Chapter Text
Katie has been at this camp nearly as long as the Stoll brothers. So, it wasn’t odd for her to be leading her cabin as its head counselor. Hermes Cabin however, was led by the infamous Luke Castellan. Luke was one of the three demigods that came to camp after being on the run. The three of them had been: Thalia, daughter of Zeus; Annabeth, daughter of Athena; and Luke, son of Hermes. Runaway demigods usually didn’t survive very long, because their scent pretty much dragged monsters to them. Oddly enough, only two of them came out ‘alive.’ Thalia lived – to some extent – but she is in the form of a tree now. Annabeth is thriving as a cabin counselor after recently being chosen for the new role opening. This story isn’t about them though. Today we focus on Luke and his many important responsibilities…
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Travis helped Luke out as co-counselor often and today, he was assisting him with archery. Demeter cabin was also doing archery at this time. Luke had been showing a younger camper how to properly hold a bow when he noticed it… again. He had obviously seen Travis fawn over Katie before, numerous times, but he has also seen Katie yell at Travis over a stupid prank he saw as ‘necessary.’ He knew that Travis liked Katie. Everyone knew that Travis liked Katie. The problem was the rivalry going on in their relationship. Travis pranked Katie at least twice a week, depending on how big the prank. Katie yelled at Travis pretty much everyday, because if he wasn’t pranking her, he was still doing something. Everyone in cabin eleven had such a need for Travis and Katie to get together though, because despite them ‘hating each other’ they were hopelessly dancing around one another. They needed to do something, anything that involved the two getting together.
In the moment that Luke was staring at Travis who was still staring at Katie as she was turned around, he got an idea. If he could finally get Katie to notice how much Travis liked her, and get Travis to finally confess his feelings; they could get together and all would be well. The question was just, how? That is something he had to think about.
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During lunch in the pavilion, Travis ate anything but silently. He was talking and going on about how much a camp needed to have some kind of festival specifically for the campers and NOT the gods, for once. He actually still had a full plate when Luke swatted him on the arm and told him to focus. So, he did. However, the amount of focus almost immediately left his body when he made eye contact with someone over at cabin four’s table, though technically they were already staring at him. Katie Gardner. But of course, she looked away the moment he looked at her. The classic look away after staring and of course it reeled Travis right in.
Luke continued to watch his half-brother. Then he thought to himself, that if anyone is bound to know more details about Travis’ crush on Katie, it's Connor Stoll. And Luke took that note to heart.
Once lunch was finished Chiron and Mr. D came by to announce what they called “Free Play” for the campers. It was only called that and given for the younger campers to know they weren’t robbing them of their ‘self expression’ and ‘free will.’ Due to that, everyone remembered what they wanted to do and ran off almost immediately. Travis walked directly up to Katie and the way he stepped told Luke and Connor exactly what was about to happen.
“Hey Katie-kat”
“What could you possibly want now Stoll?” Her voice was as it always was when talking to him: firm and resistant. She didn’t use any other tone when she spoke to the Stolls, but for Travis, she was much much ‘meaner.’
Travis looked around as if ‘checking’ for people who could be listening in. Even though there were people CLEARLY watching the scene, he still spoke in his usual tone.
“Katie-Kat oooh Katie-Kat,” Katie rolled her eyes as Travis said this; knowing that he was going to say something even remotely stupid, simply by the way he had dragged out his words. “Aren’t you happy I didn’t prank you today?”
“It doesn’t even matter if you had. I could care less about you and your stupid gimmicks”
“Yeah, right. You love them.” He did as he always did. Confident and forward. Though he only did it because he was so sure she had no idea about his feelings towards her. And regarding that, he was kinda right. That was probably the only thing he was right about.
Katie rolls her eyes at Travis’ comment, but stays silent. That alone made Luke continue to think of how much better they would be together, rather than against one another. Luke caught Connor's eye as he stared at the two. Luke was well aware that Connor knew more about Travis’ odd emotions than anyone probably ever would. Sadly, the issue was getting Connor to tell Luke exactly what he needed to know… he needed some kind of persuasion.
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Past curfew, Luke waited for everyone to go to sleep; including Travis and Connor. Though he would ultimately end up waking up Connor in the end, the least he could do is prepare for the worst by letting Travis get to sleep.
He waited for Travis and Connor to come back from setting up their obvious prank on what he believed was cabin four – Demeter cabin – which included Katie getting pranked along with them.
Once Connor and Travis returned, he let the two boys get into bed and when he heard snoring, he acted. He snuck over to Connor Stoll’s bed and tried to gently tap him awake. When he didn't move, he tried gently shaking. Still nothing. Due to the fact that Connor Stoll was a very very deep sleeper; Luke just began to shake him as HARD AS POSSIBLE, without making noise via the creaking of the bunk bed’s frame. This time, his tactic worked.
