Work Text:
The video opens on Leo, just a little bit too close to the camera to be comfortable, clearly taken on a phone in selfie mode. He sets the phone down on something and steps back, grinning widely. Behind him, a messy steel bunk is visible.
“Hello, world!” he says, still smiling and lifting one hand in a quick wave. “My name’s Leo, and this summer I’ve decided to fulfill a life-long dream of mine, so here I am! Starting a YouTube! This is going to go great .”
Offscreen, a door creaks open noisily. Leo jumps a bit and looks toward the noise.
“Leo? Are you talking to someone?”
His eyes widen and he glances back towards the phone for just a second before grinning widely at the person offscreen. “Nope! Just myself!”
“Is that a phone ? What the fuck are you doing ?”
Leo rolls his eyes a bit as Nyssa enters the frame, glaring at him and the phone in turn. They startle a bit as they see the video, then cross their arms and stare at Leo.
He holds both hands up, still smiling. “It’s fine, Nyssa! This isn’t a normal iPhone. Lou Ellen and I made it together! It’s not dangerous. I promise.”
Nyssa is still glaring, but they seem to believe him. “Does Chiron know about it?”
“Well, not yet , but I was gonna tell him tonight. As long as it doesn’t overheat or whatever, we’re thinking of making more! So eventually everyone can have one. Cool, right?”
They roll their eyes even as they seem to be really interested. They reach for the phone. “Yeah, okay, it’s cool. How did you even make this? Can I look at the--?”
The video cuts out.
-
When it comes back, Leo is centered in frame again, his hair slightly singed and with soot smudged on his face. Behind him, it looks like he’s in the amphitheater.
“Hi!” he says, grinning. “Again. So, tomorrow’s the summer solstice, and since it’s been, like, years since nobody was on a quest for the solstice--” his eyes widen. “I mean, um. Since nobody had a… project. That they were working on. We decided to have a little celebration! So I thought I’d introduce you to some of the other campers, because basically everyone is here. I might make a part two, there’s a lot of us.”
He reaches for the camera and sweeps it around, showing the large crowd of campers gathered in the amphitheater. They’re mostly clumped by cabin, talking amongst themselves. To the west, the sun is dipping towards the horizon, but it’s still bright out.
Leo picks his way down the amphitheater steps, the camera shaking wildly as he does, and eventually sits down next to Lou Ellen. They smile at him, and then her eyes light up when they see the camera.
“It works?” he asks Leo, who nods.
“Perfectly. Nyssa and I messed around inside for a bit, and they didn’t find anything that they would change. I was gonna show it to Chiron after campfire, do you want to come?”
Lou Ellen rolls their eyes. “Of fucking course I’ll come. What are you recording?”
Leo grins widely and shifts the phone to make sure they’re both centered in the video. “My first YouTube video! I’m gonna go viral, just you fuckin’ wait. Speaking of, can you introduce yourself? This video is gonna be called Meet The Camp.”
“That’s a shitty name,” he says, but she smiles at the camera anyways. “Hi! I’m Lou Ellen, any pronouns, sixteen, um,” they glance at Leo. “What else? I’m in the Hecate cabin?”
Leo shrugs. “What are your plans for the summer? Besides camp, I mean.”
“We’ve got a couple new kids this year, so I’m gonna help them start their training. Cecil and I have some pranks planned. Not much, other than that,” she grins. “And making fun of you, obviously.”
Leo rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Well, I’m gonna go find someone else to shove this camera at. Save me a seat for later?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Thanks! Love you!” he gets to his feet and heads further down the steps.
He walks for a while, occasionally pausing to greet other people but keeping the camera trained on himself, until he reaches Rachel. She smiles up at him and scoots over a bit to make room, and Leo plops down next to them with a heavy sigh. “Hey, Warrior Queen,” he says.
Rachel shoves lightly at his shoulder and grins. “What’s up, Valdez?” Her eyes widen almost comically. “Wait, why do you have a phone ?”
“Lou and I made it! It’s perfectly safe, don’t worry. I’m making a YouTube video, if you want to introduce yourself,” he wiggles his eyebrows and she laughs.
