Morning Meetings

Dark.

Not pitch black; it was a lightish dark, the type that told you that there was light somewhere, though not, at present, here. A very dark grey. If you wanted to, you could see things through it. Though, if you didn't want to, it just remained a blank void.

Somehow, even that managed to look blurry.

Putting out a hand to his bedside table, he picked up his glasses, and brought them to his face. The blankness sharpened. What was there to bring into focus? Gods, he didn't know.

Hmm. He had his glasses on now. That meant that he was ready for the day. His bed was comfy. But - He sighed. He'd never go back to sleep now. His mind was awake, so he'd better bring the rest of him with it.

Jason sat up and yawned. As he did every morning, he saw the statue of his father looming out of the not-quite-total darkness. Hi, Dad. He got out of bed. As he did every morning, he collected his clothes and took them into the bathroom for dressing. Thanks, Dad.

As he turned the shower on and kicked his pyjamas off, he wondered, as he did almost every morning, whether it would be possible to get rid of it. None of the other cabins had it. Sure, they were all quirky, and had unique features - think of those coffin beds! - but none of them had anything that was quite so intrusive. And, yes, he knew it was just a statue, but, you know. He'd been around the weirdness far, far, far too long to just trust that things were 'just' anything.

He stepped under the stream of water and tipped his head back. He jerked it forwards again, spluttering, as he realised (as he did more mornings than he liked to admit) that he'd forgotten to take his glasses off. Putting them on a towel, and getting water everywhere, he hopped back in. There. Warm water flowing all over him. This was nice. Much nicer than his earlier years in the Legion. Being centurion and Praetor had been OK, but just as an ordinary member? He almost shivered at the memory of the empty tank of hot water. The Greeks were soft, yeah, but softness wasn't all that bad.

He unhooked a bottle of shower gel - Piper insisted that it was 'better for his skin'; Jason didn't see what was wrong with soap, and thought that his skin was just fine. But he didn't argue. Of course, he mused, squeezing a dollop onto his hands, it probably wasn't quite as toasty if you were at the back of the queue in one of the bigger cabins. Poor Will. He bet that he'd spent years letting everyone else have their turn before him - probably even as counsellor he didn't take the first one. Then again, he probably used Nico's now. Maybe they both did at the same ti-

Maybe he should stop thinking about that. He didn't reckon they did anything more than kiss, for the moment. And they were fifteen! He shut off the water and stepped out of the shower, shaking his head to dry his hair, like a dog, and wrapping himself in a fluffy towel, not like a dog. Once he was totally dry - he hated it when he put his jeans on when his legs were still slightly wet - he dressed, and went back into the main room of the cabin. There was Dad, again. Hi. Totally not thinking about two fifteen-year-olds making out. No. Gods, Dad would probably approve if he had been…

He made a half-hearted attempt to make his bed properly, balled up his pyjamas, and shoved them under his pillow. He opened the curtains. He rubbed his chin hopefully, and was, as every morning, disappointed. Right. Morning routine - done.

Why was everything blurry?

He headed back to the bathroom. He'd get used to wearing glasses eventually…

Breakfast was Jason's favourite meal of the day. Well, top three. To be honest, it was the lack of variety that put him off it a bit. You could only have, like, cereal, or toast, or eggs, or pancakes, or waffles, or bacon, or yoghurt, or fruit, or … OK, OK, maybe there was quite a bit of variety. But, somehow, it always felt the same. Like it was a meal he had to eat, rather than one he enjoyed.

Will always said (mostly to a disbelieving and sleepy-looking Nico) that it was the most important meal of the day. Jason had heard that, too. He wasn't sure he believed it, though. It depended what you were doing for the rest of the day, surely? Well, what did he know? Will was usually pretty reliable on the medical stuff. He had to be - Nico tended to check, mostly just to prove him wrong. He was glad that he and Piper didn't bicker like that. It was scary, sometimes, how into it they got. And it wasn't, as you might have expected, Nico who started it, most - or at least half - of the time. Will was really quite sarcastic, once you got to know him.

Actually, speaking of the prickly pair (Jason felt very - far too - pleased with himself for that) - where were they?

