AN: This was originally posted on AO3, but due to posting complications, I can't upload a new chapter over there, so I'm reposting here.
Chapter title from Hurricane by The Hush Sound. Expect very long waits between updates, lalala.
May 21st, 2016
The set smells like some kind of flowers, the scent thick and heady, and Luke would rather be anywhere but here, smiling for the camera and pretending like he doesn't hate every fucking thing about this.
"So," Aphy whatever is saying, almost leering at him, and Luke has no qualms about admitting—off-camera, of course—that she's always creeped him out, even before Annabeth told him in that no-nonsense, no-bullshit way of hers that Luke was doing the interview whether he liked it or not. "There's a lot of talk about the new album, Hurricane, which is set to be released this June. Can you elaborate on the title for us?"
Luke knows the answer inside and out, because Annabeth drilled it into him with threats of bodily harm. He can't outright say I fell in love with this asshole a few years ago, and he wiped away everything I ever loved and made it all seem so pointless, just like a hurricane, so the song Hurricane is about him and now it's also the title of the album, so he says, "Well, the album is supposed to be about things that are all-consuming, like a hurricane. Love, hatred, anger, depression… Things that warp your senses and drown out everything else."
Aphy nods, pleased with his answer, and says, "The title track, Hurricane, debuted as the second single from the album this week, following the release of Cruise Ship Lovers (Andromeda), which debuted two weeks ago as the first single. Rumor has it that Hurricane is about an illicit relationship you had with someone a lot younger than you, because of the lyrics 'picking you up after school on weekdays,' 'scrubbing ink stains off of the back of your hand so you can drink with me and the rest of the band,' and, of course, 'I'm writing music, you're writing a term paper.' What grounds do these rumors hold?"
Luke grimaces, because he hates that question with a burning passion, and when Annabeth told him it was going to be on the list, she'd just given him a withering look and said, "You do not need a lawsuit, Castellan. As far as the press is concerned, she was legal, okay?"
When Luke muttered, "He was legal, technically. In New York," she'd smacked him with her clipboard.
Now, flashing Aphy his most winning smile, like he's not scruffy from a couple days without shaving or hungover from another late night out with Thalia, he says, "Well, I mean, obviously she was under twenty-one, and I wasn't." He tries not to gag on the pronoun, and he's pretty sure he succeeds.
She laughs. "But the rumors about her being a high school student?" she prompts.
"She was legal," Luke hedges, searching for the right words, "and everything was totally consensual. And we were in love, and it was a long time ago, and she hurt me really badly, blah, blah, blah. Story of the ages, right?"
Sometimes, Luke thinks everything would be easier if he wasn't "in the closet." If everyone knew Hurricane was about another guy, he doubted they'd be so concerned about how young the subject of the song was.
"Well," Aphy is saying, "I'm certainly a sucker for a good, tragic love story, myself. Are any of the other songs on Hurricane about this relationship?"
Luke snorts, shaking his head. "I'm afraid not. Like I said, it was a long time ago. But most of Achilles Heel was written about her, so."
Aphy's eyes gleam when she says, "So why are you writing about it again now, almost four years later?"
And isn't that the question of the ages.
"Um," Luke says, and forces a laugh, hoping he doesn't sound too strained. "She showed up on my doorstep about eight months ago, out of the blue. To talk about what happened between us, since we never got a chance before. It opened up some old wounds, made me revisit all of my feelings for her. When I wrote the song Hurricane, that was my way of writing out all of the feelings I had, to try and put them behind me once and for all."
Aphy nods sagely. "Did it work?"
"I guess we'll see," Luke says, and throws in another chuckle for good measure.
Bullshit, he's thinking. I'm never going to be able to write Percy Jackson out of my system.
November 11th, 2016.
Despite common belief, Luke actually likes being on tour. He likes being close to the crowd, letting their energy reverberate back at him, likes being right there in the moment with thousands of people who all like music just as much as he does. Before his career really took off, he spent hundreds of dollar every year going to every concert in his area, be it opera or alt rock or bubblegum pop. Luke just likes being surrounded by so much energy.
Right now, Luke is waiting off to the side of the stage, unable to help the grin that stretches over his features as he watches Silena walk the stage, idly wondering how she manages to keep from tripping in heels that high.
"Come on, Bossier!" she's shouting, her voice a raw purr, and the crowd is into it, screaming back at her. "Show us that you want it!"
Even from his perch in the wings, Luke can make out Ethan's eye roll, back on the drums. The band consists of Ethan, Alabaster, Chris, and Silena, but it's clear that Silena owns the band—it's called Silena and the Traitors, for god's sake. The others can roll their eyes and mock her all they want, but in the end, it's her band, and Silena does what she wants.
"Alright, Bossier City!" Silena says into the mic, beaming at them. "Let's amp it up for this next song! You guys all know Big House Anthem, right?"
That sends the crowd into another round of raucous cheering, and Luke adjusts his earpiece, rolls his shoulders, prepares himself.
"Well," Silena is saying, "unfortunately, The Party Ponies couldn't be here tonight to play the song with us. So one of my oldest friends is going to help us out instead. Is that alright?"
