prompt : something involving flowers and rain.

word count : 3,620 ( this is the longest oneshot i've ever written, yikes )

[ SuperSilverSpy ]

"A magnolia."

Katie gently picked up the large white flower from the table, careful not to damage it. She caressed the petals, trying to ignore the warmth hugging her heart.

"You know those represent a love for nature," Miranda said, unnecessarily.

Of course Katie knew. Not to mention the fact that her secret admirer had written it in a delicate, thin print on the familiar lacy white paper. It was the fourth day of this.

Every morning, she awoke to a single new flower lying on her bedside table. Beside it was always a card explaining the meaning of the plant. The first day, she'd received a purple lilac, which represented the first emotions of love. The second day was a blue salvia, which said, "thinking of you." The third was a hibiscus-- meaning delicate beauty--and now, today, she'd gotten a magnolia.

Katie wouldn't admit it aloud, since she had a reputation to keep, but she'd never had such strong feelings for a single person before. It surprised her, since she didn't even know the person, and because she'd been in relationships before.

But the thoughtfulness and careful execution of this little plan made her heart flutter with the wings of a hummingbird. A magnolia? She was a daughter of Demeter. This one was so dead on it was almost scary.

"How sweet," Miranda continued. "And you still don't have a clue who it could be?"

Katie placed the flower in the drawer of the table, where she'd been keeping the previous notes and plants, and sighed. "Nope."

Miranda put a hand on her hip and raised her eyebrow.

"Hey, don't look at me like that! Have you managed to figure out how they keep getting in every morning while we're all asleep? Because I think that's a little more concerning."

Miranda knew very well, but she wasn't going to say a thing. "Whatever. I'm heading out. Be careful, I'm sure Lacy's going to want a full update."

"Which she will not be getting."

"Sure. Bye, Kates."

"Goodbye, Miranda."

Katie pushed the drawer closed and sat back on her bed. She'd never really had much luck in the love department. But maybe this would go somewhere.

If, that is, she could figure out who was behind it.

////\

Katie was balancing a half full basket of strawberries on her hip and was going to pick the next one when she heard her name being called.

She turned, surprised to see Annabeth.

"Katie! I found you," Annabeth breathed.

"You did. What is it?"

Annabeth caught her breath before speaking. "Okay. So I heard from Percy, who heard from Rachel, who heard from Lacy, who I'm pretty sure heard from Miranda. . .that you have a secret admirer."

Katie stared at her for a moment. Then she groaned and dragged a hand down her glistening face. "How in the world--? Nevermind. What does that have to do with you?"

Annabeth nodded. "So, Percy was telling me about it, which got me thinking of a way to help you figure out who it is. So I started with Rachel and tracked down Lacy, and then Miranda, to collect as much information as I could. From what I understand, this person leaves a note with a flower each day?"

Katie waited for her words to sink in. She nodded, figuring some help wouldn't hurt.

Annabeth smiled. "Perfect. If you'd like, I can use a sample of the handwriting and compare it to everyone else's at Camp. That's the most logical way to figure it out."

"That sounds great, but, um, how do you plan to get everyone to write something for you?" Katie was hesitant to point out anything defective in the child of Athena's plan. She was relieved when Annabeth waved her hand in dismissal.

"Everyone at Camp took Ancient Greek. Chiron keeps files in the Big House that I have access to. If that doesn't work, I'm sure one of my siblings has some kind of petition they need signatures for, and we're pretty good at getting people to oblige."

Katie stared at her friend open-mouthed. "Wow, Annabeth. You don't have to do so much just for a silly secret admirer. Really."

Annabeth placed a hand on Katie's shoulder. "I'm happy to. It's what I do best, anyways. Plus," she leaned closer and lowered her voice. "I know what it's like waiting on love."

Her grey eyes sparkled as she pulled away. Katie watched her with a small smile and slipped the first card she'd received from her pocket, the one that had come with the purple lilacs.

Annabeth took it and waved. "You'll know soon, don't stress too much!" she yelled over her shoulder as she jogged towards the cabins, her blonde hair bouncing from side to side in its ponytail.

Katie turned back to her strawberries and laughed a little. A small bubble of excitement was forming in her chest.

She was still going to kill Miranda later, though.

////\

"I bet it's that tall dark haired Aphrodite kid. What's his name again?"

"Who cares? He's a jerk. He'd never be able to pull off something like this."

