pjo oneshots

apple of my eye

Carefully, carefully, Kayla adjusted her headpiece, making sure not to shake the ornaments from it. She turned slowly, examining herself in the mirror.

"Austin! How do I look?" she demanded, stepping out of the bathroom. Her brother took one look at her and busted into heaving laughter.

"Why, of all things, did you pick Hera's sacred tree?" he asked, wheezing.

"'Cause it's funny. Duh." Kayla snapped, rolling her eyes. She had spent the last few days slaving over this costume, and she wasn't going to let her work be disrespected. Especially by Austin, who was presently only dressed in a chiton. Boringgggg. "Who are you supposed to be anyway?"

"Background character number 5 in the Trojan War." her brother said, nodding seriously.

She made a face. "Who're 1, 2, 3 and 4?"

"Connor, Sherman, Toby and Paolo."

"Why does that not surprise me? Let me guess, there's a 6 and 7 too?"

"Actually there isn't, it's just us." he clarified, with a puff of pride. Insufferable.

"Okay, nerds." she grumbled. "I'm gonna find Will because he is so much cooler than you."

Austin made an indignant noise, but she was already walking away. The point of the costumes was to make them, and then display them. For fun. Chiron had announced 2 weeks ago that they would have a dress up day based on Greek mythology, to lift spirits and give everybody something to do. Plus, the best costumes got a prize. She didn't know what the prize was, but Kayla loved prizes. And more than prizes, she loved winning. Initially she had wanted to make a Medusa costume, because that would have been cool as fuck. But Chiron banned monster costumes as soon as she had thought of it. Kind of a shame, but a golden apple tree was pretty cool too.

Outside, Will was leaning against the cabin wall, talking to Nico. "Looking good, Nico!" she called. The son of Hades turned, his 2 fake dog heads following, and nodded his acknowledgement, giving her a small smile with those too-sharp teeth. Will glanced up as well.

"Hey, Kayla, that looks really good!"

She beamed. Will never held back on his praise, always complimenting them for their achievements, but she loved the attention. He was dressed as Icarus, and his wings glittered in the morning light. "Damn William." she said, looking him up and down. "You might win."

He made a face. "Nah, I think you'd win, definitely. You put so much time into this, you deserve it."

"Thanks, Will." a flash of green caught her eye. "I'm gonna go, you guys have fun. See you at breakfast!" she yelled, before darting off.

It only took her a moment to catch up to Valentina, despite her hands hovering at her head the whole sprint, bracing for her headpiece to come off, which, to her pleasure, did not come off.

"Hey Valentina!"

The daughter of Aphrodite turned, her pretty curls blowing in the soft breeze. She was dressed in a pale shade of green, almost blue really, like the color of rock pools at midday. A few pieces of coral were locked together to create a crown, giving her a sea nymph look.

"Hey, Kayla..." the girl trailed off as she took in her costume. "Wow, that- you went all out."

"Well, it's all out or get out, am I right?" she said, grinning, but suddenly the costume that she had spent so long working on was stupid and the worst idea she had ever had. She looked like a total dunce. Gods almighty, she was the dumbest person alive.

Valentina snorted, dark eyes crinkling. She looked at Kayla again, nodding with a barely disguised laugh. "Looks, uh, looks great."

"Valentina!" another voice yelled from behind her, and to her dismay she saw the girl's face light up as she responded.

"Damien! What are you meant to be?" mock disgust filled her voice, and Damien laughed, slinging an arm around Valentina. He was dressed only in a regular camp shirt and jeans.

"The great hero Percy Jackson, obviously."

"Sure you are."

"Yeah I am! Look, Val, I even did my hair like him. No seriously, look!"

Valentina turned, and as she did, Kayla realized she wasn't as close to her as she had been 20 seconds ago. Her feet were slowly guiding her away, without her permission.

"You look like a knockoff." Valentina announced, before shoving him. "Scram, go find your girlfriend."

"She's not my girlfriend!" Damien said indignantly, but Valentina only rolled her eyes. "Sure, sure." she shoved him away, and he stumbled, shouting a curse. "Bye Damien!" her voice was sweet as honey.

Once he was a few yards away, Valentina approached her. "Sorry about him. He's such a... honestly I don't even know. I can't believe he decided to be Percy Jackson for the costume thing, he's ridiculous. You look really great though."

Kayla's heart was beating 200 a minute, thrumming a relentless rhythm against her ribs. Valentina took another step forward to examine her headpiece. Her citrusy perfume filled Kayla's lungs, her lean arms reaching up to hold an artificial fruit nestled in the branches.

"These look real." the daughter of Aphrodite said finally, as she took a step back and lowered her arms.

"I... thank you. You look, amazing. Like, actually. I would compare you to a goddess if I didn't know better." as if she hadn't described the girl's likeness to that of a dozen different goddesses in her poems.

Valentina laughed, flushing a little. "You're sweet. Come to breakfast with me?"

What? The question echoed in her mind, unable to compute. It took her an awkward 3 full seconds to stutter out an answer. "Uh, yeah! I- yeah, of course."

A smile spread across her sharp features, brown eyes glimmering. She took Kayla's hand- she took Kayla's hand!- and led her to the dining pavilion, leaving her mind reeling.

i cannot believe my first oneshot of 2024 is published literally in april guys im so sorry

small life update: i confessed to the girl i like and it went really good !

guess who has a gf 🤭

just kidding lmao, but she still wants to be friends so all's well

back to fic talks, updates will be super inconsistent because i have exams and im generally unmotivated. i have a couple ideas currently sitting in my doc, half written, that i will probably finish at some point. if anyone has any ideas, any at all, even if its cliché or simple, please lmk because i will do my best to get them written up at a much faster pace than this

anyways love you guys sm, see you in the next chapter (whenever that might be)