"She did it!"

"I had no part in this!"

They yelled at the same time, knowing that Chiron wasn't able to understand either one of them. He looked at them patiently but with a disappointed scowl. He sat across from the girls, who were restlessly twitching on the couch in the Big House.

"The fault is on the both of you, and you know that," he picked his words carefully, watching as the face of one of his favorite former charges reddened. "Thalia, you vandalized the property of another cabin. Piper, you did the same. So you will face the same punishment."

"They were flowers!" Thalia argued. "Who the Hades plants flowers in such an inconvenient place anyway?"

Piper nodded, for the first time agreeing with her. "It was pretty inconvenient."

Chiron folded his hands over his lap. "They were around Cabin Four. Demeter's children have every right to decorate as they please. You are going to help them replant everything you've destroyed."

The girls wanted to argue with him, and that was obvious to everyone present. But they stayed silent, let him finish the rest of the lecture, and then they stomped over to face their doom. Katie Gardner.

She had her hands on her hips, scowling at them like a pissed off mother.

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

Thalia and Piper were equally surprised at the question. They shook their heads as one, and Thalia visibly winced when she noticed that grandmotherly gleam in Katie's eyes.

"And just how do you expect to stay active?"

"Active?" Piper repeated, incredulous. "Are we racing the plants?"

Thalia coughed, not-so-smoothly covering up her laugh.

Katie rolled her grass green eyes. "Breakfast is the most important meal of the day!"

Piper murmured, "Oh, I disagree entirely."

Thalia caught her words. To cover up her shock, she clapped her hands together in mock-excitement. "Well, let's get this planting shit over with."

Three hours of planting made Thalia want to leap into Poseidon's domain, even if it meant his vile sea creatures would drag her deep into its depths. Piper was trying to find a bright side to their punishments, crafting neat little baskets and using twine to create all types of jewelry.

Thalia waited for Katie to turn her back before she crawled into a giant bush to hide. The rest of the Demeter cabin was helping plant and organize. Surely Katie wouldn't notice her absence. She would just pop back out whenever they were almost finished.

She jumped out of her skin whenever she heard a rustle. Piper climbed in next to her, sitting cross-legged.

Thalia crossed her arms over her chest. "Find your own hiding spot!"

Piper was quick to press her hand against Thalia's chapped lips. "Hush!" she whispered in warning. "Do you want to get caught?" Not giving Thalia a chance to answer, seeing her smile sarcastically, she pulled her phone from her pocket. "Have you ever played this?"

"I've never had a phone," Thalia revealed, looking highly disinterested. "Why can't you find your own bush?"

"I shave," Piper retorted smartly, her eyes focused on her phone screen.

Thalia's lips quirked in surprise but she didn't keep the expression for long. "Oh, you're bad."

"Naturally."

"I used to skip school to take care of Jason all the time," Thalia said randomly, figuring that if they could bond over anything it was Jason. "I was the worst second grader ever."

"That's cute," Piper remarked fondly.

Thalia wasn't sure if she thought she was cute, or if she thought Jason was cute. Probably Jason, she reasoned with herself. She found out when Piper continued.

"I could imagine you in a leather jacket that was way too big for you, listening to obnoxiously loud music, and flipping off your teachers. Bet you ran to the ice cream truck faster than the other kids."

Thalia scowled, not bothering to let her know that her description was way too on-point. "Do not mock me."

"Beat this level for me," Piper urged, suddenly thrusting her phone into Thalia's hands.

Thalia froze, fumbling with the little device. Her finger slid across the screen and her eyes widened when the symbols on the phone followed her movement.

"It's a touchscreen," Piper explained, eyebrows raised in curiosity. "Thalia?"

"Touch…screen?"

"Yeah. You touch the screen to use the phone." Piper, for her credit, didn't laugh. "You've never heard of it?"

Thalia narrowed her eyes, feeling foolish and old. "Of course I have." She slammed the phone in Piper's lap and turned her head. "I just think it's kind of stupid is all."

"Oh my gods."

Thalia tensed self-consciously. "What?" she asked harshly.

Piper muffled her laughter, reaching out to pinch her on the nose. "You're feeling bad."

Thalia thought to argue the point but didn't. She made her scowl fiercer, crinkling her nose at the sensation of Piper's finger and thumb. "And you're laughing why?"

"I just can't believe what I'm seeing. Thalia, Lieutenant of Artemis, insecure."

