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Mopping the deck wasn’t what Green had in mind when he boarded the airship, but it was a ritual for every camper’s first ride and what was Green’s life if not a laundry list of traditions? The only tradition he’d broken was waiting so long before visiting Camp Half-Blood. 14 year-olds generally weren’t the ones scrubbing bird poop.
At least it gave him an hour of peace before informing the camp below deck they could come up. Occasionally a camper would sneak on deck too early and end up sliding on soap water. And when Green turned to rest the mop on the railing, that was precisely what he saw.
Until he didn’t. The boy slipped on the wet floor, but he was suspended in air for an impossibly long second before straightening himself and landing firmly on both feet. From his unrecognizable face and the boy’s orange shirt, Green could guess they were from Camp Half-Blood. Which was over a thousand feet below them.
“I don’t think I’ve seen your face before,” the boy said upon looking around and spotting him. He scratched his hair tucked behind an ear and held out his hand. “I’m Red! What’s your name?”
Green shook the boy’s hand out of propriety, but his other hand was one swift movement from his magic pendant: where he stored his weapon. “Green, First Cohort. How did you get on board?”
Red didn’t answer as campers piled on the stairs, their heads poking from below deck like an open can of worms. Some campers from his cohort said Red’s name upon seeing them, and Green subconsciously relaxed. Which made his hand accidentally brush against the pendant. His drakon-bone spear instantly materialized in his other hand, the spearhead pointed directly at Red’s face, and Green hastily touched his pendant again to get rid of it. He hoped Red wouldn’t take the accident as a sign of ill intent. “My apolo—”
“Whoa, that was so cool!” Red interrupted him. “Can you do it again?”
Green blinked, and felt a hand on his shoulder. It was his praetor, Koga, who greeted the both of them with nods.
“Centurion, I didn’t know you were so eager for a fight,” Koga joked.
The joke part didn’t get through to Red apparently, because he took it quite literally. “That was a challenge? Then I accept!”
“What? No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Man, no one ever wants to fight me anymore.” Red didn’t seem to have heard him, much to Koga’s amusement. “But you look strong and you’ve got a cool weapon! This is great!”
“I didn’t—”
“Red, why don’t you go prepare? Green here will meet you in the arena when we land,” Koga interrupted, and Red excitedly jumped off the ship. One that was still very much in the air.
“Did he just—?!” Green was rendered speechless again and Koga laughed heartily. He should have avoided Camp Half-Blood for longer.
“Red will be fine,” Koga said with a glint in his eye that meant he knew something Green didn’t. Which never boded well.
.
.
.
As the storm flattened Green against the rough ground, he cursed his existence with several Latin swear words. Just his luck that the first Half-Blood he met was a son of the almighty Zeus, and one that somehow loved fighting more than he did. His spear clattered too far from arm’s reach, though it was no use to him now.
Red, floating safely several feet from the ground, raised his hand to the sky, and sparks formed at the tips of his fingers. Green had a pretty good feeling he wasn’t going to win this, but that didn’t mean he was going to roll over and let himself get barbecued. He did roll over at least, using the tailwinds to barely dodge the lightning bolt that hit the spot he was at not one millisecond earlier. He almost regretted not bringing a standard Imperial Gold pilus. It could have made a decent lightning rod.
When the third bolt missed, Red switched his tactics to strengthening the winds, compressing them to the point where Green had to rush inwards to avoid being turned into a pancake. Basically, he was choosing between certain defeat and more certain defeat. And he’d apparently chosen the latter if the reforming lightning was any indication. If he was going to lose, he wasn’t going out looking like a tap dancer dodging bolts. Two touches on the pendant recalled his spear and Green used the moment of surprise from Red to hurl it straight at Red’s hand. Unfortunately, the several meters of space between them was plenty of time for Red to react, summoning a gust of wind to deflect the projectile. Except that wasn’t the only weapon he’d thrown.
“OW!” His dagger pierced Red’s palm. It wasn’t very deep given how Red shook it off, but drawing first blood was an achievement in and of itself. “You are SO dead!”
.
.
.
Green did not end up winning, as expected, but at least he wasn’t dead. He made a mental note that Red couldn’t keep promises.
