Chapter Text
"Sometimes love isn't fireworks,
Sometimes love just comes softly."
~ Janette Oke
It was Saturday night, and the Aphrodite kids were only too happy to translate those words into one thing: gossip night.
It had become something of a tradition in their cabin after the whole, ya know, Gaea thing. They would gather around, gooey face masks applied and hair rolled into large curlers and would share their founded stories of the week.
And as much as Mitchell tried to resist some of the more obvious stereotypes of his parentage, it was hard when his siblings came to the table with such juicy stories and backable facts.
“Travis and Katie snuck out on Wednesday after lights out.” Lacy informed them, a giggle in her voice, “Miranda said she caught them making out in the strawberry fields.”
Micah smirked and leaned in, “I heard Connor Stoll’s got a new crush, but no one can guess who it is.”
“Isn’t that where we come in?” Stefan laughed, “Anyways, I thought he wasn’t over that bad breakup with that Athena kid?”
“Apparently he is,” Mitchell muttered over the top of his magazine. Sophia was running her fingers through his hair and he was close to passing out if she kept it up. “Anyone heard anything on the Percy and Annabeth front?”
Drew sighed, the filing of her nails stopping for a moment. “No one’s heard much since they went away to New Rome. Annabeth irised her siblings yesterday but it was dead boring, all about her classes and books.”
“Where’s Piper?” Sabrina, the youngest of them at nine, asked. Scarlett was attempting to teach her to french braid and, from the look of the tangled mess at Lacy’s neck, it wasn’t going well.
“Hanging out with Jason,” Mitchell answered, flipping through the pages on some advice article. Moral problems were so annoying. “How are they doing, anyway?”
“From the way she’s always ditching us to hang out with him, well enough,” Sebastian muttered, pulling his comforter around himself. A few of them shot him annoyed looks, but no one corrected him.
Like clockwork, the absence of chatter only brought one topic.
“So...” Stefan dragged out before grinning sharply, “How’s Nico and Will doin’?”
The effect was almost instantaneous. Most of them groaned, a few of them squealed, and others, like Sophia, only groaned and buried their face in a pillow.
Because, as they all perfectly knew, Will and Nico were perfect for each other. Will was the last person Nico talked to every night (they had spies, and they knew everything). They surprised each other with their favorite treats (fruity Twizzlers and McDonald's), and they could always tell what kind of mood the other was in, just by the first few words in their sentence. Nico knew how Will preferred his omelets and the fact that Will could eat breakfast for every meal. Will knew Nico's favorite firework.
But they are absolutely, totally, completely not dating.
And the Aphrodite cabin is having none of that.
“Will buys Nico special mythomagic cards.” Stefan revealed dramatically, a bit proud. “He orders them online .”
“They make each other smores.” Drew challenged, leaning in with a devilish look on her face. “And they’ve cooked for each other.”
“They have sleepovers.” Lacy growled, “Every Friday. And all they do is sleep.” A few of her siblings huffed in frustration but waited for more.
“Last week, Will literally peeled Nico’s pants off him.” Mitchell declared nonchalantly after a long moment. “He was bleeding from his thigh and they were too tight to roll up.”
Groans were heard from all around the cabin, and Mitchell grinned at the clear sign of his victory.
“We need to do something about this.” Sophia paused in painting her nails and began to wave her hand around.
“I think everyone knows that, Sophia.” Sebastian rolled his eyes, carefully applying a thin coat of polish to his black-tipped manicure. Mitchell eyed him, a weak desire to warn him not to get the paint on his blanket, but ignored it.
Mitchell cut them off before they could start bickering, “It’s the what we’re gonna do that’s the problem.” They sat there for a moment, with only some pop album on repeat to fill the silence.
The wooden steps outside their cabin began to creak and they all jumped up - knowing that any moment Piper would barge in and announce lights out.
Mitchell helped Sabrina quickly untangle Lacy’s hair before helping them both into bed. He wordlessly handed a damp towel to Drew, gesturing towards her face mask. He turned back to his bunk only to step for a moment to frown at Stefan and Scarlett, who were pressing their ears to the wooden door. Piper and Jason, still saying goodbye on the porch, could be heard through only soft giggles and hushed whispers.
He quickly shooed them away and herded them towards their bunks. He heard Sebastian cursing from the direction of the bathroom, unsuccessfully trying to wash the black polish from his blanket that he had spilled in his rush to get up. Mitchell laughed under his breath, stopping to smooth Lacy’s ponytail back from her face (it was always getting caught in her braces), before finally retreating to bed himself.
It was a shining, clear summer afternoon when the challenge began.
Well, the build-up to the challenge had begun long ago, starting with a dirty Hawaiian shirt and Will’s greased up face, but it truly, really began during lunch on a particularly beautiful June afternoon.
Spaghetti was always a difficult meal at Camp Half-Blood. Noodles were slurped, meatballs were thrown, and garlic was blown in faces. Usually, the Hermes cabin managed to cause an event that would lead to a ban on the food until someone forgot about said ban and it was served again, causing a never-ending cycle of chunky tomato sauce and slimy pasta.
Anyways, it was lunchtime and a majority of the Aphrodite cabin was spending it glaring at table thirteen.
Stefan chewed his food, a pinched and angry look on his face, and looked more pissed off than a person eating a brownie should ever be.
“What?” Mitchell questioned, the overall negative energy of his siblings sorta bringing him down.
Scarlett sighed loudly and subtly nudged (not that of his siblings could ever do anything subtly) his attention towards the other side of the Mess Hall. Mitchell looked over, not really surprised at what was causing his cabins sour mood.
Will Solace, head medic and counselor of the Apollo cabin, already sitting close to the son of Hades, tsked and wiped Nico’s tomato streaked cheek with the end of his sleeve. Nico continued talking through the interruption, only tipping his face to the side so Will could get all the mess. Jason continued chewing through his lunch as if what happened was a regular occurrence.
Lacy groaned from her folded arms, “We cannot let this go on any longer. It's basically our duty to get them together.”
“Our birthright. ” Stefan agreed, taking a long drink of his smoothie.
