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supercutszns · 1 day
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THEY PLAYED TELEVANGELISM BY ETHEL CAIN IN INVINCIBLE????
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supercutszns · 2 days
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out of curiosity. are you perrie as in the platypus? or just a different perrie?
love your fics btw ur writing is amazibg
………can’t believe you have successfully discovered the origin of my name. im dead serious i chose to go by perrie on the internet because of perry the platypus i’m not even being a little bit sarcastic. phineas and ferb is so beloved to me and perrie is a cool name so i STOLE IT!! you are a genius my friend i applaud you! (pls don’t judge me) and thank you very much <3
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supercutszns · 2 days
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ahh thank you for the tag i’m so not normal about music so this is awesome!! here’s 10 shuffled from my on repeat :) also side note i LOVE the new thing dies i can’t stop listening to that either lol
1. over in no time, babygirl
2. LEVII’S JEANS, beyoncé
3. black hole, boygenius
4. obsessed, olivia rodrigo
5. von dutch, charli xcx
6. take me to the river, lorde (i listen to this at least 10 times per day)
7. guilty as sin?, taylor swift
8. nikes, frank ocean
9. anyone else but you, the moldy peaches
10. ribs, lorde (it is always on here)
i’m really not sure who to tag so any of my lovely friends who want to do this feel free to!! this was an fun <3
10 Songs Tag Game
thank you for the tag, @sky-kiss 💋 here are ten from my recently played list
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paging @atlabeth @rosewrites @onlycambions @cambion-companion @adevilyoudo @djmorn @muertawrites @hydropyro @tiefling-enjoyer @inaconstantstateofchange (sorry if you’ve already been tagged!)
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supercutszns · 15 days
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Bunny's sick and exhausted but doesn't want to bother Carmy. He comes back from the bear to see her curled up in blankets with a mountain of tissues and immediately starts pampering her
the lump on his bed is bigger than usual, forcing carmen to stop in his tracks. just about all the blankets he owns are tucked around a shivering figure.
"bunny?"
there's a tiny croak that sounds from under the covers. one that has his face squeezing into a frown and legs hurrying him to the side of the bed.
"bunny," carmen tries again, peeling back to bedspreads to reveal his shivering partner surrounded by a littering of tissues. "what're you doin' under there, huh?"
a thick sniffle tells carmen everything he needs to know.
"shit, baby," carmen whispers, a hand on bunny's forehead. his huffs at how warm she is. "you're burning up, why didn't you call me?"
"didn't wanna bother you," bunny shakes her head, tears wavering the little voice she has left.
carmen's heart aches a little as he pulls a drowsy bunny into a seating position. she immediately slumps against him, melting her body into his. she sniffs again, this time from the tears.
"bunny," he coos, kissing at her temple with a hand cradling her head. his voice lowers into a whisper, words filing out into the quiet. "i wish you'd called me. i'd drop anything for you, you know that... how long you been in bed?"
bunny's answer, around an hour after he left, has carmen sighing. he squeezes her tighter. she should've called him.
"'m cold, bear," bunny whimpers out, and he's pulling up a blanket around her faster than her slow blink.
"i got you," carmy promises, peeking down to see that bunny's eyes have fluttered shut. he gazes at her for a second, pulling the phone from his back pocket as carefully as he can without disturbing her.
・゜゜・.
"how's she doin'?"
richie asks the question quieter than anyone will ever hear him as he sneaks inside the door. his hands, full with a few bags that he passes off to carmen.
"okay, for now. gave her some meds–which she fuckin' hates the taste of, but i don't care–and she's in there pouting. might move her out to the couch to keep an eye on her when she goes back to sleep. fever's at 101 the last time i checked. gonna take her to the doctor if it gets any higher."
richie sighs, shutting the apartment door.
"want me to bring her out? set her up all cozy and shit on the couch while you start on that soup or whatever?"
carmen pauses on his way to the kitchen, thinking to himself with his gaze pointed down.
"yeah, actually," he finally nods. "yeah, that would be great."
richie shakes his jacket off his shoulders with a nod. just as he turns to hang it on the rack–
"cousin?"
the taller man turns back around, eyes wide with the muted fear that he's already done something wrong.
"thank you... for coming out here. i just–i didn't wanna leave her by herself while she's like this. been home alone all day feelin' like shit, and i didn't even know 'til now."
"all good, cousin," richie tells him, letting out a relived huff. he watches as carmen resumes his walk before easing down to the bedroom.
richie pauses in the doorway at the sight of the lump on the bed. he grins a little, rapping his knuckles against the door softly.
"anybody home?" a snicker leaves the man as a head pops out from under the covers. "there she is."
a weak pat atop the mattress from bunny has richie shuffling in and to a spot on the edge of the bed.
"hey," bunny rasps out, turning on her side to face him.
"hey, bug," richie sighs. "should've called us."
bunny begins to laugh, but stops at the aching feeling it brings to her throat. "you sound just like him."
"yeah, well." it's richie's turn to shrug. "sometimes–very fuckin' rarely–our guy in there can be sort of almost a little bit right. don't tell him i said that, though, 'kay?"
the both of them share a small smile that's interrupted by a cough from bunny.
"okay, no more talking," richie orders, standing gently. "let's get you out to the couch and back to sleep, okay? carm and i wanna keep an eye on you and your fever."
bunny's too looped out from her fever to rebut. she's also too out of it to remember how she got to the couch when her eyes open again. she blinks herself awake, eyes falling upon the two men sprawled out on the floor in front of her.
they've moved the coffee table to the side, stares cemented on a golden girls rerun. sharing a smile at one of sophia's lines.
"bear?"
carmen and richie's head whip around to her.
"can i have some water?"
richie is up before carmen can answer, muttering something about how she should probably eat something, too. the head of curls turns all the way to bunny as carmen shuffles to sit against the couch.
"why're you guys on the floor?"
carmen shushes her gently, checking her fever again.
"still pretty warm," he informs her. "hate to say it, but i might have to steal some of these blankets away, gorgeous."
bunny shakes her head as much as it'll let her, clenching the comforter she's currently buried under.
"i know, baby, but we gotta get your temp down." carmen frowns when bunny flinches away from the peck he tries to give her.
"no, don't wanna get you sick," she tells him, letting at least one blanket be tugged from grip. her shiver is instantly covered by a swarming carmen.
"who gives a fuck if i get sick," carmen mumbles distractedly as he raises from the floor, more focused on piling all but one blanket down to the other end of the couch. he maneuvers into a space next to bunny, guiding her under his arm. "need richie to get anything else? he brought some fruit and blue gatorade, too. keep you hydrated."
carmen runs a tender hand across bunny's warm shoulder while he speaks, and it lulls her eyes shut without an answer.
"alrightly," richie announces as he re-enters, balancing a tray of items. he bends to set it on the coffee table before turning to look at bunny. he pauses. "oh."
carmen's lips twitch at the look on his face. "sorry, man–"
"'m not asleep," bunny mumbles onto carmen's sleeve, pulling her eyelids open to search for the water. richie is quick to hand her the glass from the try. "thanks."
"yeah," richie nods. "also got some soup here when you're ready for it. carmen made it, so.. you know, might be okay, i guess."
carmen smiles through his fuck you, pulling a weak grin onto bunny's face.
"there's gatorade, too. and some fruit. didn't know what you wanted, so i just brought a little bit of everything."
if she could, bunny would get up and gift richie with the biggest hug. instead, all she can manage is a small smile and mouthing of thank you. he winks at her before clearing his throat.
"well, i, uh..." he trails off, hands on his hips, "you guys seem to be pretty set, so i guess i'll head out. got the house to myself tonight so think i'm gonna catch that new episode of... that one, um... that one new show. with that one guy."
richie swallows after the painfully embarrassing ramble, scratching the back of his head with a fast glance at the door.
"or you could hang here for a while," bunny shrugs, sipping at her water. "bear could use someone to talk to after i pass out again."
richie shakes his head with a kind smile.
"it's alright, bug. been here too long already–"
"sit your ass down, richard."
a silence follows carmen's command. richie blinks at carmen, whose gaze has trailed back to the television. after a moment, he huffs.
"fine," he surrenders, slinking to sit on the other side of bunny. "don't call me richard, though. fuckin' hate that. you sound like uncle jimmy. additionally, the only reason i'm staying is 'cause bunny suggested it."
carmen hums back sassily. "mmhm."
"mmhm."
"mmhm."
"mmhm."
"guys."
they both apologize at the same time, making bunny grin to herself as she slings a leg across richie's lap and rests her head on carmen's shoulder.
"sorry."
the bunny and the bear au || bunny!reader and bear thoughts? <3
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supercutszns · 15 days
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let’s be serious for a second sokka would be absolutely obsessed with bowling
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supercutszns · 17 days
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MARK GRAYSON: “YOUR HANDS ARE COLD—“
— contents: in which mark holds your hand for the first time. — from the author: first mark drabble,, eat up my underfed deprived of invincible content bbys!! more coming soon!!
“this was a bad idea. there’s too many people.”
you looked at the bustling crowd, many of whom were at stalls opting to buy something, some were eating to their heart’s content, and a few of them were children, running around here and there. it was a lively sight. however, you didn’t see it as a romantic place for a first date.
“i’m sorry, we should’ve gone somewhere else.” you looked at mark with a small apologetic grin. “come on, let’s look for some place quieter.”
“no no! it’s okay, i like it here! it.. you know, feels alive.”
“we won’t even be able to hear each other with all the noise! and what if i, or you, get lost?”
mark leaped forward, marching his way into the busy crowd, “we’ll be fine, trust me.” he turned back with a smile adorning his lips.
your concerns turned into a reality when after a few steps into entering the never-ending sea of people, you realised you’ve lost sight of mark. you craned your head in all directions in search of him as you opened your mouth to shout his name, but before you could, you felt a hand grip yours tightly. it was mark. his fingers wrapped around yours and your palm was against his. you felt your cheeks warming up.
“hey, i’m right here.”
“i can see that.”
“your hands are cold, are you alright?” he said, his face painted with worry.
“i’m ok. i have someone who can warm them up.” you cheekily replied, tucking your other hand in your coat.
mark smiled as he led you through the crowd, all you could do was follow him and stare, or rather, admire his back. mark abruptly stopped in his tracks, resulting in a pause with your daydreaming. you turned your head to the side to see what mark was looking at. it was a crochet stall, the very stall you’ve been hoping to go to at the fall market. there were bees, flowers, cows, mushrooms, all sorts of cute stuff. you hurriedly went to the stall and grabbed the first cute item you could get your hands on.
while you were looking around the stall in glee like a child on a christmas night, the buzzing feeling returned and a warm hand caressed yours. you turned your head to face mark, who was staring at a duck wearing a strawberry he held in his other hand, his hair shining a color from the distant setting sun and a small smile on his lips that you couldn’t miss. he looked incredible.
trying to not let your nerves get the best of you, you picked up a crochet sweater with your other hand and offered it to mark.
“i think this would look good on you."
@ toshn , pls do not steal or ur cheeks will!! be clapped.
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supercutszns · 17 days
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he is so fucking cute always. this was adorbs :))
Hii!! Congrats on 23!!! I love your writing!! Idk if you write for Jason Grace, but if you do could you do something with a daughter or Dionysus reader where it’s just her trying to loose him up a little bit? Or maybe them at a party?? Thank you so muchh!
🐥🐥🐥🐥🐥
jason grace x dionysus!reader
a/n: underage drinking lol but that comes with a dionysus!reader ,,, ty for the request my love!
wc: 683
“So you’ve like, never been to a party?”
You’re smacking on a piece of gum as the both of you watch the party come alive in your cabin. Cabin 12 was always the place to be on weekends with it just being you and Pollux, and everyone knows that no one can throw a party like a Dionysus kid. Though with the way Jason’s leaning against the corner of the wall you both take up with a beer in hand, it’s like he doesn’t know what to do with himself. Ever since his arrival at Camp Half-Blood, you’ve come to notice that there is possibly no version of him that is ever at ease.
“Never really had the time.”
Well, that just won’t do.
You teach Jason all the things a teenager usually does at a party, from drinking a few cups of spiked punch (which was much more pleasant than the beer), to dragging him onto the dance floor once the drinks set in (he thinks he likes spinning you around until your laughter bubbles over like sparkling champagne), to finally getting him to join a few party games. Jason killed it at cup pong, watched you annihilate other campers at king’s cup, until an Aphrodite kid insisted you end off the night with 7 minutes in heaven. A chorus of both groans and cheers were heard around the room, and Jason looks at you confused. His glasses glint under the fairy lights and you giggle at his lost puppy look.
7 minutes in his father’s domain didn’t seem like a good game to him, so he leans in to listen to you whisper the mechanics of it all. His cheeks redden, and he’s unsure if he wants to play.
“Come on, it’ll be fun, sparky.”
You gave him the nickname because he always looks like someone’s lit a fire under his butt—too uptight and cordial for your liking.
Sitting around while mismatched couples took their turns in your linen closet wasn’t really Jason Grace’s idea of fun, but he supposes he doesn’t really have a good grasp on that either. He trusts you though, for what it’s worth. A son of Jupiter having full faith in a daughter of Dionysus must be a deadly combination.
When Piper calls out both of your names, he supposes that could be fun. You grab his wrist and he follows you into the dim closet, everyone’s voices muffled through the closed door. 
“Is this okay?” He whispers, even if no one else can hear him but you. Your smile is intoxicating when it’s directed at him, he realizes, and he wonders if he’s finally drunk. 
“Yeah. We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, Jace,” you say sincerely. At a wave of your fingers, the hesitation and impairment from the punch subsides a little; a light buzz settles in your stomachs. Jason pushes his glasses up and then dares to ask, “So what do people usually do when they’re in here?”
You raise your eyebrows. You didn’t think you’d have to spell it out for him.
“Um, well…they kiss. Or other things…”
“Oh.”
You giggle at his shock, leaning in slowly and waiting for him to make the final move. Jason closes the distance and there are a few things that surprise you about this kiss. It’s intense, lips molding onto yours with the passion he puts into everything he does, wanting to do the job well. Whether it be the waning effects of alcohol or a static shock—it made the both of you hyperaware, lightly panting before his hands pull you in by the waist and you smile into the scar on his lip, grabbing onto his tshirt. You tilt your head to the side and let him consume you once more, a floaty feeling in your chest until you realize—the both of you are actually flying. 
A muffled groan leaves him when his head hits the lightbulb, sparks flying out as you land in his arms. 
Lips locking through the laughter, Jason finally understands why you would think this is fun.
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supercutszns · 17 days
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thank u sm so glad u enjoyed!! and he literally does i constantly need more of him i love him so bad
sweet on you | jason grace
wc + pairing: 1k, jason grace x f!reader
notes: short-ish jason blurb while i chalk up some of my beefier fics (& my 1k celebration thank u again)<3 this is my first time publishing for him so hopefully this isn't too ooc! i need to let myself write shorter stream of consciousness things,, all fluff, just jason taking your makeup off after a party <33 also its set at chb because i said so
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Whenever Jason washes off your makeup, he acts like it's his sworn duty.
You’re a little hazy as he wets a cloth in the sink, repositioning himself between your legs that hang limply off the bathroom counter. You keep scanning his face for any trace of weariness or urgency. After a long day of camp duties, the last thing you think he’d want was to clean up his drunken girlfriend after a secret party. But he’s as kind and patient as ever, and you don’t know if it’s your heart or the alcohol talking, but you are deliriously in love with him right now. He’s a leader—a brave, powerful demigod—but he’s only that good because he’s gentle. That's what you see, anyway. Everyone loves him for a reason, but you're still sure you love him most.
You got drunk. You got anxious. But it’s more than worth it if Jason takes care of you after. Even under these fluorescent bathroom lights, he’s beautiful.
“Why thank you,” he says, a bemused smile on his face.
You blink. “Did I say that out loud?”
“Sure did.”
The scar on the corner of his lip lifts as he kisses your cheek. You hum pleasantly, and you feel the ghost of his laugh before he pulls away. “Close your eyes for me?”
You oblige. In seconds, you’re greeted with the warm press of a towel on your face. Jason keeps you in place with his hand cupping your chin. “Let me know if I poke your eyes, okay?”
“If you do I’ll just bite your finger.”
“Awesome.” He works on sweeping the cloth over your skin to drag off all that makeup. You wait patiently, happily, indulging in the occasional idle chatter and the steady brush of Jason’s thumb underneath your chin. Every pass of his fingers against your face lulls you further into your haze. He’s warm, methodical, sweet. He switches the cloth to a different side and drags up your cheekbones. Your brain is mush with alcohol and appreciation.
“‘M sorry I got carried away, Jace,” you mumble, head swaying involuntarily. “Didn’t need to come get me like this.”
His soft laugh swims in your ears, and he lowers himself a bit to see you better. “Trust me, I wasn’t doing much. The only notable thing this evening was crossing the hundred-page threshold in my book.”
“Is it good?” You slur, toying with his dog-tag necklace you’d gotten him for his birthday.
He tilts his head, “Eh. Alright. I still like taking care of you more, though.”
You must be beaming stupidly wide, because Jason shakes his head with a smile, and he wraps his arms around you to kiss your jaw. “Besides, you’re sweet on me when you’re drunk.”
The feel of his lips would have shut you up in any normal circumstance, but your idiotic thoughts only heighten. “Sweet on you?”
“Mmhm.”
“That’s a thing?”
“Yes! They … people say it.”
His cheeks flush red in that insanely adorable way, and he presses his face back into your neck. “They said it in my book,” he mumbles, and you laugh so hard he has to shush you.
He goes through the rest of your rather particular skincare routine as per your instructions. He’s seen you do it a thousand times, but you repeat the order anyways just to be sure—although it’s likely you’re jumbling up your words and taking too many pauses for any of it to come out coherent. He takes his time, focused intently on the planes and ridges of your skin. If you were any more sober you’d probably be self-conscious, but sometimes his thumb runs across your cheek with a tenderness that has nothing to do with your serums.
Once all’s said and done, your skin refreshed, you’re practically snoozing on the counter. “Sweetheart,” Jason hums, winding arms around you once more, “Let’s get you to bed.”
“Only if it’s with you,” you yawn, cheek smushing into his chest.
“Well, that’s a given.”
He’s smiling again as he runs his hands down to your thighs, so you can loop your legs around his hips. “Hold on, okay?”
You oblige, relishing in the curl of his biceps against your sides as he hoists you off the counter. Usually you’d be hesitant to let him carry you around with you clinging to him like this, but your capacity for embarrassment had vanished about two drinks ago. You hear him chuckling into your hair as the breeze tickles your face, although it's far less severe in his arms.
