"𝕯ON'T YOU THINK this is a little excessive?" Luke asked, looking down at his clothes.
Luke was not a big fan of formal wear, which was exactly the thing that Aphrodite had in mind when she had told the two half-bloods the term "makeover."
With a snap of her fingers, Aphrodite had changed their appearances completely. Alya felt refreshed and dazzling; Luke felt like he'd just been shoved through about six car washes.
His cargo shorts had been swapped for a pair of nice slacks and his old camp t-shirt was long gone, exchanged for a white button-down dress shirt. He still had sneakers, thank the gods, but they were much better than the old new balances he wore with a hole in the left heel. Of course, his camp necklace was still around his neck, now more visible thanks to his unbuttoned collar. His hair had also been left untouched, though it looked fresh and sparkly clean.
Alya figured that if Hercules was a teenager in their age, this would've been what he looked like.
Contrary to the son of Hermes, Alya was ecstatic with her outfit. She wore a white sundress with pink heart detailings, a sweetheart neckline that was defined by a dainty golden chain of a necklace layered over her CHB necklace. Her shoes were the best part: pink floral sandles ( her sneakers had been stored away into her backpack; there would be no running in those other shoes ). She'd also had her hair and makeup touched up, not that it was really necessary.
Luke was having a hard time remembering that Aphrodite was the goddess of beauty and that Alya wasn't.
"There is no such thing as too much glamor, boy." Aphrodite chided the son of Hermes, pulling a curl over Alya's shoulder as she spoke.
"Now, your ship leaves in less than an hour, so I'd suggest that you adorable kids get going. And Luke," she began, pointing at the boy, whose eyes had shot up at the mention of his name. "Don't make me regret putting you with my daughter."
The boy gulped and nodded his head, wordlessly.
"Good. Now, run along!" The goddess insisted. The two demigods began to turn away, only for Alya to feel her mother pull her back towards herself. "Not you yet, Alya."
Luke stopped when she did, looking back at her with a concerned and confused look.
"Go on, I'll be fine." She assured him, offering a smirk to back it up. Reluctantly, he obliged and slowly walked off towards the coastline.
Once the boy was out of earshot, Aphrodite turned to her daughter. Her smile was gone, replaced by a serious expression that she often failed to wear.
"Do not mess this up, Alya." The goddess spoke. Her voice was sharp and carried no whimsical emotions it usually did, sending a chill through the air.
Alya swallowed thickly at her mother's tone. What the hell had she possibly done to make one of the most lighthearted goddesses so earnest?
"I worked very hard to arrange this quest for you, my dear, do not throw it all away because of some silly teenage antics."
"W-what?"
Aphrodite flicked a stray piece of hair out of her face as she answered. "You and that boy are made for each other, my child. Do not ruin it just because some argument!"
Alya didn't understand. Her mother wasn't ever this sincere and demanding when it came to matchmaking, why was she acting so now? And to "ruin it"— whatever it was— over an argument that would be long forgotten by the day's end, seemed a little dramatic.
Alya knew that gods liked to speak with riddles and prophecies, giving each word they uttered a double meaning. That was why the conversation put her so on edge. Aphrodite might've been talking about the current situation two young demigods were in, but something told her daughter that it was much bigger than that.
". . . Made for each other?" The girl blurted out, her pupils dilated at the mere thought.
It was no secret that she had feelings for a certain son of Hermes, but to hear her own mother, the goddess of love, say that they were made to be together made it seem less exciting and a little more scary.
Because in reality, that was what love was: scary.
"Yes, now you're getting it!" Aphrodite exclaimed, a perfect smile approaching. "It is in the Fate's design, Alya. Through all the turmoil and chaos, that cannot be changed. Remember, intertwined hearts cannot be untangled, but whether or not they unravel one another is up to who they belong to."
Over her child's shoulder, Aphrodite sent an emotionless look at Luke Castellan. Sighing silently, she watched as her daughter turned to look at him as well, a smile appearing on her face.
When Alya turned back to face her mother, the goddess was gone.
₊ ̽ ꒰ ♡ ꒱ ◞⁺.
"𝖄OU SURE YOU'RE okay?" Luke asked.
He and Alya stood with their arms leaning over the top deck railings, eyes watching over the ocean's glittering waves in the late afternoon sun. After her conversation with her mother, the boy had noticed how on-edge Alya seemed, like she was waiting for something horrible to happen.
Maybe it was his fault. Maybe his impromptu confession of his feelings in the middle of an argument had ruined everything.
What Luke didn't know was that Alya couldn't get Aprhodte's words out of her mind. She'd been dwelling on them ever since they were spoken, and she wished for nothing more than a distraction from her endlessly running mind.
"Yeah." She answered him. "I'm fine, promise."
"Well, then will you at least look at me?" He asked, seeing that the girl was still lost in the mysteries of the ocean.
With a slight roll of her eyes, Alya looked at the boy, her brows rose in a happy now? manner.
Her expression quickly changed, when she found Luke with a charming little smile on his face and a pink rose in hand. He twirled the flower between his thumb and forefinger, his attempt to look cool soon failing as he almost dropped it.
