STRENGTH
━━ extra, valentine's day special.
┆ ° ♥ • ➵ ✩ ◛ °
( takes place a few months before the events of
the lightning thief act, in the same year )
ˏˋ°•*⁀➷
IT WAS OFFICIAL: CLARISSE WAS GOING TO SMACK A BITCH. No, really. She was ranting to Silena about a certain son of Athena, pacing back and forth, whilst the two of them were alone in the Aphrodite cabin. Clarisse was genuinely ready to punch something, more so someone — she was furious and frustrated, and she didn't even know why.
"Can you believe it?" Clarisse groaned, her head in her hands, "Nabi was asked out by that stupid Weston guy, and... and he's not even good looking or anything!"
"Mhm..." Silena hummed.
This had been going on for... a while, to say the least. Clarisse hadn't really paid attention to the time — she had barged into the cabin probably thirty minutes ago, and then instantly went off on a passionate tangent. She was thankful that Silena had made sure to shoo off the rest of her siblings to the beach earlier so that they could have 'girl talk' (Silena called it that, but Clarisse refused to admit that she liked girl talk).
What was the talk of the whole camp? The worst holiday to ever exist... Valentine's Day.
It was in a week. Every year, Camp Half-Blood had a bunch of festivities for the day — a scavenger hunt known as Aphrodite's Treasure; an archery competition with hearts on the tips of everyone's bows; Valentine's poems and gifts workshops; as well as a celebratory party hosted in the Aphrodite cabin at the end of the night. People were scurrying to find themselves their Valentine's dates, giving each other cute cards or other declarations of love. Clarisse was going on a tirade about Valentine's day, specifically about a particular person's plans for the event...
Weston O'Connell — a son of Athena, a boy with tousled brown hair and grey eyes, had recently asked Nabi out for Valentine's Day.
Clarisse wasn't really surprised since, well... Nabi is Nabi. She's so funny that Clarisse sometimes finds herself smiling about jokes the other girl had said days prior; she's so smart that Clarisse finds herself passing onto Silena little things and tiny facts that Nabi tells her; she's so pretty that Clarisse finds herself wondering how Nabi will wear her hair up when she walks into the dining pavilion on early mornings.
What she was surprised about, though, was Nabi actually accepting to be someone's Valentine...
Clarisse scowled, "What does she even see in him? He's shit with a blade, and— and... ugh! Gods, I don't know!"
"Mhm..." Silena hummed.
"Don't get me started on Nabi giggling about his stupid jokes— he's not even funny! What? He said some nerdy math joke and all of a sudden she's head over heels?" Clarisse continued, "I can do math, too. Big deal!"
"...Wait, was that why you had a maths textbook on your desk, like, two days ago?"
"Shut up, I'm not done," The Ares girl huffed, "when he asked her out with a bouquet of flowers, they were roses. Silena— can you fucking believe it?"
Silena raised an eyebrow, confused. "Isn't that a sweet gesture...?"
"No. Her favourite flowers are pink tulips." Clarisse grumbled. She flopped onto the bed, lying next to Silena, whilst the other girl gave her a sympathetic look that Clarisse hated. She made an aggravated noise, glaring up at Silena as she complained, "...I don't know why I'm so mad about this. I don't get jealous with Nabi's other friends... which makes this so weird."
It was true — Clarisse wasn't like this whenever Nabi hung out with other people, such as Connor and Travis. But something similar had happened a while back, when Nabi had started hanging out with Drew Tanaka, one of Silena's sisters. They had became fast friends since Drew helped Nabi learn about their shared Japanese culture, and it also helped that they had a few of the same interests. But to Clarisse, only once she'd discovered Nabi's fleeting crush on Drew, it seemed like Nabi was 'ditching' her... Silena had to assure her that Nabi was not, in fact, ditching her.
Silena pursed her lips, then asked slowly, "Could it be... now don't get mad at this... you're envious?"
Clarisse shot up with a bewildered expression, and said, "Why would I like Weston? He's annoying as fuck."
"No, girl, oh my gods..." Silena looked irritated, like she wanted to grab hold of Clarisse's shoulders and shake her aggressively. Instead, she took a steady breath to control her annoyance. "Nabi...?"
