She's 18 when Travis Stoll leaves.

A heavy fog swirled around her knees as she ambled towards the camp store. It had been two months since the last Giant War, and with campers frequently moving between Camp Jupiter and Half-Blood, business was nonstop, hence why she had risen earlier than her fellow campers to prepare for the day ahead.

Though it had been months since she had pulled shifts – Miranda no longer needed her help running the place as she once did – she had claimed a cold coming down upon her the night before and had begged – watery red-rimmed eyes, rattling wheezes and all – for Katie to take over for the day.

Before long, the camp store came into view; a sturdy shack at best, its windows were dusty, leaves littered the expansive porch and the signpost hung crookedly from its stand. Katie tutted at Miranda's carelessness. Though Demeter's children may be known for their austerity, they could be very absentminded.

She fixed the crooked signpost as she walked past and fitted seamlessly the key into the door, ready to escape the morning chill, when –

Smack! A large figure knocked into her, sweeping her body of her feet and onto her back. Streamers and confetti exploded from the entrance and cheerily showered the otherwise grungy porch. Dimly, she noticed 'Congratulations' playing, the jingle 'congratulations… and celebrations…' filling the air as she saw with mounting horror that the store had been completely filled with – and realised with growing dread and clarity – balloons plastered with a familiar face grinning beatifically at her shocked form from above. The orange camp t-shirts, she noticed, in addition, had the pegasus similarly replaced. Everything inside, she realised had been altered. Even more so, banners had unfurled from the ceiling to read, 'CONGRATULATIONS, KATIE GARDNER!'

Oh no.

Three months she had gone, blissfully unassailed by the elder Stoll as they had all collectively worked together to deal – then heal – the rift between Romans and Greeks. Three, blissful, months. It had been a foolish idea to believe he had finally changed his trickster ways.

Speaking of which - she thought as she picked herself up and glared mutinously at the thing that had knocked her over and realised it was a life-sized inflatable Travis that bobbed merrily back and forth - where was he?

It was suspicious enough he wasn't nearby to crow about his new victory, so she took a deep breath, ready to rain judgement when –

"Hey, Kit-Kat."

She whirled around and there, leaning against a tree and smiling easily at her distress, stood Travis Stoll.

"Stoll," she said, through gritted teeth.

He looked freshly shaven and washed, curls sticking damply to his forehead as he gazed lazily at the scene he'd made. She imagined seeing the store from his eyes; her, with her frazzled hair and flannel, glaring flintily at him whilst framed perfectly by his own memorabilia.

The thought made her mad.

Katie stormed down the stairs, willing the grass to grow thick and twine across his legs, restraining him in place. "Gods help me, you'd better invent a perfectly reasonable excuse for this, or–"

Travis chuckled and held his hands out placidly, "Easy, easy, Kit-Kat," he said, teeth glinting in the faint light as his smile widened, "I can explain everything," and whipped out a party popper from behind his back, causing an almighty bang and a smattering of colourful streamers to shower the air.

Katie flinched at the noise and swatted at him. "Put those things away. It's too early in the morning."

They were virtually chest to chest, and Katie, still simmering with rage, swiftly pulled out her knife and held it to his throat, edge pressed dangerously close to his jugular. I'm going to kill him, she thought and wondered deliriously if Hermes would smite her for murdering his son.

"Okay, I can definitely explain," Travis said as he eyed her knife. His Adam's apple bobbed nervously. Katie looked on silently, unimpressed, and shifted her stance to edge her knife closer. Blood welted thinly from his throat and Travis eyed it in alarm.

"Hey! You should be ecstatic!" Travis continued as he struggled to remove himself from the grass holding him down.

"Ecstatic?" Katie deadpanned, "I don't think so. What did you want to prove this time, hm? You were doing so well this time too – two months and no pranks on my end. And you just had to begin again, didn't –"

He briefly narrowed his eyes against her tirade. "I'm leaving."

"…And I have done nothing to deserve – wait, what? You're leaving?" she said incredulously.

He nodded. "Leaving."

It was solely then did Katie noticed the closeness of him. His breath came out in short pants as his hands – which had wormed its way around the wrist of her knife hand – struggled to prevent further damage. She glanced upwards and noticed the muscles tightening in his arms, betraying the ease in which he held her off. A bead of sweat glistened in the hollow of his throat and mingled with his blood before disappearing into his white tee. Guiltily, Katie told herself to look away.

She gulped imperceptibly, removed the pressure from his sweat-slicked throat and stepped back to cross her arms in disapproval. "You can't just… leave!"

He let out a gasp of relief at having the immediate danger removed and sidestepped the unsaid question hanging in the air.

"Of course, I can! It's why I made this awesome setup." Upon saying he absently picked at a stray strand of confetti sticking in her chestnut hair. She pawed irritably at his hand and ignored her stuttering heartbeat. "This way everyone can have a piece of me while I'm gone - " He winked, and Katie rolled her eyes " - and it's my little farewell gift to my favourite person."

She knew he meant how easy it was to rile her up, how she – and her cabin – had been the victim of many pranks because of this, and yet…

They both looked back at the Travis infested balloons and banners. They looked at each other again. Travis's eyes glimmered with mirth.

"And Connor?" she asked, ignoring his implications.

Travis shrugged. "He's cabin leader while I'm off for college."

Katie felt her heart nearly sputter to a stop.

College. He was leaving… for college.

It hit with startling clarity that Travis would no longer be at camp. Always within her peripheral and irritating at best, he had always been a constant in her life. And though she told herself it was for the best – finally, finally he was growing up – she couldn't help but feel mildly disappointed. No more would she have to constantly swat his sneaky fingers away from her strawberries as she diligently worked the fields in the heavy weather. No more would their easy bickering continue, unbroken, as they crossed paths in their routines and no more would the Stoll brothers' pranks run smoothly – like a perfunctory machine – to break up the monotonous days. And though she heavily disapproved of their pranks – it was her role in this game they played – a smile always wormed its way across her face, slipping like water if Travis so much as glanced her way.

Life, she understood, would be terribly boring without him.

The tendrils of grass holding Travis into place slowly slipped away. He grinned crookedly at her though his gaze remained steady, a glimmer of wariness colouring his eyes.

No more Travis Stoll.

"Fine," Katie sniffed, nose upturned and turned away to walk back into the store. "But someone's cleaning this up, and it won't be me."

She hoped he would stop her (say something, anything) and missed the slight frown that crossed his features as he thumbed the cut on his throat.

"I- I'll see you around then, Kit-Kat."

Katie paused. The tightness in his tone made her turn around, a something ready to burst from her mouth but his back had already turned. She watched him walk towards the camp's entrance, hands hidden in his pockets and backpack swung carelessly over a shoulder.

Katie leaned across the railing of the front porch and watched his figure disappear. "Goodbye Travis," She sighed.

And when she finally sat down behind the counter surrounded by Travis's farewell gift cluttering the small store, feeling slightly lonesome in his absence, she realised she had no idea what college he was leaving for, nor when he'd be back.

Author's note:

This was beta-read by cursedhazel, so thank you heaps!

Reviews are welcome! This is my first piece of writing in a very, very long time so I may be rusty and any help would be appreciated. I hope I've stayed true to their characters and I've always thought, that after surviving two wars Travis would have sobered up a little, hence I've characterised him a little more seriously than other fics I've read.

The nickname, 'Kit-Kat', isn't something original, but I've seen it used in multiple other fics so, at this rate, it may as well just be considered canon.

Also cross-posted on AO3 under my other pen-name, No_maj.