Percy's Point of view

One thing I've realized about the gods over the years is that most of the time they seem to show up at the worst possible time, and when you do want them to come they quite often don't. While that isn't usually the case for Aphrodite or my dad nowadays, it seemed to be the case for most of the other gods. For example one evening I was about to go pick up a few things when Apollo and Hermes popped up out of nowhere and basically revealed that there were rumors about me and Aphrodite going around Olympus and they wanted to know if they were true or not.

The word must have gotten out somehow after my confrontation with Ares, after all, I didn't think dad would have said anything, and I didn't think that Aphrodite had either. My guess is that Ares was whining about the fact Aphrodite had dumped him and someone else had probably overheard him. Obviously, I didn't want Apollo and Hermes to know the truth since they are probably two of the biggest gossips on Olympus along with Aphrodite herself. Despite liking to gossip I was pretty sure she hadn't said anything about our relationship to the other gods since she knew it wasn't something I wanted to advertise.

As they tried to find out if the rumors were true Apollo and Hermes didn't even bother trying to hide what they wanted since they asked me rather bluntly about my relationship with Aphrodite, I wasn't sure how to get out of my situation, some guys would probably want to brag if they were in my position but that just wasn't me, I prefer to keep my private life private so I definitely didn't want Apollo and Hermes to know that my relationship with Aphrodite had, in fact, become rather serious recently.

Obviously, I was no idiot, and I knew I didn't need another child right now so I was being responsible about it but that didn't mean it hadn't happened. Unfortunately I had no clue how to get out of my situation without telling Apollo and Hermes the truth, I couldn't lie since they would probably figure out that I was lying, especially since Apollo is the god of truth, if I said it was none of their business they would probably just assume the truth.

In the end, they probably figured out the truth since I couldn't find a way to keep them from finding out. I hadn't told them, I'd tried to avoid telling them but they'd probably still figured it out. A couple weeks later I learned that Hephaestus had also found out. Somewhat to my surprise, he had confronted Aphrodite and not me, so it had been Aphrodite who told me that he knew.

I wasn't sure what his reaction had been but it seemed like he wasn't going to try and hurt me so that was good enough for me. Maybe he'd resigned himself to the fact that Aphrodite wasn't going to fall for him, not to mention that he cheats on her too so it's not like he was completely innocent in their failed marriage. It sounded to me like he hadn't really tried to get her to fall for him and just assumed she wasn't interested in him simply because he wasn't exactly the best looking guy around.

I had expected that he would be angry with me and confront me or something, but the fact that he hadn't and just confronted Aphrodite surprised me. Regardless I certainly wasn't complaining so I didn't think about it too much.

Two years later, Luke's Point of view

A little over two years had passed since I'd first met my dad, my half-sister, and my grandfather. Ever since my dad got shot and then recovered nothing major had really happened, sure we had to face monsters every now and then but that was basically normal for us since we're related to the Greek gods. It seems like life can never really be easy for us because the fates had thrown another curve ball at me.

Not too long ago the school bully along with some of his buddies seemed to have taken an interest in me all of a sudden. They'd tried to bully me before but since I'd never let what they said bother me they'd eventually given up and moved on to some other kid. I don't really know what put the idea in their heads, but they weren't just bullying me for being a nerd anymore, they seemed to think that I was gay.

More recently I'd started to think that they might be right. I knew I hadn't taken any interest in girls and I had found myself thinking things about one of my friends, that I knew friends don't normally think about each other. Unfortunately, I was pretty sure my friend was straight since he certainly didn't hide what he thought about most of the girls in our class. sure he could be bisexual but I wasn't sure I wanted to risk our friendship just to find out that he wasn't.

Every time he would say something about one girl or another I would just nod and act like I agreed with him even though I didn't because I wasn't ready to tell anyone the truth about me. I was now sure that I was gay and honestly that knowledge just made what the bullies were saying harder to deal with. Normally I would just ignore what they said but that was becoming harder to do as they continued harassing me.

