Travis Stoll

I did kind of deserve that.

Upon further observation (aka seeing him in better lightning) it was easy to tell that he looked like shit because it seemed to be that he was feeling like shit.

Walking into his cabin, the two of us stood in the entry room/commons of the Poseidon cabin as Percy leaned against the couch he had in here, arms crossed, staring at the floor. It was hard to tell, but it looked like he was concentrating on not having some sort of emotional reaction.

"Percy, I..." but being at a loss for words wasn't exactly helpful at the moment. "I'm sorry. I..."

"For what?" He asked in return, but I couldn't gauge what it meant. "Did you and your siblings hide a stink bomb in here or something? What's there to be sorry for, I've only been back for a couple hours "

I shrugged.

"I... I think I hurt you." And even though he wasn't looking up at me, I could see Percys expression change. I could see him shift from a saddened state to a more frustrated state, which only confirmed what Clarisse just lectured me about. "I didn't meant to, that wasn't what I was trying to do, but based on how your expression just changed, I'm pretty sure I hurt you last summer by accident when that wasn't my goal. I just..."

"You just what, Travis?" Percy questioned, crossing his arms. "You just decided that one day you didn't want to be my friend or my... my whatever we were anymore or that if I wasn't going to be here all year we couldn't be friends or..."

The son of Poseidon stopped himself, taking a breath.

"I don't get it," he admitted, sounding more overwhelmed by the second. "I've spent the last nine months trying to understand why our trying to remember what happened that would've changed and I don't..."

"No, no, Percy, it wasn't that I didn't want to be your friend, it was just—" and as I'm trying to put this in a better perspective for him, I reach out to put a hand on his shoulder.

But for the first time, he pulled away.

"Please don't..." Percy asked, crossing his arms even tighter and sealing his eyes shut. "If you're going to do the same thing, I can't..."

For a second, I didn't know how to respond.

"No, Percy, I'm not..." I took a breath to steady myself. "I'm sorry that I hurt you, I wasn't thinking about how it would sound because I just... I was afraid."

He let off a half assed smile.

"Of what? Taking a taxi? My parents? Me?"

And while I think the first two were more jokes than not, the last one was not something I was okay with him joking about.

"Losing you," I admitted, which got the son of Poseidon's attention. "It's stupid, I know it's stupid now because a lot of us will die young anyways because we're demigods and that's life, but having a date..."

I took a breath.

"I don't know what Chiron or Mr. D or anyone else has told you about the big prophecy, and like I said, I've never heard it myself, but I just... I know that it says that when you turn 16 something will happen and you'll probably die and I didn't let it bother me until you said you were going home and then I just... I was worried that if you went home you wouldn't actually come back, even though you'd just said that you had plans to visit over Christmas and that if you never came back it could've because you killed yourself and died early or just... I didn't want to hurt you, I just... was rash and didn't want to get hurt, either. I'm sorry."

"So you..." Percy responded, sounding a hair calmer. "You didn't want either of us getting hurt, so you thought that if you just cut ties without any explanation as to why you wanted to cut ties so suddenly, it'd be fine?"

But there was a crucial piece of information missing from this.

"I never claimed to be smart."

He chuckled, which I'd consider a win right now.

"No, you're a fucking idiot sometimes," he agreed. "Not all of the time, just... sometimes."

And I didn't know what else to say, so I put both of my hands out so he could see them. Palms up for him to take, if he wanted.

"I was a very big idiot at that point in time," I agreed, feeling a swell of anxiety bubble inside of me. "can we try again? I promise that I won't get cold feet again."

"You—" Percy looked at my hands and held up his own, but hesitated. "Travis, I can't... I can't do the grey sort of together sort of not thing again. We can be friends or we can be together, but I can't be your friend who you cuddle with and maybe give a kiss. I know we said we were taking it slow, but I can't just be sort of both."

I smiled, even though I wasn't sure he could see it.

"Then can I interest you in a date during breakfast tomorrow?" I suggested, keeping my hands held out because I was hopeful. "I fucked up, so it's on me, okay? You just have to wake up and look pretty, which is never hard for you to do."

He blushed and smiled, taking my hands.

"I missed you." The son of Poseidon admitted, causing my heart to practice it's audition material for the US Gymnastics team.