Red extended a slightly bloody hand to help him up, which Green honorably accepted, feeling excess sparks from the contact. He’d gotten up too fast, however, and only made it to one knee before he grunted in pain, immediately holding his side. That was a cracked rib for sure.
“I’ll take you to the infirmary!” Red said, sounding alarmed. Did he normally not break his opponent’s bones? With powers like that, Green could have easily fared worse from their duel.
Green felt himself being swept off his feet and nearly reacted by summoning his spear—he did not like being held like a damsel in distress, thank you very much. The only thing that stopped him was a sharp burst of pain when he let go of his side.
He forced himself to stay silently aggravated, which shouldn’t have been as hard as it was considering his situation, as Red embarrassingly carried him across a long stretch of land. He tried to ignore the curious stares of campers playing on the fields. This never happened to the people he defeated.
“Sorry about this,” Red said, a little too cheery for someone who’d handily bested him. He’d never lost a duel before this.
“Sorry for what? We agreed to fight, and you fought.” Green said tiredly. Koga may have gotten him into this mess, but Green still could have backed out. An old mantra repeated in his mind: A true warrior went into battle knowing it might be their last.
“I guess...” Red replied. “Hey, do you want a tour of camp after this?”
Green never gave his answer as they crossed a small river, which Red jumped over to save time, and Green bit down on his tongue to stop himself from hissing in pain. He could feel he was very close to passing out, and he knew Red could see it too from his worried expression.
“Keep talking,” Green commanded. “I need to stay awake.”
Red tilted his head in confusion, but nervously began explaining the ins and outs of Camp Half-Blood from the mess hall that fed every camper exactly what they wanted to the cabins that made him feel lonely, being the only Zeus kid. Even in his delirious state, a thought popped up of why Camp Half-Blood didn’t have a cohort system in place for circumstances like Red’s.
Eventually, Red got to the Big House, in conversation and in person. They passed by a shocked creature, which Green almost mistook for a faun with how fast his senses were deteriorating. The pain had grown numb at that point, and there was some yelling before he’d finally passed out.
Yellow exploded at him. “What on earth were you thinking?! Demigods aren’t immortal, Red! You could have killed him! With all the other Apollo kids out... I’m glad I was here. Broken bones, internal bleeding...” She continued rambling about Green’s condition.
Red stayed silent, knowing better than to interrupt her at a time like this. She was normally really nice... until you made “bad” decisions for your health. He’d simply got swept up in the heat of battle. It’d been so long since he felt that rush, that euphoria , and he’d let it get to him. And Green hadn’t said he felt close to death. He had been talking—well, listening mostly, but he was alert! Definitely awake—until he wasn’t.
“Red, you can’t go all out on other demigods. You’ll be lucky if this camper comes out with just a scar,” Yellow chided.
“But...” Red frowned. He felt that if he hadn’t gone all out, he would be the one passed out. Yellow probably wouldn’t have yelled at Green as much as she did to Red.
And it wasn’t as though Red didn’t try to apologize; Green had told him there was nothing to be sorry for. No one ever told Red that. He looked at the bandage over his dominant hand. No one had ever got a clean hit on him either. Today was full of new experiences—and Green was at the center of them. If only he’d wake up... no, that was selfish of Red.
Yellow shooed him out of the infirmary, and he’d gotten a glimpse of the Camp Jupiter tattoo, though indiscernible, on Green’s wrist before the door slammed behind him. Chiron was the first to speak to him, waiting with crossed arms when Red left the Big House.
“How is the boy?” he asked.
Red summarized her rant in a half-mumble. “Yellow says he’ll be fine.”
Chiron hummed. “When we saw the thunderstorm in the arena, we assumed you were training. See that this doesn’t happen again. There may be consequences for the peace,” he said, and clomped into the Big House. Red knew Chiron was being nicer than he could be about it, looking at the bigger picture, and most times Red was appreciative, but this time felt different.
His hand crackled with irritation, and it took a few seconds for the sparks to disintegrate. As he reached the bottom of the porch steps, the door opened again, but it wasn’t Chiron. It was Gold, his best friend, sporting a mischievous grin, which turned curious when he spotted Red’s wrapped hand. “What happened to you?”
“An accident,” he said quickly. “Someone else was using the ambrosia.”
“All of it? Were they a corpse or something?” Gold asked, not noticing Red’s wince at his choice of words. “Speaking of the dead, I hear CJ’s got a Hades’ kid that can dig up actual treasure!”
