Sunshine Kids (Apollo Cabin Oneshots)

Even the Sun Can Lie

"When was the last time she slept?"
"When was the last time you slept?"
"When was the last time-"
"Kayla! You with me?"
She blinked. "Oh yeah. Sorry, thinking about the Olympics-" it was a good excuse. "Calculating how many more days until I qualify."
"You're still too young and I was asking when the last time you slept was."
She couldn't remember, so she lied, "Last night. Remember? I had the night shift but it was quiet so I just slept."
Will nodded, trusting that his little sister couldn't lie. She could, but Kayla didn't need Will knowing that. She would settle for him believing she would never tell him something that wasn't true.
"Right. Are you coming in this afternoon or is Austin? I lost the schedule," Will ruffled her hair.
"Did you lose it or did you leave it in Nico's cabin?" Kayla smirked.
"Shut up, kiddo."
"You shut up. But yeah, I'll be in after I teach my archery classes. Austin wants to do a bunch of filming for his YouTube this week."
Will nodded. "So we won't see him until Sunday when he emerges with twenty five videos we need to watch."
"Probably not. There's still a bagel in the back room cuz I doubt you've had breakfast yet. See ya later, Will!" Kayla gave him a quick hug and ran out before he could ask whether she'd had breakfast.
She waved at some other campers, or what she assumed were other campers (she might have waved to a tree), as she made her way to the archery area, trying to pull on her archery gloves while walking, which in her blurry haze, was more difficult than it should have been.
"Kayla! Kayla!"
"Kayla, you good?"
"Hello! Can you hear-"
"Yeah, yeah-" she shook her head and she could see the blurry faces of the kids she was supposed to be training again. "Right, uh- let's do that again, but everyone takes one step back this time."
She tried to watch, she really did, but she was tired. "I need coffee," she mumbled under her breath, running a hand over her face.
"Have you seen Will?" She blinked furiously, trying to wake herself up, before turning to where the voice had come from.
Nico. Of course. His hair was still messy and she was still confused about why he insisted on wearing black and an aviator jacket when it was July in New York, but he'd refused every effort from any other person to get him to wear something else.
"Uh- infirmary, why?" She answered after a minute. It took her brain some time to connect dots and formulate an answer- wow, she was more tired than she thought. That shouldn't have been so difficult. Maybe she would interrupt Austin...

"I wanted to go to the beach with him," Nico didn't notice her slightly slurred speech or how she'd taken so long to respond. Kayla couldn't blame him; she was doing her darndest best to not look sleep-deprived and Nico wasn't medically trained.
"Want me to take over the infirmary for you two?" She offered without Nico having to ask. He'd asked once and she'd agreed and it had become a daily thing by accident. She'd cover for Will's shift and do her own and more often than not, take over Austin's, on top of teaching archery classes and trying to fit in her own practice.
She was glad Nico and Will were happy, she really was, but sometimes she wanted to scream at them that she'd like to sleep. And then she'd remember how sad Will had been before and she'd suck it up. Having her brother happy was worth losing sleep over.
Except it had been two and a half days and Kayla really needed a coffee-
"Thanks Kayla," Nico smiled and Kayla found herself smiling and nodding and being dragged along to the infirmary after her archery class got dismissed. Before she could form two coherent thoughts, Nico was telling Will about his plan and she was standing there with a stethoscope in her hands.
Will looked over at her. "You sure you're good with this, Kayls? You've been covering for me a lot."
She didn't hear him. Things were hard to hear- and see. Did they have a coffee machine somewhere?
"Kayls?" Will took a step closer to her and shook her shoulder gently.
"Hmm?" She slurred slowly, swaying slightly. Will lifted her chin slightly so she was looking at him.
"Kayls, what's your favourite color?"
What an infuriating question, Kayla thought. She knew she knew it, but she couldn't figure out what it was or how she'd say it. Did Will even know it? Had she told Will? She couldn't remember.
Will picked her up and she rested her head against his chest involuntarily. "Sorry Nico," he said regretfully. "But I don't think Kayla can take over for me."
"Is she okay?" Nico asked. "I mean- she seemed okay when I talked to her-" he looked almost worried and it made Will happy that Nico cared about his sister.
"I don't think she's been sleeping."
"Huh? Why not?"
"She's been too busy taking my shifts and hers, and I think Austin was off this week, which means she probably took those too-"
Nico blinked. "She's been working all the shifts? Why didn't she tell me? I wouldn't have asked her to take yours if-"
"She's stubborn," Will smiled softly. "I'm going to-"
"Spend the day with your sister," Nico nodded. "And get Austin to take over here, I don't care what he's doing. Make sure she sleeps. She's done a lot for us."
Will smiled thankfully and carried her to the Apollo Cabin. She was desperately trying not to fall asleep on him- he was warm and she was exhausted, but no, didn't she have a shift? She started trying to clamber off him, but Will just tightened his arms around her.
"Go to sleep, Kayls," he whispered softly, plopping down on a bed with her. "I'm right here."