"Can you look up at me?" I requested softly, squeezing his hands.

Upon him looking up, I could see how tired Percy was. He had bags under his eyes and his eyes were also a little red, like he'd been crying earlier.

Hopefully not alone, but it probably was alone.

"I missed you, too." I returned. "Clarisse gave me a mom lecture on my way here tonight because she noticed that I stopped coming over at the end of last summer and she also basically called me an idiot, so you guys can agree on something for the first time like, ever."

Percy rolled his eyes and smiled.

"Truly shocking," he responded. "Do you want—"

"Big Brother," a new voice in the cabin made me jump. "Where b—"

Looking towards the voice, I saw a six foot tall cyclopes wearing flannel pajama pants and an old white shirt, eye wide as he looked at the two of us.

"Tyson, hey!" But I just was now remembering how Connor had pointed out another kid sitting at Percy's table during dinner. "What's up? I was just uh... talking... with Travis from the Hermes Cabin."

We were still holding hands.

"Big brother has boyfriend?" Percy's half brother, who I assumed was named Tyson, asked a very good question.

But it was apparently rhetorical, because the cyclopes didn't wait for an answer from either of us.

"Cool!" He continued and smiled at me. "Hi, Travis from Hermes Cabin! I did not know that Big Brother had boyfriend. I am Tyson. Do you or brother know where um... blanket! Where blankets is?"

"Oh, yeah. I thought there was already one on your bed," Percy said as he let go of one of my hands to grab the blanket from the couch behind him and threw it to his little brother. "there. Breakfast is at 9 tomorrow, but I might be busy. You remember how to get to the pavilion?"

Nodding his head, Tyson told Percy that he remembered how to get to the cafeteria and said goodnight, going into his own room, which was insane to think that Percy and Tyson get their own rooms.

Every cabin has a few rooms that have a few bunks each, usually to keep kids or similar ages together or some cabins split by gender, just depending on what's most logical for their cabin size (cabin 11 is split by age, but we have so many kids that it really doesn't mean much), but since it's just Percy and Tyson they can both have a room.

Lucky bastards (I say as if I probably won't spend the night here most nights this summer).

"Sorry, I'm... not used to having another sibling here." Percy explained to me, taking a breath. "He's nice, we went to school together so we're not strangers or anything, I just... feel weird about it, I don't know."

"It's alright, it's only been a day," I reminded him, squeezing his hand. "a long day, it seems like, but a day. You'll get used to it. Do you want to cuddle and tell me about all of the cool shit I missed this year because we still don't have Internet here?"

He smiled again.

"You know me so well."

•••
Percy Jackson

I missed Travis a lot.

It was going to be hard to not tell him about everything going on with Luke and Kronos and whatever, but I also can't tell Grover about that, so it's not like I'm just hiding it from certain people that I'm close to at camp. It's everyone.

Luckily, we had a lot of others things we could talk about.

"Are you feeling alright?" Travis asked as I laid across the top of him like he was a body pillow. "You seemed kind of out of it at the meeting, I was worried. I tried to say hi, but couldn't get your attention."

I just shrugged.

"I'm alright at the moment— happy that you were just an idiot last summer and not that you didn't want to hang out ever again." I figured. "Everything else has just been a lot—realizing that Grover's in danger and we have a mental link. Bullies at school turning into giants and trying to kill us. Learning Tyson was a cyclopes. Arguing with Annabeth about him coming to camp. Kids being asses once we got here and they realized he was technically my half brother. By the time the meeting started I was just... I was anxious because you and Annabeth and Clarisse would be in the meeting and I had a small panic attack right before it, dissociated through most of the meeting, and then came back here and finished the panic attack."

Frowning, Travis moved the hair from my face.

"I'm sorry that kids were shitty here," he apologized. "and that I made you anxious. Would a kiss on the forehead make it a little better?"

I couldn't help but smile.

"It would make it a little better." I agreed as Travis placed his lips ever so gently against the top of my forehead. "but you want to know what would make it a lot better?"

"What would make it a lot better?"

I smiled again, lifting my head just enough to be a little closer to his face.

"A kiss on the lips," I informed the slightly older and lankier demigod with a grin that I knew he loved to see. "If that would be okay, of course."

Rolling his eyes, Conner just smiled and closed the gap.

