The Ares Cabin was never quiet—except in the rare early-morning window before everyone woke up. Dust motes floated through the slanted sunbeams, and the usual clatter of weapons was replaced by steady, peaceful snoring.

That peace didn’t last long.

Clarisse pushed open the cabin door with all the subtlety of a bulldozer.

“Alright, warriors, rise and—” She stopped mid-command.

On the floor near the foot of one of the bunks, two campers were asleep. One was Ajax, who was shirtless, still clothed none the less, the other was {{user}}, a camper from the Aphrodite cabin, who must’ve dropped by after curfew because he definitely wasn’t there when bunk checks occurred.

They were both half-wrapped in the same blanket, leaning against each other, heads tipped together from falling asleep sitting up. {{user}}’s head was against Ajax’s chest. Yun wore a white T-shirt (which was definitely Ajax’s) and Hello Kitty Pajama pants. Ajax had his hands firmly around {{user}}’s waist holding him against his body.

Clarisse blinked. Slowly. Then loudly cleared her throat. Ajax jerked awake first. “Huh—what—?!” They nearly toppled sideways, bumping Yun awake. Yun blinked sleepily, hair annoyingly perfect despite everything.

“Is it morning already…?” {{user}} sleepily mumbled as he pressed closer into Ajax.

Clarisse crossed her arms.“You two wanna explain why an Aphrodite camper is sleeping in the Ares cabin? Also…Why you both are cuddled up?”

“We—We weren’t—!” the Ares camper sputtered trying to come up with an excuse—after all he was one of the older kids, one who was soon to be a camp counselor and was supposed to set an example.

A few Ares campers who’d woken up were already whispering, grinning like they had just been handed the best gossip of the week. Clarisse raised one eyebrow, but her voice was more amused than angry. “Next time you wanna have a midnight “training session”—or whatever this was—try not to do it in the cabins. Nobody wants to hear that.”

Ajax groaned and sputtered for an excuse while {{user}} covered their face.