Chapter Text
“Hey, heard there’s a new camper,”
Luke almost fell off the rock wall when he heard that. Ben, son of Apollo (and just a year older than Luke), laughed a bit at Luke’s fumble.
“Are you serious?” Luke said, “Where’d you here this from,”
“From Mikey,” Ben said, “Heard she’s pretty,”
“Do’you think she might be a cabin 10?”
“Mikey calls every girl pretty,” Ben shrugged, “You tell me when you see her,”
Right. Because Luke was the head counselor of both Hermes kids and the unclaimed demigods. It was just his luck because the gods made a lot of kids and then wouldn’t claim them.
Still, new campers could be fun. It was always a bit of a gamble on how long it would take them to be claimed. Might be a couple weeks, might be years. More teammates for Capture the Flag, more friends to make.
“Luke,” Chiron told him just before lunch, “There’s a new camper waiting outside the cabin, please make her feel welcome,”
They were close enough to the cabins that Luke could glance over and see the back of a girl with long dark hair swinging a duffle bag behind her. That must be the camper then.
As Luke approached the cabin, he noticed the girl kicking around the gravel on the ground and humming an unfamiliar tune under her breath. She was around his height, maybe standing a couple inches shorter, and looked around his age — certainly older than many of the other campers — which was strange because how had she safely reached that age without coming to camp?
“Hi,” He called out, making her turn around, “I’m Luke,”
Some would later tease him and say he short-circuited, but Luke froze when he first saw her. She had fluffy black bangs and the softest, strikingly green eyes he had ever seen that reminded him of the stray cat he had met once when on the run. But despite the kind-looking eyes, they were narrowed into a hostile glare.
And even after living around actual daughters of Aphrodite — goddess of beauty — all Luke could think was that this girl was the most beautiful he’d ever seen.
“Uh,” He stammered, “I’m the head counselor of cabin 11, so, I’m your temporary counselor, well, I’m your counselor until you get claimed,”
The girl didn’t look too impressed by him, instead looking down at her duffle bag and saying, “So am I gonna stand out here all day or what?”
“Right,” Luke unlocked the door with just a twist of the knob (a small perk of his godly heritage), “Come in, I’ll help you settle in,”
He was a little embarrassed by how cramped the cabin was. There were foldaway beds shoulder-to-shoulder and sleeping bags scattered around the floor, and the four bunks had piles of clothes on them. Well, maybe he should’ve tidied a bit before letting new campers in, or maybe Chiron had told him — something about good impressions; oops, maybe he’ll listen next time.
“Soooo,” He awkwardly stuffed his hands in the pockets of his cargo pants, “I didn’t catch your name earlier,”
She chucked her full duffle on one of the empty foldaways near Luke’s bunk (Nick had slept there; he died on a quest last November, and he was thirteen) and turned to face him again. Her glare had melted away into more of a bored or annoyed stare.
“I’m Amelia,” She sighed, “Amelia Flores, I’m fifteen, I grew up in West Viriginia, I go to school in Vermont, my dad hates me so he sent me to this summer camp even though he knows I’m perfectly safe like all the time. There, I just told you everything you need to know about me, you can stop trying to make conversation now,”
The attitude took Luke aback — he mainly dealt with kids who would shy away and take a while to adjust to the newfound knowledge of being half-god — but then repeated her info-dump and latched onto what really mattered — the fact that she was also fifteen.
“Well, hello, Amelia,” Luke couldn’t stop his big mouth from shooting back, “I’m Luke Castellan, I grew up in Connecticut and ran away from home at nine, I came to camp when I was fourteen. I’m also fifteen, and my father is Hermes,”
Amelia perked up near the end of his introduction.
“When’s your birthday,” She demanded, “What year were you born?”
“28th of October,” He answered, “2004,”
She looked triumphant, “Oh, I’m older,”
“Really?” Darn, that was such crushing news, “When’s yours?”
“What’s next,” She snorted, “You ask for my social security number?”
Luke blinked. Huh ? Whatever, he had a job to do.
“You mentioned your dad,” Luke said, “So your mother is your godly parent?”
“Yeah,” she wasn’t super interested, “I’ve known for a while now, my dad told me when I was like 10,”
“Hey, don’t overthink it, relax,” and then he told her the white lie he told all the new campers, “I’m sure your mom is gonna claim you soon, whoever she is,”
“No, I know who my godly parent is,” Amelia said, assured, “Demeter,”
Luke couldn’t help but laugh, “Sorry, no, um, Demeter doesn’t really have any children so I doubt it,”
“Doubt it all you want,” She said, unblinking like an owl, “I know,”
“Ok, how do you know,” Luke asked, less curious and more interested in knowing what delusions this girl had, “Did she come and visit you and tell you or something,”
“My dad’s a detective,” She crossed her arms, “I’m sure he could figure out which Greek goddess he fathered a baby with, it’s not rocket science,”
“The gods can be vague and decieving,” Luke sucked his teeth, slightly condescendingly, “That’s like kinda a big part of mythology,”
“Ok, I didn’t ask for a second opinion, asshole,” Amelia snipped, “You can sit and watch me be right. That’s a thing with me, y’know, being right?”
