Athena Pjo - Tumblr Posts
Friendly reminder that Athena literally disowned Annabeth-
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The way I remember it was that it was flickering between Athena and Minerva, so in a way both did/didnt.
Friendly reminder that Athena literally disowned Annabeth-
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Hecate Cabin Headcanons
They each have their own separate room in their cabin. If they can magic up a new room, why shouldn’t they?
They have such a large variety of powers and traits that they almost always get mistaken for children of other gods before they get claimed. Aphrodite, Demeter, Hypnos, Apollo, Iris, even Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades before the oath.
Their fatal flaw tends to be cynicism or hubris.
Their knee jerk reaction to being caught doing something they shouldn’t is to assume that they’ll be burnt at the stake or hanged, or any type of execution used in the Salem witch trials. It never happens.
They like ancient history a little too much and will talk about it with the Athena cabin for hours.
They work with the Hephaestus kids, enchanting anything they make.
They're best friends with children of Demeter, as Hecate helped Demeter look for Persephone after she was kidnapped by Hades.
They like to sneak out of camp purely to let their rage out on fake witches and fortune tellers.
There are very few children of Hecate, but they're single-handedly some of the most powerful demigods. They can essentially learn any type of magic and have complete control over the mist.
They never liked the Harry Potter series or J. K. Rowling's idea of magic. They call it heresy and blasphemy.
Hecate passes down bright emerald green or purple eyes, hair that grows very slow, and a quick metabolism. They welcome Hazel Levesque as one of their own siblings, but a few kinda dislike her for being their mother's favorite.
Leo Valdez with the cabins
Cabin 1: Zeus. Jason and Thalia Grace. Leo thinks Thalia is hot and Jason is Jason. He loves them. Gets along very well. He would also be in love with any other potential children of Zeus.
Cabin 2: Hera. He probably tried to blow up the cabin. Dumb prophecy.
Cabin 3: Poseidon. Things aren't the best between Leo and Percy all of the time. They have a lot of rough patches. But they do enjoy being friends and working together. Just pray that Poseidon doesn't have any kids Leo could take an interest in. Then he'd be dead.
Cabin 4: Demeter. Not great. Fire and plants. They want him to stay away from their gardens. Leo tries to build sprinklers and fountains and entire greenhouses to get them to be more open to him. They appreciate it, but they won't let him in no matter what. They like him outside of their gardens and calm.
Cabin 5: Ares. Leo is the kind of kid that the Ares cabin would bully. But as soon as they find out he's the first son of Hephaestus with fire powers since 1666, they do not mess with him. They're typically nice to him, and he definitely is confused. They stop other kids from picking on him. Like, his bodyguards. They are not risking getting lit on fire. He tries to make friends with them. They give in eventually.
Cabin 6: Athena. They actually get along pretty well most of the time. Athena kids are the gifted kids of the demigod world. And Leo is a genius. He's been doing college level math since he was like 8. He and the Athena kids will get together to work on engineering projects. Every other time, they think he's very distracting. But they're some of the very few people who recognize his intellect. They make him feel understood to an extent in a way not many other people do.
Cabin 7: Apollo. (I don't remember what happened with him in TOA.) The medics in the Apollo cabin are not big fans of him. He blows stuff up a lot. He put people in dangerous situations. People get sent to the infirmary because of stuff he did all the time. Will Solace definitely has told him off once. The other Apollo kids love laughing at his antics. Leo does a little bow to them afterwards and walks off, laughing. He loves the Apollo kids.
Cabin 8: Artemis. The hunters of Artemis scare him. Thalia Grace. He'd totally want them to like him though.
Cabin 9: Hephaestus. Leo gets along really well with all of his siblings. They all work together in bunker 9 building whatever they find the most entertaining. Of course, sometimes they have to remind him that they actually have a job to do. They all have to watch out for each other, and they do.
Cabin 10: Aphrodite. Piper is absolutely his bestest friend. Sleepovers? Yes. Annoying the shit out of the rest of the Aphrodite kids? Of course. What else do you expect? The rest of the cabin does find him endearing, but they wouldn't ever do anything with him. Just friends. Oh and the makeovers. Leo wears makeup every single day purely because he lets the younger Aphrodite campers practice on him and he doesn't want to insult them by taking it off. And he feels fabulous in it. He is.
Cabin 11: Hermes. Oh boy, does Leo love the Hermes cabin! Travis and Connor Stoll playing pranks on Leo. Leo playing pranks on Travis and Connor Stoll. He messes with them so much. And they all enjoy it. Very much fun. 10/10. Leo's besties.
Cabin 12: Dionysus. They also get along great with Leo. The Dionysus kids invite him to their parties and he IS the party. Table dancing, party tricks with his fire powers, and just being reckless in general. There's no alcohol, but with Leo Valdez in attendance, there might as well be. His fun, carefree energy rubs off on people. And the parties help him forget about his problems. He doesn't have to think about his mom's death for a couple hours. He always thanks the Dionysus kids after a party. They don't really understand why he's thanking them when he was the best thing at the party, but they go along with it.
