Archive of Our Own ^beta

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When I first arrived at camp halfblood I was only 12. A monster came looking for me. Now you can imagine how scary that was. After all, I was all 5 ft of skin and bones and still had my babyfat. Now you can imagine what being chased by an erymanthian boat was like to a little kid such as I. I was luckily not with my mother at the time I feared that would've sent her into a coma but I ran in one direction for some odd reason and after a bit I realized that the boat was no longer following me, but now I had no clue where I was. I remember mumbling to myself ‘aww shit now I'm lost’ but alas I kept walking until I saw these cabins. No I'm not being purposefully dense I mean these literal cabins, but then again if ur reading this you already know what it was. CAMP HALFBLOOD read the sign and before I can approach to ask someone who I am I faint, I've never fainted before that, or after as a matter of fact I've never fainted since. I woke up a few hours later and beside me was a half horse half man. I almost started screaming. But not quite. I was more afraid of whatever was out there than him. His eyes looked gentle, and so began my time at the camp. Now I can't say I remember everyone that day but I CAN say that I do remember one person in particular. Mr D, now you might be thinking ‘the grump old man? Yes, he was mostly reasonable because, well, there's no reason I'd just grown attached to him over the first few weeks there but I'd never say or show that and neither would he. OR SO I THOUGHT I met him at dinner and I can't say I fell in love then and there but he did make me feel warm of course he didn't even look up from his book he simply just said hello Caroline. Caroline?! My name is Catherine! But I stayed quiet because I liked him and then we didn't interact much for the next 3 or so years hence when my story begins a few weeks after my 15th birthday I am Catherine and here is the story on how I married the grumpiest man alive

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It was the morning of a cold spring morning and I had been training hard, you know as hard as one can for a 15 year old. After breakfast I headed down to archery practice. Of course I had been practicing a few years and my aim had grown steady and almost perfect; almost. The skin and bones and baby-fat once on my body had become toned and the muscles were strong but not like the ones you see online, no. mine were real they had much more density and much less buff obviously I don't know the terminology what am i? A gym bro? No but either way I knew how to fight I mean it's among the very little actual teaching they did at the camp, all we learned was fight eat and myths from a time longer than the camp had probably existed. And today was no different. I headed to the courtyard where Dionysus held lessons with Chiron, half of the time I didn't pay much attention to be clear. I spent it gawking at Mr. D. I mean how could you not the arms the hair the- I' getting side tracked.

The lesson began as it usually did. Chiron had some poor kids sent to the camp but this time it was only the two of them. Achilles and patroculus. Aha this one I knew they were a well known love story with the tragedy attached. According to many historical reports they weren't believed to be lovers but I found it fitting. Who else would be stupid enough to fight while still attached to the one person keeping them alive(sorry dean winchester you dont count you're literally the only one stupid enough to do that for family(no offense)) and so the literal love of my life begins to talk
Mr. D clears his throat “ well we will begin with the origins can any of you useless halfbrained kids tell me why these two boys were so special”
I knew the answer of course it was so simple achilles was the son of thetis the sea nymph and the king of myrmidons and patroculus was his cousin and lover(gross) but I was about to open my mouth when another hand shot up luke castellian of course ugh that guy he was a year younger but he was so stuck up I hated him.
Mr D points at him “yes lucky” and luke simply rolls his eyes and corrects him “its luke, and Achilies was the son of a sea nymph and Patroculus was his best friend”
Mr D “ah yes such a vague answer can anyone give me specifics”
My own hand shoots up before I can think twice and he points at me “go ahead cassidy”
I reply annoyed that he cant get my name right but reply anyway “ its Catherine, and achilles was the son of the sea nymph thetis and the king Pelius of myrmidons he was also sipped in the water of the river which was enchanted hence the heel being his weakness its where he was held from and dipped into the water hence making the water not reach that part meaning he wasn't protected at the heel. And then patroculus was a prince as well but he got cast out and lived with achilles they were more than best friends they were lovers, and cousins if you look at technicalities but that was pretty common back then” i reply babbling along the facts that id read because it was actually a pretty interesting id read the story over and over until my hands turned the page on command and my brain knew the words by memory my heart sobbing for them as they never really did get to experience true life but i didn't mention that part.

Mr D looked at me a little surprised but nodded and turned back to the lesson “correct" while it was never confirmed they were lovers by historians. I myself and my old buddy Chiron witnessed it first hand. It was quite annoying really the amount of eye fu-” he gets cut off by chiron “they were in fact lovers and more than that, they were in a death pact, not by will they simply could not live without the other. You always saw them together they were attached at the hip those two, whether they were training or eating even sleeping they were always together, I still remember walking in to wake them up and they were tangled up in each others arms I have to admit more than once did I let them sleep in because I couldn't bring myself to wake them up”
Some in the class cooed because even after all the training and such we were all but teenagers living vicariously through stories and such.
Chiron rolled his eyes in annoyance he always did that when anything romantic was involved but alas he was the god of madness and sex not love duh nobody knew if he even had feelings but nobody dared ask. After a few questions about the myth and the most inaccurate description of their relationship given to us by an old grumpy(but hot) man and his friend the class was dismissed but as i walked out i felt his gaze linger on me for a second too long and i knew id gotten his attention now the question was how do i keep it.

