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Clovis was having a good day at first. He really, really was. He even woke up at one o’clock instead of the usual two. But it all went to the crapper when Chiron mentioned that his sister, Connie, was visiting later that same day. He hasn’t seen— let alone spoke to her in ages .
So he fainted. Right there in the middle of breakfast (breakfast for him, lunch for everyone else.) Mr D calls it narcolepsy, Clovis calls it weak.
He woke up some hours later in the infirmary to Kayla’s scrutinizing eyes. When she noticed he was awake she hollered, “Will! The sleeping beauty has awoken!” before sauntering off into the sunset.
He sat up and immediately regretted it. Luckily Will arrived just then and swiftly shoved a trash can under Clovis’ chin.
“You’re gonna have a real nasty headache from the fall. You hit your head right on the floor.” He said unhelpfully. As if he needed Will to tell him how bad his own headache was, he was the one with the headache!
Will began to tie the trash bag while still talking, “but it’s not a concussion. No need to worry, just take it easy today.” He plopped the bag back in the bin with a placating smile to Clovis, who just scowled back and left the infirmary. Stupid medics and stupid camp directors and stupid narcolepsy and stupid Clovis . He shouldn’t have left his cabin at all and this was why! At least when he was in his cabin no-one would see his sleep attacks.
He let out a huff and tumbled into the Hypnos cabin. His back sagged on the door and he crumpled to the floor like a marionette with its strings cut. Or a very sad and frustrated son of Hypnos. Tears were threatening to fall but he wouldn’t let them. That would just make him even more weak.
Clovis fumbled to his bed and sat, staring dejectedly at the ceiling. It was a shock that Connie even wanted to visit someone like him .
Clovis wishes he could be anyone but himself. At least the Demeter kids cabin wasn’t angry all the time. At least the Hecate kids cabin had useful powers. At least everyone loved the Aphrodite kids cabin.
He was just Clovis. No powers, or at least any useful ones. No-one had bothered to teach him anything about any powers children of Hypnos had or even about his own dad or his narcolepsy. His mother just griped about how useless and lazy he was all the time. He absentmindedly rubbed the scar from when his mother got so fed up and “spilt” boiling water on his face to wake him up.
The anger had built up so sneakily. He didn’t even realize he was winding up until there was a dent in the wall and he had bloody knuckles.
It hurt like hell since he barely had a pain tolerance. He wiped the blood off on his pillow. He then used said pillow to swing at whoever had the idea to tap his shoulder.
His dad stood there in the middle of his.. not cabin. Had he fallen asleep again or did Hypnos whisk him away to some dreamland? Whenever he visited his children, he usually did it in whatever dream they were having.
Clovis took a few minutes to take in everything. He guessed that they were in Hypnos’ realm. White mist flowed all around, sheep grazed and singing birds, well, sang. Soft synths and white noise played in the background.
A lamb startled him out of his observations by rubbing against his legs. Right. Hypnos. His dad seemed to contrast and blend in with his realm at the same time. His skin was as dark as night but his eyes were as light as the stars. He wore a light purple bonnet (with a few braids that had slipped out, dangling all the way to his hips) which matched the silk pajamas he was wearing and fluffy slippers.
Hypnos smiled softly at Clovis before waving his hand, condensing the mist together until a bean bag about the size of a kiddie pool appeared. They both sat 2down, Hypnos looking right at home, but Clovis couldn’t stop shifting despite the calming aura that seeped from his dad.
He finally decided to address the Minotaur in the room, “Fath.. Dad— I know you wanted me to stop calling you that sorry— but.. why did you take me here?” In the middle of his blabbering, Clovis subconsciously leaned towards Hypnos and didn’t realize until the god half-hugged him, pulling him closer.
“Why did you punch the wall, Clovis?” Hypnos asked in response. Oh. He must be mad at me for destroying part of his cabin.
