Sunshine Kids (Apollo Cabin Oneshots)

the sun and the trees

Kayla Knowles was in love. She felt hard and she felt far too much, and Miranda Gardiner was the most perfect person in the world. They'd flitted on different ends of camp for years. The Apollo Cabin fighter and the Demeter Cabin gardener. Their activities were always on opposite ends of the camp, and while Miranda was leading arts and crafts sessions, Kayla was giving archery classes.
The only times they saw each other was when Miranda ended up in the infirmary after spending the day frolicking in poison ivy and Kayla would heal her with a smile and a little smirk. Whether Miranda did it on purpose, and whether Kayla purposefully sought out shifts during the evening, neither admitted to the other.

Kayla watched Miranda from across the dining table and she was certain there was nothing more gorgeous. She wrote odes in her head and poems on scraps of paper about how Miranda was her muse, the Patroclus to her Achilles (they were, weren't they, the fighter and the dreamer, what a perfect pair), and she composed songs on her guitar in the strawberry fields.

Miranda Gardiner was in love. She was too shy to say anything, and not sure that Kayla Knowles felt the same way about her. She was more sure that Kayla simply thought of her as a friend; she was so kind and friendly to everyone that it seemed unlikely she was in love with Miranda. They didn't spend much time together; Kayla was always running around, helping someone with their shooting, or healing someone else from a sword injury.
She took to landing herself in the infirmary. Spending time in poison ivy she knew she would react to, failing in her sword classes, and letting herself get burnt in art sessions. Anything that would let her spend a few minutes with Kayla in the infirmary without taxing her too much.
William Solace knew; he could tell from both their longing glances, the neverending sighs from Kayla in the middle of the night, the ever-growing pile of infirmary reports about a previously unharmed Miranda Gardiner. He laughed about it with Nico and watched his little sister fumble around with her adoration. Occasionally, he nudged them together and watched as they blushed and stumbled through conversations, somehow oblivious to each other's love.

"So, Miranda, how did you get this injury?" Will asked, surveying her rash.

"Poison ivy. Didn't see it."

"You don't ever see poison ivy, do you? This is the twentieth time this week."

"I was preoccupied."

Will glanced over at his sister, who was pretending to not be listening.

"Thinking about Kayla?" he asked with a grin. Miranda blushed and stuttered out a reply. Kayla also turned red from her little perch in the paperwork-covered desk.

"You both are just a little too blind and a little too in love," Will shrugged. "I'll leave Kayla to fix you up, Miranda. I promised Nico I'd meet him at the beach."