Red was about to ask their name when Gold continued on without pause. “Kid’s not here though. Apparently they got into the camp less than a month ago, but they freaked all the campers out enough to talk about him while visiting. I was just asking Dad about it, but the only thing he said was not to touch anything the kid summons. Crazy, right? Dad never tells me not to do something! Except drink, of course.”
If Mr. D said not to do something, then it was probably best to listen. Especially since he never took the time to tell them anything and enjoyed watching campers face the consequences of their actions. But this was Gold, who talked more than listened, and knew more than he should. “Hey Gold, did your dad talk about any other campers? Like really strong ones?”
“No? Not that I remember. You looking for a good fight? Ask the two with the purple capes, I think they’re the ones in charge,” Gold said.
Green wasn’t a praetor though. What had Koga called him again? A cent? Penny? No, he was getting farther.
They parted ways when Gold wanted to mess with the Apollo kids in the arts hall and Red decided not to garner another rhyming curse. So he went in the opposite direction. Across a field of campers playing tag with deadly spears, there was an overseeing camper with a telltale purple cape. She cheered on the team and one of the spears had split into three, tracking three separate targets. A Hephaestus creation?
Once he stepped onto the field, one of the spears changed trajectory towards him and he flicked it aside with a sharp breeze. The praetor raised her eyebrows and waved him over.
“You must be Red! I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Blue.” She smiled and snapped her fingers once. The spears reassembled into one larger spear and lodged itself to the ground at her feet. “Daughter of Vulcan and recently elected praetor.”
“Nice to meet you,” Red replied politely, not wishing to provoke someone with a weapon like that. “I actually had a question about one of the Jupiter campers.” It wasn’t normal for him to ask around about people behind their back, but Red simply couldn’t get Green out of his head and wanted to learn more. Like why Red had never known about him until now; he tried to keep tabs on all the strong CJ campers, and Green looked a little old to be visiting for his first time. And Green didn’t exactly scream “life stories sharer” to him anyway. “Do you know anything about a ‘Green?’”
Blue laughed. “Oh him? Everyone knows Green! Technically, everyone knows everyone, but he’s been around longer than most of us. Why the interest? Has he caught your eye?”
“Oh, it’s only... we were fighting and he kinda got hurt. Yellow’s patching him up and well... she kicked me out,” Red answered, unsure how much he should tell her. She knew a lot, that much was certain, but something told him information wasn’t entirely safe with her. However, she did brighten at his words.
“Yellow...? Wait, you said he got hurt from fighting you? I suppose that makes sense since you’re his kid,” she muttered, and he stared at her quizzically for a moment. Red wondered how much else she knew about him despite never ‘officially meeting.’
“Tell you what,” Blue started, bringing her hands together. “Go talk to Green in the infirmary... in like an hour. He’ll wake up soon, trust me. I’ll distract Yellow for you so don’t worry about being kicked out.”
Red was sure she was making a deal of some sort, though he didn’t see what benefit she was getting out of the deal. He nevertheless agreed, and when they met again at the Big House, Blue went in first. Per her instructions, Red would have to wait two minutes before he could go in.
In those minutes, he witnessed a group of Apollo kids with their hair ablaze running towards the river with Gold and some Hermes kids howling and pointing behind them. Red laughed quietly at the scene, and then went into the Big House, taking the nearest door to the infirmary.
As Blue promised, the room was empty aside from Green, who was still sleeping on his cot, one hand laid out and the other resting on his chest. That did not match the deal, though Red moved closer and spied on his unusually peaceful face. It made him realize Green was almost always frowning, switching between the stern kind, the angry kind, or the neutral kind.
Part of the black markings from earlier were visible, and Red looked down to see one spear and some lines. He tried to turn Green’s wrist upside and was promptly met with sharp bone at his neck. Green’s other hand had moved to the strange magic necklace he wore.
The weapon disappeared and Green stared at him with a (predictable) frown. “Please tell me you’re not the healer.”
Red smiled despite feeling a little bit insulted. “How are you feeling?”
“I’ve felt better.” Green sighed, then glanced downward. “Were you interested in that?”
