𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬

          𝔒ctavian didn't care much for anyone. That was a well-known fact that nearly everyone at Camp Jupiter could attest to. Octavian cared for no one but himself.

It wasn't true, but with how he grew up and spoke, people often got the wrong idea of him and Octavian had never bothered to correct them. They didn't want to know him, so he just ended up playing into their ideas.

His parents, and their parents before them, and their parents before them, had all attended Camp Jupiter to train in the legion and work their way up the ranks. With that being the case, as soon as Octavian showed any sign of being a legacy, he suddenly had this overwhelming amount of pressure thrust onto his shoulders to be and do better than the rest of his family. To work harder that they had. They'd all made names for themselves and if he didn't, then he'd be considered a failure to the family legacy.

So, with the need to outdo and work harder than the rest of his family, Octavian had closed himself off from people his own age, to make sure that he rose up to the top and made a name for himself. He wouldn't be defined as a legacy of Apollo who's entire family had gone to Camp Jupiter. No, he'd stand on his own two feet, but it just didn't make him popular with the others.

Not to mention, as soon as he started hearing the voices of the gods, the other kids labelled him as a freak. 

This had always been his way of living and he was comfortable with not having anyone around him. At least that's what he told himself. In reality, the teenager was lonely.

He'd gone to the Wolf House at 11 years old, survived the training and made it to Camp, only to find that it was completely different to anything that he had imagined. Everyone there made friends easily and were able to talk to one another with no problem. Everyone, that was, apart from him.

As much as he tried, Octavian simply could not find a friendship group that he fitted in with. Having had no proper social interaction with kids his age because of his childhood, Octavian was left miles behind those around him. He couldn't talk to them about the football, because he didn't know what that was, or what school trips they'd been on before coming here.

Unable to connect with anyone, he threw himself into his ambition. It didn't take him long, for he had no other distractions to drag his mind away, for Octavian to rise up the ranks in his legion until he was co-centurion of the First Cohort, something that was overshadowed by his parents, who were both centurions of the Cohort on their own.

He hadn't written home about most of his achievements after that.

Finally, he believed he got his lucky break. He was named the Camp's Augur, charged with being a messenger for the gods and reading the signs to determine how things would go for the Camp. He did write home about that, glad the voices in his head were finally put to good use.

Only, it seemed, that Octavian was not the first person in his family to be an Augur. No, his great, great grandfather on his dad's sign was the Augur for Camp back when he was a teen.

So, Octavian aimed for something he knew that no one in his family had got. Praetor. That was the one thing that if he could get, he'd finally be considered the perfect son. Thus, he aimed for the next level higher and continued to block out others around him.

That was until she showed up.

Octavian had never noticed girls before, never allowing himself to have a crush on others or give them a second glance, for he knew that they would never go for him. Not when there were other leaders around who weren't supposedly crazy, like he was. It wasn't like he could help the voices in his head.

When he did get a crush, he normally found that he was last on their list of people who they liked, having heard rumours from others. So, he never let them get close. That was until she caught his eyes, and then (despite his outward annoyance) he begged and pleaded that he would be someone's first choice.

∘☽༓☾∘

Octavian was never one to get much sleep. 

He tried his best, but the voices were loud and rattled around his ears, so he normally only got a few hours. Thus, he was normally up a lot earlier than other people, already heading off to the temples whilst people slept. It was peaceful in the fog and mist, no one around to whisper about him behind his back. He liked the stifling quiet.

He was used to it.

Trudging up the hill, Octavian grabbed a stuffed toy from the pile by the door of the temple of Jupiter, heading towards the alter so that he could read the fluff in the toy's stomach.

Pulling his knife from his belt, Octavian hummed to himself as he cut the toy open and looked through the fluff with confusion, his eyebrows furrowing. It wasn't a helpful reading, instead spouting melodramatics about love and war, which Octavian didn't need to know. This wasn't going to help him achieve his goal of becoming praetor, and proving to his parents that he was worthy of the family name.

"Octavian!" The augur sighed, turning as he watched Reyna enter the table and stride towards him. He chose this time of morning to work up here so that no one would bother him, but Reyna was bothering him. "We've got a new arrival."

"Great."

"Play nice." Reyna glared, before motioning for someone to follow her as Octavian turned back around. "The grumpy person holding the toy and knife is Octavian, the camp's Augur and co-centurion of the First Legion."

"What does that mean?" Octavian stopped putting the stuffing back into the toy's stomach, unsure of how someone could have such a nice voice. He shook it off, placing the toy in the basket to be sewn up, before turning to look at who'd spoken.

"I stab stuffed animals." He looked up, meeting her eyes and pausing. She was beautiful, and Octavian immediately turned. He couldn't think like that. If he thought like that, then he'd get a crush and then he'd spend the next few months questioning every little thing before watching as she fell for one of the others. "Are you done? Can you leave?"

