Tell me something that I'll forget And you might have to tell me again It's crazy what you'll do for a friend Go ahead and cry, little girl Nobody does it like you do I know how much it matters to you I know that you got daddy issues

Daddy - Issues by the neighborhood

THE NEXT TIME DAHLIA REGAINED consciousness, she felt her head throbbing. A beeping went through her ears, as if her temples would give way the next moment and her head would explode. She felt her limbs laying numb and unable to move, on the ground beneath her. Her eyes opened and were immediately struck by the bright light. She saw dust swirling above her, clearly visible in the sunlight. The dry air scratched her throat as she found herself in a dusty room.

She realized that she had regained feeling over her body by a sudden pain on the side of her hip. She straightened up with an aggressive hiss and reached for the hand that was sticking a needle through her skin.

"The more you struggle, the more it hurts." She heard Luke's deep voice. He sounded strict but when she met his eyes, the only thing she saw was worry and dark circles that exposed the boy's tiredness.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she whimpered because of the pain.

"I have to stitch it. Come on, Relax." He demanded as he put the one hand that wasn't holding the needle, onto her shoulder and pushed her back down. He then sighed and continued stitching up a big wound that was gaping at her side.

Dahlia shut her eyes and bit her tongue, trying to think about something else. She then started to look around the room they were in, trying to distract herself from the pain. They were in some kind of storeroom, on the side were shelves with various sports balls and cleaning products.

"Where are we?" She asked. She then saw towards the Hermes Boy and for the first time really looked at him.
His torso was shirtless, exposing the numerous scratches and bruises scattered across his body. His chest was hunched over as he bent down towards her. He looked exhausted and tired, as if he hadn't slept for days.

"The old gym. No one uses it anymore so.." he shrugged his shoulders.

"How do you know?" She asked.

"Annabeth, Thalia and me used to live here once. Just for a couple of days.. It's a good spot." He shrugged his shoulder.
Dahlia then wanted to ask how they even got in here but then remembered.

Hermes boy.

"You opened the locks?" She asked and the boy's eyes met her's for a second. He cleared his throat.

"Yeah." She heard the slight change in his voice.
Showing the discomfort he had with being a son of Hermes.

"Thought you hated that?" Dahlia asked but then winced at another shot of pain.

"I guess I do a lot of things I despise." He sighed and the girl decided to not bother him with it anymore. She saw him making a knot at the end of the thread and then grabbing a blood-soaked shirt, which had probably been his own. He dabbed her side before pulling down her green dress that was pushed, back up before. It was also blood soaked.

"Here." Luke gave her nectar and ambrosia and the blond took it thankfully. She took a few sips and then gave it to him. Luke shook his head.

"You need it." He said repellent.

"Have you looked at yourself?" She then asked and felt her eyes getting heavy. She perceived everything in a blur, as if her head had been put in a glass box. She noticed how the pain in her body got better and tiredness overcame her. Luke emptied the bottle and then stood up.

"You should change into other clothes." He walked towards his bag and pulled out some clothes. He threw them to her and when Dahlia caught them, she recognized them as her own.

"You broke into my room and stole my clothes?" She asked and saw him shaking his head.

"Why do you have my clothes?" She asked.

"Because I knew this would happen!" Luke snapped at her. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Sorry. I just.. need some rest." He then murmured and the Demeter Girl heard the exhaustion in his voice. He pulled out a black hoodie and put it on.

The blonde girl stared at her knees. She felt terribly bad. For partying and having a hangover from the alcohol and also bringing Luke into all this trouble.
She felt so stupid.

Luke stood up, ran his hands through his face and his dark curls, before he walked towards her. Dahlia only then realized she was laying on a sports mat and made place for him. She changed her clothes and layed down.
The boy then got down and layed beside her.

"Luke?" She whispered, biting her lip.

"Hm." He hummed.

"I'm sorry." She whispered.

"It s'okay." he answered. A short silence fell in between them.

"Luke?" She then whispered again.