Connor woke up with a slight groan that was silenced by Luke whisper-yelling at him to shush. Which worked, because Connor stared a bit in shock as Luke stood there glaring.
“What are you doing?! Look I know you’re the counselor and all, but trying to murder a camper in their sleep is very illegal! And that's coming from me!!” Connor said this all with a very scared and confused look on his face. Luke was more shocked that Connor thought he would kill him in his sleep.
“I am NOT trying to kill you, idiot! I am simply waking you up, because we need to have a very important chat,” Connor thought the worst immediately at Luke's tone and words.
“Did I… do something?”
“No, Connor. No you did not do anything… this time.” Luke grabbed Connor by the arms to force him into properly sitting up. “Listen. This is very important. I need you to help me get Travis and Katie to happen and SOON.”
Connor gave Luke a look and nearly burst out into a fit of laughter. He knew a lot more than he was letting on or even than Luke had assumed he knew.
“Luke… I have been trying to get them together for YEARS. It is not as easy as it seems. It takes effort and time and severe convincing to get Travis to not prank her for at least a week before you can set a plan into action; only for it to fail miserably. Trust me I have been there.” Connor sighed and gave Luke another look of slight sadness. “Listen Luke. You may be a counselor, but I know my brother better than anyone else and if you want him to not only confess, but to stop pranking Katie and date her, we need to actually think it through.” The way he said it had been so serious that the amount Luke had already believed went up immediately.
However, Connor still stood up. He walked quietly over to the bed where Travis was sleeping and watched him for a moment.
“He’ll be out cold for quite a while. Hopefully till the morning, but if he isn't then we just need to be even more quiet.”
“What do you mean? Look Connor, you know him better than I do, but why is sleeping so important.” Luke asked with a genuinely curious tone. His eyebrows raised slightly when he saw the look on Connor’s face, “Connor Stoll, what do you have up your sleeves?”
Connor looked at him slightly before speaking. “Remember when I said I’d done the whole ‘getting them together’ attempt before?”
“Yes.”
“Well… I may have struggled so much the first time that I put together a team of campers who also desperately wanted Tratie to happen.”
“Tratie?” Luke had never even heard the ‘code word’ before, but his brain switched up pretty quick. “Wait- a team?! As if there are multiple other people who want this?”
“Well not that many, just like 5… maybe 6 of us. I just grabbed people who made it painfully obvious they wanted the two together. Though the whole team may not be very useful this time; Malcolm, for example, will be very useful because of the books he reads.”
“Malcolm Pace?” Luke stops for a moment of realization that his half-brother really had put together an entire team of campers. “Isn’t he the Athena co-counselor? Why would he help you after all the spider pranks you and Travis have pulled on them?” Connor blushed slightly at the question. Luke raised his eyebrow in a very dramatic way. “Would this have anything to do with that project Chiron made you all work on not too long ago regarding-”
“NO! It really isn’t a big deal. He just REALLY ships Tratie.” Luke gives Connor a look. Of course he’s still denying his obvious feelings for the Athena boy. He has been denying any feelings for anyone since he first joined the camp.
“Uh huh… well when do we meet up with this ‘team’ of yours.”
“Tomorrow at night. I’ll need to give them time to prepare all necessary plans and files on things we’ve tried and plans we haven’t.”
“Wow, you really thought this through, huh?”
Connor just shrugged and smirked, “What can I say, I’m smarter than I act.”
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After dinner, Luke brought all his campers back to the cabin and set them up for lights out. Travis helped them settle down and once everyone was asleep, he went to sleep himself.
Once Luke was sure everyone else was asleep, he walked over to Connor’s bed and shook him, but he was already up.
“Great! We’re just on time to meet the team in the woods… you are ok with meeting in the woods right? I know you have that weird ‘maternal’ instinct in you as a counselor.”
“It is NOT a ‘maternal instinct!’”
“Oh it totally is, Luke” Connor then began walking towards the door silently. He opened it after reassuring himself that Travis was asleep and began walking down the path. “Okay, we need to turn right here and then we’ll be at the sight that Mal selected on his map.”
“Mal?” Luke knew it wasn't time to tease, but he couldn’t help it honestly.
“Oh shut it!”
Luke looked around again and noticed they were getting further into the woods and he saw a slight path of fallen sticks. He looked to Connor for any hint of dismay, but Connor continued to follow it. Luke noticed that they probably had a Demeter camper on their side if this was here. He watched as Connor took a sharp left turn and he heard the voices of a small group of campers.
When they made their way to the voices, Luke saw Connor’s team of ‘matchmakers.’
Malcolm, the brain of this sat farthest to the left of this odd circle. Miranda Gardiner sat beside him, seemingly talking about some kind of plan while looking at a binder he had in his hands. Luke continued to look at the few other campers. Kayla Knoweles sat there as well, but was talking to another camper, Mitchell, a son of Aphrodite.
