this nice before with the beautiful sea view and the sun slowly setting, dipping lower and lower into the horizon.

The date is going to end soon and you feel bad the longer you keep the news from him, it's time.

To prepare both of you, you refill your glasses with more wine and initiate one last toast.

"Hey, Gareth," you call him.

He swallows his drink before answering your call, "Yes?"

You bite into a strawberry and continue talking, "Do you consider yourself a player?"

Gareth laughs, probably at how straightforward your question is and he can't decide how he's going to answer it.

"Well, uh..." he parts open his shirt to get some air or to show off his body, either way, you're liking it.

"Not really," he doubtfully answers with a suppressed grin.

You sip your drink before asking him the next question, "Are you a sexual person?"

Gareth thinks you're being flirty asking him this question and you feel bad playing with him just to break him down at the end.

He nods and confidently says, "Yeah, I think I am."

You bite your lips, having fun with the knowledge you have that he's not yet known. You tip your head to the side, sending all of your hair falling onto one side of your shoulder.

"Do you think you could go a week without sex?"

His eyebrow raises in surprise, "A week?"

"Yeah."

"It's possible but I'd struggle, hard," he answers with a smile that slightly turns into a nervous one.

You look at him and look into his green eyes, for a second, not wanting to tell him about Lana and her rules.

"Uhm... well, I hate to tell you this," you begin and take another sip of wine.

His eyes are wavering as he looks at you, "What?"

"But we can't have sex in there," you make a head gesture towards the villa.

"Sorry? What?" He asks with eyes widening in utter shock.

And Gareth hasn't heard the worst part yet, "We can't even masturbate," you add.

He closes his eyes for a moment to take everything in and shakes his head, "What?"

"This is Too Hot To Handle," you finally break the news to him with an apologetic smile.

It feels not right to enjoy seeing him suffer but you can't help it, you must have looked like it when Lana popped out of the box that day.

His hand flies to his face, his fingers are pinching the bridge of his nose as he tries to make sense of it all.

"They didn't—" he keeps opening his mouth to speak and abruptly stops in the middle.

"I know," you say, letting him know that you went through the same thing and know exactly how he feels right now.

Gareth drains his wine and puts away his glass, his hair is tousled from the wind constantly blowing at it.

"I was away traveling for months so I–I don't know..." he stammers as he explains himself.

You do feel bad for him but at least, he's not the only one going through it, you've been at it for a week now.

He then looks at you with his index finger pointed at you then at him, "So... we can't...?" His eyes are saying the words that you know what it stands for.

You shake your head, "No," you meekly say.

"Don't get me wrong, it's because I'm seeing someone in there," you add, not letting him get the wrong idea.

Gareth brushes his dark blond hair to the back, making it messier than before, groaning at the newly acquired information.

"I appreciate it that you're telling me that," he says as he refills his glass with more wine.

YOU: The date is nice, Gareth is nice but honestly, I was thinking of Changbin the whole time I was there.

Back in the villa, Changbin is scared, shitless.

He keeps looking at where you're having the date with this new guy but he can't see much with how far you are plus the sky that is getting darker.

He's been holding his drink but not drinking it, he's too nervous to try to relax.

"They're not back yet?" Nico asks as he sits on the lounger.

Changbin shakes his head and keeps his eyes on the top of the stairs, the only access back from the beach.

"Do you think she kissed him?" He innocently asks.

"That would be wild if she did," Nico gives his opinion then quietly sips his drink.

Rita comes to sit behind Nico, putting her arms around him, and notices the apparent horror on Changbin's face.

"I didn't expect you'd be genuinely this worried," She says to him.

He doesn't know why but he feels offended by what she said, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Nico hurriedly holds Rita to stop her from talking, he knows Changbin is being extra sensitive at this moment so it's best to not poke around him.

Almost half an hour later, you are finally back with the new guy, and your arm is linked with him. He also notices the smile on your face as you introduce him to the girls.

Changbin is not pleased with what he sees but he knows he should keep his composure, he shouldn't conclude without hearing from you first.

"Gareth," the new guy introduces himself to him.

Changbin has this belief that it's not about looks but looking at Gareth, it's impossible to not feel the slightest bit intimidated.

The boys take him for a chat at the cabana and questions asked at the new guy, the basic questions until Shane brings up the date.

"So how was the date?"

Knowing that he's not good at faking his facial expression, Changbin gulps as much air as he can and hopes it's enough to calm him.

Gareth brightly smiles before answering, "I think we had a good time," he answers.

Liam glances at Changbin to check on him, "Yeah?"

"She was great and the setting was beautiful, probably the most romantic date I ever had," Gareth adds and he should consider himself lucky for not knowing that he's talking right next to the man you're seeing.

CHANGBIN: He can have those drinks, that romantic date but don't even think that he can take her from me [shakes head]

Changbin is chatting with Shane when all of a sudden, he stops listening to him. He looks past his shoulder to someone behind him.

"Looking for me, babe?" Shane jokingly asks you.

You laugh at him and put your hand on Changbin's shoulder, "Can you give us a minute, babe?" You joke back at him.

"Sure thing, babe," Shane kindly left so the two of you could talk.

Changbin sees that you're already changed into a new dress and your lips are painted with a fresh coat of lipstick. As you sit next to him on the sofa, you slightly turn your body to face him then place a hand on his knee.

"Hi," you say with a sweet smile.

He looks back at you and he knows that you're here to have a good time, to enjoy yourself and there's a possibility that you might jump ships too but Changbin needs an answer from you about whether he should continue this or not, or do you have anything to tell him.

Changbin needs to know right now.

"So... how was the date?" He begins with an easy question.

"It was good."

You're looking chipper and radiant, it's something that he hasn't seen in these past few days.

"What did you guys do?"

"We chatted, had a few glasses of champagne... we got to know each other," you nonchalantly answer.

None of your answers are pleasing him but he's willing to continue with the interrogation.

"What do you think of him?"

You inhale air before talking, "He is so nice."

That's another answer that displeases him.

"And he was a little flirty to me," you tell him with a low chuckle.

Changbin immediately scoffs at that, "Of course, he was," he says, looking away to see the fire swaying along to the gust of wind.

"To be honest, I got a little flirty on him too," you admit.

He looks down at his lap and sees that your fingers are playing with the lint on the ripped part of his jeans. He doesn't want to hear what are you going to say next, he even regrets asking you about it in the first place.

"Then I told him about you," you suddenly add.

He looks up and sees you smiling at him, "yeah?"

"Yeah," you shortly replied.

You tip your head to the side and gaze into his eyes, "I told him that I'm seeing someone here," you confess.

Scratch his earlier remarks about regrets, Changbin's only regret now is for doubting you. He can't believe it still but now he knows he can continue with you.

Truthfully, Changbin doesn't even know how he would start things over with someone new.

"Were you worried I was going to do something?" You meekly ask.

Changbin hates to be seen as this pathetic guy but he can't lie about this, not when it tells you how much he likes you.

"Every second of it... it was just awful," he emphasizes it with a horrified look on his face.

Changbin has come to realize how much he likes you and he feels that it's safe for him to let you know that. Also, how would you know if he didn't tell you verbally?

"This process brought out a lot of emotions in me that I didn't even know I had," he endearingly shares as he puts his hand on yours.

You nod and say, "Yeah, me too."

Changbin slips his fingers between yours and holds your hand, "Come here," he says.

You scoot closer and then crawl toward him to sit in the space between his legs. You waste no time to rest your head on his chest and let out a delightful sigh as he puts his arms around you.

"Missed me?"

"A lot," he answers without a beat.

He tightens his arms around you along with a soft kiss on your neck, he then drags his mouth close to your ear and whispers, "I'm happy."

CHANGBIN: I feel more confident in us and I can't wait to keep building connections with her [smiles]

The new girl, Jax, is one gorgeous girl and there's no denying it, the other boys were practically drooling when they first saw her.

Changbin would understand if you feel a bit intimidated by her presence, just like how Gareth did to him. But you're not one to worry, the one who should be worried is Sabine because Changbin catches Jax and Oliver stealing glances at each other just now.

"Did you shower?" You ask as you nuzzle your head into his neck.

"Mmh," Changbin hums his answer.

You plant your nose in his neck and inhale his scent, humming as you snuggle close to him. He does the same, planting his nose in your shoulder only to playfully bite at it.

Instead of scolding him, you're giggling in his neck.

"I like it," you suddenly say.

"What?"

You drag your hand down his chest and lift the fabric to peek inside the sleeveless white top he's wearing.

"I like it more if you take it off," you whisper to him.

After what happened, Changbin realizes how much he likes you and when he likes someone, he will do anything for that person.

"Just say you want me to take it off," he says with a laugh.

"Well, it's up to you..." you coyly say with a flirty smile on your face.

Changbin sits on the bed and pulls his top over his head, putting the piece of clothing on the bedside table afterward.

"Mmh... yeah," you slyly smile as he lays down next to you.

The lights are out and the low chatter in the room dies down not long after but in the dark, that's when things happen.

You keep clinging to his body with your hands freely roaming around his body, feeling his muscles and squeezing at it. Your lips are pressing on the sensitive skin on his neck once in a while.

Then all of sudden, you get up to straddle him, and against the darkness of the room, he sees you taking your top off.

"What are you doing?" He keeps his voice low to not wake everyone else who's sleeping in the room.

Your half-naked body is hovering above him with mere inches between your faces, "What? I'm making it fair for us," you say with a kiss on his jaw.

It doesn't take a genius to know what you're doing. You're kissing his neck and chest with your nipples lightly grazing his bare chest, making the goosebumps on his arm rise.

Changbin allows you for that but when your lips are getting close to his lips, he immediately stops you by looking away.

Yet you continue your trail of kisses down his jaw, then you whisper into his air, "How about a kiss?"

This is a test for him and it's a difficult one. A part of him is dying to give you whatever it is you want but the other part, and unfortunately, the most stubborn part of him demands him to keep to his principle.

A kiss costs $6,000 and Changbin could bear the consequence of losing that much money but the problem is it's not just his money, it's everyone's.

He endearingly brushes your hair to the back and holds your face, "We can't."

It seems like you have expected that answer, "I know," you softly sigh.

You roll to the side to lay back on your side of the bed, clutching at the duvet as you groan, "I'm so horny..."

You best believe that it's not easy for him to say no to you, not when his head is full of filthy things he wants to do to you.

As a way to console you, he presses a long kiss on your cheek and neck. You suddenly pull him by the shoulder, hard enough to send him toppled on top of you.

"Put your whole body on me," you mutter.

"I'm heavy," he tells you like it isn't obvious enough.

You wrap your legs around him, forcing him to put his whole weight on you. Changbin quickly props an elbow against the mattress to spare a little space.

With both of your bodies pressed against each other, he can feel you differently, in an inexplicably intimate way.

Against the darkness that lingers in the room, he still can see your eyes gleaming as you stare at him as he stares into your eyes.

He swipes your lips with his thumb and for a split second, tempted to kiss it.

"You can kiss it you know," your voice is so low that it almost sounds like a whisper.

Once again, his stubborn part wins and he kisses you on the forehead instead.

"Goodnight," he sweetly speaks into your ear.

Without warning, you pull him closer until he collapses on top of you and keeps him close with your arms locked around him.

"Are you okay?" He quickly checks on you.

You bury your head in the crook of his neck and mumble, "You can crush me to death for all I care."

That makes him laugh in amusement, Changbin plants another kiss on the top of your head and gently pats at it.

CHANGBIN: The sexual tension is... unbearable [groans] but I want to do this right.

It's only afternoon but Sabine is already looking done with the day.

You respect people and their boundaries so you would usually wait for people to come to you first and they would when they're ready to talk.

However, the silence that hangs in the air once she steps into the dressing room is suffocating. You decide to, at least, check on her, making sure she's okay.

"Sabine, babe," you call as you rummage through your make-up pouch.

