An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 2/2
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Jason Grace, Nico di Angelo & Jason Grace, Jason Grace & Piper McLean
Characters: Jason Grace, Nico di Angelo, Piper McLean, Jules-Albert (Percy Jackson)
Additional Tags: Post-The Heroes of Olympus, ignoring toa.....all of it, Road Trips, Friends to Lovers, Mutual Pining, it's about the yearning......, Sharing a Bed, First Kiss
Summary:
“Actually, I was um,” Nico starts, and stops, and starts again, “I was wondering if you wanted to come with me?”
“Come with you?” Jason repeats, blinking in surprise.
“To Italy,” Nico clarifies, just in case Jason didn’t follow. Nice of him, Jason thinks, because his brain hasn’t quite gotten the memo that Nico’s standing in his cabin, asking him to go to Italy with him.
(aka: jason & nico's poorly planned road trip and jason's bi awakening, all in one)
Zhao, at least a foot taller than him and who knows how much older, looks him in the face and says: you’ll never find the Avatar.
Bet on that, Zuko says, daring him.
(or: stubbornness, sheer force of will, and the insatiable need to prove everyone wrong)
by: ohmygodwhy
rating: T
words: 6,030
pairing: none
favorite line:
He’s found that spite can carry you a long way, and the need to prove that you can do something, that you’re worth something, that you can master a sword or learn this set or find the Avatar, can carry you even further.
So I'd like to bring to the front a little moment that has not, as far as I've seen, gotten any attention around here despite it being one of the most bittersweet and crucial moments of the anime's end.
Everything starts with Duck wanting to give Mytho his smile back. Throughout all the episodes, that is her goal. To see him happy; to see him smile. She breaks herself just for this.
And in episode 25, after learning Mytho has chosen Rue, knowing that she has just lost the pendant keeping her human, and watching the world crumble around them, she gets her wish granted.
Mytho smiles for her.
And what do we see? Her look of dismay becomes one of wonder and relief.
Her prince has finally smiled.
Her work is done, and her wish has been granted.
That's all she ever gets in return, and it's enough for her.
"Alright dude, there are 2 kinds of people in this world. Those who sit back and ride it out through life. And those who scream the entire time. Which one are you??"
“………You think you can just…..expect me to choose out of the two?….. I am neither…I won’t conform to your fucking ideals….”
Death is something that follows [Klaus] around like a bad cough. Like a piece of gum stuck to his shoe, but like, permanently. Like a cloud. Like a chronic fucking illness, like a nasty flu, like a broken heart that cracked and never healed over. Sometimes he feels like it sticks to him, and it shows; like people can look at him and see all the shit that hangs over him — that sticks to him. That follows him.
He knows that when he talks to the dead he is living, and that’s why they follow him around so much — because he is still living and they are not — but he also thinks that maybe, maybe to see them, hear them, understand them, you have to be a little bit dead, too.
He’s got one foot in either side — a foot in the darkness and the other in a fucking, he doesn’t know, hello kitty roller skate. In a can of shitty, gas station beer. In the sunlight and the changing leaves in the fall. It’s hard to walk with one foot on the ground and one foot in a hole, so he’s always fucking stumbling. High on life or high on the adrenaline rush he feels when he jerks awake at night.
And he thinks that maybe he should stop and take a breather, because he’s feeling poetic. He always says dumb shit when he’s feeling poetic, open and raw like a nerve.
So maybe this is what I wrote in the little spaces of time I had when working at not-my-desk on specific days at work and maybe I had my boss email it to me without telling her anything about the file she just sent externally. WHoops.
Omegaverse part 1.
Alpha.
The word brands itself against the wall of Prompto’s skull as an unfamiliar scent sweeps over him. He cringes, ducking out of sight as the other’s shadows pass. Voices pick up, quiet as a breeze, but Prompto’s a good listener.
“I will not be held accountable for this rash adventure!”
“Iggy, if you’re not gonna pull the stick outta your ass to kick so-“
“Shut up.”
