Travis made his way towards the strawberry fields, looking for a certain daughter of Demeter. He had spent countless afternoons annoying her while she picked strawberries and did other magic Demeter kid stuff. Connor always asked him about his visits, and said something about him being in denial, and Travis always left with a hasty "she's fun to annoy". It was like a daily routine. He had become so involved in his thoughts that he didn't even notice that the object of his aff... ah, favourite person to bother wasn't even there. Dejected, he started to turn back before he heard a sound coming from the direction of the old oak tree which stood right in the middle of the fields. It was almost as big as Thalia's pine, and was wide enough to hide behind after pranking unsuspecting Ares campers.

He crept towards the base of the tree stealthily, and almost smiled to himself thinking of Katie's inevitable eye-roll when she saw him. But his smile immediately faded as he heard the sound again. It sounded like a.. sob? He frowned and approached the base of the tree warily. He peeked out from behind the huge oak, and there sat Katie, elbows resting on her knees as she used her hands to wipe away her tears. Katie Gardner was crying. In all his years at Camp Half-Blood, the only time he'd ever seen Katie cry was when Grace, her half-sister, died in the Battle of the Labyrinth. Seeing her like this made Travis' gut wrench in a way he didn't quite know how to explain. It didn't feel right to see her this way - she was Katie Gardner, head counselor of the Demeter cabin, the only person Travis was actually afraid of after he pranked them, though he never could resist going right up to her and smiling cockily just to see her face turn a shade of the most beautiful crimson he'd ever seen.

"Uhm, Katie?" he ventured. Katie jumped, and hurriedly wiped her hands across her face, obviously embarrassed. Great start, Travis, he scolded himself mentally. He didn't know how to deal with crying girls, but somehow he felt a sudden urge to comfort her, and somehow get her to stop crying. Katie looked up and saw Travis standing there, looking as nervous as she'd seen him, although how she saw anything in front of the wall of hair covering her face was beyond Travis. But she somehow managed to give him one of her famous glares. "Go away, Stoll."

Now Travis had no idea what to do. He didn't want to risk Katie's wrath - he'd learned that the hard way. But he just couldn't leave a friend crying all by themselves here, could he? Wait. Was Katie a friend to him? Well, they knew each other and talked almost everyday, even if most of those conversations led to arguments. And contrary to what most campers would think, they were not enemies - at least Travis didn't feel that way. He decided to take the stupid option. He sat down next to her, and she flinched a little. Travis tried to ignore the sudden hurt feeling in his stomach, and tried again. "Kates, what's wrong?"

"Don't call me that," snapped Katie. Travis repressed his impulse to chuckle. Some things never changed. "And why do you care? I'm not in the mood for your stupid pranks right now."

Travis felt offended. Did she really think that low of him? That he would try to pull something on her when she was this distressed? Not to mention that he didn't have a death wish to be able to even think of trying something like that given the mood she was in. But in the middle of his internal monologue he realized that he didn't actually have an answer to that. Why did he care, all of a sudden? Because it felt really bad to see her cry? Because it was what a decent human being, or in his case, demigod, would do? Then he had a horrible realization.

"Is this because of the chocolate bunnies last week?" he asked, as the guilt pooled in his abdomen. Katie sniffled a bit, and Travis dimly registered in the back of his mind that at least she had stopped crying. "No," she said finally, and Travis let out a relieved breath. "It's...," she stopped, and turned to face him. Her brown hair hung over her shoulders, and covered her eyes before she pulled it back, and even though her nose was all red from crying and her green eyes were shining behind their watery curtain, Travis couldn't help but notice how pretty she looked. How had he never noticed this before? And where had that thought come from? This was Katie Gardner he was talking about, the girl he liked to prank ruthlessly, the girl who hated his guts more than anyone else on the planet, and here he was thinking about how cute she looked. But he couldn't help it. The thought had lodged itself in his mind, refusing to let go away no matter how hard he shook his head. Katie looked like she was having a debate of her own, probably thinking about why was she sharing her problems with Travis Stoll of all people. "Never mind," she finished, the rational part of her brain having won. But she still looked a little vulnerable, and Travis felt like he was walking on glass. One wrong move and everything would shatter, and the tears would start flowing again.

