"You know. You still haven't told me what was so terrifying you needed a lift so urgently."

Ignoring his mother for a moment, Harvey kept an eye on the road behind them, watching for any sign that the ghost man had followed. He didn't see anything, but that didn't mean much when he considered what he was capable of with just a wave of his hand.

"Harvey?"

"There was a man following me," he answered finally. "I woged, Mum," he added when he heard the angry inhale coming from the driver's seat.

The car swerved sharply. "You said that stopped happening!" she exclaimed, "You promised!"

"I did! I meant it! I haven't woged for around a year now!" Harvey assured. "Besides, I can't just stop woging, I just haven't seen anything woge-worthy in a year."

Or rather, he hadn't seen anything woge-worthy that he told his parents about in years. In reality, he'd seen some kind of moving shadow that had devoured a stray cat and taken it away around five months ago. It'd ran when it 'noticed' him watching it though, so he'd only carried his knives around for a week or two.

"HARVEY!"

"What?" he snapped, fingers drifting to the thick ring on his finger. "The last time I woged I almost got eaten, I didn't want to risk it in the middle of the supermarket."

His mother didn't say anything else, his words hanging in the air between them. He still had the scars on his leg from the last time he'd 'woged', having taken the name straight from the TV show Grimm, the big dog shimmering and turning into a snarling black beast that tried to take his foot off at the knee. The scars still ached sometimes, usually his way of telling there was a dog nearby and that he should run for Caleb or his parents. He'd never been afraid of dogs until one as big as a motorcycle took a bite out of him, and now sometimes he felt like he could barely breathe from something as stupid as watching Van Helsing or Underworld. Not even the leather jacket that had appeared in the golden dust was worth the nightmares he still got, and that jacket was like Caleb-nip.

"Is today really that important that I need to stick around for the whole thing? I'd like to go practice some more."

His mother's expression told him all he needed to know, that no matter what happened he would be forced to stay and play the obedient normal son. "Today really is that important," she stated with a sniff, "If it wasn't I'd let you avoid it like usual. But that's not an option this time, they've made it clear they expect to see you there. And it's about you anyway, so it's only fair that you're there for it."

"Say what?" Harvey blurted, head snapping around to stare at his mother in shock. About him? Who the hell did he know that would care about something like that? He was still a junior, so it wasn't like he'd be thinking about university until next year at the latest. And they 'expected to see him there'? What the hell did that mean? "It's not a… you know…" he made a vague gesture, "Thing. Is it?"

His mother shot him a look.

"No, of course, it's not," he muttered, fingers itching for one of his knives. "Is it anything to do with school?"

"I'm sure I could find a way to connect the two," she edged.

"You're not going to tell me, are you?" Harvey asked.

His mother nodded. "You're getting warmer."

Sighing, Harvey twisted about so he was watching the road behind them again. "I'll just stop asking then."

"Good."

"This won't interfere with Caleb coming over tonight, will it?"

"Nope."

"Can I bring my knives?"

His mother snorted so violently the car almost swerved off the road again. "If I spot even a glint of metal, you lose them for a month."

Rolling his eyes as the conversation between them dried up, Harvey continued worrying at his ring and watching for anything odd. For most families, 'odd' was a suspicious van or creepy people in trench coats walking around, and he honestly wished that was the extent of it for him. He had to worry about giant shadow dogs, about robot birds and apparently ghosts, one time he even swore he'd seen someone at his school grow furry legs and hooves. And naturally his parents thought he was going insane, there'd been several therapy sessions until the aforementioned giant dog tried to eat him on the beach in front of them and Caleb.

"Get changed," came his mother's order the moment they pulled into the garage. "I want your best wedding clothes. I want you spotless, cleaner than spotless, disinfect yourself if you have to."

Unless she wanted him to wear his school uniform, the nicest clothes he had were some expensive as hell jeans Caleb bought him and his jacket. "I'll grab a quick shower first, then," Harvey agreed, making the woman nod in approval.

"Oh, and Harvey," she called as he threw open the door, half out of the car when he heard her voice. "If you don't comb your hair nicely, I'll cut it off. My son will not present himself as an ungroomed animal. Do you understand me?"

Staring at her for a moment, Harvey just smiled and shut the door. "Didn't catch that," he shouted through the closed window, "My ungroomed hair got in the way."