"You're way too pretty to have frown lines," you tell her with a smile.

Sabine aggressively reclines on her chair then lets out a long sigh, sending her long hair dangling down the back and almost touching the floor.

"You okay?" You ask her as you continue doing your make-up.

"I don't know," she sighs again.

She picks up a hairbrush next but does nothing with it, she's holding it in her hand as she continues talking, "It's Oliver."

It must be about the date and you knew Oliver screwed up, you could tell from the moment he got chosen for the date. Also, it's not hard to read a guy like Oliver, he's a player and a few days in the retreat won't instantly change that. Not that it's impossible, but it takes time to get the game out of a player.

"What happened?" You ask even though you guessed the gist of it in your head.

Sabine looks straight ahead and starts talking, "He went on a date yesterday made me realize that my feelings for him are genuine," she explains.

You nod to show her that you're intently listening to her even though you're busy doing your eyebrows, "Yeah."

She then draws a long breath to continue talking and combing her hair with her fingers, "But I know his type, I know how good they are at lying so yeah, I don't fully trust him so I asked Jax about the date."

You didn't know why you thought she was that naive. Sabine knows the kind of guy she's with.

"And what she said?"

Sabine puts her feet up on her chair and hugs them close to her chest, "She said that he went in for a kiss."

It's predictable but it's surprising to hear your assumption is right.

You pause doing your make-up and gasp, "What?"

Sabine is drawing circles on her knee with her finger as she continues talking, "Oliver didn't kiss her but he said it's because he didn't want to lose money..."

She takes a shaky breath and puts all of her hair on one shoulder, "And not because of me, he didn't even mention me at all."

You put down everything you're holding and put all of your attention on her, "Oh, no... babe," you coo.

"I like him for real because..." she pauses to gulp air and holding in her tears

"Now I'm genuinely hurt," her voice breaks at the end of the sentence.

You get up from your chair to come and hug her, putting your arms around her to comfort her before getting back to your chair.

"I think you should confront him about it. Obviously, you don't want to waste time on him if he doesn't want the same thing," you suggest, hoping that it would help her know what to do next.

Sabine sniffles and puts her feet down, she pulls her chair close to the table, leaning close to the mirror to fix her make-up.

"I'll take to him once they're back from the workshop," she says, now picking up her brush to add blush to her cheeks.

You always take Sabine as this cool girl who likes to make boys cry but at this moment, she looks fragile and insecure, she's just like any other girl and so are you.

YOU: I just knew that Oliver would mess up but I didn't think he would really do that to Sabine.

Lana is aware that these past few days have been tense for everyone and with the arrival of two new guests, she throws a party in the villa tonight.

Dressing up feels useless now that Changbin has no intention of doing anything to you and that somehow affects your mood, you don't feel like partying tonight.

You choose to sit this one down with him and quietly sip your wine while watching everyone else dancing to the music blasting around the villa.

Eventually, Nico and Rita join you in the firepit and you couldn't be more grateful that your matchmaking is a huge success.

"Nico, I'm impressed you're not all over the new girl," you jokingly say.

Rita looks at him, trying to intimidate him while giggling close to his face, "You can be honest," she tells him.

Nico shakes his head in false terror, "Nah, I don't want to get in trouble," he says.

Rita smiles in approval as Nico puts his arm around her, pulling her closer to his side even though there's no space left between them.

"Changbin, you couldn't possibly still be mad about our kiss, right?" Rita jokingly asks.

You turn to look at Changbin, wanting to see how he reacts to that question. He's been giving you vague signs whether he is still holding a grudge about it or not.

"Mad? Who got mad?" Changbin jokes back with a grin.

Rita flashes you a questioning glance then she turns to look at him, "Then how about you guys kiss and then we'll kiss?"

"I'm in!" Nico excitedly welcomed that idea.

You turn your head at Changbin and put the ball in his court, leaning close to his face, puckering your lips to tease him.

"Are you scared?" Rita teases him.

"I'm not," Changbin replies with a half smirk.

You take his chin and turn his head to look at you, "Kiss me then," you dare him.

Since he's not doing anything, you keep leaning in closer and closer and Changbin is backing away to avoid you. You stop before you embarrass yourself

"See? He pulls away first," you tell Rita with a shrug.

YOU: I am already sexually frustrated here and now it seems like I'm going to be touch-deprived as well [sighs]

Lana is the worst party host.

She abruptly stops the party and calls everyone to the cabana, it's not a good sign when she has to get in the middle of the party.

Changbin prepares himself for whatever is about to come out of that cone's mouth and his heart drops when he hears that anxiety-inducing chime.

"Did anyone break the rules?" Liam asks around.

Sabine crosses her arms and leans back, "I don't know about anyone else but I'm celibate."

Sabine is looking so upset about something when she says it and Changbin notices that Oliver has been eerily quiet the whole night.

"I stressed the importance of being committed to my process and a few people are falling short on that goal," Lana begins

Changbin can tell right away that something bad is going to happen tonight and he's not ready. He fears that it's going to happen to him or worse, you.

"It's clear that I need to streamline the group and two of you must leave the retreat tonight," Lana announces.

Everyone is gasping in shock, the tension is rising and no one is safe at this point. It's like Changbin's fears manifested into reality and he's dreading it, he doesn't want to leave.

He sees that you're looking calm but he notices your hands are clasped together on your lap, you must be stressed inside, considering that you broke the rules multiple times.

"The first person to leave the retreat is..."

CHANGBIN: I don't like this at all.

No one wants to hear what Lana is going to say but there's no avoiding it, this is her retreat, her rules, she's the one in control here.

"Niamh."

Niamh seems to have sensed that it's her, she smiles the second she hears her name and tears start rolling down her cheeks.

"Oh!" A broken gasp escapes Rita's mouth as she turns to the side to hug her.

Changbin didn't get to know Niamh well but she's been a complete shut-in and doesn't seem like she wants to build a connection at all. He believes the reason why Lana chose her is because she has the lowest possibility of forming a meaningful relationship.

"It's okay," she says while wiping her tears-soaked cheeks but she can't hide her disappointment from everyone.

"The second person to leave the retreat is..."

There's a huge chance that it'll be from one of the boys so

Changbin holds his breath again, getting more nervous than before.

"Shane."

He happens to sit next to you and you instantly rest your head on his shoulder while Changbin pats him on his knee, feeling like he's losing a friend even though he's only known him for days.

"It is now time for both of you to leave the retreat," Lana orders.

You kiss Shane on the cheek before letting him get up from the sofa to say goodbye to everyone and so is Niamh. She joined him in front of everyone to say goodbye for one last time.

"I hope this reminds the rest of you to take this process more seriously."

And just like that, Lana leaves with dark clouds hanging over everyone's heads.

CHANGBIN: That is one tough pill to swallow.

That should be a wake-up call for anyone to try and do better in this retreat.

Changbin considers himself lucky for not getting sent home tonight and he's still staying, being given another chance to continue building connections with you.

However, Lana demands emotional connections, not physical ones.

There's no denying that he has a strong physical connection with you and that should be the least of his worries. As of this moment, Changbin wants to focus on growing his emotional connection with you.

"Gosh, it feels empty already..." Liam says from the bed across the room.

Everyone's eyes shift in the direction of where Shane and Niamh shared a bed which is now empty.

You turn on the bed to face him and place a hand on his chest, before placing it on his jaw with your thumb tenderly rubbing his cheek.

"Are you okay?" You softly ask.

This is one of the times when he needed you the most. He doesn't reply but rests his head on your chest, letting you softly scratch his head with your finger.

And in a time like this, Changbin is convinced that he has emotional connections with you. There's no other reason why he feels like he can seek comfort from you if not because he's comfortable enough to be vulnerable around you.

CHANGBIN: I don't want to play around anymore. I want to grow with her.

With the girls out for a workshop, Changbin takes the time to get a little sun by the swimming pool with Oliver occupying the lounger next to him.

Changbin seems to have missed something yesterday but he notices that something is going on between Oliver and Sabine.

Oliver spills everything right away and Changbin only realizes it now that Oliver is younger than him which explains his reckless action.

"So you went back from the date with Jax and you said something stupid implying that you're not serious with Sabine?" Changbin concludes out of Oliver's explanation.

Oliver sneers at that, probably realizing how much at fault he is, "Pretty much, yeah."

Changbin lets out a chuckle and takes a sip of water from his tumbler. He knows Oliver is old enough to know that this is his own doing but Changbin feels like he's seeking some bits of advice from him.

"You know you have this connection with Sabine and you're here to develop that connection," Changbin chooses his words carefully to avoid sounding like he's being so self-righteous.

"You just need to control your urges a little," he adds.

Oliver sighs at the last bit, aware that that's his main problem, not being able to control his physical urges.

"But Jax is so... hot like... how come I didn’t think of her sexually when she's that fit?" Oliver innocently says.

Changbin immediately slaps his thigh hard enough that it leaves a mark on his alabaster skin.

"Hey, emotionally! Not physical!" He reminds him.

Oliver laughs, feeling like he's a little kid being scolded by his parents. He recognizes this typical attribute because Changbin has been there once, playing the cool guy who acts like it doesn't bother him but deep down, he does care.

"I know you want to act cool like you don't care about her but you have the chance to make it better, it's not too late," he tells him.

Oliver gets quiet and looks straight ahead, letting a moment pass without a word. Then a minute later, he nods and says, "I'm going to talk to her later."

As a motivation, Changbin gives him a pat on the shoulder, "You can do it, man!"

On the other hand, Lana has been quiet the whole day but that only makes Changbin more suspicious.

When she finally calls everyone to the cabana, he knows he is right to be suspicious, especially at the sight of small boxes on the table.

"Is it Christmas?" Rita playfully comments.

"Have we been here that long?" Nico adds with a chuckle.

Changbin is skeptical that it's going to be a gift, maybe it is but there has to be a catch to it. He knows Lana well enough to know the motive of everything she does.

"Hello, everyone!" The cone chimes.

"Yes, Lana!" Riley shouts, being the loudest to answer to her.

"As you can see, I have a treat for you all," Lana announces, confirming everyone's guesses are true.

Everyone is cheering but Changbin is the only one struggling to accept the fact that Lana is being generous to the group.

"Ooh..." Liam coos in excitement, rubbing his hands together while looking at the box in front of him.

"The purpose of this gift will further enhance your relationships going forward. You may now open your gifts," Lana orders.

No one wastes their time to take their boxes and open them, finding a watch inside. You help him put it around his wrist and he helps you with yours after.

"When I observe two people forming genuine connections, they will be given a green light, like this..."

Lana demonstrates it by turning everyone's watches green at the same time.

"...where the rules do not apply for a limited amount of time."

"This looks good on you," you compliment him.

Changbin flexes his bicep to show it off, "I'll keep close to it with a tense bicep," he jokes.

His first thought is, of course, he wants to get a green light with you and that can be accomplished with emotional growth.

"We have reached the half of the retreat so please use your time wisely," Lana leaves with a gentle reminder that some of us should have accomplished something at this point.

With these watches, Changbin is highly motivated to build an emotional connection with you.

CHANGBIN: We don't need to lose money now because Lana will reward us if we do something right.

Uhm... you wouldn't say you're jealous to see Liam and Riley getting a date from Lana, but you know you just hate to admit it.

It would be nice to go on a date with Changbin because things feel way too alright and you crave a little spark here and there.

For someone who loves getting physical affection, it's exciting that you have the watch and the promise that Lana will reward anyone who shows genuine emotional connection with a green light.

You're not that optimistic that you'd get it but who knows?

The night is warm and you're holding a glass of wine, sitting next to an extremely attractive man.

Changbin is wearing a printed shirt with dark jeans, what you like the most is how his muscles bulge out of those short sleeves.

"You look good, babe," you compliment him with a smile.

"I'm not saying that to try to get a green light," you quickly add.

You know better that a compliment wouldn't get you a green light but because he simply earned it.