Cabin 13: Hades. Hazel obviously likes him cause of Sammy Valdez and all that. Nico wouldn't have a problem with him if he knew him better or spent any time with him at all. Any other Hades kids may or may not. They would totally think his fire powers are badass, though.
Cabin 14: Iris. I don't think they'd appreciate his jokes very much. He would love to build them a massive projector to put rainbows on everything. They don't really talk to him though. They think he comes off too strong. Despite being some of the nicest demigods at camp, they don't realize what's behind his goofy demeanor.
Cabin 15: Hypnos. The Hypnos kids might know more about him than any other cabin. Leo definitely had trouble sleeping at night after being on the streets his entire childhood. Like every other demigod, the Hypnos cabin is happy help. They'll take Leo in and let him talk about his problems until he falls asleep and then they chase away his nightmares. He accidentally woke up in the arms of one of the Hypnos girls and got kicked out for a while. But they always welcome him back in.
Cabin 16: Nemesis. Honestly, he's probably kinda scared of the Nemesis kids. He played a prank on one or two of them and definitely regretted it. But then they came around to him. Like Jason, they recognized that Leo did a lot of good despite so many bad things happening to him. So they looked up to him too. They refused to let any other campers pick on him. They checked in on him a lot, knowing that he was probably struggling with something. But they were too scared to pry, so they never really got to know that side of him. He didn't understand why they treated him that way, but he liked it. And he liked them.
Cabin 17: Nike. He wasn't very happy with their mother. But he tried to get along with them at first. He played a few jokes on them. But then they came back with so much harder, trying to turn it into a competition. He absolutely regretted messing with them. It was to the point that he started avoiding them out of fear that they would do it again.
Cabin 18: Hebe. The Hebe kids figured that because he's a hero, he should be looked up to. And he definitely flirted with them a lot. And they did like him, but it was more of a platonic thing. They liked his carefree demeanor, but he wasn't the kind of hero they were looking for in the long run. They were chill with each other though.
Cabin 19: Tyche. Leo prayed to Tyche kids after being convinced that he was cursed with his fire powers. He thought that his mom's death was his fault and he was terrified of being the reason anyone else died. He was hoping the Tyche kids could give him enough luck to not kill anyone. The Tyche kids can't exactly receive prayers becuase they're not gods, though. And Leo never killed anyone. So he assumed it worked, and the Tyche kids had no idea that anything was happening. He would thank them everytime he ran into one and they would give him a confused look, but they never questioned it. So Leo and the Tyche cabin were on good terms.
Cabin 20: Hecate. The Hecate cabin gets along great with him. They like to enchant his inventions, making them much more powerful. They encourage him to file for patents and be an actual inventor. He always blushes and brushes it off, claiming he's going to be an engineer and he doesn't need to make all this fancy new stuff, but he's just trying to hide the fact that he's very flustered and prideful. He tries to flirt with them, but he kinda breaks when they flirt back. At one point he was convinced he was going to marry a child of Hecate. But the Hecate kids tend to push him to work until he breaks down, physically unable to work anymore. Yet he's very grateful for them.
Why Zeus Forbids Interactions between Demigods and their Godly Parents Theory.
What if one of the reasons Zeus doesn't want his family to interact with their offspring is because he's afraid they'd all become powerful enough to overthrow him?
For instance, when the kids interact with their parents more they find that they have more demigod powers than they once thought they had. Percy gets progressively stronger as he and Poseidon work on their relationship. Same with Nico and Hades.
Ares also seems to recognize this and gifts his kids weapons and resources that give them more strength and tactical advantages. Even though he's not a great parent to Clarisse; he's heavily involved with his kids when it comes to war.
Athena uses this strategy too with her own kids but also reminds them of the drawbacks that can come with certain powers like with Annabeth's cap.
Demeter may not get involved with her kids because she doesn't want to risk getting too attached and she knows by being more connected to them they get very strong. Persephone was sometimes feared more than Hades in Greek worship and mythology.
It also helps the parents. The stronger the belief and connection in them; the more powerful the god gets. We see this with Poseidon in TLO and Apollo in TOA. Just some thoughts.
THIS WAS SO GOOD WE NEED MOREE (if you want to)
GREEK ROMANTIC. luke castellan
IN WHICH… luke castellan joins an exchange program to visit camp jupiter for sword fighting experience but ends up spending most of his time with a girl from said roman camp.
Warnings : lowkey loser! Luke, kinda long… so uh yeah, Luke kinda thirsts over reader (he’s 19 and has spent most of his time in a camp, he does not get girls), i worked on this for like a week (PLZZZ READ AND LIKE AND COMMENT AND SUBSCRIBE 🫡), less strict version of Camp Jupiter
—
idea inspired by @the-empty-refrigerator !
I literally do classical studies, this is perfect for me to yap abt my roman knowledge. I have no idea what Camp Jupiter looks like so imma just use my Roman architecture knowledge for this. THIS IS MY FIRST LUKE FIC IN A WHILE LOL.
( disclaimer : info will differ from this fic to the canon plot bc i don’t know much abt camp jupiter )



In all honesty, Luke was a little nervous. He had willingly signed up for an exchange program between Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter but now that he was on his way to the latter, he was anxiously bouncing his leg.