"...Is stupid for going out with him?" Clarisse tried to finish her sentence. That seemed to make Silena even more exasperated.
"Clarisse, what if... you're jealous of Weston?"
Clarisse blinked. There was practically a loading symbol on the top of her head buffering. She was stunned as she tried to process her words. Then Clarisse scoffed, cheeks red, "That's— that's dumb."
Silena waited for her to say anything more.
"Like, really dumb." Clarisse repeated.
Okay — so she might have just malfunctioned. Silena's claim was totally stupid! Why— why would...? Clarisse didn't like her best friend. Well... she did, but not like that.
"...I'm just mad because I hate Weston's guts," Clarisse snapped, "I mean, he can barely hold a sword without falling over! Who in Hades would ever find that type of guy attractive?"
"Nabi, apparently." Silena muttered.
Clarisse scowled at her, but a flash of panic coursed through her in replacement of the anger. "Shit— is that her type? Guys who can't fight and are nerds? That's stupid. Why would she like that? I'm— I mean, there are other... guys that could be better. Like— ones that can fight, and... who may not be as smart as an Athena kid, but y'know, Ares kids can be smart too like—"
"You trying to describe anyone in particular?" Silena asked, feigning unawareness as she inspected her nails.
Clarisse muttered, "No. What?"
"Huh, well, the person you were describing was kind of familar..."
"I don't like her, though!"
"Well, I didn't exactly say that," Silena shrugged, "but okay."
"You implied it." Clarisse glared.
Silena tried to hide her irked tone. "You implied it. Besides... if you don't like her, why is this such a big problem, hm?"
"It isn't!" Clarisse protested, her scowl deepening.
Silena groaned, wiping her face with her hands. She looked like she wanted to rip her hair out — whatever Clarisse was doing, it was making Silena go insane.
"Oh my gods, I can't take this. If I have to actually yell it for you to accept your feelings, then I will," Silena screamed, "Clarisse, you like your best friend!"
Clarisse blinked.
" . . . "
" . . . "
"Oh my gods, I like my best friend." Clarisse gaped.
Silena threw her hands up in the air and chucked a pillow at Clarisse's face. "Fucking finally!"
【 💌 】
FOUR DAYS AFTER CLARISSE'S REVELATION, she decided on how to act on her feelings... by not acting on them at all.
She had spent the past few days in such a state that even other people around her had started noticing — so Clarisse decided to take it one step forward by completely avoiding Nabi at all costs. Whenever Nabi wanted to hang out, Clarisse would make up a flimsy excuse such as having to do head counsellor duties or forgetting something in her cabin.
There was one time, where...
"Clarisse," Nabi asked, "do you want to come to the beach? A volleyball game's—"
"I've gotta gay— go!" Clarisse stuttered. "I've gotta go. I mean."
...there was even another time that was worse, where it went something along the lines of...
"Hey," Nabi called out, jogging lightly to Clarisse who had just walked out of her cabin, "I was thinking you and I could—"
"I'm busy!" Clarisse blurted out, "I have... to wash Silena's shoes."
Surprisingly, though at the same time unsurprisingly, since Silena actually really cared about her shoes, Nabi had believed it. "Oh. Well, after that we should—"
"After that I have to feed my fish!" Clarisse said. She realised that this next lie was a little... less believable.
"I thought you said fish creeped you out—"
Clarisse walked off with a disgruntled face. "Gods, I'm busy, okay? Talk to me later."
"Uhm," Nabi frowned at Clarisse's annoyed expression, "okay."
Clarisse had felt horrible after that.
Her head was an absolute mess. How— how had she not realised her feelings for Nabi before? Maybe because Clarisse thought the other girl had that effect on everyone. How was she supposed to deal with these stupid thoughts? How was she supposed to get over a crush on her best friend that was definitely, horribly and painfully unrequited?
"You good, Clarisse?"
Clarisse's head shot up to look at Sherman Yang — one of her Ares siblings. They were having lunch, munching on their food when he had asked her if she was alright. Clarisse responded with a scowl, "What? Do I not look okay?"
