Just Looked At A Blog Where The Header Description Said 'sometimes I Reblog Posts I Like So I Don't Forget

Just looked at a blog where the header description said 'sometimes I reblog posts I like so I don't forget them'.

And I feel like that, right there, explains so much about how the site has changed in the last few months.

People now think reblogging is an unusual behaviour, rather than a default.

Tumblr newbies, please, for the love of baby Jesus, reblog the posts you like. That is the whole reason the site exists - for you to collect all your shiny fandom objects in a single space. Which you can organize to your heart's content. Or not organize at all, if that's your jam.

Our blogs are intended to be collections of posts, not collections of likes.

Jasico Week 2024 - Day 4

Words: 1,859 Rating: General Audiences Type: Oneshot

Description: 3 times Jason Grace thought Nico Di Angelo was a god, and the 1 time he realized he wasn't.

Sidenote: This fic was written for @jasico-challenges Jasico week 2024 event!

Full fic under the cut!

Jason Grace had only met a few gods in his life. Though, he could say with utmost certainty that Nico Di Angelo was a unique one. 

Nico had blown into camp one day with no real explanation. He just showed up with Lupa’s blessing, got his branding like it was no big deal, and went on his merry way. He introduced himself as the Ambassador of Pluto, as if that made any sense of it all, and blatantly ignored most of his Camp Jupiter responsibilities with no real repercussions. 

Jason was convinced he was a minor god of sorts. He could almost feel Nico watching from over his shoulder like he was keeping an eye on things. 

Jason remembered the first time they met. He remembered how everyone seemed to walk a wide circle around him, but Nico didn’t act bothered in the slightest. 

It had been a normal day. Jason was going about his business when Reyna came to inform him of a senate meeting regarding a new ambassador. Of course, he got there as fast as he could, but Nico had beat the two of them to it. 

He remembered walking into the senate building and seeing him standing there. He was ghostly pale but in a porcelain kind of way. Thick black hair sat in perfect ringlets around his face, curling up like the camp’s statue’s wings. A blank expression cast on his face, and Jason couldn’t help but notice how the shadows in the room almost seemed to lean towards him. 

Jason stepped forward to introduce himself, taking notice of Nico’s robes. He held out a hand. “Jason Grace, praetor.”

Nico looked him up and down sideways before taking the handshake. “Nico Di Angelo, ambassador of Pluto.” His hand was deathly cold but oddly soft. 

Jason tried to distract himself by thinking about literally anything else. No matter what, his mind wandered to Nico. 

The meeting began, and Nico immediately the main topic of discussion. He was asked to walk to the stand and explain himself, which he did without complaint. 

He stood behind the stand, robes hanging off him a little too perfectly in Jason’s opinion. He elbowed Reyna. “Do you think he’s a demigod?” he whispered. 

She elbowed him back. “If you would shut up and listen, maybe we’d know.”

Nico’s eyes flicked to the two of them before focusing back on the rest of the faces in the room. “My name is Nico Di Angelo,” he said for the millionth time. “I was asked by Pluto to represent him and his children here at Camp Jupiter.”

He paused, looking around at the uneasy faces. A ghost raised his hand. Jason attempted to pay a normal amount of attention to the way the light caught Nico’s dark eyes as they flicked over to him, but he found himself staring for a second too long. 

“How do we know we can trust you?” The ghost asked rather unceremoniously. Nico shrugged. Reyna decided that was not helping his case, and stood to give him a hand. 

“Pluto has given us express confirmation that he would like Nico to represent him. Unless, of course, you’d like to challenge a god?” she said, putting on her ‘praetor voice.’

Nico didn’t seem too bothered by the whole thing, standing there with the light shining in from the columns. The shadows in the room gave away his underlying emotions, as tendrils of smoky darkness played nervously in the corners. Nico noticed Jason looking and quickly unclenched his jaw, the shadows falling flat. 