The last speaker, despite the command, sounds gentle and Prompto has an irrational moment of hoping it’s true because he knows, if he can smell them…it’s only a matter of time.
Curfew is more than a suggestion in Gralea and Prompto knows that, really he does but, his suppressant is gone and there were too many alphas between him and home during daylight hours. He peeks out, careful, but there’s no sign of the other’s. He can still smell them though, heavy and strange in the air. He doesn’t dare come out while they may be near.
A spark of blue catches his gaze overhead and he looks up, tensed to run, only for a hand to cover his mouth from behind, pulling him further into the recess between buildings. He lashes out, elbow moving to smash into his would be captor’s diaphragm-or it’s supposed to. Another large hand catches him and he struggles harder, the alpha scent cloying and overwhelming.
“Hey, quiet or they’ll catch us.”
Prompto goes still, breathing hard through his nose at the sound of the same gentle voice as before. He can hear, now that he’s listening, the heavy footfalls of the night patrol. His heartbeat evens out by the time they’ve faded into the distance and the hand over his mouth drops in time for him to spin, hands up to fight since he knows he can’t run.
The alpha who held him is, Prompto hates himself for the thought, beautiful. His black hair sweeps forward to cradle his cheeks and grey eyes look out from under serious brows. The alpha raises his hands unthreateningly and Prompto notes the other two, one large and very alpha, the other lean, poised and patient, copy the motion.
“Sorry…I know we scared you but, I need your help. How do we reach Zegnatus?”
Prompto is torn, ready to fight as his panic is shoved down in favor of grit and he sees the way the other two alpha’s gaze flickers over him, evaluating his threat level. He looks them over in return, noting the control they’re displaying despite the narrow opening they’re all sharing, despite how quickly his unsuppressed hormones are responding to the nearness of them. It’s nothing intense but most alpha’s he’s met in Gralea would already be drooling. These ones show nothing except the slight dilation of the youngest’s pupils, and Prompto can’t even be sure that’s him.
“I-“ Prompto starts, then stops, thinking. The alphas are certainly foreign and they need his help. If he plays his cards right and they are what they seem, a fool’s gamble, he might be able to leave this place.
“I can show you the keep, I can even get you inside but…you have to take me with you, wherever you go when you leave.”
There’s a moment of silence, the graceful looking one trying to pull the younger into confidence. Prompto’s nerves make his hands tremble, and then-
“It’s a deal. Help us and we’ll protect you and get you to Insomnia.”
Prompto nods, tries not to let his surprise and relief show. The Crown City of Lucis is a fairytale to Gralean’s, a place where the alphas don’t die of rut-poison and omega’s aren’t traded like a cattle. It’s a beacon of hope that’s just too far to be real.
Prompto checks the coast is clear and leads them out, cautious and efficient. It takes practically no time to reach to heart of the city and the outer defenses of Zegnatus Keep. It rises above them but Prompto doesn’t spare it a glance, hurrying through a concealed passage into a small area for deliveries. The door for receiving is small, a revolving thing made to prevent subterfuge.
There’s a displeased growl behind him as the others see it and he feels his pulse spike at the sound.
“It’s the only way in that’s not the front gate.”
The largest of them glares at him, “Convenient Iggy and I don’t fit, ain’t it?”
Prompto doesn’t have a chance to respond before the youngest, built slight for an alpha, makes a low sound in his throat. It sends chills over Prompto’s skin and a low curl of heat in his belly. The other two stand straight and collected, ready.
“I’ve promised you freedom, I trust you to want it enough not to betray me. You and me can go, if you know how that thing works.”
Prompto swallows and nods, “Y-yeah. You get in and someone presses the button, the door will turn, then you have to get out, press the button on the other side to send it back.”
The alpha nods, then gestures and Prompto steels himself, crouching into the small conical door. There’s a “snick” sound and he feels himself turning. An empty room greets him and he slides out, looking around quickly and pressing the button to return. The chamber moves so slowly and his heart is in his throat because it would be so, so easy for the alpha’s to abandon him. When the chamber comes back he feels his chest loosen a bit. The scent precedes him but the alpha steps out and Prompto relaxes more.
