You Wanna Go To Vegas? (Luke Castellan x Oc)

August 17th, 2001

She got a quest first.

And it was a rude awakening.

Ares needed a magical spear retrieved, one guarded by a manticore. And her siblings thought it to be a great induction ceremony.

But she was fifteen. And the enemies of Ares are dangerous and fatal and Luke felt sick when he heard. He laid awake in his cabin night after night, and when Bri trained he saw that newfound motivation in her eyes when he volunteered to be her partner.

It was the only way to spend time with her anymore, letting her beat his ass again. (Bri hoped that he'd say something like he did the first time they met, that he'd fight back and joke with her and be her Luke again.)

At least she enjoyed his company enough to let him pack her bags and prepare her gear.

And the day she was to leave came too quick. Luke grabbed Hope's arm before they went to say goodbye, good luck, come back safe.

"Hope I-," he started, unsure of what to say.

But Hope knew. She was so young, but she knew. She nodded and the blonde boy bolted for the Ares cabin, barely stepping past one of the mines on the ground when he threw open the doors.

"Did she leave!?" Luke yelled, and her six feet tall siblings looked at him with wide eyes.

Now even for cultist badass, tattooed punk children of Ares, they knew too.

Young Clarisse spoke up first. And Clarisse will deny this later on, but really she's the one that made this work. "She's with Chiron!!" She piped up, and Luke muttered a thank you before running.

He set off a mine on his way out.

"Alright Miss Guerra you take care of yourself okay? You didn't train for nothing you know, I'm sure your fa-"

Luke screamed her name when he finally saw her to the left of Chiron.

Bri turned, watching Luke's face grow red in color again and bending over slightly, dropping his backpack to the floor in trying to catch his breath.

"You have to let me come with you," he panted, deep breaths in between every other word.

"Luke-"

"I'm not accepting anything else okay? I'm going with you. I still have to get my sword but please, you can't go alone and I don't want you to go alone and-"

Bri let him lean on her as he swayed to the side, her body against his interrupting his desperate rambling until he got back to his feet.

"This is my quest Luke, I don't know if my father would-"

"SCREW YOUR FATHER," he yelled, and it seemed they almost switched personalities. "I'm not letting you go alone. Even if I gotta I don't know, chain myself to your backpack." The blonde stared directly into her eyes now, and her own were wide with surprise and shock and love.

"You ever think maybe I don't want you to come?!" Bri yells in reply.

They're so bad at communicating the simplest of feelings.

It's Luke's turn to mutter a quiet, "What?"

The brunette took a step back, fully aware that the whole of camp could probably hear them screaming. "I don't want you to come with me Luke. It's dangerous and my father's errands aren't for you to put your life on the line for!" And now it's not just concern, it's anger. And Bri doesn't mean it, and she'd rather be locked in her room forever than yell at Luke Castellan- but emotions are a lot for a daughter of Ares who has really only ever known camp and war and loss.

"I don't care, I've thought about this already alright? I'll fight anything, hell I've fought more monsters than you could count. Or does my background mean NOTHING TO YOU?" He argues back, voice growing louder and his throat is raw and he doesn't know where he's going with this but all he knows is that he needs to protect her.

Bri paces away, trying to resist grabbing at her hair. Her fingers find her sword hilt instead, angrily beginning her walk towards the camp entrance.

Luke follows her, and that's the final straw.

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU BEING SO DIFFICULT!" she screams, a good ten steps away but oh he can see the fury in her eyes.

And Bri continues with more loud words, at the same time he answers her question and this screaming match right here is kinda what changes their world.

"I'M GOING ALONE THAT'S FINAL-"

"BECAUSE I LOVE YOU!"

Bri takes a few more steps before it sets in, and she freezes. No, she didn't hear him right. Her ears are just telling her what she wants to hear.

"Because I like you so goddamn much it's frustrating, and everytime you smile and laugh and look my way or just throw me to the ground I can't help but just grin. And I care about you and you mean something to me but I can't, I cant put it into words because everything sounds too lame to even compare. And you're driving me insane it's not fair at all-"

She ran for him. Really, really ran. Her heart does all the running and the force at which she collides with him is enough to send him stumbling backwards, but he catches her because he'll always catch her.

She'll never fall while he's around.

So she kisses him in this frozen moment of time on August 17th and it makes the day both the best day to ever exist within their universe and the worst, most heart-wrenching horrifying day in their universe.

But that doesn't matter because Bri's lips are on Luke's and at first he's surprised, at second he thinks he should have kissed her weeks ago, and at third he melts, closing his eyes and indulging in this one moment that his heart craved.

It's his soft hands that cradle her close to him and his nose that brushes against her own, causing her to tilt his face and kiss him harder if that was possible.

Bri pulls away first, but her body is still held against his own, and she breathes as if she forgot how lungs work.

"I-"

"Wow"

The brunette blushes, and this is the closest she's ever been to him and his beautiful eyes. "Sorry, that was um. That was a bit cheesy," she mumbles embarrassingly, and he laughs.

His chest rumbles with it and she's always known he laughs with his entire body but this is a whole new feeling- pressed up against his chest.

"Sometimes I like cheesy," Luke finally says, and he traces a thumb over her cheek. His lips are still electric from that kiss, and he goes in for another.