“Well, what’s our plan?” Lacy questioned through a bite of her garlic bread. Drew scowled at her and, seeing this, Lacy snapped her jaw close and attempted to chew a bit more subtly.
The table was abnormally silent for a long minute before Mitchell, already the tallest of them all, stood to gather their wandering attention. “I’m announcing a meeting in the Aphrodite cabin before sparing rehearsal -”
“Practice.” Asher corrected, not looking up from his meal.
Mitchell rolled his eyes, “Sparring practice. Don't be late. And -” He cast a look over his shoulder towards the Zeus table, “ Don't tell Piper.”
Sabrina frowned, “Why not? She’s our head counselor, shouldn’t she be there for any meetings we have?”
Scarlett leaned in, flashing her dangerous grin. “It’s a special meeting. Anyways, don’t you want Nico and Will to fall in love?”
“Well…” Sabrina swallowed and ducked her head a bit, “Yes, of course, but…”
“So you won’t say a word.” Sebastian joined in and wasn’t that a dangerous team, Sebastian and Scarlett. Mitchell supposed he should be grateful that more than often, they were trying to rip each other’s hair out.
“Cut it out,” Mitchell instructed, before turning back to Sabrina, who looked close to crying. He placed his hand on her shoulder, gently, and smiled nicely. “We just think it would be better to figure out the details before presenting to Piper. We don’t want to get her all excited and then it turns out not to work out. Does that sound alright?”
Sabrina nodded after a second, looking a bit more secure now. She opened her mouth to respond but was very rudely cut off by flying meatball slapping Mitchell’s cheek and splattering sauce across his thin t-shirt.
Mitchell scowled, wiping the tomato chunks off his face with his finger and flicking it to the ground. “ Hermes kids.” He muttered in distaste, shooting a quick glare to the grinning Stoll brothers, before turning away from their rowdy laughter and standing from the table. “C’mon Cabin Ten, we have a meeting to plan.” He stood, ignoring the meatball that dropped from his lap to the floor, and tried to escape the mess hall with at least most of his dignity.
“What do you have planned?” Seb asked, coming up beside him. He wrinkled his nose and flicked a meat chunk from Mitchell’s shoulder, kindly ignoring the mess covering his face. Drew frowned at him, a bit mean, but wordlessly passed him a stack of napkins. Mitchell wanted to instinctively wince away from the anger in her eyes, his mind so trained to shield himself from her, but resisted, instead taking the napkins with a grateful smile. She flicked her angry eyes over to the Hermes table, and Mitchell has never once been so happy he didn’t belong to Cabin Eleven.
“You’ll have to see.” Mitchell turned back to Seb, shooting him a sharp grin, “But, knowing our cabin, I think it just might work.”
Sebastian hummed, and Mitchell knew he had already lost the other boy's attention from the way Sebastian’s eyes were lingering on the new Demeter kid.
Mitchell sighed, not really that bothered. Instead, he returned to the cabin and slipped on a new t-shirt, and began readying his plan.
“I am proposing a challenge.” Mitchell opened with once they were all gathered, clapping his hands together. His siblings, always distracted, gave them their precious attention for a moment and quieted down so he could speak.
“What kind of challenge?” Lacy spoke up.
Mitchell turned to her and began his rehearsed speech. “Will Solace and Nico di Angelo are perfect for each other. We can all agree on that.” He paused, letting his siblings nod and murmur in agreement. “They just don’t realize it. So, that’s where we come in. We’ve played matchmaker before but this time…” Mitchell stopped, leaving his sentence to hang as his siblings stared at him with wide eyes. He continued, “The stakes are higher. So, the prize is as well.” His siblings hardly dared to breathe. “Whoever gets them together,” Mitchell told them, gravity in his voice, “Gets to keep the poster.”
There were a few gasps heard throughout the cabin, and all of their eyes darted towards the other side of the cabin. “If you can successfully get Will Solace and Nico di Angelo together by the end of the summer, with proof that it was your doing, you get to keep her.” Mitchell continued, going over to rest a careful hand next to the glossy paper.
“But Mitchell...it’s…” Stefan stood slowly on wobbly legs, “It’s…”
“2002, Destiny’s Child World Tour. Signed, with love, by our holy queen, Beyoncé.” Mitchell’s eyes darted hungrily over the poster, “It has been passed down, generation by generation throughout the Aphrodite cabin. But, the case has gone grave and it’s a sacrifice we need to make.”
Many nodded with serious expressions, and others looked close to tears. Scarlett, the most dramatic out of all of them, wiped at her cheeks and held down a sob.
“By the end of the summer?” Lacy questioned, sounding bewildered, “But that’s only a little more than a month away!”
“Rules?” Drew stood up, her shoulder back and her eyes confident.
“Don't let anyone find out.” He instructed, “No big spectacles that’ll get Chiron involved. No asking mom for help. They must be together by the end of summer. I don’t care if you work in groups, but remember, there’s only one poster.”
“What about the matchmaker award?” Sophia questioned, tucking her knees under her chin.
Mitchell nodded, “Good point. If you win, you’ll be rewarded as the matchmaker of the year. Does everyone agree?”
Mitchell smiled through the sea of enthusiastic nods, “Good. Now, let’s get these two together.” A few of them cheered and smiled, a few of them grinned, and a few, such as Stefan and Scarlett, were already drawing up plans.
No one really saw Aphrodite as the competitive cabin. They weren’t nearly as bad as the Nike kids or Ares kids, but people seem to forget that their mother's actions - the action of offering such an irresistible gift that she knew the poor guy wouldn’t be able to resist, and the fact she knew the consequences of such an agreement - had sparked an entire war.
Mitchell was reminded of that, of that streak of competition and desire to the best, as he stared over the heads of his siblings.
Mitchell, probably more than the average Aphrodite kid, knew how crazy his siblings could be. Maybe it was the time Scarlett downright refused to leave their cabin for a month after a Hermes skin-dying prank gone wrong, or the time Stefan legit, sobbing cried over a scuffed pair of Marc Jacob boots for more than an hour. Either way, Mitchell was aware and familiar with his cabin’s unique crazy.