Camp’s practically deserted this time of night so Jason has no problem getting you into his cabin. He puts you down on his lonely bed in a sea of marble, lit with nothing but the warmth of his reading lamp. “Thank you, baby,” you murmur as he helps you out of your clothes and gives you a shirt of his own. The way he smells reminds you of morning mist as he ties your hair back.
Soon you’re in your favourite place in the world: drowned in blankets on a cool summer night in Jason’s bed. You’re nestled snug against his chest, letting the fog in your mind settle as he traces shapes on your back beneath your shirt. Transfixed by the ebb and flow of his breath, you can’t help but press your lips to his collarbone, lazy chapstick kisses spooling onto his skin.
“Y’re right,” you mumble, “I am sweet on you.”
Jason laughs quietly, setting down his book. He taps on your chin to draw you out of his chest, leading you to his mouth. You’re giggling and falling into him before you even kiss. He tastes like sweet mint as he cages you against him with his arms, nothing but gentle. “Love you,” you whisper with a plucky smile.
He kisses your forehead, “I love you.” He disposes of his glasses and turns off his lamp, sinking the both of you down onto the mattress. “Get some sleep, angel.”
You must be a lot better at following instructions than you thought, because you smother yourself in his warmth and you’re sure you’ve never slept better.
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supercutszns · 17 days
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awkekfkwowke thank you sooo much so glad u enjoyed!! u are so sweet 🫶
twin beads | luke castellan
wc + pairing: 6.7k, luke x daughter of poseidon! reader
synopsis: you’ve been unclaimed for five years. you’ve loved your best friend even longer. the sea used to be your greatest solace, but after percy jackson comes to camp, it’s your cruelest reminder. (based on this ask!)
warnings: best friends to lovers <3, percy/reader sibling dynamic, fluff and angst then fluff again, hurt/comfort, shameless making out. sorry this one is so long but besties to lovers is my lifeblood!!! i get so attached!! designated song is true blue by boygenius:)
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i. you said you wanted to feel alive, so we went to the beach
“Ahoy, sailor!”
The familiar voice ricochets across the lake. You turn, leaving glimmers of sun behind you as you stare back at the docks of Camp Half-Blood. An orange blob with a curly mop of hair is beckoning you. You laugh, wave back at him, and plunge into the water. It cools your face after staying above the surface for so long—you just love watching the light reflected off the waves. But the second you’re under the water, the soreness in your muscles, the heat on your face, the exhaustion from treading for so long, are washed away from you. You swim with precision and vigor, relishing the feel of the river cupping your limbs to spur you forward. Not to sound lame, but you fucking love swimming. 
But maybe not as much as you love your best friend. 
He laughs when your head pops out of the water at the edge of the dock. “Wow, that took you longer than usual,” he teases, brown eyes glinting in the dawn. “You getting sloppy?”
You huff, splashing some water up at him but it barely touches him. “I’m tired, you moron. I’ve been out there for an hour.”
Luke leans down at the edge of the dock, offering you a hand. His face is bemused when you latch onto him, and with a good flex of his bicep he pulls you up. “All right, c’mon,” he grunts.
All your energy evaporates the second your body’s out of the water. You’re far too lazy to be graceful, so you sprawl out onto the dock like a dying fish, letting the sun kiss every inch of you. “Eww,” Luke giggles overtop you, prodding your side with the tip of his shoe. “Get up, you mermaid.” 
“Make me, you mailman.”
Your arm drapes over your eyes, and you sigh. There really is nothing better than these moments; droplets of water soaking into your skin after an early morning swim, your best friend right beside you. 
He keeps nudging you with your shoe, over and over until your ribs start to hurt. You groan, swatting him away and stretching out your limbs with a groan, letting them pop and relax, until you blearily make your way to your feet. 
“You forgot your towel again,” Luke condones, but like always, he’s brought one for you. 
He goes through a practiced routine of drying you off, wrapping the towel around your shoulders and down your arms, across your back, scrunching the water out of your hair. It doesn’t matter how cold the water gets—this part always makes you warm. 
“Thanks,” you smile as he hands the towel off to you. “Anything interesting happen this morning, O Captain, my captain?”
“Not yet, sailor, sir,” he replies in a stuffy, gruff voice the two of you have joked around with since you were kids. “Just grabbing you for breakfast.”
You giggle, following him past the docks and to the shore. Once you’ve grabbed all your stuff, you both fall in stride and head towards your cabin, your twin five-beaded necklaces hanging over your shirts. 
Five years ago, when you got to Camp for the first time, you were as big a loser as any. You were bad at everything—everything—and had no real friends until you accidentally whacked some other friendless loser in the head with an oar when you were about to go canoeing. Luke got mad at you, but his little sister Annabeth was even more furious. He offered to be your partner for the day anyway. You’ve been partners ever since. 
Over the years the two of you have grown in status at the camp, more so Luke than you. He’s an excellent cabin leader and by far the greatest swordsman in camp. You, still unclaimed, have found solace in giving younger campers swimming lessons and wading out there on your own till you get sunstroke. (It’s happened a few times. Luke is never pleased, but also refuses to let the Apollo campers take care of you. He nurses you back to health with ice cream and horrible gossip.)
But every night you return to the Hermes cabin with a hollowness in your chest. One bunk emptied, then immediately filled. You’ve had the same one for five years, and the only condolence is that it’s right next to Luke’s, and sometimes you spend hours at night making faces at each other till your laughter endangers other people’s sleep. 
Yes, you love the water at Camp Half-Blood, but you love Luke most. 
Rumours of a new kid are rustling at camp. You haven’t seen him, but you’re just dying to get in on the gossip. Apparently he slayed a minotaur. Apparently Annabeth has seen him. And apparently he’s unclaimed. You hate to admit it, but this is the most exciting news you’ve heard in weeks!
Your afternoon is spent giving some swimming lessons and taking some Demeter campers canoeing. (Some of them freak out on the water. so it’s a nice challenge to untangle the sea plants they get hooked around their boat.) It feels like you’ve been here forever. A break is in desperate demand right now. 
You have no idea what kind of God heard your prayers, but your fellow counsellor has an unimpressed look on her face when she taps you on the shoulder and goes, “Your friend’s calling you.” 
The way she says it is almost degrading. You turn to look back at the shore to see the dark curly hair you’d spot a mile away. Next to him is a much shorter orange blob, shuffling awkwardly as Luke attempts to flag you down. Score!
You shoot an apologetic look at her. “Uh … I’ll be right back.” You wince, already disposing of your baggy orange shirt (it’s Luke’s) with your bathing suit underneath. 
“No you won’t,” she says dryly. “Just go.”
You flash a smile you hope is loaded with charm, and you’re off into water. As you swim, the only thing on your mind is I really really hope that’s the new kid, and I wonder what Luke’s face looks like right now. (He’s probably grinning, eyes crinkled at the sides as he tries to follow your figure beneath the waves. Maybe he’s doing that cute thing where his head tilts to the side as he watches.) 
When you’re close enough to the shore, you come out of the water, wringing your hair. “Hey, guys!” It’s Luke, Chris, and some blonde kid you’re sure is the new one. “What’s up?”
Luke is about to say something, then he frowns. “Where’s my shirt?”
“Left it in the canoe, I’ll go back for it later,” you reply, limply gesturing behind you. 
“And where’s your towel?”  
“Okay, I did bring one this time!” You counter. “I just gave it to a little Ares kid ‘cause she forgot hers.” 
Luke clicks his tongue, shakes his head at you, but of course he’s got one in his hands so what’s the worry? He’s endearingly amused when you take the cloth and dry yourself off, and the new boy, having watched this all raptly, widens his eyes and drawls, “Ohhhh, so you’re his gi—”
“This is Camp’s resident mermaid, Percy.” Chris butts in, adding your name almost as an afterthought. 
After you fasten your towel around you, you’re put off by Percy’s scrutinizing stare. “Look, it’s been a pretty weird day so I cannot tell if you’re joking or not.” 
“I’m not a mermaid,” you snipe, throwing Chris a dirty look. “People just call me that because I give swimming lessons here.” You stick your hand out to the blonde boy. “Nice to meet you, Percy.” 
He gives a polite nod, a little awkward. “Right back at ya.” The two of you study each other as you shake. He’s young, probably about twelve, a smatter of freckles across his face. His eyes look like the lake. Something itches in the back of your brain. There’s a moment where the shake is suspended, neither of you have let go but are no longer actively holding on, and you see it in his face that he’s studying you, too. Huh.
The conversation continues as normal, but you almost start to feel queasy for a second. “We’re trying to find something Percy’s good at,” Luke says with a pat on Percy’s shoulder. “You got any ideas?”
“Yes, please, because I really would like to have a word with my father,” Percy clips. “Is Glory, like, purely a skill thing or can I get some if I tie someone else’s shoes or something?” 
“I don’t have shoes,” you add unhelpfully. 
“It’s okay, dude,” Luke squeezes Percy’s shoulder. “Camp is great, no matter where you end up.”
Even if you’re like her, he means without saying. Even if you don’t end up anywhere. 
You meet Luke’s eyes. This is a kid that wants so badly to meet his father, to ease the ache inside him. You are the absolute worst person for this. One of the longest current unclaimed streaks and your ache remains. To Percy, you’re the biggest example of a failure there is, and Luke is only just now realizing it. 
“Maybe try the infirmary?” You pipe, shuffling back and forth on the sand. “You might have a knack for medicine.”
“Doubt it,” Percy swallows. “But yeah, okay. Who’s your parent, again?”
Percy can’t see it, but Luke and Chris send you a shifty look and all you can do is widen your eyes to be like, Help! Don’t make me crush his dreams! I don’t want another kid to hate me! 
You swallow. No matter how fast you think, you cannot come to a logical sentence. “I, uh—”
Just then, in another stroke of luck (wow, that’s two more than usual) an Athena counsellor that looks insanely disgruntled is running towards you. “Stolls put spiders in our cabin again,” he heaves once at a stop. “Please get rid of them.”
“Can’t you just squash ‘em?” Percy asks. 
“Not the spiders, the twins.” 
Chris is already nodding, but Luke looks to you first. He’s anxious, disappointed. You wish you could smooth out the creases in his brow with your thumb. “Don’t worry,” you stretch out a smile. “I’ll chill with Percy. It won’t take you guys too long.”
He’s still hesitant. You’re not sure this is a good call either. But he reaches out, quickly squeezes your shoulder and mutters, “Thank you.” Your skin feels gooey when he touches it. 
His signature roguish smile returns as he looks back to Percy. The side of his face is shadowed by the sun so well it makes you jealous. “Don’t give her a hard time, eh?” He reprimands playfully. 
Percy smiles a little. “I’ll try not to.”
You are once again reminded just how easy it is to love Luke. How effortlessly he moves into your heart. It happened to you after you slapped him with an oar. It’s already happening to Percy.
You’re sure he won’t like you nearly half as much. 
After Luke and Chris leave, Percy resigns to staring out at the campers canoeing on the lake. Maybe now is a good time to admit you’re not good with kids. Luke has tried many times to make you his welcome partner, but you can’t take to the role nearly as well. You’re perpetually antsy. And sweaty. 
“So, what cabin are you a part of that lets you do this all day?” Percy asks, squinting against the sun. 
Your heart gets heavy. With a sigh, you sit yourself down, and Percy soon follows. “Hermes, actually,” you say as casually as you can. 
Percy goes pale as a sheet. “Uh, what?”
“I’m unclaimed,” you clarify. “I don’t … I don’t have a parent.”
There’s always a pitiful pause whenever a camper figures that out. This one is somehow … clunkier. “Oh,” Percy says. “Oh. Okay, that makes sense. For a second I thought—phew.” Then his eyes trail down to the thread hooked around your fingers, the five beads you run your thumb over. “How long have you been here?”
“Five long, blissful years,” you hum dryly. 
Water ripples over pebbles on the shore. Every new camper’s ambition is eroded by the truth you represent. Percy’s no different. His brows furrow and his face falls. “And you’ve never been claimed?” He asks, and you can feel the noxious mix of pity, confusion and despair laced beneath it. 
You shake your head, watching some Demeter kids splashing each other’s canoes with their oars. “Nope. But it’s not so bad. I like my cabin, you know? I like my life. Doesn’t really matter who your parents are anyway, I think. You do the same activities as everyone else, just on different teams.”
“But doesn’t it make you mad?”
“It used to,” you shrug, “But not anymore. It’s just …” You sigh, rolling a bead against your thumb. “If I’m unclaimed, I’m unclaimed. That’s the way it is. You can’t force the Gods to do anything.” 
“That’s what Luke said,” Percy remarks, almost bitterly. 
“I’m a rare case though, Percy,” you half-lie to him, nudging him a bit with your shoulder. “You’ll get claimed. It’s your first day. And until then you’re kind of free to be whatever. You don’t have to fit into anything, which is kinda nice, and you can screw around as much as you want and nobody can really get mad at you ‘cause you’re new.” A smile rises on your face. “And I heard you killed a minotaur, so you’ve already got some cool points.”
His face screws up in a grimace, and it makes you laugh. “Oh joy, cool points. Can’t live without those.”
Okay, maybe you’re not bad with kids. Maybe you’re just bad with boring kids. Because this is going decent, right? 
“What if I don’t get claimed, though?” Percy asks after a moment, a vulnerable note eclipsing him. It resonates inside your chest. You pause for a moment, heaving a loaded breath. 
“Do you fart a lot in your sleep?”
His melancholy pauses. He looks at you like you’ve grown another head. “Uh … what? No? I think?”
“Then you can take the bunk above mine if you want. It’s empty now,” you say. “And if you’re never claimed you can come swimming with me, and we can find seashells to put under Luke’s pillow every night until he starts thinking they’ve always been there.”
Percy blinks. “Do you have any friends?”
“Yes, and I’m going to torture him until I die. Cabin eleven is oodles of fun, Percy, you’ll see!”
He looks a little horrified. “Luke said I was going to like you,” he mutters. “I … am not sure if he’s right.”
Oh, well. You’ll take it. 
ii. you can't help but become the sun
You can’t sleep, and Luke knows it. His eyes burn into the side of your face as you stare up at your bunk. You sneak him a look. He smiles ruefully. Sweeping his arm up from beneath his covers, a makeshift tent is formed next to him. He nods to you. Before you know it, you’ve abandoned your own bed, taking a single step until you skirt into the pocket of his mattress Luke has carved for you. He lets the sheets fall, cocooning you with him the way he always does. 
You’ve been sharing beds on occasion for years. One of you gets cold, has a nightmare, or wants to talk until your mind fades out, the only solution is a place next to each other. Whispers against cheeks, giggles muffled into pillows, necklaces knocking together. You used to be further apart. Now you can’t remember the last time Luke hasn’t latched onto you the second you’re within reach. It warms you a little more each time. 
When your head hits his pillow, the two of you just stare at each other for a moment, lips pursed in amusement. His face is so wildly nostalgic to you—five years seems like too short a time to have known him. His eyes are pitch-dark and soft with exhaustion, but you can still pick out the trademark Hermes mirth glimmering through. You sometimes forget his scar, probably because you know he wants you to forget it. He’d kill you for thinking this, but you kind of like the way it hugs the curve of his cheek, bunches up when his dimple appears. It makes you sad. It makes you happy. It makes you love him. 
“Percy likes you,” he whispers, opening himself up so your chin brushes his shoulder. “That’s a first.”
He’s only wearing a tank top to sleep, so his warmth seeps through his skin when you tap him on the chest. “Shut up!” You hiss back, tapering into a giggle. “Has he picked up on anything yet?”
Luke bites the inside of his cheek, regretfully shaking his head. “Nope. But all that skill stuff is kinda arbitrary anyways. He’s still hung up on kleos, though, so … that’ll come in handy for Capture the Flag.”
“Ah, yes. Using a child’s misguided need for fulfilment as a weapon. A camp classic.” 
“Well someone’s gotta be useful for Capture the Flag in this cabin and it sure as hell isn’t you, mermaid,” he barbs back. 
Your jaw drops in mock offense and you squeeze a hand around his shoulder to shake him. “I will put you in a headlock right now, Luke, I’ll break your arm—”
“Be quiet!” He giggles as you attempt to wrangle yourself on top of him. “I’ll be nice to you, I’ll be nice, stop!” You get absolutely nowhere before the bed creaks and Luke shoves you back down. Your pulse rattles through your mouth as you laugh silently. “You’re the worst,” he mutters in your ear, raising the hairs on your neck.
“Well Percy likes me, so,” you turn your nose to the sky like a haughty old lady. 
“Percy’s a funnier, less annoying version of you,” he pokes your side. “That’s how I knew you’d get along, you weirdo.”
The momentary adrenaline this conversation has brought you is mellowing. “Hey, I’m very—very funny,” you mumble through a yawn. 
Luke laughs quietly. “Sure you are.”
He pulls you back to him, arm slung around the dip of your waist. When you make no protest, he seals you against his shoulder again. It’s started to feel a little different, him holding you like this. There’s an uncertainty your body faces about how to respond. His thumb runs over your spine and you decide to relax into him, pressing your face into the crook of his neck. Your chin knocks against his collarbone and you have the urge to curl yourself against his chest, just to feel him breathe. 
“Get some sleep, sailor,” he murmurs, fingers brushing through the roots of your hair. You don’t think he realizes he’s doing it. Your cheeks warm, and you bury yourself even further into the space against his shoulder and his pillow. Gods, there’s something wrong with you, isn’t there?
“Will do, soldier.” The campy voice you do is half hearted at best as you find yourself absorbed in the closest thing to a full home you’ll ever get. In this sleepy hollow with bedsheets and a boy, there is acceptance. 
Well, mostly. You think you dream about Luke brushing a kiss along your hairline in your last bit of consciousness. You think you wish it was real. You think you want him to do it again.   
iii. when you don't know who you are, you fuck around and find out
The last time your cabin lost a game of Capture the Flag, you’d still been taller than Luke. That’s how long your winning streak has felt. There’s no reason you foresee that changing today. Even when Annabeth drags Percy along with her on whatever surely precarious quest to victory she’s created. It’s unlike her, to bring a newbie along. It’s concerning. 
“He’s fine,” Luke drawls to you when your face has been tense for twenty minutes. “Annabeth’s got a plan.” He’s a little winded after clearing out some Ares kids with Chris. You aren’t much use when it comes to weapons—your friends take the lead as you wait from a distance, ready for backup. Thank the Gods they didn’t need it this time. You’re content to just watch, but whenever Luke grins after getting another kid to surrender, veins in his arms raised like rivers on a map, you get a little distracted and you’re not sure why. 
