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the magic of christmastime | l. castellan ❆

part 2: we're like snow on the beach

child of aphrodite reader (Y/N) x luke castellan (fluff, angst)

It's snowing in Camp Half-Blood, the morning you and Luke are going to NYC. Like the snow that settles on the beach of camp, you two are so extremely different. Yet when paired together, it feels unreal yet so perfect at the same time. Yet will that perfectness last forever? You think to yourself, as Silena Beaurguard's unusual warning keeps nagging at the back of your mind.

w.c. 2.8K taglist: @songofthesuns @ellaisafrog

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You knew life was going smoothly when you had woken up after a night with no nightmares. Zero. Ziltcha. Nada. You were eternally grateful for the lack of dreams because the last thing that you needed was a looming shadow of a thought plaguing your mind like a sorrowful afterthought on such an eventful day. To cut to the chase, you were extremely excited.

Brushing your teeth, you felt a grin started to creep up your face. It seemed silly, at first. You and Luke had been dating for a while, yet you still got excited for dates? That was the magic of dating Luke, you felt warm and safe in his presence, always giving you flutters in your stomach and making you stutter when you spoke. Noticing your unusually chipper mood (as well as the blooming blush across your face), Silena nudged your shoulder as she gave you a cheeky grin.

"What's got you smiling like that? Or rather, I wonder who?" She teased you. Of course, it was Luke who was the cause behind your adoration, but she still liked to tease you. 

You must have had a noticeable blush on your face because Silena laughed out loud, catching your expression. You tried to put a grimace on your face, trying to deflect her teasing, but the edges of your mouth refused to do so and curled into a laidback smile.

"I'm going on a field trip today with Luke" you carefully started. "Mhm," Silena waited.

"To New York City".

"Oh!" Silena gasped, surprised. Sure, it was known to camp that you and Luke had dates at least once a week, and sometimes, almost every day (once you were finished with cabin duties of course). But it was the first time that you two were leaving camp together. Alone, just you two. Albeit, still together, but with the freedom from annoying campers and annoying authority figures. 

Safe to say, you were literally knawing at the iron bars of your enclosure (yes, a joke, you weren't locked up) to get alone time with Luke.

"And Chiron and Mr. D just let you go?" Silena questioned.

"Yeah… last night Luke and I asked and it took quite a bit of convincing, but they gave us permission to go," you responded.

"Wow, that's…pretty nice," Silena dejectedly said. Her head hung low as she avoided your eyes while spitting out her toothpaste. That was pretty unlike her, to not look you in the eyes while you two spoke.

What's wrong?" you said, noticing the fault in her voice and her abnormal behavior. As she continued to avoid eye contact, Silena hesitated before answering your question.

"It's just that, there have been so many dangerous things going on. So many dangerous monsters are regenerating quickly after being sent to Tartarus. To be frank, I'm quite scared for your safety," Silena quietly said. She fiddled with the silver chain bracelets that adorned her wrist. Unsure if what she said was too harsh to you, you could see her gulp nervously.

"We will be safe, I promise," you urged. Before you could continue, Silena looked up and cut you from justifying your departure.

"Honestly, it is a bit irresponsible that Chiron and Mr. D are letting you leave camp, I mean. Is that the best decision?" Silena was now getting heated. "Can't you guys just have another one of your dates at the lake or in the mountains, or something? Just within camp boundaries, of course," Sensing her concerns, you tried your best to alleviate her stress. 

"We are senior counselors, we can take care of ourselves. Thank you for your concern, Silena," you soothed her. (Or at least tried, it wasn't soothing because you still had some toothpaste in your mouth. You probably looked and sounded silly, as you were still eye-crust-ridden and half asleep.)

"It doesn't matter that you two are senior counselors, it's still unsafe out there!"  Silena said, and you could hear a slight shake in her voice. Quickly spitting out your toothpaste, you could see that she was genuinely upset and worried. 

Her face was etched with lines of disappointment and dissatisfaction clouded her vision. Hugging her, you could hear her voice hitch as she tried to swallow her worries. She was nearly about to break down and cry in your arms. You knew that same god-awful feeling of holding your tongue at the roof of your mouth to prevent the tears from escaping you. 

Trying your best not to smudge her eyeliner, you took your freshly manicured nails and wiped a spare tear that fell from her right eye. "You're my sister, you know that right?" She quietly whispered.

"I know, Silena," you whispered back, squeezing her arm.

"And I would rather die than let anything happen to you," Silena buried her head in your neck.

"I know, Silena," you whispered again.

"Please, please, please promise me that you won't be distracted and that you will stay safe," she continued, her voice muffled as her head was tucked in the cashmere fabric of your turtleneck. (I know she was crying but if she got a bit of snot on my turtleneck I would be moderately pissed off)

"I promise you," you hugged her tighter. 