"Yeesh, it's just... you've been acting all spaced out and stuff recently," Sherman raised his hands up in a surrender gesture, mumbling, "I was only asking."
"Maybe don't ask, then." Clarisse scoffed.
That would've been the end of it, except Nabi was making her way over with a bright smile on her face. Clarisse's mind started reeling; jumbling up in a panic. She swallowed a lump in her throat, trying to calm down the weird feeling in her stomach — after Silena had yelled at her, Clarisse had realised that she had always felt like this, but because of the realisation, everything felt a little more real and intense. She found herself picking off the nail polish on her nails under the table.
Clarisse had been pretty good (...not really) at avoiding Nabi recently, but she had ran out of excuses. She couldn't avoid her friend this time.
"Hey," Nabi grinned, "you busy?"
"Yes." Clarisse swore in her head when her voice cracked. That was so fucking embarassing— shit, was she always this embarrassing around Nabi?
Sherman stifled a laugh, but immediately cleared his throat and awkwardly went back to eating when Clarisse gave him a nasty look. Nabi asked, "When are you free? I was wanting to—"
"I have— I'm a training session." Clarisse blinked, realising that her words didn't sound right. "I have a training session. That I'm leading. Right now."
She actually did have a sword training session that she had to lead — something that she was eternally grateful for at the moment. Nabi didn't seem to get the hint, and instead perked up, "Oh, can I watch? I like seeing you be 'in the zone' and stuff. Y'know—"
"No."
"Oh." Nabi's face fell for a moment, a little caught off guard at how harshly Clarisse had answered.
Instantly, Clarisse felt bad. It sounded meaner that she'd intended it to be. She blurted out, "I mean— yeah. Yes."
"Oh, okay," Nabi smiled, "I'll meet you there, if you're still eating?"
"...Yes." Clarisse repeated.
"M'kay." Nabi gave her a thumbs up, and saluted.
Clarisse rolled her eyes at the gesture, trying not to smile. "You're such a weirdo."
"What?" Nabi put a hand to her chest in mock offense, pouting, "Weston says it 'adds to my charm' actually."
Clarisse felt a weird, unpleasant tug on her heart at the mention of the Athena boy, and she frowned. It completely ruined her mood, and Clarisse turned back to her food. "Yeah, whatever. Meet you at the arena."
"...Okay? Meet you there." The other girl frowned too, as she left. She must've picked up on the immediate change in Clarisse — they had been friends for years, after all.
Which was exactly why Clarisse could not have feelings for her.
Meanwhile, Sherman winced in sympathy, and Clarisse shot him daggers for his reaction. This time, it didn't seem to discourage him as he sighed, "So that's why you've been even more grumpy than normal."
"What?"
"Clarisse... the whole camp knows about your feelings." Sherman shrugged. "I'm pretty sure no one's told either you or Nabi out of pity... and also because bets were placed."
"Oh my gods," Clarisse slammed her head on the table, "I'm going to fucking kill everyone—"
【 💌 】
CLARISSE WOULD'VE RATHER WENT THROUGH HER WHOLE LIFE OBLIVIOUS than having to deal with her stupid emotions. She completely blamed Silena... and maybe Nabi as well, for being so easy to like.
She was currently demonstrating a few sword techniques to a crowd of campers that had signed up for the session — Silena and Nabi were watching on the benches. Clarisse was never conscious about the way she fought; about the way she did anything. She always held herself with pride and confidence. But right now, she found herself worrying about the way she was standing or the way she swung her sword. Was her stance weird? Was she too sweaty? She had been teaching for a while, now.
Gods, this revelation had really messed Clarisse up.
She decided to focus her attention on the group of campers. After she had demonstrated a few techniques, Clarisse announced, "I'm gonna need a volunteer for a sparring match to show how it's done. Anyone wanna come up? None of you stand a chance, anyway, so let's just get this over with."
She saw Nabi do a thumbs down and stick her tongue out from the sidelines. Clarisse groaned, and backtracked, "You might have a chance or something — I don't know? Ugh, just one of you volunteer."
Slowly, a few hands rose in the air. Clarisse would've picked one of them... until she spotted Weston in the crowd — the boy who had asked Nabi out on a date. He was mumbling something to a friend, swinging his sword like he was bored out of his mind.
