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intothesecretgarden · 6 months ago

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one year with luke castellan

↳ january 14 (again) featuring mr. d

series masterlist

pairing: luke castellan x daughter of apollo reader

word count: 4.1k

summary: you and luke have a great day, and mr. d remembers he is not getting paid enough for this

content: the caught kissing trope my beloved

notes: gifting you all a sunshine pov for the finale <3 for @luvieborealis this whole series was for u

The usually calm and serene arts and crafts cabin is rather tense today.

“Luke, please,” Annabeth begs, her eyes softened and her hands clasped together. It’s the same trick she’s been pulling ever since she first met him, the sad eyes that always make Luke feel guilty and give in. “Grover’s sick so he can’t bring us, but Sally’s making special blue blueberry muffins tonight. What kind of people would we be if we canceled?”

The guilt tripping works, sure, but Luke’s a man who’s made prior commitments. And as a guy with some big plans, these prior commitments are especially important.

“I really can’t take you guys today, I’m sorry.”

“Why not?” Percy presses. He tilts his head at him, squinting and scrutinizing. “What are you doing today that’s more important?”

Luke shrugs, trying for nonchalance. “I’m busy.”

You snicker at his side, adding another knot into your friendship bracelet.

Luke had dragged you away from your volleyball tournament just after lunch to teach him how to draw, and even though he’d given up after a couple of minutes and begged for you to do something else instead, he’d at least tried, which you think is admirable.

(It’d gone a lot better than your attempt last week at teaching him to paint, at least. He’d sat and watched as you worked the entire time and hadn’t picked up his paintbrush once.)

You’d ended up shifting over to bracelet making, a much simpler art. But the kids ambushed him about fifteen minutes ago, so his bracelet sits mostly unfinished in front of him.

“Why are you being so mysterious?” you can’t help but ask.

“Percy’s being nosy,” he says, gesturing at the kid like he’s not there. “I don’t have to tell them anything if I don’t want to.”

“Scared of being teased by kids?” you ask, amusement creeping into your words. You look up at Percy and Annabeth, smiling. “Me and Luke were going to make plans for tonight.”

“Oh,” they say in unison.

Though Annabeth doesn’t seem too surprised, Percy is clearly a little shocked, a reaction you seem to get pretty often these days. Even though you and Luke have stopped bickering nearly as much as you used to, people look at you like you’ve grown another head whenever they find out that the two of you are actually close now.

A little more than close, actually.

“What were you guys planning on doing?” Annabeth asks, not prying, just curious.

Percy must let his frustration get the best of him, because rather unhelpfully, he says, “Probably vandalize my cabin again.”

Luke gives him a flat look. “Percy. How many times am I gonna have to tell you that that wasn’t me?”

He puts his hands up. “Look, I’m just saying the timing was really convenient—”

“Special blue blueberry muffins sound really great,” you say, stopping Percy before he can start on this topic again.

He’s still convinced Luke had something to do with the little bags of alive goldfish left all around Cabin Three, and has been pestering him for a confession ever since. Luke hadn’t been the one to do it—you’d both watched the Stolls hop in and out of one of the windows with the bags in their hands—but Percy refuses to believe it could've been anyone but him.

You tie off the end of your bracelet and cut off the extra string while Luke shrugs next to you.

“The muffins are great,” he admits, letting you fuss with his wrist so you can loop the bracelet around it. “But we already have plans, so I’m not going. And neither are they, I guess.”

The kids protest vehemently, but both of you ignore it, looking instead at the woven string around his wrist. Luke runs his opposite thumb over the chevron pattern before kissing the side of your face and mumbling out a thank you.

His bracelet for you has taken a little longer since he’s had to redo a few knots, but it’s still turning out very nicely. He’s also not nearly as bad at bracelet making as he had claimed to be earlier, and you have the sneaking suspicion that he was just pretending to not know how so you would hold his hands while you showed him.

“Anyway,” you start. “Me and Luke didn’t really have any real plans. So if he doesn’t care, he’s all yours today.”

Percy and Annabeth burst into cheers, and you think for a second Percy’s about to bow down and thank you. You’re awfully amused, but you turn to Luke and see the clear signs of panic in his eyes.

