Chapter Text
Introduction: Part of the Routine
The camp is alive.
Across the skies are Pegasus, with wings of eagles, soaring through and across. Lava spews from the climbing walls with heat bending the air around. In the Arena, bronze sword and shield clash and scrape against the other. Teeth gnash, fists pummel, and bodies wrestle against the dirt. Arrows zip through the archery range and pierce into the targets.
There are so many signs of life precisely in danger at the camp.
To so many demigods, beings who aren’t quite gods or humans and will never feel comfortable in either space, the camp isn’t just a refuge. It is home. To so many demigods, beings with constant trouble in the world, they didn’t like others. Sometimes, they hated them. But they belonged. And everyone knew it.
Everything is an act of care.
From the sword slicing to the gossip, everything was the thought of normalcy and the dare to live. This was the life of demigods, and everyone learned how to read between the lines.
Even now, past all the clamoring, whispering, laughing, and spectacle, when you could hear a voice shred through the crowd gathering around a cabin.
Everything is an act of care, from the bantering and the pranks.
Everything.
“STOLL!”
Katie Gardner’s voice is so recognizable, so clear and precise, in the camp. She jumps down from the roof of her cabin and marches through the bodies grimacing and wincing at the sight. This time, the culprit is leaning against the frame of the cabin’s wall. A gleeful, proud smile creeps up his face, and his shoulders stand with pride.
“Worms? Bees? PARASITES?” She marches right in front of him, flustering with red, standing underneath him. She jabs her finger straight at him. “Want to explain why our rooftop has bugs crawling in them?”
“I thought that’s what you guys liked, no? You know, animals and nature and whatnot.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“It seemed reasonable to me.”
“It’s disgusting! You should know how much we hate bugs because they can eat—”
“Then just command them off,” he says with a wave of a hand. “You know, like that.” And he does the gesture one more time.
Katie ignores the soft snickering behind them. “How many times do I have to tell you,” she says. “It’s harvest. That doesn’t mean we can freely control the earth. Mother isn’t Gaea.”
The ground underneath them shakes at the names. A few people give each other nervous glances, but Travis rolls off her reasoning. “I’ve seen you talk to birds. Just dumb it down for insects.”
Her cheeks flush. “I don’t—”
“How are you doing,” he says in a pitched voice that is audacious enough to be a mimic, holding out the palms of his hands as though birds were perched there, “Thank you so much for carrying the seeds of my precious—”
Her face cannot stop from flushing. She crosses her arms. “And how would you know what I say?”
He falters, blinking rapidly.
“It’s just, you know, something you would say,” he mumbles out, barely audible to the crowd, to her. He fails to meet her in the eyes. “I mean, you speak to trees and everything.” She snorts but fails to disagree. His lips curl up, and Katie feels her stomach drop. “And what do they say, Lorax? That they need more light? That the weeds are mean and gossipers? Oh gods, please tell me there’s—”
“You are utterly insufferable,” she repeats. Her head shakes, anything to stop her own lips from curling up. Her arms hug closer to her body, preventing the bubbly feeling from arising out of her. And her face tries its best to harden into a scowl. “You know that?”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
"This isn't the only prank today, isn't it?"
He just grins, and on cue, you could hear shrieking from the other side of the camp. "There it is."
"I don't even want to know," she says, deadpanned.
"Rigged all of the clocks at Hypnos to ring at the same time. No fair that they get to sleep in."
"And let me guess, there's shaving cream involved."
"You know it."
"How original."
"Don't worry, Kit-Kat. I save the best for you."
"That's not my name," she says with an increased concentration to scowl. "Go clean up your mess, Stoll."
And the scene is over. It’s the ending to the script that lets everyone know the show is over. People scatter once again to resume back to their own activities, more amused than before. It’s a part of their regularity, part of the life that occurs in Camp Half-Blood as common as the lava or swords and shields. In all honesty, it’s hard to tell if the son of Hermes and the daughter of Demeter enjoyed each other’s company or hated it. It is, at least, comical to everyone else, and perhaps that is what anyone could really ask for.
Travis makes a two-fingered salute and leaves with a bow, and everyone subconsciously pats their pockets. Katie looks up at the roof, and if you squint, it is almost as though she is admiring the work he has done. Her face softens, and she just shakes her head, as though trying to shake off the smile plastered on her face.
“They hate each other,” Leo says more impressed than otherwise. “And here I thought we would have a normal summer.”
“This is a normal summer,” Annabeth and Percy say together.
“But they can’t stand each other.”
The older campers share a meaningful look. No one necessarily disagrees. But for those who know, like Miranda Gardiner or Connor Stoll or Annabeth Chase and— yes, even the Percy Jackson— they can understand everything that is presented.
There are so many signs of love precisely in the animosity between each other.
“Aw jeez,” Jason says looking up at the roof. “I can see the worms squirming around.” He glances at Miranda looking up, wrinkling her nose. “Does cabin four need any help—”
“Don’t worry.” Miranda shakes her head, only smiling instead.
Leo frowns. “Are you sure?”
She laughs. “I’ll have to thank him later, knowing that Katie won’t ever get to it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Look," she says, gesturing to the rooftop infested and more alive than ever before. "Worms. Aphid parasites. Ladybugs. Hoverflies. They’re all beneficial bugs to help against parasites, or tend the soil, or pollinate the flowers.”
The relatively newer campers look back up, recontextualizing the rooftop once again. “Oh,” is all Leo can muster to say.
"Looks like he did his research." Annabeth tilts her head. “I gotta say, that was pretty sweet of him. Who knew?”
“Katie,” Percy smirks, “otherwise she wouldn’t entertain him with all of the pranks.”
“Her entertaining him?
“Trust me, she’s just as entertained by his antics as much as he is.”
“That seems… counterintuitive.”
Everyone else laughs. Fondness paints with each of their face. “I don’t think they will ever admit it,” Connor says, “but they’re probably the best company for the other.”