Chapter Text
f*ck. This isn’t good, this is NOT good. This might actually be the worst thing that’s ever happened to someone.Tori paused, then acknowledged that yeah, that was probably a bit of an exaggeration. But still, this was pretty bad.
What the hell am I going to get Luke for Christmas? She usually wasn’t too worried about it, but this was their first Christmas as a couple. This was special.
Okay Tori, THINK. What does Luke like? She made a mental list:
Fighting.
Me.
. . .
Well, that was productive. Tori groaned and resisted the urge to face-desk (she was long past face-palming).
Beginning to feel desperate, Tori started to think of random gift ideas as they occurred to her. He doesn’t want a pet. Also, I don’t think we’re allowed to have pets. Maybe like, a chain, or an earring? He could pull off an earring. But he’d never really shown any interest in jewelry apart from his arrow pendant. . . What else? I could get him clothes, but that’s not special. We can’t really use technology, so I can’t get him anything like that. He doesn’t like reading because of his dyslexia, so a book would probably be the worst thing to get him. How about a sword? He likes swords. But he already had, like, three swords, so a new one would be kind of pointless. A plant? Does he like plants? Tori paused and reflected on her life for a moment before face-desking. “I’m the worst girlfriend ever,” she groaned.
Later, Tori would never be sure how exactly she got the idea. Maybe a god sent it to her. Maybe her brain was scared that she would keep hitting it with a desk if it didn’t start to actually do its job. But the idea finally came to her, rough at first, but she slowly sanded off its edges before putting her plan into action.
Tori sat across from Luke, bouncing her leg up and down in anticipation. It was Christmas, and they’d somehow managed to get away from everyone else. They were sitting on one of the infirmary’s beds with the curtain pulled around them for extra privacy. She had already opened Luke’s gift — a set of her favorite soulmate books, including Romeo and Juliet (and yes, she was aware that it was a tragedy; that didn’t mean she couldn’t like it), the book version of Titanic, and one dedicated to different soulmates from Greek mythology. Tori was quite happy with it, although now she was much more nervous about how her own gift would go over. Regardless, she handed Luke the little blue gift box. He opened it, smiling at her. “You don’t have to be so nervous, Tori—” He looked down at the gift and slowly picked it up. “This—”
Tori held her hand up to stop him. “Before you say anything, I know we can’t usually use technology because of monsters, but this one’s special.” She picked up the shiny white music player and explained, “I got the Athena cabin and some of Hecate’s kids to work with me on this, so it shouldn’t attract any monsters. Besides, none of them can get past the camp’s borders anyway.” She turned on the music player. “And I already uploaded some of the songs you like. And, I, um, made a playlist for you.” There was a set of earbuds in the gift box, and she plugged them into the device and put the playlist on. “Here,” she handed Luke the gift, and sat back in anticipation.
Luke sat quietly for once and listened to the song. Tori stared at him, not wanting to look away. She also wasn’t sure if Luke would like all of the songs she’d chosen, but she liked them and thought they fit well. Gods, what if he thinks I’m arrogant? Why would he want to listen to me all the time—
“Is this you?” Luke asked, looking at her with a soft, loving expression that no one else was allowed to see.
“Yeah,” Tori admitted, blushing.
Luke leaned forward suddenly, kissing her. “I love it,” he breathed, pressing his forehead against hers.
Tori smiled, and was just about to return the kiss when someone started pounding on the infirmary door. “Hey, guys, we know you’re kind of ‘busy’ in there, but some kids got into a fight about whether or not the Hermes kids were stealing gifts, and now we kind of need to get them into the infirmary.”
Luke groaned and rolled his eyes. “Are we just not allowed to have privacy? Is that it?”
Tori gave him a small, ‘don’t rip their heads off, then we’ll never get any time along’ look and got up, saying, “Come on. We should probably make sure the Stolls haven’t actually stolen anything.”
Songs on Tori’s Playlist for Luke
Clarity, Zedd
Compass, SVCRINA
Cosmic Love, Florence + the Machine
Love Story, Taylor Swift
Love You Like a Love Song, Selena Gomez
No Matter What They Say, SVCRINA
Warrior, Beth Crowley
Wish That You Were Here, Florence + the Machine
