𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐧

── interrogations

          𝕬urora placed the last instrument away, tucking everything in place before stretching. She'd just taught her first music lesson at camp, having been placed (to the surprise of no one) in the music section of the Apollo cabin. 

It had gone well, the kids were angels, and nothing was broken that couldn't be fixed. 

Her laptop lay open to the side, her songs up and ready to go as she waited for her next class. She needed to get the final song of the album finished and then she would be ready to go, ready to announce it at the next concert though she really wanted to do the games that revealed the album. But, her mom had said no.

Sitting down, Aurora put one headphone in, listening through the song again and again as she tried to find a mistake in the music or the lyrics. It had to be perfect, all of it. She wouldn't settle for anything else.

Focusing in, she barely heard the sound of her name by the boy hovering in her classroom door.

"Aurora, hey." Finally, he got tired of waiting, tapping her shoulder a few times as she yelped and jumped away from him.

"Luke, what the hell?" She hissed, placing her hand to her chest. "I could have died."

"That's a bit dramatic."

"No it's not!" Aurora replied with a scowl, before taking a deep breath. "What do you want?"

"Well, heard you came back yesterday, but didn't see you. You know, wanted to check in, see how it's all going." Aurora raised an eyebrow, as Luke began to try and find an excuse to put in instead of he wanted to see her. "I just wanted to know if it went smoothly, that's all. Not a lot of demigods go out into the world and are alright, so you could have had monster troubles, is that a crime to ask?"

"I didn't say anything."

"You were looking at me weird."

"That's my face, idiot!" Aurora shot back as Luke began to stumble, having realised that he'd screwed up. He hadn't meant to make her angry.

"And it's a very beautiful face but I was just asking how you were." Luke put his hands on his hips, trying to fight the urge to blush. He had always been able to talk to girls, to be flirty and charming and now, with Aurora in front of him, he failed every single time. What was wrong with him? Did Aphrodite have it out for him or something?

"I'm fine, thank you. I'm just tired."

"Why are you tired?"

"What is this? An interrogation?"

"I'm just asking!" Luke shot back, hands on his hips. "Sue me for being nice."

"I will. Why are you still treating me weirdly? You don't do this for everyone else!"

"How would you know? And I do cause I'm a nice guy." Luke protested, slightly worried about her agreeing to sue him. It had been a figure of speech and he was really hoping that she didn't mean literally.

"Because everyone in my cabin who went through your speeches and cabin first says you don't." Luke blushed. He'd been caught. "I asked you to treat me normally."

"Look, I just got worried. Clarisse could still be hunting you down." Luke grinned as he finally found an acceptable answer. Aurora considered it for a moment, before conceding.

"I'm alright, Luke, okay? I've just got a lot of work, I've got to get the album finished and ready for it's drop and I'm a bit behind because it was supposed to be finished before the last concert and it's not and if my mom finds out, I'm kind of dead." Aurora shrugged, before shooting him a quick grin. "See, all good?"

"Why's your mom going to be upset? If it gets done, it gets done."

"Yes, but if I want it nominated, it has to come out now." Aurora pointed out, before saving the file and sending it back to her dad for him to listen to and do final changes. "Look, it's annoying. I would have wanted more time, done the games that I planned, but I can't and mom says that I need to have it finished and my manager agrees."

"Games?"

"Yeah, like a scavenger, where's Waldo or something like that, it was just an idea." Aurora sighed, before leaning on her hand to watch him. "It's been veto-ed and I haven't created anything so I'll just announce it at the next concert."

"I can do the games." Luke shoved his hands deep in his pockets as he watched the smaller girl. "You know, Son of Hermes, pranks and trickster thing, I'll do them."

"What?"

"Yeah, I'll do the games and then you can put them out to announce the album." Luke nodded, gears whirring in his mind. "See, then you can do your games."

"I can't." She had lit up, but her words were contradictory to that and Luke was confused.

"You seemed to really want to do the games."

"I do but my mom said no."

"And? It's your music, just run it by your manager." Luke pointed out. "They'll be super good games, I promise."

"I can't." She shook her head. "It's alright, I'll announce it at the concert."

"How about, I do the games, you try them and then you decide, yeah?" He bargained, a grin on his face as Aurora seemed to consider it. "If you don't like them, you could just say no."

"My mom will kill me."

"What's life without a little bit of risk, Sunshine?" Luke leant forward, before nudging her. "You just tell me what you want to tell me about the album, I'll make them and give them back tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? Luke, that's a bit unreasonable on you. I can't ask you to do that."

"I'm offering." Aurora watched him, brown eyes wide and hopeful as Luke grinned once more, trying to fight down his blush at her little smile. "So, what do you say, Sunshine?"

"Alright." Aurora shook his hand as Luke beamed. "But only if you promise to stop being weird and just be normal."

"I told you, I can do normal."

"Not flirting, Luke, just normal." Luke blushed at that. "And you can also let go of my hand now."

"Oh, yeah." He had hoped that she'd forget that she was holding his hand too. 

"I'll give them to you later, my class is turning up."

"Course, course." Luke nodded, turning away and grinning to himself at the prospect. He hadn't done that badly, Aurora was alright, no Chris and Mack to annoy him and he hadn't made a fool of hims-

He tripped over a chair and face planted at that moment. For a second, Luke contemplated lying on the floor, but Aurora was already hurrying over and he had to get up. Of course, the one little victory he had with Aurora had to be ruined by face planting.

"Luke, you alright?" Aurora bit back a chuckle, helping him up. "How'd you do that?"

"Thought someone had dropped something." He tried to cover as she giggled, and nodded her head. "What? I did?"

"Course you did." She patted his shoulder. "I'll see you later, Luke."

"Bye Aurora." He turned, cursing himself as he waked outside only to feel two arms around his shoulders.

"Bye Aurora..." Chris cooed in one ear as Luke's face dropped. "I am in love with you."

"Bye Aurora..." Mack followed on. "Please, notice me, love me, choose me!"

"Run." Both took off as Luke followed along behind, ready to strangle one or both of them.

∘☽༓☾∘

"There you are." Aruna sat down by Aurora, who was toasting a marshmallow and watching their siblings lead another song. "Where you been?"

"Luke's helping me make a game to announce my album, or potentially announce it. Needed to give him the details for it." Aurora explained as Aruna hummed. "What?"

"You've got that boy wrapped around your little finger."

"Who? Luke?" Aurora pulled a face. "No, he's just being nice."

"Please." Aruna laughed. "He stumbles over his words the minute you look at him, and blushes and he's looking for an excuse to get closer to you and spend time with you now that you're not in his cabin."

"I'm sure that's not true. He's just being friendly." Aurora shook her head. "I told him not to flirt with me and he isn't, so it's just friendly."

Aruna hummed in disbelief as Aurora huffed.

"Plus, mom made me kind of swear off the whole dating thing. You know, having a boyfriend and trying to remain a mystery from the world isn't exactly compatible, so can't really even entertain that idea." Aurora pointed out further as Aruna watched her. "And once again, Luke doesn't like me."

"Do you need to get your eyes checked?"

"No, I've got twenty twenty vision. That's a really random question." Aurora was confused. Weren't they talking about Luke?

"Oh Aurora." Aruna patted her shoulder, walking off as Aurora grew more confused.

"What? What are you talking about? Aruna! What does 'Oh Aurora' mean?" 

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, Aurora's oblivious and Luke's a simp. Also, Luke is actually really smooth with everyone else apart from Aurora and Aurora just lives to give this man grief. I just really love them, and Aurora and Aruna are sweethearts, for sure.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx