tratie one shots, vol. i

[ moving in pt. 3 ]

i know i already uploaded today but i finished this anD COULDN'T LET IT SIT HERE AHH

sorry it took so long to upload this one lol, i wasn't quite sure i wanted to do with it and i'm kinda not happy with this but whatever. 

words: 1012

. . .

After a week of relentless arguing and bickering, Travis and I came to an understanding: neither of us were going to back down and let the other one have the cot to themselves. 

Connor and Miranda neglected to mention that they intended on staying out in the main part of the cabin with everyone else until our cabin was rebuilt. The counselor room was reserved for only Travis and me, making me the most miserable demigod at camp for the week.

I didn't know if I could stand another month of this - it felt like the Demeter cabin would never be rebuilt. I'd constantly ask the Hephaestus cabin if they needed any help, but they always brushed me off and instead turned to the Athena kids for architectural pointers. Every day, I'd see a new structural beam in place, but they seemed to be going at a snail's pace. 

All the while, I was stuck with Travis.

He'd never put up an argument to move into the main part of the cabin, but instead insisted on struggling to share the cot. He was so stubborn. Of course, I could've moved myself, but I wasn't about to give him the satisfaction of winning.

Infallible logic, if I did say so myself.

The stupidest part was, I enjoyed it. I'd never experienced curling up into someone for their warmth to lull me to sleep every night, and I admitted to myself that I couldn't get enough. Every morning, I'd wake up and pray he wasn't awake yet so I could revel in him.

This morning, though, I wished more than ever that he'd been asleep.

"Kates...?" Travis asked warily, taking in our situation. 

"What?" I grumbled, but then I realized what was going on.

Styx.

Normally, I was the little spoon and he was the big spoon (not that we'd given it terminology), but today... I faced him, he faced me. Our noses brushed with every breath we took, and my arms were slung around his torso. His lips were right there. His bicep pressed against my ear, as his arm had been my pillow. His other arm pressed against my back with lazy comfort. I became keenly aware that his eyes drank me in like I was his morning cup of coffee. 

I most certainly was not his morning cup of coffee.

"Get off me, Stoll," I breathed, and cursed myself for sounding so winded.

He didn't move.

I didn't move.

My nose itched.

I extracted my right hand from him, fumbling around myself before scratching the bridge of my nose. Though I could feel one of my legs wrapped around his hips, I made no effort to readjust myself. After all, he was the one who should've moved. I told him to.

He still didn't move. 

I didn't know where to put my free hand. It hung near my face, between his cheek and mine. All I'd have to do was reach out two more centimetres and I could touch him.

Why do I want to touch him?

"You gonna hold your hand in the air forever?" he chuckled, the gruff morning voice I still hadn't gotten used to flooding my senses. He sounded so different in the mornings, so grated and rumbling. 

It was hot.

I almost pouted my lip when I realized that doing so would probably graze my lip against his, and I was still too sleepy to think about that. If I'd have been in the right mindset, I could've punched him in the jaw.

I should've.

Groaning, I settled my hand between his shoulder and neck instead, my upper arm resting on his collarbone. My brain hadn't fully awoken and I was sleep-deprived from fighting with Travis all night about the cot.

That was the reason I convinced myself of, anyway.

He grinned, and I noticed that when he'd just woken up every morning I'd stayed in the Hermes cabin, he never had morning breath. It was always minty fresh. Not that I'd paid attention to that.

"Why don't you ever have morning breath?"

His reaction to my question made me all the more suspicious: he blushed. I'd never seen a Stoll blush, and especially not at such an innocent question. I raised an eyebrow.

"Uh, magic," he fibbed, eyes still taking every bit of my face in.

"What, do you get up before me to brush your teeth? You really hope you can get some action out of this... what are you gonna do, kiss me?"

He exhaled with frustration and pulled me closer to him, and my hand found its way to his messy hair. My other arm that had previously been on his chest was now thrown around his neck. I swore that my heart stopped when he leaned forward and closed the gap between us.

The kiss didn't last long, but it was long enough to forget every negative part of our past. I melted in his embrace and savored the feeling of his chapped, minty lips on mine. 

"Yeah," his barely-awake voice rasped the moment we broke apart. 

With a strangled noise escaping my lips, I was too shocked to form actual words. 

Travis just kissed me.

I didn't hate it. 

"Sorry." He didn't sound sorry. "I've just... really felt different about you lately."

"Oh."

"You're not gonna punch me?"

"No, I don't think I will."

"Then what will you do?"

I paused for a moment. I needed about ten shots of espresso before I had any hope of thinking clearly after this, but I was pretty sure of my next move.

"This."

The second kiss was much more sure, more precise. We'd become more familiar with each other's lips, but that in no way meant we'd had enough of it. 

And even after the Demeter cabin was rebuilt, I found myself in the Hermes cabin at night. It definitely wasn't because Travis welcomed me with open arms every night and held me without question. It also wasn't because every morning, I woke up to his forehead kisses which lead to many more kisses. And it totally wasn't because he'd brushed his teeth just to do it.

Okay, maybe it was.