tratie one shots, vol. i

[ hotel room pt. 2 ]

okay, here it is! i had a blast writing this one, and every time i wrote harlow's name all i could think of was poppy harlow, the renowned news anchor for pew news lol.

this is super long, but y'all said you wanted it, so there ya go. i'll hopefully have those other requests up soon, too.

edit: hhhhhh percabeth200718 kindly pointed out that i completely forgot argus literally works at cbh. i'm a fool lol. just... uhh... pretend that's not true in this world i guess?

enjoy!

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. . .

"Another one?"

I couldn't believe my ears. How in Hades was I going on another quest? It'd only been a couple of months since the last one I went on, the one with Katie.

I stole a glance at her and saw that her eyes were also trained on me.

Memories.

"Oh, come on! You can't expect him to go on another quest and miss so many prank ops!" Connor pleaded, pouting at Chiron.

"Yeah!" I chimed in.

From her corner of the ping pong table, Katie chuckled. I put my focus on her as she spoke. "I don't think you're making a strong case for him staying here."

Chiron nodded dryly. "Indeed. The reason I'm sending you is because I suspect Argus has made a reappearance in Beckley, West Virginia. He's an old enemy of your father's, and the perfect way to draw him out is to have a child of Hermes present."

Connor and I groaned, leaning back in our seats and exchanging hopeless looks. As much as I liked the last quest I went on, I missed Connor. We were inseparable, and when one of us went on quests, both were miserable.

"Along with Travis, I'm sending Harlow of the Ares cabin." Chiron continued, and I stiffened.

Of course, the person I was going with was the person I'd pranked just last week. Harlow said I'd pay, and I frankly, I was terrified of the girl.

But Chiron wasn't done yet.

"It's about a nine hour bus ride, and I suspect you'll have a day for travel, and a day to take care of the quest and come back. However," he eyed me sternly, "just to be safe, I'm sending another demigod with you. Three's the best number for quests, after all, and I know how you children of Hermes can be. We need to make sure you're focused the whole time. So, Katie will be joining you."

I gaped at him, then at Katie. "What?" we spoke simultaneously.

"Poor Harlow," Connor observed, "she'll flip when she finds out. Being around those two is like third-wheeling when they aren't even a couple!"

"That's because that's exactly what it is," snickered Percy, and Annabeth elbowed him in the stomach.

I turned my attention towards Katie, who'd been quiet over the whole stent. She bit her lip as she took every precaution to keep her voice even and her eyes off me. "Why me?"

Chiron smiled, obviously pitying her. "I feel that someone should be there to balance out the other two's... personalities," he explained. "You're the best option seeing as you keep Travis in check at camp every day."

"Only because he's the most annoying demigod here!" she defended. "I almost murdered Travis last time!"

"Hey!" I teased. "I thought you enjoyed last time, especially that one hotel I rigged with pranks."