Archive of Our Own ^beta

The water is a cool blanket beneath me.  It gives me strength, it heals my wounds, it empowers me to defeat my enemies.  It ebbs and flows, breathes like a living thing.  It gives me life.

I am the water.  I can do anything if it is with me.  I can –

“Haru!  Come on, you’re going to miss Capture the Flag!”

I open my eyes slowly, momentarily blinded by the late afternoon sunlight.  Makoto’s standing on the bank of the river, extending a hand to me as though he can pull me out with just a cheerful smile and overenthusiastic exclamations.  (He can’t.)

I close my eyes again and try to ignore him.  The river is so comfortable at this time of day, and the water nymphs are actually leaving me alone for once.

Makoto sighs, and a nearby willow droops a little closer to the river.  “Haru, we finally get to meet some Romans!  They’ve come all the way from Camp Jupiter!  Isn’t that exciting?”

Makoto has some kind of sick fascination with social interaction that I honestly don’t understand.  People are not exciting, people are dull.  And anyway, as a son of Poseidon, I’ve been hunted by monsters for most of my life – I don’t need any more excitement, thank you very much.  I squeeze my eyes tighter shut and let the water engulf me, hoping Makoto will go away and leave me in peace.

Of course, he doesn’t.  He never does.  He nearly gave me a heart attack the first time he figured out that he could drag me out of the water by shooting vines out of nearby trees, but now it just pisses me off.  Stupid sons of Demeter with their stupid plant powers.  I don’t know why I put up with Makoto, really.

I will myself dry, then shoot him in the face with some river water.

“Haru!” he complains.  “You’ll get my armor wet!  And it’s brand-new, too – Leo just finished fitting it this morning.”

He brought this upon himself. I set off in the direction of my cabin.  He clanks along behind me, chastising me for something or other.

Only a couple hours of Capture the Flag, then mackerel for dinner, then you can go swimming again, I tell myself.  Swimming.

---

The clearing is packed.  I’ve never seen this many half-bloods in one place before; there are Greeks and Romans mingling around and talking to one another, all wearing armor of varying shapes and colors and carrying enough Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold to supply a small army (which I guess we are.)  Everyone seems really excited about this whole Capture the Flag thing, but I’m just looking for an empty space in the crowd.

Unfortunately, my half-brother Percy still manages to catch my eye.  “Hey, Haru!” he shouts, waving me over.

I’ve been at camp for a few months now, but it’s still hard to believe that this guy is related to me.  He’s confident, popular, and out-going, my complete opposite.  And he doesn’t respect the water he controls – he treats it as a tool that he can use whenever he wants, not a partner that he works with to achieve greater goals.

Still, Percy’s not a bad guy.  He’s not on my case all the time the way Makoto is, he’s occasionally funny, and he’s got some really impressive history.  (My first night at camp, he basically told me his life’s story, so that I wouldn’t believe any false rumors, and, let me just say, if anyone in the Poseidon cabin deserves a lifetime of leisure, it isn’t me.)

I approach Percy and greet him with a nod.  He’s talking to one of the Romans, a buff Chinese guy who must be someone important, judging by the insignia on his armor.

“Glad you could make it, dude,” Percy says.  “I was worried I’d have to guard the river all by myself.”

I shrug.  Guarding the river is usually the Poseidon cabin’s job during these games, and, yeah, I like being near the water, but I don’t like guarding.

“Oh, by the way, this is Frank Zhang, one of Camp Jupiter’s Praetors,” my brother adds, gesturing to the Roman guy.

“You’re Haruka Nanase, Percy’s brother, right?” Frank asks.  I nod. “You any good in a fight?” Shrug.

Frank grins in Percy’s direction (which makes him look not unlike a teddy bear.)  “So, your brother’s brilliant, but don’t think for a second we won’t cream you just like last year.”

“What?” Percy splutters.  “Cream?  You barely managed to drag our flag –”

“Heroes!” calls a voice from the edge of the woods.  It’s Chiron, and he’s got the flags – great, this game can finally start.  The crowd is dividing up into Greeks and Romans – the Greeks form loose packs while the Romans arrange themselves into neat units, as though they’re a real army (which is equal parts impressive and terrifying) –  I head over to where Makoto, Nagisa, and Rei are standing.

