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Anteros is having a very bad day.
Well. It could be worse. Marginally.
He could be this poor Athena kid pouting in the infirmary over a broken wrist. He peers down at the clipboard in his hands, trying to decipher Will's god awful handwriting.
“You're… Quinn right?” The girl in the bed nods, her gray eyes regarding him coldly. “Did Austin give you ambrosia earlier?” She nods again.
“Yes. So don't give me any more.” She says, turning her nose up. Anteros breathes through his nose, fingers curling into the wood. Gods, please give him strength. How does Will have so much goddamn compassion?
“Aquinnah, leave him alone. You're new, right?” Anteros turns to face the voice.
He promptly drops his clipboard.
Fucking hell.
He ducks, going to pick it up, but the other camper reaches it before him. Anteros looks up, averting his gaze when his blue eyes meet the steely gaze of one of the Athena boys.
“Y-yeah.” Curse his stutter. Stop gay panicking. He’s just a boy. A very cute one but… “Just a few weeks. I'm–”
“Tony, yeah?” Anteros looks at him in surprise, and the other boy just laughs. “Will mentioned new siblings the other day, said he had a new little brother.”
“I'm barely two months younger than him.” Anteros grumbles, which makes another laugh leave the other camper.
“I'm Malcolm Pace. Cabin Six.” Malcolm hands Anteros back the clipboard, and Anteros stands.
“It's nice to meet you.” He says, cursing inwardly that his voice is still wobbly. “Are you injured? Or…” Malcolm shakes his head.
“Nah, I needed to come check on Quinn here before taking the other kids to lunch.” He taps Quinn's foot with his hand, and the younger girl scowls at him.
“Ah, well that's good. That you're not hurt, I mean.” Anteros says, and Malcolm gives him a lopsided grin.
“Less stress on you if I'm all good.” He says offhandedly. Anteros frowns.
“It's not stressful! I like healing. Will says I'm good at it too. It wouldn't be bad if you were hurt, I could take care of it.” Malcolm tilts his head, a question in his eyes.
“Yeah? Well, I guess it's too bad I was on strategy for Capture the Flag then. No injuries to speak of. Unlike Quinnie here.” Malcolm teases his sister, who just scowls at him.
“Leave me alone, I'm stuck in this bed and can't beat you at chess.” She grits out, kicking at him with one foot. Malcolm just shakes his head, standing up to his full height.
Anteros has to tilt his head ever so slightly to look up at Malcolm. Oh this is bad for his heart. Very bad.
“Well, I should get back to head over with everyone for lunch. I'll see you around, Tony. Bye Quinnie.” Malcolm keeps eye contact with him for just a second too long before walking out of the infirmary, leaving Anteros clutching the clipboard to his chest.
“If you're gonna flirt with my brother, can you PLEASE do it somewhere else, so I don't projectile vomit?” Quinn says darkly, and Anteros snaps out of his trace, his cheeks heating up.
“I wasn't–”
“He likes boys, just so you know. He's not quiet about it. Shoot your shot, or don't or whatever. I don't care. Just do it away from me. Romance is GROSS.”
Anteros is convinced his siblings are plotting something. There's too many whispers, too many side glances.
And the fact that Melody and Sohee would rather squish against Will’s sides onto one log than share one with him like they normally do.
He’s having a mental fight with Melody through glares when someone plops down on the bench next to him.
“You know, I never understood how you guys run these things.” Anteros blinks, staring at the other camper. Malcolm grins at him, tugging on the strings of his gray hoodie.
“What?” Anteros says. Wow, Anteros. Very intelligent. He could kick himself.
“The sing alongs.” Malcolm says with a laugh. Anteros feels his cheeks heat up. Gods, he is being SO embarrassing right now. Get it the fuck together, Anteros.
“Oh. Um. For most everyone, it just… comes naturally I guess. Gift from Dad.” Anteros says quietly, and Malcolm hums, nodding in understanding.
“I like your voice.” He says, leaning in a bit closer, and Anteros is suddenly very glad the fire is concealing how dark his blush is. Normally, he's the forward one. But this is a new place… he's not used to it.
“Well, I am my father's son and all that.” He says, and Malcolm chuckles.
“Right you are about that one. Though, Apollo is a little too rugged for my own tastes.” Anteros stares at him for a long moment, and Malcolm just raises an eyebrow. Fucking hell, is this real life?
“Huh?” Anteros says, and Malcolm just smiles warmly at him, his gray eyes glowing with the light of the fire.
“My apologies if I'm coming on a little strong.” He says and Anteros shakes his head.
“No, I'm– I'm sorry, I have three brain cells on a good day. You're flirting with me.” Malcolm laughs, nodding.
“I am.”
“With me.”
“With you.”
“On purpose.”
“Very much so.”
Anteros breathes out, his breath spreading around them like a dragon in the cold November air.
“Is that a problem?” Malcolm says, and Anteros can hear a waver in his voice, though it passes quickly.
“No! No, gods no. I'm just… processing. I'm not used to… being the one being pursued…?” Anteros says slowly, and Malcolm's eyes light up again.
“So would you… let me continue? To pursue?” Anteros makes a face.
“Only if you stop sounding like it's the 1950's. Pursuing. Just say you think I'm hot.”
“I think you're hot.” Anteros's cheeks flare up again, and he coughs, looking away from Malcolm.
“Thank… you. I do too. For you. Not for me. That would be weird if it was about me. Not myself.” Can he just wither away into nothing? Gods, he sounds like an idiot.
Malcolm just laughs, glancing over at Anteros’s siblings. “Your sisters are staring.” He says, and Anteros glares at Melody, who just sticks her tongue out at him.