This kid had to be a god. Jason was sure of it. 

A few days later, Jason was determined to prove his theory. He stood in the Principia, talking with Reyna as if they weren’t in a giant, ornate room. Jason wasn’t sure when he got so used to the elaborate structures all around him, but they seemed so normal now. 

“So,” Jason started, studying her face. “What do you think of the new ambassador?” 

Reyna looked over, brow furrowed. “He’s fine.”

Jason crossed his arms. “Right.”

Reyna snickered. “What?”

“I was just asking your opinion. What, I can’t get my fellow praetor’s opinion?” he defended, waving his hands around a little more than necessary. 

She raised her eyebrows. “Right. What do you think about him.”

Jason crossed his arms again, looking everywhere but at Reyna. What did he think of Nico?

“Isn’t he…I don’t know,” Jason raised his shoulders. “Doesn’t he feel like he’s different from us somehow?”

Reyna shrugged. “He’s just not a legionnaire. It’s fine.”

Jason groaned. “No, he’s different.”

She raised her eyebrows. A smile played on her usually straight lips. Jason groaned again. 

“How so?” Reyna asked. 

“He’s just too…you know.”

“I don’t know.”

Jason sighed loudly. He decided he’d just come right out and say what he was thinking. 

“Do you think he’s a god?” Jason asked bluntly. 

Reyna sputtered. “No? Why would you think that?”

Jason began his wild hand motions again. “I don’t know! He just looks too…godly.”

Reyna snickered. Jason felt his face heat up. He wasn’t used to the feeling and decided he wasn’t fond of it. 

“Well, he’s sparring down in the coliseum,” Reyna said. “You can go be a creep and stalk him if you want, but I have some actual work to do.”

She turned on her heel, walking away and chuckling to herself the whole time. Jason wasn’t sure what was so funny to her, but he did know he was about to go find out more about this guy. 

Jason stood on the edge of the coliseum’s training area. His eyes followed Nico as he sparred with his sister, Hazel. While it obviously wasn’t a fair fight, considering Hazel had just come to camp, it was an interesting one. 

Nico was clearly trying to teach her something, as he stopped every few seconds to share some information with her. However, his fighting style was still clear through the watered-down movements. 

Jason had never seen anything like him before. He weaved in and out of the shadows, allowing Hazel to block his attacks. He made a mental note to tell Hazel she had improved a lot later, but for now, settled his eyes back on the ambassador he was investigating. 

Nico looked impossibly more divine when he battled, like something right out of an old painting. His hair was pulled up off his face with a hair tie, but some still hung in whispers around his neck and face. He had hardly broken a sweat, but the sun still glimmered off him radiantly. Jason was about to lose his mind. 

Nico had to be a god. There was no reason for any mortal to look that way, Jason had never even seen somebody quite like him. 

The shadows clearly belonged to him. They trailed behind him as he jumped and ran through them like smoke. They seemed to cling to him as if they knew him as an old friend, hanging off his clothing and mingling with his hair. He sliced his black sword, clearly not aiming to hurt his sister but still putting up a challenge for her. 

Nico deemed her as successful in whatever task he was presenting and stopped his onslaught of slashes to let her catch her breath. He said something briefly, then turned and began his walk to Pluto’s temple on Temple Hill. 

Jason considered following him but noticed a few people staring and decided to instead go clap Hazel on the shoulder and tell her good job. 

Jason wasn’t done speculating, though. 

A few days later, after a senate meeting, he watched as people filed out of the senate building, one of which being Nico. He looked over to make sure Reyna wasn’t watching and ducked out of the building himself. 

Jason was a bit ashamed to admit to himself that he was currently following Nico, and in a rather stalking manner at that. However, the man was curious and that just couldn’t be helped. 

He watched how Nico walked, soft footsteps hardly making a sound against the pavement. His robes, as always, fit him way too well. 