You put your legs over his lap and look at him, tilting your head to look him through your lashes.

"You're so sexy and cute and big and gentle..." you compliment him more.

Then you lean into his ear and whisper, "You're irresistible."

Getting no reaction from you, you pout and meekly ask, "Am I not appealing to you anymore?"

"No, baby. No," he strongly denies.

You feel pathetic saying that but at least, you finally get his attention now.

He reaches for your head, endearingly caressing your head, "you are beautiful," he sweetly compliments.

He then takes a good look at you with his hand gliding down your arm until he meets your hand, "Head to toe, I admire all of it," he compliments again.

You deeply look into his eyes and ask, "And you don't feel some type of way?"

Changbin inhales air, his fingers are intertwined with yours on your lap. He seems to know the reason why you asked him that.

"I know you want to break a rule," he says.

"I do," you shortly confirm, beating around the bush will only waste time.

Changbin once again gets quiet, you can't tell if he's mulling things over in his head or if he has no words to say to that.

"I don't think we should be punished for having a connection," you give your opinion.

"But that's what we're here for," he simply responds.

You swallow air to stay calm and keep your tone in check, "I know but I think we shouldn't be adamant about spending the money," you give him a solid de

Changbin nods and a moment later, he comes up with a response to your words.

"I think there's no reason for us to break rules now."

He places his hand on your knee and tenderly rubs the skin with his thumb, "We have these watches and we just need to do this right and Lana will reward us with a green light."

You get it that he's trying to be on Lana's good side but the way he completely shot you down... It almost feels like he forces this decision on both of you and you don't get a say on it.

"Yeah, right," you half-heartedly reply and then drain your glass of wine cause the night suddenly feels cold to you.

YOU: Ugh! I'm so frustrated. I don't know how much longer I can take this.

Everyone is cheering when Liam and Riley return from their date.

They look happy as they become the first to get the first green light. They're not the only ones looking happy, it looks like Sabine and Oliver have made up as they're being lovey-dovey on their bed.

Truthfully, you're happy for both of them but it's hard when you're struggling with your relationship. You feel like, as a couple, you're at a standstill.

Liam and Riley got a green light, you see Sabine and Oliver, they're not perfect but it's endearing to see them overcoming things together.

Then you look at what you have and Changbin, it's alright, it's okay but that's not enough for you. This thought leads you spiraling down, you wonder about everything that is wrong with you and what could've been the source of the problem.

Without intending to, you begin to feel insecure about yourself, questioning everything, including your feelings until it overwhelms you.

When you wake up in the morning, you feel like doing nothing. As if you have the choice, you drag yourself out of bed and get ready for the day. It seems pointless now doing all of this.

"How are you doing, my darling?" Sabine asks.

"Feel like shit," you honestly reply.

Sabine takes her turn to be the one who comes to your aid after you did the same role to him days ago. She reaches across the table to place her hand on your forearm.

"Is it about Changbin? Are you guys alright?" She lowers her voice since the other girls are also in the room.

"I don't like that he's like... 'we're not going to do anything physical'," you tell her while dampening your cotton pad with toner.

"Like... give me something. Fuck!" You lowly curse, putting your suppressed anger into that profanity.

You toss the dirty cotton pads away and let out a long sigh even though it no longer helps you to calm down, "It's like he's cockblocking himself."

"Oh, my God!" Sabine gasps with a horrified look on her face.

Even Sabine can't find any words to say to help you with your crisis because it's that bad and of course, Lana knows about your bad day so she comes to make it worse.

At this point, you give up on trying to guess Lana's intentions and just go with it.

"Hello, everyone," Lana opens her session as usual.

"Hello, Lana!" Sabine cheerily responds next to you.

It's not hard to spot where Changbin when he's the biggest of all of the boys and he's sitting on the far end of the sofa.

"I am pleased to see that several of you have developed romantic connections during your time here," Lana says.

Not sure which couple she deems as romantic but you're sure as hell it's not you.

"But for these relationships to succeed in the long-term, it is vital that you trust each other to resist temptation."

Jax dramatically gasps from the other side of you, "Uh-oh!"

That sure sounds like Lana is brewing something and you're aware you wanted to stop guessing but... old habits die hard.

"Today, I will be putting that to the test."

Oh? Another test? You have done it once and barely passed it, you're not keen on going through that again.

"With the help of two new arrivals."

New guests, huh? So yeah, you don't want to be involved in any drama, not when you're going through something right now.

"The first new arrival is... Javi."

You already have too much in your head to add something else to worry about.

"The second new arrival is... Gia."

And you don't want to do anything, you want to curl up into a ball and be left alone.

"Two of you will be going on private dates with the new arrivals."

Is there a way where you can escape Lana just for a day? A few hours will do.

"They have selected the guests they are most attracted to from a choice of those in relationships."

Everyone else is busy freaking out at Lana's announcement while you keep dissociating yourself from what's happening.

"Javi has chosen to go on a date with..."

You reel yourself back into reality and notice that everyone is looking so tense.

"...Sabine."

It seems like the table has turned. First, it was Oliver and now, Sabine is being picked for the date. You can see the slight panic on Oliver's face.

But then what if...?

"And Gia has chosen to go on a date with..."

You look over at Changbin and feel a little nervous that he'd get picked, well, even if he did get picked and his head turned, then it would only reassure you about the true state of your relationship.

"...Liam."

Yet here you are, letting out a sigh of relief knowing that he didn't get chosen for the date.

YOU: I'm– [sighs] I'm starting to second-guess what I have with Changbin.

Everyone else is buzzing with the new arrivals and all the drama surrounding it, except Changbin.

Everyone has been behaving lately and no one is breaking the rules, everything is going so well so Changbin wonders why you're sitting by yourself looking rather upset about something.

He comes up to you, putting on a smile when you glance up from your glass of wine.

"Hey," he says as he takes a seat next to you.

You hold your drink in the other hand and meekly reply, "Hi."

It's like the girl he met is slowly disappearing from you, you look down and low-spirited, and the sparks in your eyes are somehow dimming.

"How are you feeling?" He asks.

You scratch the back of your neck and weakly smile, "Right now, I'm a little bit lost," you answer.

Lost? Lost as in you don't know where to go or what to do anymore? But the more important question to ask is... is it about you and him?

You uncross your legs and put away your drink, looking serious as you start talking to him, "I do value physical affection and I feel like I wasn't getting what I needed from you," you tell him.

Changbin tilts his head to the side, feeling accused of something he didn't do. He's been treating you well and trying to do better every day so yeah, he won't easily accept you just said to him.

"I told you that there's no reason why we should break rules now," he reminds you of the things he has said to you once.

It seems like you have so many things to say to him but not wanting to let it out, but he's noticing how your jaws are clenched and unclenched.

"We're supposed to work on our connection and I've been opening up so much to you but you're not," you reply to him.

He's not going to lie, you hit him hard with that one. He admits you've been so open to him and what he gave back to you? Not so much.

"Being more open... that's not easy for me," he honestly admits.

"I know," you answer.

"And I've seen you trying but it's been a while now and it feels like we're not going anywhere," you look away and let out a low sigh.

It makes his head hurt how you misunderstood everything and doubted him when all he does is try to do what's right.

"I like you," he says to you, running out of things to say to convince you.

"But you don't show me that and I started to think that maybe it's not because of the money..." Your voice is quivering and you pause to inhale air.

Changbin lets you finish talking because he knows you still have a lot to utter to him.

You brush your hair to the back and sigh, "You make me feel so insecure and I don't like that," you conclude.

Not only that half of what you said is not true, Changbin is a little annoyed at how haste you conclude things. He also doesn't like how you doubt him, questioning everything when he thinks that he has shown you everything he has.

Changbin has a lot to say to that but he doesn't want to do the same thing, being haste about it and saying things he didn't mean.

CHANGBIN: I don't want to give up on her but I need some time to think things through.

It's the first time in the retreat you wake up feeling not excited, you wake up letting out a long sigh instead.

Lana chimes in for her morning greeting so you drag yourself out of the duvet and sit up on the bed with your back resting against the headboard.

"Good morning, everyone!"

A few are sleepily answering to her while the others are still struggling to open their eyes.

"Javi and Gia, I trust that you sleep well," Lana says, talking to the new guests.

Gia turns to look at everyone in the room, "are there usually noises in the middle of the night?"

"What noises?" Liam asks.

"Like smooching sounds..." Gia proceeds to describe the noises she heard last night.

To be completely honest, you're hearing your own thoughts all night to hear anything else.

"From where?"

Gia shakes her head, "No idea."

Well, wherever that smooching sound coming from, it's definitely not from your bed. You wake up next to Changbin but this morning, it feels like you're merely there for the sole reason that is sharing the bed and nothing more.

"How is it going with our big guy?" Sabine asks as the two of you are doing your make-up in the dressing room.

"I talked to him last night," you answer.

Sabine twists her hair before putting it on one shoulder, "And how did it go?"

You squeeze a dollop of moisturizer on the back of your hand and slowly dab it on your face, "a lot of stuff been said, a lot of stuff going down..."

Sabine turns on her feet to face you, "What's going on?"

Your shoulders slumped as you let out a sigh, "I honestly don't want to talk about it," you tell her.

As much as you want to tell her everything, talking about last night only makes you feel sad and you don't want to let it bring you down further.

YOU: The ball is on Changbin's court now so let's see what he's going to do with it.

Just because there's drama going on with you, that doesn't mean you're not aware that the new guy, Javi, has been secretly checking you out since last night.

Just now, you notice him clocking you out while you're chilling in the swimming pool with Jax.

After a while, he realizes that you know so he swims in your direction and stops right in front of you.

Beads of water are dripping down his tattooed body, he brushes his wet hair to the back and smiles at you.

"Hey, how are you girls doing?" He greets both of you, but his eyes are only looking at you.

"Good. You?" Jax answers.

You decide not to say anything but lock in a gaze with him, those light brown eyes are piercing right through you.

Javi looks away to glance at Jax and a moment later, puts his eyes on you again, more intense than before.

"Red looks good on you," he compliments.

The way he's looking at you, it's like he's doing something unspokenly filthy with those eyes.

"I know," you coyly say with a half smirk.

Javi flicks his eyes to your lips for a second then intensely stares into your eyes before brushing his hair to the back again.

"See you girls later," he says, then continues swimming to the other end of the pool.

Jax nudges your side with her eyes watching Javi swimming away, "Look at those shoulders," she whispers.

"I know," you mutter back, getting that fluttering feeling as you recall the way he looked at you.

The reason Lana has been quiet lately is because she's been collecting the receipts and you believe she's going to expose them soon.

And just like you have predicted, she gathers everyone in the bedroom when you're still getting ready for the night. Even though you have to third-wheel Liam and Riley, you decide to sit on their bed because it's much closer to the door back to the dressing room.

"Hello, everyone!" Lana starts.

"Hi, Lana!" The group replies in unison, not sure about everyone else but you're not that excited to hear her voice.

"You have received watches as part of the next stage of your development at my retreat. Unfortunately, some of you have still decided to disobey my rules."

See? You know she's been quiet for a reason, not because she didn't know people had been secretly breaking the rules.

Nico raises his hand and speaks up, "I'm just going to straight up telling you guys that Rita and I kissed," he bravely confesses.

"I'm sorry," Rita quickly adds with an adorable pout.

Everyone let that one slide because someone is quick to claim with their rulebreak and it's making it easier for everyone to assess the damage.

"This breach of rules has cost the group $6,000," Lana announces.

Here is the time for the animosity to fill the air, the cone is still lighting up so it means she's not done, there must be another rule break.

"Okay, who else wants to fess up?" Changbin says and he looks confident saying that because there's nothing happened last night, or anything before that for that matter.

"You're looking nervous there, Gareth," Liam points out, shifting everyone's attention to him.

