the great wave | percy jackson

𝑖𝑣 - frank

Frank was glad he'd taken Percy's advice about holding his breath, because for a second there he kind of thought he was about to lose it permanently. It was like one second he was alive, standing in a lumberyard, and one second he wasn't, completely losing his physical form and all his senses to an all-encompassing darkness. He couldn't even tell whether his eyes were open or closed or just gone completely until suddenly he was being spit out into the sunlight on the deck of the Argo II, solid once more.

Stumbling wildly, wondering what the crap had just happened to him, Frank couldn't do much more than try not to throw up and stagger after Percy and Ash as they seemed to recover instantly. They darted belowdecks, buckets of tar in their hands swinging hazardously as they skidded down the stairs. All of a sudden Ash brought them to a halt in the doorway of the infirmary.

"Jase!" She exclaimed. "You're alive!"

"Don't sound so surprised," Frank heard a dry voice reply, to which Ash grinned.

"Roofing tar?" Piper stuck her head out, looking them up and down, indicating towards the black sticky stuff matted in Ash's hair and covering the boys from shin-down.

"I've heard it does wonders for your roots," she joked.

Hazel had emerged into the hallway beside Piper, making the area pretty jam-packed with demigods, and Frank hastily attempted to wipe off the streak of tar he knew was on his face. Judging by how much of the stuff was on his hands, however, his efforts probably didn't help.

"Ran into some tar monsters," Percy explained. "Grace, glad you're awake. Haze, where's Leo?"

She pointed down. "Engine room."

Suddenly, the entire ship tilted sideways aggressively, making Ash stumble and almost spill her bucket of tar.

"Uh, what was that?" Frank asked.

"Oh..." Hazel said bashfully. "We may have angered the nymphs who live in this lake. Like... all of them."

"Great." Percy handed his bucket to Frank. "You guys find Leo. I'll hold off the water spirits as long as I can."

"Sir yes sir!" Ash saluted with two fingers.

"On it." Frank promised.

They ran off down to the engine room, lugging their buckets. They arrived to find Leo running around like a maniac and muttering to himself in Spanish. His pants were singed, chest covered only by a pair of suspenders, and he was wearing a pair of goggles like sunglasses. At first, Frank just thought he was covered in grease, but as they approached, he noticed that the smudges of oil were drawings.

"Yikes," Frank commented, taking in Leo's crazed appearance. So far, this dude was the weirdest one on the ship, and that was saying something.

"Heyyyy," Ash said cautiously, peering at one of his cheesy fake tattoos. "Mr. Hot Stuff?"

"Yes?" Leo snapped, turning towards them. He brightened at the sight of their acquisitions.

"Aw hell yeah! Just what I needed. Thanks guys." He took the buckets from them, which promptly dropped to the floor in his noodle arms. He began to drag them over to the engine.

"Errr... need any help, oh Bad Boy Supreme?" Ash said, referencing the scrawl across his scrawny yet defined abs, right under a fat TEAM LEO.

Leo rolled his eyes. "The makeover was Wise Girl's idea, for the record. And no, I don't. Y'all should probably get out of here in case something blows up."

"Right," Frank said, backing up quickly. "We'll just... be on our way."

"Like what you've done with your hair by the way, Grim Reaper!" Leo yelled after them. "Really brings out the eyes!"