Jason was walking quite a ways behind him, but decided he had a question to ask and picked up his speed. 

Just as he was right behind Nico, hand outstretched to put on his shoulder, Nico checked beside him for people watching. He managed to not see Jason and turned the corner just behind a tree. 

Jason reached out, but his hand didn’t hit anything. He looked behind the tree, and Nico was nowhere to be found. 

The shadows looked oddly ruffled but settled back into place under Jason’s examination. 

He stood there, dumbfounded, before concluding that Nico had used whatever godly powers he had to zap himself right back to the underworld. 

Jason knew he was a god now. He had to be. No other demigod was capable of doing that, not even a child of the big three gods. He had to be a god, and Jason was sure of it. 

Days passed, and Nico became the only thing he ever thought about. 

He walked through the Forum, mulling over his thoughts. Reyna didn’t believe him and seemed thoroughly amused by his notions. So, Jason decided to keep his ideas to himself about Nico’s divinity. 

He ducked into the library, deciding to read through every single book about the gods they had and see if he could find any hints as to what Nico was, and ended up finding the biggest hint of all. The man himself. 

Nico stood beside a particularly large bookshelf, hand on his hip as he stared up at the tallest shelf. He jumped, but couldn’t reach the book he was aiming for, hand brushing it desperately. 

Jason bit back a laugh and walked over to assist like the Good Samaritan he was. 

He leaned over Nico, who turned around to face him. “Praetor,” Nico greeted. 

“Ambassador,” Jason tipped his head. “Need help?”

Nico’s eyes flicked back to the bookshelf. He looked embarrassed. “That would be appreciated.”

Jason reached up and pulled the book down, offering it to him. Nico took it, studying it in his hands. 

Nico looked back up at him. “Thanks.” 

“Are you a god?” Jason blurted out, unable to stop himself. 

Nico’s face changed from embarrassed to confused. He raised an eyebrow, holding the book in one arm. “No?” 

Jason looked him over for hints of a lie. He didn’t find any. “Oh. Are you sure?”

Nico snickered semi-discreetly. “Pretty sure.”

Jason leaned forward slightly, inspecting the face he deemed too perfect to be human. “Really?” Jason could feel his cheeks burning. 

“On the river Styx. Just a regular demigod like you.”

Jason nodded, embarrassment matching Nico’s. 

“Well then. Enjoy your afternoon, ambassador.” Jason turned on his heel, deciding that if he walked fast enough back to his bed he could bury his face in his pillow and scream the memory away. 

He left a very confused demigod in his wake and realized as he walked back that Nico wasn’t a god. He was just pretty.

Sonadow Generations

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

Haikyuu Gotcha for Gaza!

Hello all! This is the official account for the Haikyuu Gotcha for Gaza event.

This is a fundraising event started for the people of Palestine. We are not officially associated with Haikyuu, it's anime, or it's manga. This is a fan-run project, and made possible by volunteer fan creators.

How it works:

For donations of 5 USD — 8 USD to any of the fundraisers listed, you will be able to receive a fanwork from one of the amazing volunteers!

( $5USD for SFW, $8USD for NSFW fanfic/fanart ).

Do note that we are not accepting dead dove / taboo prompts, thank you!

Schedule:

June 20th - June 25th: Creator sign ups open.

June 26th - August 1st: Donations open.

Fanworks to be completed before September 1st.

We have an AO3 Collection.

More information on our carrd.

Jasico Week 2024 - Day 1

Words: 3,058 Rating: General Audiences Type: Oneshot

Description: Nico, Camp Half-Bloods demigod with the largest contraband collection, helps Jason have a quiet birthday devoid of all Stoll pranks. Birthday cake and Mario Kart included.

Sidenote: This fic was written for @jasico-challenges Jasico week 2024 event!

Full fic under the cut! However, the formatting is a bit better on AO3 since I’m posting this from mobile lol.

