» 𝕟𝕠𝕥𝕖: shhhh yes i did miss posting this on thanksgiving but uhh let's not talk about it lol
» 𝕕𝕒𝕥𝕖: 11 / 30 / 21
» 𝕤𝕦𝕞𝕞𝕒𝕣𝕪: katie misses thanksgiving, and travis cheers her up.
» 𝕨𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤: 921
. . .
Normally, Katie Gardner went home for the holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's... but this year was different.
This year, Katie was staying year-round at camp. No leaving. She hadn't expected to be such a big target for monsters at home. Children of Demeter usually weren't as conspicuous or wanted as, say, children of the Big Three. But alas, her former year had been ridden with attacks in the middle of the night and near-death experiences in ordinary life. So, with Chiron's encouragement, she placed herself as a full-time camper.
But that meant no Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving was Katie's favorite holiday - it was all about crops, and the harvest, and autumnal plants. Basically, Thanksgiving praised everything about Demeter. Obviously, she'd love the holiday dedicated to her mother. And her mortal family celebrated with jovial commitment every year. A stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes, squash casserole, sweet potatoes... they had it all. They made it a special event since Katie loved it so much.
This year, she didn't have that.
She sighed into her bucket of strawberries as she carried them to the pavilion. The day before Thanksgiving, and she couldn't find it in her to be excited. If she'd been a summer-only camper, she'd have been at home right now, curled up with her cat and a cup of chai tea in the family room. Instead, she stood dumping out-of-season strawberries in a vat to be carried off to the Big House while the other campers filed in for a non-Thanksgiving lunch.
She wanted Thanksgiving so badly.
"Heya, Katie-kat!"
She wanted even more to be away from Travis.
Katie turned to him and growled, "What do you want, Stoll?"
He grinned. "You look a little down in the dumps today. I'm here to cheer you up!"
Of course.
The Stoll had an odd fascination of attempting to calm her nerves, when he was the reason they were on-edge in the first place, most of the time. He stood with his hands on his hips, studying her carefully.
"I have a surprise for you."
"Oh, joy," Katie grumbled.
He smirked. "Ya know how you always talk about Thanksgiving and complain about not going home for it this year?"
She stepped back. "I don't complain about it."
"Please, you haven't shut up about it - everyone knows how much you love Thanksgiving."
Now, Katie began to feel suspicious. The only time Travis paid attention to her was when he was trying to craft a prank. "Whatever. Why do you care?"
"I always care about you, Katie-kat." He dramatically beat his heart. "Just come with me."
I'd rather not, she thought to herself, but followed him nonetheless. She found that recently, she didn't actually mind him bugging her all the time - she almost enjoyed being around him. Still, she huffed when they halted at the bottom of the hill leading to the pavilion.
"Okay, so I know you prefer being at home with your real family during the holidays," he began, ignoring her groan, "but remember that you have a family here, too. One that cares a lot about you, even if they don't necessarily admit it."
"Stoll, what are you-" Katie started, but immediately stopped when she crested the hill.
"HAPPY THANKSGIVING!"
All the demigods gathered where they were about to have lunch, but instead of the regular setup there was a conglomeration of fall decorations and a banquet table of food. Casseroles and salads and ham and turkey and a group of her closest friends, all smiling and shouting and laughing and Katie had never felt so content in her whole life.
Thanksgiving.
"Trav, what is this?" She didn't realize at first, but she'd laid her hand on his arm and inched closer to him during the commotion.
She didn't pull away when she did realize it, either.
He beamed from ear to ear. "Thanksgiving for you, Katie-kat. We couldn't let you miss it."
Katie couldn't wrap her head around it - this week had seemed so normal, but everyone must have worked so hard to put this all together. Her friends began dipping into the plates of casseroles and mashed potatoes as she stood limply with her bucket of strawberries. Finally, she turned to the Stoll who'd brought her there.
"What?"
His grin turned sheepish but hopeful. "This is your favorite holiday."
"You did all this?" Katie asked.
"Well, no. My job was to be the bait." He shook his head, but before he could continue, Miranda walked up to interrupt them.
"Uh, actually, it was his whole idea." She smiled at Katie, knowing that they'd have a lot to talk about in the cabin later. "Travis put it all together and planned it all out."
Katie spun on her heels to face him, waiting for an explanation.
He scratched the back of his head, but his eyes still gleamed like the trickster she knew. "Surprise."
The walls of their enmity had been cracked for a while, but this was the first time they broke away. A piece of her hatred towards him ebbed, and she did something she never thought she'd do in her entire life.
She hugged him.
Travis stumbled back, but instantaneously his arms wrapped around her, too. It was almost too easy, how their bodies locked together. In fact, his embrace was so perfect, so right, that Katie wondered why she hadn't been hugging him this whole time.
"Thank you," she whispered into his shoulder.
"Any time, Kates."
This was the best Thanksgiving Katie had ever had.
