Hello beautiful people! I'm right back!

Okay now, to the story, while reading HOO I totally fell in love with Frazel, but even so I'd never had the oportunity to actual write anything related to them. Some months ago, while talking with a friend, we came across this issue and I said 'Well, I've discussed the little something with Nico being born in the sixties and his sexuality a thousand times, but I've never done anything remotely similar with Hazel and racism', and while making Hazel hurt hurt me too, I liked the final product of this!

So, with that said, I hope you like this little something! :3

Included Love

It had all started after their small trip to Missouri.

After the war against Gaea was over and Leo had finally come back accompanied by Calypso, after things had finally settled and the Second Argo II —yes, Leo was very original— had been built, the Seven demigods of the last Big Prophecy had actually started to make plans.

They wanted to do something, together, in name of the old times when they had traveled saving the world—just that, of course, they didn't want to be saving the world this time, with no psycho gods or monsters attacking them, preferably.

And that was why they'd ended up in Missouri, more specifically, in Jackson, Missouri, because no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't work on an actual plan and going there to prove Percy that no blue food was served in Missouri's restaurant on a regular basis sounded as good as anything else.

But that was not the problem. The trip had actually been nice and even if some things did burst into flames, the river had been right there, so nothing really bad had happened. They had enjoyed themselves, really enjoyed themselves like the teenagers they were, for a change.

The problem had started after their come back, when Hazel and he had gone back to New Rome to resume their duties.

It had been subtle at first, tiny, little details that Frank had actually thought he'd been imagining, but right then, two weeks after their return, there really was no denying—Hazel was avoiding him. When he entered a room, she turned around and tried as hard she could to not meet his gaze; when he tried to take her hand, she jerked away and when he tried to circle her shoulders, she invented an excuse and left, her eyes focused on the ground.

No, he really wasn't overreacting. No, no, he wasn't imagining it. And no, it was not like her to act the way she was acting.

Lastly, yes, he was worried, very, very worried.

Maybe he had offended her in some way, or hurt her and no matter how worried he was, he mostly felt scared that he, somehow, had managed to make her feel uneasy or uncomfortable.

On the other side, he really couldn't ask her what had he done wrong when Hazel hardly was in the same room he was for the time it took to stand up and leave.

Which was the reason as to why he had, rather clumsily, asked Hazel to talk with him for a moment, cornering her in the barracks, and even when the slight quivering of the girl's lips made him feel guilty about even requesting such a thing from her, he still knew this was the only way to actually fix this problem, whatever it was.

"I… Hazel, is something wrong?" he inquired, failing to keep his voice from shaking.

"Frank, it's-it's really nothing, please…" she murmured, her eyes suddenly finding the tip of her black shoes terribly interesting.

"Hazel, I-I don't know what I did, but if I did anything that bothered you, I—"

"No, no, no!" the daughter of Pluto assured, making tiny nervous fusses with her hands, raising her gaze for a second before dropping it to the floor again. "It isn't you, Frank, I promise…"

"Then what is it, hazel, please?" Frank let out, almost whispering, the plea and worry in his voice so evident that the Roman girl couldn't find it within herself to not answer him, which was her first instinct.

"I… Frank do you… do you remember when we went to Missouri, how people would turn around in the streets and look at us?" she whispered, stuttering.

"Hazel, what are you talking about?" the son of Mars inquired, raising a concerned eyebrow.

"Didn't you notice how they stared at us, how they turned to talk between them? How they muttered this 'Look how brave, coming out like that in public' to each other whenever we held hands or anything?" the girl explained, talking faster and faster with each word, until she was almost panting at the end. Paradoxically, just as she got more nervous, she also raised her eyes, until they finally met with the praetor's, without him even noticing, and this time, it was her pleading, it was hers whose eyes shone brightly with unshed tears as she begged, begged for him to understand.

In all honesty, Frank hadn't noticed such a thing in the least, and that was saying something, because the son of Mars was usually aware of any disapproving looks sent to him or even his way, but…

On the other side, he couldn't bring himself to notice those things when he was with Hazel, whenever he was with her he was captivated by the way her eyes reflected the sun and her dark locks framed her face. Yet, he couldn't deny the nervousness in Hazel's ragged breathing or the fear in her eyes.

"Hazel, what are you talking about?" he asked again, this time daring to touch her, letting his hands fall on her shoulder as a reminder that she wasn't alone; this time, she didn't push him away.

"Where I… where I come from this like this, I mean, a couple that was different, a black woman or Asian people… or anything it… it wasn't seen. It wasn't right" she stuttered shaking. "I had forgotten it until the other day, but I… we… we weren't supposed to happen" she let out, her voice quivering as her eyes fell to the ground again.

Just as the last word left her lips, Frank felt as if something broke apart, as if time stopped, as if something, a huge building, the whole world, crashed down.

"I-I… Hazel, are you… are you telling me that we should break apart or…" he uttered, the words not something he wanted to say; he didn't even notice he had ordered his hands to move as they left Hazel's shoulders and fell to his sides.