"Hm."

"I hate alcohol." She grumbled.

"Me too." She heard Luke shift and then saw him turning towards her so he could look her in the eyes.
Dahlia closed her eyes and felt his eyes on her. She then felt sleep wash over her body again.

"I don't wanna be like my father.." were the last words she mumbled before falling asleep. And she could have sworn she heard Luke say quietly.

"You're not.. we're not like them."

Dahlia opened her sleepy eyes and found herself in the same dusty room of the old gym as before. She now perceived everything clearer as a few hours before.

When she wanted to get up, something or more someone prevented her from doing so.
She felt strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her closer. Warm breath brushed the back of her neck and as the girl turned around she recognized Luke's dark curls spread chaotically across his face.
She couldn't help but feel her heart begin to quicken and her skin tingle under his touch.
Luke must have slipped closer to her in the few hours of sleep.

She blamed the December cold for that.

She turned around in his arms, so she could face him. One of his thick curls hung in his eyes  and is lips were slightly parted. His features were relaxed as he slept peacefully.

"Luke." Dahlia whispered but didn't get an answer.

"Luke." She whispered again and only gained a grumble from the boy. He tightened his grip around her waist and pulled her closer to his body, which caused Dahlia to gasp quietly.

"Luke we should set off before it gets dark." Dahlia said.
After the attack from the previous night, she realized that the boy was right and she needed to go to Mount Olympus with him before the winter solstice would officially start.

His brown eyes opened and shot towards her green ones. He then took a deep breath in and let go of her waist. Luke turned on his back and let his hands run over his face before he sat up.

"How are you feeling?" He turned back to her and scrutinized her.

"I'm fine." Dahlia sat up. She hissed because her whole body hurt from the previous night.
Luke got up and took his bag.

"We're going to Olympus and if you don't want to I swear to the gods I'll drag you there over my shoulder I don't care anymore." Luke said strictly and walked outside.

There speaks the good old cabin counselor inside of him.

On the way to Mount Olympus, none of them said anything. Dahlia could feel the awkward tension between her and the boy. Luke must be angry at her and she didn't blame him for it.

It would be easy to say no one could have seen the chimaera coming but the truth was that Luke did all along. He must have experienced enough cold December nights around the winter solstice when he wasn't in camp. If it was true that he left his home at 9 he spend 6 years in the streets, fighting against monsters and protecting his friends.

Dahlia felt once again stupid. She should have listened to the boy.

"Luke?" she finally spoke up and broke the awkward silence between them.

The boy didn't give her an answer.

Great.

"You kinda.. saved my life yesterday.. thank
you for that." she then said and saw him slightly shaking his head, while he still didn't talk to her.

The Demeter girl rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Fine! I know I should have listened to you. And I'm sorry that I underestimated this whole situation." She apologized further.

"And that I partied."
Silence.

"And that I got drunk.. kinda, not that much but still."
Silence.

"And that I got your life in danger."
Silence.

Dahlia sighed exhausted.

"Well I don't know for what else I should apologize." Dahlia looked at Luke's back as he walked in front of her. No sound leaving his body except his steps on the cold asphalt.

"No this is not fair! You didn't have to follow me to the party and get yourself nearly killed. How is this my fault now?" Dahlia then shook her head and finally got Luke to turn his head around to look at her for a moment. His eyes shot to hers before he looked ahead again.

"And let you die? Of course." He then answered, his voice mocking.

"Who said I would've died?" Dahlia asked and Luke stopped walking. He then turned around to her quickly, holding his pointing finger into her face.

"Did you SEE yourself earlier?!" He snapped.

"Yeah of course, looked like Mariah Carey. No of course not I was busy being unconscious." She answered sarcastically.

"If I hadn't dragged you through the whole city, while fighting off a freaking sphinx and then spend the whole night trading your wounds YOU WOULD BE DEAD!"
Dahlia looked at him confused.

"You got attacked by a sphinx?"

"Yes! And all this wouldn't have happened if you simply would have listened to me!" Luke raised his voice at her.