“This is so cool!” Nagisa whispers, bouncing up and down.  (Yes, actually bouncing.  It’s a talent of his.)

Chiron goes on about the rules of the game – the object is to obtain the other team’s flag, the river is the boundary, the entire forest is fair game, killing or maiming is not allowed … I tune him out and scan the crowd, instead.  Armor, swords, armor, daggers, armor, determined expressions … Wait a second …

Is that …?

I take a closer look.  It’s been almost five years.  He’s taller, his hair’s longer, and he’s filled out, but it’s definitely him.  I’d recognize him anywhere.

Makoto nudges me, silently asking what’s wrong.  I point, and he, Rei, and Nagisa all follow my gaze.  Nagisa gasps, and Rei clutches my arm – he always likes making things overdramatic.

“It’s Rin!” Nagisa whispers, as though I couldn’t have figured that out on my own.

Rin, Makoto, Nagisa, and I were all on the same swim team back in elementary school, before Rin, his dad, and his dad’s new wife moved to San Francisco.  We were a medley relay team, the best in the whole state (helped by three different godly parents, as Nagisa, Makoto, and I discovered when our coach explained the whole Greek thing to us.)  But I never realized Rin was a half-blood, too – and a Roman, nonetheless.  Although I guess this does explain why he didn’t seem too surprised when an empousa attacked our team during a meet, once.

It’s not that I’ve missed Rin for the past couple of years, it’s just that I’m pissed off that he never called or emailed or anything after he left.  Yeah, that sounds plausible, right?

“You should go talk to him, Haru,” Makoto suggests quietly.  “Since you guys haven’t seen each othe rin years ...”

What?!  Me, talk to him?  No way.  He’s the jerk, he should come talk to me.  Besides, he probably doesn’t even remember me.

I shoot Makoto a glare – you haven’t seen him in years, either, so why don’t you talk to him?

My friend sighs, capitulated, but he’s still looking at me as though he feels sorry for me or something.  I really don’t understand him sometimes.

I look back up at Chiron, hoping to catch an extra rule added just for the occasion (something like, “Nosy friends are an exception to the no killing or maiming rule” or “All sons of Poseidon may swim in the river if they are defending their side” would be particularly helpful.)  No such rule is forthcoming – just Chiron’s normal good luck spiel.

A prickling sensation creeps across the back of my neck, as though someone’s watching me.  I turn my head to find Rin staring at me, eyes wide and mouth hanging open, like a little kid who just saw Santa.  (It’s kind-of adorable.)

And then, he meets my gaze exactly, and grins.  I recognize that grin – it’s the same one I saw when he decided we should form a relay team back in fourth grade.  But now, the grin is less excited and more roused – almost predatory.

His teeth look sharp.  I wonder what they’d feel like on my skin.

An odd kind of tingling warmth, something I’ve never felt before but don’t entirely hate, rises from somewhere deep in the pit of my stomach and makes itself at home in my chest.

“GO!” Chiron shouts.

Maybe this won’t be just a boring game of Capture the Flag, after all.

---

“Hey, Percy.”

“Yeah?”  My brother takes a momentary break from scanning the trees for invaders to glance at me, maybe hoping I have a valuable insight or strategy that will bring our team to victory.

“Can I go swimming?”

Percy sighs.  “Haru, how many times are you going to ask me?”

I wait patiently for my answer.

“We’re on patrol, for an extremely important Capture the Flag game,” Percy explains. Again.  “You can’t just go swimming, no matter how much you want to.”

 “It’s just a game.”

“Yeah, but it’s good training for the real world, and besides, we have to beat those Roman –”

My brother is interrupted by the glint of steel in the trees on the opposite bank – Romans, maybe five or six, Imperial Gold reflecting in the river as they inch closer.

“You take the right, I’ll take the left,” Percy whispers, and we split.

There are five of them, as it turns out: two girls, two guys, and Rin.  I should’ve expected him to come after me.  That’s just like Rin – he probably insisted on taking care of me himself, or something.

Well, he’s not the only one who’s changed since elementary school.  I don’t know who his godly parent is, but mine has some awesome powers.

