eight ── the father
𝕰den and Luke had fallen into a steady routine once Luke moved in. Each morning, Eden would wake up and make breakfast for the pair, wake Luke and they'd eat together before Alfie would drop Luke off at school and then Eden at the office. In the afternoon, Alfie would pick Luke up and take him to the office where he was able to do all the work he needed before Eden was ready to come home.
"Then, I finished the equation and even the teacher was impressed." Luke was walking backwards as he explained his day to Eden, who was nodding along.
"Thanks Alfie!" She waved to her friend, as Luke did the same, before opening the door for Luke to walk inside. "So, what did your teacher say?"
"That she's never seen someone do a maths problem that quickly. I think she wants to move me up." Luke kicked his shoes off and began to coddle Bradley, who had been waiting for them.
"Great. It will be good to have you being challenged." Eden let out a sigh as she finally put her heels away. "Makes your brain grow more."
Luke laughed as Eden gently hit his head with her knuckles.
"Did you have PE today?"
"Yeah, I did." Luke followed her to the kitchen, opening the fridge to rummage around for food. "It was just running though so, you know, it was simple."
"I'm glad." Eden looked at the fridge door, which already had a maths achievement poster on it that Luke had been given soon after he started school. "I meant to ask you, did you want to join any sports clubs outside of school?"
"I can?"
"Course you can." Eden nodded, pulling a yogurt out from over Luke's head. "Whatever you want, I'll make sure you can."
"Ice hockey would be fun."
"You played before?"
"No, but I watched it a lot on TV at my mom's house." Luke began to explain. "The TV broke when I was six, and it was stuck permanently on the sports channel so I used to watch a lot of hockey."
"I'm in the presence of an expert then." Eden grinned, not reacting to the comment about his mother. Luke dropped little hints here and there about his mother, but never fully explained anything. Eden knew that he would when he was ready to, and not before. "My youngest brother plays ice hockey. If you want, I can see if he'll take you skating."
"Your brother does?"
"Yeah, Jasper is in high school still and he plays..." Eden struggled to remember his position for a moment. "First line, right wing?"
"Woah."
"I can ask him. He knows the best places to skate and all that."
"When do I get to meet them?"
"Whenever you want to. It's all down to when you feel comfortable." Eden explained, jumping onto the countertop. "I will warn you, there's a lot of us."
"You, Jasper, Cara..."
"There's me, Cara, Orion and Jasper." Eden listed off. "Orion, Jasper and I are half-siblings and Cara and I are step-siblings but we call each other siblings cause we all grew up together."
"I mean, we can meet them soon." Luke nodded, smiling gently. "It would be nice to meet them and I want to thank them for the presents."
"I'll let my mom know. She's going to be very excited," Eden made a note of that mentally, before glancing at the time and sighing. "I've got a call now, but I'll be done in half an hour."
"Yeah, that's fine. I was going to watch a movie?"
"Go ahead, do what you want as long as your homework's done!" Eden called after Luke's retreating form, who shot her a nod and a grin before rushing off with Bradley. She smiled as she watched them go before picking her phone up and grabbing her notes. She'd get this meeting done and then she could have a relaxing movie night with her son.
☾☼☽
Luke leant back onto the couch, Bradley lying over his chest as he watched the film. Faintly, he could hear Eden talking in the kitchen about a new idea that she was pitching to a company. He grinned, still not truly believing that this was his new house.
Bradley huffed on his chest, rolling onto his back as Luke continue to scratch behind the dog's ear.
"Luke!" Luke froze, sitting upright and turning until he saw the Iris Message ahead of him. He could just about make out his father's face, and as soon as he did, he swept his hand through the message and lay back down.
For the past three weeks, Luke had been dutifully ignoring his father's Iris Messages and calls, not wanting the god to ruin his life as he seemed adept at doing. Each time Hermes had showed up at his old foster homes, he'd ruined Luke's chances of being adopted.
Luke was still unsure how Hermes had been unable to put Eden off of adopting him but he wasn't complaining.
Of course, Luke did still have to tell Eden about the whole 'demigod' thing but he was putting it off for as long as he could. He hadn't needed to kill any monsters recently, as he wasn't on the streets anymore, and they hadn't been able to get into Eden's home.
A knock sounded on the door and Luke groaned, before pausing the movie and standing upright.
"I've got it." Eden shot him a thumbs up as he walked past her and down the main hallway until he reached the front door. He opened it. "He-Father."
"Luke." Hermes did not look impressed. His arms were folded across his chest, glaring down at Luke as Luke rolled his eyes.
"What do you want?"
"Well, I was trying to find my son who didn't answer any calls because I was worried." Hermes cocked an eyebrow. "Your mother is in a home because she's been declared unfit to look after a child. How did that happen?"
"I ran away. They took me back and decided to put me in the foster system." Luke hissed. "Now goodbye, I don't want you ruining my life any further than you already have."
"Luke?" Eden stood in the door to the kitchen, her eyebrows furrowed. "Who is it?"
"My father." Luke called back as Eden stalked over to the door, looking Hermes up and down with an unimpressed look on her face.
"Can I help you?"
"I came for my son."
"Your son isn't here."
"He's standing beside you." Hermes pointed out as Luke realised that maybe he should have mentioned to Eden that Hermes was a god and got insulted easily.
"No, you're definitely mistaken then." Eden smiled, "and you're trespassing, so get off of my property before I call the police."
"Excuse me?"
"You heard me." Eden nodded her head, looking annoyed. "Please get off my land. That's the last time I ask nicely."
"You cannot speak to me that way." Hermes stepped forward and Eden's eyes went wide. As soon as he took a step into her porch, she pulled her hand back and punched Hermes square in the nose. Luke's jaw dropped, watching as Eden and Hermes both reeled back.
"Son of a bitch." Eden hissed, shaking her hand out and yelping in pain. Hermes was holding onto his nose, wiping golden ichor away as Luke looked in between them. "God, that hurt so much."
Using her other hand, Eden slammed the door in Hermes' face, before grabbing onto Luke's shoulder and leading him back to the kitchen.
"Sorry you had to see that, Luke." She grabbed the peas from the freezer, wrapping them in a tea towel to hold onto her knuckles. "I didn't want you to have to see that."
"Are you kidding me?" Luke turned to her, awe plastered across his expression. "That was the most epic thing I've ever seen."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I can't believe you punched a god!"
☾☼☽
Hermes stared at the door in front of him with a shell-shocked expression. Whatever he'd been expecting, it hadn't been that.
He hadn't thought that Luke's adoptive mother would have the guts to speak against him, let alone break his nose. But here he was, with a broken nose, and golden ichor dripping down between his fingers in shock. He'd not even taken half a step forward and she had pulled her fist back and punched him, which was something that he should have realistically been able to dodge.
Some ancient part of him demanded for revenge and justice, but the majority of Hermes disagreed.
"Wow."
☾☼☽
Hiya,
Can confirm that Eden punched him and Hermes went full simp mode, honestly his chaotic energy is unmatched. Eden and Luke are sweethearts, which I think I say every chapter, and I'm really excited for the next chapter.
Let me know what you think,
Love Li xx