You just huff back at him, totally normal when he wipes a sheen of sweat off his jaw. “Annabeth’s gonna use him as cannon fodder,” you mutter back, and Luke hits your arm with an appalled grin. 
Annabeth did, in fact, have a plan. So you won. Obviously. 
You’re still doubtful Percy wasn’t cannon fodder, though, with how beat up he looks on the shoreline when the rest of your team flocks to the stolen flag to claim victory. He’s slumped down on the rocky shore, a few equally beaten Ares kids straggling away from him. 
“So I was right, huh?” Luke hums in your ear, pulling your eyes to him. 
He’s revelling in newfound glory, and damn it, you get confused when you look at him when he’s like this. You’re not sure when it happened but you want to tear your heart out of its chest because of how sick it makes you. Some of his curls are stuck to his forehead with sweat, his hair suffering a serious case of helmet-head. But it’s the pride oozing off him, the infectious happiness laced through his smile, that makes you fond of him in a way you’re not sure you should be. He’s beloved for a reason—he looks almost prophetic after winning a match, and he knows it. A glaring difference between the gangly boy you met all those summers ago. If you weren’t his best friend, you’d probably be one of his many admirers, watching his teammates fawn over his talent and wishing you were beside him. 
But you are beside him. And you’re his friend. Not an admirer. So everything’s fine. 
“You wouldn’t be saying that if we lost,” you retort, knocking your chestplate against his. It’s meant to be a friendly nudge, but Luke leans into it until you swear you feel his heart beating through the metal. 
He’s grown into his smile, less boyish and more wry. “You know I never lose, sailor.” 
You want to reply, but his eyes are startlingly pretty in the sunlight. That’s normal. Whatever. A heat rises in the apples of your cheeks so you scoff lightly and turn away as soon as possible. You feel Luke’s gaze following as you turn attention elsewhere. Your sternum feels fluttery.
Percy catches your attention again. Gods, he looks beat. He’s talking to Annabeth as she helps him up, and you see the gnarly scrape marring his cheek. You should probably check on him, right? 
You’re halfway to the kids when Annabeth shoves Percy backwards into the water. Like, shoves. 
“Annabeth!” You’re scowling at her the same way she scowled at you when you first hit Luke with that oar, rushing over to help Percy. 
“What is wrong with you?” Percy sputters out lying in the lake, but you’re ankles-deep in the water before you know it. He’s glaring daggers at Annabeth, but she looks relatively unimpressed. What happened during this game? 
“Thanks,” Percy mutters as you help him up. 
You say something to shrug it off but you can’t remember what, because your eyes are drawn to the scrape on his cheek. You have to blink a few times to get it, but you’re pretty sure it’s dissolving. Vanishing off his skin. “What the hell?”
Everyone on the shore is watching him now, trying to memorize his injuries before they wash away. Percy’s staring down at himself like he’s just been body-swapped. “I don’t understand.” 
You’ve never seen anything like this before. The strangest feeling fuels you—your bones feel firmer somehow, like the blood inside your body has weight to it. Like something is happening. A fear pierces your gut. 
Annabeth’s eyes have raised, and so have Percy’s. Your mouth goes dry. Right above him is the symbol of a trident, radiating so blue it washes out the sky itself. 
The claiming symbol of Poseidon. 
“Your dad’s calling,” Annabeth says, a smile itching the corners of her mouth. 
Percy looks like he’s going to pass out. You probably do too. “Told you you’d get claimed,” you manage to squeeze the words through the knot in your chest. 
You’re smiling until Percy looks at you, then looks up. His face goes white as a sheet. Or, as white as it can bathed in a pale blue glow. “Uh…” He blinks slowly, and your stomach twists. “I think she was talking to you.”
When you look up and see an identical trident looming over your head, you know something’s wrong. It’s made worse when Chiron rings out your and Percy’s name, branding you as children of Poseidon. 
Poseidon. 
You have a father. And he’s known you all this time. Your ears hollow out like a rush of water in a cavern.
Luke is the first to kneel. The rest of the camp follows. You watch as the entire camp basks in the glory of newcomer Percy Jackson, so quickly claimed by one of the most powerful Gods of Olympus. And you, who has waited five years to earn even a shred of his favour. 
This thing you’ve wanted for so long is suddenly the greatest insult in the world. Your best friend can’t even meet your eyes. 
iv. i remember who i am when i'm with you
You stare at Percy as he unpacks his things. Waiting to see traces of yourself in his face, traces of your father. Anything that could give you an inkling of what he looks like. Of what you look like. Of how this happened in the first place. 
It’s a futile search. Percy’s blue eyes, his freckles, the bridge of his nose, they’re all … nothing. Half of you is half of him, but there’s no indication of which parts. The cabin is cold. You’re not going to sleep well without Luke nearby. You’re not going to sleep well ever again. 
You feel nothing but strife, your throat closing in every time you take even a second to think. You don’t want Percy to see you cry. So you do what you always do. 
This has to be in the running for most overwhelming day of all time ever. Even when submerged in your favourite place on earth, you can’t get away from your dad. Your dumb stupid dad that has made the things you love and has ruined your life. 
You swim hard, and you loathe how good it feels. At least you know why now, but that doesn’t do much to ease you. When you pop up again, the sun has started to sink into the sea. And Gods, you have to give your dad credit. The landscape is so gorgeous you almost forget how long he’s ignored you. 
You wonder if this is the last time you’ll find solace in the lake. If eventually, it’ll be nothing but an extension of your father’s neglect. 
The water ripples around you. You frown, barely having noticed it when someone taps your shoulder. You turn. “Luke?” You swallow, but why are you surprised? 
He’s panting, cheeks splotched with sun as he treads water, droplets worming down his face from his soaking curls. “Been looking for you,” he puffs, “Percy’s worried. Called you from the—from the thingie but don’t think you heard me.”
You assume he means the docks, but you don’t say anything as he takes a deep, grounding breath. “You’ve been out here for hours. Hours. For a second I thought you drowned.”
“Now we know that can’t fucking happen,” you mutter a touch too bitterly, staring down at your legs warped beneath the water. 
Luke’s silent as he watches you. “…Have you been crying?”
When you don’t reply, Luke tugs on your wrist. “C’mon, sailor, let’s go.”
“Not tired,” you say, frozen by the hot tears brimming on your lashes. 
“I’m not leaving you out here. Come on.” He frowns when you yank your hand away as he tries pulling you again. “You’re gonna get heatstroke.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
He reaches for you again and you try to reject it for a moment, but he’s stronger than you, and he loves you better than even the water could. The second he has you close your resolve falters. He holds you against his shoulder, knees knocking against yours as you tread. 
“It’s okay,” he croons when you involuntarily start to cry. For a Poseidon kid, you can’t seem to control your waterworks. “It’s okay, I know.”
His hand cards through your scalp and you relish in the warmth of his bare skin on your cheek. He smells like comfort. You cling to it with all you have, until your nails start to dig into his skin and your eyesight blurs. 
“Come back with me and I’ll dry you off, okay?” He kisses the top of your head, the way you dreamed it last night. “I’ll take care of it.”
You’re not sure which it he’s referring to, because it could honestly apply to anything. When you both set off for shore, you’re so distracted by your own misery that Luke’s actually able to keep up with you. He’s up on the dock before you so he can pull you out. 
The second you’re out of the water you feel like you’ve been gutted with a lead pipe. All the energy it gave you leaves, and you realize just how right Luke was about spending too much time out there. You can’t feel your legs. 
You buckle over almost instantly, but Luke holds you before you can even think of falling. “I’ve got you,” he assures, guiding you down to sit on the dock. Your eyes are too weak to even admire the sunset. Luke drapes a towel over your shoulders, rubbing it over your arms, a welcome familiarity. He takes his time, wringing your hair and drying your back as you gaze blankly ahead. There’s a tenderness to it now. Luke’s ruthless when it comes to a lot of things. When it comes to how he loves, too. But there’s nothing demanding here. He lets your tears fall in silence, undisturbed, the touch of his hands through the cloth a silent promise. 
When you’re fairly dry, he fetches something then quickly comes back. “Here.”
It’s his shirt. You only notice you’ve been shivering as he pulls it over your head, lets you fill in the sleeves, gently gathers your hair back. “Thanks,” you say. His fingertips brush your neck as he hooks them around your necklace to rest it over the shirt. You think he does it to remind you you’re still the same. You’ve had five years together. It doesn’t have to end now. 
“Why did it take him so long?” You struggle to say, eyes glossed like sea glass. “Why—why now? What did I do?”
Luke puts an arm around you. “I don’t know,” he mumbles honestly. 
You sink into his warmth like a wave meets the shore. “Five years, Luke. He ignored me for five years. And he takes Percy right—right away.” It’s hard not to choke between every word. “I just thought I’d never get claimed, and I was fine with that, and now I’m … this!”
Its hard to tell if the dampness of your cheeks are the remnants of saltwater or your tears. “I don’t want this,” you sniffle. “I waited so long … and I just don’t want it.”
Luke rubs your shoulder, lips pursed against your head. He murmurs into your hair, “I know, sailor. It’ll be okay. Promise.”
His voice is reserved. You look up at him. His jaw is resolute, his eyes red-rimmed in a way you hadn’t noticed before. “You’re upset too,” you comment quietly. 
He laughs listlessly. “Yeah, of course I am. I’m losing my favourite cabin mate.”
You sniff and try to smile. “Percy?”
He rolls his eyes fondly, and it feels like all you want. He squeezes your shoulders tight and you long desperately to be closer. “I just don’t know what I did wrong,” you whisper, pressing your cheek into him. “Why didn’t he see me until he saw Percy? Am I just … unremarkable or something?”
“No, no. Absolutely not—c’mere.” Luke loops an arm around your waist and manoeuvres you into his arms, cradled on his lap so you can bury your face in his neck. You can’t stop fucking crying, but his patience for you is infinite. “You are by far the most remarkable person I know.” He seals you against his chest, scratching your scalp the way he knows you like. “None of this is you, okay? Your dad’s an idiot. You are—you’re everything. They’re all mindless up there, they don’t know how to love you. They don’t deserve to.”
An edge seeps into his timbre that gives you pause. You feel weak, discarded. It sounds like he’s talking about a different person. But he’s right. He has to be, because he knows you better than you know yourself.
Luke keeps going. You peek at his face when he speaks. Stubborn as ever. “He doesn’t have any fucking right to you. If he wanted that he should’ve claimed you when you got here. You have a life. You … you had a home. And now just because he’s got another kid he kills two birds with one stone? He pretends like this is some Godly intervention? Like he didn’t ignore you the whole time you’ve been here because he couldn’t stand how much you didn’t need him? How much better you are? You’re my …” He struggles, brows furrowed, the sun melting in his eyes. “You’re my best friend, and we’re supposed to be together. He’s not allowed to take that from you.”
Your heart stirs. “Sounds like you’re jealous,” you try to tease.
Luke heaves a sigh, his muscles rippling against your chest. You’re suddenly aware of the fact that he’s got no shirt on. And that he’s pressed against you in a way that makes you question if you should be this close. Beads of water cling to the divots in his skin, and you linger a little too long on one nestled in his collarbone. You swear you think this every time he goes swimming with you: when did he get so … hot? And every time you think it, you want to gouge your heart out with a spoon. 
“Can you blame me?” A melancholy smile plays on his face. “I liked having you all to myself.”
Tears spring to your eyes all over again. “I liked that too.”
It’s a whisper that sends you forward, Luke bringing his forehead to your own, and you want to live in the warmth that coils through you. His nose catches against yours when he laughs, but he doesn’t move. You take a moment to savour it. You think he does too.
He wipes a tear off your face as you say, “I’m still yours.”
“Yeah?” Luke hums a bit, his hand sliding up your waist in a most unfriendly manner. “How?” 
You catch the glimmer in his eyes, that plucky smile he’s had since fourteen. Something shifts.
“What are you asking me, Luke?” You can’t fight the smile. 
“What do you want me to ask you?”
“I dunno, what do you want me to want you to ask you—”
“My Gods, you’re a pain in the ass.”
He groans, throws his head back, and kisses you like you aren’t the most annoying person in the world. 
It’s so cliché, but for a brief moment your strife is well worth it. You yank him closer before he pulls away. It’s a little unsure, the two of you so used to toeing the line, but soon you’ve given in and your hands are in his hair, mouths parting, and it’s messy and wanting and everything you need. 
Luke slips his hands beneath the hem of your shirt, palms flattening against your sun-beaten skin. It feels so good, better because the shirt is already his, a whine scratching your throat as he moves up so his thumbs graze the skin beneath the tie in your bathing suit. 
“Oh, sailor,” he coos against your mouth. You want to retaliate but it’s lost when he squeezes your thighs, warming you in all the right places. It’s hard to understand this is even happening—it feels like you’re underwater, a blissful fuzziness growing in your head entirely at his mercy. 
He razes kisses down your still-damp neck, catching pearls of water on his tongue. You cling to his shoulders, raking your hands down his back just so you can feel more of him. Luke’s dropped down to your collarbone at this point, tugging the neck of your shirt down as his teeth graze the bone. “You’re my best friend,” he mutters over your skin. “Still mine. Always mine.”
“Mmhm,” is all you can say back, the husk in his voice making your eyes screw shut. He teases a spot so sensitive you groan and laugh at the same time. The regret is immediate, but you feel a chuckle pass his lips, too. “Luke,” you purse a smile. He dots kisses back up your neck until you start returning the favour. 
You kiss his jaw, a few spots on his neck, feeling the flex of his muscle all around you as he squeezes the fat of your hips. You finally sweep up the water in the hollow of his collarbones, and his grunt of your name makes you, frankly, delirious. 
He brings your mouth back to his, skin sticking to each other. It’s harder to kiss as fervently when you’re both giggling against each other’s tongues, running fingers along the planes of each other’s bodies trying to see which places feel new and which are known from memory. It’s a fifty-fifty split, and you love it. 
Somewhere along the way he peeled off your shirt because it was clinging in places you knew he wanted, but now you’re panting and giggling into his hair, his nose pressed into your neck, both of you melded together with salt and sun. “You really know how to cheer a girl up, mailman,” you grin. 
His lips fix to your skin. “Really? You’re still gonna call me that right now?”
“Yeah.”
“Like it better when you call me captain,” he murmurs, nose grazing along your pulse. 
You swallow, “That doesn’t work unless we’re doing the whole sailor-ship bit.”
“We’re always doing the sailor-ship bit.”
“I seriously can’t believe I’m in love with you.”
He sighs warmly at the words. “You have no idea how much I’ve been dying for you to say that. Even though I knew you would.”
You roll your eyes as he presses his forehead to yours, and you’re more glad than ever that his face is the one you love so much. It’s a pretty great face. 
“You’re gonna be okay,” he says tenderly. “You’re too incredible for Poseidon. You’re worth more than that.”
He still looks gorgeous blurred by your tears. You listen to the beat of his heart and the waves rolling. “More than any water anywhere?”
“More than the fucking Styx, sailor. I’ll promise you that.”
That night, Luke stays with you and Percy in your cold chapel of a cabin. You exchange stories until Percy falls asleep in his bed, curled up like a sea otter. “He’s a drooler,” Luke notes fondly, eyes flicking to yours. “Like you.”
You shove his chest playfully until he wraps his arms around you and anchors you to sleep, like every night before. This time, as you drift off, he kisses your forehead again. Once because he loves you, and twice to make sure you know it’s real. 
luke taglist: @sunniskyies @apollos-calliope @lillycore @sunny747 @m00ng4z3r @pabkeh @thaliagracesgf @theadventuresofanartist @bonnie-tz @ash-williamsss @sucker-4-angst @kitkat-writes-stuff @too-deviant
let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!
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supercutszns · 17 days
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he is so pretty i’m pulling out my hair
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Sokka studies :D
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supercutszns · 17 days
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this is so cute😭😭 i love u mark
vincible
vincible | mark grayson x gn!reader (fluff)
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alright since you all asked so kindly here's the fluff from my last hc 🫶🏾 :
cw: slightly suggestive but nothing nsfw. that's all :D
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"why's it looking at me like that?"
the two of you are in bed and with his weight pinning you down, you find it hard to concentrate on what he means.
your head's all fuzzy with the way he's been drowning you in kisses. he kisses you like it might be his last chance to do so: sweet, languid until they melt into something more feral. the way his costume hugs his body doesn't exactly help your concentration, either.
your body's warm as it soaks up his body heat - he's like a fucking furnace - and it yearns. . no. . demands for his attention. you ignore him, making a soft, impatient sound that sounds more like a whine as you try to guide his lips back onto yours.
however, he keeps his head turned to your right, staring at a spot on your bed and says, "what're you lookin' at, huh?"
you pull back, confused, then follow his line of vision.
finally, you see what he sees: a stuffed animal perched against your pillow.
you watch as mark squints at the toy, then, tilts his head and scoffs in indignation as if it's just hurled an insult his way.
"what'd you say?" mark sits up and away from you, puffing out his chest.
the plushie stares at mark with big, black, empty eyes.
you stare up at mark, confused, as he carries on his one sided beef with your plushie.
"they cuddle you while im not here?"
mark crawls over to your plushie and grabs it by its soft neck, his fingers wrapping around the entirety. he pulls it close, putting his nose right up against the toy's. "you wanna say that again, tough guy? don't you know who i am?"
"mark, what're you doing -" you giggle, leaning back on your elbows to watch the ridiculous display before he shushes you.
"hey, you stay out of this. i'll deal with you later." he snaps before turning his attention back to the toy. "oh, you don't care? well, let's see if you care about this -"
mark suddenly shoves the toy into his face.
he flops down atop your bed, wildly flailing with one hand while the other mushes the plushie against his face. he's comically good at it, too, looking like he's being mauled by some feral cat.
he's only emboldened by your uncontrollable laughter: grunting with effort as he rolls over the stuffy and delivers a few blows. even making his own sound effects before he rolls onto his back, your toy gaining the upper hand once again.
this time, he sits the toy atop his face and flails like he's being suffocated. eventually, his body falls limp. the hand that isn't holding the toy upright falling limply at the side of your bed.
your plushie's fought dirty and won.
"i dunno, mark," you manage to say between hiccuping laughs, "you seem pretty vincible to me."