Katie watched as Miranda and some random daughter of Ares she didn't really know go back and forth about who could be her secret admirer. Ever since word had gotten around about the flowers, it seemed her group of close friends had grown. Immensely.

That morning, she'd woken to a white camilla. The flower you gave to someone you particularly liked.

"Do you have any guesses, Katie?" The Ares girl turned expectantly to her.

Katie laughed uncomfortably, struggling to be polite. "No, not really."

"Huh?!" the girl exclaimed dramatically. "You don't even have one guess? I mean, they obviously have to be someone here at Camp, that narrows it down. And you have to know them, since they seem to know you quite well."

"I know all that," Katie muttered.

"Well, then? Who've you talked to lately?"

Katie glared at the girl, who didn't seem to notice. She was saved from answering when Annabeth approached, grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her away from the conversation, much to the surprise of the others.

"Goodness, word sure does spread fast around here," Annabeth said, once they were out of the Mess Hall and walking amongst the grounds.

Katie sighed. "Thanks. This is ridiculous. I don't even know that girl!"

"I'm sorry," Annabeth said. "It's really no one's business but yours. Believe me, it'll be hard to get everyone off your back. That's just how they are when it comes to pairing people up."

As if planned, Percy walked by at that same moment. He and Annabeth waved at each other, and when he was close enough, Percy placed a kiss on her cheek and kept walking.

Annabeth continued, though smiling now. "If you want me to butt out, I won't mind at all. This kind of stuff is really personal."

Katie shook her head. "I need your help. The sooner we unravel this, the better."

"In that case, you can rule out anyone currently in the Aphrodite cabin," Annabeth said. "And the Ares."

Katie looked at her in disbelief. "You were able to go through both of those in a day?"

Annabeth smiled proudly. "I was. And I figured I should cover the twelve biggest cabins first. I've got a long way to go, but you should know within a week, if this goes as planned."

"I can help you," Katie suggested.

"I don't think Chiron will want anyone else in everyone's stuff, honestly. I haven't exactly told him what I'm doing."

Dang. Annabeth was pretty cool.

"I'll let you know if there's any way you can help, though." Annabeth checked her watch. "I've got to run, we'll talk later!"

Katie nodded and waved as she watched her go once again.

It was going to be a long week.

////\

A “long week” was the understatement of the year. Of the decade.

It was the sixth day of receiving a special plant––she'd woken to a beautiful daffodil today, which meant “new beginnings.”

And as much as her stubborn heart fluttered for the new flower, her mind was somewhere else on the matter. Truthfully, it was becoming overwhelming. Everyone in camp seemed to know what was going on, despite Katie's efforts to downplay it.

And she still had no clue who it could be.

The daughter of Demeter knew, of course, that it wasn't a big deal. But overthinking things was kind of her forte.

So Katie found herself sitting in the damp dirt of the strawberry fields. At first, she'd tried gardening to get her mind off of everything, but it just gave her more time to think. So she sat, staring dejectedly at the rows of bright red fruit, not caring that the soggy soil was staining her sun dress.

Unconsciously, she picked a strawberry a took a bite from it angrily. Why was this bothering her so much? Maybe she just wanted to keep things to herself. This was a personal matter, between her and the secret admirer.

“Oi, Katie-kat!”

Katie's form went rigid at the sound of Travis's voice. She hadn't heard it since this whole thing started (which she had been rather greatful for, she didn't think she could handle her nemesis on top of everything else), but it had been too good to be true.

“Hello? Earth to Kates!”

Katie snapped out of her trance to see the brunette plopping down beside her. She wrinkled her nose at the close proximity, and the fact that his perfectly clean jeans were now going to be covered in mud. Goodness, she was a perfectionist.

“What are you doing out here?” Travis stared pointedly at the half eaten strawberry in her hand.

Katie rolled her eyes. “What am I usually doing out here, genius?”

Travis pouted. He studied her face intently, causing her to squirm a bit at the sudden attention.

“Either yelling at me or planting your seeds. And neither of those things are being done at the moment. What's up?”

Katie sighed in defeat. She couldn't deny it, Travis knew her too well. “I'm sure you've heard.”

Travis studied her again, before nodding in recognition. “Eh. It'll blow over. It always does.”

Katie leaned her cheek on her hand, drawing circles in the dirt. “Maybe it'll be old news for everyone else in a couple of weeks, but I'm still in the middle of it. I don't know how to feel about it, honestly.”

