Marry M.|the original

you couldn’t believe what you heard from percy.

you couldn’t even remember when the ringing in your ears started—whether it happened right after he told you about luke’s plan or whether it had already been there long before this moment, slowly building every time luke pulled further and further away from you. all you knew was that your chest felt unbearably tight, like your body already understood something your mind was still trying to reject.

the past few days have been strange. luke had grown colder in ways that frightened you because they were subtle enough to excuse if you wanted to. he stopped seeking you out during dinner, stopped lingering around your cabin late at night with that lazy grin on his face, stopped brushing his fingers against yours whenever he passed by you like he couldn’t help himself. every conversation felt clipped and unfinished, like part of him was somewhere else entirely.

you tried convincing yourself it was nothing. but you were also just a girl hopelessly in love, and when the person you love starts pulling away, your mind begins filling the silence with every terrible possibility it can find. you thought maybe there was someone else. someone easier to love. someone less complicated. someone who didn’t know every soft part of him and therefore couldn’t break him just by looking at him.

turns out you were right, there was someone else. it just wasn’t another girl. it was kronos.

“i told you already, you’re not gonna find him in the woods.” percy’s voice came from behind you, quieter than usual as the leaves crunched beneath his shoes. “he left.”

you shook your head immediately, gripping the sleeves of your jacket tighter around yourself. “luke wouldn’t leave without telling me.”

percy’s expression shifted into something painfully close to pity. “he just did.”

another crack formed inside your chest. still, you kept walking. “where did you say he went?”

all you heard was his tired sigh. when you turned around, he was already looking at you like he knew this was going to destroy you and hated that he couldn’t stop it.

“percy, please.”

“i tol you, he’s gone,” he repeated carefully. “he made a portal and disappeared. i don’t know where he went. you’re probably never gonna see him here again.” his voice softened near the end. “i’m really sorry.”

you swallowed against the ache in your throat. “i’ll find him.”

and find him, you did.

it took weeks for chiron to finally approve your plan because every argument against it was reasonable. it was dangerous to leave camp alone, dangerous to search for a traitor, dangerous to believe the boy everyone warned you about was still worth saving.

but none of those things scared you. because to everyone else, luke castellan was becoming a monster. 

to you however, he was still the boy who sat beside you during thunderstorms because you hated lightning, the boy who remembered every little thing about you without trying, the boy who once whispered promises against your skin like he truly believed he’d live long enough to keep them. you couldn’t stop loving him just because everybody else had started fearing him.

with a heart full of doubt, you followed the information hermes had given you. he mentioned something about luke gathering rogue demigods at the beach just outside camp grounds, building support for whatever coup he was planning. you wanted to reject the idea entirely because it sounded too cruel, too unlike luke, but doubt had already started rotting inside you long ago.

the walk through the woods felt endless and by the time you reached the shoreline, exhaustion clung to your body. but the moment you spotted him standing near the water, every feeling inside you sharpened painfully all at once.

luke stood a few feet ahead, surrounded by unfamiliar demigods. his arms were crossed over his chest, expression serious as he spoke to them. even from far away, you recognized every little mannerism—the slight furrow between his brows whenever he focused, the way his lips pressed together after saying something important, the impatient tapping of his fingers against his arm.

not realizing that you had stopped walking, one of the boys near him noticed you staring right at them. “captain,” he muttered cautiously, pointing in your direction.

luke turned instantly, hand flying towards his pocket, where you guess, he now keeps his dagger in. the others reacted just as quickly, weapons shifting toward you with sharp distrust. but the moment his eyes landed on your face, everything in him changed.

hand slowly moving away from the blade, it made its way up, “hold,” he ordered quietly. the others obeyed immediately.

it's almost like a reflex, the way your feet moved towards him—almost as if they were finding their way home. when you finally stopped in front of him, your throat tightened so painfully that the only thing you could think to ask was, “how are you?”

one of the men behind him snorted softly. “who’s this?”

“looks like she’s one of us,” another added.

luke stared at you for a long moment before answering flatly, “she’s a friend.”

a friend. the words slid into your chest like something sharp and rusted.

before you could even process the hurt properly, another order came out of his mouth, “you guys get on the ship, i’ll come after.” they all did what he said and dispersed as soon as they could, almost as if disobeying would cost them their life.

another voice spoke, a girl this time. she stood near the ship behind them, eyes narrowed as she looked between the two of you. “captain,” she corrected herself after nearly saying his name. “don’t let the melody of the birds cloud your mind.”

something flickered across luke’s face after hearing that. whether it was guilt, hesitation or fear, you couldn’t tell anymore. he waited until everyone boarded before finally facing you fully, “how did you find me?”

“the gods are all-knowing.”

he laughed bitterly under his breath. “of course. the gods.” he repeated your words mockingly before dragging his tongue against the inside of his cheek. “you shouldn’t have come.”

“i needed to.” your voice cracked despite your efforts to steady it. “you need me to save you from this.”

“save me?” the moment he looked directly into your eyes, his expression faltered almost imperceptibly. you saw it happen. the brief crack in his facade, and maybe, that was what gave you the courage to keep going. “you know there’s no saving me.”

slightly shaking your head, trying to find composure and not break in front of him right then and there, “no, i don’t. and you don’t know that either. please just give me a chance to—”

“chance to what? you can’t change my mind.” he firmly says, “this,” pointing right to his temple, “my mind, it’s full of poison. and it’s because of the all knowing gods you seem to believe so much in!” using your words against you.

gods, you tried so hard. but standing in front of him felt like watching someone drown while they insisted on pulling themselves deeper. “luke, please,” you whispered. “we can fight them another way. we can make things better without this.”

reaching for his hands instinctively, you were desperate for something familiar. hoping that the warmth of your palm could melt the coldness that now covers his heart, hoping for proof that the boy you loved was still somewhere inside him. for one terrible second, his fingers twitched against yours like he almost held on back.

then he shoved your hands away, “fight them with what?” he snapped. “hope? a little rebellion? love?” his voice grew sharper and more emotional with every word. “disobey the gods and they crush you. look at what happened to thalia.”

there it was. the wound that never stopped bleeding. of course she’s a huge part of why luke was doing this. to avenge thalia, avenge himself, avenge little annabeth, avenge every abandoned demigod who spent their entire lives begging to matter to the people who created them.

you could see it now, written all over his face. this wasn’t ambition nor was it greed. it was grief left untreated for way too long. “if you came here hoping to change my mind,” he said more quietly now, exhaustion sinking into his features, “you should just leave.”

he looked tired, not physically, something worse. he looked like someone who had already buried himself a long time ago and was simply waiting for the rest of the world to notice.

left with nothing, all you could say was, “i love you, luke.”

his entire body stiffened. you watched his throat bob slightly. watched his eyes close for half a second longer than normal, like your words physically hurt him.

“it doesn’t matter how your love feels anymore.” the words tasted rotten in his mouth the moment they left it.

every part of him wanted to take them back the second he saw the way your expression faltered, but he forced himself to continue because cruelty was the only thing he had left that might still push you away from him. kindness would only make you stay. and gods, if you stayed any longer, he knew he would break.

“love by itself will never be the cure,” he said quietly, each word sounding strained, like he had to drag them painfully out of himself.

it was low, and he knew it. he knew it especially because of you, and the way you always spoke about your mother with so much warmth—you were the kind of person who still believed love could soften even the cruelest parts of the world. you believed love healed people. you believed it saved them.

and maybe once upon a time, luke had wanted to believe that too. but now he was standing in front of you trying to destroy that belief with his bare hands, because if you kept loving him like this, you would follow him straight into ruin.

still, despite the ache splitting through your chest, you forced yourself to stand your ground. because beneath every cruel thing leaving his mouth, you could still hear the desperation in it. luke wasn’t trying to hurt you because he hated you. he was hurting you because he thought it was the only way he could make you leave him behind.

“please, luke,” you begged, your voice breaking under the weight of everything you had been carrying since the moment he disappeared. “just come back. i miss you. everyone does.”

his lips twitched at that, the movement so small you almost missed it. for one dangerous second, you thought he might finally crack and say it back. i miss you too. you could see it in the way his expression softened against his will.

but then allison’s voice echoed sharply in the back of his mind. don’t let the melody of the birds cloud your mind. his jaw tightened immediately after. whatever softness had surfaced disappeared beneath something harsher and colder.