Gareth doesn't put on a good poker face, he keeps rubbing his chin with both of his ears reddening. You look at Jax and she's only giggling next to him.

"Oh, God!" Sabine groans with her hand flying to her forehead.

Gareth finally faces everyone and lets out a nervous laugh, "We had a moment last night, we uh..." he starts, now scratching his ears, flustered.

"With all of us in the room?" Riley asks in disbelief.

"We what?" Oliver presses him.

"We started with a kiss," Gareth continues, stammering as he speaks, "Then we wanted to..."

"Mate, stop stalling," Oliver presses him more.

Poor Gareth, he's under a lot of pressure right now and Jax is right there, leaving his man facing it alone. After a moment though, she finally finishes it for him.

"I gave him a hand job, no big deal," she nonchalantly admits.

There's a mix of reactions but most of them are disappointed groans. Apart from the fact that he spent money, you understand Gareth's struggle though.

"That's so selfish!" Changbin says loud enough for everyone to hear.

Except for Changbin probably, he doesn't understand the struggle because he's Lana's loyal disciple.

"Jax and Gareth, I must inform you that your rule breaks have resulted in a total of $16,000," Lana announces.

The groans are filling the room and everyone is sure not tolerating what Gareth and Jax did because they're only been here for barely a week now.

"The prize fund now stands at $139,000," Lana updates.

YOU: It seems like Changbin is too busy worrying about the money than our relationship [scoffs]

The vibe gets a little off in the villa ever since Lana announced the current prize fund.

You finish your make-up quickly and get out of the villa, get a drink for yourself, and then sit on the lounger.

The night is warm with cool air blowing your way, you look up and see the stars like pinpricks on the night sky, it's a beautiful night, too bad you don't have anyone to share it with.

"May I sit?" Someone asks.

You turn on your seat to see Javi standing with a drink in his hand, looking good in a black t-shirt and blue jeans and no everyone can't look that attractive in such a casual attire.

"Yes, please," you tell him with a smile.

He then sits on the lounger next to you, sitting facing you with your knees almost touching in the middle.

"How are you?" He asks.

"I'm good," you lie, in the hope that if you believed it enough, it'd come true, "You?"

"Great!" He shortly answers with a bright smile, showcasing his perfect white teeth.

You respond with a smile then take a sip of your wine, your eyes are quietly looking at the tattoos peeking out of the neckline of his t-shirt.

"You look amazing," he compliments with yet another bright smile.

"Thank you," you say, suddenly so aware of yourself that you cross your legs together.

"I like the dress. It suits you well," he compliments again.

Javi sure knows how to amuse a girl, complimenting you to the tiniest details just to let you know that he pays attention to you.

"Thank you," you say again.

Javi takes a sip of his drink before putting his attention back to you, "I actually can't believe how beautiful you are," he sweetly compliments again.

You crack a shy laugh and thank him again, suddenly having problems accepting compliments.

"It's nice to finally be able to talk to you," he says.

"Why is that so?" You curiously ask.

"As soon as I looked at you, you caught my eyes but I obviously didn't want to step on anyone's toes," Javi openly shares, avoiding using Changbin's name.

"Really?" You ask.

"Yes," He answers with a nod then buries his head in his hands, probably to hide his reddening cheeks.

And you like that in contrast to his appearance, he gets shy as he's talking to you.

"I like that you're shy, it's sexy," you compliment him back with a satisfied grin.

"Well, I'm trying to..." he can't finish his sentence without shyly laughing.

Javi takes a big gulp of his wine and swallows it down fast, he looks a little nervous so whatever he's going to say next it's important to him.

"So, what do you think the sleeping arrangements will be?" He asks.

Oh? He's quite aggressive and you like that. It reminds you of someone you used to know but unfortunately, he's not that man anymore and Javi seems to be more than glad to take that role.

You tilt your head to the side and ask, "What do you want it to be?"

Javi is giving you that gaze again, the kind of gaze that slowly strips you away from your senses, making you a little crazy.

"I think you'd look much better in my bed," he boldly remarks.

You're not sure if it's because he's so attractive, a bit aggressive or if it's because you're just so desperate for some attention and some touches.

Either way, you want in.

YOU: I've been waiting for Changbin but he clearly has not gotten the message so I might have to explore some other options here.

The longer he's away from you the more Changbin realizes that he doesn't want to give up on you.

He's indeed worrying too much about the rules and the money that he forgets that the point of this retreat is to build a connection. He admits that his plan has backfired on him.

The worst of all, he's been forcing this on you without asking you how you feel about it.

That's fatal and he understands now why you're so mad. He doesn't know why it took him this long but he's ready to have another talk with you again.

This time, he promises to be more open because you deserve it, you deserve better.

After drying his hair, Changbin tosses the towel into the laundry basket and makes his way to the bedroom. He has nothing in his mind, he's just going get in there and wait for you on his bed.

Once he pushes the door though, he's not expecting to see you getting on Javi's bed. He has to take a second to register what he's seeing before snapping himself out of it. He continues his way to his bed, collapsing onto the mattress and trying hard to ignore how Javi is cuddling you on the bed opposite his.

"You're okay, Bin?" Nico asks from the bed next to him.

Changbin plays it cool by giving him a thumbs up in response.

Well, to be honest, he's mad, he feels like walking up to you and asks, 'What the fuck?

He planned on talking to you but how is he going to do that if you're on someone's bed?

CHANGBIN: I really wanted to believe that this was going in the right decision but I just believed it too soon.

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#stray kids smut #skz smut #changbin smut #seo changbin smut #changbin x reader #skz x reader #stray kids imagines #skz imagines #stray kids scenarios #skz scenarios #skz fics #skz fanfics #kpop smut #kpop fics #kpop fanfics #too hot to handle series

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manykinsmen · 2 months

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okay so i’m reading the transcript of the press conference and i’m finding lance, valtteri and nico’s comments mostly interpretively muddy and evasive than actively misogynistic (to compare to daniel’s “i feel for him”). breaking down my thoughts:

the question from nelson valkenberg on behalf of viaplay: “question for lance and valtteri.” (already confused about why this is directed specifically at them before he adds “okay nico let’s bring you on on this. what do you think?” - it’s not addressed to george or charles or yuki and none of these three drivers are from red bull). “f1 is experiencing a moment that everybody’s talking about a lot more what happens off track than on. as a driver, how do you look at that and is this healthy for f1, for you both?”

so already this question is a. vague - like we sort of know he’s fishing for stuff about horner, but it could also plausibly be referring to mohammed ben sulayem corruption/interference, singapore gp corruption, stake f1 drama, andretti drama, fia/fom conflict etc etc. and b. leading. it wants them to agree with the statement that f1 should be focused on the racing/on track action and that focusing on issues with governance etc are “unhealthy”. which wants to lead any vague statements down the path of being interpreted as agreeing to dismiss off-track issues.

we then have another layer of issues of addressing these questions to drivers, especially these three specifically. they have little power to do anything about any of these issues individually as the driver’s role (outside of the collective power/role of the gpda) is largely based on the track. they don’t make the rules they just have to follow them. it’s kind of like asking the person operating the check out at the supermarket what they think of a corruption scandal at the top of the organisation. even worse for everyone but maybe yuki, you’re asking them about a different supermarket for the horner situation specifically. the horner situation is categorically none of their business, happening at another (albeit nearby) workplace. to add to this, they’re walking a fine line of potential defamation (which could cost millions in a court case if they’re found guilty - not every driver has the ability to pay something like that), thinking on the fly without a prepared statement, and both nico and valtteri are giving their response in a second language. we also, selfishly (but here we all have to consider what we would do in the same position at our own jobs) have to consider that if they say the wrong thing here, they could be out on their ear - nico and valtteri are already in precarious positions about retaining their seats.

lance says: “i just like driving cars”. to me this pretty clearly means i do not want to answer this question, this is none of my business. it is not dismissive towards women and victims, it doesn’t specifically address any of the potential issues the question could refer to and rejects the way it leads lance. he is not agreeing with the statement (nor is he disagreeing, but most importantly he’s not agreeing). it’s a pretty clear “no comment” from my perspective.

valtteri says: “yeah, same for me.” (he could have stopped here and his response would have been better, i think). “in the end, we are here to do our job, which is what we love, which is to race.” this is less clearly a none of my business response and is beginning to fall into the leading nature of the question. it’s unclear if valtteri is agreeing or disagreeing, but he does seem to be commenting. “and there’s always talk in this sport, sometimes more, sometimes less.”

this is where i see where the criticism is being levelled. this comment muddies the waters, again nothing specific is being isolated - we don’t know precisely what he’s talking about but it does nod to f1 being historically very corrupt as well as presently. again it falls into the trap of the leading question, by acknowledging the premise it seems to be having to agree or disagree but it’s still unclear which.

“i few like this year, off track, maybe a bit much.” here I become frustrated with valtteri’s wording. a bit much talking could mean that he finds all the issues frustrating/upsetting (fair, we all find them frustrating/upsetting) or that he finds the media speculation on the issues frustrating/upsetting (on the horner situation this is also fair - a lot of the way the media has handled this has been atrocious) or being expected to comment on it frustrating/upsetting (also fair, it’s none of his business in some cases and nothing within his control in others) but the big but is that this wording also leaves us able to interpret him as meaning that he believes these issues should not be talked about, as much or at all. which is a kind of horrible statement and idea, but also not exactly what he said.

“but i mean, if people read those things, then it’s good for the media, right?” - the final part seems to be levelling criticism at the media handling of the issues which is completely fair, but when added to the slightly dodgy interpretation available of the previous sentence it can seem to be making very light of issues and dismissive of them as part of the media circus/for attention. i wouldn’t say based on the video i watched that valtteri seemed jokey, just awkward. so yeah, not the best response but the tension in the room suggests he wasn’t being dismissive. no one is laughing.

nico says: “the stuff that happens in the paddock right now?” (again clear as mud what is being referred to, either in the question or by nico. “obviously, i’m not really affected.” this is also poor wording but nico is technically correct. the horner issue is none of his business and none of the other dramas are happening at haas or involve him. we could read this as dismissal, or as acknowlegement of his place in the issue, which is outside of it. again we have to acknowledge that english is not valtteri or nico’s first language and they are therefore sometimes affected by clunky turns of phrase or straying a little semantically from their intended meaning.

“i read it, i see it, but i think when you’re active, you’re so focused on what you do that you don’t really buy into it.” again we have no clarification on what precisely nico is talking about. the issues themselves of the media circus? it’s fair to not want to buy into the media circus but it’s horrifyingly dismissive if he’s talking about “not buying into” the truth of the allegations themselves. this is by far the worst phrasing because it can be really polarising. “obviously i’m not up there, so i’m even less affected.” up there on the grid? up there in the organisational structure? or up there at a specific team?

“i don’t really have an interest or an agenda there. so yeah, not much to say.” ooft. this is definitely the closest to foot-in-mouth syndrome, but again semantically this could mean anything from it’s not my place to comment on the organisational structure of red bull to being dismissive of the issue of misogyny in racing. but the way he says “up there” suggests to me red bull. again his body language is very severe for someone that is prone to being very jovial.

basically none of them wanted to answer this question at all and had varying ways of avoiding doing this which had varying levels of interpret ability in relation to the terribly worded question. what’s more the journalist didn’t ask anyone that might have had

- the impetus to say something because it affects them in particular (yuki)

- the financial ability to defend themselves from a defamation suit (charles)

- the authority to speak on behalf of the gpda who do have an investment in corruption and the ways in which the media circus is affecting the drivers (george)

so the journalist was really fishing for dramatic quotes which he, fortunately, did not get.

where this is different to daniel’s comments is daniel was openly and unambiguously expressing support for horner in a way that was dismissive of victims.

do I think they should say something? maybe. but off the cuff in a press conference that is meant to be about the race, absolutely not. any statements should be carefully thought through and possibly combed over by a team of legal professionals first.