The crowd screams louder in anticipation, and Silena laughs. "Alright, guys, give it up for Luke Castellan, yeah?"
And Luke makes his way out onto the stage, beaming, as the crowd loses its shit.
"How're you doing tonight, Luke?" Silena asks, looking over at him as he joins her at the front of the stage.
"Oh, just great," Luke says, a lecherous grin twisting the corners of his lips, and he raises his voice to be heard over the roar of the crowd. "But I'm pretty sure someone put vodka in my water bottle. You know anything about that?"
In his ear piece, he can hear Connor and Travis bursting into laughter, and Luke makes a mental note to get them back so hard as soon as he can.
"Can't say I do," Silena purrs, all sultry confidence and mile long legs. She tosses her dark hair over her shoulder in a wave, leaning towards Luke, putting her hand on his shoulder. "Are you ready for this, honey? Or should we give you a breather to sober up?"
The crowd laughs, and Luke gives Silena a self-assured smile. "I think I'm good. No tripping me this time, okay?"
Silena actually blushes, exclaiming, "That was one time, Luke, let it go!" and on keyboard, Chris idly plays the chorus of Let It Go, which sends the crowd into a frenzy as they belt out the lyrics, and Luke can't stop his grin, because a crowd at an alt-rock concert is singing along to a song from a Disney movie, and Luke never wants to give this up.
If Luke hadn't spit out the vodka-water mixture he'd tasted in his water bottle, he'd say he actually was a little bit buzzed. As it is, he's just a little bit stage-drunk, enthralled by the energy and the presence and the throbbing baseline.
Back in high school, Silena and Luke had actually tried to be in a band together. According to Thalia, their band didn't work out because they both have this thing called "lead-singer-complex," which meant that they both wanted to be the Adam Levine of their garage band. She's probably right, but a large part of the break up of their band is due to the fact that they have completely different music styles, Silena tending towards loud, poppy, "druggy music," and Luke opting for low, acoustic melodies. But for all their differences, they can put together a performance for one song pretty well.
It's after Silena and the rest of the band exit the stage that Luke takes his place, praising Silena and the Traitors shamelessly, before playing one of the songs from his first album, Achilles Heel. He wrote Cabin Fever when whatever he had with Percy was still just casual sex, before any emotions were involved, when they were still just fucking like rabbits when they saw each other, neither explicitly seeking the other out. After Cabin Fever, Luke plays the third single from Hurricane, To Storm or Fire, which was released to radio stations in late June, after the album came out.
Then he settles down onto a stool, trading his guitar for a piano, and plays a few idle chords while he waits for Connor to give him the go-ahead through his headset, while the other stage hands get the lighting set up for this particular song.
"I wrote this song about a girl I liked, a lot," Luke says, stalling, and he doesn't even hesitate around the pronoun anymore. Annabeth would be proud, he thinks, but Percy would hate it. Would probably call Luke a coward for lying about the gender of his ex just for publicity, would say that Luke is just another sell-out in the business. He'd probably ask if Luke was ashamed of what they had, because god knows, the first time Luke played a song he'd written for Percy at a gig and changed a couple "he's" to "she's," Percy hadn't spoken to him for three hours. (Which was as long as Percy ever made it, before Luke coaxed him back into conversation with gentle kisses and the promise that the pronouns meant nothing to him, because he'd love Percy no matter what gender he was.)
Luke almost feels like changing all his pronouns is some form of petty revenge on Percy for leaving like he did, and he tries not to sound too spiteful as he says, "She always used to tell me I was a romantic, which was funny, because she was the one who had seen The Notebook forty-nine times, and cried every single time." He laughs, and so does the audience, which makes him relax, just a little bit. He can't ever relax fully when he talks about Percy.
"So, I guess I feel a little silly for writing all these songs about her now," he continues, and then Connor's talking in his ear, telling him that they're almost ready for him to start, and can you not with the sob story, please. "I mean, there were so many of them." He laughs. "There's been at least one on every album, you know? And don't even get me started on the ones that didn't make it to the album."
This time, the audience laughs, too, and Luke plucks out a quick, crude melody and half-sings, half-laughs, "I broke my favorite photograph of you after you broke my heart in two."
The audience loses it, laughter flooding towards Luke in roars, and Connor groans in his ear. "Oh my god, Luke," Travis whines, "shut up about the goddamn songs. No one cares that some girl broke your heart."
Luke studiously ignores him. "Yeah, see? Totally album worthy. Unfortunately, my manager didn't see it that way."
More laughter from the audience, and Luke thinks about Annabeth wrapping her arms around his neck and beaming and telling him that he has great stage presence, compares it to the image of her standing with her arms folded over her chest, lips pursed into a frown, telling him that she wasn't going to hang around him if he didn't get his act together and sober up.
"Alright, asshat, you can sing your stupid heartbreak song," Connor grumbles into his ear, and Luke bites his lip to avoid grinning.
"Well," he says, "I guess I'll have to play one of the songs that did make it onto an album. Here's Hurricane."