“Where are we?” he asks softly, stepping closer to Prompto, probably in effort to stay hidden. Prompto looks up at him, eyes adjusting to the different light and giving him a moment to gather himself as he’s buffered by the way that the alpha smells.
It’s amazing, the first touch of snow, currant, a touch of something metallic and most of all the way Prompto always imagined home. He realizes, as the other waits that he’s not answered yet.
“I-I’m not…uh, somewhere in lower area, the labs and stuff are a couple floors above us.”
The alpha nods, taking a step back and Prompto breaths properly.
“When I was here last time the elevators worked without a card for a few floors but we’ll have to get a passcode to go any further. The labs are clearance level two at least and the scientists are…well...I hope
you have weapons.”
Prompto says it all while looking around the gray room, evaluating which of the doors is best. He’s not looking at the alpha so it catches him by surprise when a body pins him to a wall.
“When you were here?”
The alpha’s voice is low, darker and Prompto feels his fear spike, souring the air, though he doesn’t back down. It makes sense, the concern that he’s admitted to spending time in the seat of enemy power.
“Yes, when I was here, being experimented on as a kid. It happens to a lot of omegas here.”
He expects the alpha to back up, to be suspicious and distrusting, a grudging partner. He doesn’t expect the anger. It’s stranger because it doesn’t seem to be directed at him as the alpha’s eyes glow a bit violet.
“Those bastards…” The words are low and he almost misses them but it gives a little hope, both for what the place they come from is like, and for himself in this moment. The way to alpha is acting it’s clear, he’s here because he’s not pleased with the empire.
Prompto shrugs, he can feel the way he’s starting to shake a little, being boxed in makes him uncomfortable and he can’t shake the way that the alpha is looking at him. It pops in his head, in the way that panic sometimes makes thoughts race through, that he should really learn the guys name.
“What’s your name?”
Oh. Or the alpha will beat him to it as he looks at him, eyes more intense than Prompto can really tolerate and yet…he’s not like the others Prompto has met, there’s no demand, just something fierce and instinctual.
“Prompto. Yours?”
He watches the shift of the alpha’s eyebrows, the way his lips tilt up a little and then he’s turning away, shrugging a little.
“Just call me Noct.”
Prompto snorts a little, it’s a weird way to say it and he slaps “Noct’s” back lightly, “Well,” he starts, false bravado firmly in place, “you ready to do something dumb?”
Noct laughs a little, but the tension doesn’t leave him and he nods, “Dumb is my middle name.”
Prompto can’t help the twitch of his lips or the response that bubbles up, “Dude, lame.”
They grin at each other and there’s something so strange about it all. Prompto’s life is tense and dangerous, he’s on his guard around alphas and other Omega’s shy away from him, something about his scent. Here, in the heart of the Empire, he should be terrified silent but he finds himself almost enjoying the moment, with the new alpha who seems to like him for more reasons than what is between his legs.
Noct tips his head toward the barely visible opening in the wall, the greys of the room making it blend in. Prompto doesn’t need to be asked, he just nods in response, the gravitas of the situation settling back
in. They are in the midst of the enemy, in more ways than one, and if he’s not careful he’ll end up back….well, if it comes to it he’ll take death over capture.
As they climb the stairs, quietly as possible in the narrow corridor, the thought chills Prompto and he taps Noct’s arm lightly.
“If,” He says, in a fast whisper, “If we’re caught, don’t let them take me alive.”
The words take a beat to register and then Prompto is privy to a whole range of horrified emotions crossing the alpha’s face.
“I-“ Noct seems to struggle, “I promise.”
Prompto feels a rush of gratitude, for the lack of questions or cajole, for the way that Noct just gives his word, trusts that Prompto knows himself.
After that neither of them speaks and Prompto helps lead Noct through the confusion that is Gralea. Stealing a passcode is a bit tricky but Noct moves in a blur of blue light, and returns with MT blood and a passcard between his fingers.
They’re well into the labs, the only area that Prompto’s familiar with and fortunately the place Noct was headed for when they speak again.