“ I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—“ Clovis started, but a bad bout of nausea attacked him just then and he threw up all over himself and Hypnos . Great, just fantastic. Now I’ve ruined everything and made a fool of myself at the same time.
Hypnos again waved away the mess and wiped Clovis’ face with a handkerchief with a guarded expression. “Does that happen often?” He asked, which caught him off guard before he realized that his dad knew close to nothing about him. Whenever he visited, they didn’t talk much but instead just enjoyed each other’s company.
“Uh, yeah. I guess. It’s a symptom like, uh, like irritability and muk- muscle weakness of marcole— narcolepsy.” He stumbled over his words like a flamenco dancing cow. “ Marcolepsy?” He questioned himself under his breath.
His dad clicked his tongue in thought before exclaiming, “ oh! Narcolepsy! That sleeping thing so many of you guys have.”
“Guys?”
“Your siblings.” Hypnos answered dismissively. “I thought it was just sleeping though.. that’s what it was meant to be anyways..”
“ I have siblings?” Clovis asked incredulously.
“Yes, in Oklahoma and that place which is nice in the summer.”
“Maine?”
“Back to the narcolepsy.” Hypnos tilted his head up with two fingers. Clovis stared at his eyebrow. He did not like eye contact. He clutched his pillow to his chest. “Tell me more about it.” His dad prompted.
“I hate my eyebrow— fuck ! Narcolepsy!” He screwed his shut and ripped the tag off of his pillow. It deserved it, it was a stupid tag. He felt Hypnos remove his fingers from his chin. “It’s terrible! I’m just so tired some days, so much so that I can barely move my limbs!” He opened his eyes again and stared steadily at his pillow, trying to ignore the tears that came back with a vengeance.
“It’s so scary, feeling like you’re not in control of your own body ..” he whispered. He looked up to see Hypnos’ face full of concern and love.
“Oh, my baby, my darling boy..” he crooned and wrapped his arms around Clovis. It was really nice actually, he felt really safe in his dad’s embrace and he hid his face in Hypnos’ chest. A million years could have passed and Clovis would be none the wiser.
“I have that too, y’know.” Hypnos finally said.
“What?”
“I am not simply the god of sleep, I am sleep. The good and the bad. I am your relief, your dreams, and unfortunately, your narcolepsy (as the mortals call it.) It was originally meant to be a blessing.”
“ What? How?” How could the thing that ruined his life be a blessing?
Hypnos began to rub his back in circles. “A simple maiden, her name now lost to time, had begged me to relieve her of her burdens. You see, she was to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. I took pity on her and let her sleep frequently during the day and longer at night. She scarcely had to even think of her fate and her father had so much trouble even trying to bring her to the labyrinth that he had decided to offer his other daughter instead.”
“But then why do my siblings—that I haven’t heard of till now somehow— and I have it then?” He asked.
“I had thought the idea of simply sleeping your problems away was so great that I had begged Zeus to bestow my children— and myself with what is now called narcolepsy. But he had apparently added some other not-so-great ‘blessings’ along with my request, perhaps to keep me on my toes.” He sighed.
That was actually.. sweet of Clovis’ dad now that he had the whole story. It wasn’t his fault that Zeus decided to not be cool about it. He abandoned his pillow to hug his dad (who also had narcolepsy too!) instead.
Hypnos placed his hands on his shoulders and Clovis looked up at him. “Just know that I’m always in your corner. Pray to me whenever you have bad bouts or if just to talk.” The god smiled down at his son. And, almost as an afterthought, said “Oh, and, I think someone is waiting for you.”
It took him a moment to put the pieces together but, “Connie?” Hypnos just smiled again and his surroundings melted back to his cabin, where someone was knocking on the door.
Connie, with her bright purple hair and absolutely terrible fashion sense engulfed him in a hug. “Oh my god! Clovis! It’s been forever since we’ve hung out. How are you?”
“Good. Pretty good.” He said and hugged her back with his suspiciously healed hands. When he pulled away, a familiar voice in the back of his head said I love you.