While Percy duels a guy with a mace and a girl with a spear (at the same time – wow, he’s good) I summon a wave of water from the river, drenching Rin and the other two Romans before they even see me.

“What the –” Rin sputters, whipping his head back and forth to find the source of the splash.  He looks like a drowned cat, with his wet hair covering his face and dripping all over his armor.

I conceal a smile as I step out of the trees.  “What, never met a son of Poseidon before?”

“Not one as fucking cruel as you, Haruka Nanase,” he replies, pushing his hair out of his face and advancing on me, sword drawn.  The other Romans back off, seeming to realize that this fight is personal.

I let Rin take a few steps before blasting him right into the river.

“You’ll pay for this!” he yowls, struggling to keep his head above water in the raging current.  I’d help him, but I can’t help but remember all of the stupid pranks he played on me when we were kids and the lack of contact for years after he moved.  And besides, he looks hilarious.

I turn to Percy, who seems to be trying very hard not to laugh.  “Now can I go swimming?” I ask.

---

Dinner that night is a huge deal, apparently, because there are twice as many picnic tables in the pavilion and someone actually found tablecloths to put on them.  The tablecloths don’t match, sure, but they exist, and that’s saying a lot, considering the fact that our only janitorial staff is a couple of bloodthirsty harpies.

I line up to dump food in the fire with Mako, Rei, and Nagisa, as usual.

“So, I heard you drowned Rin’s ego during the game!” Rei says.

I shrug.  “I just shoved him in the river.  No big deal.”

“Oh, but it is,” says a new voice from the other side of me.  I turn suddenly, startled, to find Nico d’Angelo holding a plate of pepperoni pizza.

“H-hi, Nico,” Makoto stammers, his face turning ever so slightly red.  I used to think he was scared of the son of Hades.  Now … I’m not so sure.

“Hey, Makoto,” Nico replies, giving him a rare smile.  “Nice job today – I heard about how you singlehandedly took down ten soldiers with your plant powers.  Wish I’d been there to see it.”  Rei and Nagisa exchange looks as Mako turns stoplight-colored.

“Anyway,” the Hades kid continues, turning back to me, “it is a big deal, because Rin’s a son of Nemesis.  He’s pretty serious about revenge.”  Nemesis?  That’s not a Greek god, is it?  At least, not one I’ve heard of.  (We’re supposed to study Greek mythology here, to learn more about our ancestry or something, but I can’t really be bothered, not when there’s a river to swim in.  Maybe, in retrospect, that was a bit of a mistake.)

Sure enough, Rin comes up to my table a few minutes later.  He leans over the table, leering at me with blood-red eyes and pointed shark-teeth.  “Nanase Haruka,” he says, his voice like the scrape of metal on bone.  “The river.  Nine P.M. tonight.  Prepare to have your ass handed to you on an Imperial Gold platter.” 

I shrug, not intimidated by his unnecessarily cryptic message.  (But something tells me Rin knows I’ll be there.)

---

“Are you ready, dolphin boy?” Rin asks, his shark grin gleaming faintly in the moonlight.

“I was literally born ready,” I reply.  It’s funny – I’m almost tempted to grin back.

It’s a warm night, pleasant, with just the slightest hint of a breeze.  The sky is absent of clouds, so it’s easy to watch the stars watching us – a million million of them, so easy to see here in this camp with no skyscrapers and no pollution.

Tonight is the perfect night for a swim.

Rin and I set the lines: start at a bend in the river, and finish at the tree I was guarding earlier today, about a hundred yards downstream.  We both strip down to just our swimsuits (and I try not to think of what it means that he still wears a suit under his clothes, even now) and jump in.  The water is a cool, comforting presence around me, like a favorite T-shirt.  It ebbs and flows eagerly, anticipating the no-doubt high speed race about to ensure.  I pull it towards me ever so slightly, hold it with the touch of one finger.

“Hey, no tricks,” Rin says, noticing.  “Just ‘cause you’re a son of Poseidon or whatever doesn’t mean you can cheat.”

“That won’t be a problem.”  This time, I really do smile.  (Rin’s back is turned, so he doesn’t see.)

I hear rustling in the nearby trees and whispering by the river bank – the dryads and nymphs are here, watching.  I suppose they can judge the race.