“you think i believe that?” he asked bitterly, though his voice betrayed him halfway through, emotion splintering through the anger. “everyone thinks i’m a fool and a traitor.”

“they don’t know you like i do,” you said quickly, stepping closer before he could retreat into himself again. “they don’t know what you’ve been through, or why you’re angry, or how much you’ve sacrificed for people your entire life. they only see what happened, but i still see you.”

your voice softened near the end, almost trembling now. “and maybe everyone else stopped trying to understand you, but i didn’t.”

there you see the exhaustion underneath all the rage he kept wearing like armor. he looked away from you sharply, his chest rose unevenly before he laughed once under his breath, humorless and tired.

“that’s the problem,” he murmured. “you still look at me like there’s something left worth saving.” his eyes met yours again then, and whatever restraint he had left finally started unraveling. “do you think i don’t wake up every day wishing you were enough to make me stay?”

“luke…”

“i loved you before all of this,” he admitted quietly, tears gathering in his eyes despite how hard he fought them back. “that’s exactly why you need to go.”

that shattered you the most, because right then and there, luke had unraveled himself and told you the truth. he loved you, he does, and he was still choosing this. but he loved you, and that’s honestly everything you needed to hear.

knowing no amount of words could really flip his world around anymore, you pulled the collar of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. at first, his lips pushed against you, his hands to grab your waist with heartbreaking desperation, enough for him to kiss you back like he remembered every soft thing he was about to lose forever. the kiss tasted like grief. like longing stretched too thin. like two people trying to hold onto each other while the world split open beneath them.

for one horrible moment, you felt him lean into you fully. your luke. the boy who laughed too loudly, who stole extra strawberries for you during dinner, who held your hand beneath the table like it was instinct rather than choice.

then he aggressively tore himself away from you, “stop!” his voice came out strained, almost angry at how weak he sounded.

the force he used pushing you back sent you stumbling onto the sand. immediately, guilt flashed across his face and he instinctively moved toward you before stopping himself halfway, hands trembling at his sides.

“look at me,” he whispered harshly. “look at what i am.”

tears finally spilled down your cheeks.

“i got hate and toxins flowing in my bloodstream,” he continued, kneeling in front of you despite himself. “you can spend the rest of your life trying to suck it out of me, but it will never be enough.” his voice cracked violently now. “this is who i am.”

you shook your head desperately, trying to change his mind. but luke only smiled sadly, and somehow that hurt worse than if he had yelled.

“you keep loving me like i’m still someone worth saving,” he murmured. “and maybe that’s the cruelest thing you could do to yourself.” his fingers twitched again, before reaching for you and cupping your face. “i’m the luckiest bastard alive because i got to be loved by you,” he whispered. “but your love is smaller than the war i have to win.”

for a moment, you saw him again, not the captain or the traitor, especially not kronos’ chosen boy. you see luke, the boy you loved. and somehow that made losing him hurt even more. because he was still there, buried beneath all the anger and grief and poison, but still there. 

your lips parted slightly, another plea already forming at the tip of your tongue, but luke suddenly looked away from you, jaw tightening so hard it almost looked painful. it was as if looking at you for too long physically weakened him, like every second spent near you chipped away at the resolve he had spent months building.

behind him, the waves crashed violently against the shore, but they still weren’t loud enough to drown the sound of his uneven breathing.

“captain?” one of the men from the ship called cautiously.

luke closed his eyes briefly, when he opened them again, something inside him had hardened.

he stood up and says, “take her back to camp.”

your breath caught, the words didn’t even sound real at first.

one of the demigods hesitated. “what?”

“i said take her back.” his voice came out sharper this time, like he needed to make himself cruel enough to survive this. “make sure she gets there safely.”

“luke…” he flinched at the sound of your shaking voice. it was small, almost unnoticeable, but you saw it—you had spent too many years loving him not to notice every little crack in him.

two people slowly approached you, hesitant like they almost felt guilty for what they were about to do. you stepped back immediately, eyes never leaving luke. “no. no! luke!” he still wouldn’t look at you.

anger and desperation finally started clawing their way up your throat. “don’t do this.” you cried. “don’t stand there and act like this is goodbye.” his hands curled tightly into fists at his sides.

“please,” you whispered now, tears slipping freely down your face. “please don’t send me away.” for one horrible second, you thought he might break.

his head turned slightly toward you, and the expression on his face nearly destroyed you. because beneath all the coldness, all the bitterness, there was grief—raw, unbearable grief. the kind that comes from ripping your own heart out with your bare hands because you believe it’s the only way to survive.

his lips parted slightly, like he almost said your name, almost told them to stop. like he almost chose you. but then his gaze flickered toward the ship behind him, toward the people waiting for his orders, toward the war he had already thrown himself into so completely that he no longer knew how to crawl back out of it.

and just like that, the softness vanished again.

“take her home,” he repeated quietly.

the demigods finally grabbed your arms despite your resistance. immediately, panic surged through you.

“luke!” you fought against their grip, twisting desperately as they started dragging you backward across the sand. “luke, please!”

he stood completely still, and that hurt more than anything.

you would have rather he yelled at you.. would have rather he looked angry or cruel or hateful. but instead he just stood there looking devastated, like he was watching something precious being taken from him while knowing he was the one who ordered it.

“i hate you!” you cried out, though even you could hear the heartbreak bleeding through the lie. “i hate you for making me leave!”

that finally made him react. his expression crumpled for only a second before he looked away sharply, throat stiffening hard enough that you knew he was trying not to fall apart in front of everyone.

the last thing you saw before the trees swallowed him from your view was luke taking a shaky step backward, one hand covering his mouth as though holding himself together had suddenly become physically painful.

and even then, even after everything, he still couldn’t bring himself to watch you go.

you shift from the bed after feeling the absence of your husband’s warmth. slowly opening your eyes, you reach out instinctively, only to find his side empty, “luke?” you call faintly, though even before it leaves your lips, you already know where he is—the soft glow spilling from the slight opening of the bedroom door gives him away.

you sit up slowly, the warmth of the blankets fading as you rub your eyes and push yourself upright. slowly walking toward the nursery in slow, one hand lightly brushing the wall for balance as sleep still clings to you.

as you get closer, you hear soft rattling and a faint humming of a nursery rhyme in a tone so low it’s almost a whisper. you pause at the doorway for a second, just listening, then you open it.

inside, there’s luke—standing near the center of the room, your newborn daughter nestled carefully in his arms as he sways gently from side to side. levi is beside him, with a toy rattle in his hand, he looks up immediately when the door opens. “hi mom,” he says, like it’s completely normal to be awake at this hour.

luke glances over too, his voice soft as he adjusts his hold. “oh—hi,” he murmurs. “you woke up?”

“yeah,” you step inside. “i realized you weren’t there.” a pause. “what happened?”

“she was a little fussy,” levi says gently, “so i thought she might be hungry.”

“then dad woke up too.” luke exhales a quiet laugh through his nose. “and then she got more fussy.”

“rude,” luke adds immediately, as if offended on behalf of himself.

levi continues, “no—i meant she wanted to be held more by your presence, not that you smelt bad.” your son scratched the back of his head.

“and now she’s gonna get more fussy cause mom’s here and she loves being held by her.” he observed.

you chuckle at that, finally waking up a little more, shaking your head as you step closer. “so she just hates peace, basically.”

almost on cue, lily lets out a small, rising cry the moment you come nearer.

levi points at her like he’s been proven correct in court, “told you.” far too satisfied for a kid who should be asleep.

“wow,” luke laughed quietly, “my teenager and his newborn sister already have some good comedic timing.” he joked, earning a laugh from everyone.

you stretch your hands toward her, instinctively ready to take your crying daughter, but luke gently shifts away just slightly. “nope,” he firmly, still smiling. “you already carried her all day. let me do this.”

“dad’s right mom,” levi adds immediately, “you should go back to sleep.”

you blink at them, “but i can’t sleep without your dad.”

luke pauses for a second, “oh,” he says, amused. “right. i almost forgot you’re my first baby.”

“oh my gosh,” levi groans instantly, covering his face with his hand. “get a room.”

luke laughs under his breath, shifting lily again as her cries soften into tiny hiccups. “relax, lev. you’ll understand one day.”