Years ago, there was a thick mist between the two camps due to previous events involving bloody wars. Now, that mist was lifted and the campers were free to sign up for an exchange program to visit the other.
Luke was wondering why he had agreed to sign up in the first place. Chiron promised he’d gain further experience in sword fighting, but warned that it wouldn’t be easy.
Camp Half-Blood prided itself on its friendly approach. Camp Jupiter was anything but that. Their campers were rugged, harsh, and disciplined by Lupa, the wolf who raised Romulus and Remus. Of course, their war-like nature made sense because the camp was founded on bloodshed when Romulus slayed Remus.
Luke lifted his head, looking around to see if he could spot anyone in a purple shirt. He was waiting on the side of the road, looking rather pathetic and sad to those passing by.
A black car with tinted windows rolled to a stop in front of Luke, and the car jolted open. “Are you Luke Castellan?” The demigod inside asked. Luke slowly nodded his head. “Hop in.” There was a bit of awkward shuffling from Luke to squeeze past the unnecessary amount of swords in the car. “So, how’s Camp Half-Blood?” The demigod driving questioned, looking at Luke through his shaded sunglasses.
“Good…” Luke was secretly relieved that someone was talking to avoid an awkward car ride. “Probably less demanding than Camp Jupiter, though. I’ve heard horror stories of your training from campers.”
The boy laughed as he sharply turned around a corner. “Yeah. It’s pretty bad. Made me wish I was a normal kid when I had to do all those pushups.” He paused before starting a new conversation. “Do you workout? Because you’ve got some nice muscles. Not to be weird or anything.”
“Uh, yeah.” Luke cleared his throat, “I sort of have to. Being a swordsman and all that.”
The other demigod whistled. “Must be hard, man. I’m Sohan, by the way. Son of Mercury, Hermes for you.”
Luke leaned forward, “I’m son of Hermes. That makes us like… distantly related or something.” Sohan laughed and tilted his head back.
“I like you, Castellan. Mind if I call you Luke?”
“Go ahead.”
The rest of the drive was each demigod taking their turn to explain different parts of their camps. Luke realized that Camp Jupiter didn’t have all the fun activities Half-Blood had. Though, there was a more bloody version of Capture the Flag.
“So you know how you have camp councillors, right? We have something similar but we call them praetors. They’re basically the leaders of the camp.” Sohan explained as he bit into his sugary chocolate bar. “We have two at a time, one girl and one guy.”
“So there’s only two leaders?” Luke questioned while opening the wrapping of his cheeseburger.
“Praetors are the highest leaders. Other than that, we have centurions, augurs, and quaestors. It’s confusing, I know, but you’ll get the hang of it. You don’t really need to know what everybody does, just who’s who.”
It was all too confusing for Luke.
“Our current male praetor is also a son of Mercury, his name’s Jae. Our other one is a daughter of Venus, Aphrodite for you. I think.” Sohan paused before shaking his head, dismissing his doubt. “We all thought she was kind of crazy for going after the position. That’s when I learnt to never underestimate a child of Venus because they are brutal.” Sohan chuckled as the car finally came to an abrupt halt.
Luke peeked out the window, gazing at the tall trees. Past the thick forest, he could faintly see a river.
Sohan grabbed the swords from beside Luke, sheepishly chuckling. “New sword delivery.” He uttered, “Didn’t have time to put them away. Some are still in a box.”
Luke merely hummed as he hopped out of the car. “Need help?” He questioned. He took a handful of swords from Sohan’s pile, easily supporting their weight. Sohan carefully stacked a box on top of everything else before nodding.
“You know, if I was a girl or gay, I’d have a crush on you.” Sohan uttered as the pair walked through the forest. “How do the girls at Half-Blood like you?”
“I’ve been chased multiple times. That should say it all.” Nothing was scarier to Luke than a hoard of girls sprinting towards him on Valentine’s Day.
“That’s the Tiber River.” Sohan pointed out as Luke stumbled into a sunny clearing. “The river that Romulus and Remus were thrown into.” Sohan led the way towards small, slightly unstable bridge. He effortlessly walked over it, ignoring the way the rickety wood creaked.
Luke sighed, having no choice but to follow after Sohan unless he wanted to swim.
“I’ll be the one showing you around. I just have to drop these swords off with the praetors, or at least one of them, and then we can begin.” Sohan piped up. He was shorter than Luke with shiny black hair and olive skin. Luke assumed he was Asian with the slight accent peeking through and the red-inked tattoo on his shoulder displaying a dragon with Chinese characters.
“Y/N!” Sohan suddenly shouted. Luke spotted the H/C-haired girl as she turned around, in the middle of talking with another camper. Luke couldn’t instantly tell who her mother was.
“Oh, the swords. Calisto, go find Jae.” Y/N hurried the other girl off before jogging towards Sohan.
“This is Luke, by the way. The exchange camper.” Sohan said, trying to gesture towards Luke. The action caused the box on top of the swords to slip. It opened, a group of swords toppling out.