“Hi,” they wave a bit in the direction of the camera. “I’m Rachel.”
Leo scoffs. “That’s all? C’mon, dude, pronouns, age, cabin--”
Rachel leans over just enough to put one hand over his mouth. “Pronouns are she/they, I’m eighteen, and I don’t… really have a cabin? I guess I’m kind of in Apollo’s, but also my own.”
He pushes them off and pouts. “Your cave is the coolest cabin, though. Which I will obviously deny ever saying, since clearly my cabin is the best and most awesome, but--”
“This is going on the internet, Valdez. Nothing ever comes off of the internet. Let the record show that Leo thinks my cave is the coolest and best cabin at camp,” they grin, even as Leo squawks in protest and lunges towards her. The camera falls to the ground as the two of them swear at each other, and the video cuts out.
-
It cuts to Will and Nico, sitting in the front row of the amphitheater. The quality of the video has improved and it is no longer in selfie mode.
“Introduce yourselves!” Leo’s voice says from behind the camera.
Will beams at him. “Hi! I’m Will, my pronouns are he/him, and I’m sixteen! Oh, and I’m in the Apollo cabin.”
Nico, curled up beside Will, gives Leo a death stare. “No.”
“And this is Nico,” Will continues, moving his hand from Nico’s shoulder up to cover his mouth without batting an eye. “Also sixteen, technically, and also he/him - last I know, anyways,” he turns to the other boy, eyebrows raised, and waits for Nico to nod before looking back to the camera. “And he’s in the Hades cabin.”
“Cool,” Leo shifts the camera so he can hold a thumbs up in front of it. Nico rolls his eyes.
Behind them, there’s a flash of light, so bright the camera whites out for a moment. When it refocuses, every camper in frame is turned away from the light or covering their eyes, and there’s a boy standing behind Will and Nico who wasn’t there before.
“Lester!” Leo cries, losing his grip on the camera for a moment as he runs over to greet Lester.
He grins as Leo gets close and waves. “Hello, Leo! Sorry I’m late, I got a little distracted while I was driving. Y’know, I didn’t miss much of my job while I was here last year, but the views …” he trails off, sighing dreamily.
Leo clears his throat. “Well, you’re here now! And the party isn’t actually until tomorrow, anyways. The Hunters should be here in the morning - do you know if Artemis is coming?”
Lester rolls his eyes and crosses his arms. “How should I know? I’m not her keeper. Just because we’re twins doesn’t mean I know everything about her.”
“Right, sorry. I just figured she might have let you know. Well, anyways, it’s awesome to see you!”
Will appears at the edge of the frame, grinning, with Nico still under his arm. “Hey, Dad! How’ve you been?”
“Will!” Lester beams and steps forward to pull Will into a hug. “I’ve been alright. Have any of you heard from Meg?”
“Oh, shit, Meg,” Nico glances around himself. “I’m supposed to go get her, so she doesn’t have to leave Aeithales for very long. I’ll be right back,” he leans over and presses a quick kiss to Will’s cheek, then steps into the nearest shadow and disappears.
“Dumbass,” Will mumbles, blushing slightly even as he glares after him. “He’s gonna be exhausted when he gets back.”
Lester finally notices the camera and stares at it. “Is that a phone , Leo? How did you get that?”
“I made it! It’s safe, don’t worry. Hey, do you want to introduce yourself? I’m making a YouTube video,” Leo refocuses the camera, making sure Lester’s centered in frame.
“Oh, sure. I’m-- wait, do I say Lester or Apollo?”
The camera jostles up and down a bit as Leo shrugs. “Either, I guess. Whichever you’re more comfortable with.”
He frowns. “That’s not helpful. Okay, um, I’m Lester.”
“You can do pronouns and age, too, if you want,” Will says.
“He/him, and I’m, like… old. Very old.”
Leo snorts. “Yeah, but you look seventeen. And you’re… basically in the Apollo cabin, right?”
Lester shrugs a bit and straightens his orange t-shirt. “Yeah, I suppose. I stayed there last time I was here, anyways.”
“Oh, we should find Kayla and Austin,” Will says, turning on his heel to scan the crowd of campers who are mostly ignoring them. Before he can say more, Nico and Meg appear out of the same shadow Nico had disappeared into.
Nico sways on his feet, toppling forward just as Will steps up to catch him, but Meg seems completely fine. She smiles and steps forward to punch Lester’s shoulder.
“Hi,” she says.
Lester grins even as he rolls his eyes. “Hi, Meg. How are you?”
“Fine. Leo, why do you have a phone?”
“What happened to hi, Leo ? What happened to how have you been, Leo ? I missed you, Leo ?”
She sends him an unimpressed glare and steps close enough to grab the camera out of his hands, ignoring his protests. The video gets an uncomfortable view of her nose, and then it cuts out.
-
It’s back in selfie mode when it resumes, the quality lower, and the sun is low enough in the sky that it’s hard to make out details of the background. Leo is in the center of the frame, lit by a campfire somewhere behind the camera. Hazel and Piper are on his left, and Percy and Annabeth on his right.
“This is a terrible idea,” Annabeth says, making no move to stop Leo.
“This is a fantastic idea, thank you very much,” Leo rolls his eyes. “What’s the worst that could happen? Nyssa and Lou Ellen and I all checked it, I promise it works. Besides, is it really that different from your computer?”
Annabeth slouches further into Percy’s side. “I meant the YouTube thing, but now that you mention it, maybe I should look through the phone, just to quadruple check. You’re right about the computer, and Daedelus made it, so maybe I can give you a new perspective.”
Leo pauses for a moment. “Yeah, okay, you can come with me to talk to Chiron in a bit. But I’m posting the video first!”
“Fine.”
“Fine! Now, everyone, introduce yourselves.”
Leo points to Hazel, who smiles and gives the camera a small wave. “Hi, I’m Hazel. I’m sixteen, my pronouns are she/her, I think, and I’m… in the Hades cabin, I guess?”
Piper shrugs. “Yeah, at least while you’re here you are. I’m Piper, they/she, seventeen, and I’m in the Aphrodite cabin.”
“Oh, shit,” Leo says. “I never did my own introduction. Um, I’m Leo, he/him, basically seventeen--”
“He’s sixteen,” Piper interjects. “Because he’s a loser.”
“Shut up , Piper. I’m about to turn seventeen, and I’m in the Hephaestus cabin.”
Annabeth smiles a bit. “I’m Annabeth, my pronouns are she/her, I’m almost nineteen, and I’m in the Athena cabin.”
“I’m Percy,” he grins and waves at the camera. “I’m also almost nineteen, he/him, and in the Poseidon cabin. Hey, Leo, does Chiron know you’re uploading this?”
“Nope! That’s why I’m posting it before I tell him about the phone. Which we have to do soon, so I’m gonna wrap the video up here! Thanks everyone for watching, if this phone doesn’t blow up or get confiscated I’ll be back with another video in a couple of days!”
He reaches for the camera, still smiling, as the others start to laugh at him, and the video ends.
-
meet the camp!! (fuck u lou)
Uploaded by: fireyleo Views: 1.9M Likes: 693K
Comments 46.2K
fireyleo 2 days ago
EXCELLEnt news chiron did not take my phone!! camp introductions part 2 coming soon !!!!
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trucrimee 3 days ago
IS TAHT PERCY JACKSON ?????
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penelope 3 days ago
wh. why are they. greek god cabins. what
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burny 3 days ago
why did leo say QUEST the fuck kind of summer camp is this
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antisocialquail 2 days ago
“blow up” sir???
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voidcat 2 days ago
where teh FUCK did lester come from bitch just appeared?? that’s gotta be editing right
edit: AND NICO AND MEG!!!
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taxidermy 1 day ago
lmao everyones freaking the fuck out about everything and im just like ! okay<3
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justin 1 day ago
why is nobody saying anything about both piper mclean and RACHEL FUCKING DARE being in this
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