Alone time at camp was hard to get. It was even harder if you happened to go to camp at a time that aligned with when the Stoll brothers went to camp. Unfortunately for Jason, he fell into that bracket of poor souls.

Not only did the Stolls insist on knowing everyone’s birthday, they also insisted on making a personalized prank on that very day. Beyond that sphere of horrible intent, they also told everyone they knew that it was your birthday—they knew everyone at camp.

Jason was still shuddering in remembrance of the last camper who the two of them had gotten their hands on. The prank wasn’t pretty, nor was the aftermath. Said camper still walked a wide circle around those two.

Nico had somehow managed to scrape away with never enduring one of their birthday pranks. Wether he paid them off or if they just respected him enough to leave him alone was up for debate. They were his first two real friends at camp, and was known for aiding their pranks when needed, so maybe they just couldn’t do as good of a prank without him that they didn’t bother.

However it happened didn’t matter to Jason. All that he cared about was Nico never got pranked, and he was determined not to either.

Jason slammed his breakfast tray down on the Hades table with enough conviction to conjure several glares from other campers. He didn’t care enough to look back, but he’d certainly gotten Nico’s attention.

Nico pulled off his headphones, hardly taking the time to set down his fork. “Good gods, what?” Nico said, pausing his iPod. It was the closest thing to updated technology that all of camp had, and Nico clung to the thing rather strong.

Jason sat down, ignoring the rules saying he should be at his own table. “I need a favor,” he said.

“Great?” Nico said, picking his fork back up.

Jason groaned. “Come on!”

“I didn’t say no.”

Jason took a breath, hope singing his name on the horizon. Maybe he was being dramatic, but he hadn’t had a birthday to himself in years, and he would’ve killed a titan by himself for one right now.

“My birthday is tomorrow,” Jason said leaning forward like it was a huge secret.

Nico picked at his oatmeal. “I’m aware.”

Of course, Nico was the only person other than Piper and Leo who knew his birthday at camp. He’d told him on the Argo II one night when they were both not tired enough to sleep but too tired to go to their own rooms. Nico had also told him his birthday, and they made a pact to not tell anyone and have secret birthdays.

Jason picked up his one apple. “I need you to keep Connor and Travis at bay.”

Nico raised an eyebrow. “You don’t want camp to know?”

Jason shook his head. “I just…want some alone time.”

Nico nodded, thick black hair falling into his eyes only to be pushed back into place. Jason watched a ringed hand settle back comfortably with his plastic fork a little too closely and happened to notice that he held it like it was the finest silverware in the world. Jason pried his eyes away.

“Ok,” Nico said, taking another bite.

“Really?”

“Yup.”

Jason felt mildly silly for all his forcefulness earlier. He really didn’t expect this to be so easy. However, knowing Nico, he should’ve known he caved easy when it came to asking favors—at least ones from Jason.

Jason nodded. He took a bite of his apple to punctuate the conversation. He stayed in his spot, deciding he’d just eat breakfast with Nico.

“Thanks. By the way,” Jason tacked on.

Nico shrugged, reaching for his iPod. “No problem.”

He put on his headphones again, defending his ears from the chatter of the rest of the camp currently eating breakfast. The two ate in silence, something Jason wasn’t particularly used to but couldn’t say he minded.

The next day, Jason woke up late and decided to just skip breakfast. He stretched, realizing like a kid on Christmas that it was his birthday. His birthday, and he had the whole day to himself.

He stayed in his pajamas, stretched out on his bed with the Nintendo DS Nico had leant him and played Pokemon White for an absurd amount of time.

Just as his beloved Pikachu was about to faint, he felt this sudden naggin in the back of his head. Something ebbed at his mind. He glanced towards the clock and realized that it was well into the afternoon. Secondly, he was bored.

Very bored.

He wasn’t sure when the boredom became so apparent, but it was there now. He chewed his lip, too distracted in his thoughts for pokemon, and willingly lost his currently battle before saving and tucking the DS away in his nightstand.

