Luke's POV

"So, Noah," I said.

"Yes, Luke?" He asked with a quick peck on my lips as we sat on the couch in my living room.

"Well, Thanksgiving is next week, and if you're not going home, then you're invited to our crazy holiday."

"Really?" He asked. He'd gotten to know everyone pretty well since the lake trip, but he's always super excited to see everyone.

"Yeah," I said. "Plus my grandma's gonna be there. And my grandpa and aunt. My dad's side of the family."

"Really?" Noah repeated with an air of nervousness. I nodded.

"What about..." he started, then quieter, "what about your mom's side? You never talk about them."

I felt my cheeks heat up. "Well my mom was never close with them, I guess. She ran away from home when she was seven. But Dad said they reconnected, but I guess Mom was the only connection they really had to my dad and us. They're not like Grandma Sally, she generally loves us and if it was my dad that died, she'd still take in my mom. But I guess mom's side just isn't like that. They just don't care for that relationship much. I've met them a few times, Dad tries to get a visit in at least once a year, but we're not close."

Noah nodded slowly, looking at his hands. "My my grandparents disowned my mom when she got pregnant with me. They didn't approve of her affair with Dionysus. They met him once and thought he was a trashy person and a bad influence."

I silently interlaced our fingers.

"I've just been thinking," I said. "About my parents childhoods and I've realized that they sucked. Like all the seven and everyone else, they had it really tough. And I guess that kind of gets passed down to us a bit."

"What do you mean?" Noah asked me.

"Well Grandma Sally and Grandpa Paul are the best people in the world, but that's her second husband. Dad won't ever talk about it, but Grandma's talked to me about being careful with who I choose to date. She told me about how rotten a person Gabe was and...what he...what he did to her and my dad. So...there's that. Plus mom and her family. And like, did you know that Hazel died when she was thirteen? And then she came back to life some 70 years later? And Leo was practically raised in foster homes cuz his mom died when he was eight. The more you look into it, all the demigods had shitty pasts."

"Whoa," Noah whispered.

"Yeah."

There was a long, tense silence.

"So are you in?" I asked, breaking the silence.

And Noah laughed, breaking the awkwardness. "Yes, I'm in."

"Good," I said, kissing him on the lips.

^*^*^*^

"I'm nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" I asked with a laugh. I was walking Noah over to my house where we were holding Thanksgiving.

"Well I'm going to meet the Grandma Sally."

I laughed. "Yeah. She'll love you, though, you have nothing to worry about."

"And what about your dad's sister?"

"Yeah Estelle's awesome. She's like, 21 now or something. Holy shit. She can drink now. Weird."

"Are there any more celebrities coming I should know about?" He asked jokingly.

I considered the question. "Well Mr. McLean is coming."

"Wait. Tristan McLean is going to be at your house?!"

"Sure," I said.

"Oh my. I'm not ready for this. How do I look?" He asked, panicking slightly.

"You look fine," I assured, straightening his collar. "I would even go so far as to say you look dashing."

He puffed out his cheeks. "Okay. Okay. Yeah I'm good."

We turned into my street headed for my house. All the lights were on and the windows glowed. I could hear the laughter and voices from outside.

I opened the door and led Noah inside and we made our way to the kitchen where Dad, Piper, Jason, Hazel, and Grandma Sally were all busy at cooking a huge Thanksgiving dinner.

"Dad, we're here," I announced. Dad spun around and waved before the oven beeped at him and he spun right back around to take care of something before it burned.

"Luke! Happy Thanksgiving, baby," Grandma said, squeezing me in a hug.

Noah stood at my side awkwardly, face flushed.

"And you must be Noah!" Grandma exclaimed, going in for a hug, but pausing at the last second, as if asking if the contact was okay. Noah welcomed it and Grandma squeezed him tight.

"I've heard so much about you! You make Luke very happy. And you're so handsome, too!"

"Grandma," I said, embarrassed for Noah. She just smiled at me before heading back to the kitchen. "Oh, and Luke? Estelle's been waiting for you. She's in the living room."

As we walked into the living room, Noah grabbed onto my arm excitedly. "Your Grandma is so awesome! I love her already!"

"Luke!" Grandpa Paul exclaimed, getting up from the couch to hug me.

"Hey, Grandpa."

"Noah, is it?" He asked, reaching out to shake Noah's hand. Noah nodded, smiling brightly.

"Oh! There she is," I told Noah, pointing out my aunt.

"Estelle!" I called. She looked up at the mention of her name and a wide grin broke out on her face.

"Luke! Hello!" She first squeezed my cheeks like a grandmother would do before pulling me into a hug.

"I missed you," I said. "Yes well, college does that," she replied.

"And the famous boyfriend," she said, singling out Noah. Noah blushed and nodded, holding out his hand to shake. "Noah," he offered.

She shook his hand and pulled him into a hug he wasn't expecting.

"Does Percy have any wine around here?" Estelle asked me.

"Uh I'm pretty sure Piper and Jason brought some. It's in the kitchen."

"Great. I'll be needing some of that in a minute."

"I could actually go for some wine, too," Noah said.

I gave him a look. "Only joking," he said, ruffling my hair. "Coffee will do."

After awhile, it was finally time to eat. We all gathered around a super ginormous table with a brazier on the island in the kitchen. The table was full of Thanksgiving foods and there were lots of laughter and conversation all over the table.

Then I noticed someone was missing.

"Hey Will, where's Nico?"

"Oh, uh...he's on a quest at the moment. A very important...quest. For a favor. Yeah."

"You're a terrible liar," Frank said passively, grinning.

"I'm actually not lying though!" Will argued.

"I believe you, Will," Hazel assured, grinning.

"He told me about the quest," Reyna said, and I swear I caught her eyes flicker to my dad for just a moment. "Very important business."

"Nothing dangerous, I hope," Piper voiced her concern.

Will snorted. "Are we talking about the same person? It's Nico. Of course it's dangerous. But it's nothing he can't handle. He'll be fine."

"He's gotta is a favor for Hades," Maria said knowledgeably.

Will sighed. Reyna put a finger to her mouth and gave her a meaningful look and Maria blushed and nodded.

Dad's eyebrows were knit as he looked between the three of them.

"Well! Noah! Tell us about yourself!" Will suggested a bit too loudly. Dad let the suspicious conversation go and instead turned to the glaringly obvious subject change. My poor boyfriend was as red as wine, with all the attention on him all of a sudden.

"Well, uh..."

After everyone left and the twins had fallen asleep in their beds and Dad was cleaning up a few things, Noah and I were practically falling asleep standing.

"Oh, go to bed already," Ariana said in passing. I blushed and Ari looked over her shoulder, her green eyes sparkling as she caught the uncomfortable air. "Just leave the door open," she said.

I rolled my eyes and pulled Noah up to my room, where we both collapsed onto the bed after changing into pajamas.

I was already tangled around Noah. "Record timing," he muttered. I guffawed. "Oh shut it."

He kissed my curls and I was asleep.