Good luck to her if she was serious, she'd have to fight Caleb for the rights to his hair and wardrobe. Caleb loved his hair like this, not that he understood why, but his boyfriend had a real kink for him looking all macho jock-like. And since Harvey was a jock, it wasn't that hard to make the look work, even if his parents hated the douche-style he kept his hair in. At the end of the day, he'd choose his boyfriend over his parents, especially when it was Caleb he'd be living with for the rest of his life. Also, Caleb was the one who could make him sleep on the couch until the day he died, he knew his priorities.

Hurrying away before his Mum could get out of the car and hurt him, Harvey headed straight up to his room. If he wanted to survive her, then he better do as she said. He didn't want to see what she'd do to him if he showed up looking like he was homeless. Also, if these people were actually coming to see him, then he better make a damned good impression.

Just in case.

He was still wearing his ring, though, he hadn't gone unarmed since the attack,

Just in case.


"They're here! They're here!"

Yay.

"Harvey!" Mum hissed, "Get the door! Politely!"

Joy.

Smoothing down his shirt and batting his mother's hands away from his hair, Harvey jogged over to the door and swung it open, admittedly a little curious as to who was coming.

"Caleb!"

Feeling himself light up like a rather pathetic spotlight at the sight of the shorter teen standing on the doorstep, Harvey grinned idiotically, stepping forward before freezing and half-shutting the door behind him. "You can't be here. Mum's having people over for lunch."

"You must be the 'Harvey' I've heard so much about," a loud voice cooed, hands latching onto his chin before he could even notice there were other people besides Caleb standing there. "So handsome, too. It's good to finally meet you."

"Uh, good to meet you too, Mrs Fletcher," Harvey replied politely on instinct, brushing his lips against the back of the hand offered to him. Yeah, hello again Geena. It's not like he had been over at her house last week to pick Caleb up so they could go see 'X-Men: First Class' together. "Caleb's told me a lot about you as well."

"Yeah, yeah," Caleb's father interrupted, "You've already admitted that you'd met Blair before, Geena, save it for the stage."

Wait… Caleb's parents were here? That was the important meeting he couldn't possibly miss on pain of death? These were the people who had expected to see him? Suddenly he felt strangely naked without his jacket on, a quick glance at Caleb showing his partner was feeling the same thing he was.

Pure, unadulterated, horror.

"Mum, Dad. This is Harvey," Caleb introduced slowly, his father completely ignoring Harvey's outstretched hand to focus on the person coming up behind him. "Hey Liam," he added, only to jump in place as his father's arm jerked forward behind him, "I mean, Mr Blair."

His future father-in-law pushing his own son out of the way rudely to greet Harvey's own father, Harvey exchanged a look with Caleb who had the decency to look extremely guilty. "I'm sorry," came the whispered apology as his parents were ushered into the house, "Dad was in a mood and we had an argument. He said something about how I can never stick with a girl for longer than a month and I kinda threw you in his face."

"Three years is better than any of our friends," Harvey muttered despite the scream that wanted to burst its way from his chest.

"Mum said she wanted the lunch to be a surprise," Caleb explained as they moved towards the lounge, "And Dad said if you didn't look shocked when you opened the door I was grounded. Sorry."

Huh, of course, Caleb had known without telling him, he was an idiot. "That's cool, Cay, you know I don't-"

"Caleb. Come sit down please," Mr Fletcher cut in, sending his son a glare that had Harvey's hackles rising defensively.

Fighting the urge to sit in his customary seat – either in or sprawled across Caleb's lap – Harvey just moved to sit between his parents and met Mr Fletcher's disapproving look with his most blinding victorious smile. He hadn't won yet, but it was a matter of time, just a matter of technicality. He had Geena wrapped around his little finger, and he himself was usually wrapped around Caleb in some manner. If Mr Fletcher tried anything against either of them, his Mum and Dad would steal Caleb in a heartbeat and make the man hurt, rich businessman or not.

And if that didn't work, he would just kidnap Caleb and take him to New York, like those cheesy romance novels his father pretends he doesn't have hidden in his office.

"So, Harry," Mr Fletcher began, stressing the name that most certainly wasn't Harvey's. "How did you two meet?"

"He hit me with his car." A flicker of amusement flashed through the man's eyes, making him just as sadistic as Caleb had always claimed. "We've met before too, Sir, in the hospital. You threatened to have me diagnosed as 'suicidal' if I pressed charges for it," Harvey added, watching as a curl of Mr Fletcher's lips indicated that yes, he remembered too. "I remembered thinking you must have been a very good lawyer."

