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“Amazing work as always, Austin,” Woodrow, the satyr in charge of music class grinned as he passed by Austin at the grand piano.
“Thanks, Woodrow,” Austin smiled back. He didn’t like the piano as much as he did the saxophone, but if he wanted to increase his musical repertoire, he had to play more than just one instrument. “You wouldn’t mind if I stayed a bit longer, right?”
“Stay as long as you’d like,” Woodrow said. “Alright, class, dismissed!”
The rest of the kids in the music room—a sporadic set of Muses kids sprinkled with a couple odd demigods who’d been playing music for as long as they could walk, plus Austin’s younger sibling, Yan—moved to put away their instruments. Lara, a daughter of Calliope, scrunched her nose in disgust when she saw Austin was looking in her direction, and turned to help her older sibling, Carmen, with some last minute clean-ups.
Yan glanced at Austin, and he nodded; their unspoken signal that Austin planned to stay longer in the music room.
“See you later, Austin!” Yan called as they left the room; most of the others left without a word.
“Alright, let’s do this,” Austin muttered to himself, pressing a few keys while his brain conjured up a song. “Okay.”
He barely got through five notes before the music room door was flung open with a surprising amount of power and someone barged in. “Aussie!”
“Miss Parker, the door!” Woodrow exclaimed, his voice chiming with the echo. “Careful!”
Austin’s younger sister, Gracie, gave a somewhat guilty grin. “Sorry, Woodrow.” She plopped herself on the edge of the piano’s bench, her thigh smacking against Austin’s before she moved it away. “You know how you’re the bestest big brother ever, right?”
Austin sighed, resting his elbows on the ivories which made an odd sound. “What do you want?”
“Who says I want anything?”
“Gracie,” Austin said, hoping her name conveyed all he wanted to say.
“Okay, okay,” Gracie held her hands in the air. “I need you to compose me a song.”
“A song?”
“A song,” Gracie echoed. “I suck at writing songs, you know this. It’s nothing like the drums.”
“What kind of song?”
Gracie cracked her knuckles as if she were about to play the piano herself. “A love ballad, a serenade, if you would.”
Austin’s nose unintentionally scrunched. “Man, seriously?”
“I need to make something special for Lacy,” Gracie pleaded, turning herself so that she was facing Austin, her leg folded underneath herself. “You’ve gotta help me, Austin.”
“Why can’t you ask Yan?” Austin asked, “They can write music and they know a thing or two about romance. I know nothing, I’m literally aromantic.”
“Yan’s busy helping Lianna and Francis get settled into the cabin,” Gracie started to list. “Will can’t write music for shit, Kayla’s busy packing because she’s leaving for the final Olympic qualifier tomorrow, and Jerry’s promised Olivera he’d paint with her! You’re my only hope!”
Austin once heard another camper say that he would be immune to sirens because he couldn’t be lured with the idea of romance or sex, but Austin would disagree. The moment the siren gave him his little sister’s puppy dog eyes, or his younger brother’s grin, or even Kayla’s laugh, he’d be down for the count.
“Fine,” Austin acquiesced.
Gracie squealed. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” she wrapped her arms around his neck. “Come on! We need to make sure it’s compatible with drums so I can play it.”
“I feel like I’m going to regret this.” Austin commented as he stood.
“Nah, this’ll go great.”
They literally took till dinner writing and composing a song with all Gracie’s feelings on an open platter. At multiple points, Austin would look at the words they wrote down and say, “You made this up.” to which Gracie would laugh and say, “No, silly, that’s just romantic attraction.”
After they ate, Austin was tasked with making sure Lacy got to the music room, where Gracie would serenade her with their song that ended up not-so-love-ballady since Gracie insisted that it be played on the timpani which isn’t the most romantic of instruments. At least, Austin thinks. To be honest, it might be the most romantic instrument out there, and he’d be none the wiser.
“Give me five,” Gracie told him, passing her plate to the closest nymph with surprising speed as she sped off.
Will raised his eyebrow. “What’s that for?”
“I helped her write a song for Lacy.”
“A love song?” Kayla said, “You wrote a long song?”
Nico tapped his fork to the side of his plate. “I’m surprised he knows what that even is.”
“Gracie came up with the theme, I just put her words to music,” Austin admitted. “And I know what a love song is, di Angelo.”
“I need to hear this,” Jerry said.
Austin kicked him under the table. “Let her play it for her girlfriend first, stupid.”
“Fuck off, you wanker.”
Yan tutted, “Swear jar, Jay.”
The two newest Apollo kids, a set of twins named Lianna and Francis, chucked as Jerry threw his hands in the air in defeat.
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” Austin stood up, passing his plate to Juniper, who smiled at him. “I’ve got a task to do.”
Austin wasn’t the biggest fan of the Aphrodite table, with their penchant for gossiping solely about romance in contrast to his cabin’s gossip about everything else, but he was nothing if not a person of his word, so he cleared his throat as he stood above the table.
One of the newer boys looked him up and down, taking in Austin’s nicely pressed button down and black slacks. “You do realize this is a summer camp, right?”
“Austin always dresses like we’re the Sydney Opera House,” Valentina dismissed.
The boy shrugged, “At least he has an aesthetic.”
“At least he doesn’t dress like his older brother,” Drew added, gazing over to where the Apollo table was. “I think I lose a year off of my life everytime I see Will’s cargo shorts.”
There were a few mutterings of agreement.
“At least wait till Will’s over here to insult him,” Austin said, “Anyway, Lacy, if I could borrow you after dinner?”
Lacy glanced over towards Piper, who gave her a curt nod of approval. Lacy stood up, adjusted her skirt, and gestured towards nowhere. “Lead the way, Lake.”
Austin led her through camp and to the music room, where he held the door open for Lacy.
Austin wasn’t sure how Gracie did it in five minutes—or who helped her—but there were rose petals around the timpani, and she managed to find bright pink timpani mallets.
“Lacy!” Gracie called, before beginning their song.
Austin watched as Lacy’s cheeks turned a brilliant red, and her face split with her smile as Gracie’s music and voice melded. He turned towards his little sister, and gave her a thumbs up, before leaving her to serenade her girlfriend.