OoO Oneshots

Plushies

Mario hugged Jeffrey to his chest as he snuck out of his cabin to go read over at the student lounge. It was late, so he didn't think anyone would see him with Jeffrey, plus he just couldn't sleep so this seemed like a good course of action. 

He had just passed the campfire when he heard the sound of someone's voice. Looking around, he didn't see anybody but he could still hear the voice, along with a few thumps every once in a while. He decided to follow the sound to see who else was up this late. 

The sound eventually led the young demigod over to the training area where there was another camper with a panda hat shooting at a target. Beside him on a mat on the ground was teddy bear. 

"-I don't know Fred, it's just-" Both Mario and the other boy froze as he moved and accidentally stepped on a twig. The other demigod spun around and the two locked eyes, just staring at each other. 

"Um, h-hi." Mario greeted shyly, even more so than usual as he hugged Jeffrey to his chest. "S-sorry to interrupt, I was just h-heading over to the lounge when I h-heard you shooting and I w-wanted to see what was g-going on..."

"Oh! Sorry! I just couldn't sleep so I was up practicing, didn't mean to disturb anyone else." The other boy said rubbing the back of his neck.

"It's f-fine." Mario said, giving the other a small smile. The other boy smiled back as he picked up the bear beside him and said. "I'm Austin by the way, and this is Fred."

"Oh, my name's M-Mario, and..." He hesitated a little but went ahead with it. "This is Jeffrey."

The other boy grinned at that. "Nice ta meet ya Mario, Jeffrey. It's nice to see someone has decent manners when it comes to plushies." 

"What do you m-mean?" Mario asked curiously. 

"Well usually when I introduce Fred, people are just like oh my gosh you still carry a teddy bear, or they say he's just a teddy bear and doesn't need his own introduction, isn't that right, Fred?" Austin said looking down at the bear, who didn't answer but the other demigod still nodded satisfied as he looked back at Mario with a smile. "But then again, you've got Jeffrey there so it makes sense that you wouldn't be like the others!"

Seeing Austin smile like that made Mario relax a little. This guy seemed so laid-back and cheerful, not harsh or judgemental like others had been. Matching his smile, the demigod said. "Yeah, it's nice to see that I'm not the only one... now if only that was the case with other things."

He hadn't meant to say that last part out loud but he had and now Austin was frowning at him in concern as he asked. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well..." Mario sighed before explaining. "Everyone else seems to know about their godly parent, and how to fight, and what being a demigod even means, but I just got here like two days ago and I barely know what's even going on when it comes to this whole god thing..."

Feeling slightly ashamed, Mario had lowered his head as he said that, so it came to a surprise to him when an arm wrapped around his shoulder and hugged him. He looked up at Austin who was giving him a soft look. 

"Hey now, don't feel so bad, I'm basically in the same boat as you," Austin admitted to him, making him look at him in surprise. "I just got here and the only reason I even know my godly parent is cause two of my new friends, Michael and Ritchie, figured it out. Before this,I basically just lived with my mom Wendy and ate at her restaurant all the time, so this was a surprise for me too."

"Really?" Mario asked looking at him in surprise. Austin had seemed like an experienced demigod, especially with that shooting, so this was a surprise. "How were you able to use the bow so easily then?"

"Eh, back in school, we had an elective where we could learn archery which I took for a while. Not ta mention, my dad's the literal god of archery so it would only make sense that I'm good at it no?" Austin winked as he raised his bow and hit the bullseye of the target once more.

"Yeah, you're really good with that..." Mario was impressed... he wished he had some talent that made it obvious who his dad was. 

"Mhm, anyways, don't sweat it, you'll find out who your dad is soon," Austin reassured him before asking. "Say, you said before that you were heading over to the lounge right? Mind if I tag along?"

Mario was a little taken aback by this but he soon grinned as he nodded. "Sure, I wouldn't mind."

"Sweet." Austin ruffled his hair, making him giggle a little bit before the two made their way over to the lounge, each of them cuddling their plushies close.