“That’s not true,” he protests quickly, catching Annabeth’s hand in mid-air when she tries to high-five Percy. “We do have plans. She just forgot.”

You give him a weird look that he returns.

You’d literally talked at length an hour ago about how you had no idea what you should do tonight, and here Luke is, lying to the kids about having plans.

He must not want to take them really bad.

“Oh, yeah,” you say slowly, watching as the terror on Luke’s face eases up. “My bad, I forgot. We have that thing later.”

“Yep,” he agrees, waving the kids away from the two of you. “We have that thing. So it’s not even possible for either of us to take you.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Annabeth huffs. “It doesn’t even seem like either of you know what the thing is.”

“Big plans, Annabeth,” he insists, getting up from his seat when neither of them stop looming over him like two dark clouds. He grabs them both by the back of their shirts and drags them towards the door, depositing them on the other side like they’re nothing more than decorative furniture.

“Can you please just consider it?” she begs.

Luke leans against the doorway, looking up at the sky while he pretends like he’s thinking about it.

“Fine. I might consider it. Now get out.”

She groans, giving him a mean glare. “Seriously? ‘I might consider it’ is basically a no, and you know it. You’re not going to think about it.”

“I’m glad I didn’t have to tell you that myself,” he says cheerily, giving her a sympathetic pat on her shoulder. “You’re absolutely right.”

“You won’t even think about it? Not even for your sister?” Percy tries, the both of them masters at the guilt card.

“I think she’ll survive another few weeks without a blueberry muffin.”

Annabeth crosses her arms, immediately forcing Luke into one of their quick conversation-arguments you always have trouble following.

Admittedly, you feel bad for them. As someone who used to argue with Luke on a daily basis, you are unfortunately very familiar with how stubborn he can be once he’s made up his mind.

Once, you’d argued over a stupid fact for an entire day because he refused to go back on his original opinion. It’d been “the principle of the thing,” apparently, and he’d argued and argued and argued even after you’d literally taken out an entire book to prove him wrong.

Percy would probably have to hold Luke at gunpoint before he agreed to skip out on your plans tonight, whether they were real or not.

“Sorry, guys,” you say, giving them a sympathetic smile you hope they can see. “Maybe next time.”

All hope that might’ve been swimming in their eyes dies out immediately, and it makes you feel bad. The two of them grumble their entire way out of the cabin, huffing and complaining about how unfair Luke is.

When he kicks the door shut, he turns to you with a massive grin playing on his face. He practically dances all the way back to his seat, sitting down next to you with a relieved sigh.

You give him a look. “You could’ve been nicer.”

He shrugs, focusing again on his bracelet. He looks pleased with how it’s turned out, a chain of sunflowers that he’ll wrap around your wrist when he’s done.

“Don’t worry. They’ll get over it.”

—

Percy and Annabeth do not get over it.

You catch them talking to Mr. D on the porch of the Big House—presumably about going into Manhattan by themselves—and the conversation goes about exactly as you’d expect.

He laughs in their faces, and they walk away, dejected. When you see the look Percy gives Luke, you tell him it’s probably for the best that you both stay clear of any body of water for the near future.

And sometime after you’d left the arts and crafts cabin, you’d seen Annabeth by the volleyball courts. You’d waved at her from across the grass, but she’d done nothing but stare menacingly at you, even letting the volleyball hit the floor right in front of her.

“The look she was giving me was scary! It felt like I was in a horror movie,” you complain to Luke out by the fields. “Those kids are haunting me.”

“You serious?” He curls his sword around yours while you’re distracted and whips it into the dirt, the clatter of it kicking up dust. “You didn’t even do anything. I was the one who kicked them out.”

“I lied to them, though,” you huff, putting your hands on your hips. “Do you not feel bad? They’re always so excited coming back from Manhattan, and they’ve probably been looking forward to this all month. Percy probably just wanted to see his mom.”

Luke doesn’t answer, too busy appreciating the disarm maneuver he’d just done. “Was that three hundred eight to three hundred nine?”

“Luke, I know for a fact you aren’t counting our wins right now.”

“Yep. I’m not. Sorry, babe.”

He hands you your sword again, and you take it from him mindlessly, still thinking about the frown on their faces when Mr. D had laughed at them.