Luke was quick to react. Instead of attempting to catch every sword, he simply grabbed Y/N and pulled her side before the swords could skewer her.
There was a second of silence before Sohan spoke up. “Oops… Sorry, Y/N.”
Y/N pressed her lips into a thin line as she stared at the swords on the ground. Her gaze flickered to Luke, who still had a tight grip on her arm. “Luke, right?” She asked, lips curving into a charming smile.
Sohan looked at Y/N then at Luke. “You know… I need to talk to Jae about uh, something important. Y/N, would you mind showing Luke around?” Sohan didn’t wait for an answer before clumsily hurrying off, dropping swords every two seconds.
“You forget these swords!” Luke called after him but Sohan wasn’t listening.
“Just dump them here with the rest.” Y/N instructed with a shrug. Luke dropped the swords, watching as they hit the floor with a loud clang. “Let’s get started with the tour.” She formally clasped her hands behind her back, standing up straighter than Luke had ever seen somebody stand.
“This is the Praetorian Gate, the entrance to the main barracks. On your right is the bathrooms. This street is called the Via Principalis, it’s the central road lined with barracks, the mess hall, and other necessaries needed for our wellbeing.”
Luke was a little stunned with how Y/N was speaking. She was talking like her words were scripted and had been practiced a million times in the mirror. Luke usually free-styled his tours.
“Sohan will show you your room once he finishes with his errand. For now, all you need to know is that you’ll be staying in one of these buildings. Behind them is the compost bin. Please do not jump in there because we have had to go dumpster diving to retrieve Half-Blood campers.”
Luke let out a quiet sigh. “It was Travis, wasn’t it?”
“You know him?” Y/N questioned, looking over her shoulder in mild interest.
“Unfortunately. He’s my brother.”
Y/N silently nodded, holding back a comment. “Beside the compost bin, where you raccoon of a brother jumped into for a game of hide and seek, are the stables.” Y/N led Luke down a smaller path to show him the stables. He glanced at the bin, arching an eyebrow at a badly drawn version of Travis on a sign with a large X on it.
“We had to ensure nobody else jumped in again.” Y/N explained, “So we put up a sign. It’s not very well-drawn. All the Apollo kids were away so we had no one artistic around. Over there is the training centre. Feel free to use it whenever. We have plenty of new swords as you already know.”
“What about those buildings?” Luke asked in curiosity as they walked back towards the main entrance.
“That’s the Praetorium and Principa, used to hold meetings and act as headquarters. Those aren’t important to you.”
Camp Jupiter was bigger than Luke expected. There were two main areas for civilisation and even a university.
“This is the forum. This area of camp is basically a replicant of Rome itself.” Y/N piped up, “There’s the senate house, also used for meetings, New Rome University, the Coliseum where we sometimes train or host mock battles, Circus Maximum, again used for training, sometimes chariot racing, ceremonies, and so on. There’s a lake over there if you ever wanna spend your free time swimming, but I will warn you that if you ever take your shirt off, it’ll attract attention.” Y/N teasingly smiled, confusing Luke. She was strictly sticking to her job as a praetor a moment ago, reciting a speech about the camp.
“Uh… why will it attract attention?” Luke sheepishly asked, feeling a little embarrassed for not catching on.
“You’re a new boy, Luke. Girls here love fresh meat, especially when they have as much muscle as you.”
Luke’s cheeks flushed light pink. “Right.” He uttered, suddenly aware of how a group of girls was waiting for Y/N to leave so they could pounce on him. “Let’s uh, go back to the bin. I wanna see that sign of my brother again.”
Y/N slightly chuckled. “They aren’t gonna hurt you, Luke.” She said, referring to the girls behind her, “Unless you want them to.”
“I would prefer to keep all my limbs attached to my body, thank you very much.”
Y/N cracked another amused smile. “Suit yourself. I like my boys missing an arm.” She joked.
“Guess I’ll cut mine off then after all.” Luke wittily retorted.
“We have a game of capture the flag happening tonight if you want to join.” Y/N offered, “You can sacrifice your arm for me then.”
Luke grinned, happy he was actually getting along with someone from Camp Jupiter given their rivalry with Half-Blood. “I’ve heard your games of Capture the flag are a little more harsher… to what extent is that actually true?”
Y/N quietly laughed. “It’s Roman style, someone will probably lose an eye to be honest.” She said it in such a joking tone but there was a look in her eyes that alerted Luke she wasn’t joking.
—
Luke would definitely come to regret even thinking about joining this game of capture the flag. The teams weren’t organised by Cabins, instead each leader strategically chose their members months before the actual game to ensure a high chance of victory.
Luke ended up standing across from Y/N, dressed in golden armour and holding a sword that seemed to be a little too heavy. Sohan was with Luke, checking his arrows.
“They still allow you to use how and arrows?” Luke questioned, remembering how said weapon was banned from Half-Blood’s game of capture the flag because of an incident.
“What’s fun without a little arrow wound?” Sohan joked. Luke slowly turned his head, eyes wider than usual.
“Not being stabbed by an arrow seems more fun.” He muttered to himself.