“What are you here for?”
The words are barely a breath, they’ve been lucky so far, magitek are blissfully oblivious as they sneak past, but Prompto knows there are others here, somewhere.
“Information. Proof. Computers.”
The answer is succinct and Prompto nods, checking the path to the nearest control room, and leads Noct forward. The alpha gives him a slight nod in thanks and wastes no time in what he’s doing, pulling a small clear card from his pocket and sliding it into the computer. A black box appears but Prompto doesn’t bother reading it, keeping a lookout instead, and Noct keys in a few commands.
It’s only a minute, maybe two, but standing still in Zegnatus feels like an eternity. Noct withdraws the card and they’re off again, moving faster now they know the path. The last set of stairs are in sight and Prompto watches his companion make a mistake.
Noct doesn’t look around the last corner, just turns it and there’s a sound that Prompto knows all too well, the high pitched sound of an MT alert.
It’s not loud and there aren’t units nearby, but he knows it’ll get louder if they don’t do something. He turns the corner a split second later, in time to watch the alpha take the unit down.
It’s…shocking. There’s the blue light again, a wickedly sharp sword and the way the alpha moves is graceful and deadly. Prompto’s heard of the magic users, of course, knows that somewhere linked in the near-myth that is Insomnia there are those who can wield the type of power Noct seems to have, he just didn’t think it would be so…so..
“That was awesome!”
Noct smiles at him quickly and they push forward, more careful again as they make their way back to the tube.
“You should go first.”
Prompto frowns at the words, confused.
“They’ll think I abandoned you or killed you in here.”
Noct shrugs, “I’ll be right behind you, and if I go first they’ll try to drag me away, they’re not happy I’ve promised to bring you with us.”
Prompto shifts, uncomfortable and worried now, “It doesn’t have to be all the way, just past the Gralea border really.”
Noct evaluates him for a long moment, but doesn’t relent, motioning for him to go. He slides back into the capsule and finds himself looking into Noct’s eyes for reassurance, and more surprising, he finds it in the warmth of the blue.
There’s a snick and Noct is disappearing from sight, the other two alpha’s coming into view. He’s dragged by his arm out of the pod and too his feet by the big one and finds himself unable to muster words at the fear that permeates him, this is it, the darkness he was waiting for.
He closes his eyes and waits for the hands to pull and the other alpha to join, instead he hears, “What the fuck?” and there’s a shuffling until he’s on his own feet, curling in on himself and sinking to the ground.
“Please.” His voice is small and he tries again, “Please press the button for Noct.”
There’s another noise of surprise and he focuses on keeping himself together, Noct, he thinks, might keep them away. The graceful one is leaning forward, doing as he asked and he hears the capsule turn again.
“Took you long en-“ Noct’s voice, disgruntled as it is, cuts off.
“What did you do?”
He sounds angry and Prompto curls in on himself further, “Sorry. I’m sorry.”
Noct kneels beside him, “Stop apologizing Prompto, I wasn’t asking you. What happened?”
He just shakes his head, but the big one is answering.
“I grabbed him when he came around. Damnit, you should’ve come first! He’s an enemy, he could’ve trapped you!”
“If I had come, you would have left him.”
There’s a silence after the icy words and then the other alpha speaks, “You gave him your promise of safety Noct, we may not like it, but we respect it. Either way, we need to move, now.”
Prompto can feel the agreement from Noct and he forces himself to calm, standing up again, “Follow me, the fastest way to the border wall is patrolled, we’ll have to go another way.”
The big one glares at him but Prompto won’t let him scare him again, and Noct nods, “Lead the way bud.”
The four of them make their way through alleys and carefully cross a square that the largest alpha nearly strangles Prompto for taking, but the MT no longer patrol the area, no Gralean’s are stupid enough to cross the open path.
They reach the border wall in good time and Prompto swallows hard, the electric shield is already up. The alphas don’t pause though, one of them throws an orb and it bursts against the energy, creating a hole. Prompto slips through it with Noct and they scale the deceptively low wall.