“Hey guys! I know it’s a tad bit odd for me to randomly call a meeting since we had originally voted to give up, but I feel that if Luke also wants them together… Perhaps we should try again.”
“Is this really smart, Connor? I mean, you saw hopeless it was last time,” Miranda spoke up. She was one to stick to a plan once she had it figured out, but the whole ‘Tratie thing’ was something even she deemed as a lost cause.
“Maybe, but it's worth a shot.” Connor looked to Malcolm who was still in deep focus on the file. “Mal?”
“Yeah, Con?” Malcolm looked , but his eyes officially met Connors and then Lukes.
“Did you end up overviewing the ideas we’ve already used?” Malcolm nodded at Connor’s question.
“Of course. I went over them all after lunch. I managed to sneak off from…” He trailed off making eye contact with Luke. A part of him forgot he was a counselor. “When I got it done isn’t important, just that I did. I marked off some old ideas that we never tried and some new ones that me and Miranda had gone over a few minutes ago. Though our ideas are a bit.. Interesting.”
Malcolm handed Connor the binder and he flipped through it. Luke caught glimpses of markings along pages. Some spell out swords like “FAIL” in bold red lettering or large red X’s over plans that got cancelled due to lack of proper knowledge. Some had green highlights, particularly ones in neat handwriting – probably Malcolm's – highlighting clear good ideas that they should try next. They had clearly planned this all out well and overtime.
“Wow… you guys really don’t play about this, huh?” Luke’s own voice sounded shocked. He had never seen Connor organize anything remotely calm, but this group seemed like a big deal to him.
Connor spoke up, his voice reassuring to Luke, “We should pick something calmer than our previous plans. Perhaps one with fewer points to hit.” He then turned to Luke. “Welcome to the team, brother.”
“Glad you’ll have me”
Connor then turned back to the group. Malcolm spoke up before anyone else could.
“Maybe Mitchell could get Silena to charmspeak him into confessing.” They all seemed to follow the idea and turned to Mitchell who immediately shut it down.
“Absolutely not! She loves love, but if she knew we were using it technically against them… she’d kill me. She is sweet, but evil. Trust me, we do NOT want to get involved with her.”
“Ok then, nevermind that idea…” Connor looked back down at the binder. “Look, I understand I’m the whole ‘ring leader’ of this, but I’m stumped. All of these ideas are amazing, but they take too long for us to manage in the time we'd like to. Plus, we’ve already used the best ideas we could come up with before and they've all failed.”
Malcolm spoke again, trying to reassure the other boy. “Think about it this way, Con, we just haven’t made it up yet. If we continue to think of this as some fantasy then we’ll continue to fail. We need to think more realistically about these two.” Connor looked up at Malcolm's words and sighed again. He had as much faith in this group as he had that Travis was in love with Katie. The only problem was the source of the ideas was failing.
Connor looked at Malcolm for a few seconds before redirecting his gaze to Luke.
“How long do you feel the plan should take, since you’re the one who wanted to re-open the possibility of them doing this?” Connor asked Luke this question gently, clearly trying to keep his inner turmoil and almost immediate stress silenced.
“I feel that matters of the heart should take time and effort. But knowing them we won't have much time in between getting them to calm down and getting them to confess, perhaps a week.” Connor actually felt his heart lift up at this statement. Maybe it was the thought of his brother finally getting the girl. Or the thought of Luke being a really really good half-brother, but either way the feeling was good.
“I like that timeframe. Now all we have to do is brainstorm a possible solution to their never ending bickering and get them to confess…” He paused; brain filled with a sudden sense of dread. “Now all we have to do is that…”
They pretty much spent the rest of the night chatting, thinking, writing, and – to Luke – Connor flirting with Malcolm silently. This was something that didn’t take Luke a whole night to see, because now it was even more obvious since there was a smaller group around than when he would be with them during cabin activities – of course only combined ones that Athena participated in. Maybe they would be the next ones to get together, if Connor ever came out, that was.
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By the time breakfast in the pavilion rolled around the next day, the group had a plan. It was simple, but Luke had faith in it, as well as Connor. Malcolm had done most of the thinking and Mitchell had added a bit of his romantic Aphrodite cabin spirit into their little fantasy. Kayla had added the idea of how safe it would and wouldn’t be for certain things to take place, as well. The four demigods carried Luke through everything when they were done planning in the end.
Now they were ready for stage one. Luke is supposed to tell Travis to get some equipment from the shed that Chiron genuinely forgot existed in the far, FAR, end of camp. He would question it, yes, but he would still do it because Luke had asked him and not some other stupid camper. The shed was dusty so Kayla insisted that they clean it first, in case Katie or Travis happen to get sick from it. This part was the easiest stage to set up. The goal was to get them alone so that they could hopefully talk and then stop fighting so they had time to initiate the next step of the plan.