“Melody’s a bitch, ignore her.” Malcolm chokes slightly, coughing.
“That’s not very nice, Tony.” He chastises, and Anteros shrugs, a grin turning up his lips.
“Mellie and I are best friends, we are like that all the time. It’s not a big deal.” Malcolm just laughs.
“Your siblings are all really close, huh?” Anteros nods, looking over at his sisters again.
“I think it has something to do with the war. Will is… he keeps us together a lot. He… can be a bit much though, I have to admit.” Anteros says after a minute, and Malcolm hums in agreement.
“We went through a lot then.” He says softly, and Anteros looks at him with big eyes.
“We?” Malcolm nods, pulling out his camp necklace. 5 beads. “Oh.”
“It’s not a big deal. I just helped out Annabeth.” Malcolm says, and Anteros blinks at him. Malcolm laughs softly. “My older sister. She’s away at school until the summer. She’s in some fancy design school now. It’s pretty cool.” Anteros nods, a bit in awe. Will is his oldest sibling here, and he said he was a year rounder. Anteros didn’t even know leaving for school was allowed. Not that he would, anyway. He likes camp.
“Do you not want to go to school?” Anteros asks, and Malcolm shakes his head.
“Not a boarding school. Someone has to lead the cabin when Annabeth is away, so I do homeschooling here with the others. You’re going to as well?” Anteros nods, a hum leaving his lips.
“Malcolm.” Another blonde girl bounces up to the pair of them, her gray eyes curious as she regards Anteros.
“What, Char?” Malcolm looks up at his sister, and Anteros blinks. Ah, he hasn’t met this one before, he supposes. Well…. He’s not been here long either.
“Whitney and Quinn are fighting over the marshmallows again.” Malcolm heaves out a deep boned sigh, and Anteros can’t help but snicker.
“Sorry, Tony. I have to go deal with my siblings being annoying as usual. I’ll catch you later, yeah?” Malcolm says, and Anteros nods, lifting his hand in a slight wave as Malcolm heads over to the other side of the campfire with his sister.
Melody slides onto the bench beside him, her blue eyes glittering excitedly. “Well, what was all of that about, Tony?” She says in that thick French accent of hers, and Anteros pushes her off the log with a laugh.
“My gods, you are so annoying!” He says, and Melody sticks her tongue out at him.
“So it went well, I take it?” She croons, and Anteros shakes his head.
“As if I would tell your meddling ass anything.” He says haughtily.
Melody’s laughter reverbs through the air, a reminder of the name she bears.
“Sit down, I’m fixing your eyeliner. Gods, you are terrible at this!” Drew says as soon as he enters the cabin, her long dark hair pulled back into a half ponytail.
“I told you that I’m bad at it!” Anteros whines, and Drew just sighs.
“I told you to sit DOWN, Morgan. Be a good boy and listen.” She croons, and Anteros flicks a piece of paper at her.
“I’m not your fucking dog, Tanaka.” He bites, and he can hear Nova’s laughter from somewhere else in the cabin. “Not you too, Godsey! I mean it!”
Drew sniffs, taking out her eyeliner pencil and going to work. “I take it you had a nice night, anyway? I don’t have to march over to Cabin Six and shank Pace with the rusty fork I keep to harm my enemies?”
Anteros stares at her. “Don’t you have a weapon?” Drew shrugs her shoulders.
“Rusty fork is scarier.” Anteros snorts, and Drew just gives him a dazzling smile. Nova calls over her shoulder some unintelligible thing to someone, probably Mitchell, and then she walks over to stand by Drew’s side, her dark hair in a plait tossed over her shoulder, a pink ribbon at the end. Her big dark eyes glimmer as she looks him over, her glossy lips turned up into a smile.
“Mellie says Malcolm’s nice.” She says simply, and Drew hums as she wipes under Anteros’s eye where his eyeline had smudged. “You missed a spot.” Drew bumps her out of the way with her hip.
“Get out of my space, Nova.” She huffs, and Nova just laughs, stepping aside.
“He was really nice.” Anteros says quietly, and Drew’s eyes narrow.
“It feels like you’re keeping something.” She says, and Anteros shakes his head.
“It’s nothing.” He chews on the inside of his lip, and Drew keeps staring at him, eyeliner pencil still in hand.
“Tony.” She warns, and Anteros huffs, throwing himself back onto Drew’s fluffy pillows, enveloped by the scent of her Gucci perfume.
“He’s too good. I’m like this broken, shattered—”
“Oh here we go again with the self sabotage thing.” Drew sighs, closing her eyeliner up. She puts it away in her makeup bag and takes a seat next to Anteros on her bed. He looks up at her, and her darkly lined cat eyes blink back at him like he’s insane. “You know it’s all in your head, right? It’s all your thoughts and your baggage. I know your mom fucked you up, but are you really gonna let someone not get close to you because of your mom?” She picks at a piece of her chipped nail.
“I mean–”
“Or are you going to be a bad bitch, and go back out there and kiss the damn boy, and not let your mom get in your head?” Drew says, tapping him on the forehead. “You’d be crazy to have an opportunity like this pass you by. Malcolm is hot. It’s too fucking bad he’s gay and doesn’t even like girls a LITTLE bit.” She sighs dramatically.
Anteros can’t help but snort, shaking his head. He sits up, running a hand through his dark brown hair. He stops, a slight smile taking over his face.
“Hey, Drew…” She looks at him expectantly, popping her bubblegum.
“Yeeeeeees, Morgan?”
“Do you know how to bleach hair?”