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The sounds of laughter and conversation drifted through the air. Camp Half Blood was even louder than usual, which was saying something. The reason being that the Romans had come for their biannual “Camp Reunion”, as Chiron liked to call it. It had been CHB’s turn to host the reunion, so everyone had been running around, trying to make camp look more organized than it actually was. By the time the Romans came, you would have thought they had all learned to behave over night.
Unfortunately (or not), Will wasn’t outside enjoying the nice weather and talking to his Roman half siblings. Instead, he was inside Cabin One sitting on a bunk bed, anxiously eyeing the large statue of Zeus. Talk about self centered. Next to him sat Annabeth. She looked just as confused as Will—if her furrowed brows and thin lips were of any indication.
Will could hear the muffled shrieks of the campers as they chased each other around. Longing to be in the field or even the infirmary, he gazed out the window. Will had been in the middle of talking to one of the Apollo kids from the Roman side about medical opportunities in New Rome University when he had been dragged away by none other than Jason Grace.
Speaking of Jason, he stood in front of Annabeth and Will with his arms crossed. Behind him was a blank whiteboard with wheels that he definitely stole from the Rec Room. A table that he had also probably stolen from the Rec Room was pushed in front of the two on the bed. On it was a map of CHB and three chess pieces—a white queen, white bishop, and black knight.
“So,” Annabeth finally spoke. Her sharp voice cut through the sounds of kids yelling. On her thigh, two fingers drummed subconsciously. She met Jason’s eyes with a bored gaze. “Why did you call us here Jase?”
Jason gulped. He grabbed a marker and began writing on the board. “I know you two have seen the way Piper and Reyna look at each other.”
Will and Annabeth shared a knowing look. They definitely had.
“Based off of that look, I would assume you guys know what I’m talking about. They keep acting awkward around each other and I can’t stand it anymore!”
On the board, Will could see that Jason had written ”Operation Pipeyna” in big, bold letters. Annabeth scoffed in amusement.
“What you’re saying is that you want us to play wingwoman and wingmen?”
“Basically yeah.”
“Okay fine,” Annabeth sighed. They both looked at Will expectantly. He just shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. Jason looked relieved.
He grabbed two colored paper clips off his desk—one pink and one purple. He set them down on the map next to the chess pieces. Crouching down, Jason carefully examined the map.
“First, me”—he gestured to the black knight—“and Piper”—the purple paper clip—“will go to Thalia’s pine.” He moved the objects to the tree on the map. “Next, Will”—the white bishop—“and Reyna”—the pink paper clip—“will meet there as well. Once both groups are there, me and Will will make up some excuse to leave. While we’re leading them to the pine, Annabeth”—the white queen—“will set up a nice picnic area. Got it?”
Annabeth nodded. “As bad as this sounds, I don’t know if I can take another second of their obvious pining.”
“Same,” Will shivered. He still remembered the last time Reyna had ranted to him about Piper. It lasted for almost three hours before Nico had unknowingly saved him. His boyfriend had been very confused on why Will had been so affectionate after that incident.
“So is Operation Pipeyna a go?”
Annabeth groaned. “Dude, we need a better name for it.”
“Well what else could we call them?” Jason huffed.
“I don’t know, but Pipeyna sounds dumb.”
“I don’t hear Will complaining.”
Will jumped at the sound of his name. Honestly he’d been zoned out since the plan and wasn’t paying attention. “What?”
Jason seemed to realize that Will didn’t know what they were talking about because he just huffed and dismissed the question.
After they got everything sorted out, the plan finally went into motion. The three exited the cabin, parting ways to find who or what they were looking for. The last Will had seen of Reyna, she was talking to Nico about the new training techniques she was working on. He asked Nico, but he told Will that she had walked off with Piper about five minutes ago. Weird…
A couple seconds later, he was just about to walk up to Cabin Ten to ask for Piper when something slammed into him from above. They went toppling down and landed in a pile. A groan from above told him it was someone. Another groan told him it was two someones.
Annabeth peeled herself off of the two boys. She started dusting off her clothes and hair. By now, the three of them were getting weird stares, but were mostly ignored. In a camp for hyperactive demigods, things like this were bound to happen almost daily.
Will grunted from under Jason, who still hadn’t gotten up. “What was that for?”
With renewed energy, the son of Jupiter suddenly shot up, knocking the air out of Will for a second. His eyes were sparkling with childlike joy and he hopped excitedly on the balls of his feets. “Guess what? Guess what?”
“What?” Will asked, standing up after he caught his breath.
“I saw Piper and Reyna earlier! They went into the forest talking about a ‘date’. I got Annabeth and I was gonna get you. Sorry about that by the way.”
“It’s fine. Tell me more about Piper and Reyna?”
