Luke Castellan x Hephaestus!Reader
Summary: After hiding your relationship with Luke for months, you decide to give up the act.
The glow of the fire in the middle of the room illuminated your work as you struck the sword with your hammer again. Luke sat on an unused anvil behind you, swinging his legs and trying not to look too impatient. But he was bored. And the workshop was sweltering hot. Being a daughter of Hephaestus, you were used to this. Luke, not so much.
“You said a few small adjustments,” he groaned. For months, you’d been sitting in on Luke’s training and watching him work. For just as long, you’ve been asking if you could fix up his sword a bit. He never handed it over to anyone for maintenance, and the second you got your hands on it, you could tell.
“Well, the wear and tear was worse than I expected.” You explained between strikes. The blade glowed red from it sitting over the fire. You shook off one of your gloves and pulled your goggles to your forehead so you could get a better look.
“What’s wrong with a few scratches?” Luke inquired.
“Drag. It’ll slow you down or mess up your precision. You know, aerodynamics?”
“Yes, I know aerodynamics.” He watched you examine his sword. You took it off the fire and ran your gloved hand along the center of the blade, careful not to burn yourself.
“Just needs polishing now.” You declared. In the distance, the conch horn sounded, signaling that it was time for dinner. “But I guess that will have to wait.” You hung up your apron and goggles, and walked up to Luke, who was relieved to be allowed near you again after you spent the last few hours surrounded by fire and molten bronze. He planted a quick kiss on your forehead as he stood up from the anvil.
“Thank you,” he said. You kissed him back in response. He opened the door for you, allowing you to finally step into the cool air of the summer evening. The breeze outside was a stark contrast to the stuffy, smokey air in your workshop. Luke followed you outside, and quickly caught your hand. You stopped, glaring at him.
“Luke,” you warned. No one at camp knew you two were dating yet. You’d been close friends for years already so when things started changing, you kept it to yourselves to see where it would go first. That was four months ago. It was easy to fly under the radar over the winter, but now that the summer campers were back, there were always witnesses around.
“I know, I know. But you got something on your face.” He had dropped your hand, but now he was swiping at your cheek with his thumb. Once you saw campers in the distance, you swatted his hand away.
“It’s just dirt. I’m probably covered in it anyways, no one cares.” You took a small step away from Luke, trying to create an appropriate amount of space between the two of you. He sighed, but didn’t protest. You started walking again, and he followed. You stopped. “You gotta take a different way, you told Annabeth you were training all afternoon, remember?” you reminded him. He raised his eyebrows, and you could tell he forgot. Then he nodded.
“Okay, just meet me at our spot after you eat?” He raised his eyebrows expectantly, like you’d ever say no. You agreed before shooing him away.
When you reach the pavilion, you take your usual seat at the Hephaestus table. Right at the end, next to your half-brother and best friend, Charles Beckendorf. You nodded along as he explained a project he’s working on. You wanted to pay attention, really. Charles was brilliant and you built stuff together all the time. But a few tables down, Luke was catching your eye.
He was doing it on purpose. He kept flickering his eyes between the conversation at his table, to you. When he saw you looking at him, he smiled wide, and pointed at Chris Rodriquez next to him, rolling his eyes. Chris must’ve been telling his tall tales again. You let out a chuckle despite your best efforts.
“What’s so funny?” Charles asked. You realized you hadn’t heard a single thing he said in the last few minutes.
“Oh- I uh, saw a squirrel. Fall out of a tree.”
“Is that why you’re staring at the Hermes table?” He deadpanned. You shot your head over to him.
“That’s where the squirrel was,” you tried. There were no trees by that table. Charles nodded slowly, unconvinced. You needed to get him talking again. “Did you make any progress on our shields today?” You asked him. He probably knew exactly what you were doing, but if he did, he didn’t seem to care. He jumped right in to talking about his shield and this time, you paid attention.