"And turn down a kiss from the the most beautiful person I know? I would have to be insane."

I may have blushed.

"I feel like that's a lie, but I'll take it." I insisted. "I am many things, Travis Stoll— but I don't know if I'd go as far as saying that I'm the most beautiful person you know. Haven't you like, met Aphrodite?"

"I've seen her, we've never met, and she's a goddess, so she doesn't count," he rebuddled and I felt his hands run down by spine and brush against one of my pant pockets. "Plus, beauty is subjective, so it's not even a lie because it can't be a lie if it's subjective."

Sighing, I rolled my eyes.

"Whatever you say, Travis," I gave in. "You know you talk a lot for somebody who should be kissing a lot right now, right?"

He shrugged.

"What can I say? It's a good thievery technique. If you're busy looking at lips—"

"Then I won't notice that you tried to see if I had anything in my back pockets?" I finished his sentence. "Just give me a kiss."

The son of Hermes rolled his eyes and pulled his lips back into that devious smirk that I'd become quite fond of last summer over the nights spent alone in my cabin with Travis.

"Whatever you want, Jackie-boy."

I smiled as Travis and I shared our first kiss of the summer, trying to let it wash away my worries from the last nine months.

It didn't get rid of all of them, but it got rid of a few, which seemed like a good start.

Like it was with Gabe, it would be hard to fully trust Travis again this summer.

After all, he seems genuine and he's been very persistent about everything he's told me tonight. It's nice to know that I still have somebody here, because I've never known where I actually stand with Annabeth, and I'm still feeling conflicted about Tyson being my brother.

At least he's not homophobic.

I knew that already because we both beat up a kid towards the start of the year for being homophobic, but it was a nice reminder.

Back to Travis, though, as genuine as he seems to be, it also seemed genuine last summer and he pulled the rug out from underneath me in the blink of an eye at the end of summer like it wasn't something we could've talked about before then.

Not to say that I'm the best at talking about things— unless I'm actively having a breakdown, I'm really shitty at it, but still.

When I asked if things were okay between us with him, he could've said no.

Now I just have to trust him, though. So we'll see how that goes.

It's nice to have somebody, at least. Or, somebody that doesn't talk at the level of a kindergartener in the body of a large teenager.

I'm hoping to leave in the next day or two to find Grover anyways, quest or no. I zoned out when the new guy who's taking Chiron's spot introduced himself so I don't know how willing he'd be to let me go on a quest, but regardless of what I'm permitted to do, I'm going.

What are they going to do? Kick me out.

Mr. D wouldn't dream of it. He'd never say it to anyone else because he likes to pretend he's a heartless bastard, but because I'm Gabe's kid, he's weirdly protective of me.

Which means I'm not going to him for a quest because the god would never give it to me.

My dream that night was uncalled for.

"Hm?" Grover said as he must've somehow sensed I'd entered the fucked up reality of demigod dreaming. "Percy! Hi! Oh my gods, are you okay? Did you make it camp? You weren't attacked again, were you? I should've been back by now to make sure you got back safe, I'm sorry."

I just smiled, having forgotten how worried Grover can get.

"I made it camp," I promised, trying to walk closer to him. "it was a weird first day back, but I'm back. I have to figure out how or if they'll let me have a quest. Chiron isn't here right now, some weird dude is subbing for him until... I don't really know when, I zoned out during the meeting."

"Chiron... is gone? Why? Is camp okay?"

Trying to think of the best way to catch Grover out without him freaking out even worse, I only managed a shrug.

"Outside of the border being down right now, I think the camp itself is fine," I reasoned. "Somebody poisoned Thalia's Tree, we don't know who. I only got here this afternoon, so I'm still figuring stuff out because people are either frantic, mean, or don't like me. All I know outside of that is that Chiron and the like, Demeter and Apollo cabins weren't able to heal the tree. I think the satyrs are trying now?"

"Somebody..."

Grover balled his fists, a sign of aggression he almost never used but I think picked up from living with me.

He looked towards the mouth of the cave he was in, thinking to himself as if he knew who poisoned the tree or who could heal it.

And considering the fact that I know him and Luke haven't spoken since we all left camp last summer, the former seemed doubtful. The only person I could think of that Grover would think of to heal the tree is also rumored to be dead, so maybe he's just staring into the distance. I couldn't tell since I couldn't see that far.

