Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was one of those cliche meetings. Bryn was walking down to the pavilion for breakfast with the rest of her siblings, when BAM, she walked straight into a pillar. 

Listen, she stayed up late again working on weapons for camp. She was a little out of it. 

Bryn was going to move on with her life, if she didn't hear the obnoxious laughing behind her. And when she turned around she locked eyes with Caleb Parker. The newest son of Aphrodite at camp. This was his first summer at camp. He immediately went onto Bryns list of “demigods not to be associated with.”

Why? 

Because he’s a son of Aphrodite obviously. 

Bryn can still imagine her brother and his smitten look over the old cabin 10s old counselor. She used to adore their relationship, becoming close with her brother’s lover due to her always visiting him at the forges. When her brother died, his girlfriend did whatever she could to care and help his younger siblings. They adored her. She was basically their own sister. 

But then the war came. And she turned out to be a traitor. 

Bryn could never forgive her. She blamed her for her brother's death. It was all her fault.

To Bryn, Silena Beaurgard killed Charles Beckendorf. And she will never forgive her. 

Bryn will never trust a child of Aphrodite, they always lead to broken hearts. 

After getting up from the ground and brushing herself off, Bryn did what her younger brother Harley did, and stuck her tongue out at the group. 

She knew it made her look childish, but the way Ellis and Sherman acted made her feel it was justified. Caleb was always around those two, and they were your typical Ares children. Hard headed, aggressive, and arrogant. And one would think for being the newly appointed head counselor Sherman would have become a little more mature. But maybe Bryn was asking for too much. 

She walked over to her table, punched Harley in the head for dumping all his failed projects on her, and waited till Chiron came to start the day. 

~~~

Caleb didn’t think he was that annoying. Sure he made some out of pocket jokes every now and then but he never took it too far. So why that one Hephaestus girl was the only one to completely ignore his existence, he didn’t understand. He knew Aphrodite and Hephaestus weren’t on the best terms but that doesn’t mean their children have to be. 

Caleb first heard about his late older sister from his new younger sister Lacy. After being claimed, she showed him around his new home. When he asked about the small memorial in the corner of the cabin, he wasn;’t expecting to completely dampen the mood. 

Lacy told him all about her. All her victories, her personality, her quests, and her love life.

The idea of a Hephaestus kid and an Aphrodite kid being together seemed interesting to Caleb, and he always enjoyed a good story. 

When he asked Lacy about the old cabin 9 counselor she frowned, and told him that wasn’t her story to tell.

Caleb slipped away from his siblings to walk with his friends in the Ares cabin. Sherman was a troublemaker in all the right ways. He may be head counselor but boy did that kid like fighting. And fighting always made an interesting story. But he slowly started to mellow out after he started dating this girl from the Demeter cabin. Sherman’s brother Ellis on the other hand, was a lot easier to talk to. He was still an Ares kid, but he was more spontaneous than his siblings. Always running around doing his own quests on his own time. 

Caleb wonders how much aspirin Chiron takes everyday. There's no way these campers don’t give him headaches even the Apollo kids couldn’t heal. 

The trio was walking down to the pavilion for breakfast, chatting about strategies for the upcoming capture the flag game. 

Caleb looked up and saw her. He saw the only kid at camp that completely ignored his presence and seemed to hate him. Which was odd, cause who could hate him?

Bryn Normandy was a weird one. She was always chipping away like a bird with her siblings but as soon as someone else approached she was like a bird who was terrified of humans. 

So he gave her the nickname Birdie. But she doesn’t know it. 

He was brought out of his thoughts when she banged her head into one of the pavilions pillars. Caleb did all he could not to laugh, but Ellis’ wheezing made it difficult. He covered his mouth to try and stop himself when she stood up. 

Caleb was surprised he didn’t get punched, like how her siblings usually did, and instead she stuck her tongue out at him. This only made Ellis and Sherman laugh harder, definitely going to be making fun of her later. 

But for some reason Caleb found the gesture kind of cute.

Chapter Text

His sister sent him to go pick up some stupid dagger. 

I mean, seriously, just because he’s the newest sibling doesn’t mean he should be Drew’s personal maid. He was still older than her.

He slowly made his way across the camp grounds to make his way to the forges. How Drew even managed to break her dagger when she doesn’t even fight is beyond his knowledge. 

But, he’s a good big brother who will help his siblings, maybe.

Only on a good day.

And today ended up being a great day.

The forges were covered in smoke. To a normal human that would be alarming but to a bunch of demigods, it means the Hephaestus kids are hard at work. 

As the smoke slowly starts to fade he sees some of the cabin members. Nyssa is hunched over a work bench while the little demon Harley is nearly dying of laughter. Jake Mason made his way over and banged Harley on the head, before starting to ridicule him for something along the lines of “dangerous invention that could destroy everything.”

An average day at Camp Half-Blood.

Caleb stood there for a moment before clearing his throat, loud enough to get the cabin's attention. Jake stopped yelling at his brother and quickly changed his demeanor. He was now welcoming and kind, while Harley stood to the side rubbing his head.

That’s a good story.

“Uh… I’m here for Drew’s weapon. She said you guys were fixing it?”

Jake nodded and pointed to the far left corner, “Oh yeah! Brynnies working on it right now.” Caleb turned his head and saw Birdie with her head down, mending the dagger. 

He unknowingly began to smile. 

Caleb gave a quick nod in thanks before walking silently over to Bryn. He walked up behind her as silent as possible. He took a moment to take a look at her, the way her hair was tied into a messy braid was appealing. Why? He didn’t know.

He quickly tapped her shoulders as a way to scare her and she jumped. Caleb laughed at her reaction while she glared daggers at him. 

“Can I help you with something?” Caleb stopped laughing and looked down to meet her eyes. Holy Hera were they green. He stood there a little before finally answering, “Oh yeah uh, the dagger, my sister…”

Bryn turned back down to the weapon she was fixing and realized what he ment. She turned back to face him, “it’s not finished yet. You should go back to your cabin.”

Unfortunately for her, Caleb took that as a challenge. 

He gave a cocky smile, “and why can’t I stay here?” Usually girls and boys are begging for his attention, at least they were back home. But why Bryn Normandy was not giving him the time of day, he wanted to find out.

She sighed before humoring him. “Because you wouldn’t want to get your pretty face all messed up in the dirty forge.”

Hah. Got him.

Caleb kept smiling, which left Bryn confused. 

“Why are you smi-”

“So you think I’m pretty?”

Caleb sat down on a stool next to the bench and rested his elbows on his knees. He found it somewhat entertaining to tease her, but another part of him was hoping she would confirm what he said.

This isn’t how this was supposed to go.

But he couldn’t help but smile as he watched her struggle to find her words. She shook her head with force and crossed her arms, clearly annoyed. 

“If you're going to sit here and wait, don’t cause any trouble.”

He straightened his back and sat up, “so you're ignoring what I said?” 

Bryn turned back around and resumed working on the weapon, while Caleb chuckled a little.

He sat there patiently watching her hands work, admiring the way she was so focused on making the dagger perfect. 

And he didn’t notice the small blush on his face either. 

~~~

 Nyssa, Harley, and Jake watched the two in silence, already preparing to make fun of their sister later that night. 

Nyssa turns to Jake, “I’m willing to bet five drachmas they’re the next Silena and Charlie.”

Jake laughs but shakes her hand in a deal. 

Harley looks up innocently. 

“Should I go mess with them?” 

“NO.”