#valtteri bottas #lance stroll #nico hulkenberg

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ofswordsandpens · 6 months

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stop it just occurred to me that if we were to look at this from the perspective of a cycle where sons/children overthrow their parents, the implications of the dynamic and power struggle between the big three kids being even more volatile since as the “heirs” to the thrones of olympus there’d be a legitimate claim to the kingship in each of them

(so when thalia became a huntress, devoting herself to the current rulers, that soothed something in percy since she no longer posed a serious threat to his inherent claim even if he doesn’t see it that way consciously)

i’m delusional but i am connecting the dots. (i haven’t connected shit)

no no idc we can be delusional together because I have the exact same thoughts!!! the dots have been connected!! its all there in the writing!!!

like its a part of their godly nature to assume these positions. its also a part of their human nature to resist it. they're consistently battling these urges to take control, to take power, to deal justice just as their fathers do. like if you really want to dig deep into this notion of them being "heirs" and that there is a subconscious part of them that is compelled to continue this cycle, (if you ignore hoo in its entirety) think about the significance of number three in pjo. The three brothers. Poseidon. Zeus. Hades. The three children. Percy. Thalia. Nico. One for each mantle. Like, the cosmic significance is there. It makes me insane.

#yes my tinfoil hat is on why do you ask #idc idc it makes me feral in the best way possible #I love it love it #pjo #percy jackson #thalia grace #nico di angelo #asks

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wrongcaitlyn · 26 days

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okay fuck so i got an anon ask for solangelo fic recs and then i made a draft on my phone but then deleted it bc i wanted to type it out on my computer but then that deleted the ask too so!! hopefully this reaches the anon i apologize deeply for losing your ask😭

but anyway. SOLANGELO FIC RECS. ALWAYS. ANYTIME. I HAVE SO MANY

so first of all if you wanna check out my ao3 i have a bunch of recs in my bookmarks (57 solangelo ones im pretty sure)

but here are some of my favs

i'm put in awe (of something so flawed and free) by CordeliaRose (@cordelia---rose)

archaeologist!Nico & trauma surgeon!Will AU. this fic is. ohmgyod. nico's internal dialogue is just absolutely perfect in this fic and i laughed so hard and god it was just so beautifully written?? but also solangelo are literally so cute. like. ahglskdf. i gotta reread this actually but anyway (also anything by this author, absolutely hilarious, such good writing)

dumb, dumb love by thegoldenappleofdiscord

five times nico and will are dumb and in love, and the one time they are totally 100% dead serious. i love a good outsider's pov, and this fic is just gorgeous. it's a bunch of different perspectives into solangelo, and it's pure fluff, and it's got some of my favorite solangelo quotes (like, when i read fanfic i screenshot parts i rlly like and i practically screenshotted this entire fic), and their characterization is just so so accurate they're so so in love

paris by ethannku (@ethannku)

Nico has a travel YouTube channel. And a crush on one Will Solace. i'm such a sucker for socmed au's and this one is done SO so well. my all time favorite. and it's sequel too!! the formatting i am in awe of, but other than that, it's just a really good time and i just love all the little details. i've reread this too many times to count and was SO excited when a sequel was published, and i can only hope that there's more to the au in the future!! (also this author writes incredible solangelo fics and even more valgrace fics which i recently just bingeread and are soo good)

Perfect Places by buoyantsaturn (@buoyantsaturn)

“My name’s Will,” he started - so far so good - but then continued, “and I guess my favorite food to cook would be, um, frozen pizza.” Was Nico only attracted to idiots? this one's fucking hilarious. i can't even put it to words like their dynamic in this fic is so funny and yet so cute and nico is honestly just like. shocked that will is somehow still alive?? will's a safety hazard. but also piper and jason in this fic are so funny too, it's honestly just such a good, fun read (and, once again, this author's incredible. read everything by them)

I Can't Help It If You Look Like an Angel by the_oncoming_stormaggedon (@lordstormageddidnt)

Will Solace is a pre-med student whose friends run a true crime podcast called "Nothing to See Here". Nico di Angelo, despite not realizing he's a missing person, is the subject of one of the episodes. They meet by chance in a random bar, and shenanigans ensue. i mean, if it's got a taylor swift title, i'm already sold. and then it's part of a series called "Hey Stephen is a solangelo song and i will die on that hill" which is the realest thing ever?? but ASIDE from that, i could honestly rec this entire series (+ the other series it's a part of, "Nothing to See Here" which is all part of the same au) and also everything by this author - it's hilarious, i just love the premise, and the writing is so good!! and hey stephen is a solangelo song, thereby reinforcing my "fearless is will's favorite album ever of all time and i will die on this hill" argument

Even When the Music's Gone by the_oncoming_stormaggedon

It's the 74th Annual Hunger Games, and Nico and Will are the last two tributes alive. haha this is pure angst. just gutwrenching angst. love a good hunger games au and some MCD!

can i handle the seasons of my life? by buoyantsaturn

“I think that most people your age finished high school, and whether they knew what they wanted to do with the rest of their life or not, they went to college. That was their version of ditching everything they knew in order to find themselves. Maybe it’s time for you to stop taking advice from other kids who grew up the same way you did, and take it from someone who used to be normal.” FAME AU FAME AU FAME AU FAME AU i mean, not REALLY about the fame aspect of it, but i still love it so so much. will's essentially a nepo baby turned not-nepo-baby turned college student and nico's naomi's driver, and there's even... there's EVEN A VERY BRIEFLY IMPLIED POLLEN. yeah they're relationship is just so cute in this and i love the au and i love how it's written and ugh i need more fame au's in my life

so it turns out teachers don't live at school by RegretfullyRegretful (@marbleheavy)

Nico's TA and students are determined to figure out something, anything about him. Of course, it would all just be a lot easier if they asked. Either way, Professor di Angelo is decidedly a lonely hermit. (Someone should really tell his husband and baby that) this was one of the first solangelo fics i ever read, and it's just. so. funny. another outsider's pov bc i love it, and just... the assumptions abt nico, the fluff of solangelo, and then their story of how they got together is so...ahhsdlkjs this author is just a master at tooth-rotting fluff go read everything they write

my lover's the sunlight by demigodbeautiies

Figure Skater Nico di Angelo has a run in with Ice Hockey Player Will Solace. It doesn't go too smoothly, but then again - when does it ever? OLYMPICS AU. FAME(ISH) AU. IM OBSESSED THIS IS WRITTEN SO WELL and like... the very brief part where it feels a lot like a fame au like i just i'm obsessed can you tell. the writing is just beautiful in this, i love nico's internal dialogue, and... i mean, it's an olympics au. ofc its perfect

The Stolen God by TsarinaTorment (@tsarinatorment)

Python is defeated. The prophecies are restored, and Nero has fallen. Apollo has not been seen since. His trials are over; why isn’t he back on Olympus? okay so. this is a bit of a longer fic. and it's a post-toa, pjoxmcga crossover, and it's not *entirely* focused on solangelo - but when i tell you that this fic, if i weren't reading it on ao3, i would truly and full-heartedly believe was a real life published novel - i am NOT LYING. i rec'd this to my friend right after i read it bc i was just like so so obsessed with it and it's literally just. the plot?? is insane. i'm in awe of the author, bc this isn't even the only novel-length fic that they've written with an insane plot too (their fic Eclipse is also phenomenal, but it's more focused on apollo and hades so i didn't rec it here) there's some fierrochase here, lester being lester, and some very very very cute solangelo! and meg! i think sometimes you read a fic and you're like "oh, shit, that could be a novel, and i would think it's better than some actual novels i've read" and this is one of them

(Please Don't Let Me) Fade Alone by TsarinaTorment

Please. Don't let me. the summary's really short here so it's basically that will gets very very very injured and then apollo saves him (rip, i'm sorry, i suck at summaries) once again this isn't necessarily nico focused... it's much more will & apollo. this author writes the absolute best stuff for the apollo cabin, genuinely, if you love will/cabin 7/apollo PLEASE read everything they've ever written but this is just so angsty and the hurt/comfort is so real and goddd it's so good

he was seen on occasion (pacing the rocks, staring out at the midnight sea) by stargirltv

Nico di Angelo is a completely normal eighteen year old. He attends high school, has a socially acceptable amount of friends for a social outcast and has been in a relationship for the past four years with the guy he’s pretty sure he’s going to marry. He also happens to be the world's biggest bedroom pop artist, ‘Hell’s Angel’, with a fan base that will stop at nothing to uncover his true identity and a Father that continually pushes him to be better. His boyfriend freaking out under every single one of his tweets is making it a bit easier for them to figure it out. so. fame au. y'all already know the premise of this is just absolutely hilarious and the interview?? the posts?? will just being will and i absolutely love his characterization?? and the friend group?? this is one of the funniest things ever but also just written so well anddddd yes yes yes it's a fame au POPSTAR NICO RIGHTS except he's not *really* a popstar in this one but like close enough oh AND it's a taylor swift title??? like this fic was made for me basically

okay that was MUCH longer than intended but i hope you enjoy some of the fics on here!! pls let me know if y'all ever want more recs i read literally so many fics - and if you guys ever want to give me any recs, feel free to do so! as of today, i have read *checks fic tracker bc i'm obsessive and need to keep track of everything* about 7.3 million words of fanfic this year. and that's actually less than normal (for me)

also if anyone reads patrochilles please read this fic it's literally been in my head nonstop for the past few weeks since i've read it and it's one of the best things i've ever read and like holyshit if you read patrochilles read it read it read it

#wrongcaitlyn #fic recs #solangelo #ao3 #will solace #nico di angelo #pjo

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kekaki-cupcakes · 8 months

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Hello! ✨

So… hear me out: Nico with a monster reader.

Like imagine he is sent out to defeat him but turns out he’s good and super like chill and relaxed.

Like imagine he goes in and suddenly he is sat down drinking tea and chatting about the weather.

Lol.

So nico sneak him in the camp covered in mist and when asked goes like *cue it’s a smoothie meme* “just found him… nothing weird here”

And if ppl discover the reader is a monster he like defends him like totally?

Like I imagine he’d love a reader that’s like maybe half snake? Idk. ‘Cause I think he finds snakes cute.

Maybe not a harpy or fury (is it called like that? I’m not sure)

Leo could totally pull the same stuff too. Maybe Percy too.

Jason totally not.

What do you think?

You can just answer to this as thoughts in need of an opinion and not a request if u want to/feel uncomfy writing this kind of reader.

Ps: loved the Dionysus one. Love love love it!

Kisses and enjoy that smoothie!

Love this idea, it was so fun to write and off I went a little overboard it's like 3.1k words so production is delayed but whatevs. It was a bit harder to write a totally general reader because of the monster thing but I think it worked. And if figured out that I tend to write character x readers from the perspective of the character requested too.

Chocolate cream and iced honeycomb---Nico di Angelo x Monster Reader

»»————-　★　———

“RACHGAA!”

“AHGHGHAAAA!” Nico snarled back at the sandy green snake.

It reared back a fraction, unblinking eyes narrowed at him as its thin tongue flickered in and out. Nico just stuck his tongue back out at the Ceraste, a horned viper. It would have been an easy fight, if it wasn’t for the fact that Ceraste grew to be about as big as an alligator.

It bowed to him, but that wasn’t a good thing. Two sets of horns, sharp and spiked, glimmered in the afternoon sunshine as Nico stood his ground, Stygian iron sword ready. “I have other monsters to kill, could we make this quick?”

Mortals around them just whispered behind their hands and kept walking, ignoring the battle to the death in the middle of the street. They probably just saw Nico walking an especially spiky and greek dog. He imagined the Ceraste as a poodle for a moment, and then stepped to the side and swung his sword quickly, blocking the violent jab in his direction.

“You’re supposed to be cute,” Nico hissed at it, stomping down hard on its tail and prodding at the light scales flecked with brown. Blood dripped almost instantly. Its scales were as tough as a normal snakes was, and he took advantage of that. Next time it circled, and shot out with lightning speed, shadows creating an arc through the warm summer air as Nico lashed out.

