Literacat - I Wish You Softness

this is something i need to read right this minute (i will write this if nobody else does but don’t let it come to that 🙏🙏)

ok I know it’s been a while but we’re back at it again with the Sally and Esperanza au (inspired by @poppitron360)

basically if you missed the first one, Leo and Esperanza move to New York, Esperanza meets Sally and they fall in love 🥰 when Leo and Percy are eight and nine respectively, Gaea swallows them up, they go to CHB, Leo gets claimed instantly, Percy has to wait until 3 years later when he gets the TLT quest and saves his moms from the underworld

ANYWAYS! What would HoO look like in this AU?

The first thing I’d change would be who gets the Hera Swap Treatment™️. And ALSO! Who would be in the Seven in general. I think, instead of Percy (to enforce the familial tragedy lol make him suffer), Reyna would be in the Seven. So in this AU, Leo and Reyna get swapped.

So the Lost Hero trio would be Reyna, who wakes up on this unfamiliar bus with no clue where she is but a gut feeling something is wrong. Annabeth, who is searching undercover for her boyfriend’s brother (AKA her partner in crime). And Piper, who also has no clue what’s going on but is really bummed that the people she thought were her best friends don’t seem to know her anymore.

Really interesting opportunity to discuss Reyna’s connection to Rome, since Bellona doesn’t have a Greek equivalent. Who would she be claimed by? How would she fit in? When they hold campfires, does she feel a distinct sense of camaraderie that she’s longed for for so long?

Also, concept: Reyna, Annabeth, and Piper stop by the Jackson-Valdez household before making their way to California. Percy’s just like “sure, you can crash for tonight. Gods know you’ll need the rest (and my mom’s special blue cookies for good luck)”. But Piper’s just like “what HAPPENED? Why is this apartment so SAD?” Like the happiness has just been sucked out. Esperanza isn’t even there, she’s at the garage, pretending like her son is at home. Sally is looking through baby photos and stress writing and doing a million different things because maybe by the time she actually thinks about her son he’ll be in her arms again.

The Son of Neptune (or Son of Vulcan, in this case) trio would be Leo, Jason, and Hazel I think because I have a distinct image of Hazel and Jason having awkward cousin vibes. Like, “their older siblings play Mario kart together on Christmas so they’re friends only because of proximity” cousins. And Leo’s over here doing horribly crooked cartwheels to lighten the mood.

I have Thoughts about Son of Vulcan in this AU omg. So many Thoughts. Jason and Hazel finally getting each other when they kill Alcyoneus together, while Leo is fighting for his life to free Thanatos and kill all these freaky-deaky monsters. Jason and Hazel freaking the fuck out when Leo chugs gorgon blood like it’s whiskey. Jason and Leo finding Hazel standing on a rock surrounded by cereal babies. Hazel side eying Leo wondering if he’s her old crush from grade school back in the forties. Just. Son of Vulcan trio.

Another thing, I think these two books should happen at the same time because I think it’d be interesting to let both of the swapped heroes integrate more. Like, give me fearless leader Reyna whipping her (tween) troops into shape, but Camp Half-Blood just being like “dam this lady’s super cool but she needs to chill the FUCK out. stop training my eight year old brother in sword fighting he’s gonna kill me the next time I have to wake him up early”. Give me an unconfident Leo learning to be a leader after being in his brother’s shadow.

also I tapped to @puzzled-pegasus about this so here you go

on tragedy, fate, and inevitability.

oresteia, robert icke // theatre of the oppressed, augusto boal // song of achilles, madeline miller // the book thief, markus zusak // antigone, jean anouilh // revisiting mockingjay ahead of the hunger games prequel, entertainment weekly // romeo and juliet, shakespeare // h of h playbook, anne carson // war of the foxes, richard siken // the road to hell (reprise), hadestown // planet of love, richard siken // they both die at the end, adam silvera

bingewatching will never come close to bingereading. there is nothing like blocking out the entire Earth for ten hours to read a book in one sitting no food no water no shower no bra and emerging at the end with no idea what time it is or where you are, a dried-up prune that's sensitive to light and loud noises because you've been in your room in the dark reading by the glow of a single LED. it's like coming back after a three-month vacation in another dimension and now you have to go downstairs and make dinner. absolutely transcendental

me everytime ever

I usually fucking loathe anyone who references 1984 on social media but I do feel like actually Microsoft deciding to underline every use of an intensifier as an error is some Newspeak bullshit. no you can't replace "very nervous" with "nervous" to make a sentence "more concise" actually, because the word "very" has an actual fuckdamn meaning that I am deliberately conveying, you soulless corporate horseshit shovelling cartoon paperclip ass motherfucker

feels so wrong that itll be 2025 soon. fake year. science fiction year

they match each others freak (me when)

Regulus, to the first years: There are only three rules in the Slytherin tower: The lake is off limits, never piss of Mcgonagall, and Barty Crouch Junior is a HOME WRECKING WHORE