"Fine. We're leaving Octavian." Octavian turned as they walked, shooting one last look at the pair. The girl was following Reyna, listening to the praetor intently as she nodded and asked questions. Reyna shot him a glare. "Don't mind Octavian."

Octavian turned and shook his head, hiding his emotions.

"He's always angry at something or other. Best to steer clear."

They left, and Octavian reached up, clutching at his head as the voices overlapped. He hissed, grabbing onto the stone table top as he tried to ride out the wave of loud voices. Finally they subsided, leaving the teenager exhausted as he sat down and put his head between his knees.

He knew that he should get help for all of this, but he didn't want to. He didn't need anyone else making fun of him, or laughing at his situation, especially because they already thought that he was crazy as was.

Finally, when the world stopped spinning, he managed to grab another toy, destuffing it to read what the fortunes proposed for the camp for the next few weeks. The voices teased him about the girl, who's face he kept envisioning.

"Stop it." Octavian shook his head, going back to the work in front of him. "She's just a pretty girl. That's it. She holds no relevance to this."

∘☽༓☾∘

The next time that Octavian saw the infuriating girl again was when he was supposed to be branding her with her tattoo. She was a daughter of Venus and Octavian was chalking her parentage down to why he couldn't get her out of his head.

"Is it ready?"

"Yeah." Reyna nodded at his reply, before calling the girl forward. She was joining Octavian's legion, and he couldn't decide whether that was a good thing or not. On the one hand, he got to see her every day, but on the other hand, he got to see her every day. He didn't need the constant reminder that she would never choose him. "Now, Octavian will brand you. Octavian?"

The teenager looked up, grabbing the branding iron. She had rolled her sleeve up, and Octavian reached for her arm, holding it gently as if it would break like porcelain. Her hand was trembling, no matter how much she tried to hide it.

"Relax." Octavian muttered under his breath. "It'll hurt for a bit, but it's not too bad."

She nodded, looking away as Octavian quickly branded her skin, before stamping the line to show the one year that she was starting her service for. She flinched, tightening her fist as Octavian's thumb seemed to have a mind of it's own, rubbing back and forth along her forearm.

"See, all done." He muttered, putting the branding iron away as he quickly got the salve out and began to treat and wrap the brand. "In about a week, it'll be fine."

"Thanks Octavian." She smiled at him, and Octavian's heart fluttered. His expression turned cold, before he nodded and backed away. Reyna began to introduce her into the legion, as Octavian focused on getting the thought of her smile out of his head. He didn't need that right now. He needed to focus on becoming a praetor, on proving himself. He didn't need such beautiful distractions.

When Octavian looked back, he watched as she was welcomed into his cohort by the other centurion. He had lost his chance to get close to her, yet again, causing him to turn away. If he had watched for a moment longer, he would have seen that she was looking back to see where he'd gone.

∘☽༓☾∘

Octavian glared at the stuffing in front of him, growing fed up with the lack of progress of becoming praetor. The stuffing was telling him nothing, and his lack of sleep and annoyance about the whole crush situation was finally getting to him.

"Fuck." He leant on the stone worktop, his head bowed as he tried to think of what to do. The voices kept talking over him, becoming louder as he pressed his palm into his ear, trying to calm them and stop the ringing. It was worse than before.

"Octavian?" Faintly he could hear a voice calling for him, before the voices reached a crescendo and his knees gave out, causing the Augur to fall to the floor. "Octavian!"

Faintly, he was aware of cold hands covering his own, helping to block his ears and stopping the sound as Octavian tried to focus on taking deep breaths, blocking out the noise. His head fell forward, hitting what he assumed was his knees.

Finally, they stopped, and Octavian could just hear his panting as he tried to regain himself. That was when he became aware of the smaller, cold hands that were covering his ears. His eyes snapped open, looking up as he came face to face with the girl he'd had a crush on since she'd arrived.

"What-?"

"Are you alright?" She looked worried for him but Octavian couldn't decide whether she was telling the truth or not. "What was that? Is everything okay? Do you need to go the infirmary?"

"I'm fine." Octavian pulled himself upright, forcing himself not to stumble as he took in the look of panic on her face. "Can I help you with something?"

"You weren't at dinner." Octavian paused, thinking of the time. "Or lunch, or breakfast. The others weren't worried, but I was. You shouldn't miss meals."

"I've been busy." Octavian replied.

"Well, I brought you some food." She handed Octavian a package wrapped in foil. "I think I dropped it when I saw you but it should be good. Are you sure you're okay? You went really still and then you just dropped and I was kind of worried."

"Don't be, it's normal." Octavian waved it off, suddenly realising how hungry he was as he jumped up to sit on the altar, opening the package to start eating. The girl sent him a very confused look. "What?"

"Firstly, it's not good if that's normal. You should get some help, because you looked in pain. Second, you're sitting on the altar to Zeus."

"Yup."

"Aren't you scared you're going to get smited?"

"Nope." Octavian shook his head, "and it's not an infirmary thing. I've got the voices of the god in my head and sometimes they like to shout."

"What?"

