Scars - A PJO/HOO Soulmates AU

6.

I like them puns, even though they are horrible. I'm such a hypocrite. Okay well, thanks but no thanks, have fun with Frank!

Chapter 5 - You'll Be An Ama-Zhang Warrior

"Up, down, 197!"

"Up, down, 198!"

"Up, down, 200!"

Frank collapsed onto the hard, black floor of the exercise room, pressing his cheek to the cold ground and sighed, trying to get some air after that strenuous workout.

He felt a foot press into his back, knocking the breath out of him.

"Get up soldier, no time for rest. Next exercise: burpees."

Frank suppressed a groan and pulled himself to his feet, standing up with his back straight and saluted to his father.

Mars Zhang could make any grown man quiver in his trousers, so it was no surprise that Frank never met his father's eyes.

Frank got to work on the burpees as his father threw out insults and yells of some sort of encouragement. His muscles strained with every push-up, and his breaths came out in puffs of air during each jumping jack.

He had done these same workouts for so many years, he started to develop the ability to think about other things and exercise simultaneously.

Frank let his mind wander, to his junior year starting tomorrow, to his soulmate tattoos, and finally, to how he got into this complicated mess in the first place.

~~~~~~~~~~

Mars was a war veteran, just like his wife, and Frank's mother, Emily Zhang. He was in the military and served for the Canadian forces. So did Emily.

They met each other on a commission to Germany, where they fell in love and continued to meet each other afterward. Mars was attracted to Emily because she was fierce and selfless, both qualities he liked in women. She loved him because he was a big "softie" on the inside if you looked hard enough.

And as much as Frank tried, he couldn't see it.

It turned out they were both soulmates, and so they got married and had Frank. After a couple of years of Emily staying at home with a baby and Mars going off to different countries, she returned to her job, having Frank's grandmother take care of him.

Now, Frank understood where his mother got her fierceness from. His grandmother was strict but kind, and she pushed him, but not to the limits like Mars did.

But obviously, nothing good can last.

When Frank was 5, his parents had to leave to fight in a war in Afghanistan. Only one of them came back. Mars arrived back at the house with a medal gripped tightly in his hand, and a sullen expression.

Frank was old enough to understand what had happened and spent the night crying quietly, bundled up in his covers while his grandmother and father fought about something. He had just wished that they could stop fighting. His mother was dead, and she wasn't coming back. Couldn't they understand that?

The next morning, he was shaken awake at an ungodly hour in the morning and was given a suitcase. The next hour was blind chaos, with Frank being whisked off to pack clothes, eat breakfast, and was ushered into the car.

His father got into the driver's seat, and Frank peeked out the window, wondering if his grandmother was coming too. So he asked.

Mars tightened his fists around the wheel and shook his head no, and Frank stared outside at his grandmother sadly. She had a solemn expression on her face, but Frank could pinpoint some anger and some anxiety in it too, and he became nervous.

Little did he know, that day was a life changer. He wasn't even allowed to attend his mother's funeral. They moved from Canada to Manhattan and cut all ties to his old family. Frank never saw his grandmother again.

Mars also changed. He turned from the fun-loving, caring father to the strict army general, ready to make Frank salute to him. And Frank accidentally did once, it was embarrassing.

When they moved into their one-story house in the suburbs of Manhattan, Mars had immediately installed a gym room into the west side of their home. Every day afterward, he had woken Frank up at the crack of dawn to do intense fitness workouts.

At the start, Frank had almost collapsed of tiredness at the end of the workouts. Now, though, he could get through the day without fainting in the middle of class.

It wasn't that Mars was a bad father, it was more that he wasn't a paternal type. He still fed Frank, slapping him on the back and saying that "growing boys need to eat!" But he was never actually there. He would be gone after Frank showered, and wasn't home until he was asleep. He never attended any of Frank's football games or helped with homework. It was barely the essentials, but Frank didn't mind.

Mars was a terrifying person after all, and Frank could only imagine how much of a disaster it would be if he came to parent night at school.

~~~~~~~~~~

Frank stepped out of his room, freshly clean after taking a shower. As always, his father was off to his job, the new one he got after they moved.

He subconsciously rubbed his fingers across the smooth tattoo of a diamond on his left shoulder. Frank let his fingers slide down to the sketchbook and sighed.

Frank was terrible at art, but he signed up for it this year, hoping to find his soulmate. At least then, he would have some company. His father wasn't company and the kids he sat with at lunch were fakes. They only sat with Frank because he was athletic and was the captain of the football team. Not for who he was.

After lounging around the living room with nothing to do, Frank decided to take a walk, celebrating his last day of freedom before he had to go back to school.

It was more than just a walk in the end because the boy with black hair, sea-green eyes, and a lopsided grin changed everything.

Ooh, who's the kid?! WELL if you don't know who it is, just get out right now.

This is painfully short because I can't relate to Frank the same way I can with Percy, Annabeth, Leo, and literally everyone else. Except for Octavian. Ew.

-OneAppleBlossom ;)