So when his sister’s screech, trademarked by her high throaty sound, broke out across the hill, Mitchell calmly stood from the Arts and Crafts table, brushed as much of the glitter off his hands as possible, and walked over to the sound. She was quite easy to spot, as was Sebastian, who usually liked to watch the world burn, and it was easy to spot how uncharacteristic his position was. Seb was standing in front of her with his arms stretched far out, clearly trying to calm her down. Mitchell quickened his steps a bit, coming close just in time to hear an unfamiliar voice speaking up from behind Sebastian.
“Aw, did you break a nail, sweetheart ?” One of the Hermes kids grinned with sarcasm in his voice, “Want me to kiss it better, darlin’ ?”
“I'm going to stab you,” Scarlett growled viciously, throwing herself forward, and Mitchell went to grab one of her flailing arms, with Seb following his movement, until they were both holding her back. Her dark curls bounced off her shoulders as she fought to get free from her brother's arms, “You broke my fucking La Prairie lipstick! That tube is worth more than your life! ”
Mitchell and Seb both stopped, meeting each other's surprised looks, their arms loosening up a bit. “He did what?” Seb asked, his voice dark. “I thought he messed up your hair. ”
“ He did. ” She growled, “And he also crushed my tube of lipstick! It was Cellular Luxe! Limited Edition Rose Gold tube!” Scarlett’s face grew red at the Hermes’ boys laughter, not in emotion, but in hot anger.
Seb and Mitchell shared a short look with each other, and then with Scarlett, before they both released her arms.
“Don't commit homicide!” Seb yelled after her, wincing with a grin at the slap of her palm against the jerk’s face.
“Think Asher can fix it?” Mitchell questioned, bending down to scoop up the crushed tub, cradling the soft makeup carefully.
Seb shot it a glance, “Eh, he’s fixed worst. All it needs is some careful handling and heat. But let her have it.” They both shot matching grins over to their sister, “It’s good to remind them every once in a while that the Aphrodite cabin can kick ass.”
Mitchell winced at the loud curse and turned away - he didn’t need to watch to know that his sister would only walk away with bruised knuckles and an inflated ego.
Mitchell gasped, grabbing onto Seb’s shoulder, “Look!”
Seb spun around, clenching onto Mitchell’s arm in excitement, “Oh gods...is it?”
A laugh echoed across the hill and they both clenched up in excitement; Mitchell was shaking slightly. Nico and Will, drenched entirely from the tips of their limp hair that hung in their face to their feet that left muddy prints in the grass, were walking slowly, with Will’s arm slung around Nico’s shoulders as they trudged up the earth. They were talking lowly, seeming only to notice each other, until they were almost face-to-face with Mitchell and Seb.
“Oh,” Will grinned at them in slightly surprise, “Hey Mitchell, Sebastian, what’s up?”
Sebastian, always the most composed of them, grinned lowly and suggestively, “What have you two both been up too?”
“Went swimming.” Will answered, shifting his arm around Nico’s neck, “Turns out Nico hasn’t been in years!” Will grinned, all laughter and sunlight, and Nico spared a small smile as well.
“That sounds fun.” Mitchell answered, his voice too high. He tried again, this time his voice closer to its normal sound. “Do you guys have any later plans?”
“Probably gonna hit the Stolls up for a late lunch.” Will grinned, bumping his hip against Nico’s. “I swear I could hear this one’s stomach rumbling for miles.”
“I would have been happy with a warm soda and candy bar,” Nico muttered, his eyes on the ground.
Will made a noise like that sentence physically hurt him. “Do you have any idea-”
“Well, boys!” Sebastian interrupted with a wide grin on his face. “I do believe my dear sister is near making that poor Hermes boy infertile with all her crotch shots, so Mitchell and I better reel her in.”
Seb grabbed at his shoulder, pulling him away before Mitchell could respond to his comment.
Mitchell shook his head, clearing it of all the thoughts running and bumping through his mind. “C’mon, Arts & Crafts is almost over, and dinner’s in an hour. Let’s grab the kids.” They both winced at a particularly bad sounding slap. “And Scarlett.”
It took a crowd, and the luring of a particularly inspiring Naked palette, to get Scarlett to finally separate from whats-his-name, and it wasn’t before long he, along with most of his cabin, was heaving for breath while they waited for Piper to dismiss them.
Piper frowned at her siblings, her countings apparently coming up short, “Where’s everyone else?” She squinted over them, “Uh, Lacy and Stefan? Where are they?”
Their siblings exchanged uneasy looks, avoiding her eyes, and kept their lips pressed together. Mitchell sighed, inaudible to her from where he was standing. He really wasn’t in the mood for this.
“Well?” Piper questioned, looking impatient, “They had to have told somebody before they went out, right?” She pushed a hand through her hair, “C’mon, they’re not in huge trouble, I just want to find them so we can go to dinner, alright?”
No one spoke up, and Mitchell shifted his weight. He knew one of them was bound to know, probably Drew who knew everything , but he knew with the same conviction that no one was going to –
“They’re at the camp store!” Sabrina blurted out
Sighs, laced with annoyance and frustration, rang out following her confession, and more than one sharp glare was directed towards her.
Piper looked confused, “The camp store? Why are they there? It’s not open again until after dinner.”
The quiet returned, and this time Sabrina, who was being glared at from every direction, wasn’t talking.
Piper sighed, “Alright. Scarlett, can you lead them towards the Mess Hall?” Mitchell frowned, already knowing from experience that Scarlett was bound to getting power crazy at even the smallest opportunities. Micah, or Asher, would have been a much better choice. Piper continued, “Mitchell, come with me.”
He only briefly gave her a surprised look before following her out of the cabin. It was hot today, but the nice breeze made up for it. He tried to match her long, fast strides and only looked back to glance at his siblings once.
“Uh, next time,” He began with his voice pitched low, “Try not to put Scarlett in charge.” He winced, not wanting to offend her.
She slowed down a bit, letting him catch up to her. “Why?” She questioned, “She’s the oldest after you, Drew and I.”
