Camellia

1: "You drool when you sleep."

For Pax Barrera, life at Camp Half-Blood was quiet. Well, at least as quiet as life could be for a camp full of monster-killing demigods. Most of his time had been spent at the Forge, with his three siblings: Charles Beckendorf, the head counselor of cabin nine, Jake Mason, and Nyssa Barrera.

Pax loved his siblings. Beckendorf and Jake had made Pax and Nyssa feel welcome, after their several run-ins with monsters on their journey to Camp Half-Blood and they supported each other in everything. Beckendorf, Jake and Nyssa had helped him when he'd decided to become a male and change his old name, Emilia, to Pax. 

Still, there was one thing that they didn't support him in: his crush on Annabeth Chase. It seemed that as well as muscles, a knack for machines, and ugliness, they also all shared their father's low self-esteem. And all four of them knew that there was no way in Tartarus that any of them would be able to get with another camper. 

Every night, they would lie awake in their communal cabin bemoaning their love lives. (Yes, there were spacious private underground rooms available, but with only four campers, they decided that they might as well make use of each other's company). Beckendorf would go on and on about how beautiful Silena Beauregard was, Nyssa would then have her share of the conversation, talking about Chiara Benvenuti, an unclaimed girl from the Hermes cabin and Pax would then have his turn, quietly talking about Annabeth while the others listened on and made sympathetic noises. Jake Mason would then remind all of them, in the most gentle way he could, that their hopes were futile and that none of them would ever have a successful love life. (Jake never mentioned his crush though Pax had a sneaking suspicion that it was someone from the Hermes cabin by the way his eyes would be fixated on the door every morning). 

So no, they didn't exactly support his crush on Annabeth. But that didn't stop Pax from loving her any more than he already did. He loved the look of concentration she always had when she did hand-to-hand combat or was trying to think of an unbeatable plan in Capture the Flag. He loved how hardworking she was, striving towards her goal to finally get on a quest. And he loved that most sunny afternoons, she could always be found under or in a specific Beech tree in the woods, contentedly reading, despite the fact that monsters roamed nearby. 

But Pax knew that his love was unrequited. Not just because he was a son of Hephaestus, as his siblings kindly reminded him and themselves every day, but also because the whole camp knew that Annabeth was in love with the infamous Luke Castellan, who, it seemed, almost everyone had a crush on. Aesthetically, Luke looked the complete opposite to Pax. Where Pax had dark hair and eyes, Luke had blond and blue. Not only that, but he sported a mysterious scar over his eye and held himself tall, full of confidence; a look Pax felt he couldn't manage. 

It was a well known fact that Annabeth had a not-so-secret crush on Luke. Still, Pax thought he might have a chance. After all, unlike Luke, who was seven years older than Annabeth, Pax was her age. Unfortunately though, age didn't seem to matter to Annabeth. She had adored Luke, at age seven, when he was twice her age. And her crush hadn't wavered in the five years she'd been at camp. As Beckendorf had pointed out, Pax's chances of getting with Annabeth were the same as his chances of getting with Silena: non-existent. 

Still, life continued at Camp Half-Blood and despite Pax's inner turmoil for Annabeth Chase, it was mostly uneventful and quiet... until he came.

Percy Jackson. 

He was almost as dashingly handsome as Luke, with dark hair and shimmering green eyes. At first Pax had shrugged him off. After all, weren't blondes more Annabeth's type? And, funny as he was, Percy didn't seem to share Luke's confidence. What's more, Annabeth herself didn't seem that interested. The offhand comment of him drooling in his sleep was a clear sign that she was unimpressed. 

But Pax should have known that the fact that she'd even acknowledged Percy's existence was bad news. 

Much to his annoyance, Percy caught Annabeth's interest when he doused Clarisse and co in toilet water. Pax hadn't missed the intrigued sparkle in her eyes when she'd looked Percy's way. (And no Pax hadn't been staring; he'd been totally engrossed in thinking about a project he was planning on as he'd walked past).  

To make matters worse, Percy didn't remain unclaimed, or even better, claimed by Ares (Annabeth hated the Ares' cabin because they preferred to simply charge in rather than come up with a half-decent plan), but, no, he'd been claimed by Poseidon. Out of all the gods, it just had to be one of the Big Three. 

Pax was half-hopeful at first. After all, Athena hated Poseidon. But it'd turned out that 'son of Poseidon' equalled 'Quest', and, of course, Annabeth immediately signed up as the third quest member. 

So super-handsome-and-mysterious-newcomer Percy Jackson, Annabeth and third-wheeling Grover (who, seeing Pax's despair, promised to get in between the possible budding relationship before Percy could make a move) had been whisked out of camp on a quest-slash-date, leaving Pax to mope at the forge.He definitely didn't trust this Percy Jackson and, as much as he respected Annabeth, didn't completely trust her judgement when it came to potential partners. Also, he didn't expect Grover to hold his promise; that guy devoured romance novels. Literally.

During the ten days that followed, Pax tried his best not to think about Annabeth, or, more precisely, what Annabeth and her potential-boyfriend Percy Jackson, were up to. He hid himself in the Forge, making countless weapons which hopefully would be put to use some day, and at night, slept in his private underground room so he wouldn't have to hear the others talk about their non-existent love lives. 

When the three heroes returned, Grover wouldn't look Pax in the eyes, making him slightly uneasy about what had happened. But more importantly, Annabeth was the happiest he'd ever seen her, now having completed her first ever quest. Percy was dubbed the 'saviour of the world' and despite the jealousy he'd harboured for the guy, Pax couldn't help but feel a grudging respect for him. He'd started to entertain the idea that, if it made Annabeth happy, maybe her being with this Percy Jackson wouldn't be all bad. He decided to try and think about moving on, and attempted to put his feelings for Annabeth behind him. 

And then, one day, it went wrong. Pax was sitting with Chiron, fixing his wheelchair, which was half-attached to his backside as it had somehow malfunctioned as he'd been getting out of it (Pax suspected foul play by the Hermes' cabin), when all Tartarus broke lose. 

Annabeth raced in, tears streaming down her face, followed by two wood nymphs carrying a very sick-looking Percy Jackson. Chiron called for the Apollo campers, but by the time they arrived, it was too late: Percy Jackson was dead. 

One of the nymphs blurted out the story. Or, at least, what Percy had managed to tell her in the seconds before he died: It was Luke. Luke had betrayed them, sided with Kronos, and had killed Percy. 

Annabeth ran out half-way through the explanation and Pax  followed suit, leaving a stunned Chiron still in his half-attached wheelchair. Annabeth was too fast for him, but Pax had known where she was heading: her beech tree in the woods. 

Sure enough, he found her, crumpled up in a heap and sobbing her heart out. Pax awkwardly put his arms around her, feeling her tremors run though his body. Annabeth's heart had been broken not once, but twice. One love was dead and the other had decided to turn evil. All on the same day. Pax wasn't an expert on feelings but even he was pretty sure that that wasn't good. 

As he murmured soothing words to her trembling form, all Pax's plans of moving on from Annabeth vanished in an instance. He loved her and despite his pretenses, he knew deep down that he always would. Pax promised himself that he would always be there for Annabeth. Even if it meant condemning himself to the friend-zone forever. 

And that's the first part! Let me know what you think. Too long? Too short? Anything I can do to improve?