Coffee was all that they needed.

Because after a war, what else are you supposed to drink if you want to keep yourself sane? Water? Don't kid yourself. Nobody drinks water after a war. It's like an unofficial rule.

Seven demigods in seven different places doing seven different things but all drinking coffee.

Leo Valdez and Calypso landed Festus in Rome, of all places, the night after the war. Leo ran and checked the date on the nearest newspaper, because who knew how long he'd been dead? There were still newspapers, right? So it was obvious civilization hadn't advanced that much.

"Oh, yeah baby! The McShizzle is alive right on time!" He jumped into the air, yelling with happiness before Calypso caught up to him and sighed, pulling him down. She glared at some of the people passing by who had the audacity to look at them in curiosity.

"Leo!" she hissed.

Leo sighed. "I'm hungry. And if I don't get my daily caffeine intake I'm going to faint from exhaustion."

"I really don't think you need caffeine right now. Anything that gives you energy is not needed."

"Eh, Callie," he grinned. "Live a little!"

"Do not call me Callie!"

"If I stop do I get coffee?"

Calypso groaned. "Fine."

—

Fifteen minutes later, Leo was hopping up and down with excitement, holding an espresso, while Calypso was fending off curious passerby.

"I knew this wasn't a good idea."

Jason Grace was dragging his butt up to the Mess Hall right after the final battle. Even though he was still mourning the loss of Leo, he was still praetor to most Romans—they didn't yet know that Frank now held the position.

Piper had stayed in Camp Half-Blood. They planned on reuniting after the Giant War was finally taken care of.

A nymph ran up to him. Despite the fact that it was only five o'clock in the morning, plenty of nymphs—along with demigods and legacies—were still up, grieving the loss of dead ones or simply trying to get their lives back together. "Praetor," she called, "who is our new Augur?"

He looked at her through bleary eyes. A—augur? Oh, right. Octavian…

"Er… get a legacy of Apollo to fill in that role for now. We'll sort out everything else later. Noli commoveri." *

She nodded and jogged off. Jason sighed and walking into the Mess Hall. He grabbed a cup of coffee at the entrance and downed the hot liquid in a few quick gulps.

Here's to getting back to normal.

Annabeth Chase was taking the death count the day after the war. It was a depressing job. She did it anyway; her tribute to those who had lost and were lost.

She squinted at the names on her sheet in the mid-morning light. Then she glanced at the body under her.

Suddenly, her thoughts were frantic.

No no no no not him…

It was Malcolm lying on the ground—her surrogate older brother. He had been her only family. And now he was gone…

She fell to the ground, knees next to his chest. Then she laid her head on his, silent tears trickling down her face and onto his cold body.

"Why?" she whispered, voice hoarse. "Why him?"

A few campers walked by and looked at her sympathetically. They didn't really say anything. They knew nothing would help. Loss is the price the victor must pay.

—

An hour later, Annabeth sat at the Athena table, a cup of coffee in her hand, trying to not think about how she'd just burned her brother's body.

Piper McLean was fighting, even after the war was done. Not with daggers and swords, no—with words. And with Drew, of all people, so charmspeak wasn't effective.

"We need to get out and help!" she cried, exhausted of fighting her sibling.

Drew shoved an expensively manicured finger in her face. The middle one, in fact. It had a tiny flower on it. "I did my part fighting for this stupid camp. Now I'm done!"

"Your part?" Piper looked at her in angered confusion. "You did nothing, you horrible excuse for a daughter of Aphrodite. Hiding in the Big House is not fighting!"

"I was helping to heal people!"

"Dammit, Drew! You were painting your nails."

"I wanted to die with good hygiene."

"You—"

Before Piper and her frayed temper started doing real harm, Lacy grabbed her hands and pulled her out of the cabin.

"Are you crazy? Piper, you need to calm down."

"I will," deep breaths, deep breaths…

She slid into her seat and looked down at her glass. "The most caffeine you've got."

"Uh… Piper? Do you really need energy right now?" Lacy asked.

Piper groaned and looked at her. "After last night? Definitely."