Travis couldn't quite bring himself to think of anything that would make Katie Gardner cry. He must've looked very confused because Katie finally gave in. "My gardening gloves. They were a gift from my father." Travis immediately understood. They were a faded white colour, and absolutely nothing special to look at, though now he knew why Katie always used them to pick strawberries. Travis nodded in sympathy. Much like Katie, his mother had also died when they were little, and since then they had been year rounders at Camp Half-Blood. It was one of the few times he had actually seen his dad, Hermes, when he had come to pick Travis and Connor up in his gleaming white Hermes Express van. Katie sniffled again. "I had a huge fight with Izzy again, and before I could stop her, she snatched them out of my hands and flung them into the ocean," Katie said miserably. Travis recognized Izzy as an Apollo camper who was the same age as them, and he had no idea what Katie meant by fighting again, but he suddenly felt an intense feeling of rage towards the daughter of Apollo, which was weird since he barely knew her. But what he did know was that Izzy had made this strong girl in front of him cry, and he absolutely hated her for it.

"She's not worth it, Katie," he told her determinedly.

"I know," Katie said. "It's just that my father, he..."

"I know," Travis said, and he meant it. He did know how it felt losing something like that. It made you feel like your memory of them was gone - like they weren't there with you anymore. Like you had failed them.

Katie didn't say anything, and they sat for a while in silence, which had to be a first. Travis couldn't think of a single occasion where he had sat with Katie and they had not said anything, or at the very least, argued about something. The silence was making his ADHD brain go into overdrive, and his thoughts were getting messier and more awful by the second, before he was jarred back to reality by a sickening idea.

"Hey, Kit-Kat?"

Katie didn't even acknowledge her unwanted nickname, which was a really bad sign. She simply hummed in response. Travis again felt that awful twist in his gut, but he had to know.

"Have I ever, you know, made you cry? Because I'm sorry if I did. I mean, I know I prank you a lot, but I never actually wanted to hurt you or something. I just..." He trailed off, not knowing what he was trying to say or if Katie even believed him. Why would she? All she knew was that Travis loved to pick on her.

"I mean, I'd take murderous Katie over crying Katie any day," he joked, trying to lighten the dull mood.

Travis looked at her, waiting for her reaction. She, for some reason, appeared to be smiling, and Travis felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. He didn't want Katie to think that he hated her. Nor did he want her to hate him. He just... wanted her to have a bit of fun sometimes, instead of being all goody-two-shoes all the time.

"That's actually pretty sweet, Travis. But no, I don't cry over your lame pranks." Travis noticed that she hadn't called him Stoll this time like she usually did. He affected a face of mock outrage.

"Excuse me? Lame?" he demanded.

"You heard me."

"My pranks aren't lame!"

"Shaving cream in my pillow? Spiders in the Athena cabin? A bucket of-"

"All right, all right! Do you want me to cry now?"

A watery laugh escaped Katie's lips, and her green eyes seemed to shine brighter than before, making Travis' heart skip a beat. She punched him in the shoulder lightly, only this time she wasn't mad at him for pranking her cabin or anything. "You're losing your touch, Katie-Kat," he said cockily, as Katie punched him harder this time. Travis winced. There was the old Katie.

They sat silently for a while again, only this time it wasn't an oppressive one that demanded for things to be said. It was a peaceful silence, and for once, Travis had no intention of ruining it, even though he could think of a billion jokes to say right now. Katie got up suddenly.

"You know, Stoll, you're almost tolerable when you aren't pranking me." Travis got to his feet as well, and was about to ask what she meant by almost before Katie abruptly kissed him on the cheek and ran off towards her beloved strawberries.

Travis stood there for a minute, completely dazed, a warm feeling enveloping his face. He had no doubt that he probably looked as red as one of Katie's strawberries right now. Suddenly all the things he'd felt today - the guilt, the intense anger at Izzy, the current feeling of his brain turning to mush - started making sense. He had a crush on Katie Gardner.

A/N: This was my first Traitie fic! How was it? Was it too fluffy? Was it OOC? Reviews are appreciated!