Quick A/N: I recently rewatched COTT, dug this out of my old unfinished fanfiction folder, and added to it. Most of it was written seven years ago. This was the series that awoke the imagination of my 13-year-old self and started my writing hobby. I'm nearly thirty years old now and I still write regularly. This is my love letter to a universe I'd like to thank for helping me discover a lifelong passion. I'd also like to leave a RIP to Kirby Morrow. Jay was my favourite character, and he brought him to life in such a wonderful way.

If anybody is still reading this all these years after the series ended – hey, you aren't alone, nostalgia is powerful that way. The entire fic is written, but I'm breaking it into two parts. Mostly it's meant to flesh out the canon and give fluffy context to Phantom Rising.

Thanks for reading.

Jay awoke as he did every day, before the first rays of morning sun had a chance to properly filter through the skylight. He sat up groggily and turned off his alarm clock, though it wasn't making noise. Over the time they'd spent at the brownhouse, Jay had conditioned himself to wake up five minutes before his alarm went off at 5:30am. He only ever heard it after a rigorous training session with Ares or a late-night run-in with Cronus, but was religious about setting it just in case.

Jay exited his bedroom and hesitated at the stairs. He, Herry, and Theresa rarely struggled when it came to bathroom time; Theresa typically woke up later than Jay, and Herry usually showered at night. Atlanta and Neil – who shared the second floor with Archie, but only shared the bathroom with each other – were not always so organized. It was becoming a problem as of late since Atlanta was getting up earlier to coincide with the spring sunrise.

"Neil!" Atlanta growled predictably. Jay smiled knowingly and shook his head. "Get up and get showered! Otherwise you're gonna be in there when I get back from my run!"

"What?" Neil asked drowsily, his voice muffled by the bedroom door. "You're not the b-b-boss…" His voice was impeded by a giant yawn. "Of me…"

"Yeah, well right now I am!" Atlanta growled.

"Atlanta," Jay scolded down the stairs, trying to keep any hint of amusement out of his voice. "You don't own the shower. Give him a break, please."

There was silence for a moment, then a rapid flurry of footsteps as Atlanta zipped up the stairs. She was already dressed in athletic gear, and she glared at Jay. "He takes forty-five minute showers! Forty-five minutes!" she retorted. "Not to mention whatever the heck else he does in the morning!"

This was a fairly common occurrence for Jay; his teammates often spilled out their issues to him and then looked at him expectantly to solve them. He took it as a good sign that the others could trust him with their problems – even when that problem happened to be Neil taking too long of a shower. "Atlanta," Jay whispered, trying to avoid waking the others, though Atlanta's less-than-considerate volume may have already rendered that pointless. "He might not be great at water conservation, but Neil is pretty punctual. He showers at six o'clock on the dot every morning."

In all fairness, everybody knew that Atlanta had the shortest straw when it came to bathroom divisions. There were three bathrooms in the house – Jay, Herry, and Theresa shared the top floor, and Archie and Odie shared the bathroom on the main level, leaving Neil and Atlanta to share the second floor. Although three bathrooms among seven teenagers seemed pretty fair, petty quarrels were far from unusual.

"That's prime shower time, Jay!" Atlanta argued with crossed arms. "I can't seriously be expected to work around him every single day."

Jay sighed, deciding it wasn't worth pushing the conversation into an argument to point out that Atlanta had been working easily around Neil up until last week. "Okay, why don't you try working out a new schedule with him, and then come see me if you still can't compromise? But let him have the shower today: you made him wake up the last two days to shower early…"

"Fine," Atlanta grumbled, turning to go back down the stairs. "Stupid little git had better listen to me..." Jay had a feeling he would be talking to them later.

After a quick shower, Jay descended the stairs to the kitchen. "Good morning, Athena," he greeted politely. The goddess already had a steaming black cup of coffee waiting for him, and he took it gratefully into his hands.

"Good morning," Athena replied without turning around. She was wearing a white apron and had begun flipping pancakes. "Atlanta sure seemed angry about something. You kids alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah…" Jay shook his head. "It's nothing. Just Neil being Neil and Atlanta being Atlanta." He wondered briefly if moving Atlanta to share with Odie and Archie would be a good idea. His teammates' reactions to him allowing Neil an entire bathroom to himself were a scary diversion to this plan.

Athena began pouring a glass of orange juice. Jay glanced over his shoulder. "Good morning, Odie."

Odie yawned and sleepily dragged himself to a kitchen chair. "Hi…" He crossed his arms on the kitchen table and rested his head on top of them.

Athena levitated the juice to him. "Would you like coffee with that?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"…Mhm, yeah, maybe…"

"Late night?" Jay asked. Those weren't uncommon for Odie.

Odie yawned again. "I was up late trying to compile all of Cronus's attacks on us into a spreadsheet. I tried to remember the dates and locations as best I could…"

"Thanks Odie. I can help with that later. Were there any trends?"