Jason laid back, listening to campers outside. He had assumed a day alone would be the best day of his life. After spending his whole life around everyone every day all the time, he figured some much needed alone time was in order. However, this was downright miserable.

Jason’s mind wandered to Nico, which it seemed to be doing very often as of late. He wondered how the Ghost King spent his time alone so frequently. Did he get lonely too? Was he ever bored cooped up in that cabin?

Jason glanced at the clock again, hoping some substantial time had passed. It hadn’t.

He groaned and pulled himself from his bed, lazily walking to his door and starting the trek to the Hades cabin. He walked around the back of the cabins, praying that training was keeping everyone distracted enough for them not to be crowding the back path made by sneaky teens looking for some alone time of their own.

He was lucky, as everyone was too distracted by whatever atrocity was happening on the rock climbing wall to notice him slinking around.

He walked around the front of Nico’s door, banging with enough urgency to get the point across. Nico called a “What?” mildly exasperatedly.

Jason tugged open the door before darting to hide behind it and slam it closed.

“Great Hades, Jason,” Nico said, setting down his controller and looking up from Mario Kart.

Jason let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Hello to you too.”

Nico rolled his eyes before raking them over Jason. “Nice pajamas.”

Jason looked down at his purple plaid pants and white shirt with a few too many holes in it to be written off as well loved. “Thanks. And to you as well.”

Nico’s hair was pulled off his neck with a hairband, and he wore a black camp hoodie, shorts, and fuzzy socks. It wasn’t the most practical summer wear, but Nico’s cabin was cold as ice.

“Happy birthday,” Nico said. “I assumed you would stay in your cabin all day and enjoy your day off.”

Jason shrugged. “Thanks. I got bored.”

Nico scooted over in the floor, letting Jason see into the bottom of his closet where all his contraband was hidden. A TV and a Wii U sat, accompanied by several video games.

“Wanna join?” he asked, patting the spot beside him and digging for a second controller. “I’ve been trying to beat Connor’s high score for an hour.”

Jason sat beside him, taking the controller. Nico had taught him how to play the Wii, but it still felt foreign in his hands.

Nico flipped back to the menu screen, letting Jason pick a character. Nico was playing as Rosalina. When no one was around, he was always Rosalina. Otherwise, he was Shy Guy. Jason was slightly embarrassed that he knew this and had committed it to memory, but decided it just meant Nico trusted him. Even with something as small as Mario Kart, Nico trusted him.

Jason picked Yoshi. Unlike Nico, he didn’t have much preference.

They began the game, Nico effortlessly in first place. Jason was dead last, but he couldn’t care less about that. It was probably because he couldn’t get his eyes off Nico’s screen, and to make matters worse, couldn’t get his eyes off Nico in general.

Jason hadn’t quite come to terms with his crush yet, if you couldn’t tell.

Nico knew every secret of every track. He knew how to cheat the game, to go backwards and still somehow win. It was almost as if he had the coding in his mind, mouse hovering and fingers clacking to will the game in his favor.

Some may think this made playing with him boring, seeing as no one but Connor could ever manage to beat him. Jason disagreed. This was something akin to Elysium.

Watching the way Nico’s hands worked against the controller, the way he scrunched his eyebrows just slightly in concentration, and most importantly, the glimmer of youth in his eyes that was so rare now. It was fun to lose. It was fun because Nico got to win.

Nico passed the final lap, throwing his arms up in celebration. “Finally!” he grinned. Jason watched as Nico wrote something down on a notebook beside him, stopping a stopwatch that looked older than both of them. He leaned over to see a list of names, each scratched one and replaced by one beneath it. Most of the names were either Nico, Connor, Travis, or Clovis, but a few other campers had weaseled their way into the leaderboard.

Nico scratched out an all-caps Connor and wrote Nico in his neat handwriting, accompanied by his winning time.