“Travis, do you mind going and getting some equipment for the activity later? It’s in the shed on the far end of camp?” Travis gave Luke a confused look.
“Why not just get the harnesses from the new shed?”
“Well…” This was the part they were confused about when it came to Luke lying. He was a Hermes kid. He was supposed to be good at lying, but it was just something about lying to one of his own that he couldn’t do. “We just need very specific ones and they just happen to be in that very shed.” Travis just nodded at Luke's words and waited till breakfast was over before going to get them.
Meanwhile Miranda was working on her sister’s part.
“Katie?” Katie looked at her co-counselor and nodded as she waited for her to finish. “Well… I was wondering if you could handle getting some garden stuff from the shed, because you know I hate dust and the dark.” Katie looked at Miranda suspiciously, but Miranda gave her that look that made Katie do almost anything for her.
“Alright, but you have to take the campers to their activity after breakfast then.”
And that was how Katie Gardner and Travis Stoll ended up locked in a shed, far away from the big house, and alone together.
After stage one was initiated and worked, they enabled stage two. For this stage it was required that each cabin had someone watching their kids; which Miranda and Luke already had pretty much covered. Then, they needed to make sure no one walked over or noticed they were missing. That was the hard part. The thing about Katie is she’s an incredibly nice environmentalist; which is hard to forget generally. Travis is unforgettable, simply because he is him. He is loud, energetic, and outgoing; relatively hard to miss as well. So they needed a slight story for why they weren’t there and the easiest story was just that they were talking to Connor.
So while stage two was taking place; Mitchell was observing ‘Tratie’ to ensure it was all going to plan. Plus, Malcolm had set up a tiny camera inside. They had ensured it wasn’t too dark so that the footage would be visible.
Mitchell continued to listen from outside and he could hear them BRIGHT AS DAY.
“Oh my goodness- You have got to be kidding me!” Katie practically shrieked as she shook that shed’s door handle. She was praying for this to end already. It wasn't the dust or darkness, but the fact that she knew Travis was going to annoy her; as he always did. That's just how he is.
“Katie-Kat, calm down. It’s just a tad bit dark, but we can manage.” He was NOT usually this calm and was definitely keeping it together so as to not embarrass himself in front of her.
“Do NOT tell me to calm down when I'm stuck in this stupid shed with YOU of all people!!” That made Travis look at her, though it was still dim inside. “Look… do you know how to pick a lock or is that a thing only smart children of Hermes know how to do?” This was a demeaning statement. One of the many things Travis hated about his crush was that she was only ever harsh to him. Any other Hermes camper and she would have smiled or laughed it off slightly. The funnier thing was, he knew how to pick a lock but something made him restrain showing off to her. Maybe it was the need to have her just talk to him for a few minutes or maybe he just wanted to be petty.
Mitchell, who was still outside, heard Katie’s comment on Travis picking the lock and PANICKED. He wasn’t actually told what to do if they ended up escaping so he just ran away. His plan was to get Malcolm so that he could maybe come up with something, but in running away he let them know there was someone listening in, due to his footsteps.
The sound of leaves crunching under a person's feet wasn’t exactly ‘quiet’ so it wasn’t hard for Katie to immediately notice and Travis to catch on pretty quickly. This caused Katie to shush Travis in fear it was Chiron or Mr. D and they would think something else was going on. Katie couldn’t afford for Chiron to get ideas about her and Travis when she was SURE she wanted nothing to do with him.
Once she heard the crunching stop, she turned back to Travis. “So help me, if people think something is going on between us because of your loudness. I will end you, Travis Stoll.”
Travis looked at Katie. He blushed slightly at the idea of ‘him and Katie’ being a thing that wasn’t just in his imagination. Then, he made the joke that made Katie want to hurt him even more.
“Perhaps there is something between us then. I mean, if you fear the topic so much, may we ought to get you over your own fears huh?” He was kidding, but this is what he did. He got himself into stupid situations that were irreversible with his jokes. Katie, just so happens to always be the victim of them.
“Do NOT flirt with me right now, Stoll. I don’t know what makes you think that this could be a thing, when you act so soooo STUPID!” Katie gestured between the two when she said “This” and of course the stupid got to Travis quicker than it should have. She said these things all the time and yet he never changed, so maybe she was right.
“Look, Katie-Kat." We seriously need to get out of here if Chirons come, and I can unlock the door, but I don’t have anything to pick the lock with.” That stunned Katie a bit. For once, he was being mature and thinking clearly. \
“I have a paper clip in my pocket, it was meant for arts and crafts later, but I'm sure we have more.” She slipped the clip out of her pocket and placed it into Travis’ hand.
“Thank you, Katie-Kat.” He quickly unlocked the door, Katie wasn’t sure how he only did it with one clip, but he did it and that was all. They opened the door and practically ran towards the camp. Travis thought maybe he could find Luke and Katie just hoped her campers were okay. They raced to the great lawn and Travis ran directly into Malcolm.