I'd gone outside to clear my head and train as I did most afternoons so I grabbed my sword and set it beside me as I started stretching. I sit on the ground and touch my toes easily and eventually I get to the actual training. I start practicing my stances and how to swing when of all people luke grabs his own sword and starts swinging at me. This caught me off guard but training reflexes kicked in faster than my thought process and i started swinging back, i blocked his hits and swung back eventually kicking him in the chest and watching him fall down both of us out of breath and he looked utterly stunned and defeated. I smiled to myself knowing he'd never been stuck down since his third year at the camp. He was only 14 but he'd been there longer than I had nonetheless I was proud.

Once the sun had set I headed up to the area cabin (i know i havent been claimed what a loser) and when the patrolling was done i grab a bottle and sneak out to the forest, i knew it was prohibited but honestly had they not read their own myths? As long as you give an offering and don't disrespect the place you truly had nothing to fear. So i strolled down to the much smaller clear waterfall deep into the forest and i sit down beside the water and start making a flower crown and put it on the tiny stone home that was built (probably the fae that lived there but i didnt dare ask) i just set it down fixing it at the edges making the home look pretty and then left a bowl of milk. Afterwards I sat down again and sipped on my bottle of some nameless liquor I snuck from a gas station.I started sketching like i did every night recollections flowers constellations and most recently the little fae houses.
All was going well as it usually did until I heard footsteps I recognized anywhere.. Ah shit id been caught

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Just as I'm about to turn around the bottle gets snatched from my hand, and beside me plops down no other than Mr d. I freeze up because what else is one supposed to do after curfew with a bottle of booze? Now i wish i was joking and meant he sat down but no, that man plopped down and took my drink out of my hand! Rude, anyways i stare at him dumbfounded because i cant exactly complain i should be grateful he isn't telling Chiron. Anyways as I'm staring at this delicious man i call my teacher steal my drink he looks back and says “now now why is the one student i didn't think i had to worry about outside drinking at midnight” and then he drinks from the bottle i was sipping from now mind you i was already slightly tipsy so i just smiled at him like a dumbass embarrassed and hoping he didn't notice how obvious my crush on him was. “ well everyone needs a little distraction every now and then it's a very… interesting time we live in”

“Ah so the little lamb is politically aware” he says as he leans on the tree beside him and i just stare because its like he has me in a trance the way his brown skin contrasts with his purple eyes and oh gods his eyes i could get lost in them and i have to admit the way he calls me a little lamb makes my heart flutter.”yeah unfortunately besides it ain't like i drink daily its just every once in a while” a lie but he doesn't need to know that its not like i got plastered daily i just liked a few sips and i notice the way he looks at me like he knows Im lying but he ain't got proof so he just nods and looks up at the sky and i try to act natural so i go back to sketching and he notices because of course he does but he just watches and doesn't talk and eventually we fall into a comfortable silence but anyways the bottle is passed back and forth with the occasional pointing to stars and naming them this was the least grumpy id seen him well… ever so i let this happen because i didn't exactly want Chiron to find out and i liked being around him without other people besides it was private. Intimate almost.

This little ritual continued for the next few weeks. He'd randomly show up and drink with me and he'd sometimes open up and tell me stories. The kind u dont get from lessons.
Tonight was the first time it started like it normally did. He came to the forest past midnight and sat next to me at the tree trunk and pointed at a constellation “That my little lamb is corona borealis do you know the story behind that one?” my heart gives a flutter at the way he calls me his little lamb his but i shake my head because i hadn't heard the story behind that one i didn't even recognize the name of the constellation and so he begins “there was a king once and he had a daughter and she was oh so beautiful it was as if the stars lived in her eyes and every word she spoke was like a poem meant for my ears only. Either way she helped a hero once the stupid boy named Theseus doesn't deserve to be known as a hero but nonetheless he is. My Ardiane helped him escape the minotaur and in return the bastard left her to die. Poor excuse of a man, that Theseus. However he left her at Naxos the island and I found her asleep on the sand in the beach and she looked like everything i ever hoped for. Anyways, I married her and that crown you see in the stars is the one I gave to her when I gave her immortality. She looked sublime on the day I married her and even more so when I thought I could finally keep her. Oh how wrong i was, After everything i did she betrayed me. She slept with Theseus and I in anger told Artemis my sister and of course not only did she betray me but she did it on sacred grounds so my sister killed her. I bawled when I realized what happened but alas she did it to herself. Can you believe she turned to him after he left her to die.Now the crown rests in the stars as a cruel reminder of what could have been”
I listen to his story intently like the most prized pupil even though i know were no longer in a classroom setting and now he's talking to me more like a friend than a student because id never heard him talk so human and personal in a classroom setting he's talking to me almost like he's there again dealing with her betrayal and i just nod along because Im not exactly sure what to say his wife betrayed him with the very man he saved her from. It wasn't just selfish, it was foolish and her own idiocy had cost her her life. “I- That's beautiful. Well not the whole her cheating on you part but the entire you loving her so much even after death she became one with the stars i guess that's what I'm trying to say” i ramble because i always ramble as soon as i open my mouth around him but he doesn't seem to mind so i just hand him the bottle and he drinks as if he hadn't just trusted me with something he didn't normally tell people but at least now i was aware of why he hated heroes.