"very funny." comes his muffled voice from beneath the toy. he sits up, stuffy still in hand as he fixes you with an accusatory glare. "laugh. yeah, laugh, while your boyfriend's being mercilessly beaten."
he crawls closer and he thrusts the toy in your direction, waving it side to side by the back of the neck, holding it at arm's length like he's afraid it'll attack him. "i guess you want him now, don't you?"
you raise a brow. "don't misgender my plushies, grayson."
mark retracts the plushie and flips it upside down, looking at its bottom. "oh, right."
you let out a chortle of laughter and he's on you in seconds: pinning you down and smushing the plushie against your face, making kissy sounds while you breathlessly beg him to stop.
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supercutszns · 18 days
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I was wondering if.. You can do an Jason Grace x Fem!Reader who's the child of eris?
🐥🐥🐥🐥🐥
jason grace x eris!reader hcs
i think jason would instantly think you’re the most interesting person at CHB. there’s already so many confusing aspects about him being on the wrong coast, but instead of shying away from you like all the other campers do—he’s somewhat attracted to the chaos that ensues when you’re around.
jason grace is never one to back down from a challenge, after all
i imagine a meet cute? like you drop your wallet or something, storming across CHB like a cloud of darkness that everyone like of runs away from and here’s this shy blonde guy quietly following you through the forest holding your coinpurse like an idiot trying to give it back to you until you spin around and glare at him
“are you stalking me, new kid?” “noooo…”
he finds a friend in you whether you like it or not, both of you being outsiders at CHB and spending time with each other whenever you can. he tells you about what he can remember about home and you teach him how to be a normal teenager
he’s like your own personal shadow now, which is funny because you didn’t even have to manipulate anything. for the first time you pray to your mom in thanks for your powers and hope you can keep him
if you were a magnet to chaos, he’s a magnet to you— the first time you guys kiss it’s because a tree fell in the forest during capture the flag and chaos ensues after—campers scattering and jason tripping on a tree root hurtling towards your grinning face. you didn’t mean to do it on purpose (sure…because waiting for him to make a move was just as painful) but him falling into you and the both of you ending up pressed against a tree and kissing was definitely one of the better results of your mishaps
“i’m sorry…” “i’m not!”
also he was raised by wolves and made into a soldier by the time he could walk. you really think this guy would bat an eye at you manipulating shadows or pulling out your wings? he’d just push his glasses up closer on his face and admire the hell out of you. ultimate himbo when it comes to his gf.
“wow she’s so pretty and cool guys look at my girl…” yeah. once he’s comfortable with you there’s no way he’s letting you out of his sight.
(i love adding this hc to readers w wings) the both of your flying around above CHB and eating snacks and kissing on the top of the Big House until Dionysus threatens to pull you down. maybe even his father being an absolute dick (as usual) and cutting off his ability to fly for the day lmao so you catch him easily and he doesn’t protest about you holding him like he’s a princess. he prays extra hard that night to jupiter though so that he can fly more with you. it’s the least he deserves for being a good kid.
he finds what you think are your worst parts the most endearing, and you convince him that he’s not just a soldier but an amazing guy; the both of you teaching each other to embrace and love your powers and identity together <33
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supercutszns · 18 days
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thank you so much!! <3
twin beads | luke castellan
wc + pairing: 6.7k, luke x daughter of poseidon! reader
synopsis: you’ve been unclaimed for five years. you’ve loved your best friend even longer. the sea used to be your greatest solace, but after percy jackson comes to camp, it’s your cruelest reminder. (based on this ask!)
warnings: best friends to lovers <3, percy/reader sibling dynamic, fluff and angst then fluff again, hurt/comfort, shameless making out. sorry this one is so long but besties to lovers is my lifeblood!!! i get so attached!! designated song is true blue by boygenius:)
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i. you said you wanted to feel alive, so we went to the beach
“Ahoy, sailor!”
The familiar voice ricochets across the lake. You turn, leaving glimmers of sun behind you as you stare back at the docks of Camp Half-Blood. An orange blob with a curly mop of hair is beckoning you. You laugh, wave back at him, and plunge into the water. It cools your face after staying above the surface for so long—you just love watching the light reflected off the waves. But the second you’re under the water, the soreness in your muscles, the heat on your face, the exhaustion from treading for so long, are washed away from you. You swim with precision and vigor, relishing the feel of the river cupping your limbs to spur you forward. Not to sound lame, but you fucking love swimming. 
But maybe not as much as you love your best friend. 
He laughs when your head pops out of the water at the edge of the dock. “Wow, that took you longer than usual,” he teases, brown eyes glinting in the dawn. “You getting sloppy?”
You huff, splashing some water up at him but it barely touches him. “I’m tired, you moron. I’ve been out there for an hour.”
Luke leans down at the edge of the dock, offering you a hand. His face is bemused when you latch onto him, and with a good flex of his bicep he pulls you up. “All right, c’mon,” he grunts.
All your energy evaporates the second your body’s out of the water. You’re far too lazy to be graceful, so you sprawl out onto the dock like a dying fish, letting the sun kiss every inch of you. “Eww,” Luke giggles overtop you, prodding your side with the tip of his shoe. “Get up, you mermaid.” 
“Make me, you mailman.”
Your arm drapes over your eyes, and you sigh. There really is nothing better than these moments; droplets of water soaking into your skin after an early morning swim, your best friend right beside you. 
He keeps nudging you with your shoe, over and over until your ribs start to hurt. You groan, swatting him away and stretching out your limbs with a groan, letting them pop and relax, until you blearily make your way to your feet. 
“You forgot your towel again,” Luke condones, but like always, he’s brought one for you. 
He goes through a practiced routine of drying you off, wrapping the towel around your shoulders and down your arms, across your back, scrunching the water out of your hair. It doesn’t matter how cold the water gets—this part always makes you warm. 
“Thanks,” you smile as he hands the towel off to you. “Anything interesting happen this morning, O Captain, my captain?”
“Not yet, sailor, sir,” he replies in a stuffy, gruff voice the two of you have joked around with since you were kids. “Just grabbing you for breakfast.”
You giggle, following him past the docks and to the shore. Once you’ve grabbed all your stuff, you both fall in stride and head towards your cabin, your twin five-beaded necklaces hanging over your shirts. 
Five years ago, when you got to Camp for the first time, you were as big a loser as any. You were bad at everything—everything—and had no real friends until you accidentally whacked some other friendless loser in the head with an oar when you were about to go canoeing. Luke got mad at you, but his little sister Annabeth was even more furious. He offered to be your partner for the day anyway. You’ve been partners ever since. 
Over the years the two of you have grown in status at the camp, more so Luke than you. He’s an excellent cabin leader and by far the greatest swordsman in camp. You, still unclaimed, have found solace in giving younger campers swimming lessons and wading out there on your own till you get sunstroke. (It’s happened a few times. Luke is never pleased, but also refuses to let the Apollo campers take care of you. He nurses you back to health with ice cream and horrible gossip.)
But every night you return to the Hermes cabin with a hollowness in your chest. One bunk emptied, then immediately filled. You’ve had the same one for five years, and the only condolence is that it’s right next to Luke’s, and sometimes you spend hours at night making faces at each other till your laughter endangers other people’s sleep. 
Yes, you love the water at Camp Half-Blood, but you love Luke most. 
Rumours of a new kid are rustling at camp. You haven’t seen him, but you’re just dying to get in on the gossip. Apparently he slayed a minotaur. Apparently Annabeth has seen him. And apparently he’s unclaimed. You hate to admit it, but this is the most exciting news you’ve heard in weeks!
Your afternoon is spent giving some swimming lessons and taking some Demeter campers canoeing. (Some of them freak out on the water. so it’s a nice challenge to untangle the sea plants they get hooked around their boat.) It feels like you’ve been here forever. A break is in desperate demand right now. 
You have no idea what kind of God heard your prayers, but your fellow counsellor has an unimpressed look on her face when she taps you on the shoulder and goes, “Your friend’s calling you.” 
The way she says it is almost degrading. You turn to look back at the shore to see the dark curly hair you’d spot a mile away. Next to him is a much shorter orange blob, shuffling awkwardly as Luke attempts to flag you down. Score!
You shoot an apologetic look at her. “Uh … I’ll be right back.” You wince, already disposing of your baggy orange shirt (it’s Luke’s) with your bathing suit underneath. 
“No you won’t,” she says dryly. “Just go.”
You flash a smile you hope is loaded with charm, and you’re off into water. As you swim, the only thing on your mind is I really really hope that’s the new kid, and I wonder what Luke’s face looks like right now. (He’s probably grinning, eyes crinkled at the sides as he tries to follow your figure beneath the waves. Maybe he’s doing that cute thing where his head tilts to the side as he watches.) 
When you’re close enough to the shore, you come out of the water, wringing your hair. “Hey, guys!” It’s Luke, Chris, and some blonde kid you’re sure is the new one. “What’s up?”
Luke is about to say something, then he frowns. “Where’s my shirt?”
“Left it in the canoe, I’ll go back for it later,” you reply, limply gesturing behind you. 
“And where’s your towel?”  
“Okay, I did bring one this time!” You counter. “I just gave it to a little Ares kid ‘cause she forgot hers.” 
Luke clicks his tongue, shakes his head at you, but of course he’s got one in his hands so what’s the worry? He’s endearingly amused when you take the cloth and dry yourself off, and the new boy, having watched this all raptly, widens his eyes and drawls, “Ohhhh, so you’re his gi—”
“This is Camp’s resident mermaid, Percy.” Chris butts in, adding your name almost as an afterthought. 
After you fasten your towel around you, you’re put off by Percy’s scrutinizing stare. “Look, it’s been a pretty weird day so I cannot tell if you’re joking or not.” 
“I’m not a mermaid,” you snipe, throwing Chris a dirty look. “People just call me that because I give swimming lessons here.” You stick your hand out to the blonde boy. “Nice to meet you, Percy.” 
He gives a polite nod, a little awkward. “Right back at ya.” The two of you study each other as you shake. He’s young, probably about twelve, a smatter of freckles across his face. His eyes look like the lake. Something itches in the back of your brain. There’s a moment where the shake is suspended, neither of you have let go but are no longer actively holding on, and you see it in his face that he’s studying you, too. Huh.
The conversation continues as normal, but you almost start to feel queasy for a second. “We’re trying to find something Percy’s good at,” Luke says with a pat on Percy’s shoulder. “You got any ideas?”
“Yes, please, because I really would like to have a word with my father,” Percy clips. “Is Glory, like, purely a skill thing or can I get some if I tie someone else’s shoes or something?” 
“I don’t have shoes,” you add unhelpfully. 
“It’s okay, dude,” Luke squeezes Percy’s shoulder. “Camp is great, no matter where you end up.”
Even if you’re like her, he means without saying. Even if you don’t end up anywhere. 
You meet Luke’s eyes. This is a kid that wants so badly to meet his father, to ease the ache inside him. You are the absolute worst person for this. One of the longest current unclaimed streaks and your ache remains. To Percy, you’re the biggest example of a failure there is, and Luke is only just now realizing it. 
“Maybe try the infirmary?” You pipe, shuffling back and forth on the sand. “You might have a knack for medicine.”
“Doubt it,” Percy swallows. “But yeah, okay. Who’s your parent, again?”
Percy can’t see it, but Luke and Chris send you a shifty look and all you can do is widen your eyes to be like, Help! Don’t make me crush his dreams! I don’t want another kid to hate me! 
You swallow. No matter how fast you think, you cannot come to a logical sentence. “I, uh—”
Just then, in another stroke of luck (wow, that’s two more than usual) an Athena counsellor that looks insanely disgruntled is running towards you. “Stolls put spiders in our cabin again,” he heaves once at a stop. “Please get rid of them.”
“Can’t you just squash ‘em?” Percy asks. 
“Not the spiders, the twins.” 
Chris is already nodding, but Luke looks to you first. He’s anxious, disappointed. You wish you could smooth out the creases in his brow with your thumb. “Don’t worry,” you stretch out a smile. “I’ll chill with Percy. It won’t take you guys too long.”
He’s still hesitant. You’re not sure this is a good call either. But he reaches out, quickly squeezes your shoulder and mutters, “Thank you.” Your skin feels gooey when he touches it. 
His signature roguish smile returns as he looks back to Percy. The side of his face is shadowed by the sun so well it makes you jealous. “Don’t give her a hard time, eh?” He reprimands playfully. 
Percy smiles a little. “I’ll try not to.”
You are once again reminded just how easy it is to love Luke. How effortlessly he moves into your heart. It happened to you after you slapped him with an oar. It’s already happening to Percy.
You’re sure he won’t like you nearly half as much. 
After Luke and Chris leave, Percy resigns to staring out at the campers canoeing on the lake. Maybe now is a good time to admit you’re not good with kids. Luke has tried many times to make you his welcome partner, but you can’t take to the role nearly as well. You’re perpetually antsy. And sweaty. 
“So, what cabin are you a part of that lets you do this all day?” Percy asks, squinting against the sun. 
Your heart gets heavy. With a sigh, you sit yourself down, and Percy soon follows. “Hermes, actually,” you say as casually as you can. 
Percy goes pale as a sheet. “Uh, what?”
“I’m unclaimed,” you clarify. “I don’t … I don’t have a parent.”
There’s always a pitiful pause whenever a camper figures that out. This one is somehow … clunkier. “Oh,” Percy says. “Oh. Okay, that makes sense. For a second I thought—phew.” Then his eyes trail down to the thread hooked around your fingers, the five beads you run your thumb over. “How long have you been here?”
“Five long, blissful years,” you hum dryly. 
Water ripples over pebbles on the shore. Every new camper’s ambition is eroded by the truth you represent. Percy’s no different. His brows furrow and his face falls. “And you’ve never been claimed?” He asks, and you can feel the noxious mix of pity, confusion and despair laced beneath it. 
You shake your head, watching some Demeter kids splashing each other’s canoes with their oars. “Nope. But it’s not so bad. I like my cabin, you know? I like my life. Doesn’t really matter who your parents are anyway, I think. You do the same activities as everyone else, just on different teams.”
“But doesn’t it make you mad?”
“It used to,” you shrug, “But not anymore. It’s just …” You sigh, rolling a bead against your thumb. “If I’m unclaimed, I’m unclaimed. That’s the way it is. You can’t force the Gods to do anything.” 
“That’s what Luke said,” Percy remarks, almost bitterly. 
“I’m a rare case though, Percy,” you half-lie to him, nudging him a bit with your shoulder. “You’ll get claimed. It’s your first day. And until then you’re kind of free to be whatever. You don’t have to fit into anything, which is kinda nice, and you can screw around as much as you want and nobody can really get mad at you ‘cause you’re new.” A smile rises on your face. “And I heard you killed a minotaur, so you’ve already got some cool points.”
His face screws up in a grimace, and it makes you laugh. “Oh joy, cool points. Can’t live without those.”
Okay, maybe you’re not bad with kids. Maybe you’re just bad with boring kids. Because this is going decent, right? 
“What if I don’t get claimed, though?” Percy asks after a moment, a vulnerable note eclipsing him. It resonates inside your chest. You pause for a moment, heaving a loaded breath. 
“Do you fart a lot in your sleep?”
His melancholy pauses. He looks at you like you’ve grown another head. “Uh … what? No? I think?”
“Then you can take the bunk above mine if you want. It’s empty now,” you say. “And if you’re never claimed you can come swimming with me, and we can find seashells to put under Luke’s pillow every night until he starts thinking they’ve always been there.”
Percy blinks. “Do you have any friends?”
“Yes, and I’m going to torture him until I die. Cabin eleven is oodles of fun, Percy, you’ll see!”
He looks a little horrified. “Luke said I was going to like you,” he mutters. “I … am not sure if he’s right.”
Oh, well. You’ll take it. 
ii. you can't help but become the sun
You can’t sleep, and Luke knows it. His eyes burn into the side of your face as you stare up at your bunk. You sneak him a look. He smiles ruefully. Sweeping his arm up from beneath his covers, a makeshift tent is formed next to him. He nods to you. Before you know it, you’ve abandoned your own bed, taking a single step until you skirt into the pocket of his mattress Luke has carved for you. He lets the sheets fall, cocooning you with him the way he always does. 
You’ve been sharing beds on occasion for years. One of you gets cold, has a nightmare, or wants to talk until your mind fades out, the only solution is a place next to each other. Whispers against cheeks, giggles muffled into pillows, necklaces knocking together. You used to be further apart. Now you can’t remember the last time Luke hasn’t latched onto you the second you’re within reach. It warms you a little more each time. 
When your head hits his pillow, the two of you just stare at each other for a moment, lips pursed in amusement. His face is so wildly nostalgic to you—five years seems like too short a time to have known him. His eyes are pitch-dark and soft with exhaustion, but you can still pick out the trademark Hermes mirth glimmering through. You sometimes forget his scar, probably because you know he wants you to forget it. He’d kill you for thinking this, but you kind of like the way it hugs the curve of his cheek, bunches up when his dimple appears. It makes you sad. It makes you happy. It makes you love him. 
“Percy likes you,” he whispers, opening himself up so your chin brushes his shoulder. “That’s a first.”
He’s only wearing a tank top to sleep, so his warmth seeps through his skin when you tap him on the chest. “Shut up!” You hiss back, tapering into a giggle. “Has he picked up on anything yet?”
Luke bites the inside of his cheek, regretfully shaking his head. “Nope. But all that skill stuff is kinda arbitrary anyways. He’s still hung up on kleos, though, so … that’ll come in handy for Capture the Flag.”
“Ah, yes. Using a child’s misguided need for fulfilment as a weapon. A camp classic.” 
“Well someone’s gotta be useful for Capture the Flag in this cabin and it sure as hell isn’t you, mermaid,” he barbs back. 
Your jaw drops in mock offense and you squeeze a hand around his shoulder to shake him. “I will put you in a headlock right now, Luke, I’ll break your arm—”
“Be quiet!” He giggles as you attempt to wrangle yourself on top of him. “I’ll be nice to you, I’ll be nice, stop!” You get absolutely nowhere before the bed creaks and Luke shoves you back down. Your pulse rattles through your mouth as you laugh silently. “You’re the worst,” he mutters in your ear, raising the hairs on your neck.
“Well Percy likes me, so,” you turn your nose to the sky like a haughty old lady. 
“Percy’s a funnier, less annoying version of you,” he pokes your side. “That’s how I knew you’d get along, you weirdo.”
The momentary adrenaline this conversation has brought you is mellowing. “Hey, I’m very—very funny,” you mumble through a yawn. 
Luke laughs quietly. “Sure you are.”
He pulls you back to him, arm slung around the dip of your waist. When you make no protest, he seals you against his shoulder again. It’s started to feel a little different, him holding you like this. There’s an uncertainty your body faces about how to respond. His thumb runs over your spine and you decide to relax into him, pressing your face into the crook of his neck. Your chin knocks against his collarbone and you have the urge to curl yourself against his chest, just to feel him breathe. 