On the narrow ledge before the cliff face that the wall backs up to there’s a car, it’s beautiful and Prompto sighs appreciatively before claiming a spot in the front, next to Noct.
“Don’t kill us.” The alpha with glasses says drily and Noct just laughs at him before he pulls away.
Prompto is too giddy to be afraid, the nightmare of his life as a Gralean omega is fading in the distance after all, but even he is aware that Noct’s driving is, well, terrifying. They survive it though, despite the moments when it seems a bit shaky.
The sun is starting to rise when they finally stop, miles and miles from anywhere that Prompto’s even heard of. There’s a single strip of buildings and a hotel that Noct makes a beeline for the second he turns the ignition off, leaving Prompto to scramble after him. He doesn’t want to be alone with the other two if he can help it and he’s grateful when they stay behind, the big one, Gladio he’s heard Noct call him, shouts after but doesn’t follow.
He catches Noct easily and the alpha smiles at him a bit, “You ready to slum it?”
Prompto frowns, he knows the word but isn’t sure what Noct means. A slum is where the poorest of the poor live, the omega’s who sold their bodies and the dying mostly. This place is nice, it’s bright and the sky is open and blue, the bleak cold doesn’t seep into his bones and he can’t see anyone laying in a heap of blankets.
“uh-I guess, I mean…shit.” Noct seems to have realized the error because he starts trying to explain, faltering.
“Sorry, you’re just so normal, I guess. I don’t meet many Niffs where I live.”
Prompto just shrugs and smiles, “No big deal, it’s not like you’re stuck with me much longer anyways.”
Noct doesn’t laugh, he just looks at him blankly for a long moment, “I wouldn’t mind if we were.”
He doesn’t give Prompto the time to answer, dinging the bell on the front desk and greeting the man who steps out of the back. The arrangements for rooms are lost on him as he thinks, Noct seems to like having him around, wants to spend time near him.
He wants it to feel comforting, it’s a nice thought at the very least, but the long-standing wariness seeps in. Does Noct expect him to repay him for helping him get out? He thought that showing them the way into Gralea was payment but maybe…Noct is an alpha and there are many things that he might want.
Prompto hates it, the way that the thoughts rush forward and taint his view of Noct. The alpha in question turns to him and smiles and Prompto offers a slight one in return.
“I got us two rooms.” It’s said casually as Noct walks back to the door, leaning out to call the other two over, but Prompto freezes. Two rooms. Two rooms and four of them, so he’s sharing a room and no doubt it’s with Noct. Noct, who doesn’t want him to go yet, who he owes. Noct who’s staring at him in concern.
“What’s the matter? Did you not want your own room? I thought, I mean, you don’t seem comfortable around us yet…”
The relief that floods Prompto is so pure he gasps a little, “No! I-that’s perfect. Thank you.”
Noct just gives him another odd look and hands him his key, “Iggy’s going to buy you some clothes, Gladio said he’d guard the door if you wanted, but I think he’s itching to get some sunshine. I can stick around if you want?”
Prompto answers slowly, his first instinct is to let the alpha decide, but he recognizes that the alpha is giving him choices, that he’s asking him without strings.
“I think…I would like to look around here a bit, if you’d come with me?”
Noct’s face lights up and he smiles, “Yeah! Sure.”
Prompto isn’t sure what they should do, since he’s never been to this part of the world and really, he’s not sure if there is anything to see really. Noct follows him back out into the sunlight anyways and Prompto pauses to enjoy the rays against his cheeks, his heavy coat and thick pants are alright for the moment, but if the heat lasts here he’s going to need something else.
Noct seems to realize this as well, looking the omega over and then gesturing, “C’mon, let’s get you something to wear so you don’t die.”
Prompto bites his lip, looking back at the blue of the sky. He’s always known the danger of cold but he supposes that heat might be a threat in itself. Noct shakes him from his thoughts with a light nudge to his shoulder and Prompto smiles, a little startled at the touch.
The alpha nods toward a building near the end of the row and Prompto takes the lead, comfortable for once with another at his back.