"Laugh it up," Thalia commented dismissively.

She couldn't believe she was feeling so bad about this. Why did she care about Piper's opinion anyway? The girl was about as easy to tolerate as lemon juice in a stab wound. She didn't know what Jason saw in her. Part of her was really glad that he and Piper had decided to wait before making the decision to start up a relationship.

"I'm not laughing at your expense," Piper said, calming down. "I'm laughing because you honestly think there's a single reason for you to be insecure."

She crawled out of the bush before Thalia could respond, and Thalia was left to her own thoughts. What was that supposed to mean? She shook off her wondering, pulling herself from the bush just in time to come face-to-scowling-face with Katie.

"Thalia!"

She groaned.

The next day planting was no fun either. And Piper wasn't making it any easier for her.

"Why do you hate flowers so much?" Piper asked absentmindedly. "I thought you used to be a tree. Oh! Is that why?"

"No, that's not why!" Thalia answered sharply, defensively.

"Are you like one with nature or something?" Piper thoughtfully clucked her tongue. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you can communicate with other plants. It's worth a shot. I say you try."

"Piper, I swear to Grandmother Rhea—"

A dandelion was suddenly tossed at her, and she felt the soil in her hair. She glared at Piper before she angrily ripped a gardenia from the ground. She prepared to throw it, but then she paid attention to what Piper was doing—she was absentmindedly digging flowers out of the ground, preparing to replant them in another location. Had she even noticed that she flung one at Thalia?

Thalia sighed, tossing the gardenia down and rubbing her temples. She knew her face was going to be grimy and disgusting, but it wasn't like she didn't have to get a shower anyway.

She started again, with another gardenia, just in time to feel yet another dandelion smack against the side of her face.

She inclined her head to see Piper, and managed to catch a glimpse of a smirk before the other girl looked away.

Decisively, she snatched up the discarded gardenia, pried open the top of Piper's nice V-neck, and stuffed the flower down it, roots and all.

Piper gasped, barking out a short, surprised laugh, before she grabbed a handful of soil.

"Piper, don't you dare—"

Thalia seethed as the felt the soil sliding down her chest.

"I am going to kill you," she spoke lowly, narrowing her eyes when Piper's grin only grew wider.

"Bring it, Grace."

Thalia didn't think. She just tackled Piper to the ground, surprised whenever Piper was able to flip her bigger body. They rolled around, each trying to gain the upper hand. Piper laughed maniacally, finally ending up on bottom, with Thalia's large, calloused hands pinning her wrists to the ground.

"What's so funny?" Thalia asked defensively. "Do you like losing or something?"

Piper hummed in disagreement, trying to quiet her laughter. "Oh, I didn't lose."

Thalia blushed, coughed aggressively, then flipped off of her and tended to the gardenias again. Between Piper flashing her coy looks and Katie frowning at her lack of a green thumb, Thalia couldn't find it in herself to say anything else.

"You should wear one of my beautiful flower crowns," Piper intoned the next day. "They're quite fetching."

"No thanks," Thalia retorted. "Not really my thing."

"Please, flowers are everyone's thing," Piper responded, furrowing her own eyebrows at how strange her sentence sounded. "It'll be good for you to branch out."

"Piper..."

"Jason and I have decided to wait," Piper commented. "We…probably aren't going to date. He's still remembering things, and figuring out himself. Besides, our entire relationship was a freaking figment of the imagination."

It was their fifth day of working behind Demeter's cabin, and they were the only two planting in the farthest corner. Thalia really didn't want to have this conversation, but she wasn't sure why.

"I've been considering your proposition," Piper continued, undeterred by her lack of response. "Just considering. Don't give your hopes up."

Thalia rolled her eyes. "I'll try not to." She lost her attitude after seeing the annoyed expression that Piper wore. She cleared her throat, preparing to rectify the situation. "I meant it when I said I liked you, Piper. You're everything I—Artemis looks for in recruits. Tough and beautiful. Someone who can smash the patriarchy and look damn good doing it. The Hunters would be glad to have you."

Piper grinned, the red in her cheeks extremely hard to detect. "You're tough and beautiful, too."

"I know," Thalia replied with a confidence that felt as familiar as home. She wasn't new to compliments, but it felt nice coming from Piper. "Artemis recruited me for a reason."

"Cocky," Piper remarked. "I still think you'd look really pretty with one of my custom crowns—"

"Crowns do suit me, don't they?" Thalia retorted, feeling a little change of heart. Piper wasn't so bad. She wasn't bad at all. "Maybe tomorrow."

