Alex will be going by she/her pronouns for the majority of this chapter 

It was the afternoon of the talent show. You were beyond excited to be invited and (possibly) participate. The crowd is always a sucker for a terrible karaoke performance and you promised Magnus that if he needed another act that you would step in. 

You and Alex have just finished shopping for last minute decorations (Halfborn and Mallory may have gotten into a fight again and burned multiple table cloths and dish ware) and were returning to your home to get ready for tonight. 

"Alex, we should stop and see if Blitz and Hearth are at the shop." You suggest with a wide smile on your face.

Alex grinned crookedly and hooked your arms together. "You want to go visit your boyfriends again? I was trying to go practice my performance for the show tonight."

You blushed and avoided the first thing Alex said. "And what exactly are you planning to do? Magnus said you were going to do some magic trick too. I didn't know you were into that kind of stuff."

Alex unhooked her arm from yours and stood dramatically beside you. "Since you are clearly a fan of mine, I will give you a quick sneak peek to my performance."

She ran her fingers through her hair. "Ladies, gents, nonbinary, and the rest of the alphabet mafia, my name is Alex." She bowed playfully. "I am a girl and for my trick I will be turning myself into a boy." She clapped her hands twice. "There you have it folks. The power of gender fluidity."

(If that is offensive to anyone lmk and I will change it. I was told by a  few friends that it wasn't but I will happily fix it if that offends someone!)

You clap and practically snort at what Alex just did. "But... it doesn't work like that does it?"

Wrapping an arm around your shoulders, Alex pulls you into Blitzen's shop. "No, it doesn't. But that's how a lot of people think it works because they don't take the time to understand anything."

"Sadly, you're not wrong about that." You sigh. Before you could ask her another question, you noticed the dwarf and elf in the back of the store having an argument.

Blitzen frowned and scrunched his eyebrows together. You just had to tell y/n about the magic show!

I panicked! You're just mad because y/n didn't compliment you on your ducks! Hearth gestured back with just as much emotion.

Blitz face palmed before responding. I don't want to fight over y/n. We're best friends. We shouldn't let someone separate us.

I agree. If y/n likes one of us, the other should be happy. Hearth replied reluctantly. They have been going at it since the day they met you. Enough was enough. He couldn't pretend like he didn't want you to choose him though.

You waved your hands frantically to gain the young men's attention. The intense argument appeared to be dying down. Alex nudged you playfully and motioned for you to walk over to them.

Blitzen noticed you first, quickly turning away from the conversation he was having before. "Y/n, hi how are you? Excited for the show?"

You made sure to face both of them in a way that Hearth could read your lips if you couldn't come up with the correct sign to go with your words. "Of course! I can't wait to see giant ducks and a hailstorm."

They both blushed at your teasing. Hearth rolled his eyes and signed, That is only part of the show. We have something exciting planned just for you.

Blitzen's eyes widened right before he shot his friend a look. "Haha... let's not spoil the surprise Hearth."

After about fifteen minutes of talking, Alex rushed you out, reminding you that you had to be there two hours early. You shoved Alex to the side and bid the boys goodbye. "Alright, I'll see you both in like three hours since my friend here is always so impatient." You kissed them both on the cheek before leaving.

~~~~~

Thirty minutes later, you were dressed in a black suit/dress with f/c accessories to match. Alex, clad in a black suit with pink and green added here and there, readjusted her tie in the mirror as you walked by. She waved you over to get your opinion.

"Should I do jacket on or off? I want my pink shirt to pop!" Alex turned in a circle before taking the jacket off to give you a better view of the outfit.

You analyzed her appearance for a second. "Hmm.. I'd say jacket off. Your green suspenders help to bring the whole 'fit together."

She hummed in agreement and continued observing herself in the mirror (why do I feel like they can't see their reflections since they're dead). "Don't think I didn't see you getting all smoochie with them today. You thought you could hide that from me?"

"No! I just... I don't know it just felt like the right thing to do I guess." You sit down and put on your f/c heels/dress shoes/flats. "I don't know what's going on with me! Is it possible to have a crush on two people at the same time?"

Alex smirked and opened her mouth to respond. You cut her off. "Do not make a joke about my best friend having a crush on girl Alex and boy Alex. I'm being serious."

Alex shrugged. "I think it's definitely possible. I don't really see anything wrong with it, even though you may have to choose eventually. I'd just tread carefully, they are best friends after all and might not be down for polygamy."

You blushed for what felt like the millionth time for today. You decided not to respond to Alex's words of wisdom and instead ushered her out of the door so you wouldn't be late.

The moment you got to the fundraiser location, Magnus put you to work. It was rare for you to see your friend looking so serious. Annabeth waved at you for a second before shifting her attention back to the ladder her boyfriend was standing on. From what it looked like, a lot of demigods were here from the various godly backgrounds. Some of the Greek and Roman friends Annabeth introduced you to were arguing on how to place the speakers on the stage. The loudest of the two voices were Reyna and Leo, who seemed to clash heads regardless of the circumstances.

Mallory stomped over to you, Halfborn a few steps behind. "Y/n, would you please tell this man that suggesting that I sing 'Touch the Sky' from Brave is offensive."

You lift a finger to "scold" him. "Y/n, would you please tell this woman that I said it would be funny if she danced around while I knit a sweater!"

"It sounds embarrassing for the both of you." Alex joked to calm the on-again-off-again couple. "I say do it." You roll your eyes and walk away from the scene before another argument could break out. 