Barty, from across the room: BITCH

jason's last words being to leo "don't do this, we have to stay together" and leo's last words to jason being "when are you going to trust me? i love you", fuck they should've met again but they didn't and they can't im so upset at that literally being the last time they speak to each other and leo blows up in flames and jason loses his grip on the air, storm and fire at the same time but yeah "we HAVE to stay together" and "WHEN are you going to trust me?", this never happens like this never happens fuck... like that's all they wanted through the books, that is LITERALLY their arcs, jason wanted something that stuck and something he understood, and leo was misunderstood and cast aside. but asking WHEN will we stay together? HAVE you trusted me? and the thing is, they did this from their very first quest!!!!! they made sure that it was just them in it no matter what set them apart or against each other but also that they trusted each other so much with the very private parts of their lives, like they saw things of each other that piper didn't even know, had conversations she never heard... and for it to end in jason's pov watching leo, and all they say is "we have to stay together" "when are you going to trust me" and of course the fucking final words of "i love you" fuck fuck fuck

i love it when these psychos r soft and lovely for each other oml

barty who grew up being trilingual (Spanish, Italian and English), but has a spanish accent because his father was rarely home and his mother would teach him the language almost every day.

his father isn’t too pleased with this though and forces italian on him, which he quickly picks up but now his english has both languages’s accents, which makes it nearly impossible for anybody he meets to understand him.

it took regulus, evan, pandora and dorcas a hot month to be able to hear him correctly, it doesn’t help that he switches languages mid sentence without noticing it though. And his poor teachers constantly have to ask him to translate his writing because its also a mix of all three

he used to hate speaking, because of how much he struggled with which words were correct, until he noticed evan would constantly do it with his french, and realizing he loved when evan would switch up made him feel a little better about his own speech.

My full Valgrace fic recs list

contains a mix of fluff smut and angst remember to always read tags !

Roommate Arrangement (Valgrace) by SevenKookies ( https://web.archive.org/web/20240529212758/https://archiveofourown.org/works/54710974/chapters/138657211)

Four idiots and four more idiots by PhoBOS_34 ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/57872989/chapters/147309475 )

A Lifetime From the Hunt by thatonefandomjumper ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/51232267/chapters/129453724 )

fall of grace by jasegrace ( https://archiveofourown.org/series/3991375 )

Uno Más by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55664305 )

a grace period by Viva la Leo Valdez ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54242536/chapters/137360470 )

a velociraptor's silly little valgrace fics by anon ( https://archiveofourown.org/sehttps://archiveofourown.org/works/51902923ries/3964135 )

i don't know what I'm waiting for by dirtysoupgirl ( https://archiveofourown.org/series/4038883 )

the medic problem by sapphsol ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54124165 )

training wheels by ethannku ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/50542930 )

Storm and Fire - Valgrace by moonsappho ( https://archiveofourown.org/series/3479536 )

don't have the right name or the right looks but i have twice the heart by somerdaye ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/3619743 )

Of First Kisses and Burnt Lips by sunkelles ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/819714 )

Things I Wish You'd Never Asked by undead_dinosaur ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/51902923 )

sparks in storms by dirtandbugs ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/52489324/chapters/132785581 )

the last great american dynasty by takeimi ( https://archiveofourown.org/series/3902683 )

you're my best friend (and I love you so much) by rubyredketchup ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/29903322 )

Set Your Fire on Me by sleepingwhore ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/34098787?view_adult=true )

Rebuilding Rome (With Help From You) by Squippy ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/45289897)

A Graceful Death, and Reunion by MangoandAppleChase ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/45548599/chapters/114611899 )

Flame on! By Caora ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55817026 )

You’d Have to Stop the World Just to Stop the Feeling by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/58193518 )

Will Gives Demigods Shots, I Want To Kill Him by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/57076183 )

I Gave A Second Chance To Cupid (Just Kidding!) by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/56037433 )

S-Class by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55833547 )

The Archer by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55755847 )

The Moment by queer_alienbean ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55938742 )

Kitchens and Kisses by AceFangirlLani ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/56876998 )

Engines and Explosions by AceFangirlLani (  https://archiveofourown.org/works/56686174 )

The Heroes of Juno by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54202792/chapters/137250442 )

Manic Pixie Dream Leo by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/57040054 )

I've Missed Your Big Dumb Face by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54040966 )

Runaways by Verose1234 ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/53909425/chapters/136454752 )

Valgrace Good Future by Ottpop (  https://archiveofourown.org/series/4113400 )

fall from grace, fall for grace by anon ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54436744/chapters/137900197 )

seize the day by restinreeses ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/44861305/chapters/112874230)

follow you by amhras ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/28993044 )

Remember This Not by MaskedKing631 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/36584068/chapters/91245061 )

meet me at our spot by ethannku ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/34137139/chapters/84933631 )

a "short" story by pipermclean ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/10434213 )

hopeless case by restinresses ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/45419149 )

Strawberries in the Field by moonssappho ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/57056323/chapters/145107268 )

The Ebb and Flow (Of the List of Things That I Don't Know) by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59893960 )

Small Town Affair by manygeese ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59885428/chapters/152772709 )

august slipped away like a moment in time by clowningstar19 ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59762137/chapters/152436793 )

being with you makes the flame burn good by gumtoof ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/31593176/chapters/78172310 )

You said, "Baby, no attachment" by Urmumitykins ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59301340/chapters/151238689 )

Moments Together by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/60940348 )

Crisis of Rome by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/60916228/chapters/155606725 )

heartbeat under the floorboards intensifies by buoyantsaturn ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/43616394 )

"and playing video games" by SummerHome ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/61998850 ) 

And ease thy soul with slumber bright by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/62185138 )

worth fighting for by jankwritten ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/62460739 )

this will be updated as time goes on so I'll probably pin it to my blog :)

and of course shameless self promo: I have like 23 valgrace fics I'm just gonna put a short one shot here

Forever and a Bit by IWannaScreamEureka ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59005273 )

(Also all the people that had said yes to the earlier post I made: @lazyscarhead @clevertimemachinepolice @siimplyapril @katiefromcabin7 )