Frank Zhang was calming down Hannibal the elephant after the war. His ideal job? No, of course not. The one which kept him alive? Yup.

Hannibal apparently didn't like being away from Frank for too long. Like, really didn't like being away from Frank. He had trampled half of the Third Legion in his absence. After many screams, deaths, and broken bones, it was decided that Hannibal would be locked away until Frank was back from being MIA (in New Rome, at least).

The second the war had finished, Frank had been rushed towards the angry elephant. He'd immediately shifted into elephant form.

Hannibal still had rammed into him, but it had hurt much less. More car-y than giant-y. The elephant reminded him a little bit of Ella's boyfriend, Tyson.

"Down, boy, down!" he yelled, shifting back to human. Hannibal groaned but leaned his head on the ground. Frank sighed and petted his rubbery head.

Hannibal didn't like it. He rose up, and Frank went with him. At fifteen feet in the air, he sighed. Again.

You go through a war and you expect respect afterward. Not being pushed around by an elephant.

Turning into a crow, he flew off the elephant and onto the ground.

"Screw this. I'm going to get coffee."

Hazel Levesque was using her 'skills' to rebuild the temples. Both her fathers' and Jupiter's temples had been destroyed by a rogue group of monsters who had been let into camp by accident while the War was raging on across the country.

Closing her eyes, she willed a diamond to fly off and out of the ground and into her grasp. She held and considered it for a minute before sending it to rest on the northeastern corner of the door of her father's shrine. A ruby came next.

Neptune's small haven (if you could call it that) had been left untouched. Not even Roman monsters dare dabble in matters involving the dangerous sea lord.

Hazel finished the decorations on Pluto's door and stepped back, admiring her handiwork. It was hard to tell that the building had ever been demolished.

"Phew," she murmured, before turning around, planning to visit a café somewhere in the city to get something to drink. She had barely gotten any sleep the night before—no nightmares, but some part of her unconsciously wasn't willing to give up fully to the dark.

Stomping around and over plenty of rocks and shards of debris, the city was soon in site. She had almost reached the point where she would be completely introduced to society, but of course, nothing could ever really go smoothly for her. Don the Faun was waiting on the side of the road.

"Do you have any money?" he asked. War doesn't really change some people—er, goats. Half-goats.

She tried to obliquely avoid the question. "How has the day been for you, Don?"

Without slowing down her pace, she crossed him. He apparently didn't feel like moving. "Aw, Hazel. You were always the nice one."

She smiled, although he couldn't see. "Please go away, Don."

"Anything for you!" an imaginary hat tipped her off as she continued on her path. She reached the café minuted later and ordered a nice, large, steaming hot, caffeine-filled mocha.

The legacy behind the counter squinted at her. "Say, aren't you a bit too young to drink coffee?"

She bent back against the counter. "I'm eighty-two. Gimme."

Percy Jackson loved home. Not Camp-Half-Blood-home, even though he did like that place. No, the home with the blue cookies and Paul and his—pregnant?—mother?

See, that one was a surprise.

Of course, home also had coffee. That was one of the best parts. It was also something he definitely needed to keep from fainting after he saw his mother's stomach.

(Hey, feel free to make a joke about how the amazing Hero of Olympus survived two wars but couldn't make it through learning his mother was pregnant. It's all in good humor. Or, well, it better be.)

After two hours of shaky explanations, crying mothers and comforting Percys, awkward Pauls and mad Percys (he might be his step-dad, but—still) everything was clear to every member of the family. Well, except Tartarus. He wasn't ready to talk about that yet.

Suddenly, his mother was smiling at him through teary eyes (damn sentimental hormones). "Percy, I missed you so much…"

He smiled and hugged her. "I missed you too, Mom."

He took a large gulp of coffee. Now, the tears were flowing again… shoot.

*noli commoveri / do not worry

Happy Birthday J! I'm sorry if any of this was incoherent. I was kinda in a rush and my only inspiration was our coffee talk. Which sounds wrong. But… yeah. Have an awesome birthday, be cool, and have fun (which sounds way too cheesy…) XD

-D