Piper awoke to the Aphrodite cabin waking and bustling around. Lacy cleaning her glasses, Mitchell combing his hair, Drew glaring in her direction and being a bitch. Nothing out of the ordinary.
Piper looked at the wall next to her bed, where she had taped up photos of her and Jason. After giddily daydreaming, she got up and got dressed, and then assembled her cabin for breakfast. "Line up everyone!" She called. They quickly put down their makeup kits and got into order.
On her way to the dining pallivion she saw Percy, who smiled and waved in her direction. She waved back. Leo grinned at her as he led his cabin in. But something seemed off about them both. Percy's smile seemed.. forced. And Leo's eyes held a hint of worry.
Jason was early, of course, so Piper saw him when she arrived. She wished she could could sit at his table and talk and laugh with him. Then she could avoid her siblings' talk about which celebrities were the hottest and other useless crap.
She went up to sacrifice some of her french toast. Percy was infront of her. He scraped off some of his blue waffles into the fire. "Poseidon..." He seemed to think for a moment. Then he scraped off twice as much waffle. "... and Hestia." The smell of a salty breeze and barbecue filled the air around him. Percy took a big whiff of it. "That's some really good stuff Aunty." He muttered under his breath. Then he returned to his table and ate his remaining waffles. (yep, because Hestia's that awesome)
Okay then.. Piper thought. She threw in a piece of toast. "Aphrodite, I guess." A rose scent reached her nostrils. It was nice, but she would've still preferred the sea or barbecue. Aphrodite was the only immortal she'd had a proper conversation with. Plus, it was her mom.
As she ate her breakfast, Leo turned to her from his table. (I don't care if the tables aren't next to each other) "Piper." "Yeah?" "I heard some of the Romans are visiting soon." "Oh," (She for once was completely non-sarcastic about her enthusiasm when talking to Leo). "Who's coming? And when?" "Reyna, Dakota, some randoms, Frazel." Piper was confused. "Frazel?" Leo rolled his eyes. "Gods, Piper, don't you listen to your siblings? Hazel and Frank! It's their couple name."
Then Piper snorted at something she thought about. Leo looked at her weirdly. "Piper, I know that I'm really funny, but why are you laughing?" Piper giggled again. "You know how Percy thinks that Frank and Hazel make the cutest couple?" He nodded. "I just imagined him wearing an I LOVE FRAZEL shirt and holding a flag." (What? You haven't either? Dang it). Leo looked at her weirdly, again. "Right, whatever you say, Piper. I totally imagine Percy like that too."
Piper knew Leo wasn't talking about the 'Frazel' topic. He was talking about how he saw Percy. "For Gods' sake, Leo. Can you drop that already?" "Drop what?" Piper narrowed her eyes at him. Leo sighed. "I just can't not feel on-guard around him. I feel like if I say one wrong thing he'll feed me to his brothers - sharks and Cyclopes."
Piper was shocked at his words. "Leo!" "What? The shark thing is probably true. Gods are strange." "Why do you hate him so much? He hasn't done anything to you. He's a really nice guy." Leo turned to her. "Are you falling for him too now?" Then he muttered under his breath: "Wow, just like everybody else." Piper smacked his arm, hard.
"Listen, Leo. I know you don't hate Percy. You want to, though. You resent him because you think he's a flashy hero who always gets the spotlight. But I'm pretty sure he doesn't even like the spotlight. Neither does Jason." Leo rubbed his arm, where a bruise was forming. "And if you think I'm wrong, maybe you should actually talk to him about it."
Chiron trotted into the centre of the dining area. "Campers!" Everyone looked up from their breakfast. "The Romans will be arriving this evening, and we will be sharing cabins." Some cheers erupted, while others grumbled under their breath. The rest kept neutral expressions.
Jason was excited for the Romans' arrival. He traced his tattoo. 12 bars... 12 years of service in the legion.
"Would you like to add anything, Mr.D?" Chiron asked the returned Wine God. "Ah, yes. The Romans are arriving. Hurrah for that, then." He said, absorbed into his wine magazine.
Jason had expected Mr.D to show some enthusiasm about the Romans. He had his own awesome garden in Camp Jupiter, after all. The Romans respected him a fair bit.
Jason would've gladly lived in either camp as long as Piper was by his side. But if he could chose, though, he most likely would've picked the Greeks. The Romans were so serious. They admired loyalty and duty. Jason had needed a break from it all, and Camp Half-Blood had given him that. He wasn't ready to let that go yet.
Jason could also see why Percy seemed to favour Camp Jupiter, too. The Romans adored him. He was everything a roman legionnaire would want to be. Percy also liked the idea of settling down in New Rome, with Annabeth, and becoming a veteran soilder. Lucky him, being able to retire.
"Hazel! Frank!" Percy ran up and wrapped them into a bear hug. "Hey Percy." Frank said, grinning. Hazel smiled. Percy was like an older brother to her. "Hello Percy." She greeted. As always, Percy smelt like the sea.
Percy draped an arm around her and Frank's shoulders and steered them towards camp. "So, what how you been, Praetor Zhang and Centurion Levesque?" Frank's ears turned red. "Don't call me that. Please."
Percy sighed. "You're too modest, Frank." Frank turned towards him, as if saying: Seriously? "No, you're too modest, Percy. You can't talk."
Hazel took her chance to cut into the conversation. "Boys! Stop arguing!" Percy smirked. "Yes ma'am."