“no i won’t,” levi mutters. “i’m never getting married.”

luke lets out a quiet laugh, “that’s what they all say.”

"oh so you change your mind about marrying me?" you teased.

he rolled his eyes, "mom, i was three. plus," pointing at his parents. “look at you two. emotionally unstable in the morning because you can’t be separated for five seconds.”

you press a hand to your chest like you’ve been personally wounded, “emotionally unstable?”

“he’s got a point,” luke says, completely unhelpful.

“luke.”

“what?” he smiles, soft and sleep-heavy. “we are in a nursery arguing about love at 1:43 a.m.”

levi nods, “exactly.”

you reached out to lightly fix the tiny blanket around lily’s feet, and her cries are already fading into small, sleepy hiccups.

luke notices, “see?” he says quietly, tilting his head toward you. “she’s fine.”

“because mom’s here and she has like… calming powers,” levi said. you softly chuckle, messing his hair.

lily lets out one last soft sound before finally settling completely, her tiny hand curling into luke’s shirt. the room goes quieter after that.

you exhale slowly, the tension in your shoulders finally giving in as you watch her fall asleep again. luke doesn’t move much either now, just swaying more out of habit than need.

“you’re really serious about not getting married?” luke asks suddenly, glancing at levi.

levi doesn’t hesitate. “yes.”

“hm.” luke hums thoughtfully. “that’s a shame. i was gonna give you my legendary marriage advice.”

“oh?”

“but you’re never getting married so forget about it.”

“dad, you can't just say you'll tell me something and not do it.” he cross his arms at his father.

“come find me again when you’re getting married.” he chuckles, reaching out to kiss the top of your head, making you giggle.

levi groans again, “you two are impossible.”

“we’re a team,” you correct, gently caressing his cheek.

he pauses for a second at the gesture, then sighs like he’s trying very hard not to lean into it, usual teenage angst, “a very loud team.”

“a team you are a part of.”

luke nods toward the sofa bed in the corner, “come on.”

you blink. “what?”

“all of us,” he adds. “we’re not doing this whole emotional conversation standing up.”

levi looks immediately suspicious, “why do i feel like this is a trap.”

“because you’re dramatic,” luke replies easily.

still, levi drags his feet towards the bed. you end up settling first, luke carefully lowering himself beside you while still holding lily, and levi reluctantly squeezing in on the edge like he’s being forced into affection against his will.

“this is uncomfortable,” he whispers.

“you’ll survive,” you murmur, leaning slightly into luke anyway.

luke exhales a quiet laugh, head tipping just enough to rest against yours. “you see?” he says softly to levi. “this is what you'll be missing out on.”

levi looks between the two of you, then down at lily sleeping peacefully in his dad’s arms. he thinks for  minute, “…i still don’t want to get married,” he says, but it’s weaker now.

“that’s fine,” you whisper, eyes already half-closed again. “you can stay with us forever.”

luke hums in agreement. “we’ll feed you.”

“and embarrass you,” you add. “constantly,” luke confirms.

levi groans one last time, but this time there’s no real fight in it. just sleepiness. just warmth he can’t really argue against anymore.

slowly, the room settles—lily asleep in her father’s arms, you tucked against luke’s shoulder, and levi finally leaning, just slightly, against your side without realizing it.

— 💌 a/n: THIS is the husband luke i speak of hehehehe

“Always tryin’ to sneak up on me, huh sweet girl?” He asked softly.

You smiled and replied, “Maybe I’ll get you one day.”

“Not likely, baby. But I’m not gonna stop you from tryin’.” Said Billy.

“Whatcha lookin’ at, handsome?” You asked, wrapping your arms around his torso.

Billy reached out and pulled the picture off the wall. It was one of the first art projects Anna had done at daycare. It was two upside down hand prints and above them, it said “Best Daddy, Hands Down.”

“Remember this?” Billy asked with a slight smile.

Your lips curled into a smile.

“Awww, your first homemade Father’s Day present.” You replied. “She was so excited to give it to you. I think she was two.”

“Never thought I’d ever become a father.” Whispered Billy.

It wasn’t that long ago that your husband was just your tattoo artist and friend. Now, several years and two kids later, he was still adjusting to the fact that he was a husband and he now had two smaller pieces of him that he was trying his hardest to be a good father to.

“Tomorrow will be your first father’s day with TWO kids. I know Dylan made you something at daycare and Little Raven showed me what she made for you in preschool.” You said, clasping your hands together behind Billy’s neck.

Billy touched his forehead to yours. It was always such a comfort for him when he did because it made him feel safe and it was a sign of trust between the two of you. Gently, he pressed his lips to yours and snaked his hands around your waist, pulling you flush to his body as the warmth radiated through his black t-shirt against your soft skin.

“I love you.” Said Billy in a hushed tone.

Your lips curled into a warm smile and replied, “I love you too, baby.”

Billy’s dark chocolate eyes looked worrisome.

“Am I a good father, sweet girl?” He asked with a slight hitch in his voice.

You delicately raked your nails against his scalp as he relaxed his shoulders and rested his hands on your hips.

“Of course you are, Billy. I know Dylan is still really young but both of the kids are always so happy to see you when you come home from work. No matter how tired you are, you never brush them off. You sit and draw with Anna or watch a movie with her, you make funny noises to try and make Dylan laugh. They love you, baby. You’re a great dad.” You replied, brushing his beard with your thumb.

A shy smile stretched across Billy’s lips. He’d never admit it but he loved the praise you gave him, loved to hear that he was doing a good job, and that you and the kids just adored him. His smile was all of the admission you needed to see.

“I think I’m ready for bed now, beautiful.” Said Billy with a wink.

You knew what that meant.

“Race ya, lieutenant!” You exclaimed.

As you turned to run out of the room, Billy hip checked you to get out of the room first and make it to your bedroom before you could even get out of his studio.

He was sitting on the edge of the bed when you walked in with a slight scowl on your face. Billy was hyper competitive and he’d never, under any circumstances, let anyone win, not even his four-year-old daughter. So he definitely wasn’t going to let you win a foot race to the bedroom.

Glaring at him, pointing one finger in the air, you rhetorically asked him, “Did you just HIP CHECK me, Mr. Russo?”

“Well, you would have won if I didn’t.” He said, flashing you that million-dollar smile and inching up toward the middle of the bed.

“Oh you are sooooooo lucky you’re cute, my love.” You replied, straddling him.

Billy’s hands immediately traveled to your ass, as he gently nipped along your jaw and down the sides of your neck. He mapped the rest of your body with his talented fingers, sending sharp tingles down your spine as he grazed the soft skin of your lower back.

“You know I can’t just LET you win, sweet girl. Can I make it up to you?” He asked, as he pressed his lips against the sculpted hollow of your throat.

“I’m listening…how?” You asked, pushing his hair back that had tumbled into his eyes.

His lips collided with yours, parting them with his tongue to tangle with yours as he rolled until you were underneath him and his hips were pressed firmly against you.

“What if I hip check you in a different way?” He asked, gently thrusting his hips against you.

Billy’s hardening length pressed against your core as he peppered gentle kisses down your neck. A wet spot immediately formed on your panties and his hand traveled along your outer thigh while goosebumps erupted across your exposed skin.

His lips were suddenly on yours again.

Smiling against his lips, you said, “I suppose I can allow that. I love you, Billy.”

The corners of his mouth curled into a warm smile as Billy replied, “I love you too, my little firecracker.”

And with another kiss, he covered your body with his own.

**********

While putting Anna to bed last night, you reminded her that the next day was Father’s Day and that you all should do something special for Billy to which she suggested making him breakfast. Little Raven had always been an early riser so when she woke up the next morning, she quietly crept into your bedroom to wake you up, being very careful not to wake her father.

A lot of children were very heavy on their feet even just walking but not Anna. Like her father, she was very light on her feet and she was up even before Dylan. It was very early but it was the perfect time to start breakfast.

“Coffee is the most important part, right Mommy?” She asked, pointing at the coffee maker.

She learned that from her dad.

“Did Daddy tell you that, Little Raven?” You asked with a slight smile, picking up the stepstool and placing it on the floor next to the counter.