Jason struggled for a moment, but eventually passed the finish line in last place, also grinning.

“You did better this time,” Nico said, smiling at him.

“Still got last.”

“At least you didn’t go backwards the whole time this round.”

Jason watched the excited youth fade off Nico’s face, leaving just a mildly happy boy in its wake. He wanted more than anything to see the pure joy on Nico’s face again.

“Quite the improvement,” Jason said, matching his lopsided smile. “How’d you get so good at video games anyways?”

Nico shrugged. “Lotus Casino,” he replied, as if it cleared up anything. “Wanna go again?”

Jason nodded, letting him queue up another map. Nico eventually passed him controller 1, a sign of great respect.

“You pick.” He said. Nico had a very firm ‘you win, you choose,’ rule because he was very particular about his maps.

Jason threw up his eyebrows. “Really?”

“Yeah. Birthday boy picks. Just don’t pick Moo Moo Meadows.”

Jason picked Moo Moo Meadows. Nico groaned, but took controller 1 back and accepted his fate.

About halfway through the game, Nico was in first and Jason was, yet again, dead last.

Nico’s eyes flicked over to Jason’s hands. He sat down his own controller, putting his hands over Jason’s.

“If you just…” he started, guiding Jason’s hands over the controller.

Jason was a bit too flustered to fully take in what Nico was saying, but the slight burning sensation in his hands and face was enough for him to partially remember the hand movements.

This time, Nico finished in eighth, and Jason in fifth. Not Nico’s personal best, but definitely Jason’s.

Nico grinned. “You got top five.” Jason cheered. “Another?” Nico asked, dutifully writing down Jason’s place in the page of the notebook titled “Jason Grace’s Personal Bests”

Jason nodded, and they continued their game until light no longer poured in the windows, and the only thing illuminating them was the TV screen.

They finally tired themselves out on the game. Nico won every round after that, but Jason slowly climbed the leaderboard. Nico wrote down each small victory until one round, where Jason was second and Nico was first.

Wether it was on purpose or not, Nico’s Rosalina slipped on a banana peel at the last second, letting Jason win.

Jason cheered. While it didn’t earn him a spot on the notebooks leaderboard, considering his time still wasn’t all that good, Nico wrote down “Beat reigning champ, Nico Di Angelo” in the notebook with his pretty handwriting, only making the victory sweeter.

They both smiled and laughed together about the whole thing before realizing with sudden horror that they’d both missed dinner, and were starving.

“Guess we lost track of time,” Jason smiled. “I’m sure I have some snacks in my cabin somewhere.”

Nico held up a hand, stopping him. “I’ve got something better.”

Jason raised his eyebrows skeptically. “Better than trail mix?”

“Way better.”

Nico stuck his hand in the back of his contraband pile, digging around video games and other technology before his hands landed on what he was searching for.

He pulled out a box. Not just any box, a box of vanilla cake mix. Soon after, it was accompanied by a bottle of sprinkles and some questionable icing.

“Not even the Stolls know I have this,” Nico smiled, letting Jason gaze upon his treasure.

Jason looked at him quizzically. “How do you intend on cooking it?”

“I’ve got some arrangements with the harpies,” Nico smiled. “Kitchen’s all ours tonight.”

Nico pulled himself to his feet, watching Jason stand beside him.

“Just tonight?” Jason asked.

Nico shuffled his feet. “Yeah, I’ve been planning this for a while,” he said, slightly more bashful than usual. “Why do you think I got vanilla instead of an obviously better flavor?”

It was true, vanilla was Jason’s favorite. While he didn’t appreciate the slight roast from Nico, he did enjoy knowing that not only was he planning for his birthday, but he remembered his favorite flavor.

“Vanilla solos,” Jason corrected.

Nico rolled his eyes, stepping towards the door and slipping on some sandals. Socks and sandals, bold. “You just love being wrong.”

