Truth-or-Dare
The door shuts behind them, Venus shortly after dimming the lights, for a more “dramatic effect,” as she claimed. Although Connor tried his absolute hardest, he couldn’t escape the butterflies in his stomach, or his eyes darting to the blue-haired boy.
Finally, the game kicks on. Venus goes first, as she was quickest to call dibs. A mischievous grin on her face, she looks across the circle at Mitchell. This should have been the first sign of danger.
“Mitchell, Truth or Dare?” She announces, pointing at him. He looks sort of surprised, like he wasn’t expecting to be selected. The expression on his face was kind of cute, actually. But- anyways- by now, Connor knew this was going to be bad for him if Mitchell made the wrong-
“Uh… Truth, I guess.” -choice. /Shit/.
The grin on Venus’ face somehow widens, a glint in her eyes that was for certain not going to help him.
“So, Mitchell, I’ve heard some rumors floating around camp…” Oh, gods, where was this going? Connor thought, saying a silent prayer to his father it wasn’t what he thought Venus was going to ask. “So, is it true that children of Aphrodite can tell who people are interested in?” Connor breathed a silent sigh of relief. /Phew/.
“Well, kind of? We can, but only some of us, and it’s a little bit more complicated than that. I won’t go into it now, and before you ask, yes, I do have that.” /Well, fuck/. Connor silently cursed himself. This was arguably worse than what he thought Venus was going to ask. Although, it was nice hearing him talk…
Snapping out of it, he silently cursed himself again, and this time Mitchell as well. Him and his stupid cute Aphrodite powers and his very nice voice.
“Well, I guess I’m going now. So, uh… Clarisse, I guess, Truth or Dare?” He almost missed Mitchell saying it, his attention going back to the game. He shoved his thoughts back. He would deal with that later. For now, he just needed to focus on gathering gossip.
“I’m not a coward-“ Clarisse manages a very fake cough. “Unlike you-“ She coughs loudly again, this time coming with an offended look from Mitchell, “So, I choose Dare.” She smirks, and the Aphrodite boy thinks, then grins, his smile complimented by the dim room. That /totally/ didn’t matter, though.
“Hm, okay. Then I dare you to answer this question truthfully: Is it true, before she died, at least, that you were secretly dating Silena Beauregard?” The question immediately makes Clarisse tense up, and the room goes dead silent. An atmosphere of tension, albeit of several different kinds, settles over the room. This could be big.
“…fuck. You’re a bitch, Mitchell.” She sighs, which Connor was not aware was something Clarisse could do. “But… yes. I’m a lesbian, deal with it.” It didn’t sound as imposing as it should, coming from Clarisse, but she had hesitated. He got a feeling that that was /not/ something Clarisse had wanted to share. Mitchell had the dignity to look guilty, and he fidgeted with his shoelace.
The silence once again settled over the room like a heavy blanket. Connor assumed several others had gotten that feeling like he had, due to the glances at Mitchell. Suddenly, Cecil heaved a dramatically big sigh and passed Venus 10 drachmas, earning a loud whoop from her.
Connor stage-whispered to them, in a strained tone, “Guys! Not the time!” His siblings quickly quieted down, both having that famous Hermes child look of half-guilt, half-no-regret.
Finally, the game kicks into action again. The questions blur by, it was mainly gossip or humiliating things and dares. Nothing all that interesting, at least until someone got to the di Angelo kid.
“Uh… Nico, Truth or Dare?” Sherman from the Ares cabin finally decided on who to ask. Nico hesitated, but finally replied,
“Truth.” Sherman deflates, like he had a really good dare he had wanted to use, but he shrugged it off and thought for a while. Finally, he came up with a basic one, used quite frequently when there was an event kind of involving dating coming around. It was so basic, in fact, that it had already been used at least twice in this game already.
“Uh… who are you taking to the Winter Dance this year, di Angelo?” Nico clearly hesitated. Connor, along with all of his siblings and a couple others got out some drachmas, to a surprised, (which was surprising in itself. Nico didn’t show much emotion, other than goth-boy sulking and menacing.) and shortly after, an offended look from the demigod in question.
“Do /not/ tell me you had a betting ring on who I’m bringing to the winter dance.” Nico says this pointedly, looking at Connor, who just shrugged. He didn’t have much to say for himself, anyway. Nico sighs. “Fine. I’m bringing Will.” Connor leaps up and cheers, and his siblings soon after begrudgingly hand him their drachmas. The child of Apollo in question smiles, his face going a little red.
Sherman just shrugs. “Uh, good for you, I guess. I mean like I’m an ally, and stuff,” He says, giving him a thumbs-up.
Once again, the rest of the game passes by without much other excitement. Connor was forced to say and do many things, thankfully none of which involved Mitchell. Connor collected plenty of gossip, though.
Finally, everyone finishes up and the other cabins start leaving. Percy and Annabeth rush away, probably to make it back to their college in time. Then most of the Ares cabin leaves, along with a few others. The last to leave was Aphrodite, and as he walked out, Connor swears on his life he saw him wink.
That was a good way to keep him up all night.
Shit.