And you thought you’d been mean! Mr. D was a different kind of evil for laughing at them.

“He isn’t special for missing his mom,” Luke jokes, giving you a toothy grin. “He’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

It falls flat when you don’t laugh.

He clears his throat. “Look, Sunshine, you’re too nice. Just cause they’re kids doesn’t mean you can’t say no to them.”

“We could’ve both gone with them,” you suggest. “And we would’ve all gotten what we wanted. We didn’t even have any actual plans, Luke. I can’t help but feel bad.”

Realizing you actually do feel guilty about it, he sheathes his sword before dragging you closer. He even rubs soothing circles into your upper arms because it’s something that always seems to work on you, and your chest warms at how sweet he is.

“I’ll talk to Mr. D later,” he offers. “I’ll convince him to reschedule their trip when Grover’s feeling better, okay?”

“You will?”

“Of course I would, if it’d make you feel better.”

“It would,” you say honestly. “Thank you, Luke. You’re the best.”

“It’s no problem,” he answers, grinning. “But, uh…”

“But?”

“I think my disarm from just now should still count towards my score.”

“You’re still thinking about that?” you ask, and he’s quick to nod. “That shouldn’t have counted, I was distracted.”

“Gotta pay better attention, then,” he chides.

He’s smiling at you, his eyes lit up, and you try not to feel too bad when you pull his sword out from where it’s sheathed against his hip and hold it up to his neck.

“Should this count as my three-hundred tenth win, then?” you tease, watching realization bloom on his face. “Cause you were distracted.”

It takes a second for realization to bloom on his face, but then he shakes his head, unable to stop himself from smiling.

“We can’t just count everything as a win, you know. We weren’t even fighting.”

“I think I deserve it, though.”

“You think so?” Luke takes another step closer to you, making you back up—right into the point of a dagger.

You pat your side with your free hand, expecting to feel your blade, but coming up empty.

“Should this count as my three-hundred ninth win?” Luke repeats in a bad imitation of your voice, and you can’t help but laugh.

You slip his sword back into the spot at his hip while he puts your dagger back safely in the inside pocket of your jacket.

“I still have no clue how you manage to steal stuff from right under my nose,” you say while the two of you make your way back to the pavilion for dinner. Your hands brush against each other as you walk, your matching bracelets wrapped around both of your wrists.

Luke makes that face that tells you he’s about to make a stupid joke, and you almost laugh at how predictable his humor can be.

“Like the way I stole your heart?” the two of you say in unison.

The smirk flickers off his face. “How’d you know I was about to say that?”

“I could feel it in my bones.” You link your hands together while the two of you head past the Big House. “I have a sixth sense for your jokes.”

“Maybe that means we’re both just really funny.”

“Funny? That’s not the word I’d use to—”

You’re pulled to an abrupt stop when Luke stops walking, your body jerking backwards where your hands are still connected.

“Wait, I just realized I forgot something in here,” he says, nodding to your left. “Do you mind coming in with me? I’ll make it quick.”

The two of you are outside the arts and crafts cabin again, the curtains drawn shut over the windows and the lights outside the door turned off.

You shake your head. “Course not.”

You were planning on making up a fake detour to spend an extra few minutes with him anyway, and now you don’t even have to. Your fingers slip out of his grasp as you jog ahead, opening the door for him.

“Ladies first,” you insist.

“Funny,” he says, following you up the steps.

“What’d you forget, anyway?” you ask, peering into the dark room. It’s impossible to see anything past the threshold of the door, and it kind of freaks you out.

Luke leans against the opposite side of the doorframe, but he makes no move to go in. He’s just smiling at you.

All he says is, “Ladies first, I thought?”

You roll your eyes before stepping over the threshold. “How chivalrous.”

With the sun long set by now, the cabin is pitch black, but behind the divider that splits the cabin into two sections, you see the brief flicker of candle light.

You feel along the wall for the light switch but find warmth instead — Luke’s hand.

He links your hands together again as he shuts the door behind you, leaving the both of you in utter darkness.

The hair on the back of your neck stands up. You plant your feet, making him stumble slightly.

“Luke?”

“Yeah?”

“Did you lure me here to murder me?”

He sputters behind you, and he spins you around to look at him despite there being no way he can see your face. “The fuck?”