Red turned sheepish, scratching the back of his head. “Um, kind of? They’re supposed to show your parentage and service, right?” Every Jupiter he met had the same tattoo, but with varying symbols and lines.
“Mars, nine years,” Green stated.
Green didn’t strike him as an Ares kid, but his lineage was the less surprising of the two reveals. “Nine years?!” Green looked about his age, but that would mean he’d been serving before he’d started school! “Er, how old are you?”
“14.” At Red’s incredulous reaction, he added, “It’s not that unusual.”
Now Red was concerned. He knew Camp Jupiter tended to be more hardcore, but that was still a shock. Shouldn’t 5 year-olds be picking their nose, not shining sharp blades? “You don’t seem like the nose-picker type.” He said that out loud, didn’t he?
Green shot him an interesting look—Red thought it could be confusion or amusement, and then Green held his hand out. “Give me your hand.”
“H-huh?” Red felt his cheeks heat up at the request and before he knew it, calloused hands yanked him forward. His reflexes shifted more of his weight to his feet and he realized Green was using him to sit up. “Hey, you’re supposed to be resting!”
He ignored Red, using his free hand to stabilize himself on the bed and letting go of Red to prod the bandages under his shirt.
“Is it that bad?” Red asked when Green gritted his teeth.
“How am I supposed to know? I’m not a healer either,” Green huffed, planting both hands at his sides. For someone who didn’t know the state of his own injuries, he seemed too keen to leave, and used his arms to lift himself off the cot and hit the ground with a suppressed grunt.
“What are you doing? You can’t leave yet!” Red told him, and was about to steady Green when he batted Red’s hand away.
“Try to stop me and I’ll run you through,” Green threatened, hand hovering over the magic necklace, and Red actually believed him. Though that never stopped Red. He caught both of Green’s wrists right as the spear formed close enough to cut some strands of hair, but ended up clanging on the floor. From their proximity, Red had a full view of Green’s piercing emerald eyes. They seemed a bit nervous now that Red had a good look at them.
He knew he was in a predicament. Green couldn’t escape like this, but with both his hands occupied, Red couldn’t make him get back on the bed without injuring him further. Green appeared to realize it too and scowled at Red.
“What’s going on in here?” Yellow’s voice came from behind Red, and in the second he was distracted, Green slammed his foot down on Red’s, causing him to yelp and loosen his grip. Green finished with a shove to the ground, and Red landed on his butt with an embarrassing ‘oomph.’
“Nothing,” Green said nonchalantly. Red would have glared at him, but he’d been told his glares elicited ‘awws,’ which is not what he wanted from Green. Yellow’s glares were scarier, like the one she was giving him now.
“Red, you’re not supposed to be in here!” she scolded him. His indignation melted as Green cast him a suspicious look. “And you!” she turned to Green, who flinched at the sudden attention. Red would be lying if he said that wasn’t the least bit satisfying. “What are you doing out of bed? You don’t get to go until I say so!”
Yellow sighed and glanced back outside, mumbling again as she left them. “And I’ve got another patient outside...”
When she was out of sight, Green sat back on the bed, eyeing the door.
“Doctor’s orders,” Red said from the floor, and picked himself up.
Green scowled again and Red noticed he was holding his wrist with a loose grip. Hopefully that wasn’t because Red somehow injured it. “Don’t give me that crap. Doctor’s orders were for you to leave and you’re still here.”
He didn’t have an answer to that, so he did what he always resorted to: changing the topic. “You still have to rest. Why do you want to leave anyway?”
“I’m a centurion. I have duties to perform,” he said like it was the most obvious thing ever.
Then it clicked and Red started laughing (and not solely because Green said ‘duties’). No wonder Green was so determined to leave—he was trying to be a good camper. “Don’t worry about that! The great thing about Camp Half-Blood is that you can do whatever you want, and that goes for the visiting kids too!”
Green turned unexpectedly sour. “Anything?”
“Yep! There’s all sorts of games—I bet you’d like capture-the-flag but we already played this week. There’s the lake and courts and—”
Green cut him off. “I’ll stay here and rest.”
In his excitement, he’d forgotten Green couldn’t actually go anywhere. Because of him. He tried to come up with something to fill in the sudden awkward silence.
