Luke Castellan

And after a few minutes of silence, when they realized that I wasn't leaving until this was all sorted out, they stated to talk.

It was a miracle.

Like big kids, we all talked out problems we were having. And it wasn't just problems with me, but generally with each other. The whole group of us talked for like an hour and a half or so before my tiredness started to hit and I figured I should head out, feeling good about where we were.

The car drive home was peaceful, I texted Percy just to let him know I was on the way home in case he woke up, but he never responded and was still asleep when I got back, so I just changed back into my sleep clothes and crawled into bed with him.

"Hm...?" Percy asked out of confusion before seeing me. "Oh, hi. Is it already time to get up?"

"Nope, it's nap time for me," I assured him, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "you can go back to bed, if you want."

So Percy took it among himself to koala himself once more before both of us fell asleep, which is something that I like. I like talking naps and falling asleep with Percy because he's warm and also, it's just comforting.

We woke up around 3 and laid in bed for another hour before actually getting up, which is when he looked at his phone and saw my text.

"On my... Where did you go?" Percy asked, which really confirmed that he did not wake up while I was gone.

"I stopped by camp to talk to a few people," I assured him, although he didn't seem very assured, so I pulled him into a hug from behind. "It's okay, nobody got hurt. We talked, alright? Hopefully they'll stop texting you now."

"Aw, babe, you didn't have to do that," Percy insisted. "I mean, thank you for taking the risk of going to camp, but you didn't have to."

I shrugged.

"Yeah, but I also wanted it to stop, because it's rude," I insisted. "Also, it's our relationship, not theirs. Also, I know I this a lot, but I love you, I don't like seeing you feel like shit if you don't have to. Or like, if it can be helped and it's not just a random bad day."

He cracked a smile, which was good.

"I love you, too," Percy told me, and then got really excited out of nowhere. "oh! I have an idea!"

"Hm?"

"We should go on a trip this summer!" He told me, really just using his brain. "we won't be at camp so we'll have all summer to do stuff. I mean, you'll work and what not, and I'll probably get a job whenever my depression and stuff stabilizes, but we could go on little weekend trips and stuff when it's nice!"

I smiled, giving him a kiss behind his ear.

"I think that that's an amazing idea," I told him, and then had a revelation. "We could drive down to Westport! A few friends of mine have been messaging me and I haven't responded yet but... I mean, we could go down after Christmas if we wanted, it's only a little over an hour's drive."

"It is?"

"Yeah!"

Percy thought for a moment.

"I mean... Do you want to go back and visit everyone?" Percy asked our of curiosity. "It's been years, you were always keen on not going back like, ever."

"I was also keen on like, destroying Olympus a few years ago," I reminded my boyfriend. "I'd like to at least friends. I don't know about my mom, but maybe. I wouldn't go alone, I don't trust that she still is all there. Delphi fucked her up. But friends. I miss a few of them."

So we got dressed (he stole my clothes) and went to his place for dinner with his family and then we uh, left for Westport with enough stuff for two days. Percy offered to drive so I could text people.

Mainly, my best friend and my cousin.

Morgan: hey, so ignore this if it's like, wrong
Morgan: but I had a friend when I was little and he had the same name as you, blond hair, blue eyes like you. Didn't have the scar, but he also ran away and things can happen.
Morgan: it's been a long time since he ran away, though, and I was hanging out with some friends who went to school with him and we got curious and looked the name up and your account came up!
Morgan: he was from Westport, his mom was May. I know you don't have family listed and you also don't list Westport on here but I figured that I'd try
Morgan: if it's not you, I'm sorry, were just trying to find him again. We miss him.

That was my best friend growing up.

And he was still looking. Well, at least he was as of like, six months ago.

Luke: hey, sorry I didn't respond earlier

Morgan: hey, don't worry about it, man! It happens. We uh, got news that he died not long after I messaged you, so sorry to bother you about it.

Luke: pfffft

Morgan: ?
Morgan: what?

Luke: just because they died doesn't mean they're still dead

Morgan: look man, I don't know what you're trying to say
Morgan: but he died, they found his body in New York, his dad told us
Morgan: so he's not coming back and I don't need whatever voodoo witch stuff you're going to suggest to bring him back because it never works. Let the dead be.
Morgan: I'm sorry I bothered you

Oh. Uh...

Shit.

I didn't think that part of it through. Like, I didn't think anyone would tell them about my death because of Kronos and everything.

But I guess if he told Mom... It's right for her to tell the others.

Did they have a funeral for me then?

Oh no.

I mean, at that point we're not turning around. We reserved a hotel room and we were twenty minutes away because it took him forever to respond. My cousin never responded, but it also said she wasn't active.