Once dinner was over, you made some half-baked excuse about going on a walk before departing for the woods. Luke had already left. A typical Hermes kid, he was incredible at sneaking around. Muscle memory carried you through the woods. Luke showed you this spot for the first time in the fall. Now you are there almost every day. Just off the path, there was a line of trees, then a ledge that dropped off a few feet. Below that was a small grassy hill that faced the lake. Perfectly hidden from the rest of the woods.
Luke was sitting in the grass, arms behind him propping him up. He didn’t look up when he heard your footsteps, just sat up a little straighter.
“Took you long enough,” he teased. You plopped down on the ground next to him.
“Blame Charlie, he could literally talk about that shield forever.” You stared up at Luke, who just smiled and shook his head. The day was starting to catch up to you. After a full morning of training and an afternoon of metalworking, you needed the evening to do nothing. You adjusted your position to be laying down in the grass, using Luke’s thigh as a pillow. He half expected you to fall asleep right there.
“I’m training Percy tomorrow morning, you coming?” He asked. You thought for a moment, then shook your head.
“I’m helping Annabeth fix something with her armour tomorrow.”
“What are you doing after lunch?” He inquired next.
“Me and Charlie have a project to work on.” You declared. Luke sighed dramatically. You grabbed one of his hands and held it with both of yours, laughing at him a bit. “Hey we still have tomorrow night. Volleyball game, remember?” You stared up at him, memorizing his big brown eyes and the faded pink scar that ran down his cheek.
“I know, it’s just different when there’s people around.” He sighed. You smiled sympathetically. He was right. It wasn’t the same when you had to stand a foot away from him when all you wanted to do was grab his hand and pull him close. It seemed like a good idea at first to keep your relationship private. People are nosy at camp and you two wanted to see where this would go without prying eyes. But secrecy came at a cost. “What if we just give up the act?” He asked.
“You want to tell everyone?” You asked. He shook his head.
“No, that’s no fun. We just stop hiding. Let them figure it out themselves.” He had a smirk on his face. You thought for a moment. It did sound like good entertainment. Who were you to say no to that?
“Okay. Let’s do it.” You shook Luke’s hand, the one you were already holding. Then, you fell into a comfortable silence. You were together all day, there wasn’t much more to talk about. So instead, you watched the sunset over the lake and listened to the cicadas.
The next day, you were almost too busy to think about your’s and Luke’s plan. You spent all morning with Annabeth, fixing a big dent in her chest plate from the last chariot race. When lunch time came, you were relieved to get away from the forge for a little bit. It didn’t last long though, right after you ate lunch, you headed back with Charles and got to work.
You spent an hour planning before you could even get to work. You were working on bronze arm cuffs that transform into a shield. Something you wouldn’t have to carry around, but would just be there for when you need it. It had been in the works for weeks, and you were very nearly done. You started hammering out the metal for the pieces, one for you and one for Charles. He sat across from you putting the pieces together. No one could deny that the two of you made a really good team.
By the time the dinner horn rang out, you were finally done. The cuffs needed more testing, but you and Charles were happy with the day's progress. You put yours on, excited to show Luke what you had spent all day working on. You stepped out of the workshop and shot a quick “I’ll meet you there,” to Charles, then headed to find Luke.
You caught up to him on his way to the pavilion. His face lit up when he saw you.
“Hey pretty,” he said. It sounded like a tease, but he was serious. You were very aware of how you looked at that moment. You were covered in soot and bronze dust, indentations around your eyes from your goggles, and any hairs that had escaped your french braids were glued to your skin with sweat. You chose not to argue with him.
“Wanna see what we made?” You asked him. He nodded, and you stuck your arm out to show the smooth bronze cuff that sat just above your elbow. He stared at it, trying to figure out exactly what he was looking at.
“That’s the shield you two have been working on since June?” He was trying to sound inquisitive, but you could tell he was unimpressed. That makes you smirk. Instead of giving him a real answer, you pressed on the inside of the cuff, and watched as an invisible force pushed Luke backwards. He stumbled for a moment, then caught his footing. He stared in amazement while you beamed. Then, he walked towards you again, and carefully put his hand out to touch your arm. He couldn’t get closer than a couple inches without being pushed away again. You pressed the inside of the cuff again, disarming the shield. “You made that?” Luke exclaimed.
