wrath - percy jackson

7

it had been two days since caleb and percy had gone to the phlegethon. the pair were currently wandering around aimlessly, in an attempt to find more sins, their kin. unfortunately they had not found any of their own.

percy had found out a lot about caleb in the past two days, the guy had opened up to him really fast. apparently, his mother had become an alcoholic ever since her husband left her - the one she married after meeting hypnos -. on top of his mother's drinking problem, they were broke. ever since he was young, caleb had been harassed countless times at school because of his mother's decreasing mental health and their money problem, whenever he got home he would always cry himself to sleep as a coping mechanism. his mother thought that he was just slacking off his chores so he was always insulted by his mother because she thought he was being lazy while, in reality, he was just trying to deal with his own problems.

after a few years, when his mother had finally had enough, she gave him away to sadistic cultists and ran away from his home state, new york. there were rumours going aroudn that she had actually run off with a secret boyfriend and he refused to take her child in so she left him. the cultists had also taken in abused and neglected children from different families and raised them to become their successors. "it was brutal." caleb described. "they made us work out four hours a day and only gave us two meals, saying that they needed to lessen their food take in so we would get used to preserving food in emergency situations." the children with caleb were dealing with it in different ways, some took their frustration out on themselves while others would explore what limited sources they had on the world and form their own opinions rather than follow the cult's ideal traits.

when he had turned twelve, he was taken to a small church and a satyr happened to be passing by. he took him to camp half-blood where he was claimed but they didn't have their own cabin since minor god cabins only became a thign after the second titan war thanks to percy, so he had to stay in the overcrowded hermes cabin for his entire stay. he decided to stay year round since nothing was really left for him back in the cult and he didn't want to go back to their hellish ways, so he slept and slept and slept to cope.

back to the present, the pair were about to turn the corner when they heard a war cry. it didn't seem like it was practised enough, judging by the weak tone, so it couldn't have been an ares/mars child. if they were war crying, it might mean that they were fighting a monster.

the theory was proven correct when they heard a loud hiss come from the area. caleb peeked around the corner and saw a giant scorpion being wrestled by a blonde kid that seemed to have a grey streak of hair which caleb found odd, he was unarmed and doing his best against the giant scorpion with no weapon or armour.

"what's going on?" percy whispered to caleb who was still watching the fight.

"there's a blonde kid wrestling a giant scorpion with his bare hands. he's probably one of our sins. he doesn't have a weapon or armour and- ooh." the brunette cringed as the blonde kid was swung across the ground, landing in an uncomfortable position, leaning against the wall he had crashed into.

"cmon, let's go help." the son of poseidon decided as he uncapped riptide, the mighty sword bouncing to its full length, the faint glow giving the pair a better view of the scorpion. percy charged at the monster, leaving a panicking caleb behind as he scrambled for his dagger.

the scorpion was a deep red, matching the shade of percy's red ring in his eyes. it stood at eight feet tall, with a mighty tail and a number of legs that looked like they had been dipped in some fire barbeque sauce. percy scowled at it and charged, slashing its side with a lot of force. a small hurricane of water vapour had accumulated itself around percy subconsciously as he fought like a demon, slashing every weak spot he could find around the scorpion.

the monster hissed loudly and went to sting percy with its tail but its injuries slowed it down tremendously. the son of the sea spotted caleb on the scorpion's back and he stepped back, looking at what the son of hypnos was about to do.

he smirked as caleb stabbed its head, and the monster screeched terribly as it collapsed on the floor and exploded in yellow dust that covered percy's face, he heard a laugh come from caleb as the boy landed on his feet. the mini hurricane that made itself around percy dissolved and he went to wipe the dust off his face.

"yay, scorpion dust's in my mouth. woohoo." percy commented sarcastically as he wiped his face with his white shirt that higged his figure nicely. he needed to do laundry soon since he was running out of fresh clothes for both him and caleb, but how was he going to do it?

a groan interuppted his thoughts and the pair whipped their heads around. the eerily familliar blonde boy was getting up and rubbing his back in pain.

"oh, fuck. my back feels like it just got cracked in a million different spots." the man spoke as he got up, caleb laughed again, another joker was added to the team.

percy looked up and caught sight of his sandy blonde hair. he froze. he stared incredulously at the blonde man before him. his eyes searched for a grey streak in his hair and sure enough, it was there. it was him, it was really him. the ravenette's entire body wanted to greet the man in a warm embrace but his body refused to move at all.

"...luke." percy muttered quietly, worrying that if he said the name any louder he would disappear. he dropped his sword as it made a clang sound when it fell with a thud. the blonde looked up, confused at the mention of his name, when he met percy's captivating sea-green eyes that a faint ring of red around them. the son of hermes' eyes widened as he looked percy up and down. a deep blush erupted in his cheeks and he quickly averted his gaze. after a few moments, he looked back hesitantly to see that percy was still looking at him in disbelief. caleb sat on the ground and observed the situation before him, drinking his hot bottled tea percy and him had managed to create a day earlier.

luke's face lit up brilliantly as percy continued to stare into the man's swirling, sky blue pools in disbelief. a cheeky grin made its way on both of their faces as luke engulfed percy in a warm, tight embrace. the son of the sea stood still for a moment, before returning the hug tightly, burying his face in the crook of luke's neck.

"luke, luke, luke." percy mumbled against his neck, holding back hot tears that threatened to escape. luke's blue orbs glazed over and in a matter of nanoseconds, their dams broke. the pair were sobbing quietly into each other's shoulders as they let out a collection of sobs. percy grips onto luke tighter as he breathes in luke's familliar, cinammon scent.

caleb keeps sipping his tea and mumbles, "gay."