Checking in at the hotel was no problem because my age is weird so I can say I'm 22 or 17 and both of the IDs I have are correct. One is biological (17, I stopped aging with Kronos), and chronological (22, ignoring my death).

Usually I show 17, but you need to be 18 to get a hotel room, so I was 22.

It's weird.

We dropped our stuff off, though, and I figured that it's winter break for everyone right now, so I can try his parents house. He should be there.

According to his Facebook, he was home two hours ago. Had dinner with his family.

When we pulled up, I was a little nervous. I managed to dig up some old stuff before we left new York for proof that it was me. Photos, some little momentoes.

Knocking on the door, Percy was standing behind me in case this all went to shit and we'd go to my cousin's instead.

But Morgan's dad came to answer the door.

"Hello," he said with a friendly smile on his face. "may I help you?"

"Uh, yeah," I answered. "Is... Is Morgan home?"

"Yes, he just got home yesterday!" His dad told me, nodding his head. "Morgan! You have visitors!"

His dad invited us in, telling us that they already had dinner, but we could help ourselves to the fridge if need be. I assured him that had dinner before driving over.

"Dad, it's the second day of break, who..." He started off, and he recognized me.

But he recognized the guy from the profile, he recognized the scarred Luke Castellan. Not his childhood best friend, Luke Castellan.

"What... What are you doing here?" He asked, sounding a little afraid.

"Do you not know him, Morgan?" His dad asked, concerned.

"No I do but..." Morgan explained to his dad what he hadn't told him. "I messaged him not long before we found out about Luke because they have the same name. It's not... Why are you here?"

What am I supposed to say? He's met my dad probably once, when he found out that I died last year. That doesn't mean he knew that my dad was a god of that I hosted a Titan and did a lot of bad shit and it killed me, but doors open and I'm back again.

"Look, Morgan, I know it's absolutely crazy and it makes no sense—"

"You can't bring him back!" Morgan insisted, and I saw how hurt he was by the fact that I left. That I ran away and that I died. Without talking to him. "I know that you're just going to tell me that he can come back, but he can't!"

"Morgan, that's not what I'm saying." I insisted as I saw another old friend of mine, Amy, come from the living room. She was definitely wearing Morgan's sweater and also her hair was insanely short now, but it was cute. "What I'm trying to say that you keep cutting me off from is that I didn't die in the first place!"

Because for mortals, that's the story.

"I fell into a coma for a while and I guess it got bad and they were considering pulling my plug so they must've sent people out to tell them that I was gone, but I woke up. They got me a new doctor and I guess he figured it out, I was asleep, I don't really know. My aging stunted like biologically because of it and it's super weird and I can't explain half of it, but it's me! It's Luke!"

"How do I know you're not lying?" He asked me.

I pulled out a little bracelet that we made when we were kids that I've kept on me since I left for good luck. It always worked, it felt like. I was wearing it when my dad claimed me, although I already knew who he was, when I found Thalia and Annabeth I was wearing it, when I was deemed leader I had it on.

When I ran into Percy in California, I had it on.

"Because who the fuck else," I was real with him. "would have this bracelet? I'm pretty sure it's one of two in existence, and you at least used to have the other one."

Of course, I let him take they keychain to look at it. It doesn't fit my wrist anymore, so I keep it in my keychain. It was a friendship bracelet, his sister insisted that we made them. We were like, 8 or 9, and kids called us gay and asked if we were together and one of those things were true for me.

I'm gay, but I denied it at the time because I wasn't even 10 and hadn't hit puberty to know.

Amy walked over to look at the bracelet as some other people came in to see what was going on. Who was here.

"Is it...?" Amy asked, because it's not like she'd know exactly what it looked like.

For a moment, it was silent. He knew.

I knew he knew.

And Morgan confirmed that he knew when he pulled me into a hug, which caught me a little off guard because we weren't super touchy as kids because of those rumors. High five, handshakes, and the occasional bro hug.

Yeah, mentally wasn't the best time. Got over it, middle school started, rumors started again, and I left Westport.

I returned the hug though, and Amy joined in to the hug, as did Morgan's dad.

It was a little weird, but I'll take it.

"Sweetie, who's here?" Morgan's mom asked, because who would her son and dad and Amy all be bugging?

The hug was disbanded so they could see me, and I realized that I was taller than Morgan now. Which was like, cool, because he was always taller than me as a kid.

"It's uh, a long story," Morgan started off. "But  it's Luke! Luke and uh...."

He looked at Percy, and realized that he didn't even look like any of our friends or my family.

"Who's he?"

And this is the prime time to find out if he's homophobic or not, I guess. I'm not lying.

"Oh, this is Percy," I forgot that I didn't introduce him to the others when we immediately got here. "he's my boyfriend."

And that was all they needed to hear to absolutely adore him. Thank the gods.