Clarisse's grip on her sword tightened. Why'd he even come to the session, anyway? He was decent with a blade, despite Clarisse's protests, but she knew he wasn't a fan of these types of things — he was an archer, actually. Sometimes, she'd spot the guy showing off during archery activities. Her question was answered when she saw Weston's eyes flit to Nabi, and Clarisse's jaw clenched.
"Alright, O'Connell."
His head jerked to Clarisse, clearly shocked she'd said his last name. Some of the other campers let out sighs of relief — everyone knew the Ares girl was a formidable opponent, so none of them wanted to go against her. Weston pointed to himself, confused. "I didn't volunteer."
"I know," Clarisse scoffed, "come up here so I can beat your ass and get this demonstration over with."
He seemed a tad bit offended at Clarisse's tone, but Weston walked over to the front. Nabi made a heart with her hands and mouthed 'Good luck!', but Weston and Clarisse both looked over at the same time — neither knew who the gesture was aimed at. They both glared at each other when, once again at the same time, gave small nods her way. Clarisse saw the way Silena stifled a giggle at the whole thing.
"I'm ready." Weston nodded, once he had gotten into a fighting stance.
Clarisse smirked, showing off with a twirl of her sword before mimicking his stance. "For me to wipe the floor with you? Good."
Their blades were a blur as the two of them clashed, both blocking and dodging as they dueled. It lasted for a surprisingly long time — Weston was trying harder than Clarisse thought he would've. Maybe because Nabi was watching. The thought made Clarisse's blood boil, and she put a little more force into her next slash. He went stumbling backwards, but caught himself in time to throw a slice her way.
Weston had managed to find a chance to slice under Clarisse's legs, but she blocked the strike swiftly. She lunged forward and kicked him backwards. With one quick movement — using the technique she had demonstrated to the campers — she had clashed her sword with his, twisting it, then his weapon fell to the ground with a clang. She raised her blade to his neck, and Weston glared as he muttered, frustrated, "You win, La Rue."
"It was never a competition," Clarisse smirked, whispering into his ear as she walked past him to retrieve his sword from the ground, "we all knew who was gonna end up victorious."
The people watching clapped as she smugly threw the sword back to Weston. He scrambled to catch it, careful not to slice his hands as he did so. Clarisse said to all of them, "Pair up with each other and attempt the same thing, yeah? If I catch any of you slacking, you're gonna go against me. I'm sure after seeing Weston, you wouldn't want that, huh?"
Everyone made grumbling noises as they got into pairs, and soon, clashes of multiple blades rung through the air as they all practiced. Clarisse went over to where Silena and Nabi were, and made a motion for Silena to throw her a towel that was next to her on the bench. The Aphrodite girl chucked it at Clarisse, and she caught it with ease, then wiped the sweat off of her abdomen and face.
"You did super great, by the way," Nabi said, "don't tell Weston, but we both knew you were gonna win."
"Yeah?" Clarisse smiled.
"Mhm," Nabi grinned, "call him Icarus — the way he couldn't handle the heat."
The other two laughed at her joke. A fondness seeped into Clarisse's words, as she shook her head, "You're such a loser, gods, Nabs."
Silena laughed. "Clarisse already thinks she's the best person to ever exist — she has a huge ego, don't continue feeding it."
"It's only big because it's true," Clarisse rolled her eyes at her friends, flexing her biceps, "you see? My ego's big for a reason, just like these muscles."
"You can't complain about us being 'losers' when you act like this, Clarisse." Silena said, pretending to gag at her showing off. "Right, Nabi?"
Nabi blinked. "What?"
Silena repeated, "Right... Nabi?"
"Oh." Nabi's cheeks went red, and she focused her attention on the group of campers in the background instead of whatever she was staring at previously. "Right— yeah."
...Hm, Nabi must've spaced out.
Clarisse made a face when she noticed Weston making his way over. He had a goofy smile on his face as he waved to them, but his eyes were fixated on Nabi. Weston said, "Hey."
"Hey," Nabi giggled — usually the sound made Clarisse feel funny in a good way, but this time, she felt irritated, "are we still going to the woods, after this?"