Mitchell gestured behind him, where Scarlett was making their siblings line up in the sorted single file line, probably just because she could. “She gets, uh, overwhelmed. With being in charge.”
Piper observed the scene with slightly wide eyes, “Oh. Yeah, okay. I uh, I didn’t know.”
“You couldn’t have,” Mitchell answered lightly, knowing full well that uh, yeah she could, if she’d ever bother to hang out with them once in a while. Sure, they were crazy and loud and lovesick and dangerous, but hell, they were family and family was all that a lot of those kids have.
Piper didn’t answer, and Mitchell wondered if she was thinking about that or is she’d already dropped the topic out of her mind, leaving only a simple little ‘Don’t leave Scarlett in charge’ note behind.
“Up here.” Mitchell broke the silence, knowing that she probably knew where the camp store was but just wanting to break the silence.
“Is that…” He trailed off, not really sure. Piper huffed a breath of air and marched up the hill, her energy revived.
“What are you doing?” Piper’s incredulous voice broke through their sibling’s steady work. Mitchell, hot on her heels, glared at both of them with an anger that matched an Ares kid.
Lacy and Stefan both froze and looked up with a wince.
“Nothing!” Lacy attempted, standing. She quickly shoved the long chain in her hands behind her back as if doing so could keep them from not noticing it.
“What’s going on?” Piper tried again, her eyes growing a bit concerned at the hammer in Stefan’s hands. “Tell us what you’re doing.” This time Piper’s voice was laced with a thick amount of charmspeak. But their siblings, so used to resisting the magic, only shook their heads straight and clasped their lips together.
“Lacy. Stefan.” Mitchell’s voice was as hard as stone and nothing like the sweet, stickiness of Piper’s, “Tell. Me.”
“We...” Stefan gave Mitchell a desperate look, “ Okay, we might have locked them in the camp store.” Stefan winced and held up his hands, “But they’ve only been in there for a few hours!”
“Who?” Piper demanded, rushing forward. She had the keys in her extended hand after only a second and she began to unlock the door before anyone of them could stop her.
“No!” Lacy screamed, her voice shrill and pitched. She dove forward, almost succeeding in pushing Piper to the side, but sliding by when Piper easily stepped back. She threw the door open, expecting the captive campers, whoever they were, to come stumbling out after a moment or two. A few moments turned into a minute, and soon Piper was shooting confused looks towards the darkened room. She glanced back at them, a bit unsure now, before taking a hesitant step forward. Mitchell, shooting a stern look towards his siblings, followed her lead.
Piper flipped the lights on, her hand instinctively wanting to edge towards her knife. Her arm dropped at the sight of the room, confusion filling her annoyance for a moment.
“What…?” She questioned, spinning to stare at Mitchell. “What’s going on?”
“Shh!” Lacy instructed, grabbing Piper’s arm to pull her forward. Stefan turned the lights off and, as quiet as possible, slowly closed the door after them. Lacy pulled Piper along for a few more moments before releasing; shooting only worried looks towards the closed door.
“What’s going on?” Piper repeated, pulling her arm back so she could cross them across her chest.
Mitchell sighed, stepping forward. “It’s…my fault.”
“No, no!” Stefan blocked him from taking another step, “You are not taking credit for this! If they get together Lacy and I win!”
He rolled his eyes, “I’m only telling her the bet was my idea.”
Stefan paused, “Oh.” He simply responded, stepping back to stand with Lacy. “Carry on.”
“What bet?” Piper demanded, her hands now on her hips.
“We have a bet.” Mitchell stated simply, “More like a challenge really. Whoever gets Will and Nico together by the end of the summer wins and gets to keep the poster.”
Piper thought for a moment. “That old Beyoncé poster?” She questioned, cocking her head to the side.
A little bit of Mitchell died right then. “Destiny’s Child. And it’s signed. ” He tried to correct her nicely, “And they get the glory of being the best matchmaker for an entire year.”
“You get a medal,” Lacy added helpfully.
“So you guys locked them in the camp store together?” Piper asked, looking much less angry. She looked more confused than anything, honestly.
“We didn’t expect them to fall asleep!” Lacy answered, her head falling onto Stefan’s shoulder, who shrugged her off. “They were supposed to face their emotions and maybe have a deep talk and fall in love !”
“Keep your voice down,” Mitchell instructed before glancing back to Piper. “So?”
“So?” She repeated with a lifted eyebrow
“Are you gonna make us stop?”
Piper watched them, and Lacy and Stefan shifted uncomfortably. “No.” She finally decided, earning a sigh of relief from the two. “ But I think maybe some ground rules should be set. Like no locking them in dark places for the night. What if Will was needed for the infirmary and no one knew where he was?”
Lacy dug the edge of her shoe into the dirt and Stefan hung his head. “That sounds okay.” Mitchell agreed, “I’ll come up with a few more obvious ones and tell the rest. Okay?”
Piper shrugged, “Okay. Just...don't go overboard.”
Mitchell wanted to shake his head, saying it was no use as ‘going overboard’ was a given. But even he knew when they were walking on thin ice, so instead he offered to watch Lacy and Stefan and take care of the two sleeping campers in the store if she wanted to go catch dinner. She agreed, a little too quickly, and shot off towards the Mess Hall where Jason was probably waiting.
“Well, she was in a hurry to get out of here,” Stefan remarked, bending down to collect his tools, probably nicked from the Hephaestus cabin from the looks of them.
Mitchell shot him an annoyed look, grabbing one of the tools to inspect it for the Cabin Nine insignia. “She’s letting you off easy, I wouldn’t be too eager to bad mouth her so quickly.” He ran his thumb over the imprinted ‘9’ badge, “And where did you get these tools?”
Stefan rolled his eyes, passing a long roll of rope over to Lacy, and Mitchell was horrified to think about the plans they had for this night. “Don’t worry dad, we didn’t steal them. I did a few, uh, favors for Shane one time and he owed me.”
Mitchell made a disgusted face and almost wanted to cover Lacy’s ears. “I really, really don’t want to know.”