“This feels like a horror movie. You do realize that, right?”

Luke guffaws. “No, I’m not here to murder you, are you insane?”

“That’s good, then. I was worried. You wouldn’t beat me in a fight.”

“My three-hundred and nine wins say otherwise,” he quips, making sure to emphasize the fake win he’s added to his real score. “And hey, if I was a murderer, I would at least knock you unconscious first. Couldn’t risk my pretty victim running away, obviously.”

You shove him away from you as you move closer to the light source. “Hilarious.”

“I really do try.”

You see one candle and then two, lighting up the way to whatever is on the other side of the wall. You almost turn back to look at him before remembering the whole pitch black thing, so you just continue following the path made of tealights.

When you turn the corner, you find that all of the candles are surrounding something sitting oddly in the center of the floor. Luke lets go of you then, and you crouch down and crack the top of it open.

It’s a basket, you realize. And at the bottom of it is…

Food.

Your favorite foods to be exact. They’re arranged so gorgeously you almost don’t want to touch anything, but the light shifts and you catch sight of the sunflowers tucked into the bottom of the basket.

It had taken an embarrassingly long time, but you finally realize what this all is.

Luke wasn’t trying to murder you—he was going to take you out on another date.

“Did you do all this for me?” you ask, your voice wavering.

You can hear the smile in his voice when he says, “You think I led you here just for fun? I have the rest set up out by the beach.”

“I thought you were trying to freak me out with the dark room,” you admit, setting the basket down as carefully as you can.

Luke already has his hands outstretched for you, and you drag him closer by the front of his shirt to pull him into a long kiss.

You remember distantly Clarisse complaining about how Luke was good at absolutely everything he does, and you’re happy to say that she’s absolutely right.

Luke is a great friend, a great fighter, and a great kisser. His hands thread through your hair as the two of you stumble around the room for the nearest solid object, finally finding a table that he’s quick to help you on top of.

Almost immediately he’s pulling you into another kiss, but you try your best to get some words out.

“This is the sweetest thing anyone’s ever done for me,” you rush out. He’s standing kindly between your legs and is at the perfect height for you to smother in affection.

“‘m glad,” he mumbles, running a hand down your sides. “Sorry I scared you.”

“That’s okay—mmph—I was—”

Luke backs up for just a second, both of his hands on either sides of your face.

“Sunshine,” he says firmly.

“Yeah?”

“Please stop talking.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” you protest, swerving out of his way. “I have one more thing.”

He sighs. “Make it quick, please.”

“Is this why you refused to take Percy and Annabeth to his mom’s house?”

He gives you a look. “You’re still thinking about that?”

“Yes. Now answer.”

Luke kisses your cheek, laughing softly to himself. “Then yes. Surprise.”

He presses the next few kisses of his into the grin on your face, but he doesn’t seem to mind your smiling.

For a second, you almost forget about the picnic he’s prepared, too busy thinking about how cute he looks in his long sleeved shirt and how warm his arms are. You hadn’t expected this at all, but you honestly would’ve still been happy even if there was no picnic at all. You would’ve been perfectly fine if Luke had just dragged you into a dark, scary cabin to makeout with him.

He sighs against your lips when you throw your arms around his shoulders, and you shiver when he tilts his head to kiss you even harder.

You’d been a little spooked earlier, but the most frightening part of the night has to be when the overhead lights go on, filling the entire room with the harsh fluorescents.

“Alright, show’s over,” a very familiar voice groans. “Oh, great. It’s you two?”

Luke squints in the direction of the door, both of your eyes still adjusting to the harsh change in lighting.

“Hey, Mr. D,” Luke says weakly.

Your face heats up, and you pointedly look anywhere but in the god’s direction. You’d known it was him the second he’d opened his mouth, but it’s somehow worse now that Luke’s confirmed it out loud.

You glance back at the window behind you and wonder if Mr. D would chase you if you made a run for it.

Luke helps you off the table and you fix the collar of his shirt for him, bracing yourself for your camp director’s approach.

“I think I liked it better when you two were at each other's throats in the violent way,” he complains, completely unamused. “Please go back to trying to kill each other every other day.”

“Sorry, you—uh. Had to walk in on that, sir,” Luke answers, somehow still able to form a coherent sentence.