Caleb was twitching, hand covering his mouth as he leant against his mother, having been flirting hardcore with Harvey while this had been going down.

"Oh?" the man asked coldly.

"Of course, Sir," Harvey agreed, smile not fading yet. Maybe he shouldn't enjoy antagonising the man this much, but Mr Fletcher had done everything he could to make sure the dialogue just wrote itself. It was like something from one of his mother's soap operas. "You must have been a good lawyer to be so confident about threatening me like that in front of a nurse, two doctors and a police officer, all without a licence to practice law."

It was a good thing Mr Fletcher had already decided to hate him. If he hadn't, reminding him of the trouble he'd gotten into for that would probably have only hurt his chances. Judging by the tensing of his parents on either side of him, though, they hadn't gotten that memo yet, the way Mum was pinching his arm warningly definitely showing they wanted to make a good impression.

"You and I remember that incident very differently, it seems," Mr Fletcher replied emotionlessly.

"I think the law remembers it Harvey's way," Caleb piped up, throwing his lot in with Harvey as his father scowled at him. It was fine, Caleb was moving out next year anyway, and he wasn't planning on having anything to do with his dad after that. "These are lovely plates, Mrs Blair."

"They are," Geena said quickly, narrowing her eyes at her husband over Caleb's head, "So rustic, they're beautiful."

As their mothers started talking décor, their fathers glaring at each other from across the room, Harvey leant back in his seat and winked at Caleb. He should have expected this. They'd been together for three years, and while they weren't exactly screaming it from the rooftops they weren't hiding it from anyone bar Mr Fletcher. It was only a matter of time before he found out, anyway, even if Harvey would have liked a little warning first.

"Horatio," Mr Fletcher cut in, "Caleb was telling me you're on your school's baseball team. That's a hard career to get into, you'll need to do a lot of work for it. Caleb and I should come see you play, we're both fans."

Eyes darting to a pre-emptively blushing Caleb, Harvey just smiled innocently. "Oh, Caleb already comes to watch me play. And it's not a career goal of mine, I just enjoy the sport. I also run track and swim, but that's just for fun too."

So, Mr Fletcher might show up to judge and mock him during a game, interesting. Still, he's guaranteed to play well with Caleb watching him – or rather, watching his ass in baseball pants – in the stands.

Caleb's his good luck charm. He'd need it today if so far was any indication.


"He doesn't like you," Caleb groaned, arms wrapping around Harvey's waist as he joined him at the kitchen counter. "I honestly thought he'd bitch and snipe and that would be it, but he really doesn't like you."

Leaning back against the blond's body as he slipped the rest of the snacks onto a plate for the fridge, Harvey hummed thoughtfully. "He didn't like me before you came out to him, now he knows we're dating he just hates me."

A finger jabbed into his side accusingly. "You didn't help with the bitching back."

"Wouldn't have mattered, he thinks I'm too poor for you guys," Harvey shrugged, turning around in Caleb's arms to smile down at him.

"It's sad because it's true," Caleb admitted, hand somehow finding its way into Harvey's back pocket without him noticing. "You should have seen his face when I told him you went to public school."

"You should have seen your face earlier; you were thinking about me in baseball pants, weren't you?" he accused, the flush spreading from Caleb's cheeks and down below his collar. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

Refusing to acknowledge his comment, his partner's hand left his pocket and instead started messing up his neat hairstyle. Letting himself get petted for a moment, loving the feel of Caleb's hand in his hair, he grabbed the boy's other hand and started leading him towards the staircase.

"You won't win."

Grabbing Caleb by the arm and pushing him against the wall, internally mourning the loss of the fingers scratching his scalp, Harvey placed a finger on the other boy's lips and motioned for him to listen.

"Caleb will see reason," Mr Fletcher said, sounding as arrogant and annoying as he had when talking down to Harvey earlier.

"But will you?" Harvey's mother countered. "If Caleb gives you that ultimatum 'Both of us or none of us', will you make the right decision?"

There was a snort. "Caleb won't do that, I'm his father-"

"And Harvey is the boy he's decided he's going to spend the rest of his life with," Mum interrupted, "They're in love."

"Caleb is eighteen, and your boy's younger."

"They've been together for three years. No breaks, no major arguments. How long did it take you to decide Geena was it for you?"

This time Mr Fletcher didn't respond immediately, Harvey and Caleb exchanging a silent look that spoke millions. Caleb's parents had married after dating each other for only a year. And Harvey's had been dancing around each other since primary school if his grandparents were to be believed, and even then, they'd married after a year of actual dating. That they'd been together for three years and hadn't married was longer than both of their parents combined.