“Oh yeah, I think they’re already dating and I wanna go into the forest to check.”
“Basically,” Annabeth cut in, “he wants us to spy on them.”
Will hummed. He supposed he had nothing better to do. Plus, he had been waiting to see them get together. “Sure why not.”
“Yes! I knew I could count on you Will!” Jason pumped his arm into the air. Annabeth rolled her eyes, but her lips were curled into a fond smile.
As fast as they could, the three of them ran to the forest. Jason led them to the spot he had seen Piper and Reyna enter and they went in as well. Carefully, they searched for the two girls. They found them sitting beneath a tree together, eating different baked goods. The treats looked homemade—and they probably were. Fortunately, neither girl seemed to notice the intruders, too focused on each other to pay attention to their group in the bushes.
When he saw them, Jason quietly cooed. He noiselessly lamented his lack of a phone. Why did being a demigod have to be like this?
As if answering his prayer, Will pulled out a camera and silently snapped several photos. Jason mouthed, “give me one” to which Will nodded. Annabeth gestured confusedly to the camera. The son of Apollo just shrugged, miming a word that looked like “Kayla”.
Before she could question him further, loud talking was heard from in front of them. The trio fell silent as they listened in on the conversation.
“When do you think we should tell them about us?” Piper asked. She fiddled with a loose string on her sweater.
Reyna rubbed the back of her neck. “I don’t know…”
“We’ve been together for six months now. Honestly I’m surprised Annabeth hasn’t figured it out yet.”
Reyna opened her mouth to respond, but instead she kept silent. Her mouth was stuck in a frown as she thought over something. Her hand subconsciously laced with Piper’s. The other girl blushed and gave her a fond smile.
“What’s wrong Rey?”
“I don’t know. I just feel like something’s off,” Reyna responded, biting her lip. She looked directly at the bush Annabeth, Jason, and Will were hiding behind.
Will sucked in a breath. He could hear Annabeth do the same. Hopefully they were covered enough, or else they’d be in big trouble. And he didn’t feel like patching up anybody else today. Or himself for that matter.
Thankfully, Reyna looked away from them. Rather, she looked over at Piper with a soft smile. Gently, she tucked a strand of hair behind the daughter of Aphrodite’s ear—the response was a slight blush on the cheeks. The praetor gave her girlfriend a tender kiss on the lips.
A hand went to his mouth and a quiet gasp fell out of Will’s lips. Jason looked excited, eagerly snapping photos. Will hadn’t noticed him take the camera, but that wasn’t the first thing on his mind. Annabeth quickly turned around and began to usher the two out from behind the push.
“Time to go,” she mouthed.
Jason pouted, but when he looked back at Piper and Reyna, he could see why they had to go. The two were clearly having an intimate moment, and it would feel wrong to intrude on that. So he just sighed.
Will saw them too. He decided Annabeth was right and wasted no time getting out. As quietly as they could, the three crawled away from the bush, to the edge of the forest. Once they were out, Jason scooped them up into his arms and flew to his cabin. Their protests fell onto deaf ears as he hurriedly sped through the air.
The inside of Cabin One felt even colder than it had before. Zeus’ statue seemed to sneer down at them, like he couldn’t even imagine his own son getting so excited over such insignificant things. Yet Jason looked absolutely giddy, waving the printed pictures over his head as if they were his most prized possession.
“We got them! We got them!” he chanted. Annabeth slapped his shoulder, although there was no force behind it and even her eyes were sparkling.
“’Honestly I’m surprised Annabeth hasn’t figured it out yet.’ Hah! As if you guys could keep anything from me.” She glared pointedly at Will. No words were exchanged but he knew exactly what she meant. He and Nico had tried to keep their relationship a secret—and they were able to. For two days.
Will groaned. “Annie, I already said sorry.”
Instead of responding, Annabeth smiled and flopped down onto the bed. Jason was still in his own world, celebrating the success of Operation Pipeyna. Finally, he began to calm down.
“Do we tell anyone?” he asked.
Annabeth shook her head. “It’s not our secret to tell. Let them figure it out on our own.”
Jason nodded in understanding, then went back to his celebration. The trio spent the rest of the day in Zeus’ Cabin, playing random board games and gossiping about their siblings and fellow campers. They all fell asleep on the floor together. Nobody came looking for them, since this had started becoming a common occurrence.
The next day, Piper gathered everyone (meaning the Seven plus Nico, Will, and Reyna) together. With them all there, she announced that she had a “secret girlfriend”.
Only Jason, Will, and Annabeth didn’t miss the way Reyna’s eyes sparkled. They kept their mouths shut, not wanting to spoil the moment. While Leo and Percy excitedly interrogated Piper, Will smiled. The secret would come out on its own in due time.