Annabeth — Alike
Annabeth (7) - Travis (7) - Connor (6)
January
To say Annabeth is curious is an understatement.
To say Annabeth is pliable is also inapplicable.
And to say Annabeth is yielding is 100% inaccurate.
So when she meets Travis and Connor Stoll who were adamantly sure they are in fact not twins, but full on— same mother, same father— brothers, it caught her interest. Not because of its possibility, but because of its impossibility.
"Are you sure you're not twins?" Annabeth asks for the umpteen time. And for the umpteen time, Connor rolls his eyes, shoving cereal into his mouth, and Travis groans, letting his head fall smack on their dining table.
It was a week after New Years. Everybody already left for school since Winter Break is over. Cabin 11 table is wonderfully free. Free enough that Annabeth can sit cross leg on the bench and there's still room for others.
She doesn't want to admit she done anything but pester the brothers since their arrival, but she will. She did nothing but pester the brothers for the entire two weeks they been here and today is the 15th morning of pestering.
They sat together on one side of the table with Luke and Chris on the other. Castor and Pollux sat further away on their own table. They think they're being inconspicuous but Annabeth could see they're interested. Who isn't? It's been forever since Camp got someone new and as weird as Travis and Connor.
Travis, who sits closer to her, picks up his head and looks her in the eye. "Yeah, we're sure. I'm older and Connor is younger."
"Even with twins, someone has to be born first," she points out.
And Travis nods, concealing a yawn behind a hand. "But I'm a whole year older than Connor, so we can't be twins."
Annabeth presses, "But how do you know? You can't really remember Connor being born when you were one year old."
Travis yawns again and turns around, talking with Connor in a weird tongue.
Chiron says it's a mixture of Chinese and Spanish.
Supposedly, some children of Hermes can pick up languages quickly. Chris thinks it's cool to have someone to speak Spanish with, no matter how broken it is. Annabeth thinks it's rude because now there's no way for her to understand what they're saying.
They talk freely, way to fast for Annabeth to pick up any words she might know. When they were done, Travis turns back to her, a bit more awake, a bit more alive.
"We just know," he said as if that means anything. Connor shoves another spoonful of cereal into his mouth.
Annabeth grits her teeth.
She came to know something of Travis since their arrival. He doesn't like fighting, not verbally at least. He's quick to soothe the situation while Connor more or less does whatever Travis does or stays quiet.
Normally it wouldn't bother her if someone is like that. It's good in some cases. The problem is Travis doesn't seem to care they might be twins rather than brothers. He doesn't care about something so important and crucial to their identity, something as important as their godly parent, and that's unimaginable.
"Gods don't make a second child," Annabeth tries again, "The only way for someone to have a sibling is to be like Castor and Pollux, born as twins."
Travis sighs and leans his head on a hand. "We're special then, I guess."
He doesn't care.
Luke pipes up from the other side, flicking his spoon accidentally and spraying the table with oatmeal. "I don't know, guys. I met dozens of demigods while running and I never met siblings with the same godly parents."
"Okay, we're wrong. You're right. I'm a twin and Connor is my twin brother."
That's also another thing Annabeth comes to know about Travis. He's really easy to irritate.
Connor stops eating, spoon afloat above the bowl.
Annabeth still presses on, "Both of you are identical, right down to your looks and personality. If you're not twins, then I'm going to say you're clones."
Travis rolls his eyes. "Okay, we're clones."
Connor looks at his brother from the side and frowns.
"I was kidding about that."
"Okay, twins. It doesn't really matter because—" Travis starts to say, but there is a clang of metal against ceramic. Connor leans in towards the table till he could see Annabeth past his brother.
"Why do you keep asking us again and again? We already agree with you," he snaps, his first words in this conversation. He's irritated too, but that didn't deter Annabeth.
"I think you're twins," she states.
She expects Travis to agree with her and he did, but Connor didn't. He glares at her as he declares, "We're brothers."
"I don't think so."
"I think so."
"I don't."
"I do."
"No."
"Yes."
Travis pulls on his brother's sleeve, a forced laugh coming out. "Let's just all forget about this. Fighting isn't good."
Annabeth scowls as Connor pulls back, but he caught her scowls and gives her one in return.
Connor pulls his sleeve away and jumps over his brother's lap until he was the one sitting next to her. "You're wrong," he insists.
"Prove to me you're brothers."
Travis groans loudly when she said that. "Why do you have to say that?"
Annabeth casts a wary eye towards him, but it shot back to Connor who grins widely.
"Fine," he says, "When I prove you're wrong, I want to know your biggest fear."
"And if I'm right?" she countered.
"You're not," he says with a note of finality. It bugs her.
"But if I am?"
"You get the same deal." Then Connor is marching away towards their cabin.
Travis is quick to follow, abandoning his strawberries (Annabeth swears all he eats is strawberries…) and running after Connor.
Luke snickers and Annabeth turns her glare at him.
"You know," he says between slurps of orange juice, "You and Connor are so alike. It's scary."
"Us? How? I don't get so worked up," she snaps.
And Luke rolls his eyes. "Okay~, Annabeth. But you know what they say about self-perception, right? It's hard to see yourself if you never own a mirror."
Before Annabeth could give a retort, Connor came back. He climbed onto the bench and slams a stack of paper between him and her. "So I got pictures, papers, and something called birth tickets or whatever I snagged before we ran. What do you want to see first?"
Luke gives her a look and Annabeth blows a raspberry in return.
She points at the stack. "It's called a birth certificate. I want to see those first."
After all, those can be faked, right?
Author's Note:
It always stuck out to me how Travis and Connor are really not twins, but brothers. Only Jason and Thalia, Nico and Bianca are like that. Man, that's so special.
I learned the secret to a fast update from me:
1. Keep it short. If you have more things to add make it into another chapter, you stupid, stupid girl.
2. Don't get caught up with imperfections, settle for what you have.
So with that, here ya go...only two days late (but hey better than 90 days late, am I right!).
Thank you to WifeofJaceHerondale, Callitte A. Benvenuti, and Fiction is the Truth for reviewing! I really appreciate it!