She suddenly looked up, realizing she'd been about to spill everything in front of Travis. Now that she thought about it, that always seemed to happen.

“Yoy don't enjoy having a secret admirer?” Travis teased.

Katie thought for a moment, before turning to him accusingly. “Wait. . .where have you been the past few days?”

Travis furrowed his brow and shrugged. “Around.”

“I swear to the gods, if this is another one of your pranks, you will be very sorry.” Even the thought broke her heart. Although, she couldn't be sure why. She'd somehow managed to become attached to her daily gifts.

Travis shook his head, surprisingly pretty serious. “Nah, that's not really my style. For pranking.”

Katie slowly looked away, accepting his answer. It really wasn't his style. Travis liked people to know who was messing with them. And if she'd really suspected it as a prank, she would've ratted him out a long time ago.

She blew out a long breath and buried her face in her hands.

Travis bumped her shoulder with his. “Hey, cheer up. If you're so focused on this secret admirer thing, how are you going to keep me away from pranking your cabin?”

Katie's lips tugged into a small smile unwillingly.

But soon the overwhelming thoughts flooded back into her mind, and the moment was gone. Travis seemed to notice.

“Don't worry about it, Katie. It'll all sort itself out soon. I mean, you should be happy. Enjoy your flowers while this secret person works their butt off. And when you find out who it is, you can frolick off into the sunset together.”

Katie gradually looked at him. She couldn't help snorting a laugh and shoving him lightly. “You idiot.”

Travis grinned and stood, helping her up with him. Then he bowed dramatically. “At your service. I'm off to take care of some business now, but I'm always here for a nice warm hug, Katie-kat.”

Katie rolled her eyes and waved him off.

She wasn't able to wipe the smile off of her face for a good few minutes after that.

///\

Despite the moment of peace Travis had somehow given her, Katie's worrying and doubts didn't leave. They came right back like a boomerang, and she lay in bed that night, sleepless.

At some point through the night, she lost the battle with her brain and fell asleep.

As soon as she woke up though, everything came rushing back. She groaned and pulled herself up in her bed, rubbing her eyes groggily.

When the plant on her side table caught her eye, though, she was suddenly wide awake. She gently picked it up, a small gasp escaping her lips.

The card beside it read lemon balm, and Katie's grip tightened. Lemon balm usually symbolized sympathy, but it was known to relieve stress, reduce anxiety, and cure insomnia.

She couldn't believe this person had taken the time to get lemon balm. Exactly how well did they know her? She hadn't really told anyone was going on inside her head, was it that obvious?

Either way, the gesture really reached her heart. She needed to uncover this person's identity, and fast.

///\

The day she received the lemon balm, her day had been noticeably better. It was funny what one well thought out gesture could do for a person.

Katie had worn a small smile almost the whole day. Annabeth had reported that no one from any of the minor cabins matched the handwriting, and a few of the major cabins had already been ruled out. The daughter of Athena was working incredibly fast, but even so, there were so many more big cabins to check.

And obviously, no one from the Demeter cabin was behind it, as well as the single demigod of the Poseidon cabin.

Going from a pretty good mood to a not-so-good one was never fun.

When Katie woke the next morning and didn't immediately see a new plant on her bedside table, her mind began thinking the worst. Had the secret admirer gotten over her? So soon?

She hadn't realized how much she'd come to rely on seeing a new flower each morning. It had become something to look forward to.

A strange sadness took hold of her heart, and she found herself searching for it. Maybe she'd missed it?

Katie froze and mentally kicked herself. It wasn't like her to be so hopeful. Especially for something like this.

Forget it.

And so she did. Or, rather, she tried.

It was incredibly hard to forget it when everyone, everywhere was bringing it up. Had she figured it out? What was today's flower?

Katie tried to brush it off, to focus on anything but the fact that she was, once again, being forgotten herself. She was clearly overthinking it. That was the problem with her mind. The moment she thought she was overthinking, she began overthinking about overthinking.

Gods.

She might have been hoping for something through the day. What, she didn't know. But she soon realized that she didn't want it to end like this.

It was a big letdown when Katie found herself sitting in the Demeter cabin when the sun was setting. She was already doubting that there'd be a new flower the next day. Why was she letting this effect her so much?

Rain fell on the cabin roof softly, but in Katie's contemplative silence it sounded like pelting bullets.