He glanced at Y/N, who was carelessly swinging her long spear around. She met his gaze and paused for a second before lightly dragging her thumb over her throat with a patronising grin.
Luke gulped. “She’s gonna kill me.” He whispered.
“Oh, good! That means she likes you.” Sohan nudged Luke with a smile, “The harder she tries to kill you, the more she likes you.”
“That seems a little contradictory.” Luke replied, almost shaking.
“When the bell rings, and trust me you’ll hear it, just follow me. We’re paired together to hide and defend the flag. All you have to do is hide and jump out to stop the opponents. They’ll think it’s only me and then, bam! You come in.” Sohan explained the plan to Luke, who was listening intently so he wasn’t the one to lose an eye.
Sohan tightly gripped the flag in his grasp. “We have ten minutes to plant the flag somewhere. A second bell will ring and that means the game has started.”
Luke nodded, his heart pounding in his chest. A loud bell suddenly rang out through the clearing and Sohan immediately sprung into action. He sprinted off and Luke scrambled to follow him.
“This way!” Sohan exclaimed as he sharply turned to the left. Luke leaped over a log, landing heavily on the hard dirt. The forest should have felt familiar since Half-Blood also played surrounded by trees but this felt different. Luke had no idea where they were going until Sohan came to an abrupt stop.
“Here should be good.” He panted.
Luke looked around. They were surrounded by heavy vegetation and he was barely able to see past the thick tree leaves. Sohan lodged the flag between two stones and nodded in approval.
“The bell will be ringing soon. Hide over there.” Sohan ordered, pointing at a bush beside the flag. Luke sighed as he ducked behind the bush, the twigs below him scraping at his knees. “I hate this hiding place.” He muttered, “I feel like a Guinea pig.”
“That sounds like a you problem.” Sohan replied. “The bell should be ringing any second now. Remember to stay quiet.”
Luke silently rolled his eyes as he ducked lower to the floor in order to get comfortable and peek past the bush branches. In the distance, he could hear the sound of the second bell ringing followed by loud shouts varying in volume. Some kids at Half-Blood, mainly the Ares kids, loved battle cries but not to that extent.
Luke waited ten minutes and when nothing happened, he resorted to lying on his back. Twenty minutes passed and there was still no sign of any other demigods. Luke had resorted to seeing how many leaves he could count before he heard a quiet rustle. He paused, waiting.
Everything was still before Luke heard weapons clash loudly together. He peered above the bush, instantly recognising Y/N past her bronze helmet. There was another kid reaching for the flag while Sohan was struggling with Y/N.
Luke quickly reached for his sword, flinging it at the Roman demigod before he could grasp the flag. The handle hit him in the face, temporarily stunning him. Luke was swift to jump out and grab his sword, holding it in front of him.
“Sorry ‘bout that, man.” Luke uttered. He swung his blade at the demigod boy, who he later realized was named Nikolai because of the inscription in his helmet.
Nikolai counterattacked Luke, effortlessly pushing the Greek brunette back. Luke was reluctant to injure a kid he barely knew but Sohan continuously shouting “hit him” was getting annoying.
Luke grabbed Nikolai by the shoulders, shoving him away from the flag. Sohan was battling against Y/N, who had a spear similar to Clarisse’s. Compared to her spear, Sohan’s bow and arrows and backup dagger wouldn’t be of much use.
Nikolai swung his sword at Luke but every time, Luke managed to block the hits. Luke pushed Nikolai’s sword away, but he underestimated his strength and the sword went flying.
Both Nikolai and Luke turned their heads to stare at the weapon lying on the floor.
“Hit him!” Sohan exclaimed through gritted teeth as he held Y/N back by her arm.
Luke, on instinct, punched Nikolai’s shoulder and scrambled for his sword. He leaned over to grasp it but he was unexpectedly kicked from behind.
Y/N, who Sohan should have been holding back, had knocked the son of Mercury to the ground and made an instant beeline for Luke.
“Don’t chop my head off!” Luke yelled as he rolled to the left to avoid Y/N’s sword as she forcefully swung it down. Luke kicked her ankles, causing her to sway.
Nikolai made another reach for the flag but Sohan managed to shoot an arrow his way, luckily not hitting the boy but it served as a warning.
“You said this was an easy job!” Luke yelled at Sohan as Y/N made another attempt to hit Luke. He tried to strike her ankles again but the same trick wouldn’t fool the praetor twice. She effortlessly pulled him up and slammed his back against a tree, holding a smaller knife to his throat.
“I am literally so scared right now.” Luke wheezed as he wiggled around in Y/N’s surprisingly strong grip. Sohan shot another arrow, this time at Y/N. It barely missed her head. While she was shocked for a second, Luke grabbed her by both shoulders and pushed her back.
“We got a runner!” Another voice suddenly shouted. A member of Y/N’s team, sprinted into the area, followed by two boys from Luke and Sohan’s group.
Sohan scrambled to stop the runner aiming for the flag but Nikolai knocked him back to the ground. Luke made the executive decision to pursue the runner. There wasn’t much Luke could do with his sword so he tossed it aside and did the only other thing he could think of; he tackled the other demigod.
