safe mortal au ; briar's dad is home for once, and she realizes that he's really behind on her life. specifically, her dating life.
— probably ooc characters, especially briar's dad, but it's on purpose for this oneshot. lowercase intended.
❝ you held me so tight, now someone else can
but you were the first man that really loved me ❞
THE HALLMARK MOMENT that had been briar lovelace's life when her dad came back from his military term had been amazing. the video had been posted on news channels countrywide, everyone had been really happy for her, and, most importantly, she had her dad back.
now he was spending five months home before he was deployed again. she really was happy about that, though it took some getting used to living with him as well as her half-sister piper and her dad, who's a famous actor with a giant house. it was more like a mansion, but briar still saw her dad around the house.
something else she had to get used to? bringing him into the loop.
the school year started two months ago, but her dad was usually home in the summers, where they'd go on trips wherever they wanted. now he was home during half of the school year, which made it weird as she'd have to leave for most the day because of that, and basketball, and other clubs, and hanging out with her friends.
her friends. since going to high school, briar's friend group had massively increased. her two closest friends were jason and piper, and they still are, but their friend group grew to have so many people: percy, annabeth, grover, juniper, nico, will, frank, hazel, leo, rachel, tyson, calypso . . .
and reyna. but reyna wasn't just a friend; she'd become more during sophomore year. fall break, actually, during the group's trip up north to the estate piper's dad owned. briar had wanted to go to the fashion museum nearby to get inspiration for her art project, and reyna went with her, and things just happened from there.
they were good. really good, in fact. reyna's the kindest. and she's really funny — she doesn't show it a lot with jokes, but with sarcastic comments that make briar have to giggle into her hands to hide them. and reyna loves her, a lot. it's been hard for her to love after her shitty childhood, but she manages to keep being loving for briar despite that.
maybe . . . maybe reyna's the one.
it's a striking thought, one that's crossed briar's mind many times; but she's never thought about it further because she's scared, and she's scarred.
briar's mother wasn't there. she'd been born after piper, so close to the point where briar had had health complications. so had their mother, who had left under the guise of "health complications after giving birth", which probably was true, but then she hadn't come back. briar's dad met piper's dad, and they bonded, so briar had grown up with piper and her dad. and briar's dad had been there for all of her baby and toddler years, but then when she was five he enlisted into the army and barely came back.
briar knows what it's like to have a broken heart, and she was scared to give reyna hers because of that possibility. but so far reyna's done the opposite of break her heart, and briar was also down bad for reyna. like, it was really bad.
but her dad doesn't know this. she realized this right after she told him that she'd have a sleepover at her girlfriend's house.
"at your what's house?" he asked, stopping her right in place.
"i have a girlfriend, dad," she turned around to look at him. "her name's reyna, she's one of me and piper's friends that we made when we got to high school."
"oh." he said, trying not to show his emotions, but briar could see his crestfallen expression full of worry.
"you'd really like her," she told him. "she's kind, and funny like you. sometimes."
he was silent, letting the comment slide, which meant that something was really wrong.
but briar was constrained in a time limit, so she said, "she's waiting outside. i'll see you in the morning. say bye to pipes and tristan for me, please!"
that brought him out of his mood. "is she going to drink and drive?" he asked. "and you should put on a jacket."
"she's a stickler for the rules, she's not going to drink. also, it's not that cold outside, and she always gives me her jackets, dad, i'll be fine," said briar, turning to leave by the garage.
"briar—"
"i know you're worried, but she's waiting outside," she said. "we've done this many times before, it's not anything new."
those words silenced him. she realized belatedly that she'd hit a nerve.
"dad—"
"go, briar." her dad put on a smile, one that briar knew too well, mainly because of its flaws. she had inherited her effortless, perfect smile from her mother — so did piper, people said that their smiles were similar, especially their scheming smiles when they're planning something — so it was hard to know when briar was faking a smile. it was not hard to see when her dad was.
"i swear on my heart that she's a good woman," briar promised to try and reassure him. "i mean, i actually like her, which is a first. i promise that she loves me; she'd never hurt me."
then she opened the door and left, walking over to the car and hearing the doors unlock so she could throw her bag into the back. while doing that, she could hear the garage door open, and when she ducked out of the car she could see her dad pretending to be busy by working on the broken chair that she and piper had accidentally broken weeks ago. whoops.
briar opened the door to the front seat and hopped in it, smiling at reyna. "hey."
