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Thalia woke up to a soft shake, small fingers drumming on the collar of her pajama shirt. She opened one eye to see Annabeth there; her small frame illuminated by the small lantern used to keep watch. “Thalia?” Annabeth whispered, “Are you awake?”
Thalia pushed herself into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”
Annabeth grinned. “Good.”
“Is something the matter?” Thalia glanced around their hideout and didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. Luke was still asleep, his hair tostled on the sweatshirt he rolled up to use as a pillow. “Is it my turn to keep watch?”
Annabeth quickly shook her head. “No monsters,” she said. “I wanted to talk to you.”
Thalia slumped back down under her blankets. “Could it wait till morning, Annie?”
“No,” Annabeth said quickly. She glanced over to where Luke was, the soft puffs of breathing accenting her words.”
“You don’t want to talk to Luke,” Thalia guessed.
She was met with a small nod.
Thalia tried to hide her surprise; since she and Luke had found the seven year old roaming the streets alone a few weeks prior, she had quickly found that Luke wormed his way into the role of her favorite person. While she seemed to like Thalia enough, this was the first time she actively sought out the daughter of Zeus.
“Well, I’m all ears,” Thalia said. “Whatcha wanna talk about?”
Annabeth glanced over to Luke a few times, before speaking in a hushed tone. “Is Luke your boyfriend?”
Thalia’s jaw dropped in surprise, though she quickly snapped it shut. “What do you know about boyfriends?”
Annabeth drummed her fingers on a hole in the knee of her jeans. “Before she came to live with us, she called Daddy her boyfriend.”
She didn’t need to specify who she was, Thalia knew. “Oh.”
“She told me that made her and Daddy family,” Annabeth mumbled. “Luke said you and him are family.”
Thalia’s heart cracked, chipping away pieces. “You’re our family too, Annabeth.”
That rewarded her a soft grin. “Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“So, Luke’s not your boyfriend?”
Thalia shook her head. “We’re just family.”
Annabeth nodded, slightly morosely. “I’m sorry for waking you up.”
“That’s okay,” Thalia said. “Are you sure that’s all you wanted to talk about?”
Annabeth refused to meet her gaze, alerting Thalia that there was more the little girl wanted to speak about.
“What is it?” Thalia asked, “You can talk to me.”
“It’s silly,” Annabeth mumbled under her breath.
Thalia nudged her. “Come on, tell me.”
“You and Luke take care of me like mommies and daddies are supposed to.”
“Oh.” Her baby brother, Jason, had called her mama once when he was one, an accident that had sent their real mother into a frenzy. The thought made the crack in her heart a bit deeper.
“So I thought you were boyfriend and girlfriend like lots of mommies and daddies are.”
“I’m sorry.” Thalia didn’t know why she felt the need to apologize.
Annabeth looked curiously at Thalia. “Do you want Luke to be your boyfriend?”
Did she? When she first met him she thought she did, but the more they stayed together, the less that feeling lingered. Luke was the first person to ever treat her with respect, kindness and love. He was the first person who she could be herself around. He was the only person who she could love without being forced to take care of them. How much of Thalia’s affection towards him was just the lack of love she’d felt in the past? How much of it was the need to be mutually taken care of instead of raising? She was twelve, damn it, how was she meant to know all these things?
“I don’t know,” Thalia whispered. “I don’t want to think about boyfriends until I’m bigger.”
Annabeth nodded, as if this was a reasonable statement. Thalia was glad.
“I’m going to go wake up Luke, it’s his turn to watch for monsters,” Annabeth stood up, adjusting her too-big jeans so they didn’t fall off. “Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Good night.”
“Good night, Annabeth.”
Thalia had to hide her face in her make-shift pillow so neither Luke nor Annabeth would know she fell asleep crying.