“What can I say, I’m dedicated to the cause.” Stefan grinned
“What a saint,” Lacy remarked dryly, pushing her hair from her face.
Mitchell shook his head, mostly to hide his emerging grin. “C’mon, we’ve got to wake the lovebirds up soon if they don’t want to miss dinner.”
“No!” Lacy gasped, “Please, just one more hour, you have no idea how incredibly hard it was to lure them in there!”
Mitchell rolled his eyes, “I’m waking them up, and you’re both helping me.”
They groaned but followed him, albeit slowly and dragging their feet through the grass.
“You’re gonna ruin your shoes.” He sing-songed out to them, grinning when they both immediately began picking up their feet.
Mitchell sighed, pulling away the chain and lock and handing them off to Lacy. “Hide that.” He ordered, “They don’t need to know that two crazy Aphrodite kids locked them in.” He pushed open the door, as quiet as the forever creaky door could be, and flipped the lights on.
Nico and Will, curled tightly in one corner, shielding themselves away from the lights without waking up. Will, wrapped up in Nico’s arms, turned over slightly so his face was buried in the other boy’s dark shirt. Nico only tightened his arms around Will and let out a small noise of sleep.
Mitchell sighed again, this time out of pure frustration for the idiots who couldn’t figure out they were perfect for each other. He got a little closer and reached out to Will, who he figured was probably the safer bet to shake awake.
“Will.” He whispered, edging his voice up a bit, “Will, wake up.”
Will let out a deep breath before blinking his eyes open. “What?” He questioned, squinting at the light.
“You and Nico got locked in the camp store, I guess.” He added, “I think...the lock must have gotten jammed.”
“Oh…yeah.” Will blinked, shifting his weight a bit. “Nico, wake up.” He pushed Nico’s arms off him, standing. “Neeks, c’mon. Up and at ‘em.”
Mitchell stood back, letting Will wake up the other boy at a careful distance in case, ya know, zombies got involved. Stefan and Lacy, who were supposed to be helping him, were nowhere to be seen.
“What time is it?” Will questioned, pulling up the sleepy-eyed Hades kid.
“Uh, like 6:30? Dinner started a bit ago, but you’ll probably be fine catching it if you leave now.”
Will gave him a curious look, “What are you here? Aren’t you missing dinner too?”
Mitchell swallowed and stumbled for a lie. “Yeah, uh I just came here for uh,” His free hand fumbled on the shelf behind him for a moment, and his fingers finally found purchase on something, a bottle, with a bit of relief. “I came here for...” He held up the bottle in victory, before faltering, “Uh. Rash cream?”
“Do you have a rash?” Will asked, concerned now. Nico’s arm was thrown around his shoulders, and the other boy looked close to passing out again. “I can totally check it out if you want, probably prescribe something better than the generic stuff the store keeps.”
Mitchell wished there was a reset button on life, so he could go back to before this moment, or perhaps back before he’d even ever heard of camp, ever. That would be nice, to never have to be faced with the earnest, open face of too-attractive Will Solace asking about his nonexistent rash.
“That’s okay.” He answered too quickly, shoving the product into his pocket, “It’s fine, I’m fine, I’m actually gonna go now.”
“Okay?” Will called out, sounding confused as Mitchell ran out, “Let me know if you change your mind!”
Mitchell cursed, mostly at all the circumstances that lead to that very moment, and wondered what the hell he was going to do with the bottle shoved in his pocket.
“I always kind of thought Aphrodite kids were predispositioned towards Nicholas Sparks novels.” Lacy told him later that night, frowning at the book, “I don't get why Sophia likes them so much. This kind of sucks. Attractive, mysterious guy meets troubled, beautiful girl, one of them has a shady past, the parents don't approve, one of them has a secret…”
“Be nice.” Mitchell chided, plucking the book from her hands to returning it to the scowling Sophia. “He's our brother, give him a break.”
Lacy sighed, rolling over in her bunk and staring at the ceiling. “So is Piper going to punish us or something? No dessert privileges?”
“I really don’t think she cares.” Asher remarked, glancing up from his DS, “Why, did she yell at you guys or something?”
“A little. Not really.” Lacy turned over so she wasn’t facing any of them, “I don’t think she cares what we do, as long as we don’t interfere with her and Jason.”
“I don’t think she cares about us, as long as we don’t interfere with her and Jason.” Scarlett corrected her, her voice mean.
“Hey.” Mitchell tried to interfere.
“Silena was never like this.” Sophia’s voice was quiet like she was talking to herself, but her words were loud, like she was talking to everyone. “Not even towards the end…before everything.”
“Yeah, well unlike our poor, dear Silena I’m pretty sure Piper isn’t going to betray the entire camp so –“
“That is enough. ” Mitchell glared at Drew, hot anger and heat in every ounce of his body. “She was our sister, and she was a hero. She died for this camp and everyone in it, even you. You will not talk about her less than what she deserves, and honestly, I’m not even sure if you’re worthy enough to say her name.”
Drew gaze was hard but her eyes were wide. “Do you understand me?” Mitchell demanded. She nodded, attempting to look like she didn’t care. Mitchell looked back towards the framed pictures on the back wall, focused on the simple dark blue frame, and allowed his eyes to trace the pale lines of his sister’s face. “She was a hero, and she was our sister and she loved us, and that’s how we will remember her. Piper is our sister, and she is a hero, and she loves us and that’s how we’ll think of her. Does everyone understand?” He caught of few of their eyes – Scarlett, Sebastian, Stefan – before meeting Drew’s once again. He was aware of their agreement, aware of the clacking of their earrings and the shifting of their necklaces as they nodded, but watched her as she carefully dipped her chin into an agreement “Good.” He finished, standing. “It’s lights out. Get ready for bed.”
No one argued, which was a new and strange thing. Maybe they knew that he just couldn’t today, or maybe they just couldn’t today.
He didn’t wait for Piper to return this time. Sometimes, he got tired of having to be a fill-in.
The next morning, Mitchell only sighed, toweling off his newly colored hair. The new bright blue in his hair didn’t look bad per say , and he’s always wanted to experiment with a wild color, but the anger that bubbled in his chest was only purely for the lack of choice he had in the matter. This, with the addition of Scarlett’s broken La Prairie, means they've gone too far.