She'd pulled every flower from the drawer and laid them out in a pathetic circle on her bed sheets. A withering purple lilac, a blue salvia, a crinkled hibiscus, a cream colored magnolia, a white camilla, and what was left of the lemon balm she'd carried around for an entire day.

Katie sighed, but didn't move from her spot in front of the plants. What was she doing?

A few of her cabin mates sat around doing their own thing, but most of them were out. Katie knew Miranda was giving her a pitying look from her own bunk, but she didn't want to see it. She curled into a ball and rested her head on her knees with another sigh, trying to shut her brain off.

There was a knock at the cabin door, and Katie waited for Miranda to get up and get it. But there was no noise indicating her sister had done it, so she peeked above her knees and sent her a strange look.

Miranda continued to stare at her book, obviously aware.

Katie waited another second before sighing and pulling herself up. She trudged to the door, not bothering to smile or even pull together a neutral expression. Nope. She was in a bad mood, so she was frowning.

She grasped the cool handle in her hand and opened the door slowly, taking her time to make eye contact with whoever had interrupted her sulking.

When she did, though, her eyes widened.

“Travis. . .?”

The fact that he was drenched in rain water and was holding a bright red tulip in front of him was enough to send her head spinning.

Red tulips were a widely known declaration of love.

And.

They were Katie's favorite flower.

Travis didn't speak, he didn't offer an explanation. He did glance behind her and see the circle of flowers upon her bed, and winced slightly. But there was a hopeful twinkle in his mischievous eyes when he met Katie's own again.

There was no doubt: this while fiasco was thanks to Travis.

She was surprised when the first thing she felt was hot anger. This secret admirer thing had taken over her life, it had made her feel, and that confused her.

“Why now? Why me?”

Travis smiled, a real, genuine smile. Katie almost flinched from its sincerity.

“'Cuz you're Katie. And I don't know, maybe I just woke up one morning and decided to fall in love with you.”

Katie's insides froze. Her round lips parted in absolute shock, because that was so Travis.

All of this. All of it. Had been Travis Stoll. Her enemy. The guy who once temporarily dyed her hair green and called it eco-friendly.

She hated him.

So why the Hades was she so relieved?

No, she was. . .happy.

Her eyes, against her will, began shining with unshed tears. More than anything, her mind told her to punch his lights out, give him something to think about.

But, once again, her heart and body were not one with her mind.

So when Travis gave her another smile and offered the tulip, Katie only waited a second before throwing herself at him and flinging her arms around his soaking neck. She didn't care if she was getting wet, or that she was sobbing into his shoulder like an idiot.

Travis only froze in surprise for a second before returning the hug, the tulip hanging from his grasp around her back.

“I can't believe it was you,” Katie choked out in a watery murmur.

Travis gripped her tighter, if that was possible, and buried his face in her now-wet hair. “Are you disappointed?”

Katie reluctantly pulled away. Was she disappointed?

Absolutely not. She couldn't say why, but she just knew she wasn't.

But instead of telling him that, or trying to explain something she couldn't, she placed her hands on his dripping cheeks and pulled him down towards her.

Travis obliged, kissing her so gently Katie began crying again from disbelief. A happy disbelief, but surprise nonetheless. Was this really her Travis?

“So, did you want the tulip, or. . .?”

Yep. Definitely her Travis.

Katie didn't know it then, standing in the rain as Travis explained how he'd done everything (including the fact that Miranda had been in on it the whole time), but the Secret Admirer Incident would come to be her favorite.

///\

Annabeth cursed the rain for the third time in a minute. She knew Chiron and Dionysus were letting it in for the sake of the strawberry fields, as well as a change for the campers. But at a time like this, it was irritating. There wasn't anything she could do about it now, except for frantically cover the piece of paper she'd retrieved for Katie.

She was running, the soft rain wipping at her face from the increased speed. She knew it would be more practical to just tell Katie tomorrow, but she knew how much it was weighing on the girl's mind.

And how much difference a single night could make.

Honestly, she wasn't surprised with the results. The entire camp had been trying to get these two together since the moment they met and the first prank was pulled.

Annabeth skidded to a stop in the mud at Zeus's cabin, which was a few away from Cabin Four, Demeter's.

She stared for a couple seconds before huffing and staring incredulously at the paper in her hand. She shook her head with a sigh and folded it up, sliding it into her pocket.

Annabeth turned on her heel with a small, triumphant smile and made her way back towards the Athena Cabin, not giving it a second thought.