"He'll see reason," Mr Fletcher said finally.

"You better," Mum dismissed, "Or you won't see him again. Like you said, he's eighteen, and if he feels he's not welcome under your roof? Well, he already knows he's welcome under mine."

Caleb pressed a quick kiss to Harvey's jaw at that, neither of them acknowledging the way their hands were squeezing each other's so tight their knuckles had turned white. Caleb couldn't move in with them now, Harvey had plans. Caleb was supposed to go off to university, living in a dorm for the year before Harvey could join him, then they'd get a small apartment together and then get a fish. Or a hamster, they were fluffy and cuddly. Fish and hamsters were supposed to be good beginner's pets for a small newly formed family, so they didn't jump straight into getting a dog or having kids and stress themselves out.

Like he said, Harvey had plans.

"He won't do anything," Caleb whispered as someone slammed the front door, "Mum will kill him if he does. She loves you just as much as he hates you." The two of them stood there for a moment, arms around each other's waists as they listened for the direction Harvey's own parents were heading in. "I should go say goodbye," Caleb mumbled finally, pulling away and tugging at his shirt, "Just to be polite."

Letting out a sigh as Caleb vanished down the hall and out the front door as well, Harvey backed up a couple of steps to peer into the living room, watching his furious parents whispering to each other rapidly by the window. Well, it seemed like they had everything under control, he wasn't needed here. Heading up to his room again and mussing himself up, throwing his jacket over his now untucked shirt and clipping his knives into the waistband of his jeans, he glanced down through the window onto the front lawn, the sight of Caleb and his father in each other's faces making him stiffen. Should he open the window and say something? Nah, Caleb would only get annoyed if he stepped in now, as much as he loved having a bigger stronger boyfriend Harvey wasn't allowed to try protect him from anything.

Eventually, the two of them split apart, death glares on both their faces. Mr Fletcher stomping around to the other side of the car, throwing the door open and slamming it shut once he'd climbed in. Caleb however just pressed a kiss to his mother's cheek and grabbed his overnight bag, heading back inside at a jog. Quickly distracting himself with finding his game folder and checking over the scrawled 'minutes' of last game, Harvey listened to the dull drone of voices downstairs until loud footsteps started up the staircase. "You had healing spells prepared for this session, right?" he asked as he heard the door opening and shutting behind him. "I get the feeling I'm going to need a lot of them after last game."

"Yeah well, this time don't throw yourself off a-" when Caleb cut himself off, Harvey glanced over to see his eyes were locked on his arse, something tightening in his stomach at the thought. "You woged," he accused. Not arse, the knife hilts tucked in his belt, shit. "You haven't woged in months."

Pretending not to notice the way his partner trembled slightly and refused to finish the sentence, Harvey dropped his book onto the desk and hurried across the room, hands latching onto Caleb's gently. "Hey, relax. It might have been nothing, I only caught a glimpse, it could have been my imagination."

Caleb just stared at him, fear mixed with false courage in his eyes. "What was it?"

Harvey stared back, trying to subtly pull the back of his shirt over the hilts properly. "A ghost man," he confessed with a sigh, unable to resist Caleb when he was looking like that. "Not like invisible or anything, just transparent."

"Is that possible? I mean, you can do… you know. Could ghosts be real?"

He couldn't help but roll his eyes at Caleb, patting him on the chest before heading back to his desk. "It was nothing, we'll be fine. I just feel better having more on hand than just my ring," Harvey promised, able to see Caleb's unsure expression in the window's reflection. "You know me, I'm paranoid like that."

"Call your Mum," Caleb ordered, "Your birth one. She sent you that ring after the hellhound, remember? She might know what to do about this one."

Dropping his papers back down onto his desk, Harvey turned a look on his partner. "There's no need," he lied, praying internally that Caleb wouldn't pick up on this one, "I was overreacting, I know that. Besides, I have no idea where she is, she's always travelling and I haven't gotten a letter from her in almost a year now."

"And even if you could get in contact with her, it could take her days to get here, if she even came at all," Caleb finished.

"Exactly."

Caleb's sigh, despite being muffled, echoed throughout the entire room. "I… I don't want it to happen again," he confessed, "It makes me feel like an army wife, waiting to see if you'll come home from a war."