There was the sound of tearing skin, and a disgustingly drawn out squelch, that ended with a thud.

Nico kept his eyes squeezed shut until he could wipe the blood off his face, and then stared down at the decapitated ancient reptile. Blood and guts squished into the road, which he had to stomp on a few times before they melted into gold and ran down the drains in the rubbish filled gutters.

“Uhh,” Nico muttered, flapping his hand about until the sticky dark blood wasn’t on him anymore. “I need a drink.”

He glanced around the bustling New York street, spotting a hippie cafe that wouldn’t have anything stronger than a matcha tea, and a starbucks. A Mcdonalds not in sight, and at least another hour of tracking the final monster ahead of him, Nico opened the door to the busy starbucks.

As he stood in line behind someone with their hair in a dark bun, and two teenage girls wearing strawberry dresses, he unfolded the piece of paper with instructions for his mission. His target was supposed to be around this district, but Chiron wasn’t sure where exactly. Nico was sent to do the dirty work, because apparently nobody else wanted to see the light drain from something's eyes when they could be finding more demigods or retrieving lost items.

Monsters had been attacking demigods before they were in danger. Last week an eight year old Iris boy had showed up to camp with half a leg left, and the attacks had only grown in numbers.

Apart from being around this place, the only thing in common with the spike of violence, was the scales and thin tongues. A few Hydra's, Echidna the she-dragon had made another appearance, and of course, the multitudes of Ceraste.

Nico had just killed four of them, but there were more to come and more demigods in danger unless he found the source. Chiron had his theories, of course, but far-fetched was the idea that one of the snake footed giants had risen from the earth again. Glycon was an option of course, but Nico doubted it was him.

The queue had disappeared, standing around on the other side of the cafe as they waited for their orders, save one person, who was ordering an ‘iced honeycomb caramel latte’. The boy brushed his hair over his shoulder and turned to look out the window, then back to where he was paying for his latte.

Nico followed his gaze, watching with dread as the previously dead snake was hissing by the window. Hissing right next to him as well.

Nico turned slowly, hand on the hilt of his dark sword, but he was only met with the face of a small green python watching him curiously, big eyes shining underneath the bright lights of the cafe. He smiled back at it, immensely confused.

Then the little snake was pulled away and wrapped up into a writhing green ponytail of scales and little puppy-like reptilian faces, flickering tongues and toothless mouths.

“Is your boyfriend gonna order, or…”

Nico blinked out of his snake induced trance and whipped around to where the girl behind the counter was blinking tiredly at him.

The boy next to Nico stuffed change into his pockets and shook his head. The head the snakes were attached to, that was. The boy's eyes were covered by circular black glasses. He smiled. “Oh, I don’t know the emo.”

“I…” Nico started, eyes wide as he took what, or rather who, he was seeing. A gorgon. A real life teenage medusa [and a cute one at that], was standing in the middle of a starbucks, snakes tied back with yet another of the small pythons. He blinked a few times and cleared his throat, turning back to the cashier. “I’ll have one of the chocolate cream… frappuccinos, please.”

“Coming right up,” the cashier muttered, typing into their ipad and then motioning for him to move to the other side of the counter. Where the monster was.

The monster that Nico was starting to suspect he’d have to kill.

»»————-　★　————-««

“There you go. Have a great day.”

“Thanks,” Nico muttered back just as enthusiastically, and took his drink. He was still holding the hilt of his sword, heart pounding as loud as his footsteps as he stomped away. Was he supposed to find the lair of this teenage boy? Was he immortal? Was there any point killing him if he’d just pop up again? What was Nico going to do?

He didn’t have a drachma on him to call camp and ask Chiron what he should do, and to be honest, he wouldn’t have listened to whatever instruction he was given anyway.

The straw was pulled from his mouth as he was yanked sideways.

Something scratchy brushed his arm, and his middle was grabbed tightly. The breath left his lungs and the world blurred for a moment. Then he gasped, drink flying out of his hand, and landed in a booth on the red leather with a yelp. “What the-”

“Hello, pretty boy.”

Nico stared for a moment, heart racing. The boy [monster. He was a monster, not a person. There was a difference. Maybe] sat on the other side of the booth with a grin, latte in hand. His nails were painted green.

Nico noticed this as he gestured to the side, where the Ceraste he had just killed sat coiled up next to the table like a dog waiting for its owner. The sharp horns on its head looked a lot less threatening now that there was a pink scrunchie around one of them. “This is Keith, say hi, Keith.”

“RACHGAA!”

“What-”

“Ssso like, I'm just getting this straight, if you’re gonna kill me, just say that now.” The boy said, leaning forward with his hands pressed together and an easy smirk. “Because I havent been killed yet and I'm not going to Tartarusss anytime soon.”

He glanced towards Keith with a serious expression. “You sssaw what happened to Jeremy.”

Kieth’s tongue flickered in and out once. He seemed to take it as an agreement. Nico’s hand left his hilt as he spoke, even though he had no control of the situation and there was a tensed up snake by his feet. “What would you do if I was going to kill you?”

“Keep you asss an ornament in my Auntie Em’s garden.” He said, and Nico felt his legs swinging under the table. He put his chin on the palm of his hand. “You’re very pretty.”

Nico wasn’t sure which part of the conversation he should be worried about at this point. He didn’t really want to become a statue, but his stomach was filled with a pit of snakes and he was more worried that this gorgon could see the blush on his face through his black tinted glasses. He ended up blinking, a bit stunned.

“That was a joke, holy Hadesss you’re a wet mop of a person, aren’t you.”

“You’re the one with the mop head.” Nico snapped back with a sharp glare. That might not have been the right thing to say though, judging by the way one of the pythons sitting on the boy's shoulder wilted a little, ducking its soft looking head.

It got a pat on the head. “Don’t listen to him noodle, he didn’t mean it.”

Nico looked at the little green snake. Somehow it looked like it was smiling at him, but that could’ve just been the shape of its mouth. “...Sorry Noodle.”

“Noodle saysss thank you.”

Nico looked down at the floor, where his drink was now a brown puddle surrounded by broken shards of plastic. He glanced back up, squinting at the wriggling pythons that were no longer in a pony [snake?] tail. “Can you actually, you know…”

“Noodle says that Becky said Loch Nessss likes your earringsss, but they think you could do something with your hair.”

“What’s wrong with my hair?” Nico scoffed, wrinkling his nose. Did his hair look bad? “It looks fine.”

“Don’t asssk me, ask Loch Ness,” he got in reply, then another smirk. Nico’s stomach rolled again, but it didn’t feel necessarily bad. What on Olympus was that supposed to mean? “And I reckon your hair’s pretty as isss.”

A moment passed, and Nico got the feeling he was being assessed. The boy opposite him sniffed once, and Nico wondered if he smelled like snake guts. That couldn’t be a very good look. “You’re a big three, aren’t you… Wait, no, let me guessss… Poseidon.”

Nico raised an eyebrow.

“That was a joke, if you couldn’t tell.”

“I figured.” He muttered, watching in slight disgust as Keith started to lick the chocolate cream frappuccino off the grimy tiles. “And you?”

“Daughter of Aphrodite.”

“That was a-”

“Joke. You’re catching on, pretty boy.” He grinned, and Nico noticed with a gulp that two of his teeth were sharpened and pearly white. Fangs. He shrugged, chin on his hands. “I honestly have no idea though, I dunno how I’m here. Maybe I sprouted out of her head like that flying horse did.”

“Why are you sending monsters to kill-”

“I wasss just tryna divert the attention, okay? That corpse wasssn’t my fault-” He started, waving his hand in the air to prove his point. ONe of the snakes, maybe noodle, twisted around a few times, tongue flickering out. Nico swore another one with a scar down its scaly spine rolled its soft brown eyes.

“What corpse?”

“No corpssse. I dunno what you’re on about, no one died.” He said quickly, taking a long loud sip of his drink, ice clinking. After a moment he sighed and looked down at the chipped nail polish on his hands. “Some demigod dude, ugh there's ssso many of you, gods must be like rabbits or something. Anyways, one of them found me and I diverted the attention, so I’d get another few weeksss.”

“Another few weeks of…?”

“Life. I mean, I can hide easily, but I already spent a month in San Fransisssco being chased by pitchforksss and metal dogs, and I didn't get Ssstarbucks for like, years, otherwise sssomeone would just pop out with a spear and stabby stabby no more Gabby.”

The scarred snake drooped sadly a little, slinking back into the writhing mass. Nico shook his head quickly. “Camp Half-Blood’s not like that. And I can use the mist.”

“What, you just gonna follow me around New York waving your handsss about for the rest of your life?” He chuckled, swirling his plastic cup around a few times and taking another sip.

“No, you can come back with me.”

Nico wasn’t even sure when he’d come up with the plan, but there was something about his smirk and his nail polish and his stupid jokes and the puppy-like python faces swirling around him that made Nico wince when he imagined him sleeping on the streets fighting off Romans.

“Why should I do that?”

“I…” Nico faltered. What reason did he really have? “I dunno.”

He bounced up, snakes swinging. Keith looked up from the puddle on the ground and shook its tail excitedly, like it knew what was happening already. Maybe this teenage gorgon really could mind control the ancient reptiles.

“Sssweet, let’s go!”

»»————-　★　————-««

“Ssso you’re like, completely sure I won’t be decapitated on sight?”

Nico paused, turning away from the gap in the shrubbery at the base of Half-Blood hill. He’d been watching as demigods slowly trickled into the dining pavilion, cabins regrouping for dinner and burning meals. He couldn’t promise this [really cute] boy that he’d be safe here, but Nico could promise that he’d protect him from any especially violent and biased Ares kids.

“If anyone tries to hurt you I won’t let their siblings visit them in the underworld.”

Nico had to look away again, red faced as he did that thing again, leaning forwards with his hand under his chin and his lips quirked up. “How romantic.”

“I- uh…” Nico choked, and then turned back to the now empty strip of green and strawberry plants, finally letting out a tense breath. “If we go now, I can hide you in my cabin until I guilt trip Chiron into letting me keep you.”

“And Keith.”

“And Keith,” he sighed. One more check to see if the coast was clear, and he slunk out of the bushes, pebbles crunching underneath his boots. He grabbed his new Starbucks [he’d been bought a new one as an apology for nearly being killed by Keith] and waved frantically behind him. “Hurry up, we gotta move.”

There was a scuffling, and then the slick sound of scales moving as the Ceraste followed them past the big house and down to the campfire. The flames were a humming orange, burning brightly in the dusk. It was summer, the mood was always high as campers came from school back to their families and friends.

“Okay, so like, where are you friendsss? Do you have friendsss?”

“Do you?” Nico shot back with a glare, keeping an eye on the open door of the Hermes cabin, but there was no movement inside, except for the pegasus that was chewing on someone's pillow.

“Yup! Noodle and Becky and Loch Nessss and Keith and Gabby and Fruit-”

“Yes…” Nico whispered back, rolling his eyes, but when he turned a little, Loch Ness [how could he already tell them apart?] was flicking its little black tongue at him, gummy mouth wide. “I have friends.”

“Great, isss that them?”

“...What.”

Nico whipped around, stepping in front of the boy he was currently smuggling with his hand on the hilt of his sword. Keith rattled its tail and hissed, neck arched. Nico wasn’t sure who was approaching them, the figures covered by the shadow of the Iris cabin. He kept his voice low, “the mist, we have to cover you.”

“Can you use the missst?” He whispered back loudly, over the nervous hissing around him.

“Of course I can use the mist,” Nico said. Then he realized something and gritted his teeth, face red. “But, just on me, unless I’m… you know…”

“Nope. I don’t know.” He said simply, and Nico turned away, grabbing his hand very quickly and closing his eyes for a moment, eyebrows pinched in concentration. Nico tried to focus on the magic he was weaving through the air and not the weirdly smooth skin of the hand he was holding, and if his own was sweaty or not.

