Say You'll Remember Me (Lukercy)

Chapter 13

Luke woke up with an awful headache. He considered getting up and getting the medicine out of his bag, but even that would be too painful -plus he would run the risk of causing Percy to fall off of the tiny cot. 

The cute boy curled up against his chest didn't wake up until an hour later, and by then the pain had subsided to a dull throb. "Good morning," Percy said groggily before giving the blonde a quick peck on the cheek. He noticed the slightly pained expression on Luke's face, becoming immediately concerned, "Luke, what's wrong? Are you ok?"

"I'm fine, Perce, it's just a headache, probably from the temperature difference," he assures the worried boy. "But I do appreciate the concern," he says before leaning in and returning Percy's kiss, only his being on the lips. The smaller boy happily returns the affection.

He noted that Luke didn't push him, that the kiss wasn't getting "heated". It was light and sweet, more emotional than physical, he'd never experienced it with anyone before. Percy loved it.

Eventually Luke ended the kiss, being reminded of the night before. "Are you ok, Perce?" He asked, "You know, from last night. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Luke," Percy says, a sterness Luke had never before creeping in -and if he was being honest, it excited him a little-, "I appreciate you being worried about me, but we both know that you're the one that needs to talk about what happened."

"I don't know if I can Percy," he says, averting his eyes, "I don't know if I can bring it up."

"Why not, Luke, I thought we agreed that we could share anything?" The boy asked, looking almost hurt, "are you scared, because I promise, Luke, I just want to help you. Please let me help you."

"Perce, no," he said, softening his gaze, "it's not you, it's her. My mother."

Percy didn't say anything, he just wrapped his arms around Luke, offering him comfort in silence.

Luke sighed, "I guess you deserve an explanation. If we're ever going to be a thing, I can't keep these things from you anymore." Percy loosens his hug so he can look the other boy in the eyes. Luke continues, "my mother is why I have such trouble sharing things with you Perce. We both knew I was gay from pretty early on, and she was never ok with it. She was my mom, so of course I wanted to make her proud. I couldn't change that I liked boys, but I could change how I acted. I had to be a "manly man", and manly men don't cry. I guess you could say it worked; she didn't hit me when I acted like I was normal."

"Luke," Percy said sympathetically, "don't listen to a thing she said, you can express yourself, and I'll never judge you for that."

"Thanks, Perce," he says, smiling sadly, "but years of abuse can't be undone with a sentence, no matter how sweet or sincere."

The son of the sea god pulled him back into a hug, "I'd say it's a good start."

"Yeah, Perce, it's a start," he kissed the boy on the forehead. "I don't even know why I'm so torn up about Zoë. I'd only met her twice, and there was like a three year gap between those cases. She assisted us on my first quest. It was me, Thalia, Zoë, and these two siblings, Nico and Biance. Zoë and I were the only one's who made it out alive."

Amazed that Luke was finally telling him this story, thoughtfulness partially left Percy's mind, "how did it happen?"

"The two kids never should have been on a quest, we rescuing them was actually part of the damn mission," he says, anger creeping into his words. "They were taken out by the minotaur; I tried to save them, but I was too late, he gave me my scar. Thalia almost made it back.

Our quest to recover some packages of my father's that had went missing in New Mexico. We made it all the way to New Jersey before we were attacked. We got ambushed by fucking harpies, of all monsters. Perce, you know that giant Pine tree on the hill at camp?"

"The one that controls the border right?"

"Yeah, that's the one," he says, a tear rolling down his cheek. "Zoë and I managed to get her to camp before she died. I don't know how we managed to do it, but I vaguely remember taking the Chariot of the Damned part of the way. We got to the top of the hill before we collapsed, not that it would have mattered, she there was nothing the infirmary could've done to help her. We just layed her down and ran to get Chiron, but when we got out of the Big House, Thalia wasnt there anymore, there was a 50 foot pine tree in her place."

He began to cry, pulling Percy closer to him. "She stayed at camp for a few weeks after that, and we got really close. She almost gave up the hunt to stay with me. The relationship meant different things to the both of us, and when she figured that out, she left us for Artemis. I always knew she would. Camp life wasn't her thing. We weren't close after that, I  barely had any contact with her for years, but we still had the quest, and we were bonded for life because of that." He let out a choked sob, "now she's gone, and I'm the only one left. Annabeth's gone, Thalia's gone, and Zoë's gone. And I can't help it, Perce, but I feel like it's my fault, if I had tried harder, I could have saved one of them. But it doesn't matter now because I don't have anyone."

"Luke, please don't say that," Percy said, crying as well, "you're not alone. You have me, and I promise that I won't leave you. Luke," he pauses considering the repercussions, but saying fuck it anyway, "Luke, just know that I'm here, and I love you."

The older stops crying  and looks into Percy's eyes. "Did you just?" Percy nods, light enters Luke's eyes.

"Percy, I love you too."