The Aphrodite cabin gets revenge, of course, and within a week the entire Hermes cabin is cursed with thick, unsmearing eyeliner and bright pinkened lips. This backfires, of course, mostly because they underestimated how well the Hermes girls could pull off a good cat-eye. And when the Stoll Brothers, both with bold red lips, begin to add their own additions with dark eyeshadows and creamy foundations, probably stolen from their very cabin, they begin to realize they're enjoying their punishment too much.
They almost begin to regret the whole event until they remember the Hermes’ Jerk reaction. Mitchell had camped out in the bathrooms for ten minutes, unsuccessfully choking back his laughter as the guy tried to scrub the colors from his face. He’ll retell it to his cabin later, with only a bit of exaggerated detail, and it’ll make Scarlett smile with glee. That, he supposes, makes it even.
“Who keeps stealing my chapstick?” Mitchell yelled in frustration, “This is the second time in two weeks!”
“You probably lost it.” Drew dismissed, paying more attention to her magazine horoscope than him.
“I didn't lose it!” Mitchell began to strip his bed, looking for the small tube among the covers, “I purposefully did not lose it!”
“Stop being such a Scarlett.” Drew rolled her eyes and dug a crumpled dollar bill from under her bed, “Stop whining and just go get a new one from the Stolls.”
Mitchell sighed, frustration creeping through the sound. “I don't want to! I know I just had a perfectly good tube and now it's just gone!”
Drew nodded unsympathetically, “Well if I were you, sweetheart, I'd get a move on, I can see your chapped lips from here.”
Mitchell squeaked, just a little bit, and slapped a hand over his reddened lips. He snatched the bill from Drew’s outstretched hand, barely breathing a word of thanks, before taking off towards the Hermes cabin.
“Mitchell!” Cecil greeted him, guiding him through the doorway. He kindly motioned him around the numerous booby traps around the entrance before stepping back, “You're here to buy something, right?”
Cecil grinned at his quick nod, his eyes dropping down to Mitchell’s burning lips. At Cecil’s hard wince, Mitchell began to wonder just how bad they looked.
“Stolls! You've got business!” Cecil yelled through cupped hands, winking at Mitchell. “They'll be over in just a moment, they’re... testing a few things in the back. Anyways, gotta fly, good luck with your buying!”
Mitchell gave him a wave and hoped that his eyes were kind enough to communicate his thanks because he was not going to risk a smile.
“Hey! Mitchell!” Travis Stoll bounced out of nowhere, his brother hot on his heels, “What can we get for you?”
“Chapstick.” Mitchell requested stiffly, hoping his lips wouldn't take that as an invitation to break open.
Travis made a face and accepted the bill Mitchell held out to him. “Didn't we just sell you like, three tubes?”
“Lost ‘em.” He answered, watching as Connor picked a bunk, seemingly at random, and pulled a large backpack out from under. He unzipped it and sifted through it for a moment, pushing aside scented lotions and expensive soaps the camp store didn't bother with. He spied a few of his sister's favorite brands among the supplies, and even the cologne he had received for his last birthday.
Mitchell watched as Connor pulled out a thin metal box - familiar at this point - and handed over a white and red chapstick tube. Mitchell eagerly pulled back the wrapper and sighed in pure relief at the ease that assisted the application.
“I still don't know how you guys manage to get the holiday flavors.” Mitchell smiled, the gloss of the chapstick feeling cool and tasting minty, “Candy cane is my favorite but I can never find it during the school year. ”
“ We’re just lucky, I guess.” Connor smiled, dunking his head.
Mitchell, beginning to leave, stopping suddenly as he began to notice some of the other contents of the bag. “Are those…?”
“Condoms?” Travis finished for him happily, “Yes sir, they are. Gotta be safe. Why, ya need some?”
Mitchell grinned, a little surprised, but not embarrassed. “Maybe later.” He teased, slipping his new chapstick in his pocket. He had sworn not to lose it this time.”I’ll see you boys later.” Mitchell grinned, letting only a bit of his allure fall into his voice. Just enough to keep them guessing.
“Bye Mitchell!” Travis sing-songed on his way out. Connor dunked his head, only waving Mitchell out as he exited the cabin.
It was a quiet walk back to his cabin, and he’s always enjoyed his rare instances of quiet. He loved the peaceful soundtrack of the singing birds, and the slow wind, and how he could just barely hear the waves crashing onto the shore if he paid enough attention.
This was a nice enough song for a nice enough day, where the sun was shining and the breeze was blowing.
Until, of course, his sister’s loud, demanding voice interrupted it all.
“You have to ask Will out, Mitchell.”
Mitchell paused, his hand still on the doorframe to their cabin. He gave her a look, “And why is this a thing that has to happen?”
Scarlett rolled her eyes, her arms crossed against her chest. “It’s the next plan. How else do you get a couple together? Jealousy. It works every time.”
“Actually, I can’t remember the last time that actually worked on a healthy relationship,” Asher commented, flipping over in his bunk. They all ignored him.
Mitchell frowned. “Why does it have to be me? Why can't someone else? Seb, you’re not chasing anyone right now.”
Seb laughed, looking through a magazine that was probably stolen. “Like it would be believable that I started going after the sunshine and rainbows type. After all, I have a reputation to uphold.”
“Then go after Nico.” Mitchell shot back, crossing his arms. “It would totally make Will jealous, and he’s more your type anyway.”
“Um, no, I don’t want to die.”
“Don’t be overdramatic.” Which was rich, coming from Scarlett. She rolled her eyes and directed her attention back to Mitchell. “Just ask Will out. You guys are friends, right?”
Mitchell huffed, “Yeah, but I’m not the automatic gay. What about Stefan? Can’t he ask?”
“As you are correct about me being very single, as well as very gay, I don’t want to.” Stefan answered, not even remotely interested in defending himself.
“Mitch, please .” Sophia begged with folded hands, “Please, this can what gets them together! You would be responsible for their happy ever after!”