He frowned. There was that new Apollo girl, on her own. She looked a bit lonely and confused. It wasn't like Will to abandon a new camper. Usually they ran away from him, just to get a few moments of peace…

Jason carried his yoghurt (Greek, of course…) over to the Apollo table. "Hi."

The girl looked up. "Oh - hi. You're … Jason, right? You showed me round."

"Yeah. Uh - was it Clare?"

"Yeah - but with an 'i'."

Jason went to nod, before frowning in confusion. "How did you know -"

"People never do," she said. She held her plate up, and a slice of toast appeared. She buttered it, smoothing the spread all the way to the crust. "Good this, isn't it? Not like other summer camps I've been to."

"No…" said Jason. "That, it isn't." He licked the lid of his yoghurt. "Is everything OK?"

She nodded.

"And Will's not bothering you?"

"I've barely seen him." She looked at Jason. "Should I have?"

"He's normally around. Why's he not here? I can't imagine him sleeping in."

"No, he wasn't." She shrugged. "I thought I was up late, and he was already here. Is something wrong? Is there something he needs to do?"

Jason pulled a face. "He's supposed to be looking after you. Making sure that you're settling in OK."

"I'm fine, really," she said. "I've got a schedule, and the other campers seem friendly, even if there aren't that many of them around yet."

"Oh, they are," said Jason, distracted.

"I don't want him to get into any trouble because of me - he seemed really distracted yesterday."

Jason smiled. "Any trouble he gets in will be entirely of his own making. What's your first session?"

"Arts and Crafts." She wrinkled her nose. "That seems a little bit tame, doesn't it?"

Jason grinned. "You haven't seen the workshop!" His expression turned serious. "Make sure you listen to all the safety instructions, OK? It might be boring, but you might really hurt yourself. Ask Will, next time he decides to show up." He swung his legs over the bench and stood up. "And I will try and find out where he is."

"Do you know?" she asked.

Jason's mouth quirked up at the side. "I have a little idea… But it's nothing for you to worry about."

So, maybe he'd been wrong. Maybe the two of them really were… Huh. And to think that Will still blushed when Nico kissed him. Maybe that was why!

Jason almost giggled, and then felt very ashamed of himself. No. They were probably just sleeping over. Stayed up late, past curfew, and Will couldn't be bothered sneaking back to his cabin. Or he fell asleep, or something.

He thought back to last summer. It had been fast, that was certain. One minute, it had seemed, it was Nico and Will, friends, and the next it was Nico-and-Will, boyfriends. It had been pretty sweet. Neither of them had seemed to expect it. Nico had maintained a bewildered expression for days. Will just looked thoughtful, though it was, for him, quite a common expression. For a while, Jason had teased Nico by claiming that Will was a substitute for himself. He'd stopped, partly because he recognised how devoted they were to each other, but mostly because Will casually remarked (he never did anything in a threatening way) that he could set Jason's broken foot to point in any direction he wanted. Even back to front. Then he'd beamed, set the splint properly, and bounced off across the infirmary.

Will, Jason reasoned, was not someone to be underestimated. People (and monsters) consistently did, though, probably because he was normally stood next to Nico. But Will didn't seem to mind being overshadowed by Nico. Metaphorically. Or, given what Nico could do with shadows, maybe not.

He reached Nico's cabin. Should he knock? Nah.

"Oh, William!" he called out, flinging the door open.

He expected a muffled (or possibly not) curse, a groan, two people who may or may not be clothed and may or may not be tangled up in each other, and, probably, something thrown at his head.

He did not expect the empty room.

"Nico?" he called out. "Will?"

He peered into the bathroom. Empty. The towels were all hanging up, unused. He went back into the bedroom. Only one bed was crumpled - he knew it was Nico's. He put his hand a little way under the covers, feeling a little bit of a weirdo as he did so. Cold. That wasn't that odd - Nico was cold.

Jason looked around the room. He checked under the beds. No-one. He looked at the big wardrobe. The pun-centre of his brain lit up. They wouldn't be in there, would they? That would just be too funny. He opened the doors of the closet with a flourish.

Nope.

He frowned. Well, they weren't in here.

So, where were they?

...

(Tee hee.)

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