She looked up at you, her voice now clear. "There will come a day where Luke won't even be able to protect you, and you have to stay safe and protect yourself. You hear me?" Silena said as the tone of her voice suddenly became even. It scared you because you had no idea what she was talking about. But to appease her from droning on about her sudden, strange insinuation, you nodded vigorously. 

"Promise me please?" She said, her voice now back to an uneven tone.

"I promise you, Silena. I will stay safe, I will protect myself," you said. You couldn't tell what was wrong with her, but you knew that she needed a hug.

"Okay, I trust you," she said as she released you from the tight embrace you had held her in. Just like a light switch, her demeanor changed from the expression of a worrisome mother to the cheery smile she always had on her face every day. The quick change was unnerving, and your smile faltered from your face. 

What the hell, you thought. Is she genuinely okay? The question died on the tip of your tongue, as you refrained from asking her that. Yeah, that's probably the last thing she'd want to hear right now, as you knew she still didn't want to talk about her most recent breakup with this guy from the Hypnos cabin.

"What do you plan to do in the city?" Silena asked, snapping you out of your inner monologue. You were extremely disconcerted, as she had pretended like she wasn't two and a half seconds away from having a mental breakdown in front of her. 

Masking your confusion on your face, you answered her. Gods, you two were such great pretenders. Little did you know, Luke was a great pretender as well.

Babbling on about the stores you planned to go to and the foods that you hoped to try, you could visibly see the tension leave Silena. Her shoulders started to sag as she became comfortable and her voice when responding to your inquiries started to relax. Once she laughed, you were at ease. 

The girl talk seemed to go on for a while, and you quickly realized you needed to meet Luke at the Dining Pavilion for an early breakfast. Bidding Silena a quick goodbye and an extra-special extra-tight hug, you gathered your belongings and neatly put them in your purse.

You spedwalk to the Pavilon, noticing you were a bit late. You arrived there soon, noticing that it was only Luke, you, and a few other older campers who had gotten up for an early breakfast. A girl from the Athena cabin waved to you, and you smiled, waving to her back.

Noticing a new presence, Luke looked up from his eggs. His demeanor changed from stoic, deep concentration, to a laidback smile that rested on his face. Walking over, his arm wrapped loosely around your waist as he squeezed it. You could see his face up close, his bright brown eyes twinkling like flying saucers from another planet. His face was angled to the sun, and you could see specks of green in his eyes. Like an aurora borealis green, he looked breathtaking, as he was beautifully sculpted by the Gods. Gods, you had never seen someone so beautiful they were lit from within.

"Good morning, Princess," he drawled, whispering in your hair. Your hair tickled your ear, and you shuddered, knowing the effect he had on you. Smirking -as he also knew the effect on you- he continued his greeting. "How was your sleep baby?"

Gods of Olympus, you loved his morning voice. It was deep and raspy, and it never failed to give you butterflies. Every day that you spent with him made you feel youthful, forever a teenager who was stupidly in love.

"Not bad, no nightmares," you excitedly responded, putting one hand on his chest. He automatically flexed, feeling your palm on his sweater. Such a silly boy, but that's why I love him.

"Mhm," he said, and you could tell he was still under a drowsy spell. He's so cute when he's tired.

"You tired, babe?" You nudged him awake. He shot up, widening his eyes as if to show you he was not dozing off on your shoulder.

"Nope, not at all!" he sassily retorted. You just looked up at him and smiled. Grabbing your hand, he led you to the Hermes table that he sat at. Looking around, you scanned the area for Chiron or Mr. D, knowing that they would immediately lecture you once they saw you sitting at the wrong table. You two had done this before, sitting at each other's tables when you weren't supposed to, but you never got caught. If you two got caught today, it would be the absolute worst.

"Sorry I was a little late," you said as you sat next to Luke. Breakfast had already been set in front of you, courtesy of Luke asking the dryads to prepare both of you breakfast. He knew what you liked to eat, and what you couldn't stand eating. Taking a bite out of your avocado toast with tomatoes and eggs, you smiled at the satisfying crunch. 

Thinking into the enchanted goblet, you wished to have hot cocoa. Magically, it appeared in your cup. A winter day deserved a winter breakfast.

"Did you sleep in because you were dreaming of me? It's not the first time it's happened you know" Luke raised an eyebrow, and you playfully smacked him on his chest. You knew exactly what he was talking about. 