“WOAH! Watch it-” He stopped dead in his tracks at the sight, finally acknowledging who it was. Travis knew about his brother's crush on Malcolm and so he simply ran past him, muttering an apology. Katie, however, had not even stopped for a moment. She continued to run to the area where her cabin was doing activities and began to talk to Miranda who looked very surprised and confused.
“Katie? I thought you were getting the stuff…” She looked suspicious and for a daughter of Demeter, that was odd. She assumed that the reason Mitchell had run for Malcolm was because of some medical issue and he was getting help. Though that would be odd considering Kayla cleaned the entire shed.
“I was going to, but I didn't see them. I also got locked in with Travis and THANK THE GODS I got out of that.” But on Katie's face, Miranda noticed that she looked a bit confused. Maybe a part of her felt bad for yelling at Travis and calling him stupid, despite him taking charge in the end.
“Well, maybe getting trapped with him wouldn’t have been too bad right?” Miranda believes that deep in Katie’s green thumbed heart, she would have the idea that she liked Travis. And Miranda could only wish the girl would admit it or act on her own feelings. Katie simply looked at Miranda and shrugged, muttering something about him being an ‘aggravating headache of a man.’ PROGRESS!
Miranda saw Travis run up to Luke and tell him that there wasn’t any equipment in the shed he had sent him to. He seemed to skimp out on the part that he had gotten trapped in there with Katie for a good few minutes. Luke – being aware of the plan, of course – found a way to bring up Katie and see if anything had happened, tension wise, in his point of view.
“What took you so long?” Luke spoke neutrally, managing to keep a straight face and not tease. He was well known for teasing campers about their ‘crushes’ and ‘longing glances’ at other campers.
Travis shrugged it off and just said the door got jammed and that he was stuck in there. He did mention being stuck in there with Katie, but they way he said it was meant to be a very ‘against it’ kind of thing. Luckily, with how many people were around, he could definitely pass Travis’ dismissal as a teasing opportunity.
“Did Katie yell at you again?” Travis shrugged at Luke’s comment.
“Eh, she just got mad at me even though I was the one that got us out of the stupid shack.” But, Travis still looked over at Katie and stared for a moment as if she hadn’t just been yelling at him. Luke even considered that maybe he enjoyed being yelled at by Katie. Maybe he was the kind of guy to love his girlfriend so unconditionally that he even enjoyed it when she was verbally upset at him… that had to be a toxic trait right? Anyways, it wasn’t Luke’s place or concern at the moment.
“You do know that if you just admit you like her, she probably won't be yelling at you much longer, right?” Travis once again just shrugged off Luke’s comment, seeing it as irrelevant to the ideas he had in his mind.
“First off, I don’t have anything to confess, because I don’t like her. Second of all, even IF I did, she wouldn't feel that same, because she hates everything about me.” He said this with a ‘sure as day’ tone. Even if he had no actual proof on the subject, other than her yelling and their constant bickering. Luke followed Travis’ gaze back over to Katie who was now adamantly talking to Miranda. He also looked around at the other people. The entire Hermes cabin was minding their own business and talking very very loudly, while the entire Demeter cabin was doing exactly what they had been told. The contrast was hilarious.
He looked at Malcolm who was filling Connor in on what Mitchell had told him. Connor’s little lovesick look while Malcolm explained in detail what was happening. It made Luke believe that if Connor had a chance with a nerdy, gay, twink; maybe he had a chance at getting ‘Tratie’ to work.
Clearly this plan hadn’t been going too well, so that night the ‘matchmakers’ met up again, but in a different spot. They only moved places so that they could have a new and more secretive spot. Connor had sent a note out to all of them so they knew the locations.
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The series of events were the same as the previous: they woke up after everyone was asleep, they followed a stick path into the woods, and the rest of them were all there waiting. Luke still had no clue just how they always got here so fast, but he assumed they all just had more obedient half-siblings than they did.
“Gods, I can hear them from here,” Connor muttered slight;y under his breath. “I figured it’d be like this – a lot louder – so I suggested a farther spot to Mal.”
“Oh. That's why we are in a different place?”
“Yeah, but it isn't uncommon for the others. When we first started this, we would move spots nearly every meeting, because Chiron had started to get ‘suspicious’ of us. Or at least, according to Mitchell. He said that Chiron kept finding all the situations with Katie and Travis as a little bit too random. Apparently, he started watching campers more clearly.”
“Was that around the time that a bunch of campers were talking about a ‘talking fish’?” Luke asked. Last summer there had been a LOT of talk about how some campers saw a plastic talking fish in the water and then it was gone later that day. There had also been ‘JUST KISS ALREADY’ written in the sand.