Y/N let out a laugh as the two boys toppled down a hill, each trying to let the other take the brute of the floor. Luke groaned as he spat out a mouthful of daisies. His helmet had fallen off somewhere and he had no energy to actively search for it.
The bell rung once more and the demigod beside Luke sighed as he removed his helmet, running a hand through his messy blond hair.
“You’re the Greek kid, right?” He questioned. “I’m Kato.”
“Yeah. Luke, nice to meet you.”
“Do you also feel like you’ve got internal bleeding?” Kato grumbled as the two boys made no effort to sit up, instead choosing to just lie on the floor among the flowers.
“Oh, definitely.” Luke replied, “Think I might be sick later.”
—
“You both have bruised ribs. Honestly, it could have been worse. Drinking this will help.” An Apollo kid handed Kato and Luke a foul smelling drink.
“It’s best to get it over and down with.” Kato whispered, “Cheers.”
“Not sure if I actually want to consume this.” Luke wrinkled up his nose but tilted his head back away.
The pair gulped down the liquid as fast as they could, both gagging once they had finished.
“Wow, you guys are almost like twins. If Kato had brown hair, you guys might actually sell it.”
Kato and Luke exchanged a look before they both grinned.
“I didn’t know there was temporary hair dye.” Kato said as he stared down at the box. Y/N sighed, placing her hands on her hips.
“Do you want it or not? Coloured hair spray might be easier for you.”
“Yeah, give me that.” Kato threw the box of temporary dye aside. Luke easily caught it, handing it to Y/N.
“Thanks.” She smiled before looking through a trunk of hair supplies. “Good game out there, Luke. Are you always that quick thinking on your feet?”
Luke shrugged as he stood beside Y/N, leaning on the bunk bed behind him. “I guess? Most of the time we have to think quickly at Half-Blood. We don’t exactly have strategies for every little thing.”
Y/N and Kato stared at Luke in mild surprise. Y/N let out a quiet huff, “I guess you Greeks are disorganised like Lupa said.”
“She said what?” Luke stood up straight. “We aren’t that disorganised. We still have tactics.”
“Yeah, and they kinda suck.”
“At least my whole existence isn’t based on a brother who killed his sibling because of anger issues.” Luke muttered loud enough for Y/N to hear.
“You are so dead, Castellan.” Y/N retorted, leaning forward.
“I don’t really want to use the same threat as you because that’s boring. But I will kick your ankle again.” Luke replied.
Kato cleared his throat. “Don’t mean to interrupt whatever… lover argument you have going on but how does this spray work?”
“The cap’s still on. You gotta take it off first.” Y/N exasperatedly sighed.
“Oh, yeah, got it. Go back to your lovers quarrel.”
Y/N picked up an empty box of hair dye, tossing it at Kato. “There is no lovers quarrel!” She exclaimed.
“Really? Bc I felt something.” Luke teasingly piped up from behind her.
“I hope you choke.” Y/N mumbled, sending Luke a warning glare. “Maybe I should’ve cut off your arm. Would’ve taught you a reason.”
“I’ll just take my shirt off because like you said, no one can resist me.” Luke grinned as they bantered back and forth.
“Don’t rely on your looks to escape me, Castellan. Next time we play capture the flag, I’m kicking you down another hill no matter whose team you’re in.” There was a knock on the door and a rough-looking teenager peeked his head inside.
His body was covered in cuts, grazes, and purple bruises. He had a slit in his left eyebrow and an earring dangling from his right ear. When he turned to Y/N and said something in Latin, Luke noticed a shiny piercing on his tongue.
“Castellan, right?” The boy asked, pointing at Luke. “Nice to meet you. I’m Jae, the other praetor.” Jae stepped forward and reached for Luke’s hand, firmly shaking it.
“Nice to meet you.” Luke greeted him.
“I see you’ve already found yourself acquainted with the devil reincarnated.” Jae slyly grinned at Y/N, who could do nothing but huff and cross her arms over her chest in annoyance. “I’ve got to borrow Y/N for a second, hope you boys don’t mind.”
Y/N sighed as she followed Jae out the door. “This couldn’t have waited?” She asked.
“I was reluctant to interfere. You and the Castellan boy seemed quite close.” Jae replied with a shrug.
“I will literally feed you to the monsters if you don’t shut your mouth.”
“She likes you.” Kato uttered once Y/N was out of ear range.
“How can you tell?” Luke arched an eyebrow as he sat down on a nearby chair.
“She never argues with anyone. Not like that at least. When she argues, you have to listen because there’s no choice. That was more like… bickering used as an excuse to talk to you.” Kato said as he finally put down the can of hair spray. “Yo, we kind of do look alike. That’s freaky.”
Luke ignored Kato’s last point. “How do you know she doesn’t bicker?”
“Y/N’s a straight to the point type of girl. You’ll know when she doesn’t like something. If she was really arguing with you, she would’ve had you shut up within your first two words.” Kato laughed, “She made me shut up once by shoving the words down my throat… literally. She wrote my words on a piece of paper and made me eat it.”