Every time I would encounter them in the halls I would hear one homophobic slur or another aimed my way. The teachers never did anything, I'm sure that at least one of them must have noticed, yet no-one had tried to stop the bullies from harassing me. I knew my friends saw what happened but while they would tell me to ignore those kids I just couldn't seem to do it,

I knew I should tell someone but I just couldn't bring myself to do it partially because that could result in me having to reveal the fact that I was gay and I knew that wasn't something I was ready to do yet especially since I had only come to that realization recently. Some of my friends had offered to tell the teachers what was happening even if it might not do any good, but I told them to wait mainly because I didn't want to have to reveal the truth.

For now, I endured the torment but I honestly wasn't sure what to do, I certainly wasn't ready to come out but what the older kids were saying did hurt and I wasn't sure how long I could put up with it. I kind of felt like a coward for not standing up for myself, I was descended from two of the Greek gods, a few homophobic idiots shouldn't be that much of an issue but I couldn't bring myself to find the courage to do what I knew I should.

Time passed and the bullies continued to torment me, I knew I should do something to stop them but even after enduring the hate for so long I just couldn't seem to bring myself to say anything. Even though most of the bullies were a grade higher than me I was pretty sure they had gotten there by cheating off some other kid's work.

Not only that but I could probably take them if a fight started since I had been training at camp and Mom continued my training during some of our spare time. Another thing that was on my mind quite often was, what would all my friends and family think once they found out the truth about me?

part of me was afraid that they'd have a similar opinion to the bullies even though the more logical part of me suspected that they would be okay with it and just be a bit surprised. I knew that my parents had two old friends from camp that were now a married gay couple so that's what made me think that they would probably be okay with learning that I was gay. Despite already knowing that everything the bullies said to me made my confidence plummet, and I just couldn't be sure despite already knowing about my parent's friends.

My friend Morgan stopped just admiring the girls in our class for once and actually made a move toward one of them and that seemed to be going somewhere. that made me even less interested in jeopardizing our friendship. so, for the time being, I was keeping quiet about everything. I think that my mom and the rest of my family could see that something was bothering me but I hadn't told them anything yet.

The one time my mom had asked I'd told her I was just worried about a test, I usually do pretty well in school but some subjects are harder than others and although I find it easier to read than my mom, dad, and Silena do I'm not perfect either so it can be hard sometimes. Especially now with everything the bullies have said to me stuck in my head tormenting me, making me feel like I was some kind of freak.

As time went on my situation didn't improve and although I knew I should stand up for myself I just couldn't, even when I wasn't at school what the bullies said to me remained in my mind tormenting me almost constantly. I would try to ignore them, try not to think about what they said to me but I just couldn't even if I did manage to occasionally avoid the bullies or push the torturous thoughts out of my head they would eventually return and I would be left to try and fight it off once again.

I couldn't help but wonder why the fates had to be so cruel, it seems could never be peaceful and easy for long, there would always be some new challenge that they would throw at us, heck my parents had fought in two wars when they weren't much older than I was now, and that's not something someone should go through, especially at that age.

My situation might not be that bad, but it still made my self-confidence plummet and made me worry about what all my friend and family would think of me once they found out, and the stress made it harder to concentrate on schoolwork, as a result, my grades eventually began to drop. I knew I should open my big mouth and say something, but anytime I wanted to me just couldn't force out the words that could get me out of this living hell that I was stuck in.

A/N I hope that Luke's point of view was accurate when it comes to how someone who is gay would feel if they were going through what he is, I personally am straight so I was pretty concerned about getting this chapter right. since I know that far too many people end up in that situation. and if I got it wrong and upset anyone I apologize, and if I upset you and you think this chapter isn't accurate, let me know how I could fix it. If this chapter is fine then I hope you all enjoyed it and I will try to update again soon.