Anna answered, “Daddy said if you don’t have it, you a bear.”

She flashed a sly smile at you like she was getting away with saying something bad.

You couldn’t help but chuckle because he wasn’t wrong but he was just as bad with needing a caffeine boost every morning so you made sure that coffee was the first thing you prepared. Of course you let Little Raven push the button.

“Well, Daddy isn’t wrong. Mommy does love her coffee but so does Daddy. Breakfast is gonna taste extra yummy because you helped me make it. You ready?” You asked.

Anna squealed with excitement and clapped her hands.

“Ready, Mommy!”

Placing your finger in front of your lips, you said, “Sssshhhh, let’s try and keep quiet so Daddy and Dylan can sleep some more, ok?”

Little Raven whispered back with a big smile, “Ok, Mommy.”

Even when Anna could barely walk, she always wanted to help you with whatever you were doing so she was very excited to help make her dad his Father’s Day breakfast.

She helped you line up the bacon on the baking sheet, getting it ready to bake in the oven. She sprayed water everywhere after you showed her how to rinse the strawberries and then she wanted to make pancakes.

“Daddy likes pancakes. Look how big this one is, Mommy!” She said excitedly.

“Yes, that is a big one, isn’t it. See how the bubbles are popping right there? That’s how you know it’s time to flip it, ready?” You asked, guiding the spatula in her little hands, getting ready to turn it over.

“Ready!” Said Anna.

“Aaaaaaand….Ta-da! Good job, baby girl!” You said with praise.

She was so excited.

“I did it!” Shouted Anna.

Just as you added the pancake to the pile, Billy walked into the kitchen carrying Dylan.

“What’s goin’ on in here?” Asked Billy with a wide smile.

Anna’s face lit up, her smile stretched from ear to ear as she took off running toward her dad. Grabbing onto his leg, she squeezed him tightly.

“HI DADDY!!” She said, her tiny voice was full of excitement.

You took Dylan so Billy could pick up Anna.

“Hey, little miss. What are you and Mommy doin’?” Billy asked, kissing Anna on the forehead.

“Remember what we practiced this morning, Little Raven?” You asked.

She nodded and you both said simultaneously, “HAPPY FATHER’S DAY, DADDY!”

“Me and Mommy made you breffast!” Said Anna.

Billy’s lips curled into a wide smile as he replied, “It smells sooooo good, baby. Did you make coffee too?”

“I pushed the button! Don’t worry, Mommy had some.” She said, then loudly whispered into Billy’s ear, “She’s not a bear.”

You and Billy got a good laugh out of that one.

“Yes, thank you for telling our child that I can be a bit grouchy without my coffee, baby. I appreciate that.” You said.

Billy inched closer to you, “I’ll take it back if you can tell me it’s not true.”

“Well I can’t do that but neither can you, handsome.” You said, kissing him on the cheek as the bristles of his beard tickled your lips.

“Very true, my love.” He said with a wink.

Anna eagerly asked, “You ready to eat, Daddy?”

“I am, little miss. I’m starving.” Replied Billy, placing her back onto the floor.

Watching Billy eat breakfast with his children warmed your heart, made you smile, and even had you laughing at times. Anna tried sneaking pieces of bacon off of her father’s plate while Billy was feeding Dylan his scrambled eggs which he was still very skeptical of but reluctantly ate them anyway.

With a lot of help from his daycare teachers, Dylan made Billy a picture. It was his hand print made into a fish with a fishing pole next to it that said “Hooked on Daddy.” At the bottom was his name and the date.

Billy’s present from Anna was a rock that she painted and her teachers helped her paint “Dad Rocks” on it. On the other side was her name and the date.

He loved his gifts and Anna loved giving him his present. The innocence and pure joy in her eyes that were just like her father’s was a memory that would stay with you forever. You were both trying very hard to be good parents to your children because you and Billy knew what it was like to have mothers that didn’t deserve to be celebrated in any way.

They were both selfish and had abandoned their children because you weighed them down in one way or another and you never ever wanted to do that to your own children. You didn’t ever want them to know what that feels like, how it stays with you no matter how much you say you’ve moved on, and how it still hurts when you think about what they did to you.

You didn’t want that for them.

“You like your breffast, Daddy?” Asked Little Raven.

Billy answered with a smile, “I do, baby. You and Mommy did such a good job and thank you for my rock.”

“You rock, Daddy.” She said, flashing her father’s smile right back at him.

Billy was speechless. The praise you gave him yesterday was reinforced by his eldest child, the one who made him a father, his little girl.

“Thank you, baby girl.” He replied with a hitch in his voice.

Anna turned to you and asked, “I go color now, Mommy?”

“Yes, baby. You can go color. Wipe your hands first.” You replied.

You gave Billy a sly smile, a smile that silently said “I told you so.”

“I know that look, sweet girl. Go ahead, say it.” Said Billy.

Dylan was still in his high chair when you moved over to sit in Billy’s lap.

“I told you that you were a good dad. You believe me now, handsome?” You asked, gently pressing your lips to his.

Billy returned your kiss, tangling his fingers in your hair, and he smiled against your lips. As you raked your fingers against his scalp, he relaxed his shoulders and buried his head like a cat into where your neck meets your shoulder.

“Maybe a little.” Said Billy.

You questioned, “A little? Your daughter just told you that you rock and you got our little man to eat all of his eggs today. Most of the time, I can’t get him to do that. So you should believe me, my love…and believe your kids.”

Billy was quiet, at a loss for words, and thinking about what he wanted to say.

“We’re not like them are we, sweet girl.” He said in a relieved tone.

And by “them,” you knew who he was referring to.

Your mother had abandoned you in a similar yet different way than Billy’s. She left you and your brother to be raised by your father and started a new family with a new husband and a new baby. Even though your relationship was better today, that feeling of loneliness or “why wasn’t I enough,” was always there and always would be there.

You and Billy weren’t perfect parents, no one is. You’ve made mistakes but you wanted to be better than they were to you. And your children were proof that you were doing a pretty good job so far.

They were happy.

You replied with a warm smile, “No we’re not, baby. We’re nothing like them.”

Tag List: @rafaelakelley @snowkestrel @fictional-hooman @k-marzolf @gijos @nutmeg17 @vaguekayla @danzer8705 @fireeyes-on-teller-dixon-grimes @aoi-targaryen @mysteriouslydeafeningwerewolf @rachlovesactors @sweetserendipity65 @bartonsparrow25

Others that might enjoy: @itwasthereaminuteago @fluffyprettykitty @jvanilly @ittybxttykxttytxtty @imagine-a-fictional-boyfriend @colereads @jediwizardelf @thejanecampaign @milea @folkloreofyennefer @mysweetlittledesire @mrsalwayswrite @madelynneb @serenamultifandom @amora-morozova @onceupona-happilyeverafter-love @briannareneea985 @operation-spot @banksyjots

here's a playlist (spotify & apple music links now available!)

child of dionysus headcanons!

trouble!verse moodboard 1 & moodboard 2 & college!trouble by the lovely @24kmar

deleted scenes from a different universe (AUs)

play the extended cuts (blurbs from in-between)

character study: luke castellan & trouble

any works, updates, thoughts, musings, etc about this series will be tagged under #trouble!verse !

key: fluff - ☼ angst - ☽ smut - ☆ jo's favorites - ᥫ᭡

[rewind to before] pre-established relationship

trouble always finds me (trouble!reader origin story) 1.7k ☼

The one where he could tell you were trouble from the day he met you. (You're an annoyance, but not an enemy)

entropy 3.6k☼

The one where you both blur the lines between annoyance and admiration. (the promise of becoming partners in crime)

buddy system 4.2k ☼

The one where he comes with you to rescue your younger twin brothers, Pollux & Castor. (this is as close to a real quest that Mr. D will give you--might as well take someone you trust!)

somebody's angel 4.4k ☽

The one where you convince him he’s pretty, even with a scar. (songfic - Die Alone - Finneas)

feed the fire 1.2k ☼

The one where his focus is not on spilled food, but on you. (Luke realizes this is more than playful banter)

bedtime stories 2.4k ☼

The one where night shift with him runs late, but you don’t mind at all. (the both of you have feelings you want to admit, but duty calls!)