He silently led Jason through winding paths in the dark, secret pathways carved by hungry campers years before them. Why Nico knew of them was anyone’s guess, but Jason could appreciate it.

Once inside the kitchen, Nico flipped on a light, laid out their ingredients, and crossed his arms.

“I’ve never made a box cake before,” Nico said.

“Me neither,” Jason agreed, putting on his glasses to read the back of the box.

The two were oddly connected in that way. They were both so utterly separated from the teenage experience that they got to experience it themselves, together. Jason couldn’t ask for anything better.

Nico hunted down everything they needed and got to work, letting Jason hover over his shoulder.

“This was very nice of you, by the way,” Jason said, attempting very desperately not to blush all too hard as Nico pulled the cake from the oven.

Nico smiled. “It’s the least I could do. You’ve always been a good friend to me.”

Jason was ready to get on his knees and inform Aphrodite that love was, in fact, real. He held off for now, though, and settled on a soft smile.

He watched Nico do his best at icing the cake. He passed the sprinkles to Jason letting him pick his amount of sprinklage as he licked icing from his hands. Jason switched the top to the largest possible opening for the sprinkles, and proceeded to douse the thing.

They cut into it, both deciding it was walking a fine line between the most delicious and most disgusting thing they’d ever had.

Jason couldn’t tell if the cake was just exceptionally good, or if something about the lighting made Nico look quite like his last name wasn’t just a coincidence.

The golden lights above them bathed him far too beautifully. Nico was tanner now, happier than he had been on the Argo. He had vague tan lines that you could see if you squinted at where his bracelets usually laid. His hair curled up into wing shapes, making him look like a harpy himself.

Nico must’ve noticed him staring, as he sat down his plate and looked at Jason quizzically. “What?”

Jason shook his head, shaking himself from his thoughts. Maybe he was tired, maybe the cake was poisoned, but he just couldn’t manage to hold his tongue. “I…I think I’m in love with you?” he said, words falling out of his mouth with the grace of a strangled goose.

Nico sputtered. “I’m sorry?” he said, face getting redder.

Jason only now realized what he had just said, and was utterly mortified. “Sorry. I don’t know why I said that. Act like that didn’t-”

Nico interrupted him swiftly. “No, no. I didn’t mean to say that.” he said, leaning over the table to look at him. “I just mean…are you sure?”

Jason looked more confused than Nico now. He nodded slowly, watching Nico for signs of discomfort.

“Oh,” Nico said quietly. “Oh.”

Jason clicked his tongue. “It’s fine if you don’t feel the same, I totally get it-”

Nico slapped a hand over Jason’s mouth. “I have been flirting with you for the past month. I feel the same. You just surprised me.”

Jason’s face flushed red yet again. “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Nico said, shuffling his feet.

Just then, a harpy slammed open the door. “Times up, Di Angelo. We need the kitchen. Go back to your cabins before I tell Chiron.”

Nico groaned, but grabbed Jason quickly and pulled him out, shoving the cake into his arms gently but hard enough to get the point across.

“We’ll talk tomorrow. Happy birthday, Jason,” he said quickly. Even quicker, he pressed a kiss to Jason’s cheek, and promptly shadow traveled away before Jason could say anything.

The harpies practically dog piled Jason, who narrowly escaped punishment from Chiron by offering some cake. Turns out, harpies weren’t too hard to bribe.

That night, as he walked back to his cabin, grinning to himself, he passed the Hades cabin. Inside, he heard the roaring laughter of two Connor and Travis Stoll.

“You kissed Jason Grace?” the voice of Travis hounded.

“You let Jason Grace beat you in Mario Kart?” Connor demanded, followed by angry yelling from Nico.

Jason grinned to himself, and found his way back to his cabin. Maybe he didn’t get a lot of privacy at camp, and maybe he was ok with that. So long as it was Nico, his newly decided boyfriend as of the next day, it was fine by him.