"For that person's sake, I really hope we never run into them," Grover expressed, stifling out a breath. "I might have idea, though. Where I am right now, I— outside of the numbers I gave you, I don't have any other leads, but there's a fleece blanket thing that I can see from where I am and I could be too optimistic considering the fact that I'm currently in a wedding dress to get married to a literal cyclopes, but if that's the Golden Fleece..."

Non-dream me distantly felt Travis adjust to rest his hand on my back, causing me to smile very lazily and adjust my head to be more comfortable as a warm surge passed through me that sometimes happens when Travis and I hang out and are affectionate.

For a moment, Grover looked overwhelmed. Stunted.

"Woah." My best friend out both of his hands out in front of him, but there was nothing to stop. He was standing in the middle of the cave, and the wall was like 10 feet behind him. "For Pan's pipes, pause. What was that?"

"What was what?"

He placed a hand on his back.

"I... felt a hand on my back," Grover explained. "but just for a second, like it was... I don't know. You're asleep right now, right?"

Nodding my head, I confirmed that I was asleep.

"So there's not like, anyone else around you, right?" He followed up, which would relieve a slightly different answer. "I know that sometimes in mental links you can sense what the other person feels, and usually that's emotional, but every once in a while I've heard that you can feel physical sensations. But you're asleep, so it's not you, right?"

"Well, I... am asleep." I reminded my best friend who I know for a fact is pansexual because he said so last summer. So he can't be homophobic because he wasn't homophobic last year and people usually don't become homophobic. "but there... Might... Be somebody else here besides me.'

Am I really doing this in a dream?

"Might?" But if nothing else, I'm really good at dressing Grover out. "Might as in you pissed Clarisse off and she vowed to kill you in your sleep might, or might as in you know somebody is in your room and they're sleeping in close enough proximity to accidentally touch you?"

I guess I am.

"The uh... second one?" I figured, which only got his jaw to drop. "I'm sorry! I didn't know how to bring it up and I was really nervous so I just... didn't. It's weird, I'll tell you about it when I see you in person, okay?"

"You better!" My best friend insisted. "I have a lot of questions, but they'll have to wait until you get here. Which, if you tell them about the golden fleece, they should issue you a quest in like three seconds. So you should do that like... tomorrow. Because otherwise I'm going to become a bride at a very young age and I don't think you have a speech written or a tux to wear as my best man."

"Because I want to be here when my best friend is MIA," I responded. "but where is the golden fleece? Where are you?"

"Just..." Grover paused. "I don't know what kind of numbers they are— definitely not house numbers, but the numbers I gave you... I think they're some sort of location? The Fleece is here. I can see it. Kind of."

"Kind of?"

"They don't need to know the kind of part."

This goat might give me an aneurysm sooner rather than later.

I still miss him, but sometimes he's really good at making me stressed and worried.

This last month has been a good example of that.

"I— yeah, of course, I'm leaving to figure it out whether or not they give me a quest." I promised Grover, who seemed worried by that idea. "Don't worry, I'll ask for a quest or a rescue mission first— as annoying as she is, Annabeth knows a lot about monsters and whatever so she's always useful on a quest."

"Okay, good, because otherwise we'll both get in trouble, and I personally don't want to deal with that. I like, just got on Mr. D's good side. That's no easy feat."

"But I'm... on his good side."

"Yeah, but you're basically his grandkid, that's different."

I sighed.

"Don't remind me."

Grover smiled.

"I won't. You should get some actual sleep, though. See you soon?"

"Not soon enough." I agreed, allowing myself to relax enough to slip out of the dream and into a deeper sleep.

I wonder if Travis would go on a quest.

I wonder if he also has enough of a hatred or annoyance or even indifference towards the gods to still like me if he did. I've been afraid to bring it up.

But maybe I should. Maybe over breakfast tomorrow it'll somehow come up and I'll ask him about it, when there aren't a bunch of other people possibly overhearing our conversation.

It'll make for an interesting meal if he doesn't hold some sort of anger or indifference towards our shitty ass parents, but hopefully he does.

Relaxing into Travis' touch, I just tried not to think about it.

I missed him a lot.