crazy little thing 3.4k ☼

The one where he uses all his drachmas to make you smile on Valentine's Day. (the Apollo kids are better matchmakers than Aphrodite, sometimes)

anything you want 1.6k ☼

The one where you and him have your first kiss. (You've always loved teaching the story of Orpheus and Eurydice; except when your Orpheus runs away from you)

said he likes crazy 2.1k ☼ ☽

The one where only he can help you with a bad day, even if he's avoided you since your first kiss. (For being a son of Hermes, he has a way of calming your nerves)

[pause and remember us like this] established relationship

play pretend 5.1k ☼

The one where Mr. D catches you two in the act, but you and him aren’t exactly together yet. (Drunk words are sober thoughts. Your dad just wishes Luke told you instead of him)

a wish your heart makes 1.4k ☼ ☽

The one where you share dreams, burn cookies, and it still reminds him of home. (The dryads will probably ban you from the kitchen after this)

star crossing 4k ☼

The one where both your dreams come to life for a night (Crossing the stars for love is easier said than done)

to see the chaos through 4k ☼☽

The one where he remembers he was never a good guy, just yours. (Luke makes the ultimate deal with the devil in order to save you)

not your goddess 8k ☽

The one where you both know the best of days eventually have to come to an end. (songfic - Goddess - Laufey)

don't blame the kids 7.6k ☼

The one where you both chaperone a trip to Mount Olympus. (the Olympians are bigger gossips than you thought they'd be)

trouble's coming for you 3.7k ☼

The one where Percy meets his two favorite counselors at Camp Half-Blood. (three times Percy is oblivious (and in the way) and the time he realizes you and Luke are in love)

now that we're older 3.5k ☼

The one where he asks if you can stay the night even if all of cabin 11 makes fun of him. (Luke is tired of the routine. He just needs his girl)

if you need to be mean (be mean to me) 1.5k☽

The one where he leaves before you wake up. (songfic - I Don't Smoke - Mitski )

[fast forward until we meet again] post-tlt

lovers, or partners in crime 2.1k ☽

The one where Annabeth and Percy think you’re guilty too. (the last day leading up to Luke's betrayal)

love like a blister: the five stages of loving losing luke 4.7k ☽

The one where you learn to mourn someone even if they’re still alive. (the five stages of grief after facing a loss)

to catch a thief 3.7k ☼ ☽

The one where duty calls at Camp Half-Blood. Again. (Your reunion with Luke isn't quite what you expected.)

solipsism 5.3k ☽

The one where you finally pray to Hestia to keep your home safe, even if he's also trying to destroy it. (the four times Luke uses Backbiter to visit you during college ft. the first time you trust a god to help you)

forever falling: luke castellan & his four great loves 4.3k ☼ ☽

The one where he falls from grace and still thinks of you. (the four great loves of Luke Castellan’s life and how it will end up killing him)

love me dry 4.5k ☼ ☽

The one where he meets you at his mother's house, though both of you didn't expect the other to be there. (a glimpse into May Castellan's idea of a perfect day)

when the curtains close 5.3k☽

The one where you lose two people in the Labyrinth that day. All strings are cut. (Annabeth and Pollux find out the biggest difference between you and Luke.)

asking for trouble 7.8k ☽

The one where Luke's final wish is to see you. (He's himself again, and all he wants is to find out if the trouble was worth it all)

as above, so below 10.4k ☽☼

The one where you plead your case with the gods of Olympus. (The one thing the fates didn't expect was how much you'd both be like your fathers; in a way, you and Luke didn't see it coming either)

Today was the day– again.

Another year that crawled by at the same speed of your grief. Time, that was once your friend, had become your worst enemy. It worked against you. Wielding a sharpened knife that plunges into your back, twisting deeper every minute. 

Ryland had been gone for three years. Three long years.

In the middle of the night, you still found yourself reaching out across the bed. You were always met with cold sheets. You still found yourself in the morning reaching for two mugs. The realization that dawned on you felt worse than a gunshot. There was no need to grab another mug, nor was there a need for you to reach for something—someone–that wasn’t there. 

Your world shattered when Strat told you. Ryland. Your sweet, silly, Ryland decided to give up his life and go to Tau Ceti. He left his students behind. He left you behind. The man who would grasp onto your hand and make you do an odd shuffle like run across a street. He’d gone up to space. 

“Hey, Ry.” You murmur softly, face upturned towards the starry sky. 

The clouds had cleared. The fog from the last few days had disappeared—a dull ache lingers as you remember how fond Ryland was of the fog. He’d say something smart if he were with you now. He’d wish for the fog back so he wouldn’t have to see your sad expression. 

Your fingers grasp onto your jeans so hard the fabric wrinkles. It’s only then do you realize you’re shaking. And tears are slowly dripping down your cheeks. 

“It’s been a while.” You continue, voice starting to waiver. “Too long. I.. I miss you. I always do.”

The stars twinkle. It’s almost like you can pretend he’s there. 

“I miss the way you used to grade papers at the dinner table. All those papers littered everywhere, the bouts of red pens you used to go through. All the empty sticker sheets I’d find balled up under the table.” A choked sound falls from your lips. “And I miss the way you always got us tickets to the kids’ fundraisers. I still go. Did you know that? Abby is raising money for the STEM club now.”

Talking to Ryland became a nightly ritual. You’d stand outside before you went to bed—no matter the temperature. Rain or shine. It brought you comfort. But the anniversary of the launch always had you outside for hours. 

“You’d be so proud of them, honey.” You whisper. “They’ve gotten older but they always stay in contact. They miss you. We.. we all do.”

If he was here today, he’d be grinning ear to ear. His students’ were his kids. Each year, each class, his little family grew. It was inspiring for you to have been able to watch it happen. All the drawings he brought home, the letters during teacher appreciation week, even gift cards from parents. Ryland was a movable ball of sunshine. He lit up the world wherever he went. 

Your only hope would be he brought his light to space. 

“I love you.” Tears drip down your cheeks in droves. They splat onto your sweater and the breeze makes your cheeks feel raw. “Always.”

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She sighs as she goes through the lab to look at some of the screens and her notes from the day before. She can’t think about this now. She would rather worry about the patrova line or maybe watching Rocky sleep. 

She groans at the idea of staying awake now, but she’s more than willing to study how this alien sleeps. 

She goes back to the airlock and into the tunnel that leads to Rocky’s ship. She sees that he is awake, and she grabs the laptop situation Ryland had put together that translated Rocky’s language.  

“You can sleep now. I’ll watch you until you wake up. Grace and I will take turns,” (Y/n) says quietly and gives the Eridian a small smile. 

“Star’s heart beat like crazy when wake. Star tell Rocky then Rocky sleep”  She looks at him and shakes her head a little. 

“It was an odd Dream, that’s all” She spoke softly 

“What is ‘dream’, question?” Rocky seemed confused with the way he scrunched up. 

“Ya know, when you sleep and see people or things from your life…” She stops herself from continuing. Rocky didn’t need more than that, or she might tell him what happened in her dream. “Actually, it makes sense you wouldn’t have dreams. You don’t see things the same way humans do. My dream was a memory. That’s how my brain has been bringing things back to me, through dreams.” She sighs. 

She’s thankful that Rocky accepts that and doesn’t ask for more. She thinks it’s because he can tell she doesn’t want to say more. 

“Rocky sleep now. Star promises to watch. question?” 

(Y/N) nods and gets comfortable, sitting and leaning against the wall. She finds herself writing down questions about Erid and what the surface is like, or the temperatures and the atmosphere. She figured it would be beneficial if they could ever go. She figured she could ask Rocky later while they’re working on figuring out why the astrophage isn’t dimming Tau Ceti. 

About a day goes by, (Y/N) hadn’t spoken to Grace about her memory. She hadn’t found a good time with all the teaching Rocky about their planet and solar system, and the talking about astrophage and how the mission they were both on was to save their suns, so they could all understand each other better. 

She woke up early again and went back to the ship, and Armando (the robot arm) gave her some coffee and finally something more solid for breakfast. It was oatmeal with freeze-dried strawberries. It was warm and smelled good. She smiled softly as she ate her food and drank her coffee. 

She checked some screens and worked on one of the whiteboards while she ate. She hadn’t heard Grace coming up the lab. 

