Author's Note:

This is for a roleplay I'm in, so if anything seems a bit weird, that's why.

Octavian prided himself on his reliability. Sure, he had a thing for using people, but he was always upfront about it. And when he made a deal—either with his lowly peers or with himself—he stood by it no matter what.

So when the Fates decided to be cruel enough to trap him in a cabin with that self-righteous "Oracle" (a label which the Greeks seemed to use very loosely), Octavian promised himself that he wouldn't speak to her. He wouldn't fall prey to the immortals' idea of romance.

And for many days—it was hard to keep track of how many when the snowstorm was blocking out all sunrises and sunsets—Octavian kept his promise. He mumbled at times, cursing himself for being stupid enough to follow Apollo's advice and attempt a "fun" vacation, but nothing more. He refused to even look the redhead in the eye. On the first day, she tried to shake him out of it with her strongest snarky insults, but even she eventually gave up.

That is, until the most random, miniscule problem in the world forced Octavian to break his word.

"You forgot to put the cap back on," he said in a flat, accusing tone that almost cracked from disuse.

Rachel dragged herself out of her shock and followed the sound of his voice. Maybe it was because she'd been living a shell of a life for days and would've jumped at any smidge of amusement, no matter how pathetic, but when her eyes landed on what had brought his voice back, she burst into laughter.

"This isn't funny!" Octavian spat. "You left our only tub of toothpaste open all night and now it's gone crusty. You may enjoy the cave life, but not all of us are so primitive."

His trademark insults sobered her. "Please. It's not like we're going to be here forever. They'd send help if we showed up on Thanatos' "to do" list. So unless you're desperate to impress the floorboards with your dazzling smile, it doesn't matter that you'll have the hygiene of a caveman for a couple days."

He rolled his eyes impatiently. "It's the principle of the thing. Sorry if I don't like to feel my teeth decaying when I'm already struggling to put up with falling behind in my Augur duties just because I wanted to shut your little friends up by going on vacation with you."

Her gaze hardened. The idea of a vacation with her being a chore was uncomfortably familiar. Pain fuelling her, Rachel stopped holding back. "No one forced you to do this. You're thousands of years old—one would think that you'd be used to ignoring peer pressure by now, but apparently even a supposed genius turns into an idiot when taken out of his comfort zone. If you couldn't say no, you could've at least given it a real shot instead of giving me the silent treatment like a five year old."

Octavian dropped the tub of toothpaste, his hands curling into fists. It was one thing if she took playful digs at his ego, but another thing entirely if she insulted him seriously. "Oh, if you're so high and mighty, why did you give into their peer pressure? If you were as wise as you like to think, you would've said no. And if you were as gutsy as you like to say, you wouldn't have put up with my silent treatment. You would've bugged me about it day and night instead of crawling into the corners. Face it: You're just as spineless as I am."

Rachel's hands had begun scratching at the paint on her jeans. She was so tempted to break eye contact and never look back, but her pride kept her in place. "And if it wasn't the peer pressure that made me say yes? What am I then?"

Her steely green stare cut straight through Octavian's resolve. "Then… then you're just as big of a liar as I am," he said so lowly that she feared it was just the wind playing tricks on her.

But the mere possibility of it being real gave her the courage to slam the door shut, stride forward, and put her lips on his.

His mind went numb as he kissed her back and fell, his arms ensnared in hers, to the bathroom floor. Logic threatened to pull him out of it (You know the gods can see you, even with the door closed… You know her blasted friends will have no problem deducing what happened… You know how long they'll tease you about it…), but for once, Octavian shoved logic aside and let himself be.

In a far-off cottage, hidden behind mounds of greenery that they would never think to look for her in, the goddess of snow cackled. The Greek camp might find Rachel and Octavian's romance funny, but the Roman camp surely wouldn't. That would just do wonders on the two camps' budding alliance.

Oracles were so easy to exploit.