"Why are you even here in the first place?!" Dahlia argued back, raising her voice too.

"CAUSE I'M PROTECTING YOU DAMN IT!" Luke yelled.

"Oh so I'm the bad one for not wanting your protection but when I wanted to protect you after your quest, you ghosting me is okay?!"
Dahlia fought back and got the boy off guard.

"That was not about protection, I did that cause I didn't need you to pity me!" Luke put down the volume of his voice to a normal tone.

"I did not pity you!" She said pulling her brows together and looking at him confused.

"Of course you did! Everyone did!" The girl heard the vulnerability in Luke's voice as it was slightly shaking.

"I cared about you. Everyone did! The love people give you is no pity." She said and Luke continued staring at her.
Dahlia closed up the space between them and stepped closer to him.

"I'm sorry Luke. For everything. And I'm thankful that you were here." She pressed her lips together and Luke was surprised by her honest apology.

"It's okay. Let's just.. move on."
They continued to walk in silence through the streets.

"This Ezra.. has he done something to you?" She felt how the Hermes boy tense up again.
He then sighed heavily and seemed like he was searching for the right words.
He then took a deep breath again and began to talk.

"Before I met Thalia, traveling alone, I met Ezra here in New York. He was a street performer, did some his tricks on the sidewalks. I watched him for a while until he approached me. He knew I was a demigod. I don't know how he figured it out, but he knew." Luke's eyes found Dahlias before he looked at his steps again.

„He asked me about our world. I know I should have thought that it was strange but.. I was 12 and naive and he seemed so.. lost and curious. I guess it was just nice so have someone who finally understood me unlike all the other people I tried to befriend you know?" He looked at the blonde again and Dahlia nodded.

„Yeah I get that."

„We talked about the gods and monsters.. He's not a half-blood or something. I'm also sure that he can't see through the mist, he must have had friends or something from our world I don't know.. but we became pretty close. Later on when Annabeth, Thalia and me traveled together, we met him again and he sold us a dagger which he claimed was from Hermes the god of travelers
himself!  With the promise it'll helps us to travel faster and safer. It was one of the many times when I actually thought my f-.. Hermes.. cared about me."
Luke chuckled ironically, showing how much he despised himself for having the idea that his father would try to help them.

"So I bought it from him and at first this thing actually worked. We traveled fatally towards Arizona. But almost daily we got attacked by monsters that didn't even live in these places. One of them was an empousa and she revealed that she found us through the sent of the dagger. Grover later said, he could smell It was cursed."
Dahlia shook her head in disbelief.

"But why would he-.."

"Cause that's how he is Dahlia! He tricks and lies and makes negotiations that get you nearly killed! He squeezes you out about everything you know and then uses you to get into the world of the gods cause he thinks it gives him power." Luke made a quick break before continuing to talk.

"When Grover found us, we met Ezra again. I gave him the dagger and told him about its curse. He said that he didn't know. He was sorry and gave us another object. A compass. It caused Grover to make a few wrong turns and got us into the hands of a cyclops. I believed him all this time cause I thought he would never do something like that, you know trick us and get us killed. But he did and that's why I need you to stay away from him!"
Luke finished and Dahlia needed to process the story before she answered.

"Trust me, I will."

When they reached Mount Olympus, Dahlia got greeted by her siblings.

"I thought you were staying in New York?" Meg asked.

"Change of plans I guess." Dahlia shrugged her shoulders. She got herself some food and then told her siblings about her holiday and her little adventure with Luke.

It got dark soon and despite of her being exhausted from everything that had happened the past hours, Dahlia couldn't find any sleep.
She laid awake in her sleeping bag, staring at the ceiling when she decided to go outside.
Silently she got up and sneaked past her siblings. Outside she walked around and sat down at some rock. She took her little notebook, that she had taken with her and started drawing little sketches of swords and monsters into it.

