Of Flashlights and Fireworks

It was another lovely Fourth of July at Camp Half-Blood, and Katie Gardner was supposed to be helping to ready the beach for the fireworks later that night. But she'd gotten a little… sidetracked.

"TRAVIS STOLL, YOU ARE A DEAD MAN!"

She was racing through the valley, chasing after said son of Hermes while screaming curses (some Greek, some mortal; she was too furious to care). Her face was flushed bright red with anger, and her legs pumped furiously. She had always been a good runner, but now she was going so fast that she left the wood nymphs in the dust. And fortunately for her, her target wasn't even going half her speed. Why?

Because he was too busy laughing to even keep his balance. He'd just had a head start.

She finally caught up with him at the edge of the strawberry fields. He was doubled over and clutching his sides, having laughed for so long that he didn't have any air left to run.

Katie didn't waste any time.

The second he straightened up, she yelled, "I'm going to personally murder you in your sleep, Travis!" then slapped him across the face.

Travis cursed loudly and cupped his cheek, which was already turning red. He spluttered as he desperately tried to think of something to say. Something suave, something cool, something…

"That hurt!"

…better than that.

Katie glared daggers at him, but he was unfazed. "Serves you right, moron!"

Travis's expression suddenly became serious. "I am many things, my friend, but stupid is not one of them." He couldn't stop himself from cracking a grin when he added, "Besides, it takes the masterful skill of a genius to think up a prank as awesome as today's…"

"You stuck a sign to my back!" Katie yelled in exasperation. "That's one of the oldest, stupidest tricks in the book! My baby cousin could've thought of it!"

"Ah, yes, but I used superglue."

She looked ready to deck him again, so he decided to keep on the defensive.

"And it's not always about how fancy a prank is; it's about how well it works." He smiled innocently at her. "Do you think my 'stupid trick' worked well, Katie?"

Katie's face turned beet red with embarrassment. When she discovered the paper glued to her back, she'd rampaged all throughout camp trying to hunt him down, yelling and screaming the whole time. If that wasn't a successful reaction, she didn't know what was. But she'd sooner sprout wings and learn to fly than admit it to Travis Stoll.

"No, it didn't," she answered, wanting nothing more than to wipe that smug look right off his face. "Unless you want me to hit you again… because I'd be more than happy to." She smiled sweetly.

Travis smirked at her. "It doesn't matter, because you won't. See, what I wrote on that sign was actually true, which is why—"

He was cut off when Katie's hand connected with his other cheek.

"The next time you make me walk around with 'I LOVE TRAVIS' on my back, you'll get more than just a slap," she warned, scowling.

"Promise?"

She glared at him as she walked away. "You're an idiot, Travis."

"But a handsome idiot, right?"

She pretended she was too far away to hear him, because truthfully, she was blushing again.

The sun had just finished setting, and the beach should have been blanketed in darkness; but dozens of waving pinpricks of light dotted the shore—flashlights. The entire camp was gathered by the water, spread out in groups and lounging on various beach blankets as they eagerly awaited the start of the long-anticipated fireworks. Katie was no exception.

She'd spread her dark-green-almost-black blanket towards the left side of the beach and all the way at the very back edge, where the sand was warmest. She had an excellent, open view of the sky, and she was lazily sprawled out on her back with one hand tucked under her head. The other held her flashlight, which was on and trained across the beach to let the light skim the sand. Everyone had finally forgotten about the fiasco from this morning; even after she'd changed her shirt, people hadn't stopped giggling whenever she walked by, and that just put her in a sour mood the entire day. But now everyone was too distracted by the fireworks to pay her any mind, and that was just how she wanted it right then.

She just wanted to forget she was a half-blood for one evening and have a nice, relaxing time watching the fireworks.

But of course, a disturbance came, and its name was Travis Stoll.

It was so dark that she hardly recognized him, but he gave it away when he yelled something to his brother on the other side of the beach. He ambled in her direction, expertly swinging his flashlight around without shining it in anyone's face. He didn't look like he'd noticed Katie yet, so she immediately switched off her flashlight and plunged into darkness, hoping he would just keep walking…

But he didn't. His flashlight's beam just so happened to pass over her, and when he saw her he immediately altered his course. He grinned and waved before plopping down beside Katie on her blanket as she sat up. "Hey, there, Katie-Cat. Miss me?"

Her response was to glare and whack him on the arm with her flashlight. "Don't call me that."

Travis quirked one eyebrow as he rubbed his arm. "Someone's cranky. I've noticed you're snippy like that a lot… You should really be more friendly. Y'know, smile more." He illustrated this by flashing her a wide grin of his own. And though it annoyed her to think it… he was pretty cute.

"Go to Tartarus, Stoll."

Travis stared at her for a moment before shaking his head in mock dejection (his eyes were still teasing). "I see. We're on a last name basis, now. Well, if that's what you want, Gardner, I'm happy to oblige."

Katie smirked at him, flicking on her flashlight again. "Ooh, 'oblige.' Big word. I didn't know you were smart enough to use it."

Travis smiled at her. "Why, Katie Gardner, did you just call me smart?"

She hadn't really, of course, but she blushed anyway. Now she regretted turning on her light, but it would look suspicious if she shut it off. "No, I was being sarcastic. Do you know what that means, Travis?"

"Back to first names, I see." Katie mentally cursed herself, but he wasn't finished. "And I do believe you're blushing."

Now she turned off the light. "You wish."

But he just shined his light towards her, and the knowledge that he'd caught it only made her blush harder. "I'm right! You know, you look kind of cute when your cheeks are all red like that…"

Katie was caught off guard by that, so even though she opened her mouth to say something, no words came out. Travis Stoll had just complimentedher… and she'd kind of liked it.