“Red, why are you still here?” Green’s face was one of perfect indifference, but Red could guess he didn’t mean why was still here despite Yellow telling him he shouldn’t. And ‘to make sure you’re okay’ probably wasn’t acceptable. What did he want from Green anyway? It wasn’t another battle (not yet anyway).
“I want us to be friends,” Red finally answered.
Green showed a flicker of surprise before he said, “I don’t think we should be friends.”
Huh. No one ever told him that either. “Why not?”
“For one, we don’t really get along, so I think the better question is why do you want to be friends with me?”
“Because...” Red had to wrack his brain for a response, but it definitely wasn’t because he didn’t have reasons! He just usually didn’t have to explain why he wanted to be friends with people. “Because you’re interesting! Like how’d you get so strong or why you’re not like the other Ares or Mars campers!”
“I train a lot and having the same godly parent doesn’t mean I’ll turn out the same as my siblings. Satisfied?”
“What?” It took Red a second to understand his answer. “That’s not what I meant! I meant like... friendly feelings of interesting—you gotta know what I mean. Haven’t you ever wanted to be friends with someone?”
Green seemed put off by the question, and oh gods, Red hoped he had friends because otherwise, Red was about to look like a total jerk.
“I don’t seek out friendships. They either happen or they don’t, and they don’t usually happen when the person has said they don’t want to be friends.” Nevermind, Red could never be a jerk next to this guy. How could one person be equal parts intriguing and infuriating?
“Okay, then tell me why. I told you why I want to be friends, so now it’s your turn,” Red demanded.
“Because we don’t get along...? You’re very persistent about being friends with someone who has threatened you more than once.”
Red felt himself relax, realizing he’d been worried Green would say he was the reason. “That’s not weird! And I’m not offended, it’ll just make our next battle that much more awesome!”
Something must have clicked for Green, since he appeared kind of sorry when he said, “I guess I should have told you sooner, but I have no intention of returning to Camp Half-Blood after today.”
“What?! Why not?!” This was way worse than not wanting to be friends! There was no possibility of changing his mind if he wasn’t even going to be here.
“That I can’t tell you, but know my reasons have nothing to do with you, even if you are a bit irritating.” Green muttered out the last bit, but Red was unconcerned about it. There was now a more pressing matter.
They could still be friends, if only for a day, but Red would have to play his cards right. He moved slowly so that Green wouldn’t get too suspicious and distracted him with some words. “In that case, we should make the most of today!”
He swiftly closed the space between them, and with extra help from his powers, swept up Green in his arms. Green reacted again by grabbing his necklace, but the weapon had still been on the floor, so he merely recalled it. He noticed his mistake soon enough. “Red, put me down!”
Red ignored him with a triumphant smile and carried him out of the infirmary. Green cursed at him in what was probably Latin, but made no effort to wriggle out of his position. It wouldn’t work anyway and Green should have been conserving his energy. Red was already thinking of things they could be doing when his plans were put on hold by Chiron, who was standing on the porch steps to the Big House and staring at them with both dismay and curiosity.
Green was the first to speak, trying his best to look as respectable as he could. It didn’t work, at least in Red’s opinion. “Chiron, it’s an honor.”
“Likewise, son of Mars,” Chiron nodded, and turned to Red with disapproval. “I believe he should be resting.”
Green glared at Red in agreement.
“But, Chiron! Green says he can’t return to Camp Half-Blood after today, and I didn’t want him to spend all his time here in the infirmary,” he reasoned. Despite the centaur’s many years dealing with all kinds of campers, Red never had a hard time convincing him to let him do whatever he wanted. This time was no different, as Chiron softened and let them go with a ‘have fun and be careful.’ Red smiled smugly at Green, who responded with a more severe glare than before.
“This camp has no sense of rules nor decorum,” Green said, at last resigned to his position. It was true that if Chiron couldn’t stop Red, there weren’t a whole lot of people who could.
“I know, isn’t it great?” At Green’s overt disagreement, he continued, “I know Camp Jupiter is basically the opposite of here, with all your strict rules and whatnot, so think about it this way: the only rule of Camp Half-Blood is to do whatever you want, given you don’t kill anybody.”
“What I want is to rest.” Okay, Red could admit he walked into that one.
“But if you weren’t injured, what would you want to do?”
“It wouldn’t be this,” he replied. “Do you treat everyone you meet this way?”
