Disclaimer! My attempts to owning PJO failed and now I'm just a major fan... Anyway, enjoy my FanFic!
Travis and Connor Stoll were always happy and unpredictable.
They would steal things, tease people, and cause campers to stay alert 24/7. And that wasn't exactly a bad thing: Demigods should always be alert. But that was before the two wars. That was before the "twins" had seen death over and over and over again. And now, even though they act perfectly fine, the people closest to them know that they aren't okay, nor will they not be okay for a long time.
Connor, being the slightly younger one without a girlfriend, had it the worst. He was forced to deal with it with only his brother for comfort, and his brother spent most of his time with Katie. So Connor had to fend for himself.
Waking up in the middle of the night, Connor gasped. He looked at his brothers bed and saw that it was unoccupied. He groaned silently. Once again, Travis was off with his girlfriend.
Connor stood up silently. Walking with the most stealth one can have, he made his way to his twins bed. Luckily he didn't have to step in between million sleeping bags like he used to. The cabin feels so much more empty without all of the extra people.
He looked around once he got there and saw that everyone was still asleep. Slowly pulling the drawer to his brothers nightstand open, he grabbed the thing on top: a large book. He went back to his bed and laid down, wincing when he heard the bed creek.
He shuffled through his own drawer and pulled out a flashlight. Pressing the button, he saw the dim light shine on the book labeled Stoll Memories. He smiled slightly.
Opening the book to a random page, he saw a picture of him and Travis as toddlers. Connor himself was grabbing his older brother, smiling. Travis was trying to push him off. Connor turned to the next page.
There was a much more recent picture. It was of Percy, Annabeth, and the Stoll twins. Right after the first war when they thought that all of their troubles were done, how wrong they'd been.
The next page showed a picture of Connor squinting at a piece of paper at the desk in the Hermes cabin. Connor looked at the messy desk without meaning to. The camera was slightly tilted, showing that Travis had been laughing when he had taken the picture.
He looked up when he heard the door squeak slightly. Travis was back. He saw Connor with the light and smiled gently. He joined his younger brother in his bed and they started looking at the pictures together.
"Remember that?" Travis asked while looking at a picture of five year old Travis with a big lollipop.
"How could I forget? It was our first ever heist." Connor answered.
"It was so long ago."
"That's cause we've been here almost as long as Annabeth."
The boys looked at a few more pictures in silence, chuckling from time to time until Connor broke the silence.
"Travis?"
"Yeah, Connor?"
"Do you think that we're going to have to fight another war while still at camp?"
Travis's eyes softened. "We can only pray to the gods that we won't have to."
Connor nodded. "As terrible as it is for us, imagine what it's like for Percy, Annabeth, Nico, and the rest of them. We've didn't do anything compared to them."
"We've done enough." Travis answered. "We survived. Both of us. That should be all that's needed."
"Sometimes I wonder if it'd be better if we had died. I wonder if we would've been happier dead."
"Come on, Connor. You can't mean that, can you? We wouldn't be able to steal or tease Percy and Annabeth and-"
"Okay. I know."
More looking at pictures. Another silence.
"Travis?"
"Getting a strange sense of de ja vu, but yes?"
"You're a good older brother when you want to be."
Travis grinned. "So you admit it! I'm older!" Connor smirked.
"Maybe here, bus I'm definitely not repeating it, little bro."
Silence.
"Connor?"
"Yes?"
"You can keep it."
Connor looked at his brother. "Keep what?"
"This photo album. Seems to me like you'll use it more than I ever will."
"Thanks, Travis."
"No problem." Travis started to stand up, beaut before he left, he said "You need a girlfriend. It'll help ease your worries and she'll take part of your burden. It's nice." Then he left for his own bed.
Connor sighed, maybe his brother was right.
That's a first.
Rolling over, he started to snore lightly.
And when Travis heard that, he smiled, falling asleep and doing the same.
Hiding Behind The Mask.