You aren’t quite sure what would happen if you opened your mouth to speak and don’t really want to find out. You look up at the man and see he has his nose turned up at you two, disgusted.

“You demigods get braver and braver each year,” he says, but he clearly does not mean it in a good way. “At least those troublemakers from a few years ago were smart enough to be secretive about breaking camp rules. And yet here you two are, in a rec room after hours, with all of the lights on! And you didn’t even lock the door!”

You and Luke meet eyes for a very quick and very confused second.

“You were the one who—”

Mr. D huffs. “Are you going to say something, at least?” he demands, crossing his arms over his athletic jacket.

You hesitate before responding. “We’re sorry?”

“We won’t do it again.” Luke suggests.

The god sighs, exhausted. He rubs at his temples furiously. “I don’t even know what I’m going to do with you two. If only those curfew harpies ate you before I got here.”

“It’s not after curfew,” you say unhelpfully.

The face Mr. D makes at you is definitely classified as a scowl.

“Chiron is so much better at these than I am,” he complains, like this isn’t his job. Already moving towards the door, he gestures vaguely to the space around you and says, “Get rid of this.”

You and Luke look at each other again, stunned.

“That’s it?” Luke asks before he can stop himself.

You were honestly thinking the same thing. Compared to Chiron, Mr. D is known for doling out the more unfortunate punishments. You’re surprised he hasn’t already thrown you both into the woods with nothing but the clothes on your back, but you at least still know that talking back will make it worse, so you hit Luke’s shoulder and gesture for him to shut up.

Mr. D has a foot out the door already, a hand pressed to his eyes like he’s been blinded. “Just clean up. And then get out of my sight. Preferably forever.”

The door slams shut behind him, and there’s so much force behind it that it sends papers on a nearby table fluttering into the air.

It’s quiet in the cabin for a solid thirty seconds, with nothing but your breathing as a sign of life. You’re both standing unnaturally still.

“Luke,” you start slowly, unsure what to say.

Almost immediately, he erupts into laughter next to you, the sound echoing across the room and up to Olympus itself, probably. You’re absolutely mortified, but his joy is so infectious that you can’t help the shocked laugh that forces its way from your chest.

“I can not believe Mr. D had to walk in on that.”

He shrugs. “He could’ve walked in on worse.”

You snap your neck up at him. “Luke.”

“What? It’s the truth!”

You wrap your arms around one of his and press your burning face into his sleeve. “I don’t think I’m letting you kiss me ever again.”

“You don’t mean that,” he says, the smile on his face no doubt turning smug.

(He’s absolutely right.)

“I mean it, you asshole. You’ll be lucky if I ever even look at you again.”

“How long do you think you could go without talking to me?” Luke asks, pretending to think about it.

Both of you already know the answer: Not very long.

“I’d be fine,” you say, your voice wavering with the force of your smile. He runs his hands up your sides, drawing laughter from your throat. “You’d probably go crazy, though. Wind up in the infirmary with an incurable sickness.”

“Probably.” He leans in close to smatter kisses over your face, covering your cheeks with proof of his affection. “A sickness only cured with a true love’s kiss, I think.”

You make a face, but the adoration there is undeniable. “That’s dumb.”

Luke clears his throat dramatically, looking awfully confused. His next words are interrupted by his fake coughing.

“Oh no,” he says, eyes wide.

You’re grinning when you say, “You’re ridiculous.”

“I think the sickness might’ve already started.”

You put the back of your hand to his forehead, feeling for warmth. “You know what?”

“What?”

“I think so too.”

“I need medical attention,” he says through his smile. “If only there was an insanely hot nurse around to save me from this disease—”

You slide your hands into his hair so you can shut him up with a kiss, because you can do that now.

Because it’s January 14, which means you’ve been dating for three months, and you’re free to kiss Luke Castellan whenever you’d like.

Luke hums against your lips, drawing you deeper into his arms.

You’ll have to thank the gods that he was patient enough to play the long game.

notes: and it’s over omg </3 i had such a great time writing for sunshine and luke they are my everything!! its so bittersweet letting them go but thank you all so much for sticking around for this series :) i hope u enjoyed the finale and my apologies for how long it took lolol

#great series #luke castellan x reader #pjo #series

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