"hey," reyna greeted, kissing her cheek. out of the corner of her eye, briar saw her dad looking at her and reyna suspiciously. reyna also saw him. "your dad?"
"yeah," sighed briar. "just told him that we're dating."
reyna stared at her, though if she was shocked, she didn't show it. perks of knowing briar for so long. "you didn't tell him until now?"
"life's been busy, i forgot," briar rolled her eyes, though she was smiling. "did you forget my five minutes of fame so easily?"
"how could i?" asked reyna. "you looked so happy. in real life and in the video. and very beautiful."
"i would kiss you if my dad wasn't right there," briar grinned.
reyna sent her a similar smile, judging by her reflection in the rearview mirror. "to my house?"
"isn't that what i'm here for?"
"and here i thought that you were here for my company."
briar laughed as they pulled out of the driveway, catching her dad faking a smile as he waved to her goodbye.
her laugh faded quickly, feeling a pang in her stomach as they drove through her neighborhood and to reyna's. there was something she had to do first . . .
"bri?" asked reyna, concern laced in her voice. "are you okay?"
"can you turn around, please?" asked briar. "i forgot something."
"yeah, of course." instead of following the cars, reyna did a u-turn and went back to briar's house. "what'd you forget?"
"to do something," she simply said, and left it at that.
as soon as the car went to a stop, she hopped out of the car and strode to the open garage, where her dad was actually working on the broken chair, but at her footsteps he looked up at her. "briar, what—"
"just because i also love reyna doesn't mean that i don't love you," briar chided, tackling him into a hug not unlike the one she'd given him when he'd come back. "you are the first man that ever loved me. the first person, actually, so don't forget that, okay?"
"yeah," her dad breathed out, hugging her back just as tightly. "i won't."
she breathed in his comforting, familiar scent for a breath longer before pulling away. "okay, i actually have to go now. apparently her sister's free for the night, so i'm gonna meet her for the first time."
her dad nodded. "have fun," he told her. "and you're bringing your girlfriend here to meet me, yeah?"
briar laughed. "yeah. i will, dad. i'll see you tomorrow!"
she flounced off to reyna's car so they could finally go to her house.
and when she came back the next morning to drop off her things before going to volunteer for an autumn festival, she did see her dad, who was making coffee with the ridiculously expensive coffee machine piper's dad had bought as a joke. it did make really good coffee, though.
"hey, kiddo." her dad smiled at her. "how was it?"
"it was good," briar gave him a big smile back. "i finally met her sister! she's just like you."
"i hope you mean good-looking and kind."
"daaaaaad," she rolled her eyes. "i mean, she's a cop instead of a military officer, but otherwise she's like you. gruff exterior, soft interior."
"and devilishly good-looking?"
"no comment, dad." briar walked to the other side of the island to give him a hug. "i gotta go volunteer, so i'll see you later."
"hey, briar," he said, and she hummed in acknowledgement. "i'm proud that you found someone you like. even if you neglected to tell me about it during our video calls."
"sorry," briar smiled sheepishly. "i kinda just . . . forgot. with everything happening."
"uh huh," he gave her a cheeky smile, before kissing the crown of her head. "see you later, kiddo."
"bye!" she turned and left out the garage door to her car.
* * *
even though briar could drive herself to graduation, her dad was doing it for her because he wanted to see her off.
but now they were sitting in the car because he'd insisted. so she sat there, her nerves tingling with anticipation.
"dad?" briar finally broke the silence between them. "i'm going to be late. you didn't forget i'm graduating, right?"
"i know," he sighed. "i just . . ."
she looked over at him and her eyes widened. "are you crying?"
"briar."
"i've never seen you cry before," she commented, adjusting her cap on her head since it fell slightly when she'd turned toward him. "don't tell me it's because of how ugly i look in this stupid gown."
"you've never looked so beautiful," he corrected, giving her a sad smile. "you may be graduating high school, but you'll always be my little girl."
"dad . . ." briar nearly choked on her sob. "don't make me ruin my makeup."
she leaned over the console and hugged him tightly, breathing in his familiar scent for the last time before she'd graduate high school. "you don't know how much it means to me that you love me," she told him. "that you're the first person to really love me."
"i think i do, briar," he said, hugging her just as tightly. "i know i do."
and when she was walking on the stage, shaking the principal's hand and accepting her diploma, her eyes immediately went to the first man who had ever loved her, who was a key part in getting her to this point in her life, who made her into the woman she is.
❝ so i had to stop the car and turn around
to tell you you were the first man who really loved me ❞