"Maybe I wasn't all that far off with my sign…"

Only he could go from sweet to stupid in two seconds flat.

"Of course you were!" Katie growled, her features hardening into a glare. "Gods, have a little tact… I'm not in love with you, and I never will be if you keep acting so thick!"

"…But there's still a chance I'm right and you can eventually come to love me?"

He might have gotten away with it if he hadn't added the "I'm right" in the middle; Katie's temper flared when she heard it. If he was going to ask about her feelings for him, it shouldn't be because he wanted his stupid prank to be justified.

"As of this moment, I declare you too much of an idiot to acknowledge your presence." And with one final scowl in his general direction, she crossed her arms and turned away to face the lake again.

Travis's eyebrows shot up. "The silent treatment, huh?"

No response.

"Aren't you a little too old for that?" he tried, resisting the urge to poke her in the shoulder.

Silence.

Travis sighed. "Alright, fine. I'm sorry I glued that sign to the back of your shirt… It was funny, but it wasn't fair to you. Next time, I'll ask before I let the entire camp know how you really feel about me."

"…"

"Oh, come on. Please?"

"…"

"I said I was sorry!"

"…"

"What else— OW! Gods, Katie! That was uncalled for!"

Katie snickered as she watched Travis fall backwards and cover his eyes with his arms. He was trying to shield them from her flashlight beam, which she had oh-so-thoughtfully trained on his face to make him shut up. If he just so happened to go blind in the process… well, that was an added bonus.

"Are you still shining it in my eyes?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"…Ow! Liar! You didn't turn it off!"

Katie grinned, moving the beam closer to his face. "Yeah…"

Travis had lowered his arms and tried to open his eyes, but he quickly closed them again when he saw the bright light. He realized that Katie had no intention of lowering her flashlight any time soon, but that didn't really matter. He smiled at her, even with his eyes closed, and could just picture the confused look on her face. "But I got you to say something to me, didn't I?"

Katie glowered at him, annoyed that he was right. "Only three words…"

"That was three more."

She cursed repeatedly under her breath, and Travis stifled his laughter. "The number's only going up, you know…"

"Shut up, Travis."

"Only if you move the flashlight."

Katie heaved a dramatic sigh, but shifted the flashlight beam away from his face. "There."

Travis carefully cracked one eye open, and when he saw that it was safe, blinked rapidly a few times. "See? Doesn't it give you that warm, fuzzy feeling inside when you do something nice? I know it's a new experience…"

"I thought you said you were going to shut up."

"I have to say something, first."

Katie narrowed her eyes. "If this is some stupid joke, you can just—"

"I'm sorry."

"—because I really don't care if…" Katie trailed off, just registering what he'd said. "Wait, what?"

"I'm sorry," he repeated.

She pursed her lips and thought for a moment before shaking her head. "I don't believe you."

Travis shined his flashlight on his face so that she could see him clearly. "I'm serious. It was a joke, but I know it wasn't very funny to you. So… sorry."

Katie was silent for a long moment. Finally, she gave him a small smile and said, "Alright, fine. That was so corny and sincere I know you can't be lying."

Travis grinned at her. "Why, thank you. So I'm forgiven?"

She nodded, her smile growing. "Truce? Just for tonight."

"Truce," he agreed. They shook hands on it, and it was official: no bickering until the fireworks were over.

"But I swear, Travis, if you say something reallllly stupid, I can't be held accountable for my actions…"

Travis just winked at her, suggested they start up a shadow puppet tournament, and pretended he didn't notice her blush.

Ten minutes and several horrible shadow puppet bunnies later, Katie was gloating about her victory and Travis was sulking.

"You just didn't understand its beauty," he muttered, but he couldn't stop himself from laughing.

Katie rolled her eyes but smiled anyway. "Travis… you just made a fist and held it up to the light."

"And what a beautiful rock it was!"

Their laughter slowly died down, leaving them in silence. Before either of them could say anything, though, they noticed all the little dots of light along the rest of the shore slowly disappearing, almost one by one. People were turning off their flashlights, which could only have meant that the fireworks were seconds away.

Travis and Katie glanced at each other. He was holding his flashlight between them, and she didn't even have hers on. She nodded, acting like her heart wasn't already speeding up, and waited for him to shut it off. She heard a faint click, and then the light was gone.

Now it was pitch black; she couldn't see two feet in front of her.

She just wanted to break the silence.

"Travis?"

"Yeah, Katie?"

Had his voice sounded so close before?

"…Do you, um, think the fireworks will start soon?"

She heard some shuffling, but he didn't say anything. When it stopped, she could just barely make out his silhouette… and was suddenly very glad it was so dark. Why?

Because now he was sitting right in front of her, and she was blushing like crazy again.

She could hear his grin in his voice when he finally answered. "Yeah. They definitely will."

And as cheesy as it sounds, when his lips finally met hers…

Sparks flew.

So, this is my first entrance into the Percy Jackson and the Olympians archive… I really wanted to do a 4th of July one-shot, but I had trouble getting inspired, so I just made myself sit down and write it… I thought it would come out sounding a little forced, but it was actually a lot easier than I expected. How did it go? Good? Bad? Awful? Was it choppy? Tell me what you think! I've got many plans for this fandom, and if I can't even write a Tratie one-shot, I should know now.

To everyone that's reading my other stories… sorry I posted this before I updated, but this one can only go up today, or else I have to wait a year!

I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading, and happy 4th of July, everyone!

Best wishes,
~Rae