"It won't happen again," Harvey argued, "This time we're prepared for it. We won't freak out. I won't think dumping you is the best way to keep you safe, and you won't think that locking me in your basement is the best way to keep me safe."

His boyfriend shrugged, a sly grin growing on his face. "To be fair, I'm still kind of convinced that might work, if only for my own sanity."

"To be fair," he began slowly, pulling Caleb closer as he jumped up to sit on his desk. "To be fair," Harvey repeated, "I'm saner than both of our D&D characters combined."

Caleb stared at him, blinking slowly. "Your character's a mercenary who worships the god of chaos and strife," he deadpanned, "If you were as insane as him, I'd dump you. Smexy boyfriends are good. Smexy boyfriends who kill people on a coin toss? Not so much."

Harvey chuckled, ducking his head to kiss the tip of Caleb's nose. "Cute, but we both know you wouldn't dump me."

"I know," Caleb confessed, shaking his head with a 'Why Me?' look on his face. "I'm whipped."

"So very whipped," Harvey confirmed, gently pushing Caleb away so he could grab his files again. "We've got a couple of hours before the game starts, what's on the itinerary until then?"

Watching as Caleb checked his watch, doing some calculations in his head, Harvey raised his eyebrows when his partner decided on a course of action. "We're going to go grab something to eat from the supermarket and then sneak it in to watch a movie," he declared, "I want to watch 'Captain America' and I'm not waiting for it to come out on disk."

"Oooh, Chris Evans is a honey," Harvey mused, admittedly more tempted than he wanted to be right now.

"I know, right?" Caleb agreed with a grin, "Or, you know, we could watch the last 'Twilight' movie instead." Silence echoed through his room for a moment before they were both laughing their heads off. "But seriously, you've leaving the knives at home," the blond ordered seriously, raising an eyebrow warningly when Harvey chuckled.

Well… shit.


"What the hell was wrong with that movie?"

Caleb looked just as disturbed as he did, thankfully, a little green around the gills as he simply shook his head in disgust. Note to self, just because the movie you want to see isn't playing today, do not choose to watch a new movie just because the guy on the poster is hot. It's a mistake.

"I mean, don't get me wrong," Harvey continued, "Henry Cavill shirtless is one of my new favourite things, but that poor man."

"You should never crush a man's junk like that," Caleb agreed weakly, flinching at just the memory of that scene. "Not a bad movie, still never going to watch it again."

Grabbing the blond teen's wrist to check his watch, Harvey just shuddered and nodded. "We've still got time, want to go erase that scene from our minds?"

"We're too young to buy alcohol," Caleb dismissed, sounding almost mournful of this fact.

Chuckling hesitantly, still feeling a little queasy, Harvey curled their hands together and started leading his partner down the street. "Well actually, I was thinking of something a little closer to-" Coming to a sudden halt, Caleb moving a few steps further before their linked hands stopped him, Harvey stared at the man standing at the entrance of the 7/11.

"Babe?"

Swallowing nervously as the man just watched them, Harvey stepped back and tugged Caleb after him. "Ghost man," he blurted, Caleb frowning for a moment before following his eyes to the storefront. "We should go home," he whispered quietly, "If we start a fight then we'll get arrested in a heartbeat."

Rule #12 of his unpublished book, 'Harvey Blair's Guide to Not Getting Shanked in a Dark Alleyway'. Always pick your battlegrounds, if the location doesn't suit, change it. He'd followed that rule ever since it came to mind, and he was one of the better strategy/war gamers he knew (not a major feat, really).

Caleb stared at him in disbelief, confusion flashing across his face before his eyes turned back to the man in understanding. "Of course, a city-wide ban on magic being used in public," he agreed before adding "Nerd," under his breath.

"I'm not pulling a knife in the middle of town," Harvey shot back, the man's skin rippling sharply as the store behind him became visible through his body for a moment. His house was safer, a dark alleyway on the way was safer, and anywhere Caleb wasn't was safest.

Making a wounded noise in the back of his throat, Caleb started backing away faster. "I just woged," he blurted, "Oh god, I woged."

Tightening his grip on Caleb's hand, Harvey tugged slightly to get his attention, trying to communicate exactly what he wanted. As the Ghost-Thing took a step towards them, Harvey spun and they both broke into a run, heavy footsteps echoing behind them.

"At least," Caleb gasped out, "At least it's not a giant wolf this time!"


AN/ I do not, naturally, own Percy Jackson and the Olympians or anything else belonging to Rick Riordan.