“Get some sleep, sailor,” he murmurs, fingers brushing through the roots of your hair. You don’t think he realizes he’s doing it. Your cheeks warm, and you bury yourself even further into the space against his shoulder and his pillow. Gods, there’s something wrong with you, isn’t there?
“Will do, soldier.” The campy voice you do is half hearted at best as you find yourself absorbed in the closest thing to a full home you’ll ever get. In this sleepy hollow with bedsheets and a boy, there is acceptance. 
Well, mostly. You think you dream about Luke brushing a kiss along your hairline in your last bit of consciousness. You think you wish it was real. You think you want him to do it again.   
iii. when you don't know who you are, you fuck around and find out
The last time your cabin lost a game of Capture the Flag, you’d still been taller than Luke. That’s how long your winning streak has felt. There’s no reason you foresee that changing today. Even when Annabeth drags Percy along with her on whatever surely precarious quest to victory she’s created. It’s unlike her, to bring a newbie along. It’s concerning. 
“He’s fine,” Luke drawls to you when your face has been tense for twenty minutes. “Annabeth’s got a plan.” He’s a little winded after clearing out some Ares kids with Chris. You aren’t much use when it comes to weapons—your friends take the lead as you wait from a distance, ready for backup. Thank the Gods they didn’t need it this time. You’re content to just watch, but whenever Luke grins after getting another kid to surrender, veins in his arms raised like rivers on a map, you get a little distracted and you’re not sure why. 
You just huff back at him, totally normal when he wipes a sheen of sweat off his jaw. “Annabeth’s gonna use him as cannon fodder,” you mutter back, and Luke hits your arm with an appalled grin. 
Annabeth did, in fact, have a plan. So you won. Obviously. 
You’re still doubtful Percy wasn’t cannon fodder, though, with how beat up he looks on the shoreline when the rest of your team flocks to the stolen flag to claim victory. He’s slumped down on the rocky shore, a few equally beaten Ares kids straggling away from him. 
“So I was right, huh?” Luke hums in your ear, pulling your eyes to him. 
He’s revelling in newfound glory, and damn it, you get confused when you look at him when he’s like this. You’re not sure when it happened but you want to tear your heart out of its chest because of how sick it makes you. Some of his curls are stuck to his forehead with sweat, his hair suffering a serious case of helmet-head. But it’s the pride oozing off him, the infectious happiness laced through his smile, that makes you fond of him in a way you’re not sure you should be. He’s beloved for a reason—he looks almost prophetic after winning a match, and he knows it. A glaring difference between the gangly boy you met all those summers ago. If you weren’t his best friend, you’d probably be one of his many admirers, watching his teammates fawn over his talent and wishing you were beside him. 
But you are beside him. And you’re his friend. Not an admirer. So everything’s fine. 
“You wouldn’t be saying that if we lost,” you retort, knocking your chestplate against his. It’s meant to be a friendly nudge, but Luke leans into it until you swear you feel his heart beating through the metal. 
He’s grown into his smile, less boyish and more wry. “You know I never lose, sailor.” 
You want to reply, but his eyes are startlingly pretty in the sunlight. That’s normal. Whatever. A heat rises in the apples of your cheeks so you scoff lightly and turn away as soon as possible. You feel Luke’s gaze following as you turn attention elsewhere. Your sternum feels fluttery.
Percy catches your attention again. Gods, he looks beat. He’s talking to Annabeth as she helps him up, and you see the gnarly scrape marring his cheek. You should probably check on him, right? 
You’re halfway to the kids when Annabeth shoves Percy backwards into the water. Like, shoves. 
“Annabeth!” You’re scowling at her the same way she scowled at you when you first hit Luke with that oar, rushing over to help Percy. 
“What is wrong with you?” Percy sputters out lying in the lake, but you’re ankles-deep in the water before you know it. He’s glaring daggers at Annabeth, but she looks relatively unimpressed. What happened during this game? 
“Thanks,” Percy mutters as you help him up. 
You say something to shrug it off but you can’t remember what, because your eyes are drawn to the scrape on his cheek. You have to blink a few times to get it, but you’re pretty sure it’s dissolving. Vanishing off his skin. “What the hell?”
Everyone on the shore is watching him now, trying to memorize his injuries before they wash away. Percy’s staring down at himself like he’s just been body-swapped. “I don’t understand.” 
You’ve never seen anything like this before. The strangest feeling fuels you—your bones feel firmer somehow, like the blood inside your body has weight to it. Like something is happening. A fear pierces your gut. 
Annabeth’s eyes have raised, and so have Percy’s. Your mouth goes dry. Right above him is the symbol of a trident, radiating so blue it washes out the sky itself. 
The claiming symbol of Poseidon. 
“Your dad’s calling,” Annabeth says, a smile itching the corners of her mouth. 
Percy looks like he’s going to pass out. You probably do too. “Told you you’d get claimed,” you manage to squeeze the words through the knot in your chest. 
You’re smiling until Percy looks at you, then looks up. His face goes white as a sheet. Or, as white as it can bathed in a pale blue glow. “Uh…” He blinks slowly, and your stomach twists. “I think she was talking to you.”
When you look up and see an identical trident looming over your head, you know something’s wrong. It’s made worse when Chiron rings out your and Percy’s name, branding you as children of Poseidon. 
Poseidon. 
You have a father. And he’s known you all this time. Your ears hollow out like a rush of water in a cavern.
Luke is the first to kneel. The rest of the camp follows. You watch as the entire camp basks in the glory of newcomer Percy Jackson, so quickly claimed by one of the most powerful Gods of Olympus. And you, who has waited five years to earn even a shred of his favour. 
This thing you’ve wanted for so long is suddenly the greatest insult in the world. Your best friend can’t even meet your eyes. 
iv. i remember who i am when i'm with you
You stare at Percy as he unpacks his things. Waiting to see traces of yourself in his face, traces of your father. Anything that could give you an inkling of what he looks like. Of what you look like. Of how this happened in the first place. 
It’s a futile search. Percy’s blue eyes, his freckles, the bridge of his nose, they’re all … nothing. Half of you is half of him, but there’s no indication of which parts. The cabin is cold. You’re not going to sleep well without Luke nearby. You’re not going to sleep well ever again. 
You feel nothing but strife, your throat closing in every time you take even a second to think. You don’t want Percy to see you cry. So you do what you always do. 
This has to be in the running for most overwhelming day of all time ever. Even when submerged in your favourite place on earth, you can’t get away from your dad. Your dumb stupid dad that has made the things you love and has ruined your life. 
You swim hard, and you loathe how good it feels. At least you know why now, but that doesn’t do much to ease you. When you pop up again, the sun has started to sink into the sea. And Gods, you have to give your dad credit. The landscape is so gorgeous you almost forget how long he’s ignored you. 
You wonder if this is the last time you’ll find solace in the lake. If eventually, it’ll be nothing but an extension of your father’s neglect. 
The water ripples around you. You frown, barely having noticed it when someone taps your shoulder. You turn. “Luke?” You swallow, but why are you surprised? 
He’s panting, cheeks splotched with sun as he treads water, droplets worming down his face from his soaking curls. “Been looking for you,” he puffs, “Percy’s worried. Called you from the—from the thingie but don’t think you heard me.”
You assume he means the docks, but you don’t say anything as he takes a deep, grounding breath. “You’ve been out here for hours. Hours. For a second I thought you drowned.”
“Now we know that can’t fucking happen,” you mutter a touch too bitterly, staring down at your legs warped beneath the water. 
Luke’s silent as he watches you. “…Have you been crying?”
When you don’t reply, Luke tugs on your wrist. “C’mon, sailor, let’s go.”
“Not tired,” you say, frozen by the hot tears brimming on your lashes. 
“I’m not leaving you out here. Come on.” He frowns when you yank your hand away as he tries pulling you again. “You’re gonna get heatstroke.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
He reaches for you again and you try to reject it for a moment, but he’s stronger than you, and he loves you better than even the water could. The second he has you close your resolve falters. He holds you against his shoulder, knees knocking against yours as you tread. 
“It’s okay,” he croons when you involuntarily start to cry. For a Poseidon kid, you can’t seem to control your waterworks. “It’s okay, I know.”
His hand cards through your scalp and you relish in the warmth of his bare skin on your cheek. He smells like comfort. You cling to it with all you have, until your nails start to dig into his skin and your eyesight blurs. 
“Come back with me and I’ll dry you off, okay?” He kisses the top of your head, the way you dreamed it last night. “I’ll take care of it.”
You’re not sure which it he’s referring to, because it could honestly apply to anything. When you both set off for shore, you’re so distracted by your own misery that Luke’s actually able to keep up with you. He’s up on the dock before you so he can pull you out. 
The second you’re out of the water you feel like you’ve been gutted with a lead pipe. All the energy it gave you leaves, and you realize just how right Luke was about spending too much time out there. You can’t feel your legs. 
You buckle over almost instantly, but Luke holds you before you can even think of falling. “I’ve got you,” he assures, guiding you down to sit on the dock. Your eyes are too weak to even admire the sunset. Luke drapes a towel over your shoulders, rubbing it over your arms, a welcome familiarity. He takes his time, wringing your hair and drying your back as you gaze blankly ahead. There’s a tenderness to it now. Luke’s ruthless when it comes to a lot of things. When it comes to how he loves, too. But there’s nothing demanding here. He lets your tears fall in silence, undisturbed, the touch of his hands through the cloth a silent promise. 
When you’re fairly dry, he fetches something then quickly comes back. “Here.”
It’s his shirt. You only notice you’ve been shivering as he pulls it over your head, lets you fill in the sleeves, gently gathers your hair back. “Thanks,” you say. His fingertips brush your neck as he hooks them around your necklace to rest it over the shirt. You think he does it to remind you you’re still the same. You’ve had five years together. It doesn’t have to end now. 
“Why did it take him so long?” You struggle to say, eyes glossed like sea glass. “Why—why now? What did I do?”
Luke puts an arm around you. “I don’t know,” he mumbles honestly. 
You sink into his warmth like a wave meets the shore. “Five years, Luke. He ignored me for five years. And he takes Percy right—right away.” It’s hard not to choke between every word. “I just thought I’d never get claimed, and I was fine with that, and now I’m … this!”
Its hard to tell if the dampness of your cheeks are the remnants of saltwater or your tears. “I don’t want this,” you sniffle. “I waited so long … and I just don’t want it.”
Luke rubs your shoulder, lips pursed against your head. He murmurs into your hair, “I know, sailor. It’ll be okay. Promise.”
His voice is reserved. You look up at him. His jaw is resolute, his eyes red-rimmed in a way you hadn’t noticed before. “You’re upset too,” you comment quietly. 
He laughs listlessly. “Yeah, of course I am. I’m losing my favourite cabin mate.”
You sniff and try to smile. “Percy?”
He rolls his eyes fondly, and it feels like all you want. He squeezes your shoulders tight and you long desperately to be closer. “I just don’t know what I did wrong,” you whisper, pressing your cheek into him. “Why didn’t he see me until he saw Percy? Am I just … unremarkable or something?”
“No, no. Absolutely not—c’mere.” Luke loops an arm around your waist and manoeuvres you into his arms, cradled on his lap so you can bury your face in his neck. You can’t stop fucking crying, but his patience for you is infinite. “You are by far the most remarkable person I know.” He seals you against his chest, scratching your scalp the way he knows you like. “None of this is you, okay? Your dad’s an idiot. You are—you’re everything. They’re all mindless up there, they don’t know how to love you. They don’t deserve to.”
An edge seeps into his timbre that gives you pause. You feel weak, discarded. It sounds like he’s talking about a different person. But he’s right. He has to be, because he knows you better than you know yourself.
Luke keeps going. You peek at his face when he speaks. Stubborn as ever. “He doesn’t have any fucking right to you. If he wanted that he should’ve claimed you when you got here. You have a life. You … you had a home. And now just because he’s got another kid he kills two birds with one stone? He pretends like this is some Godly intervention? Like he didn’t ignore you the whole time you’ve been here because he couldn’t stand how much you didn’t need him? How much better you are? You’re my …” He struggles, brows furrowed, the sun melting in his eyes. “You’re my best friend, and we’re supposed to be together. He’s not allowed to take that from you.”
Your heart stirs. “Sounds like you’re jealous,” you try to tease.
Luke heaves a sigh, his muscles rippling against your chest. You’re suddenly aware of the fact that he’s got no shirt on. And that he’s pressed against you in a way that makes you question if you should be this close. Beads of water cling to the divots in his skin, and you linger a little too long on one nestled in his collarbone. You swear you think this every time he goes swimming with you: when did he get so … hot? And every time you think it, you want to gouge your heart out with a spoon. 
“Can you blame me?” A melancholy smile plays on his face. “I liked having you all to myself.”
Tears spring to your eyes all over again. “I liked that too.”
It’s a whisper that sends you forward, Luke bringing his forehead to your own, and you want to live in the warmth that coils through you. His nose catches against yours when he laughs, but he doesn’t move. You take a moment to savour it. You think he does too.
He wipes a tear off your face as you say, “I’m still yours.”
“Yeah?” Luke hums a bit, his hand sliding up your waist in a most unfriendly manner. “How?” 
You catch the glimmer in his eyes, that plucky smile he’s had since fourteen. Something shifts.
“What are you asking me, Luke?” You can’t fight the smile. 
“What do you want me to ask you?”
“I dunno, what do you want me to want you to ask you—”
“My Gods, you’re a pain in the ass.”
He groans, throws his head back, and kisses you like you aren’t the most annoying person in the world. 
It’s so cliché, but for a brief moment your strife is well worth it. You yank him closer before he pulls away. It’s a little unsure, the two of you so used to toeing the line, but soon you’ve given in and your hands are in his hair, mouths parting, and it’s messy and wanting and everything you need. 
Luke slips his hands beneath the hem of your shirt, palms flattening against your sun-beaten skin. It feels so good, better because the shirt is already his, a whine scratching your throat as he moves up so his thumbs graze the skin beneath the tie in your bathing suit. 
“Oh, sailor,” he coos against your mouth. You want to retaliate but it’s lost when he squeezes your thighs, warming you in all the right places. It’s hard to understand this is even happening—it feels like you’re underwater, a blissful fuzziness growing in your head entirely at his mercy. 
He razes kisses down your still-damp neck, catching pearls of water on his tongue. You cling to his shoulders, raking your hands down his back just so you can feel more of him. Luke’s dropped down to your collarbone at this point, tugging the neck of your shirt down as his teeth graze the bone. “You’re my best friend,” he mutters over your skin. “Still mine. Always mine.”
“Mmhm,” is all you can say back, the husk in his voice making your eyes screw shut. He teases a spot so sensitive you groan and laugh at the same time. The regret is immediate, but you feel a chuckle pass his lips, too. “Luke,” you purse a smile. He dots kisses back up your neck until you start returning the favour. 
You kiss his jaw, a few spots on his neck, feeling the flex of his muscle all around you as he squeezes the fat of your hips. You finally sweep up the water in the hollow of his collarbones, and his grunt of your name makes you, frankly, delirious. 
He brings your mouth back to his, skin sticking to each other. It’s harder to kiss as fervently when you’re both giggling against each other’s tongues, running fingers along the planes of each other’s bodies trying to see which places feel new and which are known from memory. It’s a fifty-fifty split, and you love it. 
Somewhere along the way he peeled off your shirt because it was clinging in places you knew he wanted, but now you’re panting and giggling into his hair, his nose pressed into your neck, both of you melded together with salt and sun. “You really know how to cheer a girl up, mailman,” you grin. 
His lips fix to your skin. “Really? You’re still gonna call me that right now?”
“Yeah.”
“Like it better when you call me captain,” he murmurs, nose grazing along your pulse. 
You swallow, “That doesn’t work unless we’re doing the whole sailor-ship bit.”
“We’re always doing the sailor-ship bit.”
“I seriously can’t believe I’m in love with you.”
He sighs warmly at the words. “You have no idea how much I’ve been dying for you to say that. Even though I knew you would.”
You roll your eyes as he presses his forehead to yours, and you’re more glad than ever that his face is the one you love so much. It’s a pretty great face. 
“You’re gonna be okay,” he says tenderly. “You’re too incredible for Poseidon. You’re worth more than that.”
He still looks gorgeous blurred by your tears. You listen to the beat of his heart and the waves rolling. “More than any water anywhere?”
“More than the fucking Styx, sailor. I’ll promise you that.”
That night, Luke stays with you and Percy in your cold chapel of a cabin. You exchange stories until Percy falls asleep in his bed, curled up like a sea otter. “He’s a drooler,” Luke notes fondly, eyes flicking to yours. “Like you.”
You shove his chest playfully until he wraps his arms around you and anchors you to sleep, like every night before. This time, as you drift off, he kisses your forehead again. Once because he loves you, and twice to make sure you know it’s real. 
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supercutszns · 18 days
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i am so scared to read this i’m gonna pee myself. like i physically don’t know if i can do this. i’m so excited like is this it or is this not it or what is happening
It happens a lot to him. A lot more often than you think you're comfortable with.
...If it were happening to you, of course. Not Luke. You are perfectly okay with the amount of people who fall at his feet. Because he's his own person. His own person who's not yours.
………………….girl. come on. girl. i’m gonna tear out my hair. PERCY CLOCKING THE FACT THAT SHE LIKES HIM GET HERR! “you couldn’t help but smile at that” if this ends horribly i’m going to burst into tears
"Can you ask him where he left my book?" she asks. "He'll know which one."
and if i say annabeth said that just so she could give killer an excuse to talk to luke what then. a little genius.
"Sorry.” You look away because you know you'll give in and go with him. “An hour at most, and I'll come looking for you."
"An hour?" His tone is off.
☹️☹️this is hurting me so bad,,,,the pining,,,,the miscommunication,, HE THOUGHT ABOUT KIDS WITH YOU GIRL DO YOU KNOW TJAT MY GODDDDDDDD
"Go get your girl, Luke."
just physically recoiled DONT SAY THAT ITS YOU. ENOUGH OF THIS BLASPHEMY
This entire thing started... Because Chris Rodriguez wanted to test you?
chris rodriguez I LOVE YOU!!!!😭😭😭😭 HIM CONVINCED THEY GOT TOGETHER WITHOUT TELLING HIM!! that chemistry must be insane omg chris i owe u everything
AND SHE CONFESSES!!!!!! “i think i like luke” YESSSS YEAS YES THANK GOD🙏🙏🙏 A WEIGHT OFF MY SHOULDERS but also poor girl. pining hurts so bad. this is causing me physical pain
"I made you a Shirley Temple with vodka a while ago," he says, handing you a red solo cup. "Extra cherries.”