“Well, Charlie put it together. I just made the parts.” You started walking towards the pavilion again, gesturing for Luke to follow. “It only covers one side of me, we’re still trying to figure out how to make a 360 shield, but baby steps I guess.” You reached the pavilion, and stopped for a moment.
“This is still incredible,” he said. You shrugged.
“Guess it’s in my blood, Castellan.” You bumped his shoulder with yours, then split ways to go to your table. You went straight to your spot to Charles to tell him that the shield worked.
Shortly after dinner, you met up with your friends at the volleyball court. A few nights ago, you guys destroyed Clarisse’s team who shockingly demanded a rematch. You, Luke, Percy, Annabeth, and Charles stood in the sand waiting for the last of Clarisse’s team to show up. It was a couple of her siblings, and they were waiting on two Aphrodite boys. You caught up with Percy on his day of training while Charles showed Annabeth his shield. Luke hovered behind you, just listening. He stood closer to you than he would’ve yesterday, but no one seemed to notice.
The game started the same way as the last one. You guys were winning, just barely. Clarisse was getting mad. She yelled at her teammates, yelled at you guys, yelled at the ball. It was incredibly entertaining. Luke kept turning away from the net to hide his laughter every time she got mad, not wanting to antagonize her any more. Except, that only made you laugh.
Maybe it was because you weren’t paying attention to the game, or maybe it was because you were laughing at her, but all of a sudden, Clarisse was spiking the ball right into your face. You landed on your butt in the sand, cupping a hand over your cheek.
“What the hell Clarisse?” Luke shouted as he ran over to you. Charles ran up to the net, straight to Clarisse.
“No headshots. That’s literally our one rule.” He confronted her. She just shrugged.
“Whoops.” She stared Charles down, waiting for his next move. But he wasn’t really a fighter. He walked over to you where Luke was examining your face. Luke was on his knees next to you, running his hand over your cheek where you were hit. Percy and Annabeth stood back, just watching.
“I’m fine Luke,” you assured him, tapping his leg. He took the signal to stand up, pulling you up with him. You leaned in towards Luke and whispered, “c’mon, let’s smoke her.” You squeezed his arm. He had that look in his eye, the one he always got before he got into some sort of trouble. Before you could pull away from him, he planted a kiss on your cheek.
“That ought to fix it,” he teased. You rolled your eyes, and shuffled back to your spot. Percy and Annabeth exchanged a look. One that said, “you saw that too, right?” Charles was still watching you, eyebrows knit together in concern. You thought he’d have more of a reaction to the kiss, but he didn’t seem to care about that. You shot him a thumbs up, which got him to nod and turn back around towards the next. Percy served the ball and put the game back in motion.
Your team was on their game after that. Luke and Charles were still mad, and they took it out on the ball. Unfortunately for Clarisse’s team, she seemed to have lost her perfect aim. You were one point away from winning the game. The Aphrodite boy fumbled with his serve, and sent the ball straight to you. You could’ve spiked it right into Clarisse’s face, and you kind of wanted to. But the more reasonable voice in your head won over, and you hit the ball right to her feet.
“YES!” Percy shouted. Clarisse’s team all groaned in unison. Percy was jumping up and down like a little dog while Annabeth cheered. Charles high fived you, but didn’t get to say anything before Luke ran up and grabbed you, spinning you around. You wrapped your arms around his neck and held on for dear life. When he finally set you down, he didn’t move away. He let go of your waist and grabbed onto your hand instead. You didn’t protest.
“Bonfire anyone?” Luke suggested. There was a unanimous yes, and the five of you made the short trip to the center of camp where a bunch of campers sat around the big fire. The sun had just begun to dip below the horizon, and the warmth of the fire was inviting. All of you sat down on the less populated side of the fire, feeling the adrenaline from your win drain away.