Athena set the juice and coffee in front of Odie, who smiled and eagerly picked up the coffee. "Thank you. And it looks like there might be a start of one, but we're going to need more data. It'll be easier to keep track of now that it's set up."

The two chatted lightly as Athena served them pancakes. The front door opened and Atlanta re-entered carrying the newspaper, which she dropped in front of Jay as per usual. Her face was flushed and she leaned against the table to catch her breath. "It's beautiful out," she announced with a grin. "Heh… is Neil in the shower still?" The four paused to listen. There was a definite faint sound of running water. Atlanta's smile turned into a scowl. "I warned him…"

"That could be Archie or Theresa," Odie pointed out, but Atlanta shook her head.

"No. That's Neil." She stalked off toward the stairs. Jay said nothing, choosing instead to unfold the newspaper. He'd already warned Atlanta and hoped she would therefore at least wait until Neil was clothed to start berating him.

Archie walked in a couple of minutes later. "Hey guys," he greeted, settling himself beside Odie and grinning as Athena tossed him some pancakes. "You should've heard Atlanta going off on Neil just now. It was awesome. Woke me up kind of early, but whatever; it was worth it."

Odie chuckled, but Jay merely shook his head. "If I asked Atlanta to share a bathroom with you two instead, how would you feel about that?"

Odie and Archie stared at him. "And let Neil have an entire bathroom to himself?!" Archie finally asked.

"Well - "

"You'd never see Neil again," Odie warned. "He'd live in the bathroom."

"I don't care if Atlanta shares with us, but how come Neil gets a whole bathroom to himself?!"

"Okay, okay…" Jay backed off. That was one option out the window – even though Neil spent more time in the bathroom than Archie, Odie, and Atlanta combined. "I'll figure it out later."

"Pancakes!" Herry cheered as he entered the kitchen and joined the other boys at the table.

Athena gave him a hard look. "You need to save some for the other three, remember." She dumped a stack in front of Herry, who lit up.

"Thanks, I'm starved!"

"Good morning to you too…" Archie muttered. Herry turned, his mouth full of pancake, and flashed a thumbs-up as a reply.

Theresa came in next with heavy bags under her eyes. She said nothing in greeting to the boys, who eyed her worriedly as she quietly sipped at the green tea Athena slid over to her. Before Jay could voice polite concern, Archie cut across with "wow, you look rough."

Theresa let her head fall onto the table with a sigh. "…I didn't sleep at all last night…" she grumbled, her voice raspy and monotone. "I feel awful…"

"Maybe you should take a sick day," Jay suggested swiftly. He'd much rather a teammate miss school to sleep than force themselves through it and be unable to function at training. "Don't you have training with Miss Persephone today?"

"I'm not going," Theresa said bitterly, causing even Athena to pause and stare at her. "I've had training three days in a row already. My powers are getting to be too much. I had these vague useless visions all night; I can't do this anymore…"

Archie rolled his eyes and stared pointedly away – fortunately, Theresa wasn't looking at any of them. Odie, Herry, and Athena looked expectantly at Jay. "That's why these sessions are so important," Jay urged, "to control your powers."

Theresa furrowed her brow. "No, all she wants to do is make my abilities stronger!" Theresa argued angrily. Jay frowned at her uncharacteristic hostility. "I'm just a teenager! I can't control all of this…" She rubbed the spot between her eyes and stood up, taking the tea with her. "I… I think I need to rest…"

As Theresa retreated back to her room, Odie and Herry exchanged glances. "Should someone check on her?" Herry asked. Jay knew the question was aimed at him, but stayed quiet for a moment as he figured Archie would cut him off. It was better to let Archie vent before trying to talk reason in Jay's experience.

"It's not like it's the first time she's done this," Archie snapped back, his brow furrowed in irritation. "What could we say that we haven't said already? She needs to deal with this herself."

"That's not exactly fair," Odie argued. "Nobody else on this team has powers like hers. We can't relate!"

"Miss Persephone knows what she's doing!" Archie retorted. Odie and Herry quieted, not wanting to pull Archie into a full-out argument.

Jay glanced at his three team members, considering their words. "Let's just give her some space. She's exhausted and probably isn't in the greatest state of mind - "

"Who?" The four boys turned as Atlanta re-entered the kitchen, freshly showered and ready for school. She stared at Jay suspiciously and took a seat beside Herry. "You better not be talking about me, 'cause Neil totally deserved it."

"What? No. It's Theresa again…" Jay trailed off, studying Atlanta carefully. "…Wait, what did you do to Neil?"

Atlanta laughed nervously and prodded the pancakes that Athena had just doled out for her with a fork. "Nothing. What's up with Theresa? Is something wrong?"