When he opened them, the boy beside him was blinking with foggy looking dark green eyes that matched the snakes now covered by a dark hood. The only thing still him was that stupid smirk. “Did it work?”

“Yeah,” Nico’s voice wavered, and his grip tightened. “Okay, now act normal, they're coming over.”

“I’m not normal?”

“Nico, don’t be rude!” Hazel told him off, a gentle smile on her face anyway. Her hands were in the pockets of a large purple jumper, arm threaded through Franks. He waved nervously at Nico, like he still wasn’t sure he wasn’t about to kill him via skeletons. Hazel turned to the currently covered by mist boy. “Sorry about h-”

She squinted as a door slammed near the big three cabins. Nico’s hand was definitely too tight as his sister stared down the boy next to him. She licked her lips, “why is he covered by the mist, Nico?”

He had almost forgotten she was chosen by Hecate, goddess of the mist. Almost, but not quiet. He ducked his head. “Er, so you don’t… kill him?”

“I prefer to stay out of Tartarusss actually, I heard it smellsss pretty bad down there-”

“You can’t even imagine.”

Nico froze. Oh, could this get any worse? He sighed and turned to Percy, hoping his fingernails weren’t leaving indents in the smooth skin he was clutching. His other hand was cold from the icy drink he was holding.

Percy grinned obliviously, “who got there?”

“...Starbucks.”

“Ha ha,” Hazel muttered, raising an eyebrow. Nico nodded, pretending he was laughing too, and then sped past them, dragging along the hidden gorgon to the Hades cabin, who waved happily as they left the group.

Frank shuffled, “isn’t there a two demigods not allowed alone in a cabin rule?”

Nico groaned internally. Why did he have to word the [snitchy] question in such a way? He knew what he was going to see before he even turned to the shortly disguised boy next to him. He sighed and nodded, letting go of his hand and taking a long sip of his drink as he watched the chaos go down.

“Good thing I’m not a demigod!”

Hazel’s expression didn’t shift, she’d seen right through the magic at the very start. She’d seen the coils of scales and the circular black glasses, the strangely smooth skin somewhere between human and snake. She might’ve even seen the tiny fangs. Frank stepped back behind his girlfriend a little, his eyes wide.

Percy visibly paled, and then gulped. “Oh.”

“No hard feelingsss man. You gotta do what you gotta do.”

Nico watched his gorgon for a moment and then smiled a little. He turned back to the gravel path leading to his cabin. “You ready? There’s a lot of skulls, just warning you.”

“Wait til you ssssee my place."

»»————-　★　————-««

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jamesowlv · 1 year

Text

specific thoughts on TSATS:

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

first of all i LOVE how will’s character was written in this. i love how will says things that are kind of closed minded and in nico’s mind, they’re hurtful, but then in will’s pov they seem more reasonable and make sense. it shows their difference in perspective sooo well. and he has so much more depth!! i love how he’s portrayed as having darkness of his own and having his own insecurities. AND HOW HE’S AFRAID OF NICO LEAVING HIM?? that adds SO much for him bc a lot of the time the fandom just sees like nico as scared and emo and sad and insecure and will is happy and confident and WILL bring the one that’s scared of doing something wrong and being left is so ahdjskjdkslgjek

they cry SO MUCH in this book, which isn’t a bad thing at all i kind of love it. also i would be sobbing if i was in tartarus too. i feel like rick always has little themes that he likes to repeat in his books, like people suddenly passing out after saying something, making jokes ina. horrible situation, & etc, and this is definitely another little theme of his (or maybe mark’s who knows!!)

this book definitely is a lot darker than any of rick’s previous books, but i feel like him and mark kind of compensate for it by dropping some of the darker scenes super fast. for example, that scene where will realized that tartarus is alive and like has a breakdown (I FUCKING LOVE THAT SCENE ALSO) is kind of quickly brushed past, and like will kinda just gets over it. i get that the book can’t be too dark tho

correct me if i’m wrong but is this the first pjoverse book that’s had a curse word?? or first rick riordan book period?? i saw nico say the word damn and my jaw DROPPED

i know that the scene where nico sees bianca and maria again is a little like inaccurate and fan pleasing but god am i pleased. like who cares that bianca said she was in elysium after it said in a previous book that she was reborn, it was rlly cute!!! i’m here for it idc

i was ABSOLUTELY FLABBERGASTED when will gave nyx and friends the gay fever. i bet all the plague will truthers are laughing in my face but i DID NOT expect that. i kinda fucking loved it tho he just pulled that out of his ass

there’s some scene in the final showdown where they (they being the authors) like mess up bianca and maria’s names and nico called bianca his mom and i was like huh !!

them kissing and then having to stop because bob is crying so loud is hilarious idc

ALSO bob the cat just like RIPPING that one guy’s throat out and nico trying to stop him and just being horrified was also hilarious

my heart leapt out of my chest when they were walking over the pit of chaos and will was like “she’s telling me to jump” i was like speeding through at that point and that just came out of nowhere and i was like jesus!! that whole scene of them crossing was so good eee also when will had that thing?? that happened to him when he saw the mansion was so creepy and distressing and

i will definitely be diving into will’s trauma and issues once it’s tomorrow and my brain isn’t fried!! i’ve read too many words today

overall i LOVED the book but idk if everyone feels the same bc blocking all the critics all day has been a full time job,, but that book made my little neurodivergent brain buzz so hard

#tsats spoilers #the sun and the star #tsats #the sun and the star spoilers #nico di angelo #will solace #rick riordan #mark oshiro

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fuzzystudios · 2 years

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yk when I started reading toa I was kinda disappointed at the lack of power that apollo / lester had, bc pjo and hoo had their main characters be basically op, and this is literally a (former) god. apollo in tho made me cringe and reading his perspective was like looking at pills in an orange prescription bottle. but he was the whiny teenager that felt like an out-of-depth teenager more than the actually lived for years-in-teen-numbers, because they were more heroes and soldiers than teens, like they were supposed to be. he is simultaneously whiny child and responsible adult.

the moment I really latched onto him was when he basically dropped everything and tried to dive into the forest to go save his kids. bro wasn’t actually a selfish idiot like he kept making himself look like. bro was an emotionally constipated loving loser (affectionate) and loveable. he would risk the wrath of styx to save these kids. positively skrunkly

oh and his power! look guys the former protagonists always had some power to back them up, some good strength. this guy? first not demigod protagonist and he goes from straight up zero to launching a guy to the clouds with his bare hands. and tfw he uses his voiceTM. BEGONE SNAKE! and he acts so pathetic lol and if you look through whatever sunglasses he’s wearing and you look at the things from 3rd person pov dude what is he doing. he just flew off a road driving a car, and puts himself in front of the gremlin child to face one of those creepy zombie things that scream FOOD!!. bro straight up stabbed himself. bro sings the most heart wrenching song that even giant ants that don’t even understand what he’s saying get the point to the extent that they go catatonic with depression.

and holy cheez-its what kind of pain tolerance does this guy have?? dude??? you fell from the literal sky above the Empire State Building which like literal greek heaven (ouch) straight into a dumpster and then gets beat into unconsciousness by a pair of thugs under Nero like??? and with broken ribs, injured nose, hurt shoulder, etc. he walks up the stairs, runs through the woods insane. dude is literally insane. he gets flayed alive, forgets his other half, trapped in place by molten chains all at once and still trying trying to walk wth like this guy’s pain tolerance is beyond ouranos. idk how he does it I can’t even tolerate a hot summer day.

bro gives advice to a lost gremlin child who betrayed him anyway, helps her defeat her abuser the way he never could. and he grew, like everyone around him, to something better, something hopeful. “you’ve changed” heck yeah!! we love to see it

and humor?? like random mentions of things no one else in pjo would give you like playing the zither at 2am, godly toilet seat, ares roundhouse kick, waking up in Argentina. I love that they’re so offhand but they’re so funny and random

the haiku. they’re hilarious, works of art.

the characters. Chiron. Chiara. Damien. Austin. Kayla. Cecil. will. nico. Rachel. Lavinia. emmie. Josephine. heck even Commodus. lityerses. Abelard. Diana. frank. Jason. piper. the trogs. lu. reyna omg. meg. aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAA I love them so much! just how they fit in with his own journey of self and how they grow with him, like a garden, like an orchestra building its crescendo together, in unity. little things like reading frank’s admiration of apollo first in hoo, and now we get apollo’s side of it, and he’s so cute. Reyna’s whole journey of “finding the one who will heal her heart”. (gods I loved that thank you rick.) and will’s “dad!” and making apollo literally weep and meg: “the beast is dead. I killed it.” and taps her head and I'm just so proud of them.

“YOU ARE NO GOD!” he isn’t the same god who fell to earth in the winter. he likely won’t be ever the same ever again. ‘cause he’s gonna work to being better. he’s saving the world, but he’s also having a journey of his own self, rediscovering himself, building onto himself like everyone else, they’re all gonna be a better version of themselves.

k one problem: not enough content. I am starved for content. please feed pet. ty

#rambles #bad quality posts #essay thing #I think #trials of apollo #lester papadopoulos #apollogists #toa apollo

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nico-esoterica · 7 days

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"Nico, I wanna be a famous artist!" (A Case Study Using Manifestation and Astrology)

Lady Gaga went from no one knowing her name in a hand-made outfit at Lollapalooza in '07 to eclipsing and redefining pop culture in '09. And later headlined Lollapalooza in 2010. She told herself, "I'm going to make a Number One Record," and "The Fame is inside of Me," over and over again. This was what meteoric 'BTS-like' success looked like for millennials (which also happened in the same amount of time).

She manifested that shit like a motherfucker. She's living proof that a small indie artist who can barely move a crowd and who got INITIAL lukewarm reception after releasing her breakout album that only gained traction A YEAR LATER that YOU, IN FACT, CAN DO THIS SHIT. Gaga was performing in hole in the wall gay clubs in Europe and radios didn't care about that album until Just Dance blew up in the US. Every millennial remembers exactly where they were in life when that single became a hit song. This is also the woman who performed in an Ikea Parking Lot to promote said album.

This is a sign for all of the artists in the audience to NOT give up on your dreams. Even if things seem to be slow, delayed, or as if nothing is going on. There will always be SOMETHING behind the scenes if you commit to thinking in your favor. You're human and can have shitty days, weeks, etc, but it's important to NOT COMMIT TO BEING MISERABLE. Your engagement's gonna go up, you can find a new melody for that song, work through your writer's block and just WRITE the damn thing, and you're going to GET the right gig for you. Your dreams will be handed to you if you believe that they will. TRUST YOURSELF.

Astrologically, Gaga was in her 10H profection year when she first performed at Lollapalooza. But between 07-08+ she experienced the classic Jupiter and Saturn squares to her natal planet equivalents which occur in your early 20s that could've served as catalysts or hurdles she chose not to overcome and did the former. Contrary to what we hear about 10H profections being about finally being seen or getting promoted, etc, it's not inherently explosive. It depends on the chart and what the person does with their potential. Gaga used it as exposure and to further build her career that'd soon snowball into legendary success.

This isn't some Capitalistic tale about 'hard work paying off.' I don't believe in toil and 'hard work' in an exploitative economical sense. I believe in all-encompassing self-belief. Gaga could have easily thrown in the towel when the radios weren't gagged or the people weren't moving in the crowd. She, imo, was performing for audiences only SHE could see. Huge ones based on the scale she believed in.