Luke talked to Annabeth about the game, recounting Clarisse’s face when you scored the winning point. Charles sat on one side of you, listening contentedly like he often did. Annabeth’s eyes kept shifting to you, tucked into Luke’s side, when she was used to you sitting at least a foot away from him. She shot Percy a look. Luke’s arm was casually slung over your shoulders, but he was focused on his conversation. You weren’t paying much attention to their conversations, instead tracing shapes onto Luke’s leg and enjoying the warmth of the fire. Then Annabeth spoke up and got your attention.
“I’m sorry, are we just supposed to pretend this isn’t happening?” Annabeth pointed between the two of you. Percy sat straight up.
“Thank you Annabeth, because this is getting weird.” Percy declared. You looked up at Luke, who was already shrugging and trying to repress a smirk.
“I’m not being weird,” Luke said. He looked down at you “Are you being weird?” He asked. You grinned, shaking your head. Annabeth’s eyebrows knit together with confusion and a hint of disgust.
“Are you guys, like, a thing now?” She asked. You met her eyes and nodded. Percy and Annabeth gaped at you. “What? Since when?” She demanded.
“Since four months ago,” you declared. That made her gasp more.
“Four months?” Percy parroted back. You and Luke nodded in tandem. It was funny to see their shock, you were so sure it was obvious. There was one person who had been pretty quiet, and you turned to face him. Charles sat there, neutral faced.
“Beckendorf,” Percy started. “Did you know about this?” You went to shake your head in response, but before you could Charles cut you off.
“Yep.” He stated simply. Luke shot his head to you, confused. You put your hands up.
“I didn’t tell him,” you told Luke. You turned back to half-brother. “Chalrie? Care to elaborate on that?” Chalres shrugged at your question.
“We share a bunk bed, you think I don’t hear you sneak out every other night?” He tilted his head, smiling at you in the way someone does when they know all your secrets. “Plus, you two always disappear at the same time. And I see you two staring all the time. Remember dinner yesterday? It was pretty obvious,” he said. You stared at him, feeling something between amused and mortified. Percy’s laughter broke the silence.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” You asked him. He shrugged.
“I knew you’d tell me when you were ready.” You smiled at him, thankful for his understanding. Then you turned back to Luke. He looked perfectly content, gazing down at you. You looked around and saw the crowd at the fire dwindling as the sunlight slowly faded away. You realized curfew was creeping up, and then remembered how gross you were. Not only covered in soot and sweat from being in the workshop all day, but now sand and smoke. You sighed.
“Well, I better hit the showers,” you declared. You started to stand up, and Luke followed suit.
“I’ll walk you back,” he muttered. You nodded in agreement, and bid everyone goodnight. They all smiled politely, but you saw Percy and Annabeth’s look as Luke placed his hand on your back and guided you back towards the cabins.
“Thank they’re upset?” You asked him when you were far enough away from the group. Luke shook his head.
“Percy certainly doesn’t care. If anything, Annabeth’s upset that she didn’t figure it out before Beckendorf.” He said. You knew he was right.
“Gods, I can’t believe Charlie knew this whole time,” you hid your hands in your face. Luke snickered.
“Well, you were staring at me during dinner yesterday,” he laughed. You smacked his arm. You reached the Hephaestus cabin, and Luke dropped his hand from your back. In the dim light coming from your cabin window, he cupped your cheeks in his hands, and kissed you for real, out in the open. After he broke away, he stroked your cheek where the volleyball had hit you.
“Turning purple already,” he mumbled. “Should’ve used your shield." He tapped the cuff on your arm. You smiled.
“I don’t usually use battle equipment for volleyball games,” you joked. It was clear that Luke was ready to get talking again, but time for a shower was running out, and you could feel your braids matting to your head. “Okay, I really need to go now. See you tomorrow?” Luke sighed and let his hands fall to his side.
“Yeah, okay. See you tomorrow.” He kissed you again, quickly this time, and ran away like a kid that did something bad. You looked back at him and sure enough, he was looking back too, snickering. You had to force yourself to look away and go inside to get clean clothes. You had a feeling Luke would be acting like this a lot more now that you didn’t have to hide anymore. You only wished you’d stop hiding a long time ago.
