Secrets.
Chris and Clarisse had many of them. But never between each other.
They had been keeping each other's secrets since forever, without the others even knowing they had anyone. Because that was the way they worked.
But, some of their secrets weren't secrets at all, as Chris realized, seeing Clarisse and her cabin walking across the pavilion with their plates.
There weren't rules for offerings to the gods, but normally campers burnt their food for their parents. But if someone wanted to make an offering for all of the gods, or for another one, it was ok.
Chris himself started to burn his food not only for his father but also for gods like Iris, Morpheus or Eros after the Titan War.
It was a painful thing for Chris to think that maybe one or two minor gods could have been of their part on the war if they did something as simple as burning their food at least once a week.
It took him two weeks to discovered Clarisse's new secret.
It wasn't something that she was hiding but most likely something that she didn't show or said anything about it, but, if you looked closer, you would find out.
Clarisse used to drop on the fire half of the brisket of beef that she would usually eat for lunch, but on the past weeks, she would have two briskets, one of them, cut in the middle.
First, she offers one half to Ares, and then, the other.
Clarisse never spoke the names out loud, it was always in a whisper, something that hardly anybody –but her brothers and sisters– would notice because nobody really cared about others camper's offer.
So, he needed to read her lips if he wanted to know who was the other god. He missed the name a few times before he could understand it.
It was Dionysus.
He was surprised, but just a bit. Clarisse wasn't an ungrateful person, but he didn't expect that.
It was a good surprise, anyways. But probably people wouldn't understand why it was such a big thing for him. It wasn't because Clarisse was saying thanks, or because she was doing it regularly in front of the entire camp without any problem or hesitation. It was a big matter for him because she was doing it for him.
She was daily thanking one of the gods that almost the entire camp disliked because he cured his insanity. Because he gave her back the sane Chris she loved.
The offerings at the camp were the way campers thanked the gods for something, it was the way they had to pray for help. But it was also the way they had to say "I respect you".
And Clarisse was doing all of that because of him.
And he loved her even more just because of it.
And, when Clarisse returned to her seat, she could say that he knew what she was doing and that he would not speak about it if she didn't want it.
And she loved him even more because of it.