"You bet." Weston smiled. "I was thinking a picnic, maybe? A girl like you deserves something nice like that."
Woods...? Clarisse turned away, pretending to be distracted with taking a drink of water. She thought they were only going out on Valentine's Day, not doing anything else. Suddenly, she wasn't in the mood to continue the session.
"Alright," Clarisse yelled, "that's enough! Go shower, all of you. You guys stink."
A couple campers made noises of complaint — they technically still had fifteen minutes until it was meant to be over. But most of them obliged hastily, worn out and in need of a rest.
"You too, O'Connell," Clarisse said, taking her stuff with her so she could shower also. "stop talking to them and get a move on."
She trudged off before either Silena or Nabi could say goodbye, grumbling about how all Athena spawn were stupid.
【 💌 】
TOMORROW WAS VALENTINE'S DAY, AND JUST LIKE ANY OTHER VALENTINE'S DAY — CLARISSE WAS DREADING IT. After realising that ignoring Nabi was impossible, the Ares girl had to listen to her friend gush about how sweet and kind Weston could be.
Truly, as she stared at the ceiling lying on her bunk bed, trying to fall asleep, Clarisse wanted someone to shoot her in the head and then revive her — just so she could shoot Weston, and then she'd ask someone to shoot herself in the head a second time.
If Nabi or Silena could hear her thoughts, she knew she'd get some dumb lecture on violence and blah blah blah... Clarisse would rather listen to Nabi's voice drone on about something like that instead of Weston, though.
But she couldn't exactly say, 'Hey Nabi! Don't go out with that boring Athena guy — go out with your best friend who might have liked you for years... actually, said best friend doesn't even know how long she's liked you for! But she does know that your smile's contagious and she wants to do disgusting lovey dovey things with you! Date her!'
She hadn't even been able to whine about her whirlwind of emotions to Silena, since the Aphrodite girl had spent the day making preparations for the Valentine's Day party in her cabin, along with the rest of her siblings. Clarisse was pretty sure she remembered seeing Lacy, one of the Aphrodite campers, being carried by a horde of doves as the girl herself was carrying a bunch of party supplies. It was a really odd sight... but not weird by Camp Half-Blood standards, Clarisse supposed.
Late-night thoughts were the worst kind — they suddenly trailed from weird to just downright sad.
Clarisse started spiralling. How could Nabi ever like her back? She was rough and rude to others. Nabi was different; soft and kind and lovely and everything that Clarisse wasn't.
Nabi was beautiful — the kind that had Clarisse swallowing down her words so that they'd sit in her stomach to fold into butterflies. Though, of course, she didn't just like Nabi because she was stunning.
Clarisse thought it was weird to say in her head, but she liked the way Nabi merely worked as a human being. If only Clarisse could grab a key and open up the girl's brain, so that she could learn the rhythm of her thoughts and untangle the haywires of her mind. She wanted everything to do with Nabi.
Her own mind felt fuzzy at the image of the other girl. Clarisse felt it all. The way her heart unfolded at the seams and how her brain turned to static. She thought, for a brief moment, that maybe she'd get over this crush. But then just her name was enough to have Clarisse wanting to scream into her pillow, and praying to Aphrodite for mercy.
But she was also scared. Because again— how could Nabi ever love Clarisse? Someone brash and mean, someone that had never really been taught how to love. She'd probably ruin it all with an outburst or stupid comment.
Clarisse couldn't confess.
So, she drifted off to sleep with no intentions of ever doing so — she'd rather love Nabi silently, than not be able to love her at all.
【 💌 】
THE VALENTINE'S DAY PARTY WAS IN FULL SWING, and Clarisse was completely miserable. Everyone else seemed to be having a good time, back from their dates and other shenanigans they'd probably been up to in the afternoon... but Nabi was no where in sight.
She had only really went because Silena had begged her to. Her friend had put in a lot of effort, so Clarisse reluctantly went. But she was regretting her choice with every minute that passed by in the Aphrodite cabin, dodging all the loud and dancing campers.
Clarisse decided she couldn't take it any longer, and swung the door open to leave. The outside was much quieter than the party happening inside, and she released a sigh of relief at the calm of the night.