"You can start calling me crazy now. I'm sure you've heard the stories from the others." Octavian shook his head, finishing devouring the food.

"That's not crazy. That's actually kind of cool. You're like tuned in to Olympus radio." She smiled. "Must be why you're such a good Augur."

Octavian could feel a blush threatening to hit his cheek as he started to smile at her.

"I should go. I've got training." She smiled. "I hope you're feeling better." 

She waved, before heading off as Octavian was left watching her go, his face bright red. He cursed as soon as she left, before shaking his head.

He most definitely had a very, very large crush.

∘☽༓☾∘

"I think it's a first that I've seen you in your office and not the temple." Octavian looked up, an eyebrow cocked as his crush entered the room. "You wear glasses?"

"Yeah."

"Since when?"

"Since I was nine." Octavian grinned as she pulled his glasses off to try them on. "My eyesight's not that bad, it won't be blurry."

"You reveal new things every day." Octavian stood up, abandoning his paper to try and take his glasses back from the girl.

"What can I do for you?" She grinned. "What? What are you smiling for?"

"Nothing, you just look very handsome with glasses." Octavian felt a blush hitting his cheeks.

"What?"

"Maybe I should spell it out plainer." She muttered. "Okay, Octavian, I've got a crush on you and I've been trying to tell you by flirting with you for months, but you've never said anything. So now I'm confessing to you and I feel really awkward."

"What?" Octavian's brain was taking a moment to catch up. "You...like me? Me?"

"Well, you're the only one I've been flirting with for the past three months." She reaffirmed.

"Me? Not Jason or Michael or Dakota? Me?"

"Yes, you." She replied, putting his glasses on her head. "Is it really that hard to fathom?"

"Yeah, actually it is." Octavian nodded. "No one's ever had a crush on me. I'm just the crazy Augur who no one likes."

"I like you." She stepped closer, as Octavian struggled to know how to react. He was someone's first choice? "Can I kiss you?"

"I mean, yeah?" Octavian nodded, still trying to work out how this girl before him, liked him.

She stood on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as she cautiously pressed her lips to his. 

Octavian didn't know what to do or where to put his hands, his brain now too full of the feeling of her lips on his. He had thought that this would never happen, that this was all some dream that he was going to wake up from soon.

But the cold sting of reality never came.

Her smaller hands were now playing with the hair at the nape of his neck as Octavian finally leant further down to her level so that she wasn't reaching as much. His hands wrapped around her waist, as he finally managed to kiss her back. For the first time in a long time, the voices in his head quietened and he smiled against her lips.

His eyes fluttered open, connecting with her own as she smiled up at him in a knowing sort of fashion. Octavian stayed close to her, slightly dazed.

"So, maybe I have a slight crush on you as well." She laughed, and Octavian grinned and blushed.

"After that kiss, I'd hope so." She giggled, to press a swift kiss to his lips. "And see! Definitely you that I like."

"Good."

∘☽༓☾∘

epilogue

"People struggle to talk to you because you walk around looking like you're going to murder someone." Octavian turned, shooting his girlfriend an annoyed glare as she sat on the altar as he did his work. Technically, she was supposed to be elsewhere, but she'd learnt to just bring her paperwork to Octavian so that they could work together in silence.

But their normal conversation had turned into this.

"No I don't. I look perfectly approachable." She cackled, before mimicking his resting bitch face with scarily good accuracy. Octavian sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine, so maybe I don't always look like Mr. Approachable but you managed to talk to me whilst I was like that."

"I had a crush on you, that's different." She put her pen down. "Maybe if you walked around with less stuffed animals ready to be killed then they wouldn't keep glaring."

Octavian sheathed his dagger so that he could lean beside her and continue the conversation.

"I think that the others don't like you cause you also stab toys in front of them and toys are normally associated with good memories."

She pointed a warning finger at him before he could bring up that he had never truly had stuffed animals as a kid. The man sighed, before rolling his eyes and throwing the stuffed animal into the basket beside the woman.

"The other option is dead chickens." He settled between her legs, hands resting on her waist as he cocked an eyebrow. "Do you think that would make me more of a people person?"

"You raise a good point." She conceded as Octavian grinned, leaning down to press a soft kiss to her lips as she hummed. "An annoyingly good point."

"Thank you very much." Octavian pressed another kiss to her lips, as she giggled, before looking over his shoulder and patting his arm.

"You've got visitors, Tav." Octavian's smile immediately dropped, a scowl taking its place at thought of someone interrupting his time with his girl. "Play nice. I mean it. For me?"

"Only for you." She grinned at that, pressing a final kiss to his lips, before she grabbed her paperwork and strolling out, leaving Octavian with a new guy and one of the soldiers in the Fifth Cohort. 

Hiya,

So this was just pure fluff really and Octavian has legit no backstory, so I got to make it up which was fun! I do imagine that he probably had no social experience because he was too busy trying to outdo his family and having him with a soft SO is adorable and probably very good for his mental health.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx