It was stuffy in the loft, even with the windows open and the fan on. Graves sighed and dropped the TV remote onto the floor. “Monty,” he whined. “I’m bored. There’s a long weekend coming up and we have nothing to do.” He pouted in his sister’s direction, sinking even further into the bright green bean bag chair. “Nothing will ever be exciting again after fight night.” An electronic buzz from his pocket alerted Graves that he’d gotten a text. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and his pout instantly transformed into a wide grin. “Monty, Monty. Shit, what would you say to a road trip?” @imitheous
summary: two of the hermes siblings wake up at the crack of dawn for a road trip. final destination, myrtle beach. current location: somewhere on i-95 south.
“Hey! Monty! Let’s go!” Graves strolled into Cabin 11, making a beeline for the kitchen. “Loretta’s outside, doors are unlocked. Put your shit in the truck. Vamos, vamos! We got a long drive hermana.” He checked his watch as he dug through the fridge. 4:30. He closed the fridge, scooping up the food he’d gathered and dumping it rather unceremoniously into a bag. He snagged his water bottle from the counter and popped into his room to give it a once-over, making sure he had everything for the weekend.
“Mira!” Graves called, after unloading more supplies into the truck. “We’re already behind schedule, andele.” He decided to forgo nicknames, his tone a little more serious than usual. “My mom’s cookin’ dinner tonight and we are not missin’ that!” Grave picked up his duffel bag and hooked the strap over his shoulder, seconds away from knocking on Miranda’s door.
Miranda opened her bedroom door, shuffling out of it with a few bags in tow. "Okay, okay! Te escuché." She bent down to grab her magic bag, which was currently in its usual black backpack form, and threw it over her shoulder. "Coño, don't remind me about the drive, I'm tired just thinking about it." She headed over towards the front door, pausing to slip on the flip flops she had left there before she finished packing. "Do you need me to bring anything out? Once I get to Loretta, I make zero promises that I'm coming back for you."
Graves shook his head, stepping back so she could pass. He made a shoo-ing motion with his hands in an attempt to usher her out the door. "Nah nah, she's already loaded up. I just need my-" he looked around the room, spotting the item and swiping it off the edge of the couch. "Hat, and now I have it. We're good to go. You're navigator and DJ, you know the drill." He put his hat on, turning it backwards. He gave the cabin one more cursory glance and closed the door behind them. "I hope Roz doesn't set the place on fire while we're gone." Graves hopped in the truck after loading in Miranda's bags and closed the door; he turned the key and the engine roared to life.
Miranda climbed up into the truck, dropped her backpack at her feet, and immediately started getting her phone connected to the stereo system Loretta had. By the time Graves had finally joined her inside of the truck, she had already kicked her now bare feet up on the dash, and had her road trip playlist loaded and ready to go. "Nah, we should be good, I didn't tell her what not to do, so it should be still standing when we get back. I told Mace we were going to be gone, so maybe she'll swing by occasionally and check up on the place." She shrugged, ignoring the small part of her that was in fact worried about leaving her younger sister in charge of the cabin. Once the engine started up, she turned on the radio to let her playlist start, leaning her head back into the seat as they started to drive. The music filled the silence between them as they started getting onto the highway, and the farther they got from camp, the more excitement started to flutter inside of her. "I'm glad we're doing this, Gravy. I didn't realize how badly I wanted to get out of that place."
He took the exit, as instructed by the GPS and looked over at Miranda. "Yeah, me too. I haven't been home since...I got here." It was weird to say out loud; now that he had, Graves' excitement doubled. "I can't wait for you to meet my mom. And Gran! And see the shop. And-" he cut himself off with a laugh. "I'm gettin' ahead of myself. This is gonna be fun as fuck."
Miranda nodded her head as he spoke, a smile appearing on her face at his very obvious excitement. "Yeah, especially since you're such a momma's boy, and all." She teased, choosing to do that instead of thinking about the last time she had gone home herself. She hated thinking about it, but the idea of going on an adventure to meet Graves' mom had her feeling a little on edge about the whole family topic. Regardless, she plastered a smile on her face. "I'm mainly in it for those fishbowls you showed me, but yeah I guess the rest of it is fine too."