What she hadn't expected was... Nabi sitting on the cabin's porch steps, alone.
Clarisse cleared her throat, and Nabi jumped. The Ares girl asked, "Are you, uh... you alright?"
"Di immortales..." Nabi murmured, "you can't just sneak up on a girl like that. But yeah, I'm fine."
Clarisse smiled, walking over and sitting down next to her. She didn't actually want to know, but she felt like it was common courtesy to ask Nabi, "How'd the date go?"
"It went... fine."
Clarisse shouldn't have been happy about her friend's grumbled answer. So, Clarisse leaned forward to get a good look at Nabi's downcast face. "Just fine?"
"Yeah, actually," Nabi sighed, "it wasn't bad— don't get me wrong. He was really nice, and uhm, we almost kissed, but—"
"What?" Clarisse muttered.
"Almost," Nabi repeated, "but it didn't... I don't know, okay? He was a gentleman, and he took me bowling. Gods— it... it was me. I didn't want to kiss him, and it got awkward after that because he was hurt, and—"
"You shouldn't feel bad for not wanting to kiss him." Clarisse murmured. She wanted to brush Nabi's hair to the side, so she could properly see her eyes. But she was afraid.
Nabi swallowed. "I know."
"And if he was hurt, then that's on him," Clarisse hummed, "you shouldn't feel rushed, y'know?"
"Since when were you a romance expert?" Nabi joked, laughing weakly.
Clarisse wanted to say she wasn't a romance expert — although she could've been, if Nabi ever wanted to learn with her. But, Clarisse wasn't sappy, and Nabi wasn't hers. So she joked back, "I've always been a romance expert."
"As if." Nabi mumbled, smiling.
They stayed silent for a while. The party's noise was muffled in the background. Nabi leaned her head against Clarisse's shoulder, sniffing a little. Eventually, Clarisse said, "It's your birthday, next week."
Nabi muttered, "I know."
February twentieth — Clarisse never forgot. She used to complain about how close it was to Valentine's Day, but right now, she was thankful to use it as a distraction, so that Nabi would feel a little less sad.
"Want anything specifically?" Clarisse asked.
Nabi replied, yawning, "You know that I'd like anything you get me."
She must've been tired. Clarisse saw the way her eyes were about to close, and how her words were becoming slower.
"So?" Clarisse shrugged, and said, "You can give me a few ideas."
"Well," Nabi said, her eyes beginning to flutter shut, "I liked that bracelet you made me, last year... but uh, I guess my favourite lip gloss is running out..."
"The strawberry flavoured one?"
" . . . "
Clarisse smiled — Nabi had fallen asleep. She mumbled, in the open air, with the other girl resting on her shoulder, "If you kissed me, I think my ambrosia would taste like your lips, Nabi."
Clarisse had only actually known about her feelings for a week, but she had definitely had them for longer. There was no way she could feel the way she did so fast... though, Nabi could've probably made anyone weak within seconds.
She didn't mind this. Nabi never had to know the way Clarisse really felt about her. She'd rather love Nabi silently, than not be able to love her at all.
With Nabi curled up next to her, she thought that, MAYBE VALENTINE'S DAY WASN'T SO BAD, AFTER ALL.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗔'𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧𝗘𝗦!
જ⁀➴ hope you really enjoyed the valentine's day special — which i decided to make longer than a regular chapter since, of course, it's a special! it was a cute idea that i wanted to write, since we all know clarisse would sooo be the jealous type. plus at least one of them is aware of their feelings, since it'd be silly if neither of them realised when they've liked each other for YEARS y'know? nabi just needs to get it together... sigh 😪 btw weston's casting is brady noon!
what were your favourite parts of the special? mine was the glee reference with 'i've gotta gay' + the icarus joke (funny story, i remember making the joke whilst pretending to argue w a friend and he was GAGGED) + THE AMBROSIA LINE sorry it made me giggle and kick my feet while writing it LMAO but the monologue of clarisse spiralling had me like damn guys bless our girl's heart...
anyways ,, hope it was fun to read and love u guys !! thanks for reading and commenting on 'strength' !! <3
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!