“Kinda sounds like an Athena thing,” Luke shrugged, “Let’s see,”
He would never admit it to her, but having Amelia around the cabin took a load off his shoulders. It was another responsible older teen to help keep the rowdy kids in check, their cabin inspections had been consistently good after Amelia guilttripped and convinced the kids to tidy up after themselves and Luke had less migraines during camp activities.
It was like having a second counselor.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t like messing with his helping hand.
Luke wasn’t going to think about it too much, but with less responsibility on his shoulders, he felt himself relax a bit, and that meant the mischievous son of Hermes side of him popped out.
It was pretty innocent teasing. He’d pocket some small things of hers and then put them back after she noticed they were gone. Y’know, casual gaslighting. What? It was funny seeing her lose her mind a little.
Stuff like her toothbrush, one singular earring, a bookmark (he made sure to take note of the page number; he’d once done the same to Annabeth and made her cry) and some fruit-flavoured candy.
(Ok, he’ll admit that he ate some of her candy, and it was amazing — candy wasn’t something Chiron let them eat at camp)
“Stop taking my stuff,” Amelia cornered him one day, her familiar scowl in place.
Luke schooled his expression to one of surprise, “What are you talking about?”
“Are you kidding me?” She scoffed with a roll of her eyes, “You’re making me feel like I’m losing my mind. I know its you,”
“Aww,” Luke couldn’t stop the shit-eating grin from overtaking, “Gods, I didn’t know you felt that way about me,”
“Ahaha,” Amelia laughed sarcastically, “Keep your hands off my stuff, Luke, I’m serious,”
“I swear,” He held his hands up in surrender, “I have no clue what you’re talkin’ about, you know I’m not to type to pull that crap,”
Her eyes narrowed into a venomous glare.
Then she pulled a move that Luke really wasn’t expecting. What he was expecting was just huffing and walking away, only slightly suspicious of him or apologising for a misunderstanding. But Amelia took advantage of his ‘surrender’, and her hand swiftly shot to the pocket of his cargo pants, lifting the flap and pulling out her necklace.
Oops.
“Don’t you lie to my face ever again,” She snapped, a distinctive accent bleeding into her voice, “Well, what do you have to say for yourself?”
Luke was at a loss for words. He seriously didn’t know what to say. Should he apologise? He should but he didn’t know how to explain himself. The explanation would make her madder, but if he didn’t say anything, she would yell at him. Screw it, the only logical solution was to run away.
“Don’t think about bolting for it either,” Amelia gripped him by the wrist and squashed his foot with her red converses, effectively pinning him in place, “Spit it out,”
“W hat,” He laughed out nervously, wincing as his voice cracked, “No clue that was yours, I found it on the ground and pocketed it,”
Amelia’s foot crushed his harder, “Do you think I’m dumb? Do not bluff me, Luke Castellan,”
“Ok,” He caved, shrinking slightly at Amelia’s expectant stare, “I… find it fun when you get mad at me,”
She let out a small disbelieving scoff of laughter, “Are you having fun now?”
He knew better than to say ‘yes’. Because it was fun, it was so much fun seeing Amelia drop the overbearing mother-hen persona and snap at him like a teenager. It was fun having her attention on him like none of the kids mattered because she was too busy focusing on him and his teasing.
“What are you? Five?” Amelia would say, frowning and curled fist like she’d punch him if he pulled that shit with her again, “Grow up, Luke,”
It was refreshing not to have to be responsible.
“I mean,” He fought back the smile, “A little,”
Amelia stared at him blankly before — and this was surprising to Luke as well — bursting into hysterical laughter.
His brain short-circuited for real this time because Amelia was laughing at him. She was laughing, and he got to hear it. Her laughter rang in his head, echoing over and over inside his skull. He wanted to listen to it forever; it was clear as a bell, light and airy with giggles.
Luke would do anything to hear her laugh again.
“You’re insane,” Amelia wiped away tears of laughter, “You really find it fun when I get pissed off?”
“Uh, yeah?”
“Then find entertainment somewhere else,” She gave him a condescending smile, “Don’t mess with me just because you’re bored,”
Spoiler alert: Luke couldn’t find it anywhere else and continued to mess with Amelia. Amelia learned to ignore him, and Luke’s newest hobby was trying to get her to snap.