“Ooooh, you mean the one where Mal got so tired and ran out of ideas, that when I suggested we just force them to kiss and hope for the best. He ACTUALLY made me write it in the sand. That was just pure stress. Plus it was around the end of the summer, so we all had a ‘now or never’ kind of mindset, you know?”
Luke did in fact NOT know. He was very confused and nothing Connor had just said even made sense, but he just nodded and Connor kept walking forward. Now he was slightly ahead of him. They saw Malcolm and Kayla, but no sign of Mitchell or Miranda. Kayla was the one being loud as her and Malcolm talked, so that's what they heard.
“Hey guys! Where are the other two?” Connor questions, his voice was a lot more annoyed than it should have been. Like this meeting should have gone ‘perfect.’
“Well…Miranda got told by Katie that she needed to watch the campers tonight, because apparently Katie had to ‘chat’ with Mr. D about something private. AND Mitchell isn’t here because Silena is reviewing the activity schedule and isn’t going to sleep. That means that obviously Mitchell can’t sneak out and Miranda is stuck actually doing her co-counslor duty.” Malcolm explains the situation in more detail than probably needed, but Connor appreciates this; as he usually does when Malcolm speaks.
“So, it's just us tonight?”
“Yeah, but I’ll be able to fill in Miranda tomorrow and Kayla might be able to fill in Mitchell if Mitchell, if Miranda doesn’t get to him before me, after I tell her.”
“Good. So, any ideas about the ways we can get the two together?” Connor noticed that Malcolm had been flipping through their binder of plans. His eyes darted to the different markings and it reminded him of how much they wanted this.
“No new plans yet. However, when I was talking to Miranda earlier, she told me what Katie said about the situation with Travis. She doesn’t suspect it had anything to do with us, but she also said Katie looked like she felt bad about something she might’ve said or done to Travis. Maybe she said something wrong…” Luke thought for a moment. Had Travis mentioned anything bad about Katie earlier? No, never. Then again he did seem a bit overly proud and prissy after they escaped the shed.
“Maybe they didn’t fight as much as we think, but they did judge one another. Perhaps if we can make them see how good the other person is. Then, we can set them up naturally, as if never planned at all.” Malcolm seemed to agree to it relatively fast, which meant Connor saw absolutely no flaws in the idea.
So, that was their new plan. Get Katie to see Travis as a normal human being and less of a reckless germ. But first, they needed a tactic to get Travis to not prank anyone for a while in order for it to happen.
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“Hey, Katie…” Miranda spoke as Luke listened in from near the area. Since Demeter and Hermes' cabin were BOTH doing fishing (something Chiron originally added as a punishment or to be funny, but ended up keeping it) the Demeter cabin wasn’t doing much at all. MOST of the Demeter kids refused to hurt animals and that included horses, pegasus, and apparently fish. Katie was one of the Demeter kids that genuinely just hated bothering the animals that found salvation at camp, so she refused to do it.
“Yes, Miranda?” Katie looked up at her with questioning eyes as Miranda prepared her best acting skills, EVER.
“Don’t you think Travis looks kind of good while he's fishing?” She tried to give her tone a little ‘push’ so that Katie would say something positive, but Travis was NOT Katie’s favorite topic.
“Why would I think he’s cute while he is currently harming the fish in the lake? And before you say ‘Katie they throw them back!’ they shouldn’t be taking them in the first place.” Katie shrugged off Miranda's comment on Travis being cute in any way and Miranda sighed.
For the rest of the day, Miranda worked with Katie and kept making remarks about Travis, such as: “Don’t you think he looks good with his hair like that?” “Isn’y he smarter than he acts?” “Travis might be single, but he won’t be for long if he keeps up that snarky attitude. Girls like that kind of thing.” Katie noticed all of this regularly fast and by the end of the day, she had one conclusion in her mind.
“Miranda…” She paused before continuing, choosing her words carefully as if she was expecting the worse. “Do you like Travis Stoll?” Miranda physically stopped. Her brain kinda confused her mouth with what her ears just heard, and she couldn’t speak at that moment. Of course, this was nowhere near the truth. All of the things Miranda said had mostly been scripted by a template note Malcolm made her, in reality.
“What?”
“I asked if you had feelings for Travis. Stoll.” Katie spoke slower as if to emphasise the point she was making. “ I mean… you’ve been hung up on him and his ‘amazing looks’ all day. It’s only reasonable that I assume you have a crush.” She eyed Miranda suspiciously.
“NO. I DO NOT have any kind of feelings for Travis Stoll!” And even though Katie didn’t fully believe her, she let her ‘win’ this argument.