"Hey, I have a great mom! Of course I'm a momma's boy. You'll love her too, wait and see." Graves bobbed his head along to the song Miranda had picked. He checked the time. 5:00. He was not awake enough for the drive ahead of them and decided that the first pit stop would be at a Starbucks. His ears perked up at 'fishbowls'. "Oh fuck yeah, Monty, you're gonna love Duffy's. Well- actually you might hate it, it's kind of a dive? But the fishbowls are fuckin' bomb and we can walk there from the house."
"Why the fuck would I hate it? I'm not an elitist or some shit. But I am very okay with being able to just walk down the street whenever I want a drink." Miranda rolled her eyes, shuffling in her seat a bit until she was comfortably situated while half facing her brother, then pulled a blanket out of her backpack and draped it over her legs.
Graves shook his head with a laugh. "We'll have to walk there every day then. It's like a ten minute walk to the main avenue and there's Duffy's and really good pizza and we can get ice cream at Sweetz and- I'm ramblin'. You have to wait and see." He looked over at Miranda as she got comfortable in the passenger seat. "You wanna nap for a bit? I'll wake you up at the next rest stop."
Miranda laughed as well, though hers was laced with exhaustion. "You, ramble? Never, Manito. But, as long as they have black raspberry then I am in for ice cream." She curled up slightly in her seat, and smiled when she heard Graves' offer. "Yeah, I didn't really sleep last night, so that would be awesome." They talked for another few minutes, Miranda's voice slowly getting quieter before her end of the conversation dropped altogether as she fell asleep.
~~~
The rest stop parking lot was packed, considering it wasn't even 9 AM. It took Graves two loops around the place before he found a parking spot. He cursed himself silently for forgetting about the holiday weekend as he turned the car off and gave Miranda's shoulder a shake. "Mont, wake up. We're in New Jersey." When she didn't stir, Graves tried another tactic. He shook her arm again, talking louder this time, "Hey, hermana, levántate! I'll buy you coffee. There's a Starbucks here." As his sister began to wake up, he hopped out of the truck and sent two quick texts: one to his mom, the other to Macey, updating them with the progress of their road trip.
Miranda let out a small groan when she felt her shoulder get shaken, adjusting herself so that she was away from the source of the movement. When it returned, but stronger this time, she let out a louder whine, though it cut off when she heard 'coffee'. It took her a minute to wake up enough to register where they were, then another three to stretch and climb out of the truck to join Graves in the parking lot. "Oh gods, coffee. Yes, please."
Graves stretched his arms over his head and yawned. "Okay, cariña. Let's make this quick, we still have nine hours to go. You grab breakfast, I'll grab the coffee?" He handed her a very wrinkled twenty dollar bill from his pocket then bumped her shoulder with his. "Meet you back here in five?"
Miranda looked down at the money he handed her, then back up at him and raised an eyebrow to silently ask him why this moment was happening. Then she saw the look on his face, and the excitement in his eyes and decided not to say anything, instead pocketing the bill and following him towards the rest stop. "Lo tienes. See you in five." She started to walk, put turned around when she thought of something, but continued to walk backwards. "Iced coffee!" Miranda turned back around and over to the food court. The line made her take a little longer than five minutes, but roughly ten minutes later, she returned to the truck with two breakfast sandwiches in hand.
Graves was sitting in the driver's seat already, door open, his feet hanging out the side. The line for coffee had been much shorter than that for food and he'd beat Miranda back to the truck, taking the opportunity to check his texts. As she walked up to the car, he grabbed her iced coffee and handed it to her, eagerly trading for a sandwich. "Thank gods you're back. I'm starving to death, Mont. You ready to get back on the road?"
Climbing back into the truck, Miranda let out a huff. “I swear to gods, people are idiots. Someone was trying to get a vegan egg sandwich. At a rest stop. Like, where the fuck do they think they are, a gourmet coffee shop?” She rolled her eyes, exchanging food for a coffee and took a long sip. “But si, vamos, get me away from this place.”
He chuckled, waving his sandwich at her, "I assume this is not a vegan egg sandwich then?" Graves unwrapped his sandwich and took a bite before putting on his seat belt and turning the key in the ignition. "'This place' as in the rest stop? Or 'this place' as in New Jersey, armpit of America?" He joked before pulling out of their spot and getting back on the road.
Miranda laughed, returning her feet to the dash as he pulled back onto the highway. "Sorry to disappoint you, I know how much you're dying to have something in common with 'tough guy' Brent." She teased, unwrapping her own sandwich and taking a bite out of it. "I was going to say just the rest stop, but you know what, either one is fine by me at this point."
"Oh my gods, did Macey tell you about that?" Graves asked, indignant. He took another bite of his sandwich. "Brent is cool, and scary. Y'all stop makin' fun of me for bein' intimidated or I'm not talkin' to y'all about anything anymore." His eyes flashed to the GPS and he switched lanes before focusing back on the road. He repeated his earlier statement, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel in time with his words, "Nine hours to go, hermana. Luckily, we'll be out of Jersey in about an hour. "
"No? I was just there after the first night of fight night. Brent just said the same exact thing Macey and I had already said you practically fell over trying to get back to the cabin after that. Though now I will be texting Macey." Miranda took another sip of coffee. "Cool, I'll give you. Scary? Sorry, can't agree there, Gravy." When he switched topics, she decided to ease up, considering he was driving and was honestly in complete control of her not getting lost while wandering around Myrtle Beach. She started the process of connecting her phone back to the stereo to get the music playing again. "That's not bad, Any requests for the DJ?"
“Ah, fight night,” Graves confirmed, finally understanding the moment Miranda was referring to. He took another bite of his sandwich, mumbling, “punched a god” around his mouthful of food. He was thankful Miranda didn’t press the topic; Graves wanted to get to know Brent better. He didn’t really find the older demigod that scary, but he didn’t know him well enough to see the softer side that his sisters always pointed out. And if this guy had punched a god in the face without being vaporized on the spot? Well, Cam definitely wanted to call him a friend. He blinked, registering Miranda’s question a few seconds after she asked. “Hm, somethin’ we call yell along to? Somethin’ that’ll keep me awake until we make our next stop. It’s a long drive, but it’ll be worth it, I swear.”
Miranda nodded. "Alright, I can work with that." She debated offering to drive for a little bit, but her brother was stubborn. Besides, it didn't even matter if she said anything or not, they both knew that they would swap if he needed a quick power nap, so she decided to not bring it up. Tapping her phone a few times, she pulled up a new playlist of songs they could easily jam out to and pressed play, reaching out to turn the stereo up as it started blasting out.
would drop ice down the back of the other’s shirt as a joke
koda would move in for the hug and try to be discreet but she’d miss and it would end up with hazel dropping ice down her shirt in retaliation and koda shrieking
spoils the ending of books/movies
maybe hazel honestly. she’s much more well-read than koda and she might assume ko’s read a book bc she asks hazel for recommendations all the time but it’s a toss-up if she actually reads the book or not
always posts a picture of the other as their MCM or WCW
koda does this! WCW are for renee, but BFF (best friend fridays) are for hazel
eats the last piece of cake in the fridge before the other can have it
they both sneakily take single forkfulls of cake from the fridge at a time, trying to hide the fact that they’re eating it from the other until it’s gone
obnoxiously celebrates Monday Punday every week
i could see them going pun for pun until they can’t stop laughing
makes loving hack posts on the other’s Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr/Twitter etc
they both do this! koda never changes her password and hazel definitely knows it so i’m sure there’s a lot of “hazel’s the best” and “hazel is always right” on ko’s social media
has to beat their partner in every game
hazel 100% - koda tries but she doesn’t hold a candle to haze
keeps their partner up half the night talking about random stuff
these two have known each other for so long, they could pull an all-nighter talking about the most random things
eats too much garlic and tries to kiss their partner anyway
omg koda does this to hazel
g r a v e s & m i r a n d a
always wins when they play Trivia Crack
does anyone really think graves has a chance here? miranda wins mercilessly
laughs when their partner trips on something
they both bust out laughing no matter what
would drop ice down the back of the other’s shirt as a joke
graves does this, miranda grabs the ice cube that falls out of her shirt and chucks it at his head
spoils the ending of books/movies
sigh it’s probably graves, accidentally. miranda spoils the next movie they watch as payback
always posts a picture of the other as their MCM or WCW
miranda invents BSS (best sibling sunday) and the rule is that you have to post the worst photos you have of the other person. she has one of graves in a trash can, no surprise.
eats the last piece of cake in the fridge before the other can have it
graves knows better than to touch cake in the hermes cabin fridge. if his name isn’t on it, it’s not for him. he made that mistake once and miranda looked murderous
obnoxiously celebrates Monday Punday every week
graves!! miranda wants to kill him after five minutes of it
makes loving hack posts on the other’s Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr/Twitter etc
miranda omg she just raids his social media and posts the most ridiculous stuff
has to beat their partner in every game
they’re both so competitive that this raises hell. but miranda wins somehow. probably blackmail. definitely blackmail.
keeps their partner up half the night talking about random stuff
they used to share a bunk and graves would keep miranda up for hours, going on about random shit until she threw something at him
eats too much garlic and tries to kiss their partner anyway
ko for sure steals from hazel, and hazel either shares and rolls her eyes or talks koda into actually buying her own so they have double the fries
who jokingly moves in for the kiss when someone asks if they’re a couple:
oh both of them for sure, high chance this led to at least one accidental kiss during their friendship
who has to bust or bail the other out of jail
hazel’s too smart to end up in jail. she and renee have to bail koda out for doing some dumbass shit for sure
who gives the other advice/comfort about dating issues
after over a decade of friendship, they have comforting each other down to a T - these girls are skype date pros. there’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a brunch date. they take turns giving advice but hazel’s is probably better. it depends on the situation
who shamelessly cheats at games by reaching over to cover the other’s eyes:
oh this is koda, she hardly ever wins tho
who immediately calls dibs on the top bunks
ko, before she can even see the bunks. she’s not above racing hazel to them either lmao
who starts and who wins the pillow fights:
ko starts them, but hazel delivers the killing blow
who says “your pants would look better on their floor” to the other’s potential crush:
haha this is koda to hazel’s crushes, 100%. but if hazel said it to renee, koda would still blush. what a nerd
g r a v e s & m i r a n d a
who steals french fries off the other’s plate:
graves tries to steal them and miranda smacks his hand
who jokingly moves in for the kiss when someone asks if they’re a couple:
neither of them, they’re siblings
who has to bust or bail the other out of jail
to absolutely no one’s surprise (except maybe his own), miranda has to bust cam out of jail. maybe with the help of their other siblings...this kid, i swear
who gives the other advice/comfort about dating issues
these two hopeless idiots? miranda probably gives the better advice since graves has never been in a relationship (hookups only for ya boy) BUT both of them will drop everything when the other needs a pep talk
who shamelessly cheats at games by reaching over to cover the other’s eyes:
i feel like miranda covers graves’ eyes and somehow he still wins
who immediately calls dibs on the top bunk:
they call it at the same time, and graves concedes to his sister bc sometimes he can be sweet
who starts and who wins the pillow fights:
it’s a toss-up on who starts them, and it’s a fair fight but i feel like graves wins? idk miranda’s feisty tho
who says “your pants would look better on their floor” to the other’s potential crush:
miranda to graves’ crushes. come on, cam knows better than to say this to miranda’s crush. he doesn’t really have a death wish