Kato paused, shivering as he remembered the chilling moment. “Anyway, Sohan, me, and a couple of other guys are going to the lake for a swim. You wanna join?”
“Yeah, sure, why not. I’ll act as eye candy like Y/N described me.” Luke sarcastically said, making Kato chuckle.
“Trust me, the girls will love you.” Kato only reassured Y/N’s point.
There were already a few smaller groups at the lake when Luke and the others arrived. As Luke combed a hand through his hair, he noticed a few girls looking his way and giggling. Kato nudged him.
“See? Told you they’d love you.”
Luke simply nodded. He lifted his shirt to pull it off but unexpectedly saw Y/N not too far away, locked in what seemed to be a serious conversation with Jae. Her eyebrows were tensely furrowed before her gaze suddenly switched to Luke.
He almost jumped at how fast her eyes moved. He quickly pulled his shirt off, giving Y/N a small wave. She slightly raised her eyebrows but never looked away. Slowly, she waved back.
Jae finished speaking and Y/N nodded, pointing to her right and uttering a few more words before they split ways.
“Wow, you two really do look like twins.” Y/N said as she looked at Luke and Kato. “You sure you don’t share a mother?”
“You out here for a swim too?” Luke questioned, squinting under the bright sun.
“No. I came here to check out the guys and pick my next murder victim.”
“How charming. And I thought what we had was special when you threatened to roll me down a hill again.”
“I’m saving you for last, Castellan. When the police find my victims, I’ll ask you to hide me then I’ll stab you in the back.”
“You know what I’m craving right now?” Luke switched the topic, “A pina colada.”
Y/N stared at Luke for a minute before furrowing her eyebrows. “Is that… some sort of drink?”
She heard Luke dramatically gasp. “You’ve never tried one?! Lucky for you, I’m a master at making cocktails. Just sit here, look pretty, and choose your next target. I’ll be right back.”
That was how Y/N found herself hanging around Luke almost every day, trying different cocktail mixtures he made while sitting under a large umbrella to avoid the heat.
“Why’d you put so much vodka in this one?” Y/N questioned, frowning, “It’s all I can taste.”
“My hand slipped.” Luke shrugged. He was lying on a towel beside Y/N, taking advantage of the sun to gain that perfect summer tan, as he liked to call it. “How come you never join your friends in the water?” He questioned, glancing over at Jae and a few other campers who were beckoning Y/N over.
“I don’t like water.” She covered her eyes with her shaded sunglasses, ignoring her friends. “It messes up my hair.”
“I’ll go swimming then. I think my back is turning red now.” Luke stood up, stretching. Y/N gulped down the rest of her drink, carelessly throwing the cup to the side as she jumped to her feet.
“I’ll come if you’re going.” She announced.
“Why the sudden change in attitude?” Luke teased, nudging her.
“I will force your head under water and let you drown.” Y/N deadpanned, causing Luke to take a small step back. Luke reached for his water bottle and took a large sip while Y/N peeled her shirt off. Luke’s eyes flickered to her for a second before his cheeks turned red and he spat out a mouthful of water.
Y/N looked at him weirdly, a judging glint in her eyes. “You good?” She asked.
“Yeah… fine.” Luke choked out.
Y/N didn’t believe him. She looked down at her bikini with bows and ruffles before raising an eyebrow. “Are you staring at my boobs?” She accused him.
“No! Are you staring at my abs?!” Luke tried to change the conversation but his attempt backfired.
“Yes. You’ve got nice abs.” Y/N shamelessly admitted like a true Roman, never scared to state the obvious.
“Well, in that case, you’ve got nice boobs.” Luke wanted to punch himself as soon as he said that.
“It doesn’t sound right when you say that to a girl.” Y/N scrunched up her face which only made Luke’s desire to be swallowed by the ground stronger.
“I realised that.”
“Y/N! Luke! Are you gonna keep chatting or finally get in the water?!” Sohan yelled from his position on a rock in the water.
“My makeup’s gonna get all ruined.” Y/N huffed but still dipped a leg into the lake. “It’s cold.”
“Lake’s are usually cold.” Luke retorted, not hesitating to jump into the deep end of the lake. Water splashed everywhere and Y/N shielded her face from the droplets.
“Watch it!” She yelled out a warning at Luke as he resurfaced, grinning.
“Oops.” He sarcastically apologised.
Y/N sat down at the shore’s edge, soaking her legs in the lake. “I’m good here.” She said, kicking her legs.
“You sure? The water isn’t that cold once you get used to it.” Luke swam closer to her and heaved himself up onto the warm rock.
Y/N kicked the water again, nodding. “Yeah… I’ll ruin my hair and makeup if I get in.” She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear but it slipped out again, much to her annoyance.
She frowned, reaching for it again, but Luke beat her to it. “You’re pretty without makeup.” He said as he securely tucked the strand away.
Y/N glanced at the boy beside her, suddenly feeling very small. Luke made her feel vulnerable, not necessarily in a bad way. His deep brown eyes made her want to pour out every secret.