He knows, he knows, he knows.
just started smiling wide like a dumb stupid idiot he made her a drink he’s squeezing her calf she’s sitting on his lap i am so gone for them i cannot believe it
"Ruby's friend." you explain. You shove your face into his shoulder, which is stiff and so unlike him you pause.
ohh no. luke i can’t take this rn just say ur in love with her already i’m gonna have an anxiety attack. he’s gonna get mad i can’t deal
There's the crease in between his eyebrows, for one. And the way he won't look you in the eye. And when his fingers uncurl from the shirt to drop it into your hands, there's wrinkles from how tightly he was gripping it.
i cant take this. they are both so stupidly stubbornly in love come AWN also her little rambles please i love her😭 defo not making anything better but she’s just confused
"You won't let me touch you," you say absentmindedly, taking a step closer to him. He doesn't react, staring blankly over your shoulder. "It's making me sad. You always let me cause I can't go a second without you.”
(…) He scoffs a little meanly. *You have to stop saying shit like that.”
hold on. hold on. is this really happening. am i about to get something here. i’m scared
"You need to stop saying shit you don't mean."
"But I meant it. I can't go a second without you.”
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please don’t play w me rn he’s untying her shoes WHILE he’s supposedly mad at her i’m gonna keel over and die
"Sometimes I wish you'd kiss me for real.”
heLLOOOOOOO?? OH MY GOD OHMYGODOHMYGOD THERE IS NO WAY YOU CANT JUST SAY THAT??
“And then you come back with -" Luke cuts himself off before he can say what he really wants to. It seems to be a trend today. “Fuck, killer. You can be so mean."
this is killing me. “you can be so mean” i just need her to kiss him bad like i can’t do this
It's why you say, "I don't want anyone else to have you, Luke." (…) "But I don't want anyone else to kiss you. No one else but me."
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BIIITCHSJAKWKWKWKWNWJWNWNDNWNWNNDNO OME ELSW BUT ME OH MU GOD SOMEONE CALL THE POLICE IS THIS ACTUALL HAPPENING
But for good reason, you decide. He uses his hold on you to drag you forward and give you everything.
He tastes sweet. Like the grenadine from the Dirty Shirley he'd made for you, and you can't help the sigh that escapes you, a shaky exhale against his lips.
are you actually fuckimg kidding me YES YES YES YES YES!!!!! YESSSSSSS!!! I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS WE DID IT JOE THEY’RE KISSING😭😭😭😭
him calling her sweetheart….love are you trying to kill me or something bc i will have a heart attack
"I can't believe you're real," Luke breathes out, his eyes shining. The look he's giving you is making saliva pool under your tongue. "You're perfect, did you know that?"
i cant believe THIS is real i am losinf my mind i NEED HIMMM
“Thought I was gonna fucking die when you came back with that dumbass jacket," he admits. "My girl. I'm sorry I was being stupid.”
good god. myyyyy god. i need to refrain from speaking rn
"Luke," you warn. He settles for kissing at your neck instead, and your knees almost buckle when you feel his teeth drag against your skin.
i am FERAL. HOW DID U DO THIS. MY GOD.
"Your heart is racing. I can feel it." He presses an open-mouthed kiss to your carotid, and it feels like your heart is going to come out of your neck. "Right there."
this is just. absolutely breathtakingly insane. i read that last scene like 5 times over and i’m still standing here like 🧍‍♂️. wtf. i cant believe they actually did something about it like thank god i’m so proud i want to throw a party or something i want this burned in my retinas until i die. also i’m a little nervy abt the fact that this diverges from canon and that luke hasn’t betrayed camp yet….i am fearful…. anyways U ARE INCREDIBLE AS ALWAYS KILLERVERSE 5EVER!! 5 STARS🙏
carve your name
part seven — the killerverse masterlist
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pairing: luke castellan x daughter of ares reader
summary: it’s the fourth of july. you try and come to terms with your weird feelings toward your best friend while he chases another girl
content: something something creator chose not to use warnings. its getting real
notes: set after the trio’s return from their quest. this is divergent from the show! after the trio comes back from their quest, luke and percy do Not go out into the woods
You’re beating Luke in an arm wrestling contest when Chris brings it up.
“You guys know that girl that just got claimed by Athena?”
Neither of you answer, too busy putting all of your energy into slamming the other’s hand into the table.
You’re winning by the slightest margin. His hand’s about a quarter of the way from the upright position, which doesn’t sound like much, but is a lot when you’ve been at a stalemate for the past five minutes.
“Someone told me she was talking about Luke.”
You begin to lose your grip on his hand, sweaty and sore. But you’re both tied with two wins in this best of five, and you refuse to even let up for a second. The muscles in your arm protest and threaten to give out for a second before you readjust your grasp.
Chris claps a hand on Luke’s back, and when he doesn’t say anything, you can tell he’s just as focused as you are.
“She wants to make a move on you, dude,” Chris says.
Luke’s hand hits the wood, a swift and decisive victory.
“Fucking finally,” you grit out, rolling your shoulder. You pick up your water just so you don’t have to look at either of them, something sick and familiar pulling in your chest. “I thought you’d never give up.”
Luke’s rubbing at his forearm when he laughs, and your stupid mind imagines the feeling of stupid butterflies stirring in your stupid chest.
“It felt like my arm was gonna pop out of its socket. How’d you do that thing at the end?”
You take a long sip of water, fanning at your face. You wonder if your thirty minutes of arm wrestling combined with the July sun would be enough to convince them that that’s why you feel so flushed.
“You mean that thing called winning?”
He kicks your ankles from under the table. “Fuck you. I win plenty. But it was like you got your dad’s blessing just to beat me at arm wrestling.”
Your face pulls up into something that you hope looks amused. “I think you’re just losing your touch, Luke. I bet even Percy would be able to beat you and those weak noodle arms.”
It’s not meant as a dig, but Luke takes a half beat too long to respond.
He stands up abruptly, shifting the bench backward with Chris still on it. He protests at the sudden movement, catching your glass that teeters off the table.
You meet Luke’s eyes again, and his grin lets you know he’s not gonna let your joking slide. He rounds the table, his hands outstretched for you, and you nearly throw yourself in the opposite direction.
“Luke,” you say, the single word sounding like a plea. You walk backwards all the way to the edge of the pavilion, trying not to trip over your own feet. “I was kidding.”
“I know,” he says. His smile is growing wider by a second. “But you’ll say sorry, right?”
“I’m sorry!” You squeal when he lunges for you, trying not to dissolve into laughter. “And I’ll never make fun of you and your weak arms ever again.”
You know there’s really no use running. Luke’s fast, and even though you are too, you won’t outrun him. You let him rush forward and throw you over his shoulder.
Luke gets an apology from you eventually, when you’re dizzy from being over his shoulder and floating with laughter. He holds onto your shoulders during the walk back to your table even though you’re not that dizzy.
When you sit down on the bench opposite of Chris, the first words out of his mouth are, “You guys are fucking weird. Did either of you hear what I said?”
Luke takes his seat across from you, and you try not to let your gaze linger for too long.
You sound breathless. “Sorry, Chris. We take arm wrestling very seriously.”
Luke cracks his knuckles before turning to his friend next to him. “Were you talking about Callea?”
Oh. So he was listening.
Chris snaps his fingers before pointing at him. “Yep. Her. She’s pretty into you.” His eyes slide over to you before he gives his attention back to Luke. “You gonna do something about that?”
“Nah.” Luke smiles, a little embarrassed like he always is whenever he finds out someone new likes him.
It happens a lot to him. A lot more often than you think you’re comfortable with.
…If it were happening to you, of course. Not Luke. You are perfectly okay with the amount of people who fall at his feet. Because he’s his own person. His own person who’s not yours.
“You scared?” Chris jokes. You stare pointedly at the ground. How weird would it be if you just up and left? “She’s pretty.”
Luke’s amused. He slides your glass across the table between both of his hands. “Yeah, so? A ton of girls are pretty.”
Chris is about to say something, you can tell. But he laughs instead. “I’m saying you should go for it.”
He doesn’t look like he cares much, and some sick and twisted part of you feels relieved.
“I’m good, man. I don’t need a girlfriend, especially if it’s some random girl.”
You can tell Chris knows that Luke isn’t giving up anytime soon. So he turns his attention to you.
“C’mon, dude. Help me out—I know he’ll listen to you. Luke should go for it, right?”
You feel frozen on the spot. Both of the boys are looking at you expectantly, believing wholeheartedly that you’ll take their side. You swallow despite the dryness in your throat.
You want to say no.
Not a single part of you wants Luke to make a move on this girl because… The idea makes you want to vomit. It makes you want to take Luke and drag him far, far away where no one can even look at him. Just you and him on top of a mountain, far away from the rest of society.
The endless stream of girls that would constantly make eyes at him from across camp had always made you defensive, but to a perfectly normal extent.
But you’re scared now. Those protective feelings are starting to look like something different, something you don’t even want to think about.
You feel sick, and it’s all because Chris is suggesting Luke should get a girlfriend.
What’s happening to your chest right now isn’t normal. You need to cut whatever it is that’s growing inside of you at the root and shove everything into the very back of your mind. You aren’t supposed to be feeling like this. It isn’t right.
You lean onto the palm of your hand while you turn to look at Chris. You refuse to let your voice waver.
“Yeah. He should.”
The smile on his face tapers off into one of shock. His eyebrows go high for a second, and he huffs a surprised laugh. “Wait, really?”
“Really.” You refuse to look at Luke. You’re beyond scared of what he’ll say. “I mean, half of camp has been pining after him for years. What could it hurt, you know?”
There’s a beat of silence before Chris turns back to him. “Uh, well, you heard her. Two against one.”
You rub at the skin by your wrist.
At the root. At the root.
“I’m kinda jealous. If I had half as many people in love me…” You laugh, and you’re glad to hear that it doesn’t sound half as forced as it really is. “I probably would have a boyfriend by now.”
The lie feels like acid in your throat. You force your eyes back to Luke. His are just as deceptively blank as yours, the look on his face unreadable.
He looks indifferent at the idea, and it stings more than you thought it would. You’d felt physically sick at the idea of Luke having a girlfriend, and he couldn’t care less about you getting involved with anyone else.
The nausea worsens the pressure on your chest.
“And it’s the Fourth of July bonfire tonight,” you add, the hole you’ve dug for yourself growing deeper and deeper with every single word. “So it’d be a great time to do it.”
“Real romantic,” Chris tacks on.
Luke still hasn’t said a word, and the anticipation of what he’ll say might just kill you. You aren’t sure what you’ll do if he actually agrees. Probably something incredibly stupid. You’ve never wanted someone to tell you no this badly.
After a painfully long few seconds, Luke shrugs. “We’ll see, then.”
You feel like the floor has fallen out from under you.
Chris covers up his choke with a laugh. “Are you being serious?”
You’ve never felt so far apart from Luke in your entire life. For the first time ever, you can’t even begin to imagine what he’s thinking.
“Well,” he laughs, a smile you’ve never seen him wear before get plastered on his face. “What could it hurt?”
The sound of your own words coming from his mouth are enough for the sick feeling wearing away at you to grow violent. You get up slowly from the table, trying to push down everything in you that’s threatening to make itself painfully known.
“I’ll see you guys tonight, then?”
Chris scratches his head. “Where are you going?”
“I told one of the Hephaestus kids I’d help set up for the firework show.” You’re blatantly lying. A good amount of them have been weary of you ever since that fight between Luke and Max at the start of the summer. “They’re loading up the barge right now.”
Luke looks confused, but you don’t have anything to say to him. You throw a halfhearted wave over your shoulder and make sure not to look at either of them as you turn away.
(You don’t head down to the beach. You dry heave in the bathroom for thirty minutes before feeling fine enough to walk back out.)
You’d been beyond excited to see Annabeth, Percy, and Grover come back to camp a few weeks ago. Returning safe from a quest was no easy feat, and preventing a literal war even more so. You’d been sure to hold all three of them in a group hug so tight they’d gotten annoyed with you.
When you see the former two laid out on a picnic blanket by the sand, waiting for the show to start, you drop in right behind them.
“Hey, guys.” You smile at the way Percy jumps. “You ready for the show?”
“Oh, hey. Is Annabeth right about how cool it all is?” he asks.
It’s nice to see they’re both friends now. During Capture the Flag, he’d seemed scared of how prickly she was.
“Annabeth’s always right.” You wink at her before turning back to Percy. “And absolutely. I saw the fireworks a bit ago—they’re even bigger than last year. I think they’re doing something special.”
Percy looks impressed. He pops a grape into his mouth from the Ziploc bag in his lap.
“Hey.” Annabeth smiles at you before her eyes dart to the space behind you. “Are you okay?”
You squeeze her shoulder. “Yeah, why? Do I not look okay?”
“Oh, no. You look fine, I was just confused.”
“About?”
“About where Luke was. I have something to ask him, and he’s usually around wherever you are.”
Your face warms.
“He said he’d catch up with me soon,” you explain, trying not to read into her words too much. “But, uh… He’s back at his cabin getting ready to romance one of your sisters, I think.”
Percy freezes, a grape halfway to his mouth. You’re reminded of how he’d assumed you had liked Luke, all the way back when he’d first gotten to camp.
The little shit.
“What?” Annabeth’s brows are knit together in disbelief. “Are you messing with me?”
“Nope.” You steal a grape from Percy and listen to the crunch it makes between your teeth. “Chris suggested it. And I think I kind of encouraged him.”
The two of them share some sort of look right in front of your face.
“Hello?” You snap your fingers in between them. “Share with the class?”
“It’s nothing,” she insists, turning away from the ocean to face you. “I’m just surprised.”
You bite back your remark that probably would’ve been, That makes two of us! and let some sand fall through the gaps in your fingers. “Chris seemed surprised too. But Luke can do whatever he wants.”
Percy and Annabeth share another side glance, and you groan. You take back whatever you’d just said about being happy they’re friends.
“Okay, seriously. Spit it out or stop conspiring in front of my face, please. It’s rude.”
“Sorry,” Percy says quickly. “I mean, you already know, but I thought you guys liked each other. I didn’t take him for a guy who’d go for another one of Annabeth’s sisters.”
You can’t help but smile at that.
“Do you know who it is?” Annabeth presses. “I can’t believe so much has changed since we’ve been away,” she says, genuinely considering the thought of this. “Luke used to flat out ignore girls that liked him.”
“It’s Callea, the one who just got claimed.”
Be nice, you remind yourself. It’s not her fault you told Luke to go after her.
“She’s nice,” you add. “I remember her from the times I’d stay over at the Hermes cabin.”
Annabeth frowns. “Oh. Are they like… friends?”
It’s going to make you sound like a crazy psycho, but you know the answer to that question is no. No, they are not friends.
But you just shrug. “I don’t know.”
The kids are quiet, and it puts you on edge. Everyone seems to be especially close-mouthed around you today. There’s clearly more they want to say, especially Annabeth, but she leaves it off with an eyebrow raise and moving over on the blanket.
“Want to watch the fireworks with us?”
You love Annabeth. You’re grateful that she’s dropped it.
“Of course.”
The three of you watch the work of the Hephaestus kids in awe. The red, white, and blue fireworks (projectiles would be a more accurate term) illuminate the sky, showcasing little stories in the lights. So far, the highlights have been the Minotaur (which you make sure to nudge Percy to look at), a scene of your father in battle, and planes made out of lights swerving and shooting at other firework planes.
Sometime between the scene of the warships braving the storm and something from the American Revolution, you feel the hair on the back of your neck stand up. You turn, searching for who you know is standing somewhere amongst the other campers on the beach.
You find him embarrassingly fast. He’s at the edge of the tree line, leaning against an oak and watching George Washington do whatever it is he does.
Percy doesn’t say anything when you get up from your spot, but Annabeth catches you with a hand on your ankle before you move off the blanket.
“Can you ask him where he left my book?” she asks. “He’ll know which one.”
“Oh.” You have no idea how she’s so all-knowing all the time. “Yeah, of course. I’ll see you later, Annabeth.”
“Later.” She turns back to watch the show, grabbing Percy’s shoulder to make him look at some sort of special spiral the fireworks make in the sky.
Luke’s face is painted in the red lights from a burst shaped like the American flag when you approach.
He’s dressed nicely. Not too overly fancy that it looks like he put effort in, but you can tell he definitely sat over his stuff an hour ago wondering what to wear.
He nudges your shoulder when you settle next to him against the tree. “Where’s your jacket?”
You tug at his sleeve. “Right here.”
He always overheats when he drinks and ends the night with ten less layers than he started with, which all end up going to you. Luke smiles at you because he knows you’re right.
“You ready for tonight?” You draw a circle with the point of your shoe in the dirt, looking away from him and the light of the fireworks.
“Absolutely,” he says, his eyes probably crinkling. “Can’t wait for you to sneak shots behind my back and get so drunk I gotta carry you back to the cabin.”
You think you might hate yourself, because the next words out of your mouth are, “I was talking about Callea.”
The light hearted air around you sours almost immediately. You can picture the furrow of his brows with weird accuracy.
“Oh,” he says, in that tone that tells you that you just caught him off guard. “Sure. Whatever happens, happens.”
The campers on the beach ahead of you burst into boisterous applause at the firework show finale: the warriors battling it out in the sky are as tall as skyscrapers.
Luke pushes off of the wall of wood behind you, slinging an arm over your shoulder.
“Go slow tonight.” He waves to one of the younger kids passing by you as you make your way towards the other half of the beach. “Can’t have you getting alcohol poisoning.”
“Don’t worry,” you say. “I’ll be fine.”
The two of you wander over the sand dunes, the little tufts of beachgrass tickling your ankles. While you walk, he talks to you about what he was doing before he showed up to the beach, and you listen half heartedly.
You can’t wait to drink the memory of this night and Luke and Callea out of your mind.
The number of people that have already made their way to the site by the time you get there surprises you.
There aren’t many campers old enough to go to these things. But there’s still a decent amount of people here, most crowded around the bonfire glowing bright red in the center of the clearing. It’s about twenty feet high and the pieces of wood keeping it alive are about the size of entire tree trunks.
There’s a few people standing around a foldable table that’s dirty from age and long stained with various drinks. A group of girls you know are talking around the cooler, and you find yourself moving in their direction before you can stop yourself.
The first conversation about Callea happened a few hours ago, but you’ve been feeling irritated and sick and on edge and annoyed ever since. So it really isn’t your fault that the second someone hands you a can of hard lemonade, you’re cracking open the tab and tipping it down your throat.