“Good morning,” She heard Grace’s voice and flinched a little and dropped her spoon. “Shoot— sorry— I— uh I wasn’t— I didn’t mean to scare you,” Ryland chuckles and moves to pick up the spoon at the same time as (Y/N). 

They bump heads and (Y/N) groans and holds her head. Grace does the same. 

She remembers something similar happening in her lab on Earth. She was writing down some equations for the ship, and he came to bring her coffee. She wasn’t paying attention, and when he did greet her, she jumped and dropped her whiteboard and marker.

They bumped heads when she went for her marker, and he went for her whiteboard. 

She’s pulled from the brief memory by Ryland apologizing. 

“—So sorry— I didn’t mean to— I—” Ryland stops when he hears her start to laugh. 

“It’s fine… It happens. Good morning, Dr. Grace” She smiles and can’t help the little giggles at how silly this was. 

“You called me that when we were baking… on earth,” He mumbled and she looked at him. 

“I called you a few things on earth,” She hummed softly, and before she could say more, there was a knocking sound from the airlock. “We should go see what it is,” She tells him, and he nods. He ends up ahead of her somehow. 

As they’re going, they hear “Movement detected” from Mary. 

She stands back and lets Ryland open the airlock hatch. She sees Rocky in a ball. 

“Hi, Grace. Hi Star,” she smiles and gives a small wave. 

“You’re in a ball.” Grace states like it’s confusing. 

“So Rocky no die in Grace atmosphere. I come up.” Rocky tells them, and (Y/N) makes room. 

“Oh, you’re coming up?” Ryland moves, then closes the airlock hatch. He looks at (Y/N) and raises an eyebrow. She shrugs and follows Rocky as he rolls through. 

“Foreign body detected.” 

“Grace, Star, and Rocky big science. How to kill Astrophage together.” Rocky says. (Y/N) smiles as they follow him, and she can tell how excited he seems, even though his voice is on a computer. “I keep going this way?” She hears Rocky. 

He’s kind of going around pretty quickly and he’s making a bit of his own mess. 

“This room boring” He says as he rolls over some things and rolls into the ‘Don’t go crazy room.  “Rocky!” Ryland yelps as he trips over his feet while chasing after Rocky. (Y/N) grabs the laptop.

“Science, save Earth, save Erid. Good plan”

“It is a very good plan” (Y/N) agrees, jogging a little to keep up with how fast rocky is going 

“No no no no no, no no no!” She hears Grace as he goes after them. 

Rocky rolls almost past the lab them backs up “What this up here. question? Amaze, amaze, amaze!” He says as he rolls into the lab. (Y/N) tries to keep up and Ryland isn’t too far behind. “Rocky want to see human technology.” He rolls trhough the lab (Y/N) flushes as she realizes how mess her and ryland are. 

There are clothes, a few gloves, and disposable lab gear scattered around. Some random pieces of garbage she hadn’t picked up yet. She shivers at the idea of being so messy when someone new is around, even if that someone is a rocky alien from the same solar system as Vulcan 

“Dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty. Why room so messy, question?” Rocky looks at them both, and (Y/N) sets the laptop on one of the tables in the lab, and Ryland leans on his hands on the table. 

“Well, we weren’t expecting company, were we?!” Grace seems exasperated as he types some things on the computer 

Rocky keeps rolling and (Y/N) starts to pick up some of the lab gear and some clothes as she follows him. “This room for garbage? eeughhh” Rocky says 

“Oh, no—” Grace stops typing and follows him. He starts picking some things up. “Dirty, dirty, dirty,” Grace says as he rolls over some trash. “—This is the lab, this is, uh, where the science happens.” Grace says. 

this goes on for a little while more with Rocky rolling around, asking questions and Ryland being frustated but sort of answering while picking things up and putting them away 

Rocky says a few things like “Rocky will build workshop here. Will need much room for Rocky and much less room for Grace and Star.” and “We go Petrova line, we collect Astrophage, we study it, we go home, we save Earth!” 

after a minute longer Ryland stops in front of Rocky and puts his hand up. rocky tries to stop and keeps rolling a little still. “Apology—” He’s cut off. 

“—Enough!” Grace says. “—Apology, apology” Rocky says. “Rocky, stop. his hand is up” (Y/N) spoke softly and moved to try and stop the hamsterball he’s in. “Rocky new to ball.” he says and looks at Grace. 

“Rocky, my hand is up. We can’t just show up in a spaceball unannounced and move into someone else’s spaceship, right? There has to be boundaries.” Grace explained to rocky, making hand gestures. “We have one mission. We have one mission. Both working on our distinct, individual parts of that mission. Seperately” He says. 

As he was talking Rocky repeated the last word of every sentence and copied Grace’s hand gestures. “Okay” Grace takes a deep breath. 

“Where my bedroom?” Rocky says and rolls away. 

“Bedroom?!” Grace asks and follows Rocky. 

(Y/N) can’t help but laugh as she watches them. It was a good distraction from almost talking about what she felt for him on earth. 

The day went by smoothly. They built Rocky his work space and that was... something. Rocky would make pieces of a sort of space in their areas for him and Grace would try to put it where Rocky wanted and failed, so (Y/N) would step in and help with the building. They only relied on grace for strength but not a lot. (Y/N) was pretty strong in her own right. 

When that was done they built a ball around one of the beds so he could use it. Ryland and Rocky argued about that. Well Ryland argued and Rocky just answered whatever questions Ryland had. Armando got jittery because of the argument. 

They all took a lunch break after that. Rocky didn’t like how humans eat. He claimed it was beautiful when eridians ate, and (Y/N) and Ryland quickly found out it was absolutely disgusting.

(Y/N) and Ryland went to the lab and did mission logs to talk about Rocky and what the day had been like. 

After they did that they found Rocky with a gun-looking thing. Grace freaked out and Rocky explained it was so he could see the information on the screens or whiteboards. 

They eventully talked about Rocky’s crew and how they died. (Y/N) understood that Erid had a thick atmosphere and radiation from space was highly unlikely to penetrate that. So it made sense that Eridian’s didn’t account for radiation protection. It was lucky that Rocky’s workshop was right next to the astrophage fuel tanks on his ship and that protected him. 

It was awful that he had to watch his crew die of radiation sickness and have no clue how to help. She knows he’s probably been alone for a long time now. So she understands why he’s so attached to Grace. 

They also discussed a plan to get a sample from the Patrova line. They decided on orbiting Tau Ceti e so they can get a proper sample. It would take a little while to get there. Grace had talked it out with Rocky first and she listened. Her and Rocky suggested getting into Tau Ceti’s gravitaional pull at the same time. 

She was more than happy to feel like she was smarter then Ryland for once. 

Rocky went to sleep and now she was sitting with Grace in the lab. she was pretending to look at the celestial sphere map and write some nonsense math down on the whiteboard she had. 

Grace was also pretending to study something Rocky had given him earlier. 

“Are we ever going to talk about what our relationship was on earth?” Ryland spoke up after a few minutes of what felt like awkward silence 

(Y/N) doesn’t look at him. She doesn’t know what to say because she doesn’t really remember much about their relationship. She remembers talking sometimes, and her and Strauss being close-ish. She remembers having feelings for him and flirting sometimes. 

“like what? I don’t remember a lot of it. It. I remember baking together, which I don’t really do with anyone— or— uh— I didn’t before that anyway. I remember that I liked talking to you and that you were a dorky school teacher—” 

“A cute dorky school teacher” Ryland cut her off and she rolls her eyes and glares a little. 

“That’s not fair.” She mumbled as she wiped off her whiteboard and moved her rolling stool closer to him. “Plus, you called me a beautiful genius when I talked about astrophage and how it can be radiation isolation on the ship. I figured when we actually hung out outside the lab, I could call you cute without it coming back to bite me,” She rolls her eyes and can’t help the little chuckle that escapes her. 

Grace chuckles too and nods a little. “I— I was excited about how cool you were and— and I liked talking to you too” He defended himself and leaned forward with his arms on the table between them. 

“Clearly, I was wrong to think flirting was okay because we wouldn’t see each other again after the project was over” She sighs and covers her face and shakes her head. 