Like how she secretly hated an Apollo boy because he kept beating her to the last piece of cake.
Or how she cheated on every English paper in school to raise her GPA because she simply couldn’t read properly.
Or perhaps about how she was afraid of love, despite being the daughter of Venus herself. That fear always made Y/N feel a little stupid.
Or… how she couldn’t swim and refused to swim because she almost drowned once while her so-called friends laughed at her.
“Luke… I can’t swim.” She blurted out. “My hair and makeup don’t matter… I just can’t swim. And I don’t want to swim.”
Luke carelessly shrugged and for a second, Y/N was scared he’d dismiss her fear.
“I’ll stay here with you then.” He said instead. “I’ll keep you company.”
“You can swim if you want to.” Y/N replied, fidgeting with her hands. Her heart leaped in her chest and her stomach felt queasy. Was this a crush?
“Nah. I like it here better.” Luke shifted closer to Y/N, slowly slinging an arm around her shoulder. He was expecting her to immediately shove him away but she remained still. Her back was rigidly straight until she hesitatingly relaxed.
“Thanks.” She said as the sun began to set, hues of orange, yellow, and blue painting the sky and reflecting into the lake. Y/N was surrounded by laughing demigods and legacies but she could only focus on Luke; how his hair looked perfect despite being damp, how his skin glistened in the sun, and how his arm was wrapped tightly around her as if he was protecting her from something.
For once, she felt safe. There was no quest she was required to complete, no glory to seek for the Legion, and no heavy exceptions weighing her down.
It was just her and Luke sitting beside each other in comfortable silence.
—
“Are you sure you have to go?” Sohan asked as he tightly clung to Luke, fully prepared to force the son of Hermes to stay.
“My little sister’s waiting for me.” Luke said as he hugged Sohan back, firmly patting his shoulder. Annabeth. Luke had told Y/N about his sister; they weren’t related by blood but she was his found family.
“Make sure to visit and right.” Jae uttered as he struggled to pull Sohan away from Luke. Y/N stood silently next to Jae, holding Luke’s bag.
“Have a safe trip.” She told him, which wasn’t the goodbye Luke had been expecting. He envisioned a small smile, maybe a hug if Y/N was in a good mood.
“Thanks. Good luck with your praetorian duties.” Luke replied, nodding his head.
“You ready to go?” Kato piped up, throwing the car keys in the air and effortlessly catching them.
“Yeah… I guess.” Luke muttered, stealing another glance at Y/N.
‘KISS HER!’ His mind screamed at him. This would be his last opportunity to address the feelings he had caught for Venus’ favourite daughter.
Jae and Sohan looked at each other then at Y/N, who seemed to be restraining all emotions. They almost seemed like they were begging her to make a move on Luke before it was too late.
“Bye, Y/N.” Luke stuck out his hand and Y/N didn’t hesitate to grab it.
“Bye, Castellan. Camp Jupiter will miss you.”
Luke knew Y/N was too prideful to say ‘I’ll miss you’. This was her alternative.
Luke and Y/N stared at each other with their hands still gripping the other before they finally halted the awkward exchange.
Luke followed Kato towards the car, somewhat hoping Y/N would chase after him. She didn’t.
Y/N watched as Luke walked away, waiting for the moment he’d turn around and run back. He never did. He passed the stone arch that acted as entrance to Camp Jupiter, most likely to never return and if he ever did, it’d be in a few long years.
—
A year had passed since Luke’s departure from the Roman Demigod camp. He was pleased to be back at Half-Blood, but there was someone who was missing. As expected, some Aphrodite girls showed strong interest in Luke, but he never paid them attention.
They were beautiful, but Luke missed the girl who would threaten to throw him to the wolves if he even looked at her. He found her guarded personality charming.
“Luke, Chiron needs you to show one of the exchange campers from Jupiter around.” Chris, Luke’s brother, said. “She’s the last one.”
“Oh, yeah, sure.” Luke spent months hoping Y/N would show up randomly one day but after three, he gave up. He had heard from Sohan’s regularly written letters, which often featured Jae and Kato too, that Y/N was busier than ever as a praetor. She had doubled her work load, working until she quite literally passed out. Sohan expressed his concerns but didn’t quite know what was wrong.
“She’s waiting in the strawberry field.” Chris told Luke, pointing him in the right direction.
Luke took his sweet time in walking towards the field, his hands shoved into his pockets. There was a figure standing amongst the strawberries, admiring the various flowers and berries.
“Late as usual, Castellan. How Greek of you.”
Luke’s eyes lit up at the sight of the girl in front of him. He cracked a large grin. “What can I say, Y/N? I’m a true Greek demigod.”
FIN.
A/N: while writing this, I was randomly reminded of an old classic book I read where the main characters are clearly in love but know they’ll never see each other again after they split ways. And now I’m sad.
PJO TAG LIST (will update later, I’m tired 😴): @lostinhisworld @julielightwood @jennapancake @evrybodydies1 @kkrenae @s0ulsniper @be-bap @kamiliora @2hiigh2cry @gisellesprettylies @ur-lacol-dsylexic @lilacspider @lukecastellandefender