"She hasn't been sleeping, doesn't have full control of her psychic abilities…" Jay explained and hung his head. "Miss Persephone's doubled their training sessions to try to get it under control, but it's only getting worse…"

Atlanta frowned. "You could ease up on the training, you know."

"I told her to take the day off school…" Jay sighed. It was hard to tell whether he was making the right decisions when he admittedly couldn't understand what Theresa was going through. He made a mental note to ask Hera about it at their private training session later today.

Herry pushed back his plate of pancakes and stretched as he stood up. "Hey, maybe we could all use a break from training. I'm tired and the day hasn't even started yet."

Jay blinked at Herry – that was uncharacteristic of him. Herry usually loved training…

"Yeah!" Atlanta readily agreed, crossing her arms. "What's up with all of these training sessions recently? Artemis told me to meet her for extra after the group session today. She never asks me to do that!"

"Don't even get me started on Ares..." Archie groaned and shook his head. "I don't even get lunch today."

"Guys…" Jay hesitated to think of an explanation. "Well, Cronus has been quiet recently. They probably just want to take advantage of this free time to - "

"Wait, you're not the one forcing this on us?" Atlanta interrupted. Jay shot her a look.

"It's up to the mentors to decide how much individual training we get," Jay explained, trying to be patient. "I only get a say in what we do in group training based on my consultations with Hera. You guys know that, right?"

"Yeah…" Atlanta conceded. "It's just weird, that's all."

Jay had to admit that this was a bit unusual. Especially for Theresa, who was worse off from the extra work. He'd have to remember to consult with Persephone when he got a chance –

"Morning Neil," Odie greeted drowsily, clearly still not fully awake.

"Eek!" Neil scrambled to hide behind the doorframe as the others turned to look at him. He poked his head out, trembling, his eyes widening as his line of vision connected with Atlanta's. Atlanta smirked and turned her attention casually back to the remnants of her breakfast.

"What did you do to him?" Herry asked Atlanta, grinning widely. Atlanta shrugged but didn't drop her smirk. Archie nudged Herry and grinned. Jay knew that this roughly translated to: 'I'll tell you later when Jay's not here'. Jay shook his head and decided to skim over the newspaper again. He knew he'd find out one way or another if it was important enough.

"Hurry up and eat," Athena commanded, her sharp eyes glaring at Neil. "You kids will be late for school at this rate." Neil sulked closer, refusing to make eye contact with Atlanta. Archie snickered while Odie tried to distract Neil with lighthearted talk about the weather.

Eventually, the six teenagers all piled into Herry's truck and sped off to the high school. Jay had history class with Herry first period, so he hung back as the others jumped out of the truck and headed across the school's parking lot to their respective classes. "Did you start the essay yet?" Jay asked as the two headed for their lockers.

"Huh?" Herry's brow furrowed as he thought for a few moments. "…You mean the one due in three weeks? No way man." He laughed.

Jay smiled knowingly. "Mine's done. Never know when Cronus will decide to interrupt a procrastination attempt."

Herry shrugged. "Just fake printer problems or something. Always worked for me."

The pair continued to chat through their classes and met up with the others for lunch. When they got to their usual lunch table, it was just Atlanta and Neil there. Neil was pointedly ignoring Atlanta by watching videos on his PMR, so Atlanta quickly perked up when she spotted the others. "Hey guys!" she said cheerily, waving them over. Neil glared at her.

"Hey," Herry said, chuckling at Neil's reaction. He took a seat and pulled out a sandwich that was easily twice the size of the one Atlanta and Neil had in front of them. "Archie doing training?"

Atlanta nodded. "Yeah. Dunno where Odie is."

"Odie's having a consult with Hermes about some trends he was researching last night," Jay explained as he pulled out his own sandwich from Athena.

Atlanta tipped her head at Neil. "How come you and Aphrodite never do individual training?"

Neil rolled her eyes at her. "Uh, we do," he said without looking up. "I tell her all about the latest fashion trends at least once a week."

Herry glowered at Neil. "That's your training?!"

Neil shrugged. "What, how am I supposed to train being lucky? It's a gift." Atlanta and Herry groaned at him.

"Topic change," Atlanta said, "have you heard anything from Theresa?" She frowned at Jay. "I've messaged her but she isn't responding."

Jay shook his head. "No, but she's probably sleeping. Just let her rest."

Atlanta's head slumped grumpily into her arms. "Okay, I'll try." No sooner had she said that when her PMR beeped that it had an incoming message. She snatched it off the table as the others looked curiously over. "It's Theresa," Atlanta quickly explained. "Uh... she says she's gonna meet up with us after school for training. She'll take her own car." Atlanta looked up at Jay. "That's good, right?"

"Yeah..." Jay affirmed, though his tone wasn't convincing. "As long as Persephone doesn't push her too hard." Just a couple more hours and he could consult with Hera...