After that, the group met in the woods again for a quick exchange and talked about the situation. Miranda still looked physically unsettled with the idea that she of all people would have a crush on a STOLL (No offense to Connor, of course). Since the meeting wasn’t very long, Malcolm only took a few notes and ideas, in a very orderly manner. The notes were:
IDEAS - Convince Katie that she likes Travis, but make sure she knows why she likes Travis. - Put her in a physical dilemma where Travis is the only solution? - Set up a blind date (Last resort)
THINGS TRAVIS IS GOOD AT (By Connor Stoll) - Sports, running, stealing, flirting (kinda), talking, making jokes, good with kids
After the list had been made they all went their own ways and decided on an entirely different plan that they called “Operation FINALLY get Tratie to have their Beauty and The Beast love story.” They admit, it's a bit long, but it is what it is. Their plan was pretty much just to get Katie and Travis as CLOSE as physically possible. So, that's what they did.
Miranda stopped making comments and let the others that were friends with Katie talk him up to her. And of course, it didn't work. Malcolm had approached Katie during an activity and brought up his attitude, to which she insulted it. Kayla mentioned his ‘poise,’ to which Katie said he didn’t have any. Mitchell mentioned that Selina said Travis was staring WAY too long at Katie more than once, and of course, she said that he wouldn’t dare do that. In the end they were stuck in nothing. Until Luke stepped up.
Luke volunteered to cause a problem with the activity schedule, so long as they did it responsibly, and he wanted to alter it so that Travis was ALWAYS on it with Katie. And, that worked, just not in how they expected.
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They had planned to initiate the situation by putting them in a close corner with one another. Travis had been told to watch the younger campers during an activity with Demter cabin. He was joking and teasing Katie for something one of the kids had asked her. All of a sudden a kid ran up to him and tugged his shorts/ Luke had been watching silently, in hopes of catching some kind of conveying emotions, but the kid had interrupted that.
“Travis?!” Travis was no longer looking at Katie in front of him, but down at the child.
“Yes, Mikey?” Katie noticed the voice change; tone softer and far more gentle sounding towards a child he cared about than any other “normal” camper.
“Mimi scraped her knee.” And before Katie or Luke knew it, Travis - a child himself, technically - was helping the kid who had called him calm down and soothing the little girl who had scraped her knee. Katie swears her heart melted. Something about a guy helping kids was just so… sweet. She stopped staring. She stopped acknowledging the situations, but she was too late. Luke had noticed the lingering eyes Connor had been too distracted too, but Luke was planning to fill the entire group in later.
That night, the group met in the woods as usual. They snuck out, as usual. They spoke as loud or quiet, as usual. However, when Connor and Luke got back… they noticed a change. Travis wasn’t in his bed. He usually didn’t wake up unless pranking or using the bathroom, but had recently been too busy and SURPRISINGLY leaving all of the pranking to Connor, for once.
Meanwhile, Miranda was dealing with a similar problem upon returning back to Demeter cabin. Katie was gone. Miranda - knowing Katie - simply assumed that she had been going for a usual walk in the woods, since she was so connected to nature now more than ever. Whatever Katie did, Miranda usually tagged along, but since she hadn’t been there, she hadn’t gotten the chance. Oddly enough, Connor managed to reassure Luke that Travis was probably out pranking, and Miranda reassured herself that Katie was just on a walk. They were both wrong.
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In the woods, on a log, sat the counselor of Demeter cabin herself. Katie Gardner. Beside her sat co-counselor of Hermes cabin himself. Travis Stoll. They watched as the trees swayed in the wind softly as a gentle breeze filled the air. Travis spoke first, ultimately not being able to keep his mouth shut around her for very long.
“What a coincidence that I ran into you on your walk, Katie-Kat.”
“Will you ever retire that name, Travis? And also, it isn't a coincidence that you’ve done it three times now. I seriously need a new walking route,” she spoke much softer than she usually did when yelling or lecturing him during camp hours. Travis suspected it was because she didn’t want to wake any animals or forest nymphs.
“How about, Kit-Kat?”
“You’re going to name me after a chocolate bar?”
“No, but it would fit anyways. So…” He dragged out his words. She knew what that meant. It usually meant she was supposed to fill in the blank and ask a question.
“And why would it be so fitting?”
“Because… When you’re not screaming or telling me off. In moments like this especially; you can be sweet.” He was now looking at her with some kind of affection that he never had before. Or perhaps she simply had never noticed it. For a moment, they stared. Then he flushed faintly and looked back towards the sky. You could very slightly see the stars through the trees, but he didn’t mind.
“Oh, so suddenly you actually think I’m sweet?”
“Nah, just that the girl Connor and I had originally met when she joined camp and the girl sitting in front of me are oddly different for people so close in age to one another.” He smiled at the sky fondly. Katie had now turned back to Travis. Something was pulling her towards his presence, but she didn’t hate it.
“I am still the same person after all. Just a bit more mature when it comes to, you know, watching kids.” Then she did a double take. “You’re also really good with kids for someone so annoying.”