"Drakons don't have horns." Dahlia jumped out of her seat and onto her feet. He whirled around and had Luke sitting on the rock, she was sitting before. He was dressed in black clothes and in his hand he had the blue Yankees cap that Annabeth always carried with her.

"Are you mad?! You gave me a heart attack!" She scolded at him.

"You'll survive." Luke slid down from the rock until he was sitting on the ground in front of it. Then he tapped his hand on the ground next to him and gestured for Dahlia to sit again. The girl shook her head slightly and then sat down next to him. She opened her book again and showed her drawings to Luke.

"I've never seen a Drakon but Meg says it has horns." She told him and put her finger to the head of the dragon-like beast that she tried to draw.

"And Meg is all-knowing?" Luke said grinning mockingly.

"Well she know's almost everything about monsters and stuff and she's super smart. Sometimes I wonder that she's not an Athena kid!" the girl smiled at the thought of her friend. She then started to erase the horns of the dragon with the back of her pencil.

"And also look.. can I?" Luke asked and pointed to her pencil.

"And let you ruin my masterpiece? No way." Dahlia raised a brow and looked at him chuckling. The brunette boy tilted his head at her and then snapped forward to catch the pencil from her.

"Mmh, nice try Hermes boy." She had leaned back and raised her pencil in the air. She looked at him challengingly and the boy shook his head as he leaned further towards her, intent on snatching the pen.

"Give it-.."

"Nuh-uh." Dahlia said laughing. He wrapped his arm around her waist to pull her towards him, causing the girl to lose her balance slightly and both of them to fall backwards. Luke landing directly above her.

Now this was awkward.

They both stared into each others eyes. Dahlia felt her heart beating so fast that she was sure he could hear it and didn't even know if it was from the fiddling of them or the fact that his face was so close to her.
The blonde was seemingly distracted, which gave Luke the chance to snatch the pencil out of her hand.

"Ha!" He got back up and Dahlia followed him. He then took her Notebook and started to draw into it. Dahlia fixed her hair, took a breath and then sat beside him again.

"They have light black dots on their backs, like spots. You can count their age by this." The girl watched fascinated how her drew small dark spots into the dragons back.

"How do you even know how these things look?" She then asked and Luke shrugged his shoulders.

"Spend a long time cuddling with monsters, forgot?" He then said which caused Dahlia to laugh quietly. Luke looked at her smiling and gave her the drawing back.

"Thank you." Dahlia murmured. They sat beside each other, both stuck in their own thoughts.

"You know.. I thought about what you said earlier and.. you're right. People's love is not always pity. I didn't realize that.. I don't know why." Luke shook his head.

"I think pity is the only form of love, you've ever experienced. Mostly at least." Dahlia answered him, gaining his attention.

"That's why you never knew the difference, that's why you despise it so much and that's why you think you have to handle everything on your own even though you don't have to." Dahlia said and Luke stared at her. He nodded and was taken aback by her words.

"Wow are you some psychologist or something?" Luke said amazed. The blonde laughed.

"I wanna study psychology later yes, but reading people and analyzing them is something I was always good at." She said shrugging her shoulders.

"You're not alone Luke. You have me and Annabeth and your siblings and basically all the other people from camp. We have your back!" She smiled, which caused the boy to smile too.

"Thank you Lia." He whispered.

The girl put her head onto his shoulder and soon felt his arm around her. Luke put his head on top of hers just like the night when Dahlia was on her quest with Meg and Liam.
All these memories seemed so far away.

"Why are you out here? Couldn't sleep?" He then asked her.

"Just needed to process everything that has happened." She answered.

"You?" She then asked.

"Couldn't sleep so I went for a night walk." He said sighing.

And yet, he was so lying.

Author's note:
Oh Lukie what are you doingggg:(

Idk if you've seen Maxton Hall but I did and I love this show so I decided to write a fanfic.

- A Game Of Chess -

it's enemies to lovers hehe:)

Feel free to read it, I'm gonna update soon but don't worry this story will also continue!

Love ya guys! <3

—
3280 words