“Hey— we would have— I would have tried to keep in touch” Ryland smiles and Sadie looks up from her hands as he talks and she leans a little closer to him and suddenly this feels familiar 

“Yeah? You would have emailed me or something until I agreed to come talk to you kids about space?” She smiles softly, and her eyes drift to his lips for a moment before meeting his eyes again. 

“Y—yeah— something like that— only if you wanted—” He spoke softer now and (Y/N) leans in a little closer, and she can almost see that his cheeks are turning pink. 

“I would have wanted that. It would be an excuse to visit,” She mumbled. 

“I would have liked that…” He mumbled back, and his glasses slid down his nose. 

(Y/N) nodded and just before she was going to close the gap one of the monitors started beeping. She sighs and gets up. 

“We’re finishing this later” She tells him. 

“O—Okay” He nods and watches her walk off to see what was wrong. 

Sadie’s notes: I hope you enjoy this part! I'm already working on some more stuff! I'm sorry they didn't kiss!

Divider credit: @saradika-graphics

“What? I’m n-”

She cut you off quickly, not leaving room for denial. “You’re staring.”

“Ok, I’m staring, so what? I don’t think I even have to justify myself for watching greatest-swordsman-in-300-years fight when it’s basically a lesson on good swordsmanship,” you replied in one breath, turning to Silena and tearing your eyes from Luke’s figure, still fighting some Ares kid down in the pit.

Your friend couldn’t hold in a small chuckle. “Then why are you justifying yourself?”

You tilted your head in mild annoyance, rolling your eyes. “Because you know I don’t like what you’re implying.”

“Me? Imply something related to your oh so dear friend Luke Castellan? Never,” she mocked with a giggle she didn’t bother hold in.

“Whatever, I hate you.”

Silena simply shoved your shoulder playfully, rolling her eyes as you suddenly made a show of focusing on anything but your friend at the center of the arena.

Somehow, this one rumor in particular had a way of surviving through the months you’d never encountered in noise like this, everyone suddenly in on a conversation that didn’t have any foundation. Luke was a friend, a good friend at that, the first face you’d seen on your first night at camp, when you’d made it to the other side of the hill under the rain and had eventually slipped on a chunk of muddy dirt.

He’d run your way from the porch of the Big House, some other guy loudly informing him he’d get ‘so freaking wet, it’s raining dude!’ But he’d just made his way to you, nearly slipping in the process too before offering help to get up. You were shaking both from the chill and the fear—just discovering monsters are real, gods too…the whole shabang—, and all the boy had found to say was,

“Don’t worry, I promise camp doesn’t look as depressing when Mr. D is actually on premises.”

And you’d barely understood the meaning of what he’d said, and he didn’t look entirely truthful about it, but the whole situation had felt so singular you’d just laughed, and he’d joined in, laughing in relief under the rain.

Weirdly enough, he’d kept you around since you arrived over a year and a half ago, almost inseparable, although less in a glued-by-the-hip way and more like a pull making sure you always ended up in the same place at the same time. You didn’t do it purposefully, it just happened. You would end up on the same log during campfire, and he’d silently pass you a marshmallow he’d just cooked while the Apollo kids turned the flames green. On the first nights, the ones where the nightmares would leave you restless in cabin 10, he would coincidentally join you on the porch with a spare blanket.

And even now almost two years later, you two still hung out like it was the most natural thing in the world.

But people… people love drama, even more in such a small community like camp Half-Blood was, people crave entertainment, and you and Luke found yourself on campers’ lips a little more than you like. Apparently, man-woman friendship was alright when it was Silena and Connor, but when it came to you and Luke it was unfathomable.

And even if the rumors could have made you question it, you’d just never envisioned him like that. Luke was… a force of nature—best swordsman in 300 years, what more do you need? He was the center of conversations even when he wasn’t there; he was kind to everyone and smart in a way that challenged even some children of Athena; he could just smile and people would stop whatever they were doing to help him with anything. Golden boy, they called him, and you could totally see it.

Honestly, you never really considered anything could happen that went further than friendship. Sure, he was kind with you, but so was he with everyone else, and he hung out a lot with you, but as friends do. And maybe he was nice to look at—especially on a very hot day of august when he was training in the arena—, but it wasn’t exactly as much an original thought as it was an observation pretty much everyone made.

So yes, rumors didn’t die easily, but it didn’t make them any more true, you just ignored them.

You’d eventually left the arena a little after that moment, starting to get annoyed by Silena’s nagging, and Lee had caught you apparently just in time to “help” him reorganize a part of the infirmary cabinets that had been left in a disastrous state after the last game of Capture the Flag. He’d coincidentally remembered he had some prior commitment the second you’d stepped foot into the infirmary, stretching out a sorry as he’d escaped through the door when you discovered a new meaning to the word ‘disastrous’.

Safe to say you’d been stuck cleaning up and sorting through supplies for over half an hour now. At least the room was fairly cooler than outside, a few rays of sun shining behind sheer curtains still lighting up the space.

You were rolling back into place some bandages when you heard a soft knock on the door not too far, and a few footsteps pressing on the creaky floorboards.

“Sorry, Lee is out…somewhere,” you called out distractedly, your focus on the roll of bandage you were still fighting to get right.

But the footsteps didn’t halt, and as you meant to turn around when nobody answered, you felt two hands suddenly land on your shoulders, physically startling you.

“Booh!”

You let out a complementary yelp, finally turning around and shoving the intruder. “You f- Oh gods- You piece of shit! You absolute fucker!”

“Come on, give me a third one, I know you want it,” Luke taunted, egging you on and not even trying to hold in his laugh.

You, on the other hand, were fuming, the bandage laying tangled on the floor again. “You… You’re so-”

“Charming? Hilarious? Thanks, means a lot from you.”

“Infuriating!” you exclaimed, shoving his chest again. You let out a long exhale as Luke couldn’t stop laughing loudly, the sound so contagious you had to fight to keep looking upset. “What are you even doing here, you unemployed clown?”

The boy’s laugh eventually dying down as he slumped back on a nearby infirmary bed. “I’m hiding from responsibilities.”

“Yup, just like I said, unemployed clown,” you mumbled, rolling your eyes as you crouched to get the supplies back from the floor and turned your back to him.

“Hah, very funny,” he replied dryly. Luke sat up, the sheets rustling underneath him. “And I assume you must be very busy to be calling me unemployed.”

You sighed, a sarcastic laugh bubbling up your throat. “Well, it so happens that I got roped into this shitshow to reorganize everything by a Lee Fletcher that fled the scene.”

“So you’re busy.”

“So I’m busy.”

Silence stretched out in the room for a short moment, easy and familiar as you kept yourself occupied to try and ignore his gaze piercing through the back of your head.

“Mind if I hang around?” Luke said simply, and you could hear him get comfortable on the bed before you even answered.

“Sure, whatever you want ‘golden boy.’”

Luke winced at the name. “Ew, I told you to not ever call me that again.”

“Exactly why I continue,” you quipped back with a smile, storing the now rolled up bandage into the dedicated cabinet.

Luke got off the bed, slowly walking your way, hands in his pockets. “Well, just so you know, I saw Fletcher go to the beach with Katie and a few others just earlier, pretty sure you’re cleaning up this room all alone.”

You almost gasped. “Oh I’m gonna fuck him up.”

“No doubt about it.”

“I think his elbow is gonna end up in his forehead this time, sing your way out of this one, Fletcher,” you whispered conspiratorially under your breath, and your friend couldn’t help the way his eyebrows scrunched in mild concern.

“Sure…” Luke dragged a chair from a corner of the room to come and sit near you, laying his arms on the back of it nonchalantly.

For a couple minutes, he just watched you in silence as you reorganized stuff in the cabinets, checking the labels on some pill bottles, tightly screwing back on some loose ambrosia jars—cleaning up Lee’s mess. And you could feel once again his gaze, warm feeling on the side of your face.

“You’re staring,” you stated, the way Silena had done earlier in the day, your voice soft and unconcerned.

Luke’s voice sounded just as unconcerned. “I don’t mind. Do you?”

“I guess not.” For some reason, you felt slightly taken aback by the bluntness of his words. But he was right, it wasn’t much. “Oh, Katie asked me about you during breakfast, forgot to tell you.”

The boy hummed, unimpressed, his focus not wavering as you kept rolling up another set of gauze. “What did she want?”