"Hey, Piper," Thalia called out, adjusting a flower crown on her head. "What do you think? Is it becoming?"

"It's becoming annoying," Katie Gardener said hotly, snatching it out of her hair. "You're supposed to be helping replant all those flowers you two ruined. Chiron says it's your punishment. You have to—"

"Help plant until your beautiful garden is blossoming again," Piper finished, obviously stealing the correct words from her mouth. She fiddled with flowers and stems, forging Thalia a brand new crown. "Here you go!"

Thalia grinned and slung it on her head. "Ooh, shit."

"Too tight?" Piper asked sympathetically, reaching out to help Thalia gently take it off.

"Too tight," she agreed.

"Gods, you have such a large head." Piper struggled to get it off without tearing it. She was rather proud of it, of course. Why wouldn't she be? "This is worse than the time Jason got his head stuck in my beanie."

"Runs in the genes," Thalia answered dismissively.

"A lot runs in your genes," Piper commented thoughtlessly. "The eyes, the height. If you were only blond and paler."

"You want me to look like Jason?" Thalia asked, not knowing why the thought of that bothered her immensely. She wasn't even sure why she asked it.

Piper smiled gently, pulling her hands away when she realized she wouldn't be able to tug the crown off. "Not for the world. So, chill."

Thalia blushed, pulling out one of her hunting knives and gazing at her reflection. "Hey, I don't look half-bad. I mean, I don't feel the blood circulating anymore, and I'm getting a little dizzy, but I look great."

"Fabulous," Piper joked with a nod.

Katie pouted, stomping her foot on the ground. "Girls," she whined. "You have to help replant."

"Sorry, Kate," Piper apologized. "But I think I better get Thalia back to her cabin. She's looking a little light-headed."

"Oh, sweetie," Katie crooned sympathetically, watching as Thalia grew even redder in the face. "It must be really getting to you. Oh, well. You hurry on then."

Piper and Thalia rushed out of there, thanking every god they knew that Katie was a sweetheart to the core. As soon as Katie turned to face her brothers and sisters, Thalia grabbed Piper's hand and sprinted into the woods.

"Where are we going?"

"Away from those hippies," Thalia said simply, leading her further into the woods.

They eventually arrived at a cluster of rocks, in the shape of a fist.

"What is this place?" Piper asked.

"Not many of the new campers know about it," Thalia explained. "Zeus' Fist. People used to make out here all the time."

Piper raised her eyebrows.

"Not that we have to," Thalia stuttered. "That's not what I meant. I just couldn't go back to the cabin. Phoebe would lecture me about putting things on my head, and half of the younger girls wouldn't leave me alone."

"What do you mean?" Piper questioned, her interest piqued. She sat down next to Thalia, their backs against the base of the rock formation.

"For the first few weeks, the younger recruits get a little clingy on me," she elaborated. "Little crushes and all that."

Piper nodded slowly. "Artemis allows that?"

"Lady Artemis allows romance between females, yes." Thalia studied her expression, gauging her reaction. She seemed interested and…delighted. "Most of the girls are asexual, to be honest with you. But they still enjoy the romantic company of other girls. Artemis also lets us indulge…sexually with one another."

"Have you ever…?" she let the question hang.

Thalia ran her tongue over her top row of teeth, trying not to die of embarrassment. She mustered up the courage to reply, but all that she was able to do was shake her head.

Piper bit her lip. "Have you ever wanted to?"

Thalia wanted to say, "Hell, yeah. Soon as I came out of that tree and saw how smokin' hot Annabeth got. And also, damn, you can really pull off a tank top! Please pull off that tank top." She just barely stopped herself.

"I have," Piper confessed confidently.

Not many people could turn Thalia into a blubbering idiot, but Piper seemed to be one of the few.

Jason let her go, she reminded herself. Would it really be so wrong to make a move? Piper was dropping all the right hints.

She didn't have a chance to make a choice. Piper pressed her lips to Thalia's, gently maneuvering them in an expert sort of way. She supposed it only made sense that a daughter of Aphrodite would be an excellent kisser. Thalia felt like a total newbie as she responded, but that didn't stop her from kissing the girl with all that she had.

AN: I originally posted this on AO3, so don't think I'm stealing someone else's work or anything lol. Do let me know what you thought, and thanks if you enjoyed it enough to read this far down!