“Nope, just you.” Red grinned at Green’s scoff. “Doesn’t that make you feel special?”
“I would rather be anything else,” he said, in such a bitter tone that the words seemed directed at more than Red. He thought about inquiring, but figured it would be better to leave that point alone, as Green had taken to looking around the fields where other campers were in their group activities.
Walking along the river, Red had to adjust his hands to get a better hold, and felt a warm hand suddenly grip his shoulder. Red laughed. “Aww, I’m not going to drop you!”
Green cursed at him again, but the blush on his cheeks was very telling. He was actually kinda cute when he wasn’t composed... Red shifted his grip to press Green a smidge closer, though he didn’t react in the same way.
“Yo, Red! Who’s this?” Gold jumped from the other side of the river, landing in front of them.
“Meet Green! He’s my new friend,” Red replied.
“We’re not friends.”
“We will be!” Red added.
“Er...” Gold was confused but recovered in a second. “Oh, you’re that kid! Challenging Red, huh? That’s hardcore.” He held out his fist for a bump that Green was reluctant to give. Gold ended up bumping him on the shoulder.
Gold’s presence gave Red an idea. “Hey Gold, is the art room open?”
“Nah, those Heph ki—” Gold abruptly stopped and smirked knowingly, of what Red had no clue. “Actually, give me 5 minutes and it will be.” Gold winked at them and dashed off towards the Big House, leaving not one minute later with a group of campers. Red guessed he saw an opportunity to play another prank.
“What is he doing?” Green asked as the group barged into the art room. Red thought he saw some greek fire in one of their hands.
“Let’s go find out,” Red said and carried him to the colorful building where several Hephaestus kids were either fighting off the group or running away. An explosion sounded from the inside and shook the building. Thankfully, it was made blast-resistant from one too many engineering accidents.
“Not like I have a choice,” Green muttered. Smoke billowed from the opened door, and Gold wafted his way out, coughing into his sleeve. He gave Red a thumbs-up and joined the rest of his group.
Red easily cleared the air, even with his hands occupied, and noted the giant hole in the main crafting table. The room was littered with burning metal scraps and poorly labeled toolkits, at least on the main side. The far side held many half-finished, life-size sculptures, weapons in need of repair, and long countertops with various projects and trays. When they reached a shelf lined with ceramic pots and dye bottles, Red begrudgingly let Green stand and told him to pick any pot from the shelf. Red chose a small amphora with a cracked handle and some random colors to drop onto the counter.
Green shot him a look of disbelief. “You brought me all the way here... to paint pottery?”
“Glaze, actually.” The Apollo kids had drilled that into his brain. “And I figured you can’t do anything crazy, so sports was out of the—”
“That’s not—nevermind.” Green sighed and grabbed the nearest pot and two colors, sitting across from him. He stared at his bland pot for a solid minute, and Red slowly slid the bucket of brushes to his side. He picked out a thin brush, but still continued staring at it rather than use it.
“You dip the brush in paint and—”
“I know what to do.” Green glowered at him and finally poured the colors onto a tray. Red began glazing himself and watched Green make one brush stroke, peer at him with uncertainty, and then frown.
Red laughed. “You’re thinking too much!”
“At least I think,” Green retorted, dragging his brush across the pot roughly.
Red rotated his amphora to get the other side. “Hey, I came up with the idea to paint!”
“Don’t you mean glaze ?” Green smirked.
Red pouted. He didn’t have an answer to that, so he retaliated by “glazing” Green’s pot with his own brush.
“That’s low,” Green said, and then marked Red’s amphora with green paint. Red shot him a determined look. It’s on!
Red went for another strike but Green was faster this time, lifting his pot out of Red’s range. “No fair!”
Green laughed with a smile that made Red’s breath catch in his throat. He inadvertently dropped his brush, which drew a blue line down the amphora and clattered on the table.
“What’s wrong with you?” Green asked with a raised brow.
“N-nothing,” Red stammered. He was spared by a horn blaring in the distance, signaling that it was time for dinner. “We should get to the mess hall.”
“Oh...” Green eyed his barely colored pot, turning it over. “I’m not keeping this thing.”
