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Jason Grace had successfully hidden his birthday for almost three years.
This was not difficult, considering most people at Camp Half-Blood respected boundaries, forgot dates, or got distracted by monsters halfway through conversations. Jason personally encouraged all three possibilities.
Unfortunately, Leo Valdez had discovered the truth.
Which meant everyone knew within twelve hours.
“No,” Jason said flatly.
Leo looked offended. “What do you mean, ‘no?’”
“I mean no to whatever expression you’re making right now.”
“That expression,” Piper said, walking into Cabin One with a notebook tucked under her arm, “is the face of a man planning a tasteful and restrained birthday celebration.”
Jason narrowed his eyes. “You’re both smiling too much for that to be true.”
Piper ignored him and flipped open the notebook. “Okay, schedule check. Frank’s handling food because he actually knows portion sizes. Hazel’s decorating. Annabeth is making sure Leo doesn’t burn anything down-”
“Oppression,” Leo muttered.
“-Percy is distracting Jason all afternoon, and-”
“Wait,” Jason interrupted. “There’s a schedule?”
“There are three schedules,” Piper corrected. “One color-coded.”
Jason stared at her.
Somewhere outside, something exploded.
“LEO!” Annabeth yelled from the distance.
“I SAID IT WAS A CONTROLLED TEST!”
Jason pressed two fingers against his temple. “I’m going to New Rome.”
“No, you’re not,” Piper said immediately.
“You can’t leave camp on your own birthday,” Leo added.
“Watch me.”
Piper gave him a patient look. “Jason.”
It was deeply unfair that she could fit disappointment, affection, and command into one word.
Jason sighed. “You all do realize I don’t need a party, right?”
Leo gasped dramatically. “Pipes, did you hear that? He said he doesn’t NEED one. Which means he still WANTS one.”
“I absolutely did not say that.”
Piper scribbled something in the notebook. “Subject displaying textbook denial.”
Jason groaned.
By noon, the entire camp was acting suspicious.
Clarisse abruptly stopped talking when he walked by.
The Apollo kids shoved something under a tablecloth the moment he entered the dining pavilion.
Percy kept insisting they should go canoeing despite the fact Percy himself hated being on still water because it was “boring.”
“It’s your birthday,” Percy said defensively as they walked toward the lake. “People do activities on birthdays.”
Jason folded his arms. “You forgot your own birthday last year.”
“Yeah, but Annabeth remembered it aggressively.”
“That sounds about right.”
Percy grinned. “Look, man, just let them do their thing.”
Jason exhaled slowly. “I don’t know why everyone’s acting like this is a national holiday.”
Percy snorted. “Dude, half of us thought you didn’t even have a birthday.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“You’re very…composed year-round.”
Jason blinked. “You make me sound like a marble statue.”
Percy considered. “A little.”
Jason would have responded, but a pegasus swooped overhead trailing suspiciously shiny ribbons.
“…Was that glitter?”
Percy looked away too quickly.
“Percy.”
“No idea what you’re talking about.”
By sunset, Jason knew he was doomed.
Campers kept vanishing whenever he approached.
Music drifted from somewhere near the amphitheater.
And Nico was somehow involved, which made the entire situation significantly more alarming.
Jason found Nico sitting beneath a pine tree near the cabins, reading quietly while ghosts drifted in and out of the shadows around him.
“You too?” Jason asked.
Nico looked up. “What?”
“You’re helping them.”
Nico shrugged. “Will volunteered me.”
“That’s not how volunteering works.”
“Tell that to him.”
As if summoned, Will Solace jogged over carrying an armful of blue and silver streamers.
“Hey, birthday boy!”
Jason winced. “Please don’t call me that.”
Will ignored him cheerfully. “Can you distract Nico for ten minutes? He keeps using undead soldiers to hang decorations and it’s freaking people out.”
Nico looked offended. “They’re efficient.”
“One of them winked at me.”
“That sounds like a you problem.”
Jason rubbed his face. “Why are there decorations at all?”
Will blinked. “Because people care about you?”
The answer came so easily that Jason didn’t know what to do with it.
Will seemed to realize this a second later. His expression softened.
“You know,” he said more gently, “it’s okay to let people celebrate you sometimes.”
Jason glanced away toward the campfire smoke curling into the evening sky.
“I know,” he muttered.
Nico closed his book. “You’re still uncomfortable, though.”
“Obviously.”
“That’s normal too.”
For some reason, hearing Nico say it made the knot in Jason’s chest loosen a little.
Then Leo’s voice echoed across camp:
“ABORT MISSION! THE CAKE IS ON FIRE!”
A beat passed.
“It’s okay!” Leo shouted. “Piper says that’s just the top layer!”
Jason sighed. “There it is.”
The amphitheater looked ridiculous.
Absolutely, undeniably ridiculous.
Streamers in blue, gold, and purple hung from the columns. Tiny glowing lanterns floated overhead. Someone had somehow convinced the Athena cabin to construct an enormous SPQR banner across the stage.
Music played from the Apollo cabin while campers crowded around long tables overflowing with food.
And in the center of all of it stood Leo and Piper wearing matching triumphant expressions.
“Surprise!” Leo yelled.
Jason stared blankly. “I knew about this for twelve hours.”
“Emotionally,” Piper corrected, “it’s still a surprise.”
The crowd cheered anyway.
Jason immediately considered faking his own death.
Percy clapped him hard on the shoulder. “Too late, man. You’re trapped now.”
Frank handed Jason a plate piled dangerously high with barbecue.
Hazel hugged him before he could protest.
Annabeth gave him a small smile that somehow said ‘stop overthinking and enjoy yourself.’
Then Piper stepped forward holding a cake that looked only mildly damaged.
“It was worse earlier,” she admitted.
Leo pointed proudly at the frosting. “The lightning bolts were my idea.”
“They’re melting.”
“Art is temporary.”
Campers laughed.
Jason looked around the amphitheater: the loud voices, the flickering firelight, the people squeezing together on benches and arguing over music and stealing extra dessert.
His people.
His family.
For so much of his life, birthdays had been formal things. Praetors shaking hands. Legion traditions. Distant approval. Expectations wrapped in gold laurel.
This was messy.
Too loud.
Completely out of control.
And somehow, it mattered more.
Piper nudged him lightly. “You okay?”
Jason realized everyone had gone quiet waiting for him to say something.
Which was unfortunate.
He was terrible at speeches.
“…You all are making way too big a deal out of this,” he said finally.
Groans erupted immediately.
“BOOO,” Leo shouted.
“Worst toast ever,” Percy agreed.
But Jason smiled despite himself.
Small and fleeting, but real.
“Still,” he added quietly, “thank you.”
The silence afterward felt warm instead of awkward.
Then Leo immediately ruined it by smashing a paper crown onto Jason’s head.
“ALL HAIL THE BIRTHDAY PRAETOR!”
Jason deadpanned, “I’m going to throw you into the lake.”
“You say that,” Leo replied smugly, “but the crown means you love me.”
Nico actually snorted laughing.
Will looked delighted about that fact alone.
And as the campfire crackled higher into the July night, Jason let the noise wash over him. The laughter, the teasing, the music, the chaos.
For once, he stopped trying to stand apart from it.
For once, he let himself belong.