Say You'll Remember Me (Lukercy)

Chapter 27 (the final chapter)

The storm woke Luke up from the nightmare that he had been subject to for over a decade. He rolled over, into his husband's embrace, trying to distance himself from the dream, from the funeral. 13 years, he thought to himself. 13 years, and he still hadn't recovered from the loss of the boy that he had known for less than 6 weeks.

For a while Luke thought that he was over it. That's how he ended up here in Brooklyn, married to a mortal man, with a son who didn't understand the significance of the name Luke insisted he be given.

Chiron had somehow managed to get him into a boarding school in Cambridge in the weeks following Percy's funeral. He wasn't supposed to stay there for long, just a semester, the full school year at the latest, but he never came back. He couldn't leave and go back to camp, he was happy -as happy as he could be in light of the circumstances- nothing there reminded him of Percy, and he didn't have to face the loss when he was 300 miles away from the boy's resting place. Luke was ashamed of what he was doing. Obviously running from his problems and pretending nothing had happened was not what Percy would have wanted him to do -in a way, he even considered it insulting to the boy, almost like he was trying to forget Percy altogether- but he wasn't strong enough to do anything else. Besides, even if he wanted to try to resolve his problem? No therapist would be able to take him seriously, he had no family, and all of his friends were gone, he had no other options.

Luke focused all of his attention on his school work, and graduated at the top of his class. He got accepted into Harvard, but Chiron said that there was no way the camp could pay for it, so Luke was on his own. He managed, took out student loans, he even got a part time job as a caterer to lighten the load. That was how he met Norman.

Luke was a rising senior when he had to cater for the graduation celebration of the class above him. Norman had been flirting with Luke lightly for most the night, and after the dinner, he gave the blonde his phone number.  The boy -or man, I should say- didn't know what to do. He had abstained from any relationships for fear of bringing back the memories of Percy. He figured that Percy would want this for him, after all, it had been six years, and Norman wasn't that bad looking.

The next day he called Norman and they had set up a date. Their relationship got off to a rocky start -Luke breaking Norman's toe while dancing on the third date- but they got through it. Luke moved in with the older man halfway through his senior year, and the following year they got married. Now here he was, 28, with a husband and son. Last year they moved from Boston to NYC, and now he owned his own firm. It was enough to make any normal person happy, a normal person could be content with a life like this. If only Luke was normal

Luke had thought he loved his husband, and to some extent he probably did, but it would never compare to what he felt for Percy, and it killed him inside. He knew that Norman loved him more than anything in the world -except for maybe the child sleeping down the hall- and he hated himself for not being able to reciprocate it. The man had helped him through so much, had  been everything Luke needed him to be, whenever he needed him, and Luke just couldn't love him the way he deserved to be loved.

He didn't realize that he was crying until the youngest member of their happy home entered the room.

"Daddy, why are you crying?" The boy, only 4 years old, already had as much compassion as his namesake.

"Hey buddy," Luke said, wiping his tears, "did the storm wake you?" The boy didn't answer, he just nodded. "Well climb on up here, you can sleep with us tonight."

The boy toddled over to the tall bed and began his ascent, determined to get up on his own, not accepting his father's help. When the boy finally reached the top, Luke slowly untangled himself from Norman's arms and sat up, facing the kid.

"Daddy, why were you crying? Did the storm scare you too?"

Luke paused, trying to figure out how to phrase it for a toddler.

"No, Perce, daddy was just thinking about a friend he hasn't seen in a while, and it made him sad."

The boy clammored up into his dad's lap before responding. "Why can't you go visit him, daddy?"

"Because, bud," he answered, trying not to cry again and wake the man sleeping beside him, "my friend lives way too far away, and I just can't go see him. But you know what?"

"What, daddy?"

"Whenever I see you, and how smart and kind you are, it makes me think of him, and it's almost like he's right here with me."

"But you can't see him, right, daddy?"

"No, bud, I can't see him."

"Then how are you still friends, daddy?"

Luke sighed, giving the boy a hug. "Because Percy, when you really care about someone, and they really care about you too, it doesn't matter how long you go without seeing them. The love never fades, and when you see each other again, it's like nothing's changed at all. You'll understand better when you're older. Now let's get some sleep."

They adjusted so that they were lying down, the boy cradled between both of his dads. Luke had thought his son was asleep, but after a few minutes, he spoke up again.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, Perce?"

"Do you think you'll ever see your friend again?"

A few tears ran down his cheeks, but his face still had a smile on it. "Yeah, buddy, I do. It won't be for a long time, but I think I'll see my friend again someday, and I can't wait."

The End