"No, no, no! Not in the least!" the girl rushed to answer, as one single tear slid down her right cheek. "Well, no… that's not what I meant, but if you… if you want to, then I… I…"

Holding his breath, Frank allowed himself to look at the daughter of Pluto slowly, closing his eyes and then opening again, taking in her nervous, shaking lips, the trembling of her arms, how she braced herself, taking his time to notice how her eyes were glued to the ground and he felt it—no matter how worried he was, how confused he felt, he was also raging at whoever had made Hazel look like that, so afraid, so helpless.

"C'mere" he murmured as he circled the girl's lean figure to take her in his strong arms, feeling the tight knot of his chest undo itself when she didn't try to jerk away, burying her face into the curve of his neck instead. "It's okay".

"Frank, it's just that... how… how are you, New Rome's praetor with someone like me, a black woman, daughter of Pluto that…" but her voice broke, just as Frank's jaw tightened because how, how in the name of Olympus could Hazel say such a thing?

On one side, he could understand what she was saying, well, he had Asian heritage after all, and he was also big and clumsy oftentimes, but… it wasn't that he knew a lot about politics in the United States, but for all he knew and for all he cared whatever heritage you had did not limit who you were anymore. And yes, of course he understood that at Hazel's time things had been terribly different, and yet he still couldn't help but notice how such obsolete ideas had never met Hazel's opinion, Hazel's feelings.

"I'm with the most amazing, kindest girl I've ever met" he assured, cupping the girl's face gently in his hands, wiping away her tears in the process. "And the bravest, too" he added in a low voice, once he stared at Hazel auric orbs, same that shone with hope, with longing.

"But how… how can you…?

"Because I don't care about what others think when I'm with you" he said, offering a shy smile. "Hazel, when I met you I never thought you'd notice me, I didn't dare dream I'd end up with someone half as wonderful as you, so…"

"Don't say that…" the girl whispered softly, pressing her left cheek into Frank's palm.

"You started" the son of Mars pointed out.

"Frank, I'm… I'm very sorry" Hazel whispered, turning her eyes to the floor, her cheeks tainted red, but this time, she wasn't nervous, she didn't fear rejection, she just—she just felt silly because Frank was right, he was right. She knew better than anyone that one could never please everyone, no matter how hard you tried to meet everyone's expectations. Also, he had scored another point—in all honesty, she wasn't all that concerned about what others thought when she was with Frank, because, in all honesty, she hadn't dared to wish she'd so much as meet someone as sweet as Frank, someone as kind. She'd never dreamed she'd end up with someone who she loved so much and who, almost more importantly, loved her back.

"I'm not leaving you, bao bao*" Frank offered, as a promise, as a vow, as the truth—which only caused Hazel to flush further.

"And I was a fool to ever think you would" she replied, allowing herself a small smile as she circled the son of Mars' waist.

"Don't say that" the boy replied gently. "Although I have to say I hope that you don't do that again" he proposed, leaning down to kiss Hazel's forehead chastely.

"Rest assured" the daughter of Pluto nodded, as a promise, as the truth, slowly resting her head on Frank's left shoulder, blinking tears back, this time of joy, for a change.

And then she smiled, she smiled because she was happy, because she felt like it, because sometimes, happiness was simply too much to hold it inside and one needed to let it run free, to show it. She smiled because she could, because it was true, she couldn't change the world, she couldn't make everything better for everyone, but she could love her life, she could make the best out of herself and her life. And the best version of herself included courage, included acceptance—the best version of herself included love.

And because that was exactly what she had, what she wasn't willing to throw away plainly because someone didn't like to see her happy.

Moving forward to the notes! Okay, there goes another anecdote. Just a week ago, while writing this, I discovered that I'v made a fuss around Nico's Italian heritage and Leo's Latin, and while I can excuse myself with the second because I'm Mexican myself, I also have to recognize that I totally turned a blind eye on the fact that one of the most important factors as to why these series became so fanous and so dear is that same diversity their characters have.

And well, you all know how much fun I've had adding Spanish words to Leo's or Esperanza's dialogues, and while writing this story I decided that it was a good oportunity to take advantage of that diversity, so, where I want to get with this rambling is that you will probably be seeing something related to their heritage about either Frank or Piper (she's Native American, for the gods' sake! I love their mythology but I know near to nothing! And I love wolves! Which you don't care about, but wolves are worshiped by Native Americans so how in world could I have iver seen that?!). Maybe even Reyna, although I know nothing about Puerto Rico...

So, the asteric:

Bao bao stands for "darling" in Chinese. Of course I do not speak Chinese any further than "Nihao", which I'm sure we all learned with Kailan, but I have an amazhang friend who helped me with that! So, a big shoutout to DWGolondor and you should totally go and check out his profile! 3

Anyways, guys, on other news I know that barely a month ago I bothered you with my anniversary, but guess what? Although I started writing three years ago, only a year ago I started publishing my stories, so I'm thinking, this needs to be celebrated, I don't know what I want to do, maybe open prompts of let you ask me to translate a story... I dunno, how about you tell me in the comments what you'd like?

Read you soon!