“I don’t know, dude. She just asked if you were seeing someone.”

That for sure got his attention, eyes widening slightly as his brows furrowed. “And what did you say?” Luke said almost tentatively, trying to sound detached but failing miserably.

You gave him a suspicious look, the sudden change in his tone surprising. “Just told her you were too married to your duties to date anyone, even though you seem pretty unoccupied to me right now…” you added with a scoff. “But I mean, you got, like, dozens of kids to wrangle every day, that’s probably job enough.”

Luke let out a soft laugh, letting his head rest on his arms, looking at you still sitting on the floor wrestling the gauze rolls. “That’s what you think?”

“I mean yeah, you’re probably the busiest person around here… at least definitely more than Mr. D.”

“Can hardly do less than Mr. D,” Luke added with a smile.

“Sure, but I mean it, like, you’re always running around camp for one reason or another, sounds busy to me,” you continued, getting up to store the gauze back in their original place.

“Yeah, yeah,” the boy agreed, leaning back away from the back of the chair. “But you think if I could make room for free time I still couldn’t date?”

“Oh please, I’m not answering this just to fuel your pathetic male ego,” you teased back, rolling your eyes as you got small storage bins full of band aids out of the cabinet, setting them on the nearby counter to reorganize them. You turned around to get something and your gaze crossed Luke’s, seemingly so entirely focused on you it was disarming, your heart skipping a beat for a reason you didn’t want to dwell on.

He tilted his head, his hair catching a single ray of sun that had made it through a gap in the curtains, and your pulse jumped. “Humor me.”

You rolled your eyes again with a groan, turning back around to the counter to hide your confusion. “Come on, what am I supposed to say? You’re the one who doesn’t even try to make the time even when you could clearly get anyone around this place and you know it.”

“And why do you think that is?”

The question landed weirdly, somehow soft, somehow too blunt. You halted in your task, hand hanging mid air over the storage bins, and turned your head to look at him over your shoulder with confusion written all over your face again.

He didn’t seem like he was joking, at least not entirely, his usual easy grin not coming off but his eyes conveying something else.

You cleared your throat silently. “I don’t know, I’m not in your head, you tell me.”

You tilted your head to the side as Luke slowly got off his chair, his steps slow and efficient as he walked your way, stopping way too close to seem casual if anyone were to walk in. But Luke never really seemed to have any issue invading your space since day one, you’d gotten used to it over time.

“Well, maybe I have been,” he said. “Telling you. For a while.”

Your brain stuttered. “What?”

The boy reached behind you on the counter, taking one of the small bins and putting it back inside the cabinet where it belonged, bringing his neck right in your face doing so, before pulling back an inch. His eyes bore right into yours, and you had to look slightly up from how close he was, his smell suddenly filling your senses.

“You know, for someone so smart, you can be really dense,” Luke said in a voice so suddenly low you felt heat rush to your cheeks.

There was a short silence between you two, a couple second that felt almost like a lifetime had passed, before you coughed awkwardly and walked around him to escape the way he was almost caging you.

“Okay, Peter Kavinsky,” was all you found to say, trying to laugh off the sudden heavy vibe in the room as you walked to get something from a table further away.

Except Luke was quicker, his hand jumping out to grab your wrist and hold you back.

“See? Dense.” Luke let out a soft sigh. ”You just always react like that, you’re lucky-”

Luke gave your wrist a small tug, suddenly bringing you back closer. “Wha-”

“-you look cute even when you play dumb,” he continued, cutting your train off thoughts instantly.

“-t do you m….” Your voice died halfway through, looking up at a Luke who’s eyes carried a fondness you’d never have expected to find there.

The air was suddenly crackling with a new energy—or maybe you’d just never picked up on it before—, and you realized just how close you two were. The room was dimly lit, a soft breeze rustling through the thin curtains, and the world seemed to tilt slightly on its axis for a moment.

“Are you…” you tried to start, but Luke tilted his head, just a little, and your mind blanked for a second. His eyes held a glint of amusement, urging you to continue even as he could see the confusion behind your eyes. “Are you trying to flirt with me right now?”

Your friend’s brows shot up at the bluntness of your question, letting out a single burst of laugh in disbelief. “Well, I have been for the past year, but thank you for noticing,” he simply stated, your face falling noticeably while he just held his easy smile like he was talking about the weather and not—not this.

“Past- Past year!” You weakly slapped his shoulder, your expression somewhat serious and mostly confused, and he just laughed. “Don’t joke about that, it’s not funny,” you exclaimed, your voice suddenly pitching up.

Luke finally let go of your wrist. “I’m not joking, ask Travis.”

“Travis thinks someone looking at him is flirting.”

“Fine, ask Clarisse. Even she sees it.”

“I-” Man-hating Clarisse was blind to anything feelings-related. Had it been true or not, she never would’ve given enough care to see anything…right? “You’re lying.”

“Come on,” he groaned, rolling his eyes with a smile still plastered on his face, not at all deterred. “I literally spend as much time as I can with you, sit with you every campfire, seek you out in every room.”

You nodded, looking up at him. “Yeah, I mean you’re my best friend, I want to spend most of my time with you too.”

“Why are you-” Luke let out a soft sigh, lowering his head as his free hand reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind your ear. “Why are you deflecting all of what I say?”

Your tongue poked the inside of your cheek, avoiding his gaze but not moving away from his touch, the feeling usual—again, Luke had never been big on personal space, with you at least—yet somehow intimate now. “Because it doesn’t make sense.”

Luke’s easy grin faltered for a second, his jaw clenching as his hand slid through your hair softly, like he was used to doing when you had trouble falling asleep. “What doesn’t make sense? I mean, it’s all staring you pretty much right in the face,” the boy quipped, pointing at himself and suppressing a self-deprecating laugh when you raised an unimpressed brow. “I mean everything I’ve said: all the compliments you brushed off, all the promises I’ve made, every look your way… And I think I just… I needed you to at least know?”

The boy hesitated, taking in a deep breath and fully letting go of you, although his smile was still right in place, still playful. “I mean, I get it, you probably never saw me as more than a friend-”

“I never did.” You didn’t even know why you’d cut him off, you’d just reacted on instinct, something urging you to correct him at the back of your mind. Confusion glazed over Luke’s eyes, his eyebrows furrowed, and you wanted to smack yourself at the tactlessness. “I mean, I-” You groaned in frustration, searching for the right words when your heart was all of a sudden hammering in your chest. “I never considered the eventuality that…”

“That I liked you?” Luke completed when you didn’t seem to phrase your thought, smile tugging at his lips.

“Shut up, sure. I never considered it,” you continued, looking down at your shoes.

You couldn’t see the way Luke’s brows shot up, raking a nervous hand through his curls, but you noticed the way he couldn’t seem to stop fidgeting, foot tapping quickly on the ground.

“So now you consider it?”

“Well it’s a little more than considering, since it’s staring me right in the face,” you mocked, pointing at his face, and Luke couldn’t suppress a laugh. “But I… feel like I can warm up to the idea.”

“That’s what we’re calling it?” the brunette teased you, nudging your shoulder. “Warming up to the idea.”

You gave him a dirty once over. “Hold your horses, Castellan, I’m not the one who just dropped a bomb on their best friend of a year and a half.” Your gaze suddenly softened, biting the inside of your cheek while your voice came out quieter. “I just… I need some time to sort through everything. I have a lot of thoughts and- and feelings all entangled, I can’t really…”

Your teeth dug further into the inside of your cheek, feeling suddenly guilty, not being able to give him much more than this current uncertainty.

But Luke’s smile had only broadened. His arms shot out, quick to embrace you and pull you in for a tight hug.

“Don’t worry your little brains, I waited a year already, I can wait more,” he said softly, his eyes fluttering close.

You pulled your head back to look up at him with skepticism. “You’re one of the least patient people I kn- mph!”

The boy hadn’t even let you finish your sentence properly, instead pushing your face back right into his orange shirt to shut you up. “You talk too much,” he groaned, but there was no real bite to it.

His hand started to gently caress your hair as he continued. “For you I can wait.”

________

Helloooooo!!

Told you i was back, i swear three weeks of this intership qnd i've done NOTHING--but write ofc.

Also I take reqs if you want toooooooo (saw one already, it'll be out next week babes)