It burns on the way down and really isn’t that good. Most of the cheap stuff people get for these things aren’t, but you still find yourself hoping every single time. You let the sting in your throat replace the sting of the mean mix of emotions in your head.
“Hey.” The can pressed against your mouth is lifted clear over your head, spilling a few drops of sticky lemonade onto your shirt. “What’d I say? Slow down.”
“You’re no fun sometimes,” you complain, but you feel an out of place sense of relief.
Luke’s still here. With you, not someone else.
“It’s been forever since I’ve had one of these.”
“Is that why you downed half the can in fifteen seconds?” Luke asks, squinting into the opening at the top. His eyes find the flavor printed on the side of the can, and you stare as he puts his mouth over the spot yours had just been and takes a long swig.
He makes a face at the taste. You swallow around the dryness in your throat.
“I still don’t get why you like this stuff. Pure sugar.”
He uses the edge of the table to pop off the cap of the cheap beer that his brothers always buy, and you wince just imagining the bitterness of it. He tosses the cap into the trash bag tied to the end of the table.
(You all take trash disposal very seriously at these bonfires. You’re all still a little scared from the time a nymph threatened to snitch on you all when she found a discarded can by the edge of the woods.)
“You know the drill though. I’m not cleaning up your vomit again.”
“You’re going to have to stop bringing that up one day.”
Luke gives you a lopsided smile. “But you get so embarrassed when I do.”
“Gods, who wouldn’t?” you shiver. “I couldn’t look your brother in the face for weeks after that.”
He mimes himself tumbling out of bed and then vomiting onto what you know is supposed to be the foot of his brother’s bed.
You hit his shoulder, tugging your drink out of his hand. “Asshole. We get it, all your siblings were there—”
“Luke!”
The two of you spin in the direction of the voice, off in the direction of the beach.
It’s Callea. The sight of her is enough to send burning hot jealousy through your bloodstream.
She’s so effortlessly pretty that it has you tugging uncomfortably at your own clothes. Her hair has been curled to perfection, and it's pinned back, putting every part of her insane bone structure on display.
There’s a group of people behind her, a mix of kids from every cabin. You see Chris amongst them, all of them waving you in their direction.
Callea’s smiling, and Luke looks stunned.
You take a step back without meaning to. When he turns to you, he’s smiling in a way that almost looks nervous.
You try for a smile too, feeling out of your mind. “Good luck, hero.”
The look flickers off his face for a second. He’s confused. “You’re not coming?”
You know you won’t be able to handle the sight of him and Callea together without tears pricking at your eyes. The hurt is making itself known already, and you know it’ll only get worse from here.
“I’m gonna find my friends.” You gesture vaguely behind you because you have no idea where any of them actually are. “I’ll catch up later.”
He’s not convinced, his hand settling on your shoulder. “C’mon, please? Don’t make me go alone. I feel like I’m being left to the sharks.”
You pull yourself away too fast, and it’s clear that he picks up on that too.
“Sorry.” You look away because you know you’ll give in and go with him. “An hour at most, and I’ll come looking for you.”
“An hour?” His tone is off.
You take another long sip from your drink. It’s about one-fourth of the way full now.
“Go get your girl, Luke.” The words are forced out through gritted teeth and the envy clouding your mind.
You can feel him watch you as you walk away.
It takes another few cans of fruity drinks and two Dirty Shirleys until you feel your face getting hot and your tongue get heavy in your mouth.
One of your sisters did something with your hair, but you’re much too preoccupied to care much about it. You’ve lost track of how long it’s been since you first got here, but the drinks have been flowing and have started tasting really good, though you think that’s just because of how tipsy you are.
It’s kinda hard to think about other things when you’re standing amongst twenty other kids cheering on a son of Aphrodite who’s doing a keg stand.
You feel someone tug at your arm. It’s Ruby, trying to drag your attention away from the boy doing a handstand on top of the barrel. She has to shout over the sound of everyone egging him on.
“I’m go— to give —s to V—t!”
The guy in the middle of the crowd lets out a roar of triumph, and everyone around you joins in.
“Huh?”
Someone jostles you around while they rush for the middle and you lose her for a second. But then she’s seizing your wrist and dragging you out of the layers of people.
“I’ll be back! I’m gonna give this to Violet.” you think she says. Your ears are ringing from the change of volume.
She shakes a can of something in front of your face, and the melted ice water from the cooler splatters onto your shirt.
“Can I come with?” you yell over the sound of someone turning up the music.
She intertwines her hand with yours as she starts singing along with whatever song they’ve put on. She seems to know exactly where she’s going, dragging you behind her as she heads in the direction of the ocean.
“There she is,” you say, pointing to someone wading in the water.
“Uhh,” Ruby squints in the direction you’re pointing in. “I think that’s Jace.”
The boy’s face catches the light when he splashes the person standing next to him, and you wonder how you’d mistaken him for her in the first place.
“Oh, whoops.”
“There,” she says suddenly, pointing in the direction of a smaller group a little bit away. “Violet!”
You nearly get whiplash from the way she changes course so fast, snapping your head to the left.
“There you are,” Violet groans, trying to squeeze her way through her dense crowd of friends. “I was starting to think you’d never show up!”
“But I’m here now,” she defends, giving the girl her lukewarm drink. She gives her a big hug in thanks, and it makes you smile. You give Ruby a hug after Violet lets go of her just because you can.
Ruby falls into easy conversation with the people standing around, but you stare out at the water, something unsettling setting in. You think you’re supposed to be doing something right now, but can’t really remember what it is.
You already gave up your bet money to the girl you’d lost to. You hadn’t forgotten to put on sunscreen earlier. You’re getting rum and Coke spilled down the front of your white shirt.
Wait.
“Oh, fuck. My bad.”
You’re getting rum and Coke spilled down the front of your white shirt.
“Oh, fuck,” the guy repeats. His hands flutter around your shirt but he clearly knows he shouldn’t try dabbing it out. “Sorry, dude. That was on me.”
“No shit,” you say, but you’re not too upset about it. It wasn’t your favorite shirt or anything.
His face is growing bright red, and he stares very solemnly up at the sky.
You frown. “Oh, um. You’re good, dude. It’s not that serious.”
“Mikey!” someone hisses as he shoves his jacket at you. “Great going, jackass.”
You look down, and see that your shirt is starting to look a little transparent.
Ha. No wonder he’d gone tomato red.
“It’s fine,” you insist, letting Ruby shove your arms through the jacket. “No harm, dude.”
He gives you a fist bump before disappearing back inside his group of friends.
“Oh, hey! Where’ve you been?” someone asks.
You think back to what you’re definitely forgetting while you wait for Ruby to respond to them. It’s on the tip of your tongue, too.
After a few seconds of your friend’s silence, you realize that person’s talking to you.
“Chris!” you greet, smiling. You throw your arms around his shoulders with so much force he nearly tips over. “What’re you doing here?”
His curly hair is looking super windswept, and you point it out to him with a smile.
He flattens the wayward strands before returning your grin. “Bradley was breakdancing over here earlier.”
A laugh finds its way out of your mouth. “Really?”
“Yep.”
“It’s been a bunch of fun over there,” you tell him, and you think you can still hear them yelling about something.
“I can tell,” he says, laughing. Then, he gets a curious look on his face. “By the way, did you go see Luke? He was looking for you earlier.”
The mention of him hits you like a truck, slamming the memories straight to the forefront of your mind.
“Oh. No. I didn’t.”
“Do you want me to take you to him? He’s sitting with Callea.”
You lift Chris’ cup straight out of his hands and finish whatever’s in it. It’s not as bad as that beer Luke likes, but it’s definitely not good, either.
It takes Chris a second to find his voice. “Are you good?”
You want to be honest. No, you aren’t good. You’re jealous and bitter and feel like you’re about to lose the only person you care about.
But you just give Chris a thumbs up while wiping away the bits that are dripping down your chin. “Well. Yep.”
That was what you were forgetting.
You really have to thank the drinks you had earlier for helping you push him to the back of your mind.
But it doesn’t matter anymore. Your eyes scan the shoreline, and you find them a little too quickly.
They’re sitting on a log by a few other people at the big fire. One of the Apollo kids is singing something on a guitar, but neither Luke or Callea are paying attention. They’re talking quietly, the two of them engrossed in whatever stupid shit they’re talking about. When Callea laughs, she leans her head back and puts her hand on Luke’s arm, and—
You look away so the bile doesn’t make its way up your throat. You sit down on the sand. Hard.
Chris settles down slowly next to you. You let your head hit his shoulder, defeated.
You’re supposed to be cutting everything off. Every single out of place feeling you have towards Luke is supposed to be gone. Gone from your mind and gone from your heart, because none of it is normal.
You shouldn’t feel possessive at the thought of Luke being with another girl. It’s not right. He deserves to be happy— so happy that he doesn’t stop smiling. So happy that he’s head over heels for a girl.
What kind of sick person are you?
You don’t want Luke to be happy with Callea. You don’t want him to kiss her, and you don’t want him to hold her hand and let her sleep on your side of his bed.
And that’s not normal. You’d encourage any one of your other friends to go after a cute girl, but the thought of Luke doing the same made you drink your weight in vodka cran and hard strawberry lemonade.
Your chest burns. Feeling this way hurts, but you can’t stop it. Your feelings for Luke are so innate, they’re a part of you.
It’s not possible to get rid of this. You know it for a fact.
Chris nudges you with his elbow. “I… Shit. I have something to tell you.”
You brush sand from the edge of your jeans. You’re not in a big talking mood.
“I only told Luke to go after Callea because I thought you’d tell him not to.”
You spin around so fast to look at him that Chris has to catch you when you fall forward.
“You did what?” you spit out after a second, trying to fight back the nausea.
This entire thing started… Because Chris Rodriguez wanted to test you?
“You’ve stopped him every other time!” He looks guilty and frantic all at once as he settles you back onto the ground. “I was so convinced you would do it again, and I just... I’m sorry.”
“Gods, Chris,” you complain. Your head is spinning. “Why?”
He runs a hand through his hair, looking sheepish. “You gotta promise not to be mad.”
You know he can tell how angry you are when he seems to shrink into the sand.
“Uh… I was convinced you two got together recently without telling me. And I mean, I ask Luke about girls all the time, so—”
“You thought it wouldn’t be a big deal to ask him about some girl again?” your stare is flat. “To see how we’d react?”
He shrugs, running his hands through the sand. “Yeah.”
“And you didn’t expect me to tell him to go for it?”
He shrugs for a second time, too guilty to really look at you. “I mean, obviously. But I was even more surprised when he actually agreed to it.”
You think about Luke and Callea by the bonfire, too busy staring into each other's eyes to notice anything else. The regret feels like a physical weight on your chest.
“Wasn’t really your fault,” you admit, leaning your chin against your knees. “I um… Fuck, Chris. I can’t believe I’m saying this out loud.”
You smile, and he smiles with you, but you think it’s because he’s scared you’re going to cry.
“I think I like Luke.”
It’s weird to admit that to someone other than yourself. But the words are a lot less scary now that you’ve said them out loud.
You like Luke. You have for a while.
It’s hard to trace the start of your feelings for him. There’s so much between you two, and the thought of trying to comb through nineteen years of friendship to find the exact moment where your world shifted is impossible.
You think about the way you feel around him — the way only he makes you feel. You don’t think you could explain it to Chris even if you wanted to. You don’t even know if you could explain it fully to yourself.
“And I got scared. I was trying to pretend like if I ignored it, it would go away.” You laugh at how ridiculous it all sounds. “But nothing could erase the way I feel for him. He’s just… He’s been everything.”
You know you like Luke. You think it might even be more than that.
The words sit heavy between you and Chris. He exhales as he lays back, trying to make sense of the drunk slew of words you’ve spit up at him.
It’s a lot.
But he lets you wallow for less than thirty seconds.
“Get up,” he says, conviction coloring his words. He’s staring out at the ocean, and you give him a funny look.
“What?”
He pushes himself to his feet before grabbing your hands and tugging you up. You stumble forward, still feeling the effects of the alcohol, but Chris has you stable before you even realize you’d almost fallen over.
“Stand up and get over there,” he demands, brushing sand off your shirt.
“Over there?” you repeat weakly, glancing between Chris and where you know his best friend is sitting.
He drags you even further away from Ruby’s friends. “Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“Are you fucking crazy?” you hiss, tugging hard on his hand and stumbling in the sand a bit. “I’m not going to interrupt that, Chris. I told him to go after her.”
He must get annoyed with the way you’re dragging your feet, because he stops the weird tug-of-war you’re having. Chris turns to face you, fire in his eyes.
“Then, congrats. We all make stupid decisions, so welcome to the club.”
Your eyes widen. You’ve never seen him this worked up about something in your life.
“But you’re going to regret this,” he insists. He grabs onto your shoulders with so much force it scares you a little. His stare is serious. “You’re important to him. I can’t think of something he cares about more.”
With his grip on your shoulders, he spins you around to face the boy in question. Luke’s face is lit up by the fire. He’s smiling at someone else.
“You’re a daughter of Ares for a reason, dude. You’d never sit back and let this happen.” He nudges you forward. “Get it done.”
You think of Luke. Your best friend, the only person you know you want in your future. The boy who holds you in your sleep and knows exactly what you need based on the way you reach for his hand. The boy who is a part of you just as much as you are.
When you turn around, you’re met with the sight of Chris’ back as he walks away.
He’s insane.
But he’s right.
You have to stop whatever it is that’s happening between Luke and Callea, even though it’s basically your fault. You know that the hurt you feel will only get worse if something really does happen between them, and the thought of that scares you more than anything else.
You’ve been less afraid of demigod-eating monsters than you are of this teenage girl.
Luke’s talking about something, and Callea’s looking at him with stars in her eyes. It makes you stumble over the sand a little faster.
From so far away, the sight of them had been manageable. But you find unease settling in your stomach the closer you get.
The wind tousles his hair and you’re taken aback by just how nice he looks. He’s a little flushed from the alcohol, but you like how it makes his smiles just a little bit wider and his hands a little more touchy.
You’re so busy staring you don’t notice when his eyes find yours. He sits up straight.
You call his name what must be a little too loudly, because the Apollo kid playing the guitar stops strumming.
“Hi,” you say, out of breath from the hike over. He’s grinning at you, finding something a little funny. You bend down so you can wrap him in a hug, and his hand slides up your back.
You inhale his cologne and sigh against him. “Missed you.”
“There you are,” Luke says, and you almost sigh with relief. “I missed you too. You disappeared.”
“Sorry. Ruby’s sister broke up with her boyfriend. I wanted to figure out what happened, and then he did a keg stand.”
“Ruby’s sister’s ex-boyfriend?”
“No. Matt did.”
“What does Matt have to do with Ruby’s sister’s ex-boyfriend?”
“Nothing.”
He’s grinning when he says, “My bad.”
You stand up to your full height, but you let your hand linger on his shoulder. His hand slides down your leg.
“I made you a Shirley Temple with vodka a while ago,” he says, handing you a red solo cup. “Extra cherries.”
You try not to smile too wide.
He knows, he knows, he knows.
“There’s only cherries in here,” you say, confused when he hands you the cup.
He squeezes the bare skin at your calf. “Yeah, sorry. They ran out of beer, and I got thirsty.”
“Luke, who is this?”
It’s Callea. She’s smiling at you, her head tilted to the side. Her hair is still perfect despite the light breeze.
You decidedly do not like the way his name sounds in her mouth.
You introduce yourself, trying to make your smile look as not strained as possible. “I’m Luke’s best friend. Who are you?”
“Callea.” She’s still smiling at you with her perfect teeth.
“Cool,” you say, because you don’t know what else there is to say. You’ve already met her. You aren’t sure why she’s pretending not to know you.
After a second of you staring at him, Luke makes room for you on the log. You get a sick sense of satisfaction when he moves further away from her.
He’s tapping on your leg. “You wanna sit?”
You nod automatically, leaning down to press a kiss against his cheek. “Of course.”
Luke has to steady you by your waist when you sit sideways on his lap.
He’s warm like he always is, even more so because of his proximity to the fire and the drinks he’s had. One of your arms goes around his neck as you lean against him.
“Annabeth wanted me to ask you where you left her book,” you say, your thumb rubbing over a part of his jaw. There's a tiny nick there you think he got from shaving, and you tell him that too.
It takes a second for the surprise to wear off. But he wraps an arm around your waist like he always does, and gives you a wobbly kind of smile.
“I’ll make sure to give it back to her,” he promises.
You miss the look he’s giving you, too busy curling your fingers in his hair. Callea had done this earlier. She didn’t deserve to.
“Wanna go back now?” you ask, yawning. “My head’s pounding.”
He squeezes your hip, and you forget what you were supposed to be mad about. “Thought you wouldn’t want to for a while. It’s not that late.”
“I think I drank too fast. I kinda just want to go and sleep at yours.”
You think if Chris were here, he’d probably tell you you’re laying it on thick. But you really do want to go to bed. Preferably after you take Luke far away from the girl next to you.
He tugs at the fabric of your jacket. “Where’d you get this?”
“Get what?”
“This.”
You look down at your chest, and see the logo of some sports team on it. You aren’t quite sure where it’s from, but Luke probably does.
“Some guy.”
“Some guy,” he echoes.
“Ruby’s friend,” you explain. You shove your face into his shoulder, which is stiff and so unlike him you pause.
“Are you friends with him?”
“I don’t think so. I didn’t really see his face. We didn’t do much talking.”
You realize just how tense he is only when he shifts you off of his lap and stands up abruptly. You sway on your feet.
“She’s drunk. ‘M gonna take her back,” he says to Callea.
It sounds like she protests, and you hear him apologize before saying goodbye.
(You choose to be nice and don’t wave at her while you walk away.)
Luke’s walking pretty fast, and you struggle to keep up with his long strides over the soft sand. Usually, you’d link your hands together at this point of a walk, but there’s too much distance between you two for it to work.
He’s weirdly prickly right now, so you keep your mouth shut the entire way back to his cabin. He can’t see you, but you frown at his back.
About halfway there, you hear him mumble expletives under his breath when a branch gets in his way, and the piece of wood, as thick as a dictionary, gets snapped in half from the pressure he uses to step on it.
You’re surprised he doesn’t blast the cabin door off its hinges with the way he shoves it open.
You follow him into the empty room. It’s just the two of you here because all of the younger kids are gathered in the pavilion to watch an old movie on a projector someone had brought back to life.
Luke’s already at his bed by the time you shut the door.
“You’re mad,” you point out, slinking over slowly. Luke could never scare you, but his silent anger is making you wary. “Why’re you mad?”
