Tell Me You Love Me

In the Weeks After(Onety-Threety-Four)

Percy's POV

In the weeks after, Luke's depression hit an all time low. His grades plummeted, he'd hardly eat anything at meals to the point where I had to regulate everything he put in his mouth. I even had Milo force him to eat stuff at school.

He was always tired. He would go to bed early(he rarely left his bed, actually) and sleep in as long as I'd let him before he had to get up for school.

Some days he was sad, some days he was grumpy, but most days he was just quiet.

Milo temporarily moved into our house also. It was entirely his idea, but he wanted to keep an eye on Luke and keep him company. So it became Milo's duty to wake Luke from his nightmares.

In the weeks after, there also came the trial. I was to attend, along with Reyna. Luke didn't want to go, and frankly, I didn't want Luke to go. So he wrote his accusation and got a special letter of excuse from the court. Besides, two other young men also came forward to say that Aiden had used them in similar ways.

The day of the trial, I opened Luke's door, already dressed in my tux, to find Luke curled up on the bed, hugging his knees while Milo rubbed his back.

I went over to the side of the bed and hugged Luke, kissing the top of his head.

"It'll be alright, Luke. I have to go now, but I'll be home in time for supper."

He nodded and I slipped out the door.

Later, during the trial, the judge, a daughter of Nemesis, was reading off the reports on Aiden.

"Aiden Miller, an eighteen year old white male born in Los Angeles, California, being tried for sexual harassment, abuse, and assault of three young men by the names of Tyler Christianson, Mason Carl, and Luke Jackson. Miller has been diagnosed with Anti-Social Personality Disorder and has thus far pleaded not guilty."

Aiden nodded along to all of this. As the trial went on, Aiden continued to claim he didn't do it. But soon it became evident that he was losing and would go to jail.

Once Aiden worked out that he was going to lose the case, he completely changed his demeanor. Instead of denying it, he started bragging about it whenever a lawyer asked him questions.

The lawyer on our side was questioning Aiden currently.

"So do you admit to taking advantage of these three young men sexually?"

Aiden nodded, grinning. "I did do that."

"Do you regret your decisions? Do you feel remorse for the pain you have cause them?"

Aiden barely had to think about it. "Nope."

The lawyer sighed. "If given the opportunity, would you do it again?"

Aiden looked right at me, a great big smile on his face. "Absolutely."

I felt nauseous. I needed to get out of that courtroom immediately. I stood before realizing that was probably informal. All eyes were on me.

"Your honor, May I be excused from the courtroom?" I asked.

She nodded. "You may be excused."

I turned and dashed out of there, leaving Reyna to watch the rest of the trial.

Reyna told me after that the sentence was originally fifteen years in prison, but after Aiden talked about the way he did, the sentence was changed to thirty.

That night, we all slept in Luke's room.

^*^*^*^

(Major time skip, watch out)

Milo's POV

It's been five months and Luke just turned seventeen. His mood hasn't improved much, but he's been a little better now that we're at Camp for the summer.

For the most part, he goes to all his activities and eats his meals in the Dining Pavilion, but every once in awhile, he'll skip a day hanging out in the Legacy Cabin. He hardly ever goes to Camp fires and when we play Capture the Flag on Fridays, he sits by the flag claiming he's on 'guard duty'. 

But today, after breakfast, he just disappeared. As soon as I noticed he wasn't with me, I went straight to the Legacy Cabin, but he wasn't laying dejectedly on his bed like usual. Panic welled up in my chest. For once in a very long time I didn't know where Luke was.

And he's definitely not in a good place mentally right now. I immediately went to Chiron to inform him of what was happening, just like Percy instructed me to do.

Chiron and I set out to look. I headed to the docks and the amphitheater while Chiron checked through the woods, specifically in the direction of the cemetery.

Once we met up again, we headed together to the cabins. Chiron seemed to be able to see something I couldn't from his vantage point of height, because he sighed. "You might want to check the Legacy cabin again," he suggested. 

Puzzled, I left Chiron to go check inside again. He still wasn't there.

As I left the Cabin, I got a sudden idea. I ran around the side of the cabin and noticed notches in the siding that I'd never seen before. I climbed up and onto the roof of the cabin to find a nice place to sit and hang out. Luke was sitting there by the edge, criss cross, watching the activities throughout Camp.

I sat down next to him, letting my legs dangle.

"Bad day?" I asked. It had become customary for me to ask this. If I thought it might've been a good day, I would ask. But sometimes I just knew when it had been a bad day. 

He nodded, staring straight ahead. 

I nudged his side with my shoulder and he smiled weakly. "It'll get better," I assured.

He shrugged.

"It will," I promised.