“Woah, woah, look who's complimenting me now! You’ve never complimented me before and this, this right here, is probably the longest ‘calm’ conversation we’ve had.”
“And whose fault is that?”
“Yours.” Katie laughed at Travis’ words. He had a point; she usually yelled first when it came to their arguments, but he started it. “You know I’m not wrong, Kit-Kat!”
Katie leaned her head back, looking effortlessly beautiful in Travis’ eyes. He kept getting that sense of attraction whenever she was around, yes he’s known for a while what that feeling was towards her, but gods it made him feel good even this far along.
“Beautiful…” Travis had muttered under his breath as Katie, once again, stared deeply at the sky to avoid some evident, awkward eye contact.
“You know, I like that we don’t always have to fight. I honestly think if we got along better, people would function better with us. Or at least that's what I was told by a few other counselors… Don’t you think so?” She looked at Travis; eyes sparkling in his view.
“I love your face.” He hadn’t intended for it to come out like that. He meant to simply say she was pretty, to her face for once. His mouth had incredibly let him down in the heat of the moment.
“Oh. you do?”
“Well, I didn’t mean to-” In one of Travis’ very awkward moments, he never expected to feel so giddy. Lips. on his in a moment were Katie Gardner's lips and she kissed him. Dear gods, he felt like he was going to suffocate. It hadn’t been a long kiss but it was long enough for him to lose every last brain cell that he seemed to have.
“...” His mouth followed the very simple rules in which his brain prescribed: open, close, open, close, empty silence in the end.
“Sorry. I didn’t even ask and I completely read that wrong. I mean- not EVERY compliment is a ‘ hey, kiss me’ kinda thing yk, it's just- you were looking at me with those eyes and-” She was standing up now. Her hands intertwined, twisting around each other's fingers.
“Kit-Kat.”
“I’m sorry, I know we just barely started to not fight for the first time-”
“Katie-Kat.”
“I really should have been thinking, but it was odd, I’d never looked at you like that before and my heart was being weird and-”
“Katie.”
“Look, I understand if you feel an even bigger need to prank me now, but it honestly wasn’t that bad for me-”
“KATIE GARDNER.” Finally silence overtook Katie. She was no longer rambling anxiously towards the guy who had been calling her numerous times. She now looked at him, debating whether to take a look away or keep the intense eye contact Travis was currently holding.
“Yes?”
“I wasn’t complaining. I’m not upset. HOW COULD I POSSIBLY BE UPSET WHEN KATIE GARDNER JUST KISSED ME?!”
“Well, I didn’t ask-”
“And if you were anyone other than you, I would have shoved you off, but you’re not. You are Katie Gardner - MY Katie-Kat.” He paused. “You do understand that right?”
“Okay, don’t get ahead of yourself. I may have kissed you and gone overly talkative, but I am not your-” Lips. Once again their lips connected, but this time Travis had initiated it. Katie didn’t pull back. For feeling she had deemed as ‘recent’ she was surprised that she didn’t want to pull back. She felt like a fish out of water; never really having been able to hold her breath long. She pulled back up for air.
“I’m not sure if you want to try something other than ‘enemies’ or ‘rivals’ or whatever that word for our relationship was, but I think we just skipped the friend part in ‘friends to lovers’”
“Brave of you to assume I want to be your ‘lover’” She had to act snarky. She knew if she didn’t, and this all went south too fast, Travis would never let her live it down, but right now - with that look in his eyes - she was no longer in the mood to fight his words anymore.
“If you don’t want to, we don’t have to. I won’t push. I won’t even bring this up around other people; no matter who they might be. HADES, I won’t even tell my brother if it makes you feel better. If you really don’t want this, I’ll drop it.” Then he paused and took another long, long look at Katie before facing the skyline.
“Maybe, I can consider it, but you have to stop the pranks.”
“Awww, but that's my love language, Katie-Kat.” He whined playfully with that stupid Stoll-smirk.
“Well then find a new one. Because I am DONE with the pranks if we were to start dating.”
“Us dating? Done. Pranks for you are officially gone now.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek.
“Okay, but this stays between us for now, okay Travis?” She looked up expectantly.
“How about just a few people…”
“Fine, but keep it limited. I don’t need the whole camp knowing about this.”
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By the end of the month, all of connors ‘Project-Tratie’ group knew. By the two month mark; people had connected the dots, especially with the lack of pranks towards Demeter Cabin and especially a specific auburn haired girl. And yet, no one was complaining about the new lack of screaming matches and the newly ‘tamed’ Travis Stoll, who was definitely calmer now that the girl he needed was his. Just as he was hers.
In the end, Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner were a match made by the gods. Luke was satisfied by volunteered job as cupid, with the help of others of course. Even if they didn’t end up being the whole reason that they got together in the end. He was satisfied and happy for the lovely couple. His next job would have to be Connor and Malcolm, if he ever managed to come up with a good enough plan alone.