Don't mind the updating hour. I promised to publish this after my psych midterm and I took that at around 10 PM.

I'm ashamed I didn't write a Frank chapter yet and I miss Lester so it's taken care of here.

Story #14: Kayla Gets Her Daddies the Gold!

My Olympian.
Frank and Meg are cheering too.
Get Daddy the gold!

Looking back, Apollo always missed the big moral of being Lester, the human aspect. He certainly didn't miss the acne, the lack of coordination, the baby fat, the constant teasing, Meg's smelly shoes, and almost dying at every turn. He didn't think he'd appreciate seeing his kids but getting to know them, fighting by their side, and sleeping in their cabin (named after himself, of course) made him realize that he missed watching them grow up. He didn't think big milestones were worth it but after seeing how fragile and, to be honest, short their lives were in their fragile bodies, especially at Camp. That's why, after his trials were over, he made a promise to himself and his kids to be there whenever they were celebrating something big. Graduations, yes. Concerts, front-row. First surgery, gallery viewing.

And if Dionysus can be domestic, then so can he.

So today, in his Lester look, he sits in the stands of an open field stadium because it's Kayla's tryouts for the Olympics. Louis XIV might've been his son, The Sun King who used his godly father as an emblem and created a lineage of royal descendants, but his daughter could be an Olympian.

No, she will be. Kayla's his daughter after all.

"You can do this, Kayla!" Lester yells, standing on his seat. "Get Daddy the gold!"

Everyone in the crowd, which wasn't a lot. There were a few people scattered amongst the stands, some ignoring him and others staring. Beside him was Meg, because she would obviously tag along for any chance to make fun of him, Peaches, who came because Meg was here, and Frank Zhang, for Kayla's moral support and because he helped train her. (Besides, she'd be competing for Canada and he's Canadian too. Small world.) In the open field were some targets set up and the archers on the track to test for distance. Some turned to face Lester, wondering what the noise was and who on Earth would yell that (especially a teenage-looking boy), and he can see Kayla's face turn bright red as she pretends to ignore him.

"You're so embarrassing," Meg says, poking a dried chewed up wad of gum with the toe of her converse, "and some man is now staring at you. Front row."

Lester glances over and immediately sits down. His face burns a similar shade to Kayla's, causing Frank, Meg, and even Peaches to peer over curiously. It was a middle-aged man, looking over at them and waving because Peaches (who the Mist disguised as a regular human baby - still scary, though) waved first. Once they looked at the man's face longer, they saw the similar face shape and way they held themselves when they sat straight, and how they watched Kayla on the field.

"That's her dad, right?" Frank asks, lips twitching into a smile. He wants to hear confirmation despite his gut feeling seeming highly likely based on Lester's reaction and the high similarity.

"Oh!" Meg exclaims, actually laughing aloud as Lester slides all the way out of his seat. "Lester's ex and baby daddy?"

Lester's face continues to burn, making him sweat nervously. Stupid human body. "Who taught you those words?"

"Peaches!" Peaches yells sounding accountable.

Lester narrows his eyes at Peaches and points scoldingly. "Peaches, you filthy creature!"

"Peaches!"

"What did you say to me?"

"How about we don't say the word daddy for the rest of the tryout?" Frank says, pulling Lester back to his seat before he starts fighting Peaches (which would be entertaining to say the least, but look bad to mortal eyes since it'd be a teenage boy tackling a baby). "Apollo, you know Kayla isn't getting the gold yet. This is a try-out and not the real thing."

"I'm getting the cheering started early," Lester says, "building morale."

"When's the fun stuff gonna happen?" Meg asks.

"Peaches!" Peaches yells from his seat, sounding like he agrees with Meg's question.

"It's a tournament-style tryout which means it's less noisy," Frank explains, "and because archery isn't a loud sport."

"And you guys say watching grass grow is boring," Meg grumbles.

Frank and Lester shush her as they look back out in the field. Meg eyes them and the archers down below, not seeing much happening since it's only the tryouts and, as previously mentioned, archery is a subtle sport. The archers below aren't even moving much, only when they take an arrow out of their quiver or release it from their bow. It's stiff competition, she'll give it that, since everyone's hitting the targets, but Kayla's shots are more consistent in the centre of the bullseye.

"That's my baby out there," Lester says, proud tears pooling in his eyes. Peaches offers him a tissue which he takes skeptically not knowing where he was storing it. Still, sweet gesture, but keeping it away from his face. He'll give it to Meg the next time he sees her about to shove her fingers up her nose.

"How has Kayla not shot you yet?" Meg asks rhetorically. "If she does, I'll admit her into the Olympics myself."

"I'd be proud if she managed to shoot me."

"Wouldn't be that hard. It's happened for as long as I've known you."

Lester narrows his eyes at Meg who shrugs. It doesn't help that Peaches is roaring laughter, sounding like a screeching demon. He can't imagine what normal mortal ears are hearing. Peaches almost rolls out of his plastic seat and, if that happened, Lester would've gotten a kick from Peaches falling on the floor followed by an actual kick from Peaches for laughing.

"She's not wrong," Frank adds.

"I get no support from any of you," Lester says.

"We're here supporting Kayla, not you," Meg states.

"Peaches!" Peaches chants in agreement.

Lester rolls his eyes. "Well, when Kayla competes at the next Olympics, I'm not bringing any of you."

"Could go with your baby daddy," Meg suggests, grinning.

Lester's face burns again. "Not happening."

"Not even when your baby gets her daddies the gold?"

Lester can't help but smile at that idea. His daughter, the Olympian. What a dream.