Even if we could say her Mars-Neptune conjunction in Capricorn where she already had an exaltation or that her Moon-Mars or Moon-Pluto helped her, those harmonious aspects could have motivated her in the opposite direction if she wasn't seeing results. Because all of that Mars can easily wear out through exhaustion or entrap itself in the idea that it simply 'can't come easily.' Martian and Saturnian folks tend to enjoy suffering as a kink. She also could've easily been a flash-in-the-pan one hit wonder artist and faded or her era could've been very short. Maybe in hind sight it was from a musical perspective, but that 5 year run between The Fame and pre-Art Pop undeniably gave her quarter century defining success. And she'd later go on to win big accolades as a serious actress and is still going.

And speaking strictly astrologically, I see another big musical era for her coming. I saw it in Galliano's chart when his fire points got activated and will be emblazoned by Neptune in Aries transiting soon. I also see the same coming for our Mama Monster.

So, um, why are y'all giving up out there in the stands? COME GET ON STAGE AND CLAIM IT AS YOURS ALREADY.

#manifestation #loa #celebrity astrology #lady gaga astrology #mani essays #lady gaga

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areinageishisbiggestfan · 6 months

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Nico Hakobyan's attempted murder, & why it means more than you think

TW ANIMAL DEATH EXPLANATION !!! NO IMAGES, JUST TALK OF HOW AN ANIMAL WOULD BE KILLED

As of Chapter 2 Episode 6, disregarding the theory that he did it himself, it's mostly accepted throughout the fandom that Nico did attempt to kill Ace. (I honestly believed that theory until finding this out, for perspective.)

Of course, we don't know exactly how this was done: but there are pieces of evidence that help put them together, these being the fan falling off the ceiling, the wire in his neck, and the injury to his neck area (plus various knocked over objects). We also know that Nico had a clear motive to do this: Ace bullying them for practically the entire game, despite being scared of almost everything himself.

From this, we can gather that despite there being multiple possibilities, the most likely method is that his body was tied (most likely around the neck) to the fan, and then his neck was cut open, either from the wire when he fell, or Nico did it separately. This theory supports the latter option here - Nico hanging his body from the fan, and then cutting his neck open with the wire.

Now, I'm stating relatively obvious facts here. What puzzled me about this attempted murder is the lack of meaning behind it. Various other deaths like this all have some kind of symbolism, but minus 'Nico getting revenge', this one seemed to have none - until I saw a video explaining an.. oddly specific topic. This being how you'd kill a chicken that was too unwell to live.

No, there was no autocorrect there: that's the topic I'm going over.

The correct way to do this, according to chicken owners, is to hang them (usually upside down) to disorient them, and then cutting the neck open.

And if anyone's gonna know how to do that? It's the Ultimate Pet Therapist. The one who likely had to study veterinary subjects for their talent. The one being bullied and threatened by someone scared of just about everything.

A large amount of evidence points towards this being the murder method (deliberate or not), minus the hanging being used just to disorient him (this is what the stuff stolen from Rose was likely used for).

TDLR; Nico tried to kill Ace the same way you'd kill a chicken. That's it.

#tw animal death #drdt spoilers #danganronpa despair time #drdt #nico hakobyan #ace markey #nico drdt #ace drdt #drdt theory

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demi-gods-posts · 4 months

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PJO characters as moodboard’s and my opinions on them🫶 (not including the gods)

Major spoiler warning!! ⚠️ ⚠️‼️‼️

I tried to include every character I could/could think about at the moment + from the wiki.

Character development ratings are for how well I think their character development was in the story with everything we’ve been given in PJO and how they’re portrayed with this development.

The overall rating is my genuine opinion on how well I think the character was written overall and how they were handled in the story.

Percy Jackson

A bit biased considering he’s the main character but I love his relationships with people around him. How he always jokes around even in tough situations (but only when it’s needed, not unnecessarily joking). And his sarcasm in the books feels like he’s telling us a story that he knows everything about. It makes the story feel more at home and open rather than being in an outside perspective viewing in. It allows the reader to become immersed with the story and feel how the characters are feeling.

Character development: 10/10

My rating overall: 10/10

Luke Castellan

I honestly really liked Luke’s character development as a whole in the series, seeing how he felt betrayed by his family and how he didn’t have a sense of home or anybody to rely on. And how he loved Annabeth for so long but she didn’t love him in the same way at the end. How he was never able to see his father and never got any support from Hermes at all, how his mother went insane and how he ran away from home to camp half-blood.

Character development: 10/10

My rating overall: 9/10

Zoë Nightshade

Zoë’s my favorite character by far in the entire series, just showing how she knew she was going to die on the quest but went anyways truly shows her courage and determination to stand up against her father Atlas. And the way she asked Artemis if she did good made my heart shatter. And I love that she lives in the stars now by the moons side with Artemis. Just knowing she can rest now after what I’m guessing is thousands of years of hunting with the huntresses and seeing her friends die again and again. Now knowing she can finally be free and safe in the afterlife.

Character Development: 10/10

My rating overall: 10/10

Silena Beauregard

As I think about it I start to like Silena’s character more, how she joined Kronos as a spy because of her love for Charles. How she is the daughter of Aphrodite of all of the gods and is swayed to do something she doesn’t want to do because of love. How she comes in to fight pretending to be Clarisse because she wants revenge for Charles and gets to see him again in Asylum. How the entire reason she became a spy was for her love for Charles and the fear that he would get hurt if she didn’t join Kronos as a spy. And how she was considered a hero afterwards because of her actions in the battle.

Character development: 9/10

My rating overall: 10/10

Charles Beckendorf

Though he wasn’t shown all that much in the actual story he was a good character in theory, how he sacrificed himself to sink Krono’s ship. How Silenas love for him created her into a spy and lead to him dying as a result even if she was promised he wouldn’t get hurt. And he’s now safe in Elysium with Silena being happy together.

Character development: 10/10

My rating overall 9/10

Nico di Angelo

From the start of his arc’s I personally didn’t really like Nico until the war. I also enjoyed the plot point of his misplaced anger for Bianca’s death and the betrayal against Percy because of his father. Though I didn’t like how much of a ‘villain’ he was portrayed as because he was a child of Hades. Just adding to the fact he felt misplaced and was used by Mida’s ghost for leverage against the other mortals

Character development: 9/10

My overall score: 7/10

Bianca di Angelo

I felt like Bianca was a sort of throw away character in the series and was only really there for Nico’s story in the books. Since she died so early on from being introduced it felt like she was just used for plot development instead of being created as a genuine character who wanted to live with the huntresses. Being that the first quest she went on she died. Though I do love to see the sense of community and family she finally gets after joining the huntresses for the first time and how she finally feels accepted in her life.

Character development: 3/10

My rating overall: 5/10

Annabeth Chase

Honestly Annabeth isn’t one of my personal favorites though she’s pretty high on my list, she’s written as being witty, sarcastic and serious with a sort of soft side to her. I like her development with her parents in The Titans Curse and how her parents treat her (I say parents as her dad and step-mom. Not Athena) and also in The Titans Curse I like her development with when she meets the huntresses and almost joins them. Though decided not to because of Percy.

Character Development:8/10

Overall Rating: 9/10

Thalia Grace

Thalia had a lot of good development before she joined the huntresses, though I do think after she left the tree she acted like she knew more than everyone else in a sense? Though I do like her general character and her choice to join the huntresses of Artemis after Bianca and Zoë passed on.

Character development: 9/10

My overall score: 7/10

Clarisse la Rue

Clarisse was a really good character in my opinion, being all rude and rugged to Percy but treating Annabeth like a sister, comforting Silena when Charles died and staying by Chris’s side when he went mad later forming into Chris calming Clarisse when she was upset or just generally being a good boyfriend towards her. Clarisse is rough and tough though she has a soft side towards certain people like Annabeth, Chris and Silena.

Character development: 10/10

My overall score: 10/10

Feel free to add your opinions on the PJO series and its characters in either my asks or comments 🫶.

#percy jackson #pjo hoo toa #percy jackon and the olympians #rick riordan #percy and annabeth #percy pjo #pjo series #pjoverse #boo #clarisse pjo #clarisse la rue #annabeth chase #zoe nightshade #bianca di angelo #nico di angelo #luke pjo #luke castellan

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avaetin · 5 months

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Nicobaster: (@drksanctuary you might like this)

All of their firsts were initiated by Nico.

It's not that Alabaster's disinterested of intimacy with Nico. It's just that... it's Nico di Angelo. That one person whom Alabaster once thought was beyond his reach. That one person whom Alabaster was convinced he could never have beyond his wildest fantasies.

Nico di Angelo was his personal god. He was the only one he ever worshipped and will ever worship.

For the longest time, a part of him believed it's a dream. So much so that the first time he held one of Nico's hands, his hand trembled with so much reverence and gentleness, as if he were afraid that Nico would shatter against his grasp. It was the same when he first embraced the son of Hades. The same when he first kissed his soft, petal-shaped lips.

All of these were initiated by Nico. His Nico.

His.

The change didn't happen overnight. It had been gradual. It was, to put into perspective, as if Alabaster realised that he could finally have what he wanted, and nothing and no one could take it away - not even the gods. That he could take and take and take, and it would continue to be his and his alone.

There was still reverence and gentleness in his touch, but there was also a hunger. An insatiable hunger. Something primal that snarled, "Mine!" as he devoured every inch of that once untouched canvas, leaving indelible marks every time he unravelled the god underneath him with his lips and tongue and touch. Something primal that snarled, "Mine!" as he engraved his god's flavour into his memory, let their shared sin coat his tongue like the world's sweetest nectar.

There's a lingering fear in the back of Alabaster's mind that perhaps Nico would one day be his ruin. But, until that day comes, let him ruin his god meticulously - piece by (precious) piece.

=====

Bonus:

What Alabaster didn't know was the fact that he was Nico's personal god as much as he was his. But perhaps, eventually, he'd come to see the same awe and reverence in those russet-brown eyes as he admired them from his rightful place above the son of Hades.

#nico di angelo #alabaster c torrington #nicobaster #pjo #i got bored #lel #and inspired by our ehem interesting convo #this was rushed lol

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doevademe · 8 months

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first I wanted to say I luv your account and writing!!

Second, its been soooo long since I read the book when Percy and Nico first meet, but for some reason I always kinda liked that Percy was annoyed by Nico and Nico seemed to idolize Percy lol does that make sense? I'd love to know your thoughts

I may have gone overboard with this but... here, have a full fledged analysis about that first meeting and how it can sort of be a microcosm of the Percico dynamic.

If you have heard the phrase "If you can't love me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best"? Well, for Percy and Nico, this saying is completely backwards. Percy and Nico seem to love each other the most when they are at their worst (or at least are more willing to show their affection for each other). Because that first meeting? Yeah, Percy was definitely not quite the hero Nico remembers him as.

Percy failed pretty badly against Dr. Thorn. He lost Annabeth, he couldn't kill the monster, he had to be saved by the Hunters and then find out Annabeth was thinking about joining them. He was not in a good place at that moment. Add in Nico being excitable and too curious and, well, he behaved like a moody teen. But Nico never saw that. He saw the earnest, brave hero who tried with all he had to save him and his sister, and he fell in love with him. This is actually very important from a meta perspective for Percico readings, because that's what their relationship is: Percy showing off how flawed he is in front of Nico without realizing, and Nico loving him all the same.

Nico, on the other hand, was arguably at his best in this meeting. Unburdened by his past of losing his mom, finding out he's part of a fantasy world he has been obsessed with for a while, having a cute boy wanting to rescue him... and Percy is annoyed at him. It's not until tragedy looms on the horizon for Nico (Bianca leaving him) that Percy starts seeing Nico and worrying for him, wanting him to be okay and safe. Percy never picks up on how he feels about Nico (platonically or romantically is up to you) until he's in danger or hurting, then he becomes protective and afraid for Nico.

These two love each other, but they only show it when things get tough, when they allow themselves to be imperfect, because it's the only time they don't need to communicate, they just need to keep the other safe.

And that's why that first meeting is far more important in setting up their relationship and dynamic than most people realize.

#percico #percico meta #long post #ask #anonymous #and thank you #anon love #kinda

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