Mitchell felt his resolve weakening, especially at the sight of his younger sister begging so earnestly. “Fine.” He finally huffed, throwing his head back. “Gods, what am I even going to say? Where am I gonna take him?”
“If he says yes.” Drew reminded him unhelpfully.
“We’re Aphrodite kids, of course he’ll say yes.” Scarlett dismissed, already scrutinizing his choice outfit for the day. “Go get your dark wash skinny jeans, and that green jacket that brings out your eyes.”
“What, now?” Mitchell exclaimed, pushing his heels into the ground as his siblings attempted to shove him into their shared walk-in closet.
“Yes, now!” Stefan growled, suddenly interested in the on-goings of their plan as he started to pull off Mitchell’s jacket.
“We’re on a schedule. End of the summer is only twelve days away.” Sophia was comparing shirts to his jeans and didn’t seem too pleased with any of the combinations.
“Try the gray one with the pattern,” Lacy advised her, pulling out said shirt for comparison. They nodded, slightly beaming at each other, and shoved the clothing into his arms.
He yelped in surprise and kicked at the hands trying to pull his pants off. “My jeans are fine!” He scowled.
Seb rolled his eyes, shooing out his sisters before continuing to strip the jeans off him. “See? Much better.”
They did look better, the dark blue blending nicely with the strips of black in the t-shirt Lacy had draped over his arm. He sighed, “Okay, am I presentable?”
Seb popped his gum and shoved a piece towards him. “Chew. It’ll help your nerves.” He instructed, leading Mitchell out.
Stefan, who had left with the girls, held out a small slip of paper. “Conversation topics in case you get stuck. A few of his favorite topics.”
“Where did you even get this so quickly?” Mitchell questioned, reading closely. “Musicals? Really?”
Stefan sighed, “He’s an Apollo kid, can you blame him? They practically wilt if they’re not in the spotlight.”
“Ha!” Lacy laughed, “Spotlight. Light. Apollo. That was a pun, right?”
They both ignored her. “That’s rich coming from you.” Mitchell shot back, folding the paper into his back pocket. “And where did you get it?”
Stefan rolled his eyes, “Please, we’re prepared for these kinds of things.”
Before Mitchell could reply, his attention was pulled, literally pulled, towards Scarlett and Sophia. “Alright.” Scarlett let go of his arm, her mouth smoothing into a thin, serious line. “The weather right now is a warm 30 degree Celsius, 87 Fahrenheit. There’s a 13 percent chance of rain, 47 percent chance of clouds. With those odds, you should be fine if you asked to go strawberry picking around three today, after lunch. Be home by seven, before the temperature drops and ruins the mood. You are to charm him, but only enough so that he is infatuated and crushing. No pants should be dropping, got it?”
“Scarlett!” Mitchell glared at her, “Not around the kids!”
Even Sabrina, who whoa, needed to stop spending so much time with Drew, rolled her eyes at that.
“Just go,” Scarlett demanded. “Ask him now. Be back by 7.”
Scarlett is bossy and overbearing and mean sometimes, but she’s usually right when it comes to stuff like this, so Mitchell does exactly what she says.
“Of course.” Will smiled, his grin like a thousand watts. “After lunch? Sounds great. I’ll see you then.”
Lunch was a long affair, full of too many sly grins from his siblings, and too many loud comments about everything Mitchell was trying so hard to shield his younger siblings from.
This lead to more than a few occasions where food is tossed at the Aphrodite table, hitting Mitchell more than once. Honestly, he’s just glad the spaghetti ban is still in place.
“Feelin’ okay?” Micah asks, and honestly, thank all the gods that Micah, along with Asher, was put in the Aphrodite cabin as Mitchell’s last thread to sanity.
Mitchell nodded, “Yeah, I’m fine.” He ducks under a flying apple slice. “Other than the Hermes cabin, of course.”
“Of course.” Micah excused, his quiet manner translating into him being unnoticed by the food throwers. “Are you okay with this? I can get them to lay off if you’re not cool with this.”
Mitchell smiled, warmed by his brother’s words. “Yeah, I’m fine. After all, it gives me the excuse to get strawberries and look at a pretty boy. That’s the life, right?”
Micah smiled, his eyes flickering away. “If you say so. Let me know if anything changes, alright?”
Mitchell knocked their shoulders together, “Will do.”
He meets up with Will after lunch, right outside the Aphrodite cabin so his siblings could watch through the cracks in the curtains. He and Will walk together, light flirting and even lighter chatter exchanged between them. The sun was shining nicely against their skin, and he was pleased to see the amount of lingering glances they were getting. After all, this was a summer camp filled with teenagers, and any amount of gossip that hasn’t started during lunch was sure to travel before their date ended. Making sure Nico would hear the nose would probably be easier than he originally thought.
Will put his arm around his shoulder, and Mitchell leaned into his warm touch. It was slightly awkward feeling, with Mitchell being only an inch or so off of Will’s height, but not awkward enough for Will to pull away. Will stopped and used his free hand to pluck a fat, red strawberry off the vine and held it out to Mitchell. Mitchell, taking advantage of this, leaned forward to wrap his lips around the sweet fruit. He bit off a good bite, his gaze darkening as a bit of the juice ran down his chin.
Will cleared his throat, pulling away. “Mitchell, I – “
It was this moment when a bright, large strawberry came flying through the air, smacking into Will’s side, interrupting his sentence. Will looked down in confusion at the new strawberry stain blooming on his pale shirt before glancing up in alarm.
Strawberries, now of all size, began to hit and smack both of them from every angle, and Mitchell dunked when another one gushed all over his cheek. He grabbed for Will’s hand, pulling them both down under the thick vines so they were both kneeling into the dirt. Mitchell briefly wondered how Stefan would react to his overpriced jeans being rolled around in the fields, but dismissed the thought with a grin.
“We’re being ambushed!” Mitchell laughed, plucking a bit of mushy seeds from Will’s hair. “We’ll have to run for it!”
“Run where?” Will laughed back, ducking down as another one flew over his head.