~~~~~

So far, you were in the clear. Magnus hadn't asked you to sing yet and everything was going smoothly. Alex actually did start her performance the way she said she would. She ended up doing a pottery skit that the crowd loved. Leo Valdez convinced Reyna to sing "Un Poco Loco" together since he agreed to go with her layout for the stage. Much like Mallory, she was annoyed with the suggestion. Percy and Annabeth did a duet version of "Under the Sea." Percy, naturally, got too excited and took over the song towards the end, causing Annabeth to face palm. The crowd went wild with laughter. What started out as a bad pun show turned into an insult throwing comedy show for Mallory and Halfborn. Let's just say it wasn't an act, but the crowd loved it. 

Carter and Sadie Kane were the first Egyptian magicians to perform. You thought they'd also go the magic show route, but instead they chose to do a (terrible) reenactment of "Summer Nights" from Grease. Whenever he got into it, Sadie would step in front of him to annoy him or purposely step on his feet. Somehow, Apollo (in Lester form) convinced Meg to perform with him. Being the god of music, he overshadowed her while singing the clean version of "7 Rings" by Ariana Grande. When her favorite part came up, she shoved a bouquet of daisies in his face so he couldn't over power her.

Finally, Blitzen and Hearthstone came on the stage. You clapped enthusiastically from the front row. When the curtains opened, Blitzen was sitting at a small table, fiddling with a few pieces of metal with his back turned from Hearth as he snuck onto the stage. Just as Blitz proudly placed a rubber ducky on the table, Hearth casted Lagaz on the table, turning it into water that spilled across the stage. This made the crowd giggle and awe.

Hearth rolled his eyes and quickly made a giant bowl out of the material he had. He did it so fast, that it appeared to be magic to the audience. Scooping the water into the bowl, Blitzen showed the crowd his ducky floating happily in the metallic bowl. He shot his best friend a look, making you assume that what happened wasn't planned. Blitzen chucked the water in the bowl at Hearth, but nothing came out. He frowned and shook the bowl upside-down for everyone to see. When he motioned throwing the water on Hearth again, a dozen expando duckies hit the elf in the face and grew around him. Hearth kicked the giant ducks away and they somehow disappeared before it could hit anyone in the crowd. 

"Wait, where did all that water g-" Blitz started right as thunder boomed above him. A mini hailstorm poured down on him. You realized Hearth was casting the runes in a way that the top of the curtain would disguise his actual use of magic and make it look fake.

Wiping the water from his eyes, Blitzen did a classic magic trick and pulled an extremely large piece of cloth from his pocket that expanded about five feet. The crowd "oohed" in interest. He held the fabric over his head to block the rain and tiny pieces of hail. 

Hearth tapped his friend's shoulder and pointed up towards the ceiling. An audible gasp from the crowd cause you to follow Hearth's finger. The water had turned into a large chunk of ice that was hovering over Blitz's head. He shrieked and side stepped the ice before it landed on his head.

Blitzen pulled a large rose from his tiny suit pocket and shook it in Hearth's face. He then bent down and handed it to you. Hearth "sneezed" and made the dwarf jump. "OMG Hearth! You made that poor person in the crowd turn into a dolphin!" Blitz paused when he realized nothing happened. "I said, you made that person turn into a dolphin!"

Frank blushed. "Oh me!" He said under his breath. "Oh, no. I am turning into a dolphin because he sneezed in my direction." Frank fall dramatically and rolled under the table, the next second, a dolphin appeared and scooted his way down the aisle.

"Well, are you going to fix him?" Blitz asked Hearth.

Hearth signed something and then shrugged, walking off the stage. The dwarf's eyes grew. "What do you mean they didn't pay you enough? No one got paid!" He ran off the stage behind him.

The crowd went crazy. People whistled and clapped. Roars of laughter filled the building. 

Okay I have to add another part to this because I didn't expect it to get this long omg

Q: What's your favorite book/series by Rick Riordan? (@AlexiaJS08 )

A: Oh man this is a tough one. I love all of the series (with the exception of TKC bc I need to reread that to remember). I think it might be the PJO series or MCGA. Pjo kick started my book obsession and MCGA has great representation of people of color, the LGBTQIAP community, and religion.

Q: Favorite character in each Riordan series? (@plottwist- )

A: Pjo: Percy bc I'm a child of Poseidon as well. Charles Beckendorf is a close second!
HoO: Leo because I feel like our personalities are very similar and we're always the one left out.
ToA: My sweet bean Nico! We finally get to see more of him and he's honestly probably one of my top five characters of all time.
Mcga: Either Tj or Alex. I love how inclusive this series is and Tj is a black character that I really relate to (not just because I'm black lol) and Alex is just a sassy and beautiful character all around (again super inclusive!)
TKC: I have to reread this series but I do love Carter. I want my future kid's middle name to be Carter bc that's how much of a simp I am for him. (I also want to give a future child the middle name Perseus)

Questions>>>>>