A while back, a child of Hypnos was stalking your dream (as a child of Hypnos can magically appear in one's dream, that is so not fair!), and blabbed to Luke you were having a dream about him. Quite frankly, it was embarrassing, as Luke had confronted you the morning after having the dream. Your relationship was still pretty new, and you remember you turned a deep shade of beet red after hearing Luke's accusation while he smugly crossed his arms and smirked.

"No!" your face burned red although the accusation wasn't true. He pointed at your reddened cheeks and it took all your willpower not to smack him in his chest again. (Damn, his chest is hard!)

"I was talking to Silena, she was worried about me leaving camp," you said.

"Oh," Luke responded, suddenly very intrigued by his hard-boiled egg. Paying no mind to the flicker of emotion that crossed Luke's face, you continued.

"Yeah, she was worried and acting really strange for some reason. If this happens again, I might want to bring it up with Chiron," you continued.

"Why, did she say some weird stuff?" Luke curiously asked as he began to rub circles on the small of your back. Soothed, you were tempted to repeat the conversation verbatim to Luke, but you decided otherwise, remembering what Silena had said.

"No, not really. Just told me to be careful of monsters, and all of that stuff," you trailed off, hoping Luke wouldn't notice that you had hesitated to answer his question. 

But he had noticed. He had noticed that you suddenly stiffened up and stilled when he rubbed circles on your back. Something that he deliberately did, to catch you if you lied. He noticed that your eyebrows were furrowed when answering him and that you nervously twisted the gold ring your mother, Aphrodite, had given you. He noticed that you chewed on a piece of toast, longer than usual, almost choking on it after he had asked you that question. 

He noticed everything about you, the one thing that you had grown to love would soon be the thing that you would quickly loathe. He knew you too well, and he saw and felt everything that you felt.

What you did notice though, was the change in expression on Luke's face. His face hardened for a quick second, and you couldn't tell what he was thinking.

"Penny for your thoughts," you questioned, sipping your warm hot cocoa.

"I just can't wait to spend the day with you, Princess," Luke said. For a moment, his smile didn't match his words. As if he realized that the image he was projecting to you didn't match the image he curated for you, he quickly brightened his smile. Luke stared at you, hoping you didn't notice his smile. He internally sighed in relief as he realized you were busy chugging the goblet of hot cocoa, too thirsty to even look at him.

"I can't wait to spend the day with you, Luke," you genuinely smiled. 

You two quickly ate the rest of your meal in silence, wanting to get the most out of the day. It was only seven in the morning (a bit too early for your taste), but you felt so alive. Looking forward, you two had the perfect view of the ocean. Although Camp Half-Blood was surrounded by protective magic, Mr. D had allowed certain weather events, such as snow, to be allowed through the barrier. This resulted in magical moments where you could see the soft snow settle on the grass of the lawn.

From your view, snow slowly fell and settled near the ocean, creating snow on the beach. The feeling that you get from being hot and cold at the same time is like looking at the snow on the beach. Snow mixing with the sand, it looked like an unreal scene, something that only happened in movies. As you two ate breakfast, the snow started to come down harder, clouding the beach in a white powder. 

Strangely, you didn't feel that cold because Luke was by your side.

In a way, you realized that you could describe Luke and your relationship as an analogy to the snow settling on the beach: It was undeniable that you and Luke were falling for each other at the same time, barreling all your love towards each other at an accelerating speed. You two crashed together in fury kisses, passionately worshipping each other every day, but especially every night. Every time you two kissed, it felt like a cataclysmic, unreal, and faded moment where you realized that you both felt the same way for each other in the same moment. It was so unreal that it felt like your little moments together belonged in a museum of emotions that were impossible to experience with someone else. Something that you only saw in the movies or on a farfetched television show. There was a nagging bit in the back of your mind that constantly reminded you that you didn't deserve to be loved. Every day, Luke dispelled that notion, feeding you love with every conversation and kiss.

Just like snow on the beach, you two were extremely different from each other, so far on other ends of the spectrum. You two were weird, but fucking beautiful together, like snow on the beach. Complimenting each other, you almost made a perfect whole.

"You ready to go to New York City, Princess," Luke said, snapping you out of your daydream as you swallowed the last piece of turkey sausage. 

"Of course, only with you," you reassured him with a cheeky smile.

In that moment, you two were frozen in time like a photograph. Laughing, you held onto his bicep as you two walked on the sandy beach to reach the barriers of camp. The snow mingled with the sand and you looked down and smiled as if you won a contest. You couldn't help it though, you had won the best prize, the love of Luke. To hide your smile would be dishonest, and you couldn't ever do that.

I was inspired by the lyrics of Snow on the Beach sung by Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey. A lot of the latter half of the story is pulled from Genius.com and their analysis of the lyrics of this song. Hope you all enjoyed part two!

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xoxo,  cznszn 𐙚₊❤︎

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