“The creek?” Mitchell suggested, picking up a damaged strawberry and throwing it towards the direction of where they were being thrown. The attack from that particular direction stopped for a few moments, and he counted that as a win.
“Let’s go!” Will gripped his hand, and both of their skin was slippery with mush and seeds. They laughed and tripped to the creek, and they continued to run even when the attack ceased.
“I feel so gross,” Mitchell complained once they got to the creek, and he waved to a few of the water nymphs. Will went ahead to ask if they could use their water to wash off, because that’s the kind of guy Will was, and Mitchell picked a stem out from his hair. The Naiads grinned and waved them in, probably just happy for the attention.
“Sorry that kind of ruined our date.” Mitchell apologized a bit later, feeling kind of responsible for the whole incident. They were out of the water now and lying in the sun so their clothes could dry, and not that he wanted to admit it, but it felt fantastic to just be away from his siblings for a bit and just laying around with a cute boy in the grass. “I think the Hermes and Aphrodite cabins have a war thing going on? It doesn’t make a lot of sense, but it happens.”
Will gave him a sideways look, “Did you help the Hermes cabin plan what happened?”
“What? Of course not.”
Will grinned, sly and low. “Then you got nothing to apologize for. Hermes kids will be Hermes kids, right?”
Mitchell heaved a sigh, “You have no idea.”
“I do actually.” Will laughed, “I’ve been friends with Cecil for years, and as soon as he likes someone he goes off the charts .”
“You think a Hermes kid likes one of us?” Mitchell cocked his head, “Really?”
Will gave him a surprised look. “Uh…yeah? Is this a trick question?”
“What? No.” Mitchell changed the subject, instead choosing now to lean in close, and yeah, even he knew how good he looked in this lighting, in these clothes, and with this amount of water on him.
“Listen, Mitchell…” Will pulled away, his eyes lingering on Mitchell’s tight t-shirt. “I have to back up here. You’re my friend. A good friend. But...I’m not really looking for a relationship right now. I said yes to the date because I thought it would be fun – and it was! – but I can’t really go with anything serious right now.” Will gave him big, concerned eyes. “Is that okay? I mean, I just don’t want to get into this and end up hurting you.”
Mitchell pulled away, and this was a strange feeling, and it was almost like…rejection. And yeah, as much as he’d like to say not so, he’d been rejected before (mostly because even his Aphrodite charms couldn’t bypass the fact of a solid sexuality) and this felt a lot like it. Will was still giving him the sad, sorry eyes and Mitchell stood up. “It’s okay.” He said, because it really was, he wasn’t in love with Will, or even in like with Will, but it’d been a while since he’d been turned down and it was always weird to be reminded that his mother's gifts didn’t always work as planned.
“It’s okay.” He repeated, standing. He wanted to leave, wanted to escape, because the awkward tension was going to ruin him and he was friends with Will and if he stayed any longer it might not stay that way. “I’m gonna go.” He said, pushing a hand through his hair and pointing over his shoulder. “I had a lot of fun, I really did, but I’m gonna go now.”
He didn’t wait for Will to catch up, or for Will to start speaking again. He was barely out of the woods, barely out of sight of Will, before another person strolled up beside and joined him.
“Bad date?” Connor questioned, coming up to walk beside him. Mitchell could feel the strawberry goo on his hands from running them through his hair and wished he could wash them.
“No thanks to your cabin, I’m sure.” Mitchell frowned.
“Did you and Will have a nice time running around the woods?” Connor tried again.
“Go away Connor,” He answered, his voice tired. “You ruined my date, happy? Now go plan whatever next scheme to mess with the Aphrodite cabin. You haven’t tried shrinking our clothes in a while, or maybe stealing all our accessories again?” He blew some air into his bangs, “Go knock yourself out.”
Mitchell didn’t turn to watch Connor walk away, and the lack of response actually made him feel kind of bad. It wasn’t right taking his bad mood out on Connor, even though Mitchell was pretty sure that the whole thing was Connor’s doing. It wasn’t Connor’s fault that Will didn’t want to –
Wait.
Holy Shit.
Mitchell barged into his cabin, the entrance as dramatic and loud as he needed it to be to gather all of their attention.
Sophia jumped up, “You’re back! How’d the date go?”
Mitchell swallowed, steadying himself with the new information.
“He didn’t want to kiss me.” He told them, his eyes lingering on all of their faces.
Sophia reached out, pity in her eyes, “Oh, I’m sorry Mi-“
“No.” He interrupted her, “It took me a second to see it too but guys. He didn’t want to kiss me .”
Lacy jumped up, always the first to catch up on these kinds of things. “Did he say that? That he didn’t want too?”
“He said he didn’t want to start a relationship.” He clarified.
“What?” Sabrina questioned from the side. “What does that mean?”
“If he didn’t want too…” Micah questioned softly, not drawing much attention to himself.
Stefan stood slowly, “You can only resist the charm of an Aphrodite child if your heart really, truly belongs to another.”
“Were you using all of your charm?” Scarlett demanded
“I mean, a good amount of it!” Mitchell answered, “I wanted the date to remain PG, remember?”
“This is a new development.” Sophia looked to the ground, her eyes darting around as she thought.
“We can use this to our advantage.” Drew realized, “We can make Will realize that Nico is the only one he wants!”
Scarlett’s eyes were sharp, “Sophia, get the dry erase board.” Her eyes glistened with something dangerous, “We’ve got a scheme to plan.”
His siblings set to work, energized with the new development and overwhelmed with possibilities. Even Asher and Micah, who usually never get involved in stuff like this, were bend head to head, a notebook shared in between them.
“You got something -” Stefan gestured to the entirety of Mitchell’s hair.
Mitchell huffed, already peeling off his stiff, river water soaked jacket. “I can’t believe I let you guy doll me up for nothing.”
“At least we made one person jealous.” Stefan sighed, shrugging a bit.
“Will didn’t even try anything, I doubt Nico will care.” Mitchell reminded him, picking a clump on seeds out of his hair.
He rolled his eyes, “That's not what I meant.”
Mitchell watched him for a moment, trying to decode his brother's words, before eventually dismissing it.