We line up next to each other by the river bend, crouching into ready positions.  Every muscle in my body is tense, impatient – it’s as though I’ve been waiting my whole life for this moment.

By unspoken agreement, we say the words together.

“Ready.”  Rin’s body is just inches from mine – so taunt, so wired, so beautiful in the half-light.

“Get set.”  The nymphs are quiet, the stars are watching.  Everyone is holding their breath.

“Go.”  I am a dolphin.  I am one with the water.  I am pure energy.

And for the next unmeasurable amount of time (could be seconds, could be days, who can say) my world is reduced to the crashing of my arms, the kicking of my legs, the sharp intake of breath every three strokes.

One, two, three – breathe – one, two, three – breathe – one, two three – breathe --

Rin matches me, stroke for stroke.  I catch glimpses of his face every other breath – it’s become so hard and angular in the years since I’ve last seen him, all sharp lines cutting through the water like a hundred knives.  He stares me down, and I meet him, not letting him gain even an inch.

We always were close, Rin and I.  Close in swimming, close as people.  He brings something out in me that I can’t find anywhere else.  We kick so hard, we make waves.

In the last second, I push harder than I’ve ever pushed before, reaching for that tree at the finish line.  The moment stretches out for an infinity, and my hand meets Rin’s.

I don’t even have to look up to know it’s a tie.

---

Afterwards, we sit on the bank and talk, words running back and forth between us like the ripples of the ocean – all of our hostility faded with the waves of our race, a match of perfect skill that even a son of the goddess of revenge can’t resent. The dryads and nymphs have faded into the woods, no doubt to start rumors flying around the camp about the son of Poseidon and some Roman at the river in the middle of the night.

“What’s Camp Half-Blood like?” Rin asks.  He leans back and lies down on the grass, his wet head leaving an imprint like a small moon. Despite living in California, he is ghostly pale in the starlight.

I take a moment to answer. “It’s…different. There’s so many people… But they’re not regular people, you know?”

“It’s family,” Rin says, and I nod.

“But better,” I add. His eyes flash with understanding. I don’t have to remind him that I’ve never been close with my parents.

“What’s Camp Jupiter like?”

“It’s an army camp,” Rin replies.  “Like, everyone has to follow orders, and we have to earn ranks before we get respect at all.”

I try to imagine Rin following orders – he was never very good at it.  “Do you give ‘em hell?” I ask.

He laughs, his face opening up like a flower in the springtime.  I forgot what his laugh sounded like – how could I have forgotten that?

“Yeah,” he says.  “Yeah, I do.”

“Good,” I tell him.

We’re silent for a moment, watching the stars watching us.  The trees rustle faintly, then settle into their shadows.  I wonder what time it is.  (I don’t really care what time it is.)

“I missed you, you know,” Rin says suddenly.  “All of those years, before camp, and everything.  Seeing you today, it was ... It was, I dunno.  You know what I mean, right?”

When I don’t answer, he turns to me, red eyes wide with worry.  “Right?”

“Yeah,” I answer.  “Right.” And he smiles, relieved.

I want to say that I missed him, too, but I’m not sure how to pull the words out.

Rin’s grinning at me in the starlight, daring me to say something, do something – I’m not sure what.  He’s always daring me, always has been .  His face shines, and his grin is just so wide.

I want to taste it.

“Rin, I –” I begin, unsure how to continue.  I lean in closer, closer – an inch more and I might fall over.

“Yeah,” he whispers.  “Me, too.”

And he closes the gap.

---

Percy’s still awake when I sneak into the cabin some time later.

“Haru, bro, where’ve you been?” he asks.  “You okay?”

I turn to make an excuse and – oh, no.  Shit.  Wrong side.

I head to my bunk quickly, blushing in the dark, but he still notices, and lets out a low whistle.  “Someone got friendly with the Romans tonight.”

“Maybe,” I say.

“It’s okay,” he replies.  “You don’t have to tell me who.  Unless you want to ...?”

I don’t answer him – instead, I lie on my back, staring out at the window on the far side of the cabin.  The stars are shining brightly, and somewhere in the distance, the river is flowing.

Rin Matsuoka.  I form the words with my mouth, tasting the shape on my tongue.  Remembering his taste – sharp and salty and perfect.

Today was a good day.