Whenever he was asked about it, Chiron would say that he was a mentor to his demigods, not an extra parent. Even he knew that that was a lie. A bunch of demigods see him as someone they could come to with their problems about literally everything. And that was something you did with your parents, not with any regular mentor. Of course, people knew Annabeth was basically his daughter, but she was far from the only one.
Max, an son of Ares, had been feeling incredibly down the whole day. Yet, he had grown up with parents that would constantly tell him that he couldn't cry or show emotions, that he had to be though. Being an Ares kid also didn't really help. Children of Ares were expected to be strong, all day long. They couldn't just show that they were down.
Yet, this is camp Half-blood, so obviously people notice. During the sword training, Max hadn't show half as much fury when trying to beat his enemies as usual. When Chiron had passed by, he had immediately seen it. After the training, Chiron grabbed the boy by his shoulder and pulled him into the big house. Under loud complaining from Max, he had pushed him up the stairs, sat Max down in a comfy chair, and gave him a cup of tea. 'So, Max what is going on?'
Chiron smiled at Max, who looked so angry that it was a miracle that he hadn't thrown his teacup at the wall yet. 'Nothing, old horse.' Chiron took a sip of tea. 'Are you sure?' Max slammed his fists on the table. 'Yes.' Chiron shrugged. 'If you say so, Max.'
It stayed silent for a little while, until Max sighed deeply and folded his arms. 'The mail got delivered today. I had send an application to three universities, to study Computer Science. I got rejected at every single one of them. Not only that, but I saw Kaitlin Rose, from the Athena cabin, walk around with a letter from my number one, and she got a place in the program.' He angrily kicked against the leg of the table. 'She only got in because of her six thousand extracurricular activities. I already coded a few best-seller apps, for goodness sake! Why did she get in? I never even saw Kaitlin close to a computer!' Max had started screaming, while a tear made his way down his cheek.
He wiped it away. 'But it's nothing. She probably deserved it more than I did.' He grinded his teeth against each other will he said it. Chiron's smile faded. 'I didn't know you wanted to go to college that badly. Is there a reason for that, Max?'
Max nodded, but didn't say anything. He took a small sip of tea. 'I do want to go to college. I want to go work at the computer department of the military.' Max got a faint smile on his face, and a dreamy look in his eyes for a few seconds. Than his face got stone-hard again. 'But that ain't going to happen.' Chiron didn't correct his grammar, this time at least.
'Do you know of any more universities which have a program that you want to get into?' Chiron asked. Max stared at him with a stare that would have killed Chiron if looks could do that and if Chiron wasn't immortal. 'That's not the same and you know it, centaur!' Chiron tapped his hand. 'Sorry, Max.' Max didn't answer, but grabbed Chirons' hand. 'It's okay,' he whispered. Chiron smiled. 'Do you want to go back to your cabin, Max?' Max nodded.
'Yes.' Chiron got up, but Max was still in his chair. Eventually, he stood up, walked over to Chiron and hugged him. 'Thanks.' He didn't say anything else, but walked down the stairs and out of the Big House.
Chiron didn't hear anything else from Max until two weeks later. The boy came running into the Big House with an envelope. 'Chiron!' He yelled. His fingers were shaking. Chiron turned to Max. 'Yes?' 'I... I got another letter back. From, er... Yale.' Chirons eyes got big. 'You send a letter to Yale?' Max nodded. 'I decided to try. I have nothing to lose anyway.' Max shrugged. He held his breath, and tore open the envelope.
He got out the letter, but didn't fold it open. His hands were shaking violently. He held it to his chest, and sat down. After that, he jumped up again, and jumped around the room for a while. Chiron hid a laugh, and asked: 'Max, would you like a cup of tea?' Max shook his head. 'Nas.' Chiron stayed at his place. Max took a deep, shaky breath, opened the letter, and started reading.
His face got worrisome the longer he read, but halfway through the letter he put it down on the table and started to cheer and jump around the room. He calmed down again, grabbed his letter and turned to Chiron. 'Well, centaur, I got accepted. Now, I have to leave - I got sword training with the Athena cabin.' He smiled evilly and got out of the big house. Chiron shook his head, with a smile on his face. He decided that he should warn Kaitlin, because she was going to have a hard time in the arena.
The next day, Lacy came into the Big House. 'Chiron, I need advice,' She said.' Chiron nodded. 'Let me just get a cup of tea.' He got two cups of Earl Grey tea, put them down and looked at Lacy. 'So?' Lacy took a small sip of Earl Grey, put it down again, and did a hair flip. After that, she started.
'Well, there was this boy in my last Geography class at school, and I thought he was like, super cute. Yet, then I saw this girl in front of me, in English class, and she was also so pretty. In the break, I first talked with her, and she was so nice! Actually, I gave her part of my donut, and the way she looked at it was the cutest thing ever. Than I talked to the guy, and I thought he was kind of bland, but later I realised that he had slipped, like, the cutest note into my Mathematics book!' Lacy looked into the great nothing for a while. 'And now I don't know who I liked better. I prayed to my mother, but she just said that I should date both at once. I don't want to do that, you know?'
She looked at Chiron, who was still processing everything she had said. 'So, you don't know who you want to be… your significant other?' lacy shook her head, smiling. Her elastik bands were blue this time. 'No, Chiron, I don't expect that much from you. I just wanted to tell someone who wouldn't immediately tell me what I should do.' She blushed. Chiron rolled his eyes. 'Well, you did ask for advice. So, just… spend some time with them some more, and see how that goes.' Chiron grinned a her.
Lacy nodded. 'I will!' She drank the last bit of her tea, jumped up, hugged Chiron and skipped out of the house. Chiron looked at the door, and shook his head. 'I have trained teenagers for years, but I still don't understand them,' He whispered under his breath, 'I should have stopped when the first two sneaked outside and almost got killed by a drakon.' He laughed. 'But I didn't, and I am grateful for that.