Luke doesn’t respond as he rummages around in his drawer, fishing out one of his t-shirts and a pair of pajama pants you’ve forgotten here.
“I’m not mad. C’mon, get dressed.” He says it quietly, but the clear signs of his anger give him away.
There’s the crease in between his eyebrows, for one. And the way he won’t look you in the eye. And when his fingers uncurl from the shirt to drop it into your hands, there’s wrinkles from how tightly he was gripping it.
“Aw,” you say, more amused than you should be. “You know, I thought you’d ditch me at my cabin tonight. But I think you’re a little too scared of me vomiting in my sleep and like, dying. So thanks. You’re pretty sweet for letting me still stay here. Even though you’re mad.”
“Killer.” Luke sighs when he looks away from you again, clenching and unclenching his fists. Definitely mad. “I’m not.”
“Not what?”
“Not mad.”
“You won’t let me touch you,” you say absentmindedly, taking a step closer to him. He doesn’t react, staring blankly over your shoulder. “It’s making me sad. You always let me ‘cause I can’t go a second without you.”
Luke inhales sharply, and you itch to have him under your hands again.
He scoffs a little meanly. “You have to stop saying shit like that.”
“What’s wrong with what I said?” you push, pressing closer to him. Just before you can get too close, he stops you with his hands around your biceps.
Luke’s lips are pressed into a firm line. His hands feel foreign against you, and it makes you feel weird. Everything is natural with him. Whatever is happening right now is not.
“You need to stop saying shit you don’t mean.”
“But I meant it. I can’t go a second without you.”
He doesn’t say a word. He sits you down on the edge of his bed and kneels down to untie your laces.
“Luke,” you practically whine, refraining from shifting yourself forward to hug him. “Why do you think I’m lying?”
“You’re drunk,” he states, matter of factly. He wrestles with your left shoe a little bit when it refuses to slip off. He flips it upside down and taps the sole to get rid of the gritty bits of sand that snuck into it.
“You’re drunk, too,” you point out. “So does that mean you’re lying to me?”
You put your left hand on the side of his face and make him look at you. He’s annoyed, and his face is warm and red like it gets whenever he drinks.
He sighs. Then he turns his face into your hand and lets his lips brush over your palm. “I’m not lying to you.”
Your skin tingles where his lips were. You rush your next words, giddy and a little embarrassed.
“Sometimes I wish you’d kiss me for real.”
Luke snaps. He backs away, running a hand through his hair. Your vision is blurry.
“Sorry,” you say, really frowning. You know you shouldn’t have said that. “Did that freak you out?”
“You can be so fucking mean,” Luke scoffs. “I don’t understand you sometimes.”
“What? Luke—”
“You tell me to go after some random girl neither of us really know, and then disappear for the rest of the night,” he grits out, angry at you in a way you’ve never seen.
His words aren’t making sense. He’d seemed so happy tonight, but speaks of it like it’d been torture. Your head is spinning.
“And then you come back with—” Luke cuts himself off before he can say what he really wants to. It seems to be a trend today. “Fuck, killer. You can be so mean.”
Your eyes sting with hurt. Luke never gets upset with you, and the immediate need to fix it makes your chest constrict.
You think you feel too much for him. Too much, too fast.
“What did I do?” you ask, and the frightening feeling of your eyes pricking with tears has the words rushing out. “I don’t know what you mean, I don’t get why you’re mad, Luke. Please talk to me.”
He tugs at the curls on his head, and it makes you frown. You wish he wasn’t so harsh on himself.
He kneels in front of you again, and you meet his eyes. They’re vulnerable.
You squeeze his shoulders.
Very slowly, he puts his hands on your sides again, and you soften into a puddle.
When he speaks next, it looks hard for him.
“Where’d you get this?”
The jacket.
You frown again. You’d already gone over this.
“Ruby’s friend, I told you.”
“You could’ve come to me if you were cold.” He forces the words out so quickly you almost don’t catch them. “I was looking for you.”
You rub his cheek sweetly. “Thanks, hero. You’re always looking out for me. But I had to put it on because he spilled his drink on me. Everyone would’ve seen through it if I waited to find you.”
It takes you a second before your hand finds the zipper, but when you do, you tug it down and show him your stained shirt underneath.
“Oh,” he says. He’s looking at your shirt and not at you. “You should get changed.”
“Why do you care?” you push.
“Your shirt’s sticky.”
“I meant about the jacket.”
Luke ignores you, tugging at the ends of your sleeves. “It’s nothing. C’mon, let’s get you outta this.”
You zip the jacket back up before he can stop you. “No. Tell me the truth.”
He gives you a look, stunned at your refusal. “I was being stupid, killer. It’s nothing.”
You get up, leaving him in his spot on the floor. “Tell me so it can be over.”
“It is over. I’m tired. You said you were too. Let’s go to bed.”
“Not until you tell me.”
“No.”
“Please, Luke?” you ask, knowing it’s only a matter of time before he gives in. “Please, please, please, please, pl—”
“If I tell you, will you finally go the fuck to sleep?”
“Yep. I swear.” You nod so fast you get dizzy. “I’ll shut up and we’ll go to sleep.”
He looks exasperated when he pushes himself to his feet. It looks like he can’t believe he’s having this conversation with you.
Luke sighs one final time.
“Earlier, you’d said you and this guy didn’t do much talking.”
You nod. “Yeah. He gave me his jacket and I walked away.”
“Well, I thought you ditched me ‘cause you wanted to go suck some guy’s face.” He gestures at your chest. “And it was worse ‘cause the jackass likes Arizona.”
He’d thought you’d been off with some random guy. And he’d been… jealous?
You don’t feel like joking with him anymore.
“That’s not fair,” you say, before you can stop yourself.
“What?”
“You were the one who was actually off making out with some random girl,” you point out.
His eyes widen. “You’re angry with me about that? I didn’t kiss Callea. And even if I did, you were the one who told me to go after her. Why are you upset about it now?”
“I don’t know!” You feel like you’re curling in on yourself. “I don’t like Callea. She annoys me.”
“I only said yes to talking to her because you wanted me to,” he says, bitterness creeping into his tone. “I’m so fucking confused. Did you want me to go for her or not?”
You think about Callea and Luke. The way she would kiss him. The way they would hold hands. The way she would be his future, not you.
You already know the answer to his question.
You shake your head vehemently. “I don’t want you to have a girlfriend, Luke.” You feel like a toddler throwing a tantrum, and shame curls around you. “I never wanted you to in the first place.”
“Then why did you agree with Chris?” he asks, and you’re shocked to hear that he sounds hurt.
You don’t want to talk to Luke about this right now. Not while you’re both drunk and willing to say something stupid.
But you look at him and the hurt in his eyes and feel the urge to spill every single thought you’ve ever had.
Your voice is quiet when you press your palms into your eyes. “I was scared.”
“Why?” he presses. His hands go around your wrists so you can’t hide from him. “Why were you scared?”
Luke makes you look at him then, his face inches from yours. You wonder if he already knows.
You know that you should wait and talk about this tomorrow. The both of you are drunk, no matter how much you want to deny it.
But it’s the alcohol.
The alcohol is why you do it.
It’s why you say, “I don’t want anyone else to have you, Luke.”
In the span of five seconds, you’ve uprooted nineteen years of love. Nineteen years of feelings that have been growing under the surface and into every part of who you are.
“I’m scared of the way I feel. I feel like throwing up whenever Callea looks at you,” you admit, eyes sliding to his shoulder. You can’t handle the weight of his stare. “So I ran from everything. I told you to go after her.”
Luke is still quiet, and the words finish pouring out.
“But I don’t want anyone else to kiss you. No one else but me.”
Luke still hasn’t let go of your wrists.
He hasn’t moved either, but you don’t blame him. You’d nearly been crushed under the weight of your feelings when you’d found out, and now, you’ve cracked open your heart and dumped it all at his feet.
Luke still hasn’t let go of your wrists.
But for good reason, you decide. He uses his hold on you to drag you forward and give you everything.
He tastes sweet. Like the grenadine from the Dirty Shirley he’d made for you, and you can't help the sigh that escapes you, a shaky exhale against his lips.
Luke lets go of you to cradle your face in his hands, brushing his thumbs under your eyes like he’s trying to commit the slopes of your face to memory.
His eyes are so brown. You’ve always known, but it feels different when you’re looking at the blackness of his pupils after he’s just kissed you.
“Was— Did you…” Where he’s looking is constantly changing, fluttering from meeting your gaze to down to your lips and then back up again. “Was that okay?”
You feel like you’re glowing. You can’t even imagine a world where you wouldn’t want this.
You say yes when you tilt your head up and slot your lips together.
He kisses you nice and slow, his hands sliding down to your back. He goes nice and slow because he’s not going anywhere, and you know it.
Your hands are shaking. You’re so jittery that you have to throw your arms around his shoulders and lock your hands together behind his neck. For the millionth time in your life, you thread your fingers through the dark sea of curls on his head. You’d never ever imagined you’d ever get to hold him like this, and it makes warmth spread to every part of your body.
Luke pulls away after a bit to rest his forehead against yours. When his eyes slide open, you lock eyes, and he breaks out into a grin. You find yourself mirroring it without meaning to.
His voice is so, so soft when he says, “Sweetheart?”
“Yeah?”
“Were your eyes open?”
Oh. You’d forgotten you weren’t supposed to do that.
You’d been so wrapped up in the thought that he was kissing you, you hadn’t even thought about looking away from him.
(Luke Castellan was kissing you. You, you, you.)
The tip of your nose brushes against his, your eyes finally fluttering shut. You inhale the barely there hints of his cologne and grow dizzy with it. “I just wanted to look at you.”
You expect him to laugh. It sounds stupid even to you, but you’d said it because it was true.
Luke is pretty. You could stare at him until the end of time, when you’re old and gray and your legs don’t work and you need him to carry you around with him forever.
You realize his hands have migrated over to your waist, and the feeling of him at your sides and at your back is making your stomach spin with butterflies.
You lean back to meet his gaze, and the look there catches you off guard. He’s breathing hard, his eyes completely glazed over.
You think that’s why you only half expect it when he pulls you against him and kisses you stupid.
Luke slides the jacket straight off of your shoulders, letting it hit the floor. He mumbles something, but you don’t think anything of it because then he’s doing something that nearly makes your eyes roll back and it’s forgotten in a second. You trip over the discarded fabric when he walks you backward to crowd you against the foot of his bed.
It wrings something embarrassing from your vocal cords, and he smiles against your lips.
“Yeah?” he asks, even though there’s no question there.
You feel dizzy at the feeling of him. Your hands untangle from behind his neck to slide down the solid planes of his chest, and he hums against your mouth. If he wasn’t propping you up against the bed frame, you know you’d have melted into a puddle on the floor by now.
You mumble something agreeable against him, your chest on fire. It’s not physically possible to be any closer to him, but you ache for it. You ache for him.
One of his broad hands slips up the back of your shirt and you gasp into his mouth, your fingers seizing the fabric of his jacket.
Luke is kind. So, so kind, and he licks into your mouth and you feel hot all over.
The warmth you’d been feeling earlier sets your chest on fire. You’re so frighteningly aware of the fact that you feel him everywhere. It’s too much and it’s not enough and he groans when you bite at his lower lip.
“Fuck,” he sighs out, the single word so desperate you nearly go cross eyed. “Fuck.”
You think you’re going to relive him every single time you need to take ambrosia.
“I can’t believe you’re real,” Luke breathes out, his eyes shining. The look he’s giving you is making saliva pool under your tongue. “You’re perfect, did you know that?”
You don’t let him get far before you’re chasing after him again, missing the taste of him. His grip tightens around you, and you think you get black spots in your vision.
“Thought I was gonna fucking die when you came back with that dumbass jacket,” he admits. “My girl. I’m sorry I was being stupid.”
You think it’d be embarrassing if he knew just how much you’d be willing to forgive him for.
“‘s okay,” you say, your voice thick. “I was sad it wasn’t yours, too.”
You’re pleased to find that Luke Castellan treats kissing just as seriously as he treats everything else, because the way he holds you is so desperate it surprises the both of you. You can’t even feel where the bed frame is digging into your hip because you’re too focused on the way he’s pressing you against it.
You try stabilizing yourself and find that your hands land directly on his biceps. When he flexes, you feel him smile against your lips.
“Wow, hero,” you tease, voice pitching up at the end when one of his arms snakes around your waist.
You’re very lucky he’s serious about this. But it means he doesn’t hear the sound of campers rushing past the door.
Something like greed possesses him when you snap your head to your left.
He tries following you, tipping his head down to capture your lips again, but you put your hands on his chest to stop him.
“Luke,” you warn. He settles for kissing at your neck instead, and your knees almost buckle when you feel his teeth drag against your skin.
“I think— I think there’s people walking outside,” you say. Every word that comes out of your mouth is labored and takes more effort than you thought was ever possible.
“Then fucking let them come in,” he grumbles, revelling in the sound you make when he kisses you again. “I’m their counselor. They’ll have stable duty until they die.”
You’re breathing hard against him, overwhelmed and dizzy, and you feel it when the pressure of his kisses starts shifting lower. You feel him at your collarbones and nearly pass out.
“We have to— Holy shit,” you sigh out.
The struggle to form thoughts is palpable. Every single one of your working synapses is focused on the feeling of your shirt rucking up your stomach when his hand slides up the back even further.
You say his name, and he hums.
“We’re drunk. We should be… We shouldn’t—”
You know you’re right. But you want to be wrong so, so badly.
“Five seconds,” he says, and the desire there is so real he sighs into your next kiss. “And then we’ll be done.”
Your breath stutters when you inhale. “Five seconds. Yeah. Okay,” you rationalize. “I’ll count.”
It’s just five more seconds, and you honestly think you need it more than him.
You’re breathing too hard for him to kiss you properly, so he tilts your head back and you nearly see stars.
You jolt at the feeling of his mouth against your jaw, a trail of wet kisses following from your mouth to the curved bone. Your fingers curl into his hair.
A shiver wracks your body at the feeling of the first two numbers being mumbled against the swell of your throat. It’s been five seconds already. Neither of you care.
Luke is smiling against your skin.
“Your heart is racing. I can feel it.” He presses an open-mouthed kiss to your carotid, and it feels like your heart is going to come out of your neck. “Right there.”
“Don’t be mean,” you complain, but it sounds more like a whine than an actual sentence.
Luke’s hand goes to the junction of your neck and the back of your head, keeping you steady so he can kiss you until you lose feeling in your fingers.
You can’t believe that this is seriously happening. This feels like something you’ve thought up in a dream, the feeling of his hands on you so perfect it seems too good to be true.
You aren’t proud of the sound you make when he pulls away.
“Five,” he whispers.
You’d completely forgotten you were the one supposed to be counting.
He presses his forehead against yours while you catch your breath. Your chests rise in tandem, and you wish your lungs were a thousand times bigger just so you didn’t have to pull away.
He wipes something wet away from the corner of your mouth, and you know you’re looking up at him with a stupid look in your eye.
“Luke,” you manage to say. You tilt your head up and your nose knocks against his. “Do you like me too?”
He’s smug. “Was the way I stuck my tongue down your throat too friendly for you?”
The laugh that escapes you must sound funny because he’s joining you the next second, matching smiles on both of your faces.
“Tomorrow,” he promises. You think he’s about to kiss you again but stops an inch away, evil and mean. “We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”
“Okay.” You peck his cheek because it technically doesn’t count and watch red bloom there. You think it’s funny he’s blushing at such an innocent kiss, as if he hadn’t been marking up your neck thirty seconds ago. “Tomorrow.”
You feel your heart beating through your chest as both of you get changed. You’re wearing matching pajamas, like promised, and you have to keep reminding yourself to stop smiling.
Your heart is still racing even after both of you are settled onto your sides under his thin sheet. You’re using one of his arms as a pillow and your back is pressed against his chest, and you feel better about the throbbing in your chest when he mumbles something about how dizzy he feels.
You’d slept over here just last night, but it feels like this is the first time you’ve ever been this close to him. You have to stop yourself from shivering when his hand finds its way up your shirt again. And when he rubs those circles between your shoulder blades, you have to remind yourself he does this all the time.
“I can’t believe this is happening to me,” you say, thinking out loud.
He kisses your hair, because that also technically doesn’t count. “Me neither.”
You’re sick and tired of how you can’t see his face, so you flip around to look at him. He lets you roll on top of his chest, and you just stare, unashamed. His curls look funny because of the way you’d been pulling on them. His lips are perfectly swollen.
You’re content. “The Demeter kids are going to make us so many more cakes, Luke.”
He shifts you higher against him so your face is pressed into his neck instead of his chest. “What do you mean?”
You feel him shudder when the point of your nose runs up the expanse of his throat. “We’re gonna need two cakes to celebrate the first time we kissed. And then even more for that stuff after.”
Luke tilts his head down and captures your lips in another kiss, this one much deeper than the peck he’d smothered into your hair earlier.
You pinch him, your eyes wide when you realize what he’d just done. “Cheater.”
“Couldn’t help it, I’m sorry.”
He has to flip the both of you over because you aim to kiss his face again. You groan, flattened underneath him.
“You’re not being fair, Luke,” you complain, but you rub his back because you’re greedy.
“Tomorrow.” His mouth has made its way to your collarbones again because he likes to torture you. “After we talk.”
“After,” you echo.
The lingering effects of the alcohol are making it a little hard to think straight. But you can’t even believe you’d doubted this for a second. It was always going to be you and Luke. You think it’s been etched into the very beginnings of your souls.
Luke kisses a sore mark he left on the column of your throat, and your eyes grow heavy when he leaves another right next to it.
“After,” he confirms.
You think this must be what going to Elysium is like.
series masterlist
notes: title from dress by taylor swift. final word count at 11k which means that like twenty percent of this was just them being crazy about the other…….. goodbye LOL.
ill probably be making another post just to yell and scream about the events of this chapter. can you tell i blacked out writing it
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supercutszns · 19 days
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ur recent jason blurb was absolutely adorable <3
wow thank you so much!! i have to go through all the comments and stuff but i’m so glad people like it❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹 i love a good comfort fluff fic and it was very fun to write so thank u for enjoying!!
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supercutszns · 19 days
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hiii everyone i am back from the dead. i have not been feeling the greatest mentally but i am working on my 1k special post and i’m very excited to write some cute lil things again :)) and i need to catch up on sooooo many fics phew
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supercutszns · 25 days
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jason and the 1975………this is what the inside of my brain looks like
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doodles of my boy jason with lyrics from i think there’s something you should know by the 1975
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