He chucked it into the nearest trash can with a loud shatter while Red placed his back on the shelf for later. After making sure Red was not going to carry him, Green allowed him to lead the way. They walked slowly, partly because Green was still weak and partly because Red’s brain was expending excessive amounts of energy trying to recreate Green’s smile. Stop it, you stupid brain! We’re FRIENDS!
“Why are they all splitting up?” Green’s voice brought him back to reality, where they were near the steps to the mess hall and all the campers were moving to sit at their designated tables. Right, the cabin rule.
“Everyone eats with their cabin here,” he explained, hoping he didn’t sound too sad.
“I think you did mention that...” Green paused, and turned to Red with a frown. “Doesn’t that mean you eat alone? Everyday?”
“You get used to it,” was Red’s answer, his usual one.
Though Green didn’t give him the usual reaction of pity—more like rubbing salt in the wound. “So there are rules you can’t break.”
“Rude,” Red grumbled, but he couldn’t be mad when Green found his reaction amusing. “So what’d you think about today? Camp Half-Blood is pretty cool?”
“It was different than I expected, that much is certain,” Green said. The horn blared again, as a last warning to get to the hall for dinner. “I should be going.” He took a small step back like he was debating on saying something before actually leaving, but ultimately started to turn.
“Wait!” Red wasn’t used to goodbyes, but he was sure they didn’t go like this. Or it could be that he simply didn’t want to say goodbye yet (or ever). “...You’re really not coming back?”
“Not planning to, but if it makes you feel better, this is technically the best day at Camp Half-Blood I’ll ever have.” His words came out partly stilted, probably because it was the nicest thing he’d said to Red all day. “I really should go now, so... bye.” He turned and split before Red could so much as return the farewell.
“Bye...” He said to the empty space in front of him, still reeling from the odd compliment that made Red far sadder than it should have. He knew they’d only be friends for a day; it was because they only had one day that this was even happening, but something had changed in that time. Something Red didn’t quite understand, but well, he had all of dinner to think about it.
The Ares’ cabin was... interesting, to say the least. They spoke of nothing but whatever fights they’d gotten into, and only the ones they won, so Green didn’t end up saying much. He was on the leaner side of his half-siblings, making him and some other children the butt of many jokes. His seniority granted some lenience, though not much.
There was one kid he spent most of the time speaking to (or rather, listening to), as the kid sat alone at the very end of the table and seemed to hate his parentage. Green wouldn’t have believed he even belonged at the table if not for the strict enforcement of the cabin rule. Once the kid, whose name was Ruby, realized Green was not going to make fun of him for “not being a real son of Ares,” Ruby went on long rants about how disgusting and icky battles and Ares’ kids were and how he wished he was an Aphrodite kid.
Apparently, he argued often with another kid, though he wouldn’t say who. Ruby ranted a lot for a nine year-old. And at the end of dinner, Ruby revealed that he thought Green would understand him since Green had a “prettier face” compared to their half-siblings. He wasn’t quite sure how to take that, though he would rather deal with Ruby’s strange statements than deal with constant demands for arm wrestling matches.
Ruby had also warned him that the Ares’ kids would try to dunk his head in a toilet as a rite of passage, so Green kept his guard up for the rest of the night. And as expected, right before they entered the cabin that looked more like a fortress, two of his half-siblings lunged for him. His injury was mostly healed at that point, though he could have fought them off regardless.
He and Ruby ended up entering the cabin first and left their half-siblings out on the grass. None of their injuries would produce more than bruises, though Green had made sure to knock out the bigger ones. He slept with one eye open that night and tried not to let his thoughts wander.
The morning was not nearly as confrontational. One of his half-siblings made a remark about seeing him being carried by Red, and Green expected them to react with a barrage of mockery. Instead, they pestered him into telling the story of the battle, and through it all, he discovered Red was expressly forbidden to fight at full strength. Had Red gone easy on him? The thought bothered him more than he would have liked. That was to say, it shouldn’t have bothered him at all because Red was someone he was trying not to think about in the first place.
There wasn’t time to dwell. He had to get to the airship earlier than most campers because of his position. Thirty minutes early, to be precise, even if it was never enforced. What could he say; he liked the peace and quiet. As usual, he was the first centurion to arrive (thirty-five minutes early according to Koga), and he waited under the shade of the pine tree for members of his cohort. The giant Athena Parthenos was positioned oddly on the hill, its marble sticking out against the backdrop of Camp Half-Blood.
Looking over the camp, Green noted how disorderly it appeared. Everything was spaced out unevenly and in no particular order, which made the pine tree hill the only suitable place for the airship to land, and there was a random volleyball court between the Big House and the airship. They had no roads or signs to indicate locations or guide campers.
Speaking of Camp Half-Blood, there was no camper more emblematic of its carefree nature than Red, who was the first person to arrive at the airship after the other centurions. Even Blue was not here yet.
There went not thinking about Red. “What are you doing here?”
“Saying goodbye. I didn’t get the chance yesterday,” Red said.
“Now you have, so...” The sooner Red left, the sooner they could go their separate ways. It was for the best—they were far too different to try and be friends. He wasn’t even sure how they’d managed to spend almost the entirety of yesterday in each other’s presence. It was a reminder that Red was... dangerous, and not solely because he was strong. Time, agency, just about everything seemed to slip away when Red was involved. Green preferred stability, control, order, and being around Red was like throwing all of those into a blender with the lid off.
He expected Red to be disappointed, and got a look of determination instead. “I have something for you. But first, you have to close your eyes and hold your hand out.”
“Keep the gift,” was Green’s immediate reply. It had only been a minute and Red already wanted him to make a smoothie with that blender.
“I promise it’s nothing bad,” Red insisted, and Green glanced to his side to make sure none of his fellow campers were watching. They seemed to be busy with the gathering cohorts, so Green did as Red said, silently praying he wouldn’t regret it. Didn’t he remember something about Red not keeping promises?
It was an agonizing ten seconds before he felt something cold and metallic on his palm and he opened his eyes to a golden coin in his hand.
“It’s a drachma. I had to search all over my room for it.” Red smiled nervously. “But since you’re not visiting again, I thought I’d give you a link to Camp Half-Blood if you ever needed it. Toss the drachma into a rainbow and it’ll set up an Iris message.”
Green stared at the coin uneasily. “A what?”
“An Iris message! Lets you communicate with anyone from anywhere. There’s apparently some words you have to say to activate it, but if you have the person and place clearly in your head, that should be enough,” Red finished, looking eager for his response.
“Um, thanks,” Green said rather lamely. A memento of this place was the last thing he needed, but he wasn’t going to rudely refuse a gift. At least not in front of the gifter. And at long last, someone from his cohort showed up and allowed him to excuse himself. “Is that all? I have to get back to my duties.”
Red faltered, and Green felt a little bad for brushing him off. And then berated himself for feeling that way. “Oh, okay then... I know we haven’t known each for very long, but I hope you don’t forget me.”
Green really wished he had said anything else, but it was like his vocal cords moved on their own. “I don’t think I could even if I wanted to.”
Red’s smile returned tenfold and Green had to bite the inside of his cheek to prevent it from spreading. Red lingered for a second before flying back towards the cabins. There was a disconcerting melancholy in watching him go.
“That person, that’s Red, isn’t he?” The girl who had arrived, Sapphire, pointed at Red’s back. “I heard he’s super strong! I’m going to be that strong too!”
Green normally would have replied that strength comes with discipline to get her in line, but that wouldn’t be accurate in this case. And she was the only one in line. “Why don’t you talk to him next time? He might teach you something.”
Sapphire lit up, her irises blazing. “You think so? Did you learn anything from him?”
Images flashed through his mind. A crackling thunderstorm. Stubborn red eyes. Paint marks on his hands. “I wouldn’t call it learning.”
Sapphire seemed confused but figured he wasn’t going to elaborate, and pestered him with another topic. He soon learned exactly which kid Ruby argued with all the time. It should have been obvious in hindsight considering Sapphire also ranted a lot for a nine year-old. He wondered if Ruby was jealous that Sapphire was a daughter of Venus.
Once they were all aboard, Green was free to roam the deck or sit in his cohort’s bunker. He chose to lean over the railing, rolling the coin across his fingers. He could throw away the coin easily and let go of the only connection he had to Camp Half-Blood and to Red. But something was stopping him, something he couldn’t identify.
Green sighed. It wasn’t as though he had to throw it out now. Yes, he could just wait until Red was far from